Page 12 of Knot Here for You

Rule 3: Just keep swimming, just keep swimming

Present Day…

Who the hell actually calls anyone any more? I frown down at my cell phone, at the unknown number flashing across the screen. It might as well be a cobra ready to strike for all the trepidation I feel watching the screen.

I let out a relieved breath when it stops ringing, and the notification of a missed call flashes onto the screen. I ignore it. If it’s important, they’ll leave a message. I turn my attention back to the spreadsheet in front of me, entering the formula to total up the taxes owed by my client. I’ve been working on this for a week, wading through receipts and employee w-2s, and I’m finally, finally finished. Which means I can switch to my other form of making money. The one much more enjoyable than accountant.

Don’t get me wrong, numbers pay my bills. I wouldn’t be able to afford my little house in the middle of nowhere without them. But my side business lets me flex my creative muscles, which I need.

My phone buzzes with another incoming call just as I send the spreadsheet to my client, this time with a number I recognize.

I hit the answer button and Bethany Kinsella’s face fills the screen. Ten years older than me, at thirty-five, she looks like she could be my older sister. Icy blond hair cut into a lob, bright blue eyes, lips painted a gorgeous red.

“Sylvie Grace! You’ve been avoiding me!”

I roll my eyes, a smile pulling at my lips. “I have not. It’s tax season. I’ve been working. ”

She huffs and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, arching a perfectly shaped brow at me. “Is that why you’ve declined my calls repeatedly for the last week? And missed family dinner last month?”

I look away from the screen and shake my head. Bethany has been my rock for the last seven years. She’s the big sister I never knew I needed and her entire pack is my family. I love all of them, but sometimes… sometimes I just need a little space.

It’s hard being around them, seeing how happy they are together, a bonded pack, when I will never have that. Ever. My pack doesn’t want me. They never did.

I force a smile. “I’m sorry, Bethy. Like I said, tax season is a bitch.”

“But it’s almost done, isn’t it? Two days?”

I blow out a breath and nod. She doesn’t need to know I completed all of my clients’ taxes already. That I’ve finished all of my accounting work for the month. Now I have nothing but time. Well, nothing but time and one very large—huge, enormous—task I need to complete. I’m not looking forward to it in the slightest.

“Yeah. Two days until I’m free.”

Beth nods. “Good. Then you can come home for the weekend.” It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her no. But she keeps talking. “We miss you, Vee. Come home for the weekend, and then on Monday…”

She trails off. I know what she’s going to say. On Monday, I’ll drive the three hours from their house in Alver City to Granton, the scene of my heartbreak.

She sounds so worried that I know without a doubt she will not let this go. So I nod. “Yeah, I can do that. It’ll be nice to hang out with the family for a bit before I-”

I cut off. I can’t even bring myself to say it. It’s frustrating that I’m not strong enough to.

Bethany’s eyes are full of sympathy. “Good. I’ll tell the guys and we’ll spend the entire weekend drinking and pampering you. Stefan has a new face mask he wants to try. And Harry will cook. Mathias will be growly and protective. The twins want to build a pillow fort with you.”

“Sounds perfect,” I say, smiling at her. And it really does. “I miss them.”

“And we miss you,” comes a gruff voice from behind Beth. A second later, a bearded face appears over her shoulder. Dark eyes set into a dark face, regard me closely. It doesn’t take a mind reader to know he doesn’t like what he sees. Not that I blame him. I look like crap at the moment. “Hey, sweet girl.”

I grin at him. “Hey, Matty.” I wave a hand in front of my face. “Don’t worry about all this. This is just the tail end of the tax season. I’m fine.”

He arches his thick brows. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to. I can read you like a book.” A knock sounds at my door and I glance over at it, before standing from my desk, biting back the groan of pain my body gives. It’s my normal now to always be achy, sore and exhausted, like I’ve run for miles and miles when I haven’t done anything more taxing than sit on my butt all day. I’ve gotten superb at hiding it from everyone. “Someone’s here. I should go.”

“Vee,” Matty growls. “Keep us on the line while you do.” I roll my eyes. I can’t help it. His overprotective alpha instincts are probably on overdrive, since I’m so far away from them. They’ve been my family for almost seven years and when I moved out of their pack house two years ago, he took it the hardest, citing that it’s not safe for an unmated omega to live alone.

Thankfully, he finally relented thanks to Beth and Stefan strong arming him, and a crap ton of suppressants and scent blockers. It’s the one thing I let them pay for now, because that shit is expensive when you need to use them in the quantities I do.

“Vee,” Mathias’s tone is warning and Beth laughs at him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“Okay, okay. But I’m about ninety percent sure it’s just Sadie or Sorrel.” My neighbors. I use the term neighbors loosely, because there’s still the length of a football field between our houses, thick with trees and shrubs. They’re my best friends and we have a habit of getting together whenever we can.

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