Page 29 of Knot So Social

“So,” I start around a mouthful. “Your boss give you time off to recuperate?”

“Nah. I got fired.”

I choke. “’Cause of the accident?”

“Nope. Half an hour before. Came late to work one too many times.”

I stare at him and he sucks his bottom lip in sheepishly. A bubble rises in my throat and when it pops it comes full of laughter. I cackle, choke, and splutter. Instant noodle broth comes out through my nose.

“Fuck!” I wheeze, setting my bowl on the bedside table. “You’re a scream.”

Jeremy shrugs one shoulder, grinning widely. Probably more at me than the situation.

“I’m not actually laughing at you, you know?” I clarify, wiping tears.

“I know. But it’s so me, isn’t it?”

As annoying as my twin is, and clueless about the world, just twenty minutes in his presence has made me forget that my own life is imploding. He’s always had that effect, like the world is simpler when he's around.

“How’s things for you?” he asks. “How’s Tracey?”

“Complete shit,” I say, finally honest with myself. “Scored the biggest electrical contract of my life but I’m exhausted and I think Tracey’s leaving me.”

“Fuck,” he whispers. “Sorry man. I hope it wasn’t because of me?”

“Nah. ‘Course not.”

The fight might’ve been, but that was just an excuse. Either way, I don’t want Jeremy blaming himself.

“Is Jock okay?”

I snort. Trust my dog-loving brother to remember the hound.

“He’s fine, just needs a hell of a lot more exercise.” I scrub one hand through my hair and sigh. “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, bro. Seems like, no matter what I do, it’s wrong.”

He scoffs. “You and me both. But I do have a job interview.”

“Oh? Where at?”

He looks away and I immediately know something’s unusual.

“Fess up,” I order, grabbing my bowl and loading up another mouthful.

My brother, no joke, flushes red. “Um, at the Heat Wave clinic.”

Heat Wave? Heat? I tap my lip while my mind catches up. “Holy shit! The place that helps omegas through their heats?” Can’t say why, but my thoughts flick to Tracey’s question about his dick. “For real?”

He nods, still not meeting my eye.

“Well, you’re built for it. Those omegas don’t know what’s coming for them.”

“Stop it!” He throws a wadded-up shirt at me.

I chuckle, fending it off and setting my bowl on the windowsill. “All right, all right. My bad. But fuck.” A chain reaction of word play sets off in my head. “Well, fucking’s kinda the point, right?”

Jeremy leaps out of his seat and tackles me. I laugh as he closes a choke around my throat.

“Mercy, mercy! And are you even supposed to be walking around?”