Page 46 of Knot All Is Lost: Part 1

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ThatnightIhelped Bodhi make dinner while Oscar went off to do some work he had to finish. It was quiet in the house but it didn’t feel lonely at all, even with how huge it was. This place was a home and the people who lived in it left their impression giving it personality. We both wore aprons, and I happily chopped up ingredients while he put everything together.

To have someone around all the time was a new feeling, but I decided I liked not having to be alone. Bodhi and I didn’t feel the need to talk. We were just comfortable in each other’s presence. He would tell me to grab something for him or if I needed to chop something differently but we found a natural rhythm. When a door banged open I startled causing me to accidentally cut my finger as I brought the knife down on a carrot.

“Ah,” I hissed, popping my finger into my mouth to stop the bleeding. Looking at the cutting board it didn’t seem I’d bled on anything too badly but I was going to need to clean up this mess. Keeping my finger in my mouth I moved off what was safe and carried the rest to the sink.

“Sweetheart, did you cut yourself?” Nixon asked as his eyes fell on the cutting board.

I nodded, not wanting to remove my finger knowing it was still bleeding.

“Cambi, why didn’t you say anything?” Bodhi chastised, coming over to me but Nixon beat him to it.

The Alpha gripped my wrist and tugged gently for me to release my finger. Slowly I let him pull my hand over the sink and under the running water. “It’s better to clean it with soap and water. Your mouth isn’t very clean, it could get infected.”

He pulled it out from under the stream of water to look at it. The cut was deep but only a quarter inch long on the side of my pointer finger. I reached for a paper towel to wrap it with since it was still seeping a little but Nixon had other plans. He hoisted me up on the counter as Bodhi placed a first aid kit next to me pulling things out.

“It’s not that bad, once it stops bleeding it will be fine,” I assured them.

The looks I got from them told me to keep my mouth shut and let them do as they pleased. Like a doctor and his nurse, the two of them cleaned, medicated, and bandaged my finger as if it was a life threatening gash. Now my finger couldn’t really bend with the gauze bandage they’d made.

“This seems a little much…” I offered hesitantly. “I’m sure a simple bandaid would work too.”

“I think you’ve done your part to help with dinner, why don’t we let Bodhi finish while you help me and Spencer with another project?” Nixon decided.

Placing a hand on Bodhi’s arm I drew his attention. “Are you okay with finishing on your own? I did say I was going to help you.”

“It’s fine Cambi, you did all the hard work prepping everything, now I just have to toss it all together,” he replied, giving me a crooked smile. “Go see what Nixon’s got up his sleeve he seems a little too eager for just having worked a long day.”

That had me looking at Nixon for what Bodhi had noticed that I didn’t. His blue eyes glinted with something I couldn’t quite place, this had to be what Bodhi had noticed. Nixon lifted me off the counter and set me on my feet, letting his hand rest on my back as he directed me out of the kitchen.

“I hope you don’t mind but Spencer and I went to the home goods store to get you some things for your room. It’s one of the few rooms we hadn’t set up but in hindsight, I suppose that’s a good thing. Now you can create your own space. I’ll have you look through some websites to pick out things you’d like to have. We just got the basics and tried to guess what you might like,” Nixon rambled as we walked up to the third floor.

The giant bags of things set outside my bedroom door had me pause. “This is the basics?” I blurted, feeling like my eyes were going to pop out of my head.

“Maybe I should have explained what that means to Spencer,” Nixon answered, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s one of his favorite things to help someone feel like they belong, it’s how he shows he cares. Sometimes he gets a little out of hand but he was so excited I didn’t have the heart to stop him.” He caught my eye and gave me a stern look. “If there is something you don’t want or don’t like we will return it. Just because we picked it out doesn’t mean you need to keep it, capeesh?”

I nodded, then ventured forward to find Spencer peeking into our blanket fort. “How cool is this?!” he called out, stepping all the way in. “I don’t want to take this down, nothing we got is as awesome.”

When he popped back out he spotted me, and a bright smile lit his face. “Hey there Little Dove, this is a pretty cool nest. Seems like you had a way better day than I did watching movies with the others.”

“It was a pretty wonderful day, best one I’ve had in a long time,” I answered, returning his smile. “Don’t worry about the fort, Bodhi is an expert I’m sure he can make another one all of us could fit in.”

“Who would have guessed that for a hidden talent?” Spencer mused as he came the rest of the way out and walked up to me with open arms.

I leaned into his embrace hugging him back loving how simple a thing it was, but how much affection went into it. Spencer nuzzled the top of my head and pressed a kiss to it before releasing me. “Wanna see what we picked up?”

“Sure, but Bodhi was almost done with dinner so we might need to come back to it,” I warned.

“No problem, I’m really ready for dinner so you won’t hear me complaining,” he answered, grabbing a giant bag and dragging it in. “This is bedding so we can start here, and if you like it we can make the bed so it’s ready when you want to go to sleep.”

“Why is the bag so big if it’s just bedding?” I questioned as I started to pull things out. There were tons of decorative pillows in teal, soft pink, cream, and gray. Each a different shape, size, and texture that had me running my hand over them all. One cream pillow felt scratchy like coarse wool, and I scrunched up my nose at the feel.

The pillow was snatched from me and tossed across the room. “Not that one, it got the nose wrinkle,” Spencer called as Nixon caught it and set it outside the room. “Keep going, Dove, there’s lots to see.”

Curious about his reaction I continued on until I found a pink pillow that squished in the most amazing way. I pressed it again and the feel of the soft buttery fabric made me smile. How was it so squishy? It felt like marshmallows stuffed in a pillow. Continuing on I kept this one in my lap not wanting to misplace it. Only a few pillows were discarded by the time I was through, and there was a growing mound of them next to me.

“I know I went crazy on the pillows but I had no way to know what would feel right to you,” Spencer explained as he put the pillows I hadn’t hated or loved back in the bag. “I’m going to send these back, and we’ll keep your pile of treasures.”

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