Page 10 of Knot What She Seems
“We’ll figure something else out once the ankle excuse has run its course,” Caran says lightly before finishing off his stolen glass of wine.
“Well?” I glance over at Ted, who’s suddenly gone quiet. “I still need the shoes to give me more height. But it looks pretty good, right?”
Immediately, Caran and I zone in on him like two birds of prey.
“Nope. No second-guessing,” I tell him. “I already put in your acceptance.”
“And I already committed a felony by hacking into the systems of both schools. This is happening,” Caran states, softening the blow of his words by reaching for my brother and wrapping an arm around the back of his neck.
“It’s happening,” I confirm before pulling out my ace in the hole. “Besides. There’s zero chance that Caran would be able to resist visiting you at Eros. And do you really want your omega walking into a school full of sexually potent, hot alpha males?”
A feral growl erupts automatically from Teddie. Caran burrows his curly head against my brother’s neck with a smile, adoring the possessiveness.
“I don’t really want you there either.” Teddie pouts once he’s regained his senses.
Though part of me is sick with worry myself, there’s absolutely no way I can be talked out of doing this. And I’ll never let him see how badly the thought of being surrounded by a room full of alphas again affects me.
“Please.” With false confidence, I strut over to their television console and pick up one of my favorite scent blockers. I spritz it over myself like perfume. Of course, when I go to the academy, I’ll use the pill version too, doubling up. But I can immediately tell the difference when my own sugary scent disappears from the air, leaving it neutral. “The classes at Eros might be the only hours of the day I won’t be bored. Think about the subterfuge. I’m gonna be a spy!”
I pose against the wall like an idiot from a spy movie and peer around the corner of the living room to the bedroom. Caran gives me a soundtrack by humming.
It almost makes this terrifying endeavor seem like fun.
No. It will be fun,I tell myself. This is my chance to take back the confidence that was stolen from me. My chance to be more than any alpha expects. My opportunity to spy on the inner workings of alpha groups without their knowledge.
If I’d been smart enough to do that a few years ago…my life might have turned out differently.
This is going to be good. For my brother and for me.
“You are both impossible,” Teddie complains, though a smile lights up his face.
“Genius is always misunderstood,” I retort before I sneak off down the hallway to the guys’ bedroom. Bypassing their king-size bed with the quilt made by Caran’s grandmother, I head right for the massive closet and steal some of my brother’s clothes. I might make an eensy, teensy mess and then struggle-bus through the whole dressing process, but eventually I come out in a collared pink shirt and some gray slacks.
“Men’s buttons are on the wrong side of the shirt!” I announce in annoyance as I re-enter the living room to find an utterly horrible backstabbing betrayal in progress.
Frozen, eyes wider than Bambi’s, my brother and Caran pause with their forks in midair. Those traitors are eating the tiramisu that Caran made without me!
“Excuse me?” I take a threatening step forward, finger jutting out in condemnation. They know the fucking rules. Dessert at the same time. Every time.
Caran’s teeth sink into his lower lip, and I think he’s about to express his regret, when he actually says, “Don’t put your weight on one hip. Even it out. Way too girly.”
Marching right over, I snatch his dessert plate from his hands. “Don’t tell me how to stand, traitor.”
“I was gonna get you?—”
“Lies.” I cut him off and glare as I take his fork too and then a bite of his to-die-for tiramisu.
“Stiffer wrist,” Teddie advises, showing me how to hold a fork.
“Micromanage much?” I stiffen my wrist.
“Spread your legs a little,” Caran coaches.
I widen my feet and blow out a breath, trying to think masculine thoughts. The rage over the dessert betrayal helps.
My brother’s boyfriend nods in approval as he gets up from the couch, padding off to the kitchen to get himself a new dessert. With a sigh, I sink into a plush armchair next to the couch and glance over at Teddie.
“Is my sitting guyish enough for you?” I ask.
