Page 23 of Knot A Chance

Me: I am. My cat, Marley, is the only one here. We’re all locked in, and she’ll snuggle me all night to keep me warm in bed.

Bennett: Well, I never envisioned myself being jealous of a cat, but here we are.

Me: No need to be jealous, considering I still smell like you. She’s looking at me like she’s not certain I’m her human.

Bennett: How long have you had her?

Me: Since I got out of rehab. I thought it would be good to become responsible for another life. For a long time she gave me a reason to go home sober every day. Couldn’t very well care for her if I was high as a kite somewhere.

Bennett: I’m glad you have her. I’ll let you go for the night. Get some rest and please call me if you need anything.

Me: I will. Goodnight, Bennett.

I set the phone down and Marley meowed at my feet. “Yes, I get it, you’re hungry. Let’s go,” I said, walking to the kitchen as she padded along in front of me.

She stopped in front of one of the windows and hissed.

“Marley,” I scolded, “leave the squirrels alone.”

“Come on,” I said, pressing the start button on the car again, my foot pressed all the way down on the break. I sighed and gripped the steering wheel as I let my forehead drop against it. “You’re a brand-new car,” I groaned, banging on the steering wheel. “You’re supposed to fucking work!”

I pulled out my phone and pressed the button to call my sister. “Are you almost here?” Clara asked excitedly.

“I’m going to have to cancel breakfast,” I said. “My car won’t start.”

“What? It’s brand new. I should know, since I helped pay for it.”

“Yes, I did try telling it that. So far, it’s made no difference.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Call a mechanic, I suppose,” I said, dropping my forehead to the steering wheel again. “This is not how I intended to spend my day. I had errands to run after breakfast.”

“Isn’t your hunky alpha a mechanic?” Clara said with glee.

“There are several parts of that sentence that are incorrect, but the mechanic part is not one of them,” I said with a sigh.

Clara repeated the sentence again slowly. “No, it all seems right.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m sorry about breakfast, but I need to call the alpha—not mine—mechanic who is drop dead fucking gorgeous—not that you would know and hunky’s a terrible word—so that he can come save my ass. Again. Could I be a more stereotypical omega? Please, alpha, I’m stranded and I need a ride,” I said in a high-pitched voice.

I lowered my voice. “I’ll give you a ride, omega, on my big hard cock.”

I kicked my voice up again. “Oh, yes, alpha, please take me where I need to go.”

“Are you finished?” Clara asked.

“I could probably keep it going,” I said. “It’s a pretty standard porn scene.”

“Just call the hot mechanic and ask him to come fix your car,” she said with exasperation. “We can reschedule breakfast. Better yet, go to breakfast with the hot mechanic and forget me all together. I’m too tired to go out anyway. Being pregnant with twins should be the kind of thing that gets you waited on hand and foot.”

“Michael waits on you more than enough, Clara.” I scoffed. “I’m sure Bennett has a job to do anyway. He’ll probably send one of his employees.”

Clara cracked up as if I’d told a hilarious joke.

“I’m hanging up.”

“Good,” she yelled between gasps for air.