Page 41 of Knot a Bad Idea

But as I pass the bar out into the front of the lobby, there’s a new note to it.

A citrusy sour note.

Something happened.

Something happened, and I wasn’t there for her…

I walk outside and am hit with a gust of wind and a pelting of rain, but also with the faint scent of lemony vanilla.

She was out here.

There’s a lone figure standing in the rain, his suit jacket soaked, and his dark hair drenched. He’s staring off into a distance, his lips pursed into a thin line.

Melodramatic and ridiculous.

I walk up to Donovan, fury in my veins.

“What did you do?” I demand, knowing my pack leader is responsible for April’s hurt. My anxiety turns into rage, ready to defend her to the death.

Whatever he said to her, whatever he did…

“She’s gone,” he says simply, turning to me. “She went back to the packhouse.”

He stares me down, as if daring me to say something.

“And why is she gone, Donovan?”

He blinks. “I told her the truth. I told her what she is to us.”

I stare at him, dumbfounded, until Steven, an executive at a tech company, claps me on the shoulder. “What are you two doing out here in the rain?” he asks, amused. “Shouldn’t you be with your plaything?”

I turn to him, disbelief and anger coursing through me. “What did you just say?”

He laughs. “Donovan told me everything. And Liam, let me tell you,” he continues, leaning in closer to me, “after this one, I have somegreatgirls for you, my friend.Brilliantgirls.”

It suddenly clicks. I turn to Donovan, who looks between me and Steven, unamused. “We’ll be sure to keep that in mind,” he says cooly.

Steven’s grin only grows, and he claps me on the shoulder again.

I yank his hand off me as a growl sounds in my chest, and Steven steps back, confused.

“I suggest,” I say softly, “that you never talk about mymatelike that. And be grateful that Hunter wasn’t out here to hear you, Steven.”

Then I turn back to Donovan, who has the audacity to look shocked.

He’s an emotionally braindead idiot.

He’s the smartest guy I know, yet when it comes to April…

“You’re a piece of shit,” I spit at him, and Steven laughs awkwardly.

It hurts to call my best friend that, but there are no other words for what he’s done.

I don’t know exactly what he said to April, but if he called her ourplaything…

I want to vomit. I want to punch something.

I want to burn the studio down.