“So… what are we?”
Silas closes his eyes for a beat, Gideon mutters something under his breath that might be a curse.
“Talon,” I say softly.
“No,” he says, shoulders tight. “I need you to be straight with me. You kissed me. You let me touch you; actually, you directed the show. You used me. Let me watch you fall apart on my fingers and then left me high and dry in that closet. And then you walked out of that party with my fucking uncles.”
Silas reaches over and smacks him lightly on the back of the head. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
"Well, I didn't know that when I started fucking them months ago, so deal with it. I have,” I snap back at him, then my voice lowers. “I didn’t mean to use you.”
Talon grimaces but doesn’t back down. “Then what was the closet? Just a stress outlet?”
I want to crawl under the table.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I was angry, scared and turned on. I wanted to feel like I had control over something. You were there. You wanted me. And I wanted you.”
“I like you, Penelope, and you're throwing me out like a discarded toy."
"That wasn't my intention. I meant to keep away, but I can't seem to do that,” I admit.
“Then what are we gonna do?" he asks.
Silas watches me, then Talon, then me again. “You date,” he says.
We all stare at him.
I blink. “What?”
“You date,” he repeats, completely serious. “Slowly. Outside of class. Outside of the club. No closets. Real dates. If you both want something, you give yourselves a chance to figure out what it is.”
Talon’s entire face brightens like he just leveled up. “Done.”
“With rules,” I say quickly.
“Whatever you want,” he says.
“No flirting in class. No touching. No comments about what we’ve done. Campus is off limits.”
“Deal.”
Silas clears his throat. “If they’ve got rules… then Gideon and I probably need some guidelines too.”
Gideon looks personally offended. “Of course we do.”
Silas gestures between himself and Gideon. “We knew about each other. Now we know about Talon. But how many more people are you planning to add to this collection?”
I let out a breath. “None.”
Talon lifts a brow. “So… monogamy? With three?”
I stick out my tongue at him. “It’s not monogamy. It’s a harem.”
Silas laughs under his breath. “For the record, I don’t want to see anyone else.”
Gideon nods. “I’m not looking anywhere but at Little Menace.”
Talon smirks like he’s about to say something dangerous, but I get there first. “And just so we’re clear, I’m not signing up for whatever comes with you dating half the freshman class.”
