Page 27 of Knot So Social

I thought it was to be with me, to get married, have children, start her own real estate company. An ache runs up my spine.

She bares her teeth. “If you knew how to care for a woman, you wouldn’t have to ask.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” I hiss.

The distortion in my head breaks, sending a thousand needle points chasing through my veins. This is a bunch of utter bullshit! I’ve spent all day walking on eggshells around her even after apologizing, fighting down every trace of alpha impulse, and now I’m supposed to guess how to fix this situation? Like I’m some fucking mind-reader?

Something inside me shatters.

Strength burns up my legs, and air rushes back into my lungs.

“You sound like you’re running solo. But we’re a team. A team, Tracey! Not that you seem to remember that. I come home tired as fuck from a job you couldn’t handle in ten lifetimes, and with no notice you wanna drag me around like a dressed-up puppy. And somehow, I’m the bad guy for not being over the moon about it? I’m exhausted, woman!”

And not just from my job.

All of it. The fights, performing, the displays and the sharp critiques that follow. How much do I need to cram myself into a box to fit her expectations? To swallow down the designation I was born with and avoid my twin brother for her sake? Standing here toe-to-toe and seeing not an ounce of love in her flinty gaze, I ask myself if this relationship I’m fighting so hard for is worth the cost.

“Oh, you’re exhausted?” she spits back.

I spread my hands in bewilderment. “Yeah, I’m exhausted. Don’t try and one-up me on that when you only work part time.”

Tracey slaps me across the cheek. I see it coming and I could stop her, but I don’t.

“So, this is who you are?” I ask, dead calm.

The maelstrom running through my brain fades away, leaving clarity. She’s so terrified of my alpha strength, when I’ve never hurt her, but she’s okay with using violence?

I don’t deserve this.

She stands frozen, hand to one side, eyes wide.

Turning away, I grab my phone, keys, and jacket. Halfway out the door, I say over my shoulder. “I’m going to visit my brother in his moment of need. Call me when you remember what it means to be a family.”

Chapter nine

Joel

I yank on the bronze handle and the door slams shut behind me. Jock yips through the side gate as I storm out to the drive. I don’t have any words to offer the trapped dog.

I take my work van, since nothing could make me sleep here tonight, but regardless of this shitstorm, I still have to work tomorrow—while she gets the day off. She’s probably already on the phone with Belinda talking about her awful alpha partner. If we’re even together anymore.

Words ring in my ear, jumbled and harsh, but I can’t seem to string the sentences together. How did we get to this?

I dial Jeremy at every intersection, but he’s not answering. My foot comes off the accelerator as I approach the freeway while deciding if I head for the closest hospital or his home. At the last second I veer across the lanes. His unit is closer.

Twenty minutes later, I run up to my brother's house, out of breath with worry. His gravel driveway’s empty, but of course he won’t have a car. It’s at the wreckers, most likely. A ceramic gnome sitting beside the front door gives me the middle finger. I can picture the stupid thing asking so now you decide to visit?

“Jeremy?” I pound on the door. “You in there?”

For a long moment, my heart lodges up in my throat, but then footsteps shuffle inside. The door creaks open.

“Joel?” My brother peers out, voice hoarse as he speaks. “Hey, bro. What brings you here?”

An irritation burns in the back of my eyes. “You had a fucking car accident, that’s what!”

One side of his mouth ticks up with a hint of his iconic smile. “Yeah, guess I did.”

He rubs his jaw, revealing a host of bandages up one arm. Those crisp white strips stained with seeping blood rub me raw inside; I could’ve lost my brother forever. And I didn’t take his calls because I might get in trouble?