Page 16 of In Knots

Chapter 5

To my surprise I sleep like a log. Not my usual restless sleep, staring up at the ceiling in the early hours of the morning. My tumbling thoughts don’t keep me awake. Instead, my sated and satisfied body pulls my mind under, and I sleep until I hear my mother calling me.

Jonathan drives us to Dover Street, lined with all the designer and exclusive boutiques and my mother drags me from one shop to the next, searching for an outfit that meets her satisfaction.

Finally, we end up in a shop whose target market is obviously wealthy omegas like us. Floaty summer dresses, pretty skirts with matching blouses, and ball dresses in a rainbow of pastels hang from every rack.

My mother prowls the shop, pulling out clothes and handing them to an attentive shop assistant. When the woman’s arms are full, I’m sent to the dressing room and instructed to try each outfit on one at a time, coming out from the curtain for my mother to inspect me each time.

They all seem the same to me. They look perfectly nice. Conservative, respectable, yet feminine, advertising the qualities that make me an omega, my diminutive size and curvy figure.

I’m so bored of clothes like this, though. Bored of the floaty material, the pale colours, the high necklines and low hems. I imagine the kind of girls Ryan dates, the outfits they wear. A mixture of dark and vibrant colours, low necklines, and short hems. Clothes I long to own.

The dressing room is a little too hot, the heatwave showing no signs of abating and the aircon in the shop insufficient, the perfume sickly sweet. My stomach aches and I want nothing more than to lie out in the shade and read my book.

No, that’s a lie. There’s something I want a lot more than that and my skin seems to itch for it.

His touch.

His words.

I stand statue-still as my mother circles me, tugging on the straps of the pale pink dress I’m wearing and adjusting the waist.

“I think this one. What do you think, Alexa? Alexa?”

My eyes snap her way. “What?”

“Honestly,” my mother tuts, “you could show a little more enthusiasm. Don’t you want to impress this alpha?”

“Of course,” I say with no feeling.

“Well?” I stare at her blankly and she tuts a second time. “Do you like the dress?”

“Yes, mother.”

My mother turns to the shop assistant. “Ring it up please.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the woman responds, unclipping the label from my dress.

I disappear behind the curtain and strip off the dress and stand in my underwear, gazing at the mirror. His words from last night drift into my ear and I have to force them away. I don’t want my mother smelling my arousal.

“If you’re quick, we can make lunch at the club. Josephine will be there today and I need to pin her down for her contribution to the foundation auction,” my mother calls.

“Oh,” I mumble, “I have a stomachache. I think I’d rather go home and lie down.”

“Hmmm,” my mother says with irritation.

“I don’t mind waiting here while Jonathan drives you.” My mother is a terrible driver.

“And leave you alone?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll potter around the shops a bit longer and wait for Jonathan to come back for me.” I pull on the flared skirt and plain cotton top I was wearing and slide out from the curtain.

“Your father would have a fit if he found out I’d left you alone.”

“I won’t tell him.”

She observes my face, obviously mulling it over. “I really do need to catch Josephine, and it is a respectable area. I really don’t think any harm would befall you here.”

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