Page 52 of Believe it or Knot

Not enough to let Gage rip Liam’s head from his body, though, literally or metaphorically.

My best friend’s mouth opens, but no words come out and I cut him off swiftly. “Gage. No.” His dark blue eyes focus on me, jaw clenched, bent fork held in his hand like he’s planning on stabbing someone with it. “It’s fine. He didn’t mean it like that,” I say quieter, forcing a smile to my lips.

“Mean it like what?” The oblivious omega says, shifting uncomfortably.

“Like what Sorrel does for a living isn’t actual work,” Gage grits out. Rafe shifts, turning his body toward the alpha who is pumping out stress pheromones, like he’s getting ready to intervene, to fight, if he needs to.

Next to me, Liam’s eyes widen. “Oh, shit. No. I didn’t mean it like that. Of course I didn’t. I only… I really want you to come stay with us for a bit. I’m sorry if I belittled what you do, lovely. I didn’t mean it.”

I give him that forced smile and wave a hand in the air. “It’s fine. I understand. I mean, it’s not exactly rocket science, is it? It’s just flipping burgers, like you said.”

Liam scowls at me now, and a glance around the table shows all of them are looking at me with some kind of concerned or frustrated expression. It only makes me force that smile higher as I let out a laugh that even to my ears is fake as shit. “It’s fine! I’m under no illusions that what I do for a living is all that important.” I shrug and fiddle with my napkin. “But someone’s gotta do it. People need to eat.”

Gray catches my fidgeting fingers with his and brings them to his mouth, kissing the tips of them gently, before laying them back on the table, keeping hold of them. “I wish you wouldn’t do that, sweet thing,” he murmurs, thumb stroking over my hand while Liam is still looking at me with puppy dog eyes.

“What?” I question. “Tell the truth?”

“No, force a smile when you’re upset. You don’t need to do that with us.”

I frown and cast a glance at Gage, who is still gripping his fork, but he seems less inclined to violence now. Instead, he’s observing us, watching our interactions.

“I’m not,” I lie. “I’m fine.” Lie. What I really want to do is move on from this conversation. I want to go back to how it was before they invited me to the city. “But like I said, I’ll have to think about your invitation. I might not owe the Stillwell’s anymore, but I do still have bills that need to be paid, and I’m not sure that I can afford to hire more employees.”

“I fucked it up, didn’t I?” Liam mutters, slouching in his chair.

He looks so dejected that I can’t stay quiet. Reaching over to squeeze his knee, I reassure him. “No, you’re fine. You’re perfect. We all say things without thinking them through. If we crucified everyone who did that, well… you get the idea.”

“I’m not perfect,” he pouts. “Obviously.”

“No,” I drawl. “But you’re pretty close.”

The pout fades from his mouth and his gaze turns serious. “I’m really not, lovely. Don’t put me on a pedestal like that. I’m flawed.”

I frown, not really believing him. All the men at this table seem pretty perfect to me. That’s why I don’t think an actual relationship would work between us. I’m not anything special and they are so freaking perfect. It’s… well, painful.

Makes my heart ache.

They’re all staring at me intently, and I open my mouth to say something. What, I don’t know. But thankfully, I’m saved by Owen and our dinners. When we all tuck in, the conversation changes to other topics, likely they can all tell that I need a respite from the emotions of the last few minutes.

I relax into the conversation, into the group as the Cordova pack tells stories about their early years, hijinks on set, Liam’s song writing habits. I laugh at the appropriate times and smile. If anyone notices how the tips of my fingers rest on the new loan document, how my eyes keep straying to it, because I can’t quite believe that I’m free of the Stillwell pack, not one of them says anything.

Which I am so grateful for.

Even though they said they don’t want me to repay them, I’m going to find a way. Not just the money that I owe them, but some way to show them what this really means to me.

I have no idea what that will be, but I’m determined to find it.

Track 13: The Few Things

Once again, Liam begs me to stay the night with his pack, but I refuse. I’ve never been the type of girl to just jump into bed with a guy immediately. And to me, knowing each other for less than a week is pretty immediate.

They drop me and Gage at my house. His motorcycle is in my driveway, so he can get home from here. Silly really, since his parents’ pack lives in town and he’s currently staying with them. So he’ll come up to the lake and then turn right around and go back.

Liam presses a kiss to my mouth in parting, Rafe brushes his lips over my cheek and Gray pulls me in for a long hug, his nose in my hair.

Gage and I watch them drive away, my hands tucked into the pockets of my shorts, before I turn to my quietly stewing best friend. He has something on his mind. Something that is pissing him off to no end, and he won’t feel right until he gets it off his chest. “Wanna come in for a drink?”

His dark blue eyes fix on my aqua ones and he gives a jerky nod. “Yeah.”

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