Page 36 of Knot Their Reality

Yes, I like Sophia. Yes, I could see a future with her. I don't know if she's the one for me. How can any of us know that after only spending a few hours with her? But even as I have the thought, I realize that at least one of the other alphas seems to know that she's his—Brooks. He seems so sure that she’s the one for him.

Damn. I wish I could have that kind of certainty about anything at all.

That makes me sound so indecisive, but that's not it. It's just that there's so much out in the world that I've never had the chance to discover. There are millions of people in the world—although, I guess we could be up to billions by now—and I don't believe there's only one person for each and every one of us.

Maybe that isn't what Brooks is trying to hint at, though. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it. Fuck if I know. I just know that he seems obsessed with her. Maybe they should keep an eye on him to make sure he isn't a stalker or something.

"Are you good, Quinn?" Brody asks, his voice barely above a whisper.

I blink at him, surprised to see him beside me. The interview must have ended at some point, but I missed it. The other suitors are standing around the room with drinks in hand while some have started playing pool. I'd lost a lot of time while contemplating in my head.

"Damn, I missed a lot, huh?" I try to smile, but I can tell by the look on his face that I fail. "I just... tend to overthink things, and it's easy for me to get lost in my mind. I've been known to lose time when it happens—like right now. It's just who I am."

Brody nods. "And there's nothing wrong with that, as long as you're aware it's happening. You just hadn't moved since we'd all stood up. I wasn't sure what's going on."

"You're a good guy, Brody."

He shrugs. "I like to think I am, but it's not about that. This wasn't about that. You just looked so far off. It was the weirdest thing. It's like your mind was no longer in your body, your eyes unseeing. If I believed in the paranormal, I'd think you were astral projecting or something."

I bark out a laugh at that. "Man, I wish I could. That would be amazing. But nope. It's just me overthinking everything, all the time."

"I'm sure it's not as bad as you think it is," he offers, cutting me off when I go to rebuttal his statement. "And even if it is, so what? You're here to see if Sophia is the right omega for you. And maybe the rest of the pack she chooses?"

I tilt my head at him, eyes narrowing. "Are you trying to ask if I'm bi?"

"Not exactly. I'm not, by the way. I'm only here for Sophia. I just don't know if anyone has had that conversation with anyone else. During Bree's season, she was really looking for a polyamorous pack. She wanted everyone to love everyone else. I don't even know if Sophia is okay with men being together in the pack."

I shake my head. "I don't know. She doesn't seem like the type to care one way or the other about someone's sexual preferences, though, does she? I don’t know why I didn’t think about this turning into something more than all of us being with Sophia. But I should have."

"Not really. I also didn't think about this until we got up here. I think we should talk to the guys about it." He pauses, the corners of his mouth upturning slightly as he's trying to hide his smile. "But you realize that you completely avoided the question, don't you?"

"I didn't do it on purpose. I'm definitely bisexual... though, maybe it's pansexual. Why is labeling yourself so hard?"

"Why do we even need labels?" he retorts.

I incline my head. "True enough. Then, instead of labeling myself, I'll say that I enjoy both men and women equally. But it's not about their gender. It's about the connection I feel with the person."

Now, it's my turn to pause. "Wait, you want us to what? Walk up to all these men and ask them their sexual preferences? Not everyone likes to share that kind of information. It's kind of a lot to expect someone to share with us, don't you think?"

"That's not what I meant. I meant we should all have a conversation about it. Maybe Sophia said something to one of them? I don't know. Again, it's just because it was so heavily talked about on the first season." He laughs. "Maybe I'm the one overthinking now.”

"It's easy to do." I look up to find the redhead... Jackson, standing in front of us. "So what are we overthinking now?"

"Brody was telling me that during the first season, the suitors and Bree discussed sexualities from the start," I offer, turning to Brody.

He nods. "If any of you watched the show, you'd know this information, so I don't feel like I'm sharing any of my friend's secrets. Bree's dream pack has always been a polycule where the men are involved with the rest of the pack as well as her. I haven't heard anyone mention that, nor have I seen any of the flirting I saw with Emmett and Gabriel when we first arrived."

"That's a good point, though. We haven't discussed it, and it's not something that Sophia has brought up." Jackson turns around to face the others. "Gather round suitors! Brody has brought up a good point that I think we should discuss."

Brody's face flushes and I almost feel sorry for him, but he'd been the one to bring it up. So I'm not sure what he was expecting. Plus, he's the only one who's been on the show before. He's the one we can ask if we have questions about how things work around here.

It takes a couple of minutes before all twelve of us are gathered around the sofas once again. Brody glances around, looking more and more unsure of himself by the second.

"Dude, calm down. No one is going to eat you or anything." I laugh, clamping down a hand on his shoulder. "We're all here for the same thing."

"Right. To win a place in Sophia's pack." Brody glances around at all of us once more before nodding as if he's trying to convince himself he can do this. "As you're now all aware, I was a suitor on the first season of Heated."

Then he goes on to explain what he'd asked me and his reasoning once more. At least he won't be expected to explain this again. Sure, there's two more groups of suitors set to arrive between today and tomorrow, but I'm sure we can come up with a condensed version to explain to them.

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