“No. You already know.”
He looked me square in the eye. “Then can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why does the brother thing matter? If he hurt you, why do you think he’ll care if you date Colton?”
“I don’t think he’ll care. That’s the whole problem.”
“Do you girls understand this? Am I crazy?” Reed looked back and forth between Juliet and Cara.
“She’s scared.” Juliet leaned her head on my shoulder.
“No. I just don’t want to be sucked back down into that damn town. I’m better than Gasden.” I stood up. “If you can’t help, I’ll find someone else.”
“Want me to ask the pledges?”
“Sure. But please don’t tell them why.”
Reed nodded. “I won’t unless someone volunteers to help.”
“Thanks.”
“But, Mallory?” He looked over at me.
“Yeah?”
“Give Colt a chance. He seems like a pretty cool guy and he cares about you. And you never know. Maybe he’s better than Gasden too.”
I nodded. “Thanks. I‘ll see you guys later.” I walked out of his room and down the stairs. I didn’t get far.
“Mallory, hey.”
I groaned. Now Tanner. Seriously?
“Hi.” I turned.
He looked at me nervously. “Can we talk?”
“Sure.” I figured I might as well get it over with.
“Can we do it in private?” He eyed the guys sitting around the room.
“How private are we talking?”
“Out back?” He gestured toward the back of the house.
“Sure.”
We got some questioning looks as we headed outside.
Tanner opened the door, and I walked out, carefully taking a seat on an old chair.
Tanner pulled up a chair next to me. “Listen. First, I just want to say I really like you. I was attracted to you as soon as I met you, and I do really think we work well together and should give it another shot.”
“Tanner—”
“I’m guessing by the look on your face, you already heard. But please give me a chance to explain first.”
“There’s no need to explain.”
“There is. I shouldn’t have taken Kim home. I know we were taking a break, but after telling you how I don’t randomly have sex with girls, my actions make me look like a total hypocrite. I’m sorry, and I hope we can move past this. She was just in town for a few days for work, and it happened.”
“Tanner. I don’t care what you did.”
“You have to care. Don’t play this down. I don’t want you holding in these feelings and then taking it out on me after we’ve been dating six months or something. I’d rather you just yelled at me now.”
“I had sex with someone too.” Honesty was easier than I expected.
“You what?” His eyes widened and his whole body tensed.
“There’s no reason either of us shouldn’t be seeing other people. We went out a few times. That’s it.”
“Who did you have sex with?” He leaned forward. “I heard you were at that pool party last night.”
“I was, but who I slept with is none of your business.”
“Of course it is. And it was Colt, wasn’t it? You aren’t over him.” He sneered.
Something snapped in me. I was done playing games. I was done with it all. “Yes. Okay. I had sex with Colt last night. And you know what? I enjoyed it.” I stood up, but Tanner grabbed my arm before I could walk away.
“Maybe you’d enjoy sex with me too. Ever think of that? You haven’t exactly given me the chance.”
“You just slept with someone else last night. Don’t pretend you’re even interested in me anymore. The other girl left so now you want me again.”
“There’s no again about it. It hasn’t stopped.” He leaned his head back.
“We both slept with other people. Let’s accept that and move on. Friends?” I didn’t really want to be friends with him, but I knew there would be no avoiding each other for the rest of the year.
He looked at me and smiled. “This is perfect. We both slipped up, so they can cancel each other out. Let’s wipe the slate clean.”
“Wipe the slate clean?”
“Yeah. We can go back to how things were. Let’s go out. Start fresh right now.”
“I can’t.”
“Tanner?” Aaron leaned out the back door. “Reed just called the pledges over to talk to them about something. Just a heads up.”
Tanner turned around to look at him. “Do you know what it’s about?”
“No, but I think Mallory does. It sounds like my girlfriend is involved too.”
“That’s what we get for dating the crazy ones, huh?” Tanner laughed.
“We’re not crazy, and you’re not dating me.” I started toward the back door.
“Wow. Trouble in paradise again?” Aaron asked.
“There was never a paradise.” I stormed back inside just in time to watch a group of pledges walk in. The group included Colt.
His eyes lit up when he saw me. I wanted to run to him, but I couldn’t. Throwing it in Tanner’s face would just make pledging hell for him.
“Mallory, wait up!” Tanner caught up with me at the front door.
“What?”
“We’re not done talking, are we? You never answered my question.”
“What question?”
“Want to go somewhere? Get a drink or something?”
“No, thanks.” I spoke quietly, trying not to make a bigger scene than I had to.
“Why? You’d rather just go around f**king a pledge behind my back?”
No freaking way. He had not just gone there.
“First of all, it wasn’t behind your back. And second of all, I can have sex with whoever the hell I want. And he’s not just a pledge, he has a name.”
By this point, all of the pledges had arrived and were staring at us. Some were laughing but more were looking around at each other.
“Yes. Here we go. Might as well just shout it from the roof tops. I’ve had sex with Colt. Not just once either. And you know what? I’m hoping it happens again.”
I heard clapping and glanced at the stairs. Juliet and Cara walked down.
Oh jeez.
“I guess we’re going public then, huh?” Colt grinned.
“Hell, I might as well save Reed from asking this himself. Any of you guys know how to break into video security systems?”