If there was a rulebook for situations like this, I'd already torn it in half.
Cassian didn't ask permission when he stepped closer. He didn't need to. The space between us collapsed naturally, like it had always intended to.
"You're dangerous," he said lightly, eyes flicking to Jude and back to me.
"I've been called worse."
His fingers brushed my wrist. Barely there. Not an accident. A question.
I didn't answer it with words. I turned my hand, letting my palm meet his for half a second longer than necessary.
Electric.
Behind us, Jude shifted. I felt it like pressure at my back.
"Rowan," Jude said quietly.
I looked at him over my shoulder. "Yes?"
His jaw was tight. "Don't."
I smiled. "Don't what?"
Cassian laughed softly. "You're going to have to be more specific."
Jude took a step forward. Now we were too close. All of us. My back nearly brushed his chest. Cassian was in front of me, gaze dark, amused.
I tipped my head back slightly, meeting Jude's eyes. "You don't get to give me rules anymore."
His breath hitched. He noticed. I noticed that he noticed.
Cassian's thumb traced the inside of my wrist, slow and deliberate. My pulse betrayed me instantly.
"You feel that?" he murmured.
"Yes," I said, honest.
Jude exhaled sharply.
"That's enough," he said, not to me. To Cassian.
Cassian leaned in closer. Close enough that my lips were inches from his. "Or what?"
For a heartbeat, I thought Jude might actually grab him.
Instead, Jude reached for me.
Not rough. Not possessive.
Familiar.
His fingers curled around my elbow, grounding, warm. The touch sent a different kind of heat through me. Deeper. Older.
I closed my eyes for half a second.
That was a mistake.
Because when I opened them, Cassian was smiling like he'd just won something.
"Seems like you don't mind being touched," he said.
"I mind being told how to react," I replied.
I slipped free of Jude's grip gently, deliberately, and stepped back.
"I'm going home," I said. "Alone."
Cassian raised a brow. "Tonight?"
"Yes."
Jude's eyes softened.
Cassian's smile turned sharp. "Pity."
I walked away with my skin buzzing, heart racing, and the unmistakable realization that this had officially stopped being theoretical.