The Chase

“It makes me feel guilty.” When they both opened their mouths to object, she held up her hands. “But I’ll try not to say anything else.”

“Good. Second, as long as we’re living together, we’re exclusive—all three of us.”

She seemed taken aback. “Of course. I never imagined anything else.”

“Really?” Seth raised a brow. “What about River?”

“I was never interested in him.”

“You offered him your virginity,” Beck reminded through clenched teeth.

“Not because I wanted him.”

“We don’t care why. You won’t be propositioning any man for any reason. And when they hit on you”—he raised a brow—“you can be perfectly polite, but your answer is always no. And if any man persists, you tell us. No excuses. No thinking you’ll handle it yourself. Is that clear?”

He and Seth would take care of any tenacious bastard who wouldn’t leave their girl alone. Maybe not with the same gusto as her landlord, but he’d definitely be dealt with.

“All right.”

“Third, don’t forget you promised to communicate. If you don’t tell us how you feel, what you want, and how this can work better for you, we’re doomed to fail.”

“I’ll do my best. But I kept so much to myself for so long because I couldn’t tell Dad. He’d always want to lend a hand and he couldn’t. That would only upset him more. So it’s a habit to deal with my problems alone.”

“We’ll help you break it.”

Seth nodded. “Your problems are our problems. We won’t waste time getting upset and we won’t shy away. We’ll just work together to solve them.”

She gave them a wavering nod as if she saw their point but… “As long as you understand it might take me a while to switch gears.”

Seth smiled. “We have ways of helping you remember, angel.”

That gave Heavenly pause. “Like what?”

“Let’s just say that if you thought waiting to come tonight was torture, you don’t want to find out.”

She blushed furiously. “You’d intentionally make me go without to prove a point?”

Beck laughed long and loud. “In a heartbeat.”

“Every single time you don’t live up to your promises.”

“Those evil grins make me think you’ll enjoy tormenting me.”

“We will.” Seth put out his fist.

Beck bumped it. “Damn right.”

She swallowed, her mouth turning down in a worried frown. “You two are twisted.”

Seth’s grin widened. “Angel, you have no idea…”

She blushed and cast her stare down to her knees. “Is that it? I’ll come back to LA with you and we’ll stay together until the semester ends—”

“Not quite.” Seth suddenly turned deadly serious. “I only have one demand, but it’s unconditional.”

Beck turned to the other man with a scowl. If Heavenly didn’t agree, he would just bail?

“I’m listening,” she said softly, as if she heard the gravity in his words, too.