Page 33 of Knot Only For One Night

Revving my bike, I pull out of the parking lot, riding slowly. So slowly. I ride further and further away and yet… I see her in my mirror. Getting smaller and smaller as she stands frozen. Why am I even giving her a second thought?

I shake my head, focusing on moving forward. I need to get home. Wash this cranberry scent off of me.

CHAPTER 12

REED

Esper

Juni’s Butter and Batter, 6pm, Mike Harrison.

I storm to Neven's room, opening his door without knocking to see him already on his computer as Esper’s date details came through our group chat.

He waves me in without looking my direction. “Already on it.”

Neven’s place is clean, which is what I expect of a computer hacker. His apartment is only a few doors down from mine. Soren’s is between us. It’s fully furnished, with a kitchen, living room, and an actual bedroom. White walls with the same brown wood-looking vinyl all the apartments have above the bar. He’s got a cream couch and a coffee table. An actual coffee table. I don’t think I've ever seen one of those in person.

“Are you done judging my space?” Neven snips from his place at his kitchen island, which he had to have installed himself because these apartments do not come with fancy shit like that.

“Not quite. Is that a KitchenAid?” I ask, seeing the dark green appliance on his counter. “How the hell did you get this place so nice?”

“Work.” He smiles, and I burst out laughing.

“Yeah, whatever, what are you finding?”

His computer screen lights up his face, his glasses on the bridge of his nose as he leans down to look closer at his screen.

“Mike Harrison, alpha, plays basketball at White Pine Crest, lives with his parents off campus. Twenty-one years old. Went to Jackson High School, was suspended twice for pranks involving the school. Parents got it scrubbed from his record for college apps. Decent-looking. Nothing that would be enough to deter him from Esper.”

“Can you pull her chats with him?” His fingers freeze on the keyboard. “Moral dilemma?”

“Yes, actually. I don’t think she’d appreciate that.”

“She doesn’t have to know.”

“Would you like me looking at your chats?”

“It’s about her protection.”

The clicking of keyboard keys starts up again. “I trust her to make good decisions.” He shrugs and waves me to his side of the counter. “They’ve barely had a conversation. They matched this morning and he wanted to meet immediately.”

“I thought you trusted her?” I smirk.

“I do. I don’t trust him.”

A distinction without a difference, in my opinion. But it suits my needs at this moment, so he can tell himself whatever he wants to feel better about it.

“This is why we are friends,” I say, sliding the computer to face me more. Their chat is boring. She’s carrying the conversation, and knowing how hard that is for her, she’s getting desperate.

She feels like she’s out of time.

I grumble as I scroll. “We’ll have to grill him ourselves, because she’s not. Like at all.”

“I’m fine with that.” He leans back on the counter.

“He’s not the one,” I say, looking over his profile again. He mainly has photos of him and the basketball team, afterparties and dry-ass captions. Prompts that tell you absolutely nothing. The app really matched Esper with this guy?

“That’s not for us to decide,” Neven reminds me.