Page 38 of Knottily Ever After (Crescent Lake Cozy Omegaverse #1)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Violet

S hock. That’s all I can feel as I stand beside my seat, frozen and gaping at my ex-fiancé.

I don’t know that I never expected to see him again for the rest of my life, but I definitely never expected to see him here .

How did he find me?

More importantly, what does he want?

For the man who always wore designer suits, kept his hair impeccably styled, his face smooth and approachable, Steve looks… awful.

His brown hair is unkempt and well past time for his twice-monthly trim, disheveled and twisted almost wildly atop his head.

His brown eyes are dull, his face covered in more than a couple of weeks’ worth of hair growth.

He’s wearing sweatpants and a tee shirt under an old jacket, none of which I’ve ever seen on him.

Something is… very wrong.

And I don’t have a big enough ego to think that this is all about me.

I turn to my Alphas, letting the concern I feel show on my face. “I’m going to talk to him,” I say gently. Vaughn opens his mouth, but I cut him off. “I’ll stay right over there.” I point to the small table by the front door in the corner. “You guys can watch us, okay?”

Their protective instincts are in overdrive, I can feel it. Pack life is still new to me, and I guess to them, too, honestly. I don’t want them to be uncomfortable, but I have to do this.

“I love you all,” I say, loud and clear.

This seems to calm them a bit.

“Go on, sweetheart,” Quinn says.

“We’ll be right here,” Ben adds.

“Watching.” Vaughn’s tone is menacing, but not aimed at me.

I smile at them before turning back to Steve, who hasn’t moved an inch since laying eyes on me. I walk over to him slowly, gesture toward the table at the front, and we go and sit without a word.

Steve sits with his back to the front windows, me with my back to my Alphas. He warily eyes the table in the back, and part of me is a bit smug. But I don’t feel right about it.

“Steve.” My voice is gentle, but firm. “What are you doing here?”

His lips part, then close wordlessly. When he tries again, his voice, rough and ragged, comes out quiet. “I had to find you. I had to…” he swallows hard. “Explain. Apologize.” Another swallow. “To my only true friend. Who I betrayed.”

A lump forms in my throat, my eyes sting.

After all the time I’ve spent here in Crescent Lake, finding my Alphas, mating them…

I rarely thought of Steve or his cheating.

If I did think of him, it was to mourn our lost friendship.

You don’t spend nearly twenty-five years as someone’s friend and not grieve a loss so monumental, even if they did something heinous to cause that rift.

Looking at him now, this broken man, this weakened Alpha, I just long for closure. Anything to ease this gap in my heart.

“Tell me.”

His eyes are tight, pained. “I’ve been hiding who I am,” he croaks.

“All my life, I was… different. My family knew, saw it when I was a child. They did everything they could to change me.” His head drops as confusion wells in my chest. When he looks up, tears are dripping from his eyes.

“They wouldn’t accept any union they didn’t approve of. ” He clears his throat and coughs.

I turn toward the bar and find Will already looking at me, curious and pensive, like he’s ready to intervene if I need him to. “Will, could we get some water, please?”

He nods and hustles to bring us two glasses of water, which Steve thanks him for, weakly.

When Will goes back to his post, Steve sips the water and puts it back on the table. He stares right into my eyes. “I loved you, Vi. I truly loved you. Like family.”

Bec’s words echo in my mind: “ He treated you more like a little sister.”

“I thought that because I loved you so much, I could change. That I could make everyone happy.” He sniffs, another tear streams down his face. “I knew you had feelings for me. Romantic feelings. And my parents wanted me to settle down with a female Omega.”

His words hit me square in the chest. Female Omega.

Oh, gods…

“I fought so hard against who I was. Who I am. But when I was hired at the firm and they assigned Sam as my assistant…” he chokes on a sob.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen. I swear to you.

But his scent, it called to me, and mine to him.

” His hand wipes the water from his face.

“We fought our feelings for years, Violet. I couldn’t betray you. ”

“And then you did.” I speak plainly and try to keep the hurt from my tone.

His head drops again, shaking. But he won’t speak unless he’s looking right into my eyes, which he returns to. “I did. Gods help me, I did. The draw was… unbelievable. And I know it’s no excuse, believe me, and I wish I could explain without hurting you…”

I think of my Alphas, the draw to them that I feel, the overwhelming love, and how their scents drive me wild, and I understand immediately what Steve and Sam have. The realization is bittersweet. As overwhelmed with joy as I am to have found my pack, I’m still stinging from Steve’s betrayal.

“You and Sam are scent-matches.”

His expression is pained. “I never believed in it until I met him. Then I knew it was real, but there was nothing I could do. I was engaged to you, I’d made a promise to build a family with you, stay together forever with my best friend.

And even if we hadn’t been together, my family would never accept a male Omega mate for me.

It went against their designs for their Alpha son.

” He spits the last words, and all I feel is… sympathy.

“But once Sam and I…” he swallows nervously.

“All he would say to me over and over was that I had to tell you. He’d ask me, ‘What if your places were swapped? What if it was you in love with her, and she was pretending to be someone she’s not?

’” His head shakes, voice cracks. “But I was a coward. And now I’ve lost everything. ”

I blink at him.

“I lost my best friend. Sam won’t even speak to me,” he says on a sob.

“And I lost my job when my boss caught us. Then my parents told me to make you forgive me.” His anger is palpable.

“Instead of accepting what had happened—accepting me —they wanted me to go right back to living a lie, hurting everyone around me.” His face drops into his palms, and this time he does speak looking down.

“I’ve hurt everyone I love. I lost everyone I love. ”

I take a deep breath, reach out and take one of his hands from his face, holding it in mine with care.

“Steve. You need to be who you are.” My head shakes.

“I am more hurt that you kept this from me. The cheating hurt, yes, but we were best friends since we were kids. If there was anyone you could have told while we were growing up that you liked men, it was me.” I squeeze his hand, tears swimming in my eyes.

“I would have accepted you. Supported you. I would have fought for you.” I choke on a sob.

“Even though I was head-over-heels in love with you, I would have understood if you were just honest with me.” My head shakes, sorrowful.

“But you lied instead. Used my feelings to manipulate me to make your life easier.” I squeeze his hand, our gazes locking as tears stream down his face, shoulders shaking. “But I understand, in a way. I think.”

I peer over my shoulder at my Alphas, watching me, us, intensely, then I turn back. “Those three Alphas over there?”

Steve peers over my shoulder briefly, scared, and nods.

“They’re my pack.”

His eyes go wide. “Pack?”

I nod in confirmation. “We’re scent-matches, all of us, like you and Sam.”

His expression is filled with awe, lips parted as he looks from me, to my Alphas, and back again. “A scent-matched pack,” he breathes. Then a smile breaks across his face. “Violet. I’m so happy for you.”

I can’t help the tears from flowing now. Gratitude blooms inside me, along with this hope that we may be able to move beyond what happened, reignite our friendship. It doesn’t feel wrong, so how could it be?

Steve lived his whole life as a lie. He hurt me, yes, but honestly, he hurt himself much more.

“I’m so sorry for what I did to you, Vi. So, so sorry.” He presses his lips between his teeth. “I can never ask your forgiveness. I won’t because I don’t deserve it. But I had to find you, at least try to tell you why I did something so terrible. Why I destroyed our relationship.”

I pat his hand before taking mine back with a sad smile. “Steve, I want you to be happy. As your friend.”

He starts, eyes going round. “Friend? You’d still consider me a friend?”

“On one condition.”

He stares silently, waiting.

“You need to be true to yourself from now on. No more lies. Not to you, me, or anyone.” I smile. “It isn’t like you have anything to lose now, right?”

He starts sobbing loudly into his hands now. Beneath the crying, I hear, “I want you to be happy, too. More than anything.” He looks up, face wet with tears. “I don’t deserve your friendship anymore.”

“None of that,” I say with force. “We’re going to start over, right? We’re going to become friends again, and you’re going to start a new life. A free life.”

Steve begins to sober, and Will tiptoes over with some tissues that he leaves on the table. I smile in thanks as he rushes off again before Steve wipes and blots his face.

“Where are you staying?” I ask.

He sniffles. “At the hotel by the lake. I booked one night.”

“I want you to stay a few days longer.”

He’s beyond surprised.

“I think taking the time to stay away from Los Angeles and everything that happened there will be good for you. Decompress.” I wave a hand.

“I want you to clean up, too. It will make you feel better. I’m not saying to be all buttoned-up business again, but do something that makes you feel good in your skin, okay? ”

He nods slowly.

“Let me and my guys take you out tomorrow afternoon. We’ll show you around the town. It’s supposed to be a beautiful day.”

Steve hesitates, and I grin.

“Don’t worry about them,” I gesture with my head behind me. “They’ll be okay after I talk to them.”

“If you’re sure,” he says with a weak smile. “Thank you, Violet. This was much more than I’d dared to expect when I drove here.”

“How’d you find me, anyway?”

His wince turns to a grimace. “I may have begged Rebecca to tell me where you went in the most uncomfortable and un-manly manner possible.”

I choke on a laugh.

We sit together for another ten minutes or so, having a couple of laughs here and there, before Steve yawns, says he’s going to head back.

“Do you want me to walk you to the hotel?”

His head is shaking as he rises, a glimmer of the old, more assured Steve making an appearance. “Not necessary. But thank you.”

“Okay. Sleep well, and I’ll call you in the afternoon to make plans.”

He smiles down at me, then he waves at my Alphas, at Will, and is gone.

I grab my phone from my pocket and hit Bec’s contact pic. I let her think I’m mad that she told Steve where I was, giving me a bit of leverage for the favor I’m about to ask.

Then I drop the bombshell.

After a game of Twenty Questions, we end the call with her promise to text me soon.

I rejoin my Alphas at the table in the back, dropping into my seat with a sigh. I begin to relay the story to them, tell them the details of what happened, what Steve had been hiding his whole life, when my phone chimes with Bec’s text tone.

“One sec,” I say, opening the message to see that, as always, she’s come through for me.

With a smile, I tap the phone number she sent me. After two rings, a man answers.

“Hello, Sam? This is Violet Marshall.”