Page 18 of Knot So Social

I jog around the car to open her door, using my hat to shield the bottom of her dress as she gets her long legs out.

“Thanks,” she murmurs, scanning the lot for familiar vehicles. “Just great, we’re the last to arrive.”

She shoots me a dark look like this situation is my fault and my heart sinks.

Chapter six

Joel

Our inner friend circle waits inside, already nursing their alcohol starters and laughing a bit too loudly. I pull out the armchair, so she doesn’t have to climb over knees.

Tracey brushes my collar with her fingers, and whispers for my ears only, “That’s why I love you.”

I smile and ask if I can get her a glass. She beams up at me in a way that reminds me of our first date, making my heart flip flop all over again. Looks like she’s already forgotten whatever that frustration was in the parking lot.

See? This is just a temporary rough patch we’re going through.

Once I’ve got her strawberry Mojito and my beer, I slide into a studded leather couch at right angles to my woman.

Beau, sitting on Rowan’s lap, leans over to slap my chest. “How are those muscles doing, Joel?”

I snort. “Exhausted. Been up in roof spaces all day, and these were some old ones, let me tell you.”

Tracey leans forward. “That’s the current job, but he’ll be installing in those mega centers they’re clearing land for over by North Lakes.”

“No shit?” Harrison leans around his lover. “The huge ones?”

“Yes,” Tracey answers, glowing as if she were the one with the contract. “Exciting, isn’t it?”

Her best friend Belinda flaps a hand. “Let me tell you something else that’s exciting.”

No one could miss the sparkle on her finger under the lounge’s yellow lights. The ladies ooh and ah over the rock and the proposal, and I drop my gaze to Tracey’s hand.

Her ring’s not on her finger.

A chilly sensation seeps through my arms. It’s nothing to worry about, right? She just wouldn’t want to overshadow her friends’ special moment.

“Congratulations, you two.” I lift my glass in a toast.

The two star-struck lovers giggle and lean into each other.

Pete, the third member of Rowan and Beau’s pack, leans on my armrest. “Those were the days, right?”

Yeah, before we got bogged down with the realities of sharing a life and paying bills.

“Proposals and giddiness. And the sex!” Pete winks at me. “We couldn’t keep our hands off each other. Oops, apparently still can’t.”

I follow his gaze to discover Beau not-so-secretly gripping Harrison’s bulge through his pants. He’s going for the classic oh no, I didn’t mean to put my hand there scenario, God love him. Those three packed up right after high school, and although he’s beta through and through, Beau has some kind of omega-play kink going on.

Keeping my voice low, I ask Pete, “Is it easier or harder with three?”

He smirks. “Both.”

Trust him not to give me a real answer, but if I’m guessing, I’d say some things were harder, and other things are easier.

“What are you lads whispering about over there?” Tracey asks, adopting a pout. “Leaving me out?”

“How much we love our partners,” Pete covers with ease. He elbows me.