Page 7 of Knot Only For One Night

“Yes… a girl,” I confirm staring at the blank paper in front of me that should be covered in numbers and equations.

“How long?”

“Since last night.”

“You talked that much in one night? Damn.”

“Let’s focus on the math,” I say, knowing Casey takes his schooling way more seriously than I do. The dude is seriously motivated.

“We will, after you tell me about this Esper.”

“I hardly know her.” I keep from looking at Casey. I even refrain from yanking my phone from his hands.

“When are you gonna meet?”

“‘What is the probability of getting a Red Queen card in a deck of cards?’” I read the math question aloud, which does nothing to bring Casey's attention back to class.

“Is she cute? How do I get to her profile from here? This is just the chat.”

“I’m not telling you.”

“Why, think I’ll steal her away?” Casey laughs as he pulls his laptop with the textbook open on it closer to him. “I’ll trade you the answer for a detail on your girl.”

“No.”

“Come on.”

“She goes to this school.”

He scoffs. “Damn copout, but I guess a deal is a deal. The answer is 3.85 percent. You should know that.”

“Not as fast as you do,” I say, writing it down. This professor still preferred paper in place of electronics. Should’ve seen his face when he told us the textbook was online only. I thought his eyes were gonna get stuck in the back of his head.

Casey stares at me, not his textbook like I'd like him to, with raised eyebrows waiting for me to give him something about my match.

“I hardly know her,” I repeat, though the words feel like a lie on my tongue. We talked ’til four in the morning, then she fell asleep and for once I was sad when the other person stopped responding.

Connection is hard, despite what people may think about omegas. We’re not always searching for the next dick or hole to get off on.

I presented when I was nineteen. My first heat came not too long after. I’d been to the Omega Center and Company to find heat partners, and, well, it went fucking horribly. I didn’t enjoy it at all. I was counting the hours until it was over. I spent my heat with two alphas—one female, one male—who did their best, but it was still a horrible fucking time.

I need a connection. Sharing a heat with professionals, with strangers…it made things really damn hard. My next heat I spent by myself, which somehow was worse.

But I will not go back to the center. I’ll deal with it my way. Find my own partners. Find consistent partners that I can get to know. Build friends with benefits.

Enter: the Heat Seekers app.

“For someone you hardly know, you are quite possessive…”

“Whatever, man,” I mutter, trying to ignore the buzz I can hear in my bag. The flush on my face won’t go away, and wisps of my scent start licking the air. Pancakes. Soft warm pancake scent constantly follows me.

Fuck. My eyes meet Casey’s, and his face tells me my frilly-ass scent is spreading around the room.

Dammit all to hell.

“Ignore it. Everyone else should too. We’re all adults.” Casey’s eyes harden at the low murmur growing in the room. I shake my head, trying to get Esper off my mind in hopes it’ll help dampen the heat in my body with no luck. My next heat isn’t close—call me an early bird for trying to prepare—but right now, it feels like it could come on any day.

I try to focus on keeping my ass in this chair. Casey is right. Omegas have fought for us to be allowed to sit in a class, to be in school with everyone else.