Page 105 of Knot Your Business

“Can the guys get enough time off?” she asks.

“Jasper and Rylan are on summer hiatus. And Dominic doesn’t really need to request time off.” I hold my breath, waiting to see if she’ll ask about what job could possibly not need time off. When she doesn’t, I say, “Besides, it’ll keep my mind off of all these graduate program applications I have out that don’t have special parameters for newly matched Omegas. I won’t find out until August on some of them. You’re so fucking lucky already knowing you’ve gotten into your top choices, girl.”

She laughs, light and bright, and I smile at being able to smooth over her worries even from several thousand miles away. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll chat with the guys and let you know, all right?”

She hums, and a man murmurs something too low for the phone’s mic to pick up.

Probably for the better, anyway, since Faedra’s breathless when she says, “We need to go. Send me pictures of his make-up present!”

“Of course,” I say, smiling, letting her happiness embolden my own.

Jasper hums as I set down my phone. “How are you feeling?” he asks, his voice soft.

I breathe in the smell of his cologne, leaning my head against his shoulder. “Good. Tired. I’m typically tired coming out of a heat, though. Cautiously happy about signing the final paperwork later.” He nods and wraps his arm around my waist. I swallow around the lump in my throat again. “Nervous to bring up the elephant in the room.”

He hums and squeezes my waist. “Let’s start with a nap. We can talk about Sienna’s bullshit when you’re not feeling so out of it.”

Sienna’s bullshit.

He knows. Do the others know, too? Jasper isn’t one to keep secrets. I’m sure he told them as soon as he figured it out. I pull away from him, trying to gauge how he feels about all of it. His eyes are hard, his jaw tight enough that a muscle ticks in his cheek.

“Let’s get you rested and feeling better, and then we’ll talk about it,” he says again, urging me to my feet. “It’ll wait until this evening.”

Forty-Nine

JASPER

Violet’s more nervous than when she ate lunch, though she’s doing a really good job of hiding it. She twists a finger in the corner of her napkin and hums to the low music playing in the restaurant’s speakers. Maybe it’s because we took her out somewhere public, though the secluded table at Dominic’s favorite restaurant is hardly the place to find wandering eyes. Maybe she’s worried about talking about the fundraising event. Or maybe it’s the unsigned match finalization that has her so anxious she won’t even look at us.

I reach across the table and squeeze her hand.

“You good?” I ask her.

Her gaze snaps to me, her cheeks darkening with a blush. She nods and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

“I’m fine,” she says.

Rylan leans into her, letting his shoulder brush hers as he palms her thigh. His throat is still covered in hickeys that he didn’t even try to hide, but so is Dominic’s where he sits beside me. Every single one she put on me is low enough I can hide it with ease. A flash of heat shoots down my spine at the memories of her putting them there over the last few days.

I force my mind away from the thought. We’ve had a six day sex-fest. There’s absolutely no reason to be consumed with more right now. Besides, I only get to watch her sign this document once. I want to fucking enjoy it without a boner distracting me.

The waiter drops off our ordered drinks and appetizer before disappearing into the rest of the restaurant, sliding the frosted glass door closed behind him.

Violet blows out a breath.

“I know that you guys planned this so signing the finalization feels special,” she says.

Rylan smirks even as Dominic raises an eyebrow.

“And the fact that you guys managed to thread the needle between public enough I feel special and private enough I don’t feel like it’s just a damn display is impressive.” Her voice goes a bit ragged as she continues. My chest loosens at the compliment, and I take a quick sip of water. “But I can’t sign it.”

I choke. Dominic runs his hand down my spine as I try to calm my sore throat without making a giant scene. Rylan leans back, his eyes just as wide and shocked as I’m sure mine are. Before any of us can decide what to say to break the awkward as fuck silence, Violet grimaces, her nose scrunching.

“Shit, that came out wrong,” she groans. She drops her head into her hands, rubbing at her eyes as she takes a deep breath. When she drops them back to her lap, she laces her hand with Rylan’s and looks first at Dominic and then me. “I meant that I can’t sign it until we talk about Saturday. I can’t have my mom hanging over this memory.”

Dominic clears his throat and leans forward, resting his elbows on the table and his chin on his clasped hands. I rest my hand on his thigh, and he hums, his purr kicking to life for the first time in days. More of the nerves fall away from me.

“All right,” Rylan says. “We’ve figured out that she’s the one who did it. And we’re marginally sure as to why she thought something like that was excusable. What I don’t understand is why she thought Fuckboy Extraordinaire was a better match for you than us.” He smirks and brings her hand to his lips, kissing her wrist. “But I’m probably biased.”

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