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twenty minutes trying to find his phone too.
    The moment I step in front of number six, the door bursts open, and my arm is caught by a very strong hand. I spin my arm around effectively evading his grip, and step away.
    “What the hell is your deal!?” I hiss out, not wanting to cause a scene in the hallway.
    “I’m sorry, ok – at first, I was just having a joke. But when I realised how young you are, I realised how dangerous it could be for you if this happened somewhere else.”
    “I can look after myself,” I told him through gritted teeth, extending out my arm and pushing him in the chest. He doesn’t even move.
    “Obviously,” he says, a slight grin turning up the corner of his mouth as he holds my eyes.
    “Is everything ok?” Aaron asks as he emerges from his apartment. He moves to stand beside me, his arms crossed over his firm chest as he looks between myself and Damien.
    “Aaron,” Damien says with a nod.
    “ Damien,” he responds.
    “So, you dated a minor huh?” Damien starts.
    “Fuck you. She was seventeen when we dated. The legal age is sixteen dickwad.”
    “I was referring to the fact that legally, you aren’t an adult ’til eighteen. But if you want to tell me about your sex life, that’s fine too.”
    “Um…guys. I’m standing right here,” I say, although my words fall on deaf ears.
    “Well, we can’t all go around using the fact that we’re an ‘artist’ to trick girls into sleeping with us,” Aaron bites back, using his fingers to quote the word.
    Damien presses his lips together as he regards Aaron, then turns his attention to the stairwell. “Speaking of art, here’s my next model now.” We all turn to see who he’s talking about, as the most gorgeous looking brunette I’ve ever seen walks, no, she slinks, up the last few stairs. “Sucks to be me huh?” he says, directing the comment at Aaron.
    “ Damien.” She oozes his name in greeting. “Are we having some kind of party?”
    “No Bec, these two were just stopping by.” He steps to the side a little as she glides past us all and into his apartment. “It was nice to meet you Etta. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you soon.”
    “I don’t think so,” I retort, feeling all agitated by that girl’s entrance, hating that in my mind, I’m comparing myself to her, as well as hating the pang of disappointment I feel over seeing her with him.
    “We’ll see,” he grins, closing the door and leaving us both standing there.
    “Don’t let him get to you. He’s just a jerk,” Aaron says, placing his hand on my back and guiding me toward the stairs.
    “He doesn’t bother me,” I lie, pretending to shake off the interaction. “Although, what the hell is with this building? Are you only allowed to live in it if you’re ridiculously good looking? I feel like I’m on an episode of Next Top Model!”
    “Do you think I’m ridiculously good looking?” he grins, nudging me lightly with his shoulder.
    “You and Jeremy could be brothers, you look very much alike.”
    “That’s not answering the question,” he laughs.
    Rolling my eyes, I return his laugh. “You know I think you’re hot Aaron. You’re the man I got myself into a hell of a lot of trouble over,” I remind him, referring to the reason we were forced to break up. “Although, it’s lucky I refused to name you. I just called you ‘my boyfriend’, otherwise dad might have hunted you down and then pulled me out of school altogether.”
    “The whole thing was a bit of an overreaction I thought, but hey – you’re almost eighteen. Freedom is on the horizon,” he affirms, opening the car door before I hop inside.
    “He was just scared that I was going to end up like Craig,” I comment, defending my father. The loss of my brother is something my family felt intensely and as much as I’ve wished for my freedom, I’ve always understood my father’s motives.
    When Craig was fifteen, he started rebelling against my dad. Being raised by an Aikido