Page 9 of Knottily Ever After (Crescent Lake Cozy Omegaverse #1)
Chapter Nine
Violet
I dreamed of V-cuts, tattoos, dimples, and dicks.
What is happening to my life right now?
If anyone had asked me this time last year where I thought I’d be right now, living with three of the hottest men on the planet would not have been within a thousand mile radius of my response.
I probably would have said “Planning my wedding to Steve,” or something just as Better Homes & Gardens as that.
Then again, I don’t think I’d ever have put “top ten bestselling author” on my list, either.
I hate that Steve has ruined for me what should have been the most amazing time in my career.
Or, I guess, I let him ruin it.
Why did I give him so much power in life?
He’d been my best friend for as long as I could remember. I’d trusted him. My parents had trusted him! He betrayed me, as well as their legacy.
“Why did he do this to us, Remy?” I ask my antique typewriter, which sits on the end of the desk in my bedroom.
Remy, ever the sturdy and silent type, just stares at me with those etched 12’s on either side of his aged type-bars.
Judgmental bastard.
Beside my laptop, my phone rings with a familiar custom ringtone, making me jump. I don’t need to look at the screen to know who it is, but I do anyway.
Steven.
Anger washes over me from head to toe, and my jaw sets. He has some nerve…
But I don’t want him to keep calling, so I tap the screen to answer on speaker.
“What do you want?” I say through gritted teeth.
“Violet!” he cries, as though he’s eternally relieved that I’ve answered.
I’d deleted the hundreds of texts and countless voicemails he’d left me, not reading or listening to any of them. I didn’t care what he had to say.
“Where are you?”
I bite back a laugh. “That’s none of your business.”
“I need to talk to you,” he says, his voice cracking like I’ve never heard before. “I need to explain—”
“I don’t want to hear it, Steven.” Unwanted emotion builds in my chest, and I begin to whisper-shout.
“You were my fiancé. My lover. My best friend for over twenty years!” I choke on a breath, trying to calm myself.
“You’re a liar, and I don’t care what you want anymore.
If you contact me again, I will block you. ”
I hang up on him with a tap on my screen.
Not at all satisfying.
I know I should block him right now. He deserves worse than that. But the memory of our friendship stops me.
Maybe I’m a fool.
Unable to put words on the page as I’d intended, I stand, slip my phone into my pocket with some cash and my keys, then head downstairs.
The apartment isn’t connected to the brewery’s interior, which is nice for security.
I go down the stairs to the private back parking lot and use the locked pedestrian gate to pass through to the sidewalk, which takes me to the storefront. The jingling bell signals my entrance to the brewery, and Vaughn steps in from the back room, greeting me with a smile and that dimple.
I do my best to return the smile, but I know my heart isn’t in it as I sit at the bar.
It’s Saturday afternoon, and there are several patrons seated at the other end of the bar, four people seated together at one of the tables in the back.
“Hey,” Vaughn says as he approaches me. “Taking a break from your work?”
I sigh, my upper body collapsing in on itself. “More like it’s taking a break from me,” I grumble. Then I force another smile when I look up at him and ask, “What’s good today, fine gentleman?”
Vaughn laughs as he gestures to the board. “We still have the apricot wheat, but if you want to try something new reminiscent of it, I have a new grapefruit wheat I just tapped this morning.”
I clap my hand on the bar. “Sold!”
His dimply-grin is infectious as he grabs a coaster and napkin, slides them over to me, then reaches under the bar for a pint glass and heads for the stainless steel wall behind him. He returns with yet another perfect pour, this beer peach in color, the foam tinted light pink.
“ Oooh,” I sing, inspecting the look of it before taking a sniff and sighing with glee. “I already know this is going to be amazing,” I tell him before sipping, my eyes lighting up with joy. “And I was, as always, right.”
Vaughn laughs again before leaning on the bar, his perfectly styled brown hair brushed back like usual, not a strand out of place. Those steel eyes hone in on me with curiosity. “So, what’s up?” His voice is calm, cool.
I grimace slightly and sigh again, then decide that there’s no harm in telling the truth. I mean, we’re living together—for now—and who knows if it will come up again? It only seems fair.
“So, you know how I came here from L.A.?”
Vaughn nods in confirmation.
“I didn’t come here to write my book. Not exactly.” I fidget a bit in my seat, take another sip of the fabulous beer. “The day before I left, I caught my fiancé screwing his assistant.”
Vaughn is frozen, his eyes as hard as their color as he looks at me, gaze dips to my ring finger, then back to my face. “Your fiancé cheated on you?” His tone is low, dangerous, and it makes me shiver.
I give an affirmative nod. “I’d made it onto the bestseller list and went to his office for an impromptu celebration.
Walked in on them in his office.” I shake my head like trying to rid it of the memory.
“Anyway, I knew I needed to get as far away from my old life as possible, for as long as I could manage. I remembered seeing a tourist ad for Crescent Lake, and…” I wave my arms slightly, like, “here I am.”
Vaughn, though… he’s not smiling anymore. His gaze passes through me, and I can almost see the thoughts running around his brain. It’s like he’s taking this personally.
“Hey.” My voice is soft as I place my hand on his forearm. “I’m going to be okay. No need to be more angry than I am about it.” My smile is genuine this time, his anger doing something unexpected to me. Warmth builds in my chest when his hand lays on top of mine.
“There is no excuse for an Alpha cheating on his Omega.” He’s dead serious, but his tone is smooth, like there’s a hint of a soothing purr somewhere deep in it. Then, his tone turns harsh once more as he utters, “He should pay the price for his actions.”