Page 9 of Knot That Serious

Eli sucked in a breath.

“What’s wrong? How can I help?” he asked.

There’s no way she could ask Jack to heat sit her. She didn’t trust that everything wouldn’t implode afterward.

That left only one option.

Her smile was wobbly. “Guess you’re taking me to the Omega Center.”

The soothing stroke of his thumb over her knee paused. Then he cleared his throat and nodded. “If that’s what you want. When do you wanna go?” he asked.

Eli shrugged. “I don’t really know. Right now I’m just snacky and emotional. Don’t need drugs for that.”

“Well,” Jack drawled, leaning close, a mischievous gleam in his eye. “Maybe not those drugs.”

And that’s how they ended up on the couch, curled up together and passing her half-smoked joint back and forth as some comedy show glowed from the television.

Once they were both floating in the comfortable high and had stored the weed away again, the brightness of Jack’s phone lit up from the coffee table.

She lifted her head away from his shoulder as he leaned forward to retrieve the device, using his distraction to steal more of the blanket.

When he settled back down and swiped his thumb against the screen a few times, a smile curled his lips.

Fine. She’d bite.

“What have you been smiling at all night?”

His gaze lifted to her, then flicked away. “Nothing.”

Eli arched a brow, caught his eyes once more, and waited.

Jack cracked in four whole seconds. “Okay, fine, I got a guy’s number today.”

Eli resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Another alpha?”

“Yep,” Jack answered, popping the p. “He’s hot, too. Name’s Beckett.”

“Well, is he… nice?” Eli asked, leaning forward to collect her still-steaming herbal tea. She risked a sip while waiting for Jack’s answer, pointedly avoiding his gaze.

“Seems to be, so far,” Jack said. “Bought me a brownie and called me a good boy.”

Eli choked on her tea and carefully placed the mug back on the table. It was too hot, anyway.

Jack chuckled. “That’s about what I did, too, when he said it. Then I chased him out of the store and asked for his number and we’ve been texting ever since.”

Great. Eli knew the light in his eyes. This was yet another alpha for him to hook up and break up with, then mope around about for the next month.

“You’ve got a crush,” Eli informed him.

He winced. “I know, it’s fast. He’s so hot, though. And confident. And he has a nice job, doing some sales shit for some company. He was wearing a green suit, Eli. Green. He paints his nails!”

“Right…” Eli agreed, pretending she was keeping up with any of what he’d said.

“I wanna ask him on a date. Do you think he’ll come back to the bakery tomorrow?”

Eli arranged her face into one of bland interest and asked, “If he does, what are you gonna say?”

Jack turned to her excitedly, like a puppy with his tail wagging. “Okay, so I was thinking something like—”

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