Page 92 of Knot a Bad Idea
I remember hearing them shout from the bedroom after Hunter found me rocking back and forth. I remember them kicking Donovan out after seeing what he’d done.
I won’t be with a fractured pack.
Liam, Hunter, and Donovan are a package deal.
“How could you not go?” Devyn continues, her eyes practically bulging out of her head. “Aprivate island? Oh my god, imagine all the food, all the outfits?—”
“Because they didn’t treat her the way she deserves, Devyn,” Skylar says evenly. “And she doesn’t owe them shit now.”
Devyn lets outhrmphand resumes painting my nails.
“Enough about me,” I say. “Let’s talk about something else, for once.Please?”
Devyn bites her lip, and I can tell she wants to say something, but Skylar interrupts.
“How are you and Ben, Devyn?”
I thought it was an innocent enough question until Devyn suddenly bursts into tears.
It startles me so much that I forget about my own problems and focus entirely on the Omega that’s broken down in front of me.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, looking at Skylar with a confused face as Devyn practically throws herself into my arms, the bottle of open nail polish still in her hand. Skylar plucks it from her and places it on the bathroom counter as I awkwardly pat Devyn’s head.
Skylar looks horrified as Devyn openlyweepsin my hold. We balance on the toilet seat together, and for one comical moment, I imagine it collapsing under our weight.
What a shitty week it’s been.
“I...w-want…a…p-pack,” she sobs, and Skylar mouths a ‘what the fuck’at me.
“Okay,” Skylar says slowly. “Well, have we talked to Ben about this?”
Devyn continues to cry and shakes her head, little hiccups escaping her. “He s-said he was open to it, but I never asked again. W-what if he says n-no?”
“Why would he say no, crazy girl?” I ask her gently. Devyn grips me tighter, and soon, I’m rocking us both on the toilet seat with Skylar watching in horror.
She muffles something intelligible into my shirt.
“Devyn, you have to speak up,” Skylar says, and Devyn lifts her head.
“B-Ben is my only family,” she hiccups. “Besides you guys, and…I don’t want to risk it!”
I frown. I sometimes forget that sweet Devyn grew up in the foster system. She just burst into our café one day, bright and full of sunshine, and she rarely shares her struggles with us.
It’s disconcerting to see her cry.
Skylar leans back against my bathroom counter and sighs. “That’s hard,” she admits quietly. “Family is everything to me, too.”
I swallow and look between the three of us. My mom has basically adopted Skylar, and Devyn is slowly becoming her third child.
But they’re not the only people I think of now when it comes to family.
Pack Axton fills my mind.
No. Don’t go down that road.
Devyn continues to cry while Skylar and I do our best to soothe her.
“Can I tell you something?” I ask her after a few minutes of her gentle sobs. “Something I learned from everything I’ve been through with my—thepack I was dating?”