Page 105 of Creatures of Chaos

I shake my head. “No. Now take my hand so we can walk through that door like a couple.”

“So bossy,” he says, but slides his hand into mine, and then with a tug pulls me closer. When I give him a questioning look, he says, “Any girlfriend of mine wouldn’t want to be so far away from me.”

“Let me guess. Because you’re so irresistible.”

He smiles down at me. “You said it, not me.”

I’m jittery as we push through the doors and walk into the courtyard, hand-in-hand. The first thing I do is scan for Becks, my head on a swivel.

Talon squeezes my hand and leans over. “Perhaps be a little less obvious,” he says. “Our classmates are watching. Focus on me.”

Sure enough, when I take a moment to notice, the majority of the students are staring at us. I know it was my idea for this to be so public, but I hate the attention. It makes me want to melt into the floor to escape their prying glances, but the point of all of this is to be seen.

“Locklyn,” comes a surprised voice, halting me. When I look up, Shayla stands in front of us, a tray loaded with food in her hands.

“Hey,” I say and give her an awkward little wave with my free hand.

“Shayla, right?” Talon says, and her wide-eyed gaze shifts to him and she nods. “Nice to meet you. I’m Talon.”

“Oh, I know who you are,” she says, and then looks back at me and blinks. “So like . . . this is . . . a thing?”

“Uhh, kinda?” I say.

Talon wraps an arm around my waist and tugs me to his side. “You betcha,” he says and then plants a kiss on my head. How cheesy. I have to smother the urge to swat him away. “It took me a while to wear my little love muffin down, but she finally caved.”

Love muffin?

Heat rises to my cheeks. I’m going to kill him for this later.

The look on Shayla’s face would be hilarious if I weren’t so embarrassed. “O-kay,” she says, taking a step back and eyeing us with either confusion or revulsion. I can’t tell which. “Are you guys eating with us today?” It looks like she’s not sure if she wants us to or not.

“I think I’m just going to eat with Talon.”

“Sure. I guess I’ll see you later,” she says, and then flees.

That was bad.

“Talon,” I grit out. “That was too much.”

“Was it?” he chuckles as his arm disappears from my waist and he turns to face me. “Isn’t that how devoted boyfriends are supposed to act?”

“I’m going to make you pay for that later.”

He lifts his hands up in surrender. “Hey, I’m just doing what you asked of me.”

I shoot him a look, but he misses it because his gaze shifts to the side. The smirk melts off his face and he steps closer, bringing a hand to my hip. The light touch causes something in me to stir.

Brushing the hair off my shoulder, he curves his body forward to whisper in my ear. “He just showed up.”

My heartbeat picks up and I look over and catch Becks walking toward our usual table in the corner. He hasn’t seen usyet, but when he gets there he says something and then Shayla points in our direction.

I quickly avert my gaze and focus on Talon. “It’s time.”

Stepping into his space, I slide my hands up Talon’s chest and then drape them around his neck. His arms loop around me, bringing me almost flush up against his body.

It’s now or never.

I look up into his stormy eyes, terrified. I think I’m going to be sick.

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