Page 47 of Knot Just Their Nanny
Ben is nowhere to be seen when I enter. Liam is washing his hands at the sink. He dries them on a tea towel and crosses over to me, wrapping his arms around me. I cling to him, and the world suddenly feels not right again, but not wrong either. I lean against him, hearing his heart beat in his chest, a steady rhythm that soothes me.
“I need to talk to him about Eddie,” I murmur, biting my lip.
Liam leans against the counter and crosses his arms. “Maybe give it a bit, yeah? Let him get his head together first.”
“Yeah.” But when will that be? I can’t take any chances that Eddie is on his way right now and will be beating the door down. Shaking my head, I pull away from Liam reluctantly. “No, heneeds to know now.” Before Liam can stop me, I bolt up the stairs and march down the landing to the end, where I knock firmly on the door, hoping he’s not already in the shower and can’t hear me.
“Go away,” he says. “Unless Mia needs me.”
“Mia is fine,” I say calmly. “But I need to talk to you.”
“I don’t want to talk.”
“It’s not about you, if that helps. It’s about me, and that phone call Liam took yesterday from my phone.”
Silence, and then the door opens. Ben glares down at me, now a different man from the one outside. “Oh?” he almost growls, and I panic. Maybe this was a stupid time to come to him.
“Uhm,” I fluster, and I see his nose pinch as my scent hits him in the face. “Maybe, I’ll come back.”
“Who was it?” he grits out, his tone pinning me in place.
“An alpha named Eddie Mowbray. He is my ex. I left him the day I came up here. He is not a nice man, and I wanted to get away from him. It’s one reason I was so happy when I got this job. It was a fresh start.”
He glares at me down his nose and my mouth goes dry. “What did he want?”
“He wants me back. But it’s not like that, I don’t think. He was a gaslighting narcissist who preyed on me while I was weak.”Why am I telling him all of this?
The change in his expression shocks me. He goes from pissed off and annoyed to understanding and almost resigned. “I know what that’s like,” he murmurs.
“So, you aren’t mad?” I venture after a pause.
He frowns. “Why would I be mad?”
“In case he tracks me down…”
His gaze goes hard again, and I gulp. “Is that a possibility? He knows where you are?”
“I don’t think so. There’s no way hecouldknow. I was dumb with my phone, and that’s how he got through to me. But that’s been resolved. But I needed you to know so you can be prepared if hedoesshow up.”
“He steps one foot near you; I will rip him to shreds,” he growls so ferociously that it takes everything I have not to step back from him. “Mia,” he says, his scowl deepening again. “I meant Mia.”
Blinking rapidly, I nod my head like an idiot. “Of course,” I murmur.
He lets out a huff and slams the door in my face.
“Great work, Zara. That went really well.”
I trudge back down the stairs, feeling like I’ve just walked through a tornado. Liam’s in the lounge, sitting on the sofa, fiddling with Mia’s soft toy, lost in thought. My heart twinges at the sight of him looking so serious.
“Everything okay?” he asks without looking up, his voice laced with genuine concern.
I slump down beside him and let out a long breath. “I think so. I told Ben about Eddie.”
Liam’s head snaps up, his brow furrowed. “And?”
“He said he’d tear Eddie apart if he came anywhere near Mia,” I say with a half-smile.
“Sounds like Ben.”
