Page 7 of Knot a Bad Idea

“Foradvice? How many times have I called you losing my mind?”

Even though Skylar’s right, it doesn’t mean I’m comfortable asking for help just yet.

And with the NDA I signed, I have to navigate the conversation carefully.

“I know. I’m not on speaker, right?”

“Of course not,” Skylar says. “Hey Dev, I’ll be right back.”

“Okay, Skye!” Devyn chirps, and I wait a moment before speaking.

“You ready?” I ask. “This is probably going to sound weird, but hear me out.”

“I love weird,” Skylar says.

I frown. “I know you do.” Unwanted images of her making those special batches of macarons for her pack fill my mind.

I wonder if Devyn knows how freaky her friend is.

To be fair, Hunter would probablyloveit if I put my slick in a brownie.

I shudder.

“You there?” Skylar asks, interrupting my train of thought.

“How did you deal with Vincent?” I blurt out.

There’s a beat of silence. “Huh?” Skylar asks.

“You said in the beginning Vincent didn’t like you, or at least, you didn’t get along.” I recall our conversations after I got out of the hospital. Skylar told me the story of how she met her pack, and how Vincent was the most difficult of the three Alphas.

Now, he worships the ground she walks on.

“Oh, yeah, he was a prick,” Skylar says cooly. “A total asshole.”

I scoff in disbelief. “Okay? But he’s your mate, right?”

“Yes, I said hewasan asshole, not heis. Well, River might disagree with that.”

“What changed?” I ask softly.

There’s a pause on the other end. “Wait, did something happen? I swear to fucking god, April, I’ll fucking kill them?—”

“Skylar. Stop.Focus,” I interrupt. “When did your relationship with Vincent get better?”

“Fine,” Skylar says. “It took time with Vincent. He was...clearly not looking for a relationship. He was fine being by himself, and even when he agreed to help us find you, he still kept his distance. Honestly? I think he finally stopped closing himself off when he realized he almost lost me. After…you know.”

After she was kidnapped, held by the same group of traffickers that kept me hostage.

“When did you know something changed?” I ask softly, doing my best to keep my voice even.

My best friend has gone through the same trauma as me, yet I’m over here begging for scraps of advice about how to maintain afakerelationship.

Well, it’s not really fake anymore.

Is it?

There’s a beat of silence on Skylar’s end. “His eyes,” she says softly. “They weren’t as guarded. There was something else there. I know it sounds stupid, like some cheesy movie cliché, but he just looked at me differently.”