Page 24 of Knot My Fault
I grin. “Manage me? Constantly. I’d be unbearable without supervision.”
“You’re unbearablewithsupervision, babe,” Bishop muses, already writing something on the clipboard.
Jude shakes his head and pushes off the wall, but the smile stays with him for the first few strokes, small and stubborn at the corner of his mouth. I watch him cut through the water and try not to make a sound over it, because Bishop already has the stopwatch lifted like he’ll use it as a weapon if I miss my next interval. By the time Jude finishes the set, he doesn’t go back to lane three. He slips under the rope into my lane and surfaces beside me, close enough that his shoulder brushes my arm under the water.
Bishop crouches at the edge and says, “You’re lifting your head too much on the breath, which is fixable.” Jude’s mouth twists, but he nods, watching Bishop’s face instead of the clipboard. Bishop turns more fully toward him, one hand braced on the deck, the other loose over his knee so Jude can see it. “Again, but don’t fight the water like it insulted you.”
“It did,” Jude says, still pressed against my arm. “Several times.”
“That was me,” Bishop says. “The water is innocent.”
Jude huffs, the sound dangerously close to a laugh. The next drill goes too fast. Jude hits the wall hard, coughs once, then again, water catching wrong in his throat. Bishop is still at theedge, staring worriedly at Jude. “Spit it out. Don’t swallow it. Nose, Jude.” Jude coughs again, flips him off weakly, and drags in a breath that sounds rough enough to make my chest hurt.
He turns toward me with wet lashes clumped together and annoyance all over his face. “Purr.”
The word nearly takes my knees out. I look at Bishop because I have no idea what my face is doing, and he gives me a small nod. “Low,” he says, quiet enough that it doesn’t become a production. “Let him come to it.”
I pull the purr up slowly, keeping it deep in my chest instead of letting it fill the room. Jude watches me for a second, then moves closer and rests his forehead against my chest. The vibration runs through him, and his shoulders drop a fraction.
Bishops taps the tile, stealing our attention. “I think we’ve done enough for one day, yeah?” He offers us both a smile and then to Jude, he offers his hand. Jude stares at it for a moment before giving in, Bishop pulling him up and into his chest.
I brace myself for the moment Jude pulls away but the fight is nearly gone in him, the Omega gently placing his ear over Bishop’s heart as well. “It’s different but I like it,” Jude murmurs. “I can sense your emotions like this without your scent.”
He’s always only done that to me. I thought it was mostly because of my Alpha purr. Now, I’m just realizing that our thoughts and emotions match our heartbeat. I lean against the gutter, smiling as Jude all but melts against Bishop, my Beta gently running his nose along Jude’s hair. Even if he can’t tell, Jude is going to smell like us.
A possessive sound bubbles up my throat before I can push it back down. I climb out, splashing as much as I can to cover up what just happened but one look from Bishop and I know he knows.Fuck.
Bishop pulls away. “Time for the ritual again, you ready?” Jude tenses and then relaxes, heading over to the bench with his bag and offering Bishop the small tube. The ritual is much the same as it has been the last few days, before and after Jude gets in the water.
However, it’s become easier and watching Bishop’s hands on Jude has become one of my favorite things. The tension in the Omega’s shoulders eases enough that Bishop finishes the last pass behind his ear. When Bishop hands him the tube, Jude caps it himself and signs the sheet with damp fingers. He reaches for his hoodie, then stops with the towel still dripping around his neck. His gaze drops to my hands, then back to my face, and he shoves the towel against my chest like he’s annoyed at both of us for existing. “Can you... can you do that again?”
I blink a few times and then let my purr start up before Jude stands and presses his ear to Bishop’s chest again. Then he gestures for me to move behind him, my body covering his from the back as my purr moves between the three of us.
He lets out a soft hum. “I really like this,” he whispers. “God, I didn’t know it could feel like this.”
I glance over Jude’s shoulder to my Beta, but he’s not looking at me. He’s looking down at the Omega between us, the one who’s finally realizing we’re safe. My purr grows a little louder, Jude going almost languid before he tugs himself from between us.
His face is flushed, his eyes darting around the pool before he clears his throat. “Right. Can we get some food? I’m starving.”
His obvious need to shift the moment is adorable as I grab my bag and a towel, no desire to sit in the showers and wait to eat. For once, Bishop doesn’t reprimand me as we head out through the side door to the parking lot.
Jude slots himself between us, his arms brushing ours. He tenses when a few Alphas pass us on the sidewalk, the Omegaleaning into Bishop for protection. Any other Alpha would have felt disrespected but I love the fact that Jude’s realized who runs our little pack.
And it definitely isn’t me.
“Thank you,” Jude mutters. “I... I needed the push. The water... the...” He catches himself. “Thank you.”
I reach toward him and then pause, Jude leaning into my side anyway. He doesn’t pull away when I wrap an arm around his shoulders, curling him further into me. And when he makes that soft hum again, I realize that it isn’t just a sound.
It’s a purr.
His purr.
For me.For us.
jude
Morningpracticeshouldbeillegal after a private practice. That’s my first thought when Nelson drops a kickboard on the deck beside my foot and I nearly consider murder before breakfast. My second thought is that Hollis is still in the water, which is worse because he already swam with me before the rest of the team arrived. Bishop called it a warm-up. Hollis called it bonding. I called it a terrible idea and then did the set anyway because apparently I’m a man of weak principles when someone puts water in front of me and tells me not to race it.
