Page 33 of Knot Your Business

Her eyes snap to mine. “You’re not going to make me quit?”

I frown and lean back in the chair to keep from reaching for her.

“Not if you really want to work there. I mean, the finances of the pack are stable, so you don’t really have to.” Not even factoring in Dominic. Jasper and I are more than capable of supporting her financially. “But, again, your dad is richer than God, so I doubt you’re working there for the money.”

She taps her fingers on the mug.

“You noticed my piercing scar?” Her voice is damn near shy now.

Hell yeah, I have. It’s fucking hot. “Every time you scrunch your nose, it makes it more obvious.”

“I don’t think anyone has noticed it before,” she admits after a moment. “I got it freshman year on a dare like a month after move-in. Faedra got her first orbital piercing done. She still has hers. She likes to put little charms dangling from it to match her mood.”

Her lips tip up, and her shoulders relax. Faedra must be Fae, her roommate.

“Mom called the moment the first picture hit social media. It was the first time she’d really yelled at me over something I’d posted.” She purses her lips and rolls her eyes. “Oh, she’d made comments before that. Rude little asides about this person’s dress or that person’s makeup not being just right. But it had never been directed toward me. I was a mess for the entire week and pulled the piercing the moment she hung up on me.”

I hold back the growl by the skin of my teeth.

“I guess I should have realized she’d be awful about something like that, but…” She shakes her head. “She’d helped me through the worst event of my life that spring, so I thought maybe the nastier side of her had softened a bit, especially since Scarlett was gearing up for her matching gala. I was fucking wrong.”

Worst event of her life?

“What happened?” I ask.

That guarded look is back in a heartbeat.

“My heart got broken, that’s all,” she whispers after a bit.

A breakup? Wait. The spring before she started school would have been her senior year. I count back the timeline Jasper gave me, a knot growing in my stomach and a lump forming in my throat. It had to be the same event. So why did she talk like he was the one that fucked her over? His heartbreaking story certainly wasn’t something that he created himself.

I swallow back the questions. Now is not the time to insert myself into that.

She shakes her head and blows out a breath.

“Anyway, I used the facility last fall because my heat didn’t fall during the school break. It’s really difficult to get the work excused without an Alpha verifying that it was actually your heat. Or the Haven.” She scrunches her nose again, and I lean forward. “And hiding out in my room while Faedra continued on like normal just… sounded awful.”

“You didn’t have any interest in using the Haven before then?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “I didn’t even really want to match until after my heat in March.”

She purses her lips and takes a quick sip of her drink. An alarm goes off on her phone that she’s quick to silence.

“Everything all right?” I ask.

She nods. “I promised Faedra I’d be there when her call started tonight. I set a timer so I could make sure I’d be back in time.”

“You’re protective of her,” I murmur, grabbing her mug and helping her stand.

She nods as I put my chair back the way it had been. “Faedra’s amazing. Everyone needs someone in their corner that loves as fiercely and cares as deeply as she does. She’s… she’s my best friend.”

The admission falls out of her mouth, and then she glances at me, that same distrusting panic from before flitting across her face. I keep my touch on her light as I guide her out of the café and back onto the sidewalk.

“I’m excited to meet her properly,” I offer.

She’s quiet the rest of the walk, though she lets me intertwine our fingers again. Campus is just as busy as before. She hums and leads me a different way across, avoiding the large open pathway where F.E. ambushed her earlier. By the time we’re back in front of her door, I’m just about ready to ask her about the physical stuff. Not sex. I’m not an asshole. But kissing?

Fuck, I’ve wanted to kiss her for days.

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