Page 64 of Knot Baked Out For This
They all stop. Look at each other. Look at me.
"Goodnight, Hazel," they say in perfect unison, which is creepy but also kind of sweet, and then they're walking away together, leaving me standing in my doorway with pie trauma and feelings I don't know what to do with.
My phone buzzes immediately: Reverie.
REVERIE: THE ENTIRE TOWN IS LOSING THEIR MINDS. GRUNA-GATE IS TRENDING.
ME: There's no way Gruna-gate is trending.
REVERIE: Check the Oakridge Facebook page.
I do. I immediately regret it.
There's a video of the purple pie disaster. Photos of us tangled together. A slow-motion replay of Luca saying I'm “incredibly hot."
The comments are... extensive.
ME: Kill me.
REVERIE: Can't. You have to live to see how this plays out. Also, dibs on maid of honor for ALL THREE WEDDINGS.
ME: I hate you.
REVERIE: You love me. Also, #TeamAllThree is winning the poll.
ME: What poll?
REVERIE: The one about which Alpha you should choose. Though there's a strong write-in vote for "why choose" that I definitely didn't start.
I lock my phone, lock my door, and sink to the floor.
Three Alphas. One traumatic pie contest. An entire town is watching.
And somehow, despite the chaos and embarrassment and purple pie trauma, I'm...
Happy?
Fuck.
I'm definitely in trouble.
But maybe—watching the sun set through my window, tasting grape and tuna in my traumatic sense memory, feelingphantom warmth where three different Alphas almost touched me—maybe trouble isn't always bad.
Maybe it's just another word for adventure.
Or disaster. Probably a disaster.
But I'm smiling anyway.
CHAPTER 11
Firelight And Confessions
~HAZEL~
The Firelight Fundraiser: where small-town charity meets large-scale humiliation opportunities.
The firehouse glows against the October evening like something out of a Hallmark movie, if Hallmark movies included sexual tension thick enough to choke on and the perpetual threat of social media documentation. Strings of Edison bulbs crisscross the station yard, casting everything in warm amber light that makes even the concrete look romantic.
