Eva's PoV

Dean continued to pursue us as Calum, Michael and Luke dragged me out of sight of the fans leaving the game and round to a quiet area that seemed to be for staff.

"Tell your puppy to get lost." Luke hissed at me, a look in his eyes that made me nervous. I couldn't risk Dean being hurt by these people. He was the only person I'd had a connection with in so long, I couldn't risk losing him.

"Let her go." Dean arrived and stood strong in front of the gang, showing no signs of fear.

"We just want to talk to her." Michael said, taking a step closer to Dean and making me panic.

"So why did you need to drag her here?" Dean responded quickly. "Cos you're not the normal people she speaks to. Go back to causing trouble elsewhere and leave us alone." The three of them tensed, Luke's grip on my arm tightening which began to send pain surging through my limb. I shook his grip and walked over to Dean, putting a hand on his chest as I spoke quietly.

"It's not worth it Dean, just head back home and I'll catch up with you later. I don't want you getting mixed up with these people." I spoke softly, my eyes never leaving his as he relaxed under my palm. I could tell he was weighing up the pros and cons of leaving me with them as he hesitated, looking between them and me.

"I can't. What if they hurt you?" He looked worried for me, which I wasn't used to. Normally I'd be doing everything by myself with no one to back me up anyway, so the fact I was even here with someone was a massive change. I suppose I had my dad to thank for that, just because he needed me to keep up the lie he'd told Francesco about being a family man.

"They won't. I don't even know why they want to talk to me." I said quickly, knowing these guys were impatient and it wouldn't be long before they began winding Dean up and a fight would ensue. "Honestly, I'm fine." He sighed heavily. I wasn't giving up and he knew that. He'd have to leave.

"Give me your phone." He ordered, which I followed through with quickly. He typed something out and handed it back to me. "I've saved my number on there. Call me as soon as you're away from them." The protective man that stood before me was something I had even less experience of and despite the situation being less than ideal, my heart was fluttering at the fact someone cared about me and my well-being. Maybe not having my earphones in was a good thing sometimes.

"No problem. Speak soon." I said as he stepped back and eyes up the guys one more time. A tense silence hung in the air as the four of them stared off with each other before Dean turned and walked away, leaving me with the three men. I gulped down the nervous feeling as I headed back towards them.

"That would not have ended well for him if he'd have stayed." Michael said ominously as they surrounded me once again.

"So... what did you want to talk to me about? Why am I here?" I asked, trying to come across as confident despite every bone and nerve in my body feeling like this was not going to be a good conversation.

"Who are you?" Luke asked, his words laced with annoyance as he studied me.

"Eva. Eva Mastriani." I responded, not quite sure if the question was rhetorical or not. I'd rather answer it, though, than have them mad at me for not answering.

"Why are you such a loner?" Calum asked without a care for how it may hurt me. I was used to it though - well until music became the way to ignore the hate.

"College students are assholes." I shrugged. "I'm there to get my grades and leave again." The three of them looked at each other as if they were gauging how good of an answer it was before allowing me to continue. If I knew they were just going to quiz me on my life, I'd have asked for a better location.

"Why do you always have earphones in?" Michael had his turn to interrogate me this time. I sighed and rolled my eyes before answering.

"Because I want to? Then I don't have to listen to all the stupid childish drama." The nerves had long gone from my body, just replaced with an annoyance that they had to pull me aside to ask me things I would have answered anyway. They made it seem all threatening when really it wasn't. Why they wanted to know these things was beyond me, but a little nagging thought in my head told me to just go along with what they wanted just in case they got irate.

"Why did you want to see Ashton?" Luke had the chance to ask another question. This time, the three of them seemed more on edge as they interrogated me on one of their friends. I really didn't have an answer for this one nor did I have a clue of what they wanted to hear. I just shrugged.

"Tell us!" Calum had already had enough and shoved me backwards into the wall. "If there's something going on..." Michael grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back slightly, looking at him as if to tell him off without opening his mouth.

"I don't know why. Okay? He's someone in our college who got into an accident and, hey, I'm actually a nice person so I was concerned. That's all!" My answer was shirty but I didn't care anymore. What were these guys problems? Why did they have to question me about my intentions when their friend is in hospital. "Shouldn't you be with him or something?" The three of them once again exchanged glances.

"Nice people don't get involved with people like us." Michael said lowly as he looked me up and down, trying to work me out.

"Im not involved. I was concerned. If it had been any other man or woman in the world I would have wanted to see that they were okay because I'm a decent human being. I know that may be alien to you but-" my mouth had got the better of me and I said more than I wanted to. My sentence was cut short as Luke slapped me, silencing me where I stood.

"Watch your mouth." He hissed before grabbing my arm and flinging me away from them. "Get the fuck out of here, Earphones."