Page 29 of Knot a Chance in Hell

The kettle whistled, and I went back to the kitchen to see Silas enter from the hall at the same time. His black hair was mussed and hung partially in front of his face, but it didn’t hide the bruise over his left eye and the row of stitches through his eyebrow. What happened? Did he get hurt at work? And why did I want to rush over to take care of him?

We stared at each other. Ten seconds. Twenty. Nearly thirty.

“Hi.” I managed to break the taut silence and felt his glare whack back at me like a snapped elastic band. No way was I going to let him intimidate me or ruin my day. Lifting the kettle off the stove, I turned the burner off and motioned to the kettle. “I was just about to have some tea. Would you like some?”

Silas furrowed his brows and shook his head before coming into the kitchen. “I’m having coffee.”

I nodded and poured hot water into my waiting teacup. Glancing at him again, I spotted a few more bruises, and theknuckles on his right hand were raw and swollen. My heartbeat quickened. “Are you okay? What happened?”

He popped a K-cup into the machine and switched it on as he snatched a mug to put under the nozzle. Folding his arms, he shot me a dirty look. “Don’t act like you care.”

“I don’t like seeing anyone hurt.” I dunked my teabag and then let it sit. Why did he always have to be so sour? I shouldn’t care that he was hurt, but I did. Much more than I expected I would. The washing machine at the far end of the kitchen whirred and started to lightly thunk. “Not even you.”

“Whatever.” Silas rolled his eyes. “If you don’t like seeing anyone hurt, why are you still here? You’re ruining our lives, about to leave a trail of broken hearts.”

I wasn’t going to bite. He wanted me to argue with him, to get angry and blow up. He wanted me gone. “I’m serious. What happened to you?” Then I realized Kodiak and Ezekiel weren’t here, but Silas was. Oh no. My chest tightened with anxiety, and I grabbed the edge of the counter to steady myself. “Was there an accident in the Tongass? Is anyone else hurt?”

“No,” he snapped. He held up his injured hand. “Does this look like an accident? I was in a fight. The fucking doctor made me take the rest of the week off work.”

Relief sloughed roughly off me, but my shoulders were still tense. Ezekiel had mentioned Silas stayed in town when they came back to Petersburg yesterday. The washer thumped harder as it spun echoing my heart. “Did someone attack you?”

Silas snorted and glared at the washing machine before turning his cold gaze back to me. “No one would be dumb enough to do that.”

While he wasn’t built as broad as Kodiak, Silas was still a big man. He also had an intensity about him that the other two Alphas didn’t. The only time his aura didn’t scream danger was when he rescued me from the storm. Where was that man?

Right now, though, he was being purposely dickish. “So you’re sayingyoustarted a fight? Why?”

The washer picked up speed with its unbalanced thumping. Silas started towards it. “Why the fuck not? It’s not any of your business.”

The loud noise and his shitty attitude broke my patience. I slammed a hand on the counter. “No, it’s not any of my business, but I’m trying to be friendly. You’re like a brother to Ezekiel and Kodiak. I don’t want things to be bad between us. Even if you don’t like me, you can at least try to be civil instead of a raging asshole.”

“A raging asshole?” Silas yelled and turned to tower over me, his hands clenching into fists. His eyes darkened and face reddened. “I’ll gladly wear the title if you acknowledge your Princess Homewrecker crown.”

I stomped my foot, matching his furious glare. “I’m not trying to wreck anyone’s home! I came here to make a good life. It’s not my fault that I’m compatible with KodiakandEzekiel. I didn’t plan that. I don’t even know how to deal with it!” My voice rose, and as I sucked in a breath, I drank in his rich scent of forest, fury, and fucking. Oh shit. Slick drenched my panties. “I’m trying to deal with things as best I can with as little chaos…” Yeah, right. Chaos was me wanting to jump on this fierce Alpha and impale myself on his big cock. “As possible. I don’t like hurting people!”

The anger which had darkened his eyes turned into something else. A desperately hungry glimmer which seemed to pull our bodies together. We leaned in, inches apart.

A clattering noise interrupted as the lid to the washer flew open and soapy water splashed out. The machine kept spinning and sloshing water onto the floor.

“What the hell?” Silas tore away from me and ran for the washer. He slipped and just barely avoided falling by catching the edge of it. “What’s in here? You can’t fill it this full!”

Oh God. I didn’t want him to see the soiled bedding. Rushing over, my slippers were immediately soaked and I slid, crashing into him. A swirling wave of water leapt out to splash us. “Leave it! I’ll fix it.”

“No! You clearly don’t know what you’re doing. You could bust the machine with this much stuff in there!” Silas growled and was slapped in the face by another spurt of soapy water.

I reached across the open washer to punch the cycle button off, but it didn’t respond. The spinning drenched me from head to toe. I spit out water and shrieked. “It won’t stop!”

Lunging for the lid, my feet went different ways and Silas caught me before I hit the floor. He leaned to the wall and yanked the plug out. The washer immediately stopped spewing out water, and the drum slowed to a wobbling stop.

Silas and I remained motionless, breathing heavily, as if waiting for the machine to suddenly go berserk again. My body thrummed as if it were hit by lightning and the sizzle of it still zipped through my veins. A tremendous ache between my legs made me shudder.

We slowly turned our heads to look at each other.

Water dripped from his devilishly handsome face and slicked his dark hair back. His white t-shirt was nearly translucent, clinging to his chiseled body. The hazy outlines of tattoos could be seen under it on his upper arms and chest. Rude as he was, he was ten times as hot.

In one smooth motion, he pushed me back against the washer and kissed me with the force of a geyser eruption. I could feel the split in his lip and the heat of his breath. More so, I could feel the hard length of his cock pressing against my abdomen.

If I thought what I’d felt with Ezekiel and Kodiak was intense, this was impossibly so. My whole self melted against him, soaking us further with my slick. I grasped at him, whimpering. I had to have him. Every cell in me screamed I would die if he didn’t take me right now.

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