Page 85 of Knot So Social

“Yeah.”

“Then how about we look for a place with two bedrooms? I could use a roommate to water my plants while I’m working.” He wrinkles his nose like he just thought of something bad.

I scoff. “You don’t have any plants.”

“Do too. The Aloe Vera.”

I choke on a laugh. “They don’t even need regular water.”

He throws me an exaggerated look like I’m an idiot. “Is that a no?”

“Of course not.” I hide a grin by lifting my takeaway box. “I’d love to share a house with you.”

“Good. And anyway, I’ll be getting a climber, so it will need watering.”

“Like, a vine?”

“Yeah. A Jasmine bush.”

“Any particular reason?”

“Just because.”

“Alrighty then. I’m sure it’ll be a great friend to the Aloe.”

He swivels my way, and we stare at each other for a long time before breaking into grins.

“Help me get the bed down flat,” he says. “My thigh’s starting to ache again.”

I use the remote and settle him down, getting his leg up on a pillow and the ice resettled. We chat like old times until the nurses start shooting daggerish glares at me, at which point I help my brother change into pajamas and get his phone plugged in.

While he’s occupied with his phone, I dig into the extra box under my chair and pull out a brand-new cowboy hat in the style he loves. This one’s a paler tan than his previous one, so I hope he still likes it.

And least it’s not broken and stained from a car accident.

I drop the gift on the chair where he’ll see it in the morning and then I say goodnight and head out, opening the real estate app while walking through the antiseptic-smelling hallways.

Returning to an empty place where no one’s waiting for me.

Chapter twenty-seven

Alessandro

Mrs Warkow keeps staring and smirking, like she knows a secret about me. Waiting for me to cave. But while she’s apparently fantasizing about me, I can’t stop thinking about Willow, and the alpha at her house.

Clearly, he was staying over, and he was covered in her scent—even freshly washed. Which means he helped the omega with her heat. I walk back and forth across the Warkow yard with my mower, keeping the lines even and beautiful around the shrubbery and palms. But my thoughts are in disarray,

I didn’t see any signs of an alpha living inside her house the first day I visited, so who was he? A friend, flying in to help? No, he didn’t seem fully at ease like he belonged on the property. And there was a truck parked in the driveway.

A service?

Maybe that’s the only relationship an intensely private omega could agree to. The idea halts me in my tracks. I set the machine to idle and pull my water bottle from the cradle tied to the handle. Sweat mixes with grass dust to ooze down my back, trapped there by the shirt I now refuse to remove while working around this property.

It’s no longer a safe space.

I sneak a glance toward the big house. Miranda sits in a deck chair by the pool, sipping something icy with her breezy wrap flung wide to show off her high cut bikini. I’m all for women being powerful in their bodies at any age, but knowing it’s a deliberate move makes me queasy. Despite the wide acre of manicured lawns and gardens, the walls feel like they’re closing in.

I need to find another place to live, somewhere I’m not under her eyes. Or orders.