Page 118 of Knot Your Problem, Cowboy
“Don’t look at me like that,” I tell him, sinking to the floor among the chaos. “You’d lose it too if you saw some perfect blonde draped all over your Alpha.”
He meows and picks his way through the debris to curl up in my lap again.
“Okay.” I wipe my nose with the back of my hand. “Phone. Need my phone and an action plan.”
I stand, stepping carefully around the mess, and head to the living room. My handbag is where I left itthis morning, before the river, before Ridge, before everything went to hell.
In my desperation, I grab it too roughly. The whole thing tips over, contents spilling across the floor.
“Perfect!” I cry out, fresh tears flooding my eyes. “Just perfect! Could this day get any worse?”
My lipstick rolls under the couch. Receipts flutter like moths. Change scatters in every direction, coins spinning across the hardwood. A tampon escapes and rolls away.
The heat cramp that follows my rhetorical question nearly brings me to my knees. It’s like my uterus is trying to claw its way out of my body.
“Okay, okay,” I gasp, dropping to the floor to gather my things. “Message received, universe. Things can definitely get worse.”
I’m roughly shoving items back into my bag when my fingers close around a small plastic container. My heart stops.
I pull it out, hardly daring to hope. One pill rattles inside. One single suppressant, probably from my last heat months ago.
“Oh my God.” I clutch it like a lifeline. “Universe, I take it back. You don’t completely hate me.”
I immediately swallow the pill dry, nearly choking in my haste. Then I remember what they taught me at the heat clinic. Cold showers. Lots of them. The pill should kick in within half an hour, and the cold water will help manage my symptoms until then.
I stumble to the bathroom, stripping off Ridge’s flannel. It smells so much like him that it makes my heart ache. I throw it in the corner.
The shower is freezing. I gasp as the cold water hits my overheated skin, but I force myself to stand under it. Let it numb everything, the heat, the pain, the image of Brittany’s perfect body pressed against Cash.
I stay under the spray until my teeth chatter and my lips probably turn blue. When I finally emerge, I feel marginally more human. The suppressant is starting to work, pushing back the worst of the pre-heat symptoms. My thoughts are clearer, less clouded by hormones and rage.
But I need more suppressants. One pill won’t last long, and I can’t risk being caught without them. The drugstore in town should have the over-the-counter ones for pre-heat. They’re not as strong as the prescription pills, but they’ll help.
I dress quickly in my own clothes—can’t wear Ridge’s shirt, not now—and head outside. A ranch hand is loading feed into a truck nearby. Jake? Jay? Something with aJ.
“Hey!” I call out, trying to sound normal and not like my world is imploding. “Any chance you could give me a ride to town? Please? You don’t need to stay. I’ll get a ride back.”
He looks uncertain, glancing toward the main house. “I don’t know, miss. The bosses might?—”
“Please.” I know I sound desperate, but I am desperate. “It’s an emergency. Female emergency.”
His face goes red, and he nods quickly. “Oh. Oh! Yeah, sure. Of course.”
The ride to town is torture. He tries to make small talk at first, but I can barely string two words together. I stare out the window, watching the ranch disappear behind us, trying not to think about what Cash and Brittany might be doing now. Planning their date to the auction? Laughing at how easy it was to distract the poor city Omega while they make their real deals?
“You okay, miss?” the ranch hand asks as we pull up to Front Street.
“Fine,” I lie, already opening the door. “Thanks for the ride.”
“You sure you don’t need?—”
“I’m good. Thanks!”
I practically bolt from the truck, heading for the drugstore. My head stays down, eyes on the sidewalk, focusing on holding myself together until I’m out of sight.
My shoulder crashes into someone rounding the corner, jolting me into the glass of a storefront.
“Watch where you’re—” The words die in my throat.
