Page 24 of Knot Happening

“Twenty two dollars, Tatum,” Declan cuts me off mid-rant, and I wince, biting my lip.

“Oops,” I chuckle, pulling the money out of the thigh strap I wear to collect tips. I hand him enough cash for two, and he opens the locked top drawer of his desk. “That's actually really cheap. You must have access to a fuck ton of drugs to charge that price…” And then I catch myself. Shouldn’t have said that. He hands me the packets slowly, and I snatch it from his grip like he might change his mind and stuff them into my bra. Each of these has enough to get me through two weeks without the effects of my Omega going wild in this club full of Alphas.

“One more thing,” Declan says as I turn to flee.

“Yes?”

“One kiss.” His words are husky, and I gasp. My breathing picks up as my heart races, my body flushes with heat. A kiss? I can’t kiss Declan. He’s my boss! He’s an Alpha.

“On the cheek,” he adds, and I blink. My heart rate slowly returns to normal, and I nibble my lip, unsure. “One kiss on the cheek. I’ll never know what it feels like to be your Alpha, but… I want to know what your lips feel like against my skin.” The look of yearning I see in his eyes makes butterflies flutter in my stomach. His confession has my knees turning to jello as I fight to stay standing. I can’t kiss him, right?

“Okay,” I say instead, and move around to the other side of his desk, stepping between his parted legs when he turns to face me. My heart is pounding erratically now, the sound of blood rushes in my ears as my core fills with my slick.

My breath hitches as I lean in, my lips parted, and kiss him. I keep my eyes open, watching how he responds to my lips on his cheek. He’s warm and soft. My eyes fall shut as I let myself linger for just a moment.

I could almost imagine what it would be like, if he wrapped his arms around me right now. The faintest hint of his scent fills my lungs, and I let out a whisper of a whine before I catch myself.

“Thank you,” I say, when I pull away and step back. “Thank you, Declan. It means a lot.” And then I run for the hills like the brave Omega that I’m not. Heart still trying to break free of my rib cage.

Chapter Eleven

Hayden

Her scent lingers in Declan’s office, vanilla ice cream and blueberries. He’s blushing bright red, and there’s a lipstick imprint on his cheek. She kissed him?

I contain my smirk while choking down my jealousy, instead I scowl when I shut the door behind me. I’m about to mention the Beta I just caught scouting the first floor, but my brother interrupts.

“Leave Tatum alone. I don’t understand why you’re insisting on working as a bouncer–”

“To watch the floor, I told you.” I grumble, cutting Declan off mid-rant.

“But she expressed concerns about your attention. You’ve been out there less than five hours. Try to behave?” Declan ignores my words and turns back to the stack of papers on his desk. He’s never been great about closing the bond, so I can feel all of his emotions as he cycles through them.

The strongest being longing. I know he’s lonely. We all are. That's where the fiery little omega comes in. He doesn’t knowshe's the girl…the one from all those years ago. Once we bonded as a pack, I decided not to say anything. Never said her name. Never let them follow me on one of my late nights watching her.

Three years is long enough. But they deserve that moment of discovery, just like the one I had.

“Interesting. Maybe she prefers stoic Alphas that are incapable of going after what they want most?” I offer, and have to dodge a glass for my efforts. “Rude,” I chuckle, hustling out of his office. I’ll talk to him about the shady Beta I kicked out later. He needs to stew in his feelings for a while.

Once back out on the floor, I find her curvy form easily. It’s like I can always find her, no matter where she is, in every room. She’s my north star. My guiding light. My home.

She’s avoiding me. Switching shifts if she sees me on the schedule. Refusing to work in the areas I’m covering if she can’t swap with another one of the Muses.

Every day that goes by is like a punch in the gut. She barely looks at me. If I manage to corner her, she pretends I don’t exist until I get out of her way. It’s killing me.

And to top it all off, we’re still being targeted by an Omega that Kodiak can’t identify. All these resources, and he still manages to evade us. He’s only attacked once, when he blew up my brother's Jeep, but there are traces of him…hints of his scent. He’s putting innocent lives at risk, and that, above everything else, is what's pissing me off most. At least the Jeep incident was before Tatum started working here.

Not only that, but because Kodiak is so focussed on this other Omega, he hasn’t been around enough to notice Tatum.

If my brothers don’t come to their senses soon, I’ll have to do something drastic.

I am patient, but come on! I can help them along.

Now that she’s right in front of me…within reach?

Fuck.

They just need a little push. I could give Declan something to induce his rut. That might be going a little bit too far, though.

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