Page 56
Story: Knot Playing Fair 2
I snapped my jaw shut, not sure if her failing marriage made the whole thing better or worse.
“Do you still care about Nat?” Emiel asked. “Only sometimes it seems like you do.”
Now it was Mia’s turn to hesitate.
“I... yes. I don’t know if the marriage can be salvaged, or if I even want to try. But, yes. I still care about Nat. We were friends before we were lovers, and I miss that part. Badly.”
“Sounds like you don’t have to worry about the other two snapping Mia up while she’s still figuring out the rest of it, Luca,” Emiel said. “Does that help?”
I hated the fact that it did, a bit.
“I’ve got a floundering marriage, a floundering restaurant, and a one-sided gang war to fight,” Mia agreed. “As close as I feelto all of you—and that means you, too, Luca—I’m not exactly in the market for a mating bond right now.”
Emiel shifted uncomfortably, and I remembered his confession about how close he’d come to biting Mia without her consent. She must have remembered, as well—but if so, she didn’t show it.
“Did you ever dream about it when you were young?” I asked, the words escaping before I could stop them.
“A pack bond?” Mia asked. “I mean... didn’t we all? I was smuggling alphomic romance novels into the house before I even presented as an omega. My dad would’ve had an aneurism if he’d known about some of the stuff I was reading.”
“Same,” I whispered, then cleared my throat. “Well, not the parental oversight part, obviously. My parents were too busy shooting up heroin to take much interest in my reading material.”
“There are alphomic romance novels?” Emiel asked, sounding bewildered.
We both turned to stare at him in disbelief.
“Of course there are alphomic romance novels,” Mia said. “Holy crap. I amsogetting you some to read now.”
It shouldn’t have been enough to break through the heavy blanket of depression weighing down my shoulders—and yet, somehow, I found myself giggling like an idiot at the mental image of Emiel reading some kind of terrible Mills & Boon trash. The noise was at odds with the tears that were still burning their way down my cheeks every few seconds, but I couldn’t seem to stop it.
“Oh, wow. This I gotta see,” I said, my voice cracked and wavering.
“I’m doing it,” Mia vowed. “Don’t think I won’t.”
“Um... okay?” Emiel said, sounding more confused than anything.
Mia took a huge breath and let it out like a deflating balloon. “Right, guys. It’s super,superlate. I know I’ve got work to do tomorrow, and I’m guessing you two do as well.”
God. There was no way either of us could take off work today—not after missing so much for my damned unplanned heat. Why did my brain do this kind of shit to me? Even though I knew it was just emotional reaction, I felt like I was battling full-blown flu. My head ached. My joints ached. My eyes burned from crying, and my sinuses felt like someone had stuck an air compressor up my nose and started inflating them.
“Yeah,” Emiel said. “It’s a work day. What time is it, anyway? I didn’t stop to check.”
Battling guilt for having dragged everyone out of bed like the pathetic drama queen I was, I crawled over and checked my phone, wincing. “Three-thirty. My alarm goes off in two-and-a-half hours.”
“Sounds about right,” Emiel said, even as Mia failed to stifle a groan.
“I want to sleep here,” she declared. “Otherwise, I’ll just end up staring at the ceiling in my room until it’s time to get up. Emiel, I want you to sleep here, too.”
I could hear the worried frown in Emiel’s voice when he said, “It’s not your room.”
“That didn’t stop you from picking the lock,” Mia pointed out.
I knew I should be expressing an opinion about all of this. I even knew what that opinion should be. But somehow, the reality of having other people make all the decisions so I didn’t have to was strangely addictive.
“Dunno if I should be here.” Apparently, Emiel had found his missing conscience somewhere. “After what we talked about, I mean. I can’t be your alpha. Not yours or Luca’s. We all said so.”The last sentence emerged a bit defensive, even though it was a fair point.
“Emiel.” Mia sounded tired. Maybe a little sad, too. “No one’s talking about mating. No one’s talking about sex, or commitment. You know how sometimes Luca and I spend a night with Byron? Well, there’s no rule that says the three of us can’t spend a night cuddling, or even just sleeping in the same room. We can choose to do that because it’s something we want to do, and for no other reason.”
A tiny noise escaped me—longing, or maybe fear. Could anything be that simple? Was that really what Byron and I had? Sometimes it felt like it. Other times, it felt more complicated... like there were undercurrents I couldn’t see, that might randomly grab me and drag me below the surface.
“Do you still care about Nat?” Emiel asked. “Only sometimes it seems like you do.”
Now it was Mia’s turn to hesitate.
“I... yes. I don’t know if the marriage can be salvaged, or if I even want to try. But, yes. I still care about Nat. We were friends before we were lovers, and I miss that part. Badly.”
“Sounds like you don’t have to worry about the other two snapping Mia up while she’s still figuring out the rest of it, Luca,” Emiel said. “Does that help?”
I hated the fact that it did, a bit.
“I’ve got a floundering marriage, a floundering restaurant, and a one-sided gang war to fight,” Mia agreed. “As close as I feelto all of you—and that means you, too, Luca—I’m not exactly in the market for a mating bond right now.”
Emiel shifted uncomfortably, and I remembered his confession about how close he’d come to biting Mia without her consent. She must have remembered, as well—but if so, she didn’t show it.
“Did you ever dream about it when you were young?” I asked, the words escaping before I could stop them.
“A pack bond?” Mia asked. “I mean... didn’t we all? I was smuggling alphomic romance novels into the house before I even presented as an omega. My dad would’ve had an aneurism if he’d known about some of the stuff I was reading.”
“Same,” I whispered, then cleared my throat. “Well, not the parental oversight part, obviously. My parents were too busy shooting up heroin to take much interest in my reading material.”
“There are alphomic romance novels?” Emiel asked, sounding bewildered.
We both turned to stare at him in disbelief.
“Of course there are alphomic romance novels,” Mia said. “Holy crap. I amsogetting you some to read now.”
It shouldn’t have been enough to break through the heavy blanket of depression weighing down my shoulders—and yet, somehow, I found myself giggling like an idiot at the mental image of Emiel reading some kind of terrible Mills & Boon trash. The noise was at odds with the tears that were still burning their way down my cheeks every few seconds, but I couldn’t seem to stop it.
“Oh, wow. This I gotta see,” I said, my voice cracked and wavering.
“I’m doing it,” Mia vowed. “Don’t think I won’t.”
“Um... okay?” Emiel said, sounding more confused than anything.
Mia took a huge breath and let it out like a deflating balloon. “Right, guys. It’s super,superlate. I know I’ve got work to do tomorrow, and I’m guessing you two do as well.”
God. There was no way either of us could take off work today—not after missing so much for my damned unplanned heat. Why did my brain do this kind of shit to me? Even though I knew it was just emotional reaction, I felt like I was battling full-blown flu. My head ached. My joints ached. My eyes burned from crying, and my sinuses felt like someone had stuck an air compressor up my nose and started inflating them.
“Yeah,” Emiel said. “It’s a work day. What time is it, anyway? I didn’t stop to check.”
Battling guilt for having dragged everyone out of bed like the pathetic drama queen I was, I crawled over and checked my phone, wincing. “Three-thirty. My alarm goes off in two-and-a-half hours.”
“Sounds about right,” Emiel said, even as Mia failed to stifle a groan.
“I want to sleep here,” she declared. “Otherwise, I’ll just end up staring at the ceiling in my room until it’s time to get up. Emiel, I want you to sleep here, too.”
I could hear the worried frown in Emiel’s voice when he said, “It’s not your room.”
“That didn’t stop you from picking the lock,” Mia pointed out.
I knew I should be expressing an opinion about all of this. I even knew what that opinion should be. But somehow, the reality of having other people make all the decisions so I didn’t have to was strangely addictive.
“Dunno if I should be here.” Apparently, Emiel had found his missing conscience somewhere. “After what we talked about, I mean. I can’t be your alpha. Not yours or Luca’s. We all said so.”The last sentence emerged a bit defensive, even though it was a fair point.
“Emiel.” Mia sounded tired. Maybe a little sad, too. “No one’s talking about mating. No one’s talking about sex, or commitment. You know how sometimes Luca and I spend a night with Byron? Well, there’s no rule that says the three of us can’t spend a night cuddling, or even just sleeping in the same room. We can choose to do that because it’s something we want to do, and for no other reason.”
A tiny noise escaped me—longing, or maybe fear. Could anything be that simple? Was that really what Byron and I had? Sometimes it felt like it. Other times, it felt more complicated... like there were undercurrents I couldn’t see, that might randomly grab me and drag me below the surface.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186