Once my brain finally caught up with what was happening, I detached myself from Blake's hold.

"Am I interrupting something?" Dean asked while his eyes shifted back and forth on me and Blake.

"N-no," I stammered. "What are you doing here?"

Dean ignored my question and narrowed his eyes at Blake. I was hoping Dean didn't recognize him since Blake was from a different faculty and was more on the research project team, but once Dean frowned at him in disbelief, I knew the night was bound to get ugly.

Dean glared at me. "Seriously, Jen?"

"I can explain," I replied quickly before realizing that was a stupid thing to say, confirmed by Blake's eyes boring into the side of my head. "I mean, can we talk about this inside?" I retracted my keys from my bag and handed them to Dean. "Nadine is home, can you ring the bell first to make sure she's decent? I'll be right behind you."

Dean took my keys without tearing his gaze from the man in front of him, while Blake was being Blake. He stared back at Dean with his default expression: guarded and unreadable. Dean took a few steps closer to him, urging me to scoot in front of Blake, blocking Dean from getting direct access to him.

"Dean? Inside, plea–" before I finished my line, Blake's hands were on my waist, gently pushing me to the side.

"I believe we haven't officially met." Blake extended his hand to Dean. "You must be the famous Dean. It's nice to finally meet you in person. I'm Blake."

Dean didn't take his hand. "I know who you are. And what kind of game are you playing? Are you blackmailing Jen to do this?"

"What the hell, Dean?" I said.

"No," Blake replied. "At the moment, Jenny and I don't have any direct academic involvement to give me the power to blackmail her. Not that I would do it if it was the case."

"Whatever. Jen is still a student and you're a professor at our university. It's still wrong, man."

"I'm aware of our situation, yet we're also two consenting adults who made this decision together."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Dean took a step closer, making me shift on my feet with anticipation. "The campus will not approve this and you're just going to drag her into trouble!"

"That's not how–"

"Maybe it's fun for you to mess around with your students, huh? But there are plenty of young girls on campus you can screw over," Dean sneered. "Leave Jen out of this. I will not let you do this to her."

Blake had been keeping his cool but from the way his jaws clenched, he was close to losing it. "I'm not messing around with Jenny. And why do I feel like I need your permission to see her?"

"Jen is my friend. You mess with her, you mess with me." Dean's green eyes blazed with anger as his hands curled into fists. At the same time, Blake straightened up his posture. The tension was getting unbearably thick.

Without thinking twice, I jumped in and stood between the two men who were now throwing daggers at each other. The testosterone level was way too high. I needed to do something.

"Stop this, you two, please!" I begged them before turning myself to Dean. "Wait for me inside. Now," I said in a low tone. "I'm not joking, Dean. Or I won't talk to you again. Ever."

Dean, who had started breathing heavier, finally glanced down at me. For a second I thought he was going to ignore me and pounce on Blake, but he gave in. "Fine."

"Thank you."

He glared back at Blake one more time. "I'm watching you, yeah?" With that, he turned on his heels and headed to his jeep.

Time seemed to run ten times slower as Blake and I stood there, watching Dean drive his car to my driveway.

"Are you okay?" Blake broke the silence.

I nodded. "I'm just glad that no one got hurt tonight."

"Nah. I knew he meant well. He's just trying to look out for you." Blake pulled me to him. "But I have to say, I don't know how to feel about you and him talking alone right now."

"Blake, please."

"I know, I know." He leaned in and kissed me deeply until I felt dizzy, prompting me to clutch on his coat sleeves for balance. When I opened my eyes, Blake was smiling at me. "Let me know how the talk goes."

When Nadine opened the front door, she gestured towards my door. I nodded and made my way to my bedroom. Dean was pacing back and forth in my room while clenching and unclenching his hands.

"That was not cool, Dean."

"How long have you two been together? How come you never told me?"

"We're not..." I was going to tell him about the nature of the relationship I had with Blake but the voice in my head stopped me from doing so. Dean didn't need to know. "Not long."

He was now in front of me, towering over me. "Jen, you know you can be honest with me, right? Did he make you do this?"

"What? No!" I closed my door before making sure Nadine wasn't within hearing distance. "I'm tired of this kind of conversation, Dean. What do you take me for? A stupid naive girl who is easily misled by any random guy who shows interest?"

Dean rubbed his face. "You know damn well that's not what I said!"

"You're implying that!" I shot back before stomping to the other side of my room. Leaning back on my desk, I crossed my arms over my chest. "This is absolutely a mutual decision we both made. I'm not being used, or blackmailed, or whatever you're thinking right now. I'm sick and tired of people doubting my decision."

Dean's gaze softened. "I'm not doubting you. I just don't trust him."

"You don't have to trust him. You just need to trust me. At least that's what you can do to show your support as a friend."

"What if people find out and report you?"

"If you don't say anything to anyone, then no one will find out," I replied before lowering my voice. "Besides, he's not my advisor, and I'm not taking his class right now. We're not breaking any rules." But we're risking our names.

Dean walked to my bed and plopped down, putting his elbows on his knees. "I still think the faculty needs to be informed about this kind of relationship."

I frowned. I hardly called this a relationship. Blake said that he let me decide how far I wanted to go with this, but I still didn't have the answer to it.

"We haven't planned to bring it to the faculty...yet," I mumbled. "We're going to see first how it goes. It won't be out publicly at least until I graduate." Or never.

"Are you saying he wants to keep you as a secret lover? Is he married or what?"

"God, no!" I grunted. "It's nothing like that."

"He sounds shady. I don't trust him."

"You never trusted any guy I was seeing," I retorted.

He winced. "Fair point. But if I hear he hurts you, he's dead meat."

I groaned again, throwing my head back in frustration. "How many times do I need to tell you this? Stop beating the guy who wrongs me."

"The hell I'm going to let him get away with this."

"I'm serious, Dean. Promise me. If this doesn't work out, even worse, if Blake and I end up hurting each other, you will stay out of it." When Dean didn't respond, I added, "Or I will never speak to you. Ever again. And I mean it."

Dean sighed as he slumped his shoulders. "Fine."

"Promise me."

"I promise," he mumbled reluctantly but it was enough for now. He might not be able to accept this at the moment, but he would. He had to.

"Why did you come by the way?" I asked.

Dean rubbed the back of his neck. "I was waiting for you in front of the faculty building. I know you told me you didn't need a lift, but I thought I would wait anyway. After some time you still didn't show up, I tried to call you but you didn't answer. I even walked back to the laboratory building but no one was there. It was weird that you just suddenly disappeared like that."

"Oh. We took the backdoor, the one to the faculty parking lot."

"Yeah, I figured." Dean extended his legs forward. "That's why I came, to check if you were home."

"Jenny?" Nadine's voice on the other side of the door interrupted us. "I'm going to heat some lasagna. Is Dean eating with us?"

"No, thanks, Nad!" Dean replied before glancing up at me. "I gotta go now. I promised to bring home some Chinese for those two fuckers."

I chuckled at his line. After his coming back, Dean moved back with his dad and Brian to their family house. "Still no luck with the house, huh?"

Dean snatched the leather jacket that he'd thrown on the carpet. "Nope. Jane said most people start buying a property around spring and summer."

"I see." I got up and followed him to the front door. "So, Susie is going to stay at her parents' until you guys move back in together?"

"I don't know about that," Dean replied before glancing back and forth at Nadine and me. "Enjoy your dinner, ladies!" With that, he disappeared behind our front door.