Page 64 of Galaxy Between Us

“Gomez is already handling it.”

“Knox.”

“They’re running business as normal. Everything is fine and they all know you had the baby so– “

“Knox!” I interject, reaching up to hold his face with worry, “What is going on with you? Why are you so jittery?”

He avoids my gaze, buzzing like he had too much caffeine. Even if we weren’t mated, I would recognize his emotions immediately to know that he’s hiding something. It’s how he was the week before our tenth birthday, trying his hardest not to tell me that he got me a gift and spoil the surprise. Fidgeting with his hands, rocking on his feet as if there’s a tac in his shoe, and casting his eyes down to the left like a sad puppy.

I know him better than he knows himself.

“The baby,” he confesses, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s just…making me anxious.”

If my arms could cross any tighter, they’d morph into one. My tone is deceitfully calm when I speak, my jaw set tight as I look him in the eye.

“Knox Beckett do you honestly think I wouldn’t know if you were lying to me?” I whisper low and threatening.

Eyes wide with a surprising amount of genuine fear for an Alpha, Knox licks the nervousness from his lips.

“Ari…”

“Knox.”

He exhales with distress.

“Look, there have been some messy things going on at work with really bad timing. I’m trying to handle it without stressing you out. You don’t need to deal with that right now.”

That’s it? A work problem? We handle stressful company setbacks all the damn time. That’s like our main job!

“It involves me?” I ask, probing for more information. I’ve never seen him like this over a work-related hiccup. His face pales and he scratches his chin.

“A little bit. Maybe. But I’m handling it.”

“What is it?” I push, reaching to grab both of his hands in mine, “Knox, whatever is going on we’ll handle it together. You can tell me.”

Finally, he meets my gaze, though he looks defeated rather than confident.

“I signed a deal recently, not realizing that…it phases out StarPoint production.”

My eyes pop at the admission, understanding the weight of that bomb. I stare into Knox’s sorrowfully flustered gaze, waiting for the part where he tells me that it won’t affect my Omegas. That they’ll still be employed. That I won’t lose the department I worked so damn hard for.

But he doesn’t say anything more.

Zero reassurances.

I toss his hands away as if they stung me, offended by the sour news. He gives me a hurt expression, but I’m the one who got burned here.

“How could you do that?” my voice is hoarse with betrayal.

“I’m going to fix it.”

“Are you?” I ask doubtfully.

“Yes! I won’t let them take out the department,” he brushes a hand through his hair, pacing in front of me, “I’ll fix it, Ari, I promise. I just need to figure some things out.”

“See to it that you do.”

I brush past him and head downstairs, hot with anger inside. How will I be able to relax at home with the baby knowing that my operators could be fired before I even return? Knox doesn’t make hasty or stupid decisions, otherwise he wouldn’t be an engineering executive, so how the hell did he manage to overlook something so crucial?