Page 2 of Knot Yours

Kai bends his knees, bracing for the impact and backward roll like I showed him. Piper latches onto his arm, swinging her head back and forth. If not for the reinforced sleeve of the bite suit, Kai would risk losing everything below his elbow.

“Aus!” I yell, German for let go.

Piper responds immediately, releasing Kai’s arm. She trots back to my side, her head on a swivel because she’s still on guard. Meanwhile, Kai is still on the ground, air sawing in and out of his lungs. I’m sure his heart rate is more than slightly elevated.

I tell Piper to stand down in Czech. “Odejít.”

The trained killer transforms back into a loyal pet on the spot, and I kneel beside her. “Good, girl.”

Kai groans and then starts laughing. “What’s so funny?” I ask him as I stand and offer him my hand because the bite suit is damned heavy.

Kai is breathing hard, and his damp hair is stuck to his forehead. “Fuck, Spatch. Couldn’t you just get a dog that plays fetch like normal people?”

The man jokes, but he knows Piper isn’t just a pet. She’s a highly trained service dog that moonlights as a police dog slash bodyguard. When she’s not working out at Knot Corp or pulling me back from the brink, we work as a team, taking calls for rescue and bomb detection for local law enforcement.

With Kai on his feet, I offer, “Turn around, and I’ll get this thing off you.”

I remove the suit and start to drape it over my shoulder. “No, let me carry it. If anyone sees me whining, I can show it to them as an excuse.”

Cade joins us, laughing. “You should have seen your face,” he teases Kai.

Kai flips him off. “You try standing in front of a saber-toothed bullet the size of a freight train and see how you like it.”

The four of us walk out, with the two men dropping off the bite gear at my Land Rover.

“Thanks, guys. I’ll see you next week.”

“Not if I’m in therapy for nightmares,” Kai tosses over his shoulder.

I open the back hatch for Piper and laugh because she knows what’s coming. The dog is a different animal than the one in the woods. Her head rests on her front paws, but her ass is in the air, wiggling in anticipation. She’s like a puppy begging for a treat instead of a trained killer.

Piper gets rewarded for a job well done, and her favorite is an ugly gorilla chew toy. I toss the purple thing in front of her, and she pounces. She’ll get to play with it during the trip home, and he gets put back up for the next time.

With Piper playing happily in the back, I steer us toward home. I haven’t gotten far from the Knot compound security gate when my phone rings. The name of my property manager shows on the truck’s display, so I hit the button to answer. “Shannon.”

“Austin, you’re sounding unusually chipper this afternoon.”

My lips curl in a slight smile at her sarcasm. “What’s up?”

“I have some odd news for you. Arlie Mertz just stopped by in a moving van and bought out the remainder of his lease… in cash.”

A picture of the old man’s face flashes in my head. He’s lived in that unit for the last six years. “You’re kidding.”

The old man still had five months on his lease and was expected to renew again. “Did he say why?”

“Not a word. He said thanks and took off. I was just as shocked as you are. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what’s going on. I’ll call in a cleaning team and get the unit relisted by Wednesday.”

“Wait on that. I mean, get the cleaning crew out, but don’t make the unit available. That side has been needing some upgrades for a while. I’ll use this window and sudden influx of funds to get in there and do them.”

“Sounds good. When you’re finished, I’ll come out and take new pictures. That duplex is in a great area and will rent quickly, especially once it’s updated.”

“That’s the idea.”

“By the way, you need a hand with any of that hard labor?” she purrs.

I shake my head, knowing Shannon is only half kidding. The half she’s kidding about is the labor. She’s drop-dead serious about me being hard, or at least that’s her goal. “No thanks.”

It’s not the first time the svelte real estate broker has come on to me, just like it’s not the first time I’ve turned her down. It’s become a running joke. Whether that’s a bad thing or not, I don’t know. I’ve never accepted her offer for no-strings sex, and by now, she knows I never will.

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