Page 23 of Knot Your Basic B*tch

Mochi popped her white bulbous head out of the water and chirped a greeting at me.

“Why’s she all alone?” Chloe stood behind me, but leaned forward, watching everything with wide-eyed amazement.

“Mochi usually stays with the others, but she’s super pregnant right now.” I showed Mochi the bag filled with her art supplies. “Do you want to make a painting for Chloe?”

My lovely little beluga friend bobbed her head up and down with enthusiasm.

Mochi opened her mouth wide, and I handed over her paintbrush. I held a canvas out, while Mochi jerked her head back and forth, expressing her creativity in strokes and slashes. Honestly, the work was no van Gogh, but she was a whale, painting with her mouth using a brush covered in duct tape. Anyway, we all had our talents. I wasn’t one to point out Mochi’s artistic flaws. Besides, it looked perhaps slightly better than something a human toddler could whip together.

“That’s brilliant Mochi,” I lied, as I took the brush back from her. I was grinning at her work as if it was actually a magnificent piece of art. Well I wasn’t about to hurt my favorite whale’s feelings now, was I?

I patted her forehead, and stroked along Mochi’s cheeks. “Who’s the sweetest girl?”

Mochi twirled around in the water, like a blubbery ballerina and then opened her mouth expectantly.

“I don’t have any treats for you, not today.”

Mochi trilled. I didn’t realize before today that a friendly little whale could sound so betrayed.

“I’m sorry! You’re on a special diet. I promise that—” I had to jerk out of the way, as an indignant Mochi sprayed mewith water… and ended up soaking my scent match’s shoes instead.

Shit.

Which is how I found myself outside of the woman’s bathroom, holding a whale painting and questioning all of my life choices.

Though Chloe laughed about it, and the whale spray only reached her shoes and just the bottom of her dress, I’d seen her viciously tear apart the alphas interested in her brother for far less of an indiscretion.

Fuck.

What was worse, was that before I managed to piss off the pregnant whale, I thought that there had been a moment, a spark of something real and fragile starting to form between Chloe and me. Too bad that I probably managed to squash it all with whale spit. There was no way I could have fucked up this date any worse.

And that’s when I heard Chloe’s panicked screaming.

I ran into the woman’s bathroom, immediately ignoring the fact that it was much better smelling than the men’s room. I sprinted over to Chloe, hauling her against my chest, ready to fight whatever it was that had her terrified.

“What is it?” I couldn’t get Chloe to calm down. She was panicked, clutching on to my shirt hard. So close that I could feel her blood pounding as I held her.

She was staring at a mass of writhing tentacles moving across the glass in the bathroom mirror. I could see how that might be rather jarring, if she was going to fix her lipstick, looked at her reflection and saw a sea creature in its place.

A rather large, bright red octopus was sliding across the mirror, his suckers pulled himself across the glass, as he sneaked across the facility in the night.

“Oh that’s Mr. Slippy, our resident escape artist.” I pulledChloe closer against me. Her entire body was shaking, so I wrapped my arms around her, rubbing soothing patterns against her arms. “You’re alright.” I murmured into her ear. “I got you.”

Chloe tore her gaze away from Mr. Slippy, who was already all the way off the window, pulling himself toward the drainage pipes, and managing to squeeze his fat body through the vertical slats. I swear that the little bugger recognized me. He always seemed to move faster whenever I was around.

I wasn’t too worried about him. Mr. Slippy knew how to get back into his tank as easily as he could get out of it. He’d be back in the morning, in time for his breakfast.

No, I had more important things to worry about than that wayward octopus.

Like the fact that Chloe was closer to me than ever before. I was holding her in my arms and she was clutching me like I was her last hope.

Chloe seemed to recognize it at the same moment as me, she gasped and looked up into my face, though she didn’t try to move away.

She was looking into my eyes, like she was reading all the secrets of the universe, like she was desperate to know what I was thinking.

The joke was on her, the moment that I saw her long eyelashes, the slight curve of her cheekbones, those plush lips up close… every thought burned out of my mind.

Chloe was so gorgeous. So fucking gorgeous, and gazing up at me like she wanted me.