Page 4 of Knot Only For One Night

He was born and raised here. He says he’s got a huge family and commutes to school. Helps out at his family’s business.

My cheeks are rosy as I text him, the constant flame of my face egging me to shut off my phone and pretend I never made a match even as the conversation flows easily, but my fingers fly across the screen.

The numbers on the clock tick on. Tiredness weighs on my eyes, but this isn’t as awkward as I thought it’d be.

Esper

What is your family business? You aren't mafia are you

Reed

No, it’s more lowkey

Esper

Exactly what a mafioso would say.

Reed

haha, we manage a plaza right outside the downtown area.

I roll around in my bed, snuggling with my light gray blankets and wrapping them around my head. My eyes drift to the clock. Three AM is normally my bedtime on a Wednesday since I have a class at eleven in the morning, but…

Reed

what has you up late?

Esper

A paper on different shades of blue and how differences affect people. HBU?

My eyes start to droop, my blinks lasting longer and longer as the three bubbles dance on my screen.

Reed

yeah, night is much cooler than days lately.

Esper

Have you always been a night owl?

Reed

yeah it's the only time I get to myself.

Actually I had a mini panic attack thinking I’d have no one for my next heat so I logged back into my Heat Seekers account… Just in time to see I have a match.

The admission shocks me a bit. I stare at the screen, the sleep easing away as the need to be honest fills me.

Esper

same.

I can feel the itch under my skin and my scent. Gosh my scent is driving me crazy. It’s soon.

I’m a little nauseous sending the text. Being the most honest I’ve ever been with a stranger. The compulsion to somehow retract the word vomit threatens to take over my fingers, but I refrain.

Reed