Page 163 of Balance

The puppy dog eyes caused my heart to twist with guilt.

“We’ve always been together…” I muttered. It was true, in one way or another, and in ways I didn’t fully comprehend yet, wehadalways been together. “But yes, I like hearing about your life.”

He perked up. “Good.” Contentment once again hung heavy in the air. “So, here’s the deal. The last time I got laid—”

I jumped toward him, slapping my hand over his mouth.

“Please don’t.” Despite my efforts to hold it back, my voice still came out as a growl.

But who could blame me? Miles having sex was not something I wanted to think about. There was such a thing asoversharing. Was this what the others meant by it being normal for me to yell at Tu?

Because I could totally see why.

“Wow.” Miles leaned back, moving away from my hand. “It reallyislike old times.”

“What is?” I asked, although I suspected the answer.

“I only bring it up because it’s relevant,” he said, the humor fading from his expression. “There’s something you need to know, especially if you decide to keep hanging around the school for some reason.”

Why did that sound like an accusation? I totally had things to do at the school.

“I have a reason…” I narrowed my eyes at him. He’d made me sound like a total loser, but there was a higher purpose. I just had to find it. Andhowwas his past sex life relevant? “What is it?”

“So… There’s this girl I used to…” he began, glancing away. “Well, we had sex a few times, fine? Stuff happened, and now I have a restraining order against her.”

My thoughts went numb, and I raised my brow. “A… restraining order?”

He nodded. “Yeah,” he said, unmoved, as if this was completely normal. “She’s a witch. I really shouldn’t have slept with her, but we were in some clubs together. I’m not one to sleep with a new woman every week. That’s more Damen’s thing. I need toknowa person before I can gothatfar.”

My eyebrow twitched, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“But sometimes I wonder if Damen was right—he’d never let anyone get attached. Or Julian—he used to go to his specialty clubs and pick up complete strangers,” Miles continued pensively. “It helps if they don’t know you very well. The others tried to warn me it was a bad idea, but I didn’t listen. After that, Heather started thinking that we were a thing—”

“Heather?” I cut in. We had a name! Now we were getting somewhere.

“She still stalks me sometimes,” he continued, his shoulders tensing. His humor had fled, and now he looked like a rabbit about to flee.

“Are you afraid of her?” I asked. How dare he look terrified.

“No!” his voice squeaked, and he eyed me warily. “I’m just a nice person. I mean, I did sleep with her. I might have led her on a bit.”

He was totally afraid of her.

“How often does she bother you?” I asked. “Doesn’t she respect the restraining order?”

“Not always…” His voice trailed off. “Now listen, I didn’t tell so you’d murder her. I just don’t want you to get the wrong idea if you saw her hanging around.”

I scoffed, brushing a leaf from my shoulder. How presumptuous. “I’m not going to murder anyone,” I told him, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. “And there’s no need to worry about her anymore.” Poor Miles—his biggest misperception was she’d be anywhere near him in the future. There would be no ‘hanging around.’

I’d keep her away, but there was no need to resort to murder. We were civilized people.

“What does she look like?”

“Why?” His voice shook, and he backed up once. “What are you going to do?”

That was a stupid question. “I’m not going to kill her.”

Killing wasn’t my style. Instead, I would do the same thing I’d done to all of Finn’s admirers: gently encouraged them to divert their attention elsewhere.