Page 68 of Knot That Difficult

Connor shrugs. “A bit of everything. We weren’t sure what you liked, exactly.” He leads us into the kitchen, where Ace is setting up a platter with a tin in the middle. When he sees me, he stops and smiles.

Is that caviar?!

“Hey, gorgeous,” Ace purrs, wrapping me in his arms. “Long time no see, baby.”

My face flames as I inhale his scent. “It’s hasn’t even been a week,” I murmur, my inner Omega pleased at his words.

“It’s been far too long,” he says as I step back. Then he turns to Ben. “Good to see you again,” he greets, and Ben responds with a nod and a smile.

“You, too,” he responds, and my heart feels like it could burst.

I cannotwaitto see how the night goes.

* * *

Everything is going so wellthat I don’t even text the group chat.

April and Skylar were right—I had nothing to worry about after the little hiccup at the arcade.

I’mobsessedwith Ace and Connor’s home.

It reminds me of how Ben and I would decorate ours if we had an unlimited budget.

Our apartment is nice, and I’m more than happy I have a decent roof over my head.

I have a place to call mine, something I’ve never had before Ben.

But this place? It’s like something I dreamed about when I was a kid, when I would look through the random magazines they had at the group home.

“The only thing they need to fix is that parking garage,” Ben murmurs. We’re all plopped on the couch, me sitting in between Ben and Ace with Connor on the other side of Ace.

Everyone’s scents have blended together. I can even scent Ben more than usual.

Which isn’t the best sign. It means my Heat is coming sooner than I thought it would.

But I have my quick-acting dissolvable suppressants, and if I popped a double dose with my iced coffee, no one needs to know.

“What’s wrong with your parking garage?” Connor asks, staring at the television screen. Ben and Ace are playing one of my favorite classic shooter games, and Ben and I are switching off who plays against Ace.

It’s entertaining to see Connor watching us with a slight look of confusion on his face.

“We only park on the street, not in the garage,” I say. “The gate has gotten stuck before, and the door that goes into the garage locks behind you in a weird way. I’m terrified of being stuck down there.”

Connor turns to me and frowns. “They should fix that,” he mutters. “That’s not safe.”

Ace snorts and mashes the buttons on his controller. “Babe, my first apartment didn’t have running water for a month. I showered with a bucket I filled from a hose.”

My eyes light up. “Hey! I’ve done that too!”

Ace raises a hand to quickly high-five me, then goes back to the game.

Connor pales while Ben clears his throat awkwardly.

Ben knows about my past—I’ve told him about the worst times in the life, the nights where I’ve slept in a car, or when I would have sleep for dinner because there wasn’t enough food to go around.

I had a lot of happy moments too, but I can tell it pains Ben when he thinks about how I grew up.

He can empathize, but he can’t truly relate.

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