Page 104 of Knot Your Business

He places the plate in front of me and sets my phone next to it.

“Faedra texted on Monday when she got back from her trip,” he says, kissing my cheek. “I let her know you were in heat and you’d check in when you surfaced.”

I ignore just how teary my eyes have gotten. I’m not a fucking crier. We’ll blame the heat. Especially since it was forced.

Nerves claw up my throat at the memory of my mother at the event. I shove them down, swallowing around the lump, not wanting to ruin the mood with the reality of why I was in heat at all.

I send Faedra a quick update. Not even two minutes later, my phone flashes with her call.

I push away the last half of the sandwich, offering it to Jasper. He takes it with an easy smile. After wiping my hands on the towel Dominic tosses to me, I answer the phone.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so glad you’re okay,” Faedra says once I’ve offered a greeting. Her words are fast and nearly manic like her mother’s often are. “We headed off for our trip on Saturday, and I had my phone off. The panic I felt when I got that text late on Monday? For Jasper to then say you were in heat? Fuck, Vi, do not do that to me again.”

“Sorry,” I say, chuckling. “I’ll make sure I don’t accidentally end up in a forced heat while you’re out of town next time.”

Dominic’s growl is loud enough that Rylan’s soft guitar playing cuts off for a heartbeat. Faedra doesn’t say anything, going so quiet that it’s only the background noises of a crowd that tells me the call hasn’t dropped.

“I’m sorry, say all of that again but slower,” she says after a minute.

I repeat the sentence. Faedra chokes when I reiterate it being forced.

“Please tell me it wasn’t by him,” she says. “Oh my god, Vi. I will get on a plane right now. What the actual hell?”

Jasper kisses my shoulder again.

“It wasn’t him. I…”

I glance at Dominic and then Jasper. We haven’t actually talked about the whole my-mother-drugged-me thing yet. Do they know it was her? Are they waiting for me to bring it up?

Jasper whispers, “Authorities have it in hand.”

I nod and let my lips brush over his cheek.

“It’s still being sorted out. But I’m safe, so don’t you dare have that guilty look I know is on your face right now,” I say, firming my voice so she won’t fight me. There’s a loud cheer in the background. “Where even are you?”

“All right,” she says, drawing out the syllables in her suspicion. “I’m at a baseball game. Logan’s client is playing for the first time after being… Crap, I forgot the term. Called up? I think that’s right. He got moved from a lower team to the big team.”

Dominic rounds the counter, letting his hand brush along my shoulders before disappearing toward the bedrooms, his focus still on his phone. A minute later, the nearly silent sound of his shower filters down the hall.

“Does this mean he groveled enough that you’re not submitting to be matchless?” Faedra asks when I don’t say anything.

“It was a pretty impressive grovel,” I say. Jasper tenses but kisses my shoulder again. “It helps he did it shirtless. And some parts of it were in Italian. Have you ever been given a pet name in another language? It’s something else, Fae.”

Faedra laughs. “Oh my gosh, Vi. You’re wild.” There’s a short pause. “I wonder if Jude knows enough Latin,” she says, trailing off.

I toss my head back and laugh.

“You didn’t hear that,” Faedra says, and I just know her cheeks are bright red right now.

“He also said he’s getting me an apology present even though I said it’s unnecessary,” I offer, moving away from the topic.

“Good,” she says, fire in her voice. “As he should. I can’t even imagine how much that must have hurt. Just the thought of it has me freaking out.”

I hold back my cringe. It’s definitely not something I want to repeat ever.

“So now that the insanity of my week is resolved,” I say dryly. “Let’s move on to more fun topics. Like me flying out there for my birthday next month.”

Jasper raises an eyebrow but doesn’t immediately turn down the idea.

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