Page 59 of Knot Mine

“Seriously?” Sadie screeches, throwing her hands up before towering over Evans. “Still nothing?”

He’s been resting in the corner of the L shaped sofa, and with her standing, it felt like she was backing him into a corner. Blake and I share a look, expecting him to try and placate her for an easier life, but instead…he rubs his face and mutters something under his breath.

“What do you want me to say? You’re not my girlfriend.” He looks bored and tired as he shakes his head, “I didn’t wanna do this now, but I’m done with our little friends with benefits arrangement. It isn’t working for me anymore.”

There’s a heavy pause.

“Friends with benefits? Excuse me?!” Her words are low and full of fury, sounding like air being let out of a balloon. “Is that all I was to you?”

Hunter strolls into the lounge, still shirtless from the hot tub earlier, wearing a pair of grey sweatpants pulled over his trunks. Without saying a word, he climbs over the back of the sofa before settling down in the space next to Evans and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. Our housemate tries to shrug him off, but Hunter holds firm.

“I mean, he repeatedly told you that you weren’t in a relationship.” Hunter drawls, before rolling his eyes dramatically. “Granted, he gave you some mixed signals, but I feel like a lot of that was you taking advantage, using your omega charms since he does a lot of thinking with his dick.”

Sadie’s face flushes as she makes a huffing noise and stomps her foot. Crossing her arms she looks up to the ceiling as if she’s counting to ten in her head. Finally, she speaks, her word laced with a venom she usually reserves for Shiloh. “Who invited you into this conversation Hunter? You’re always sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

Blake raises his brow at me before making an ‘Oh shit’ expression. Hunter was typically pretty chilled, but we never knew what was going on under that cool facade of his.

“It’s not like this is a private conversation.” He laughs, pulling Evans closer to him and ruffling his hair before placing a playful kiss on his temple. “Now, what happened in Crest Haven…that was private. But I was explicitly invited to take part in that.”

“Fuck you. Fuck you all.” She screams before storming off upstairs and slamming the bedroom door behind her.

None of us say anything as we just sit there and continue to pretend to watch the TV.

When Millie eventually comes back in, she immediately picks up on the tension in the room. “What’s going on?”

“I think Sadie and Evans just broke up for real,” Blake offers with a small smile.

Millie laughs crossing arms, “Yeah right. We all know they’re going to end up married with the mini mansion, two kids and some expensive breed of dog that will fit in a designer handbag.”

Hunter clicks his tongue as he twirls some of Evans' hair between his fingers. “Yeah, that’s never gonna happen. Trust me.”

I have no idea what really happened in Crest Haven, or why Evans was so docile for a change but it was none of my business unless he wanted to share. My priority was Shiloh.

“Anyway…” Millie says, casting strange sideways glances in their direction. “My parents said that Shiloh called them. He’s back in Oakley so we can all stand down and stop panicking.”

“Did they say why he left?”

“He’s not feeling well and he didn’t want to make anybody else sick,” she lies smoothly, covering for him. I supposed at least there was one thing she did right when it came to her twin.

He wasn’t sick, he was going into heat. Being around this many people was probably triggering his anxiety and most omegas liked to feel safe and protected during their heat since they weren’t always fully aware during the haze stages.

“So, he’s in Oakley on his own?”

“I mean, his roommate should be there...” she trails off, clearly bored of talking about her brother. We all know Bell’s gone home for the holidays, she’d told us that herself earlier. “He’ll be fine. Shiloh is an adult who can take care of himself.”

How was she so self-absorbed? And how had this never bothered me before?

Turning the music up, she grabs a bottle of something green and sickly looking. “Now how about we do some shots and keep partying?”

While she’s preoccupied doing shots and playing drunken Twister in the lounge with Caz, Ivy and a few of the others who are still awake, I sneak upstairs and pack my bag. I have no idea what my plan is. I might have to borrow someone’s car or see if I can call a car, but it’s almost three am. All I know is that I cannot stay here while my Mate is struggling.

When I come back downstairs, Blake, Hunter and Evans are waiting by the door, all fully dressed, with serious expressions on their faces.

“So, who’s driving?” Blake asks with a wide grin as he carries his bag and Evans’ out the door. He presses a button on a set of keys and the trunk of a sleek black car pops open. Since they’d flown into a local hangar from Crest Haven, they’d had to arrange hire cars to finish the rest of the journey to the cabin. Evans’ could be a bit of a snob about traveling in style, and normally, I’d rib him for it. But as we throw all our bags in the trunk, I’m grateful.

Hunter raises his hand, before Blake tosses him the keys. “That’ll be me since I’ve only had two beers.”

Opening the door and clambering into the back seat as if he was made of glass, Evans chuckles. “Man, I’m out. I’m off my tits. I’m just gonna nap in the back and pray that I don’t throw up.”

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