Page 30 of Knot All Is Lost: Part 1

His shoulders shook with silent laughter, Oscar signed something to Bodhi that had the Beta swearing under his breath.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, must be nice you got to cuddle with the adorable Omega and get lots of good sleep to be so chipper, asshole,” Bodhi muttered as he got up from the bed, then reached out a hand for me. “Come on Cambi, looks like I’m making breakfast for everyone since I’m awake at the crack of dawn.”

Giggling at his misery I gripped his hand and let him pull me off the bed. He didn’t let go, so I trailed after him as he trudged down the steps. When we made it to the second floor I spotted Nixon sneaking out of what I think was Marius’s room.

He froze as he spotted us, his brows shooting up. “Ah… everything okay?”

Bodhi just grunted and tugged me along. I twisted to face Nixon as I called out. “We’re going to make breakfast, are you joining us?”

“To believe it, I’m gonna need to see it,” Nixon chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll be down once I get ready for work.”

I gave a wave before I had to pay attention to what was in front of me since Bodhi was determined not to slow down. He paused a moment before we got to the stairs and I crashed into him with a squeak.

“Good morning, everyone,” Rafael’s voice reached my ears.

I peeked out from behind Bodhi and saw the Alpha walking upstairs holding a mug of coffee.

“Good morning, Rafael,” I answered when Bodhi once again didn’t speak. I poked him in the ribs making him jump and look down at me.

“What?”

“It’s polite to say good morning when someone says it to you, in case you forgot,” I whispered as I tilted my head in Rafael’s direction.

“It’s all right Little One, Bodhi doesn’t speak to anyone so early in the morning. In fact, it’s rather a miracle that he’s awake since it’s normal for him to sleep till almost noon,” Rafael informed me.

My jaw dropped as I spun to glare at Oscar. “You dragged him out of bed this early when you knew he needed more sleep?”

Oscar grinned, pulled out his phone, typed something, then handed it over.

The man sleeps the day away all the time. He doesn’t need to sleep that late, he just likes to because he stays up playing video games. It will do him good to see a morning once in a while. Don’t let the grumpiness fool you, he just doesn’t like to show people how he really feels about things. He’s happy to be up to make you breakfast.

“If you say so,” I said not convinced but handed him back his phone.

Bodhi looked between me and Oscar, eyes narrowed. “I’m not gonna ask because you clearly didn’t want me to know, but don’t go saying unnecessary things, Oscar.” Bodhi’s tone was cold and unfriendly.

At his words Oscar looked hurt and dropped his gaze. “Bodhi!” I snapped. “Don’t you ever speak to him like that!”

“Cambi—”

“No,” I said, cutting him off. “Oscar is your best friend, right? A person who knows you well and would respect you enough not to tell secrets to a stranger?”

Bodhi paused for a moment looking at Oscar behind me. “Yes…”

“Then trust he wouldn’t betray you like that. I scolded Oscar for waking you up thinking you needed sleep, badly. He was telling me that wasn’t the case, you just like to stay up late by choice. Then you go and say mean things like that to him. If you should be mean or grumpy to anyone it should be me, I’m the reason you got yanked out of bed.” I ranted, anger that I hadn’t felt in a long time rose within me. “People who care about each other don’t tear each other down. At least not in front of me they won’t.”

Bodhi opened his mouth to say something, then stopped and looked around. At some point during my tirade everyone had come out of their rooms to see what was happening. My cheeks burned with embarrassment as I yanked my hand out of Bodhi’s grasp. Panic overwhelmed me as I realized I’d just yelled at one of the few people who’d been kind to me in years. Fight or flight hit me and I ran. I ran right down the hall past Oscar, Nixon, Spencer, and Marius to fly up the stairs and run to the room they let me use. I closed the door but didn’t lock it, not wanting to anger them more, then dove into bed and pulled the blankets over my head.

Shivering with anxiety I waited, my ears straining waiting for any noise that would tell me what my fate might be. There was no way they would let me stay now that I’d been so disrespectful to Bodhi. This was the problem I ran into with my father all the time, I didn’t know when to keep my mouth shut when I thought someone was being treated unfairly. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t really change my life but I wasn’t going to let someone else experience what I did day in and day out.

Even at the library if I saw kids picking on others I would step in trying to defend them. Sometimes it meant I went home with new bruises but it wasn’t like I had anyone around who cared or noticed. Hearing Bodhi go that cold toward Oscar when he’d been nothing but wonderful just rubbed me the wrong way and I couldn’t let it slide. Now because of that I was going to be dropped back on the streets to fend for myself.

Why? Why couldn’t I just behave like Mom always tried to teach me?

I don’t know how long I lay there before there was a soft knock on the door. I didn’t say anything, it’s not like I could stop them from coming into a room in a house they owned. When I didn’t answer another knock sounded slightly louder, but I wasn’t going to invite their wrath in here. No, if they wanted to punish me or kick me out they would make the first move, I wasn’t going to make it easy for them.

“Little One?” Rafael said, his voice muffled by the door. “Can I come in?”

My mind flashed back to my father beating down my door. You little bitch! How dare you lock me out of a room in my own house! You better open this right now or I’m kicking it down, then beating your ass for being such a disobedient cunt like your mother.

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