Page 8 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

My best friend squeezes me tighter for a moment, then drops a kiss on the top of my greasy, stringy hair. “Yep. And I brought all of your favorite products so you can feel normal again.”

I should ask how she got all of my favorite products. They aren’t cheap. And while Florence isn’t totally poor or anything, she’s not flush with cash. She lives with her mother and little sister in an old townhouse that they can only afford because it’s been rent controlled since the eighties, when Moira moved in with her then husband.

But I’m too tired to question it and I have a feeling I won’t really like the answer. My brain flickers to all the things I left at the Calloway pack house and then away. It’s more than possible that they brought my stuff to me, and I’m not fully ready to think about them yet. I’d like to bask in this post heat fuzziness for a while longer, before I have to face the reality of what happened.

Ren climbs off the bed and helps me to my feet, hovering nearby to catch me if I need it, but I don’t. I feel a little weak, a little woozy, but beyond my head, I don’t feel too bad. She stays with me as I climb in the shower, perching her butt on the counter as I slowly but methodically clean the heat sweat from my body.

My fingers brush over scratches and cuts, bruises where I’d undoubtedly slammed into hard surfaces as I tried to drag myself to safety. When I shut off the water, Ren is right there with a towel, wrapping it tight around me, helping me to dry off, being extra careful of my injuries.

“Are you okay getting dressed by yourself?” She asks, squeezing the water from my hair with a second towel.

I nod. “I think so.”

“Good.” A kiss presses to my cheek. “I’m gonna let a nurse know you’re awake and clean. They’ll want to check your injuries and, um, discuss what was done with you.”

Another nod as she leaves the bathroom. Wincing every so often, I pull on a pair of loose sweatpants and a t-shirt that smells like bleach and astringent, and then shuffle back to the bedroom, to find a nurse already in the room, quickly changing the sheets. She smiles when she notices me. “Oh, sorry. I thought it would be best to get these changed while you’re up and about. I’ll just be a moment if you want to take a seat.”

I do. I really do.

She chuckles. “I don’t blame you. You’ve been through the ringer.”

I guess I said that out loud. I shuffle to the chair Ren was sitting in earlier. And watch as the nurse finishes up with the sheets. When she’s finished, she helps me back under the covers and plumps the pillows. Then she spends a few minutes checking my vitals.

“We’ve had quite a few alphas try to visit you,” the nurse says, fingers pressing into my pulse point. “Miss Karlin assured us you wouldn’t want them here, so we’ve kept them away. But I want to just verify with you she was correct.”

I swallow and nod. “She was.”

Her brows jump. “You don’t know their names.”

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t want any alphas near me. At least not any of the ones who would come looking for me like that. But especially, Frederick Bell.”

Her gaze sharpens on my face. “The senator?”

I nod and lean against the pillows. “That’s the one.”

The nurse hums and carefully sets my hand down. I could go into it, tell her everything, all the reasons I need him to stay away from me, but I also don’t feel like rehashing it at the moment. If I need to explain myself, I will, though.

Her lips purse into a tight line, and then she nods. “Okay, I’ll let everyone know. I take it that also applies to Creed Calloway?”

I frown. “Just Creed?” Why not the entire Calloway pack? I push the hint of pain aside and remind myself of the scorecard, the proof that I never actually meant anything to them. A game. Only a game.

She presses a stethoscope to my chest. “Mmm, I believe the entire pack showed up, but they left shortly after. Creed is the only one who stayed.” She pauses and looks down at me. “I have to say he looks wrecked.”

“I don’t really care how he looks.”Lies. Lies. Lies.I care too much. The thought of him sitting out in the waiting room, slumped in a chair, waiting for the chance to see me makes my heart do a crazy little flip in my chest.

Another of those knowing hums. “Well, he hasn’t left the entire time you’ve been here. We’ve been bringing him food and coffee from the cafeteria. He’s hardly even gotten up to use the bathroom.”

“I don’t care,” I repeat. Maybe if I say it enough times, I’ll believe it.

She opens her mouth like she’s going to say something else, but at that moment the door opens and a man wearing a white jacket and scrubs steps in, followed by Ren. My best friend plops down into the chair she’d been sitting in before while the doctor looks over what I assume is my chart.

“How are you feeling, Miss Bell?”

My fingers fidget with the blanket covering my legs. “Oh, about as well as can be expected, given the circumstances.”

He hums. “Yes. Circumstances it appears you brought on yourself.”

I straighten from the pillows and glance at Ren, who is too busy glaring at the doctor to notice. “Pardon?” I ask. “How didI bring this on myself?” He finally looks up from the tablet and pins me with a knowing look.

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