Page 63 of Knot Her Reality

“Nope.” I shake my ass at her before grabbing my dress from where it hangs on the door to the closet. Stepping into it, I sigh as the deep green material brushes across my skin. It’s lightweight and silky—one of my favorite combinations for dresses.

This particular dress takes a few minutes to get on properly. I have to make sure that everything is sitting precisely where it should before having someone tighten the straps, or else I might end up with a wardrobe malfunction. The top of the dress consists of two pieces of material that cross over my stomach and breasts before it tapers off to a string that fastens behind my neck and runs down my back to fasten to the bottom of the dress that sits just above my butt. It leaves most of my back and sides bare with a good amount of cleavage on display. The draping of the dress continues into the skirt where it gathers at my right hip before spilling to the floor. When I walk, the nearly hip-high split will be obvious.

“Bree? Can you come and fasten the strings? Unfortunately, it’s not one I can fasten myself.”

Bree says nothing as she moves to stand behind me, reaching up to take the strings from me and fastening them at my neck. “Ummm… I assume this fastens somewhere else?”

“Yes, at the bottom of my back. You’ll need to pull the skirt away, and then you should see where to tie it off. Make sure it’s tight—we don’t want my tits falling out in the middle of the ceremony.” I snicker, picturing just that happening.

“Yeah, we can’t have that.” Bree laughs, making quick work of fastening the dress. “This looks amazing from behind.”

“It looks even better from the front.” Turning around, I run my hands down the material as I smile. With the loose fishtail braid Vivian put in my hair, along with the smoky eye and deep red lips Allison applied, I look damn good. “What do you think?”

Bree’s eyes widen as she runs her eyes over me. “Damn, girl. You’re going to have the suitors eating their tongues.”

“Perfect. That’s exactly the look I’m going for.”

She shakes her head and starts for the door. “Come along, then. We don’t want to keep them waiting.”

“Sure we do.” I snicker at the look she gives me over her shoulder, but I’m already following her. I only stop long enough to slide my feet into my heels. Since the ballroom is also on the first floor, it’s not like it’ll take us long to get there. But I’m also not willing to push Bree on it since she gets a little crazy over being late. She’s definitely one of those people who lives by the idea that being early is being on time. Personally, whenever I show up is the time I consider being on time—my time, that is.

That certainly won’t fly with Bree, so I don’t bother voicing my opinion on the matter. Instead, I follow her out of my suite and across the entryway, past the dining room, and down the hallway that’ll lead us into the ballroom. She stops just outside the doors where Reginald and Lucas wait for us.

“Looking good, Evie.” Reginald winks, groaning when Lucas elbows him. “I don’t need your elbow in my side. I’m allowed to tell a beautiful woman she looks good. It doesn’t mean I’m trying to get in bed with her—even Tyler would agree.”

Lucas smirks. “Maybe I just wanted to elbow you, beta. Though you are right about that. Evangeline, you look amazing.”

“Thank you both.” Heat rises to my cheeks, and I want to curse my body’s sudden need to blush anytime anyone compliments me. “Lucas, are you now guarding me inside the house as well?”

He chuckles, shaking his head. “Not exactly. Me and my guys will be working from the shadows during the rose ceremony. Both myself and Bree thought it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially since you’ve already had issues with multiple alphas.”

I want to object to this, but he’s right. After what happened with Sterling today, plus my accident last week, it really is better to err on the safe side. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.

“Thank you for looking out for my safety.” I take a deep breath, pushing my shoulders back as I stretch my neck from side to side. “Let’s do this.”

Bree pushes open the door, a reassuring smile on her lips as Reginald offers me his arm. Walking beside him, I let my eyes wander around the room. The ballroom is set up the same as it was last season, a raised stage in the center of the room with the suitors lined up around it on the floor. The curtains are open, moonlight shining in to help light the room. Fairy lights and LED candles are spread throughout the room to give it a warm glow.

Reginald leads me to the stage, not releasing me even when we walk up the stairs. As soon as our feet hit the stage, the lights on the stage come up, and I remind myself to smile as I look out over my suitors. It’s hard to make out details with the brighter lights shining in my eyes but as I adjust, I can make out their faces. Nerves flutter in my belly as I realize just how unprepared I am for this.

I might have told Bree I was mostly ready, but I’m really not. This is so much more than me just meeting twenty new people. This is about the rest of my life—the rest of their lives if I choose them. This is about forever, and with that thought, I feel a heavy weight on my shoulders.

Reginald leads us to the center of the stage, stopping beside the table that holds the vase of different colored roses. He pats my hand before releasing his hold on me and turning his attention to the cameras trained on us.

“Welcome back to Heated viewers. It’s time for this season’s first rose ceremony. Evangeline has met her twenty suitors and has been on a group date with them. Now, it’s time for her to decide what comes next for each of them. Evangeline, why don’t you explain what each color of rose symbolizes to our suitors and any of the viewers who might not know?”

When Reginald steps back, I move beside the table and reach for the first rose. “The red rose is the one that most of the suitors will hope to be handed at some point during this journey. It means that I choose that person to be mine—to be a part of my pack. The black rose is the one that most suitors dread as it means they’re being sent home. The lavender is an invitation for a group date, and the peach, an invitation for a one-on-one date. The yellow rose means that while I still want to get to know you better, there won’t be a date for you right now. The white rose is an invitation to my suite for the night.”

Taking a deep breath, I look away from the flowers I’ve been touching as I speak of their importance and focus on the suitors. “Before I start calling you up here, I’ve made some decisions on how I’d like my season to go. The rose ceremonies are held on Saturdays so I consider Sunday the first day of the week. Each Sunday, I want to spend the day as a group with all remaining suitors. A pack isn’t just about who I want and how I feel about them. It’s also about how they get along with one another. No one wants tension between pack members—or at least I don’t.

“So by having this singular day where we all hang out and get to know one another, it’ll allow all of us to see if being in a pack with one another is what we want.” I shrug. “Because it’s not just up to me. Each of you must decide if this is what you want as well. Tomorrow, we’ll play icebreaker games and get to know one another. By this point, you’ve all at least met one another. Maybe you’ve befriended other suitors and maybe you haven’t. This will be a chance for us all to get to know each other.”

Reginald steps forward again, drawing attention to him. “As all of you know by now, this season has been unlike either of the first two in so many ways. There are outside presences who are protesting Evangeline and the fact that she loves both men and women. This isn’t something that was expected when a bisexual omega was chosen for this season, but this will not prevent us from helping Evangeline find her pack. What it does mean is that we’ve added extra security for Evangeline’s safety.”

“Something I’m very grateful for,” I say with a tight smile. And I am grateful for it. I just wish it wasn’t necessary. “For those of you who believe that it’s wrong for a woman to love another woman, I see you and your hypocritical beliefs. Men are allowed to love men, but women can’t love one another? That’s an outdated opinion that I thought we’d long moved past. But don’t you worry because I’ll keep loving whomever I choose. You’ll be the ones who are miserable, not me. I’ll be living my life happily without another thought of you.”

I hadn’t been planning to call out the protesters like this, and I hope Bree doesn’t get pissed, but I felt like it needed to be said. I haven’t been able to voice my opinion until now, and that’s not fair. I won’t allow my voice to be muted. I won’t allow myself or others to be marginalized.

“No one can tell me what to do with my body—even if I’m just a weak little omega as some of you seem to think. This is who I am, and I’ll proudly shout it from the rooftops. You won’t stop me from finding my happily ever after.”

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