Page 14 of Knot Your Bridezilla (High Fructose Corn Syrup Verse #2)

AVRIL

Going back to the app after flirting with David felt like admitting defeat—but it had to be done.

I half-heartedly flipped through the pictures of my matches.

Once again I had to scroll past what felt like over a hundred alphas to even get to someone who had a beta designation.

Then once I had found a beta, I had to sort of squint at the picture of the guy, and figure out what was wrong with him.

If he didn’t have any obvious red flags in his profile, then what was he hiding?

I listlessly scrolled, on autopilot, until I landed on a profile that achieved the impossible—a beta on a dating site who was actually hot.

I mean he wasn’t half as hot as David, but he was the most attractive beta I had seen on the app so far.

I sighed deeply. Maybe even a week or two ago I would have been thrilled to find a beta this attractive…

but after flirting with David, all of this just felt like going through the motions.

But it didn’t make sense to dwell on somebody I could never have.

I was just setting myself up for heartbreak.

I clicked on the hot beta’s profile and swiped right.

Back in The Thirsty Pearl, the vibe immediately felt different.

Not that it was bad, just different. Like if I were eating my favorite brand of cereal and it was made with raspberries instead of blueberries somehow.

I seated myself at my favorite table, hoping that things wouldn’t be awkward between David and me.

“Hi!” A chipper voice that I did not recognize, said. “My name is Mateo, and I’ll be your server today.”

I sort of leaned back, staring over his shoulder, as if there was some kind of mistake and if I looked hard enough, David would materialize and take my order, like usual. “Is David sick or something?”

“You mean Mr. Brockman? He isn’t in today.”

Okay, weird.

Since I’d started going on all of my dates, David had always been there, ready with a smile and my favorite drink in hand. Equally ready with a scowl, at whatever shenanigans my latest date had pulled.

“Can I just get a grapefruit vodka?” I muttered to Mateo.

What if I had missed my chance? What if David was ready to go on the relationship market when we’d last spoken and I had missed my chance and he was off on a date with some omega who would sweep him off his feet with her perfumey delicious floral scent, and he would totally fall in love with her.

Then they would do all the heaty, rutty things that alphas and omegas got up to behind closed doors.

Hey, now.

Did it even matter if David wasn’t here? He wasn’t mine. And the sooner I got that through my thick skull, the better. It wasn’t good for me to be pining after a man I could never have anyway. David… he was so dreamy, and wonderful.

He deserved all the love in the world… even if it couldn’t be with me.

If he wanted an amazing omega who smelled phenomenal… like… I don’t know, red velvet cake batter with sprinkles and a cherry on top, then good for him.

I was getting really good at this anxiety-spiraling shit, even where there was no evidence that anything bad was going down.

But all of the excitement of the night had faded the moment I realized that David wasn’t going to be here.

Who would be there to raise his eyebrows at the ridiculous craziness my next date would pull?

“Hey there, Beautiful,” a deep voice cooed at me.

My eyes snapped up to the guy who had approached my table.

Oh, right.

I was here on a date. Still on a mission to find a new guy for my wedding.

Shit, what was his name?

“I’m Tony. Chatted you up on the dating app last night.” Tony wore a red silk shirt, open to the collar, allowing a peek at curls of dark chest hair.

Cool. I’d just been staring at him like he was some kind of exhibit at the zoo. So far, things were going great. Good thing that he reminded me of his name. I’d gone through so many dates at this point that all the guys were just sort of blending together.

I did have to remind myself to actually start paying attention to the guy’s names. When I manage to find my better half, things would get awkward real soon when I asked them to remind me of their name during the wedding, right in the middle of the vows or something.

Tony sat down, letting his gaze flicker warmly up and down my body.

Which was totally hot when David did it.

When Tony looked at me like I was an exquisite meal that he wanted to devour, it just reminded me I hadn’t eaten dinner yet and had me wondering if there was anything new on the menu.

Ugh, I had to get it together. Get my head in the game.

Tony was far from bad looking, actually.

He had decent musculature… didn’t look like he skipped leg day or anything.

Not that that’s something that I care about.

Some of my brothers would have something to say if Tony’s physique was “uneven,” and I could already imagine the lectures.

Cash would probably not shut up about overall fitness and functional movement and something that I didn’t care about joints. I would really rather not hear it.

He was handsome with thick brows and this dark, borderline emo or haunted-by-traumatic-past look going for him.

He didn’t quite fit in with the other guys that I had dated so far, but then again my type was apparently men wearing an assortment of flashy red flags visible to everyone but me.

So it might not even be a bad thing that he wasn’t quite my type.

I gestured to the empty chair across from me and even managed to plaster a smile on my face. See—I could do this. Everything was fine. All I needed to do was brush off the awfulness of the dates that came before.

Tony sat down, leaning back casually in his chair.

He didn’t take his eyes off me once. His dark eyes burned with interest. I was just kinda wondering how rude it was that I wasn’t really staring back at him with hearts in my eyes, and was staring instead at the menu as if it held the keys to the universe—or in other words, hints as to what David was up to that would justify him suddenly not being here, at the restaurant… where he belonged.

Well, Tony certainly was more attentive than the dates before him. It was too bad that at this point, I was kinda burnt out.

Mateo dropped in and took Tony’s drink order—a whisky sour, made with Wild Turkey if they had it.

I gave Mateo an awkward little half-wave and forced myself not to think about what I was going to do if David quit.

Would Mateo know if he were working somewhere else?

Maybe he had a way to contact him? Why hadn’t I ever gotten David’s number?

Oh yeah, right. Because David and I weren’t dating or anything. He was just the man of my dreams that I had no chance with and couldn’t stop thinking about after he had flirted with me, exactly one time.

God, I was being pathetic.

“So tell me about yourself.” Tony asked, whisky glass in hand. He was swirling the alcohol around as if it were a glass of wine and he had to jiggle the flavor to look fancier or something.

Oh, he was asking me about myself.

Why didn’t I have an answer ready for him after all the dates I’d been on? Was this really the first guy to ask me to talk about myself?

Really?

“Well, I’m Avril Stryker. I grew up in a pretty big pack family, and I’m the only beta.” I shrugged.

“No, Gorgeous. I want to know about you ,” he shook his head slowly. “You. Not your family, or your designation. What are the things that make Avril Stryker tick? What do you like?”

My lips parted… he wanted to know me ?

Well… what do I say? Shit, don’t talk about the wedding.

But… so much of my life was wrapped up in the wedding right now. The venue, the flowers, perfecting the theme.

Outside of all the wedding preparations… who even was I?

I guess… I could talk about things that I liked about the wedding, just without mentioning the wedding stuff?

“I like… wisteria flowers. I like the way that they are so willowy and dramatic. The way they are vibrant and fill a room with life. I guess what I really like about them is the way such a simple flower can turn an everyday event into something magical.”

“Wisteria flowers, huh? Would you say that you are a girly girl?”

Yeah… the kind of girl in the stories that wasn’t like the other girls—that wasn’t me.

I was the girl who was like the other girls.

I liked girly things. Anything that sparkled, in pretty pastels, things that were sweet and beautiful.

Also, wasn’t it inherently misogynistic for a girl to view herself as superior by rejecting aspects of femininity?

“I guess flowers might make me a girly girl.” But hey, was I wrong?

It’s not like ugly things are intrinsically more valuable or something.

Do people actually like ugly things? Who hates flowers?

I mean there are all kinds of people out there.

Some girls who are all edgy might say that bouquets are nothing but plant corpses or something, but obviously that wasn’t the norm.

“Why does it matter to you if I like flowers?” Wow, I probably shouldn’t have said that. I was spacing out and all over the place on this date. I needed to get my mind out of the David-gutter. Tony was actually being a decent date for once, asking me about myself and everything.

“Plenty of guys like to talk their asses off. I’ve heard some of my dates complain that they weren’t able to get a single word in.

Well, that’s not going to be me. The whole point of this is that I am talking to someone lovely—to get to know them better.

I want to learn everything there is to know about you, Avril.

” Tony leaned in closer, as if cutting the distance between us would help him get closer to me emotionally, and I… I couldn’t help it. I blushed a little.