Page 27 of Knot Going Down (OlympicVerse #3)

DECLAN

“ Y ou’re on a cruise? A fucking cruise?!” My director Curtis spits the last word so loudly I have to pull the phone away from my ear. “This was not the plan, McLaren.”

“Well, the plan was to fly back with Knox Carrick days ago and use him to take down Glenn Plansky, but like I told you before, the planes were grounded.”

“I know the commercial flights were fucking grounded. But I expected you to charter a plane or something.”

“On the agency’s dime? You know how expensive that would be. Taxpayers would eat you alive if they found that in the next audit.”

“Yeah, well, if you had waited, you’d be home right now. The flights are running again.”

Shit.

“Everyone expected things to be down longer,” I reply, only slightly defensive. “And besides with so many people being re-routed, it’s likely we’d still be waiting. I made the best call I could make with the information I had.”

“Right, a free vacation.” His voice is flat.

“I’m due one, aren’t I?” Truth is, I haven’t taken a vacation since the one I took right after Kyle died—and that was a mandated leave of absence three years ago. Work has been the one steadying force in my life since. I’m an asshole with only a few friends and no family left. So work’s all I got.

His sigh comes through the line, heavy. “It’s not that you don’t deserve a break, but now’s not the time.

I’ve got the Department of Justice breathing down my neck about catching Glenn, my pack begging me to retire, and a goddamned kidney stone pissing me the fuck off.

I’m too old for this shit. Just tell me you have a plan for putting Plansky away for good. ”

I tell him my idea to accompany Knox as his date to Glenn’s daughter’s wedding, but he’s unimpressed.

“Digging up dirt on him is months of wiretaps, subpoenas, and praying he slips up. You really think he’s dumb enough to leave evidence sitting on his home computer? If this blows up in your face, if we miss our window, if Knox double-crosses you, he walks, Declan.”

“What are you suggesting?” My voice is flat, but there's a warning under it. I want Glenn bad, but I’m a clean cop.

“Push him. Corner him. Dangle what he wants in front of his face and let him reveal himself. Get him to mess up. Use Knox if you have to.”

I’m shaking my head before he’s even done talking. “You want me to throw someone to the wolves? I’m not risking a life because you’re desperate to put another win on your record.”

“Don’t twist this. We both want him taken down. I thought you’d be a little more motivated after what happened with?—”

“I’m plenty motivated,” I snap, something dark rising in my chest. “But I won’t burn down someone else’s life to feel like I’ve done something.” Not even Knox’s. “That’s not justice.”

There’s a tense pause. Then he backs off, just barely. “Fine. Play it your way. But if that computer comes up clean, you better have a damn good backup plan.” My gaze flicks to Knox’s pillow on the couch. He’s a person. Not bait.

“How trustworthy is this Knox character?” Curtis asks.

That’s a good question. I don’t like the guy. Don’t trust him either. But Emily seems to. She still hasn’t told me why or what their past is, but she cares about him. I can tell that much. I clench my jaw, teeth grinding together.

“You think we could put a wire on him?” Curtis asks. “Use him as an inside guy without your supervision?”

“I don’t know.”

“Find out.”

He ends the call without a goodbye. I hang up the ship’s satellite phone and make my way back downstairs. Lucas is the only one here, and he’s still in the shower.

Damn, I miss long showers with Kyle. People say shower sex is overrated, but shoving my cock in a warm mouth, grabbing a fistful of wet hair while the hot water pounds my back, it always did it for me. I haven’t had shower sex in years. Not since Kyle.

I’m halfway to the bathroom door before it hits me. What the fuck am I doing? I stop cold, fingers digging into my scalp until a few strands come loose. With a muttered curse, I pivot back toward the living room and drop onto the couch like the air’s been knocked out of me.

Emily and I aren’t anything official. We haven’t said a word about boundaries or exclusivity. But I know what I don’t want—another chaotic, tangled mess of a love triangle. I’ve been down that road. Got the souvenir shot glass and therapy bill to prove it.

Then again… Lucas isn’t some possessive alpha, or a hormone-high omega.

He’s steady. Maybe that’s what I need—two betas who won’t set fire to everything I’ve worked so hard to heal.

It’s clear he likes Emily, and she likes him.

Maybe this doesn’t have to be the kind of thing where someone always gets hurt.

Maybe it can just be a super hot threesome. A pack.

The bathroom door opens and Lucas comes out in a puff of hot steam. His hair is down, dripping over his shoulders, and he looks like some kind of sun-kissed sea god fresh from the waves.

“Is everyone still out?” Rather than go to his suitcase, like I expect, he takes a seat on the loveseat across from me, spreading his legs enough for the towel to gape open, a shadowy tease that reveals nothing inappropriate, but makes an obvious suggestion.

Now that the thought of two safe, sweet little betas has crossed my mind, I can’t seem to shake it.

I want to take things slow with Emily—it’s clear she needs that.

But I’ve been blue balling it since the first day I saw her, and I need a release.

I wouldn’t have to go slow with Lucas. The thought creeps in before I can shut it down: Am I using him?

I scrub a hand over my face, the weight of it all pressing down heavier than it should.

Lucas is easy to be around—funny, charming, always quick with a smirk or a jab that lands just right.

But lately, there's been this tension between us, like a current under the surface. And I don’t know if I’m imagining it, or if he’s feeling it, too.

At the gym this morning, it felt real. The banter, the innuendo, the way he looked at me when I beat him on the row machine. That wasn’t just friendly teasing. It couldn’t have been.

Still… I worry I’m reaching for comfort instead of connection. That I’m dragging him into something he didn’t sign up for just because I’m lonely, or restless, or trying to forget the way Emily smells when she leans too close.

But then I remember the spark in Lucas’s eyes when he joked about being blindfolded and handcuffed on the mini golf course. That wasn’t nothing. That was an invitation.

Maybe I wouldn’t be using him.

Lucas tilts his head, watching me too closely. “You look like you are doing complicated math in your head. Should I be concerned?”

I huff a quiet laugh, more air than humor. “Just a work thing. Nothing you need to worry about.”

He leans forward, forearms resting on his thighs, towel riding dangerously high. “I am sure Knox is in proper custody with officers Ava and Emily. We are all… supportive coworkers.”

I give him a flat look, trying not to stare where the towel parts. “I don’t usually get ambushed by a naked coworker right after a stress spiral.”

Lucas smirks, slow and knowing. “You say that like it is a bad thing.”

“It’s not… necessarily,” I mutter, dragging a hand through my hair.

He shifts, stretching like a cat in the sun, all lazy muscle and that glint in his eye that’s suddenly not so innocent. “I have a few techniques for stress relief. Non-invasive. No insurance needed.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

“Mmhmm.” He grins, wicked and warm. “I am very hands-on. But only if requested. Otherwise, I am a perfect gentleman.”

There’s a beat where I know I can shut it down, laugh it off, remind him we’re friends or whatever this is that we haven’t prodded into a category. But I don’t. I watch him, the flirt in his smile, the challenge in his posture. He’s not pushing—he’s offering. And something in me wants to say yes.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I say, voice lower than I meant it to be.

He leans back, still smiling. “Anytime, velho .”

And fuck me, I want to take him up on it.

I’m usually the one who takes what he wants without second-guessing.

But now, with Lucas in a towel in front of me, all heat and invitation, I can’t figure out why the hell I’m hesitating.

Maybe it’s Emily. Would she be okay with this?

I don’t want to hurt her. We haven’t said we’re exclusive, but…

Lucas rises slowly, towel clutched with theatrical modesty before he lets it fall onto the loveseat with a smirk. “Stress like yours should not be ignored. Builds up in the wrong places.”

He crosses the room with unhurried steps, eyes never leaving mine.

His body is a work of art. Muscles perfectly honed from hours of training on the field.

Everything hard and tight and… hard. His cock is as stunning as the rest of him.

Long and almost elegant. I should move. Say something. But I don’t.

I sit frozen, heart thudding as he sinks to his knees in front of me like it’s the most natural thing in the world. His palms rest lightly on my thighs, his voice low and teasing. “Let me help. Just for a minute. Alpha.”

Fuck. I swallow hard, the tension coiled so tight in my chest it almost hurts. Hearing him call me that goes right to my cock.

His hands slide up, slow and deliberate, anchoring me in place with nothing but touch. There’s no mistaking the heat in his gaze, or the way he lingers long enough to give me the chance to stop him. I won’t. I can’t.

Palming my erection through my gym shorts, his tongue flicks out to lick his lips as he gives a little tug on the fabric.

I lift my hips, letting him pull the shorts down.

He doesn’t reach for the waistband of my boxer briefs, tented like I’m trying to permanently stretch out the elastic.

Instead, Lucas parts the seam to expose every inch of how much I want him.