Knot Her Reality (Heated Book 3)

Chapter Nineteen

Sunday morning, I decide to sleep in and skip breakfast. I know today will be about spending time with the suitors while we get to know each other, but that doesn’t mean I can’t sleep in. Since we’ll be just hanging out around the house, I’ll be able to snack until lunchtime.

Crawling out of bed, I head straight for the shower, wishing I had a coffee maker in my room. It would be nice to have coffee waiting when I got out of the shower. Oh, well. I’ll just have to head to the kitchen as soon as I’m ready.

We agreed to meet out by the pool so when I step out of the shower, I pull on one of the many bikinis I brought. I had them made in any color I could want so I had choices. Today, I pull on a bright pink one, which looks amazing against my skin.

I’m just pulling on a cover-up when my suite’s phone rings.

Frowning, I hurry over, wondering who could be calling. “Hello?”

“Evangeline, it’s Finn. I’m setting up a session for us after dinner tonight, and before you try to argue about it, this is a requirement. We haven’t had a session since before the suitors arrived—which was two weeks ago. You’re meant to meet with me at least once a week, even if you don’t feel like you have to. You’re allowed to request meetings more frequently, but the once-a-week meeting is mandatory.”

I make a face, knowing he’s right, but that doesn’t mean I want to do it. “Fine. I’ll come to your office after dinner.”

“That was actually easier than I thought it would be,” he says with a laugh, and I roll my eyes.

“As much as I’d love to argue with you, you’re right. Bree laid it out for me before I signed the contract to join the show. Mandatory therapy sessions are a requirement. I won’t be happy about it, but I’ll be there.”

He laughs again. “That sounds more like the Evangeline I know.”

“Whatever. I’ll see you tonight.” Without waiting for a response, I hang up the phone. I’m not going to let anything rain on my parade today—not even a mandatory therapy session.

Tossing on a pair of sandals and grabbing a floppy hat, I make my way to the kitchen. The moment I step inside, all eyes turn to me. “Oh, um, hi. I was hoping to get some coffee.”

A woman who looks older than my grandmother did the last time I saw her gives me a sweet smile. “You can just head out to the pool area. We have a small buffet of snacks and plenty of coffee for you there.”

“Oh, wonderful. I’m also starving. I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name?”

The woman seems surprised at my words, but her smile just grows. “I’m Millie, Miss Evangeline.”

“It’s just Evangeline, Millie. Thank you for the information and for what you do for us here at the compound.” I look around the occupants of the room. “That goes for all of you. Don’t think I don’t know how hard you all work, and I’m very grateful.”

I can see surprise on most of their faces before Millie nods. “We’re happy to help. If you ever need anything, just ring the kitchen, and we’ll make sure you have it. Now, go enjoy those suitors of yours. I’ve seen them and they are some fine specimens.”

When she shoots me a wink, I can’t help the giggles that spill from my lips. “You’re right, Millie. They sure are.”

With a quick wave, I exit the kitchen. It’s just a quick walk to the sunken living room and out the sliding glass doors to the pool area. I’m unsurprised to see that I’m the last one to arrive.

“Good morning everyone!” I laugh as I wave, knowing that it’s nearly afternoon already. “I’m grabbing coffee and some food. Give me like ten minutes, and then I’ll be ready to start the day.”

Laughter follows me to the buffet setup as I make myself a plate of fruit and fill a large cup with coffee. Sitting at an empty table, I let my eyes wander as I sip on my coffee. Humming to myself, I drink it faster than I probably should, but it’s just what I need.

I also take the time to see how the suitors are grouping up so far. Viktor and Dustin are sitting away from everyone else on lounge chairs as they talk quietly. Pack Reyes is in the hot tub by themselves, which isn’t that surprising. They will need to spend time with the other suitors, though. It’s not doing them any favors to be off on their own.

Most of the other suitors have gathered in the pool. The only ones not in the pool are Jagger and Cora, but they’re sitting on the side of the pool dipping their feet in, so it’s not like they’re excluding themselves. All the suitors in the pool seem to move around, talking to all the others. It’s kind of nice to see. With only six suitors sequestering themselves, two-thirds of them are hanging out together in the pool.

They seem to have gotten the memo. This is exactly what I want to happen on Sundays. I want to see how everyone gets along with one another. I want to see who I can actually see as being a part of my pack.

I noticed the way the others were standoffish toward Viktor when I had the picnic with the day two suitors, but I didn’t expect it to still be going on. I really would rather not have to deal with a bunch of drama. I know there’s no way to fully escape it as we’re twenty-one people thrown together with different personalities. There’s never going to be a time where everyone gets along when that’s done.

Once I finish my snack, I feel much more human. Pushing off my cover-up, I make a quick stop to refill my coffee before heading toward Dustin and Viktor.

Dustin is the first one to notice me as he perks up. “Hi, Evangeline.”

Viktor glances over his shoulder at me, sunglasses covering his eyes. “Good morning, omega.”

I wince before trying to hide it. There are times outside of the bedroom I don’t mind being called omega—though it usually has some kind of sexual context to it—but I don’t like the way Viktor says it. I know I told Jagger when we first met not to call me omega outside of the bedroom, but it was mostly just to give him a hard time. With Viktor, I want to tell him the same thing, but I’d actually mean it. But I’m not going to say that. If I ignore it, maybe he won’t call me it again? One can only hope.

“Good morning,” is what I settle on, my smile feeling brittle. “Do you mind if I sit with the two of you?”

“Of course,” Dustin says as he and Viktor sit up fully. “We’d love to have you join us.”

Settling onto the lounge beside Viktor, I glance at the pool before turning back to them. “Not a fan of the pool?”

“Love the pool, but I’m not a big fan of the people inside it,” Viktor says, sneering as he glances toward the pool.

I jerk back at his tone, frowning. Dustin flicks his leg, waiting until the alpha looks up before giving him a “what the fuck” look.

Viktor turns to me with a sigh, pushing the sunglasses onto his head. “I’m sorry, Evangeline. I didn’t mean to snap at you. My anger isn’t meant for you. The other suitors have been… unkind to me because of the accident. They exclude me from everything. Well, most of them. It’s just hard when no one wants to give you a chance because of one stupid mistake.”

“I understand that. I’ll talk to them. They need to understand that it was an accident. I’m really sorry they’ve been treating you like that.” I shake my head as my gaze goes back to the pool. Alejandro’s, Jagger’s, Koda’s, and Lillian’s eyes are all on us, but I can’t tell what they’re thinking from this far away.

I don’t like that the suitors have been excluding Viktor. After everything, I’m not sure how they can still be blaming him for the accident. It’s not like he did it on purpose—or at least I don’t think so. It just doesn’t make sense that he would hurt me on purpose, hence why I’m choosing to believe that it was an accident. I wasn’t just telling Viktor that I would talk to the other suitors to make him feel better, but because I don’t like this kind of behavior. It makes me feel like I’m back in high school, and that was not a time I enjoyed.

“So, besides being excluded by the other suitors, how have you found your time on Heated so far?”

Viktor scoffs. “Unfortunately, being excluded by the others means I’ve spent most of my time in my room. But the others have allowed Dustin to join them.”

“So you’ve been all by yourself?” Gods, I feel so bad for this man right now.

“Oh, no.” Dustin shakes his head. “While I’ve spent time with the others, I’ve spent more time with Viktor. I’ve been trying to convince them that he’s a good alpha, but not everyone wants to listen. Natalie seems to want to give him a chance, though. And we haven’t really had much of a chance to speak with the day-five suitors.”

“Speaking of, I’m surprised to see Tessa here. There were a lot of rumors going on at the end of season two. Apparently, she was up to some shady shit, and that’s why Sophia shut the show down early.” Viktor lowers his sunglasses as he focuses back on the pool.

I hum, my eyes finding the alpha in question. She’s currently floating in the water on a raft beside Natalie as the two of them chat. “I don’t know what went down last year, but Tessa said she would explain it to me. Even if she did something wrong, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve to be here. After all, accidents and bad choices can be made on the regular—that doesn’t mean people don’t deserve second chances.”

Viktor’s nose wrinkles, but he doesn’t argue my point. How can he when his mistakes ended up delaying the show by a week?

The three of us chat for a little longer before I say goodbye and move over to chat with Pack Reyes.

“Hello, Evangeline,” Ana purrs as I approach the hot tub, her eyes trailing up and down my body. “Did you decide to come hang out in the hot tub with us?”

I shrug. “I wanted to come over and say hello. But I also wanted to see why the four of you weren’t hanging out with the others.”

Paisley wrinkles her nose. “I’m not a huge fan of pools—at least not when there are a bunch of people around. Too many scents on top of the chlorine. Hence why we’re in the hot tub. Plus, who can turn down a hot tub.”

“You’ve got me on that one. What I really want Sundays to be about is seeing the suitors get to know one another. That’s hard to do if you’re away from all the others, isn’t it?”

Malachi stands, water trailing down his body, and I can’t help but follow the path with my eyes. Damn, he’s hot. I wouldn’t mind licking the water from those abs.

“I’ll happily go get to know the others while Ana stays with Paisley. Nash, with me.”

Blinking, I glance up at him with a thankful smile. “Thanks, Malachi. I appreciate you putting in the effort while making sure that Paisley is taken care of.”

Once the two of them step out of the hot tub, I climb in with the remaining two members of their pack. A moan spills from my lips as I lower myself into the water.

“Oh, Paisley, you were right. This feels amazing.” I lean my head back against the side of the tub, allowing the jets and hot water to work over the aches and pains in my body. When I lift my head it’s to find both of them watching me, their desire clear.

A throat clearing has me turning my head to find Tessa standing beside the hot tub. “Hi, ladies. Do you mind if Natalie, Lillian, and I join you?”

“Of course,” I say, moving closer to the corner to allow them more room to climb in. “Wait, if we’re doing an all-ladies hot tub time, then we need Cora and Skylar, too.”

Tessa grins as she helps Natalie and then Lillian climb into the hot tub. Natalie comes over to sit beside me, our arms and legs touching when Lillian sits beside her.

“I’ll go see if they want to join us. Should I tell the others no boys allowed?” Tessa laughs as she heads back toward the pool, not allowing me any time to respond. I totally would’ve told her to tell the boys they weren’t allowed. The four of us sit in comfortable silence until Tessa returns with the two betas.

“We were requested to join the ladies in the hot tub?” Cora makes it a question as she grins, her eyes meeting mine.

I nod. “Absolutely. Sometimes, we just need a break from men. Come on in. It feels like heaven.”

The three of them climb inside and get settled. Tessa ends up sitting beside Paisley with Cora on her other side and Skylar beside her.

“Hello, Tessa. You’re the other female alpha, right?” Paisley looks at Tessa from under her fluttering eyelashes causing me to shake my head. This girl. When Tessa nods, her smile only grows. “I love female alphas—“

Anything else she was going to say is cut off by Ana’s growl as she jerks her omega behind her, face in Tessa’s. “She’s mine. Stay away.”

Tessa holds up her hands in the universal sign of surrender. “Absolutely. I wasn’t planning to—“

“I don’t care what you were or weren’t planning.” Ana bares her teeth before shaking her head. “Come along, Paisley. We’re going back to our suite.”

“Ummm… Ana? Tessa wasn’t doing anything,” I start to say before the alpha female turns to me with a snarl.

“She’s mine—not any of yours. If we want to leave, we will. I don’t want her around another female alpha. As long as she’s around, neither of us will be.” With that, Ana hauls Paisley out of the hot tub and drags her toward the house.

“Sorry,” Paisley calls over her shoulder, looking more than a little confused.

I shake my head, glancing at the others. “So, that was weird.”

“Definitely weird,” Natalie agrees. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ana act like that before.”

“The only one I’ve seen have a problem with being possessive is Paisley herself, and she’s been doing so much better about that.” I shake my head. “I’m sorry, Tessa. You didn’t deserve that. Ana can’t act like that. If she thinks I’m going to send you home because she’s not comfortable having another female alpha around Paisley, she’s in for a shock.”

Tessa’s smile is soft. “Don’t worry about it, Evangeline. It’s not on you. Sometimes, we have problems dealing with our designations, and being a female alpha is hard. Hopefully, it was just a fluke, and she’ll be okay once she’s had time to calm down.”

“I was really hoping there would be less drama with just us women,” Skylar says slowly, shaking her head. “I guess I was hoping for entirely too much.”

I snicker because if there was going to be drama with anyone, it would be the women. “Why don’t we forget about what just happened and just enjoy ourselves?”

“Actually,” Tessa starts, wrinkling her nose. “I was hoping I could talk to you about last season? I’m fine having all of you here, I’m sure there are plenty of questions to go around, and I’d rather only do this once.”

“Of course. I’d love to hear anything you have to tell me. As for the rest of you, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.” Glancing at each of them, I can see that Skylar isn’t comfortable with being here. I don’t know if it’s because of the drama with Ana or if she doesn’t want to hear what Tessa has to say, but it’s clear she no longer wants to be inside this hot tub with us. “Skylar, you don’t have to stay. No one is going to think less of you if you leave.”

She makes a face as she glances around. “Honestly? I get anxious around confrontation. I really just need some time alone to get my head on straight. I promise this has nothing to do with you, Tessa, or whatever it is you’re about to say. This is an issue I’ve dealt with most of my life, and I know if I ignore it, it won’t end well for me.”

“Of course, Skylar. Take care of yourself. Do you want one of us to help you to your room?” Tessa asks, already moving to stand up, but Skylar waves her off.

“No. No. I’ll be fine getting up to my room. Cora, stay and enjoy your time, okay?” Skylar gives her a soft smile before turning to me. “I’m sorry, Evangeline. I know we’re meant to be getting to know one another—“

“Don’t apologize,” I tell her, cutting her off. “You need to do what you need to do to take care of yourself. If you’re feeling up to it later, you can always come back down, okay?”

She nods. “Thanks everyone. Hopefully, I’ll see you later.”

We all watch as she climbs out and heads for the house. I can see the guys glancing between the house and us, clearly wanting to know what’s going on, but none of them make a move toward the hot tub. But I realize that Nash and Malachi are nowhere to be seen. They must have gone to their suite with Ana and Paisley.

Looks like our first get to know one another Sunday is off to a great start.

Shaking my head, I focus on Tessa. “The floor is yours.”

Tessa takes a deep breath. “I don’t know how much of this they showed on air, but it’s my fault that Sophia felt the need to choose her pack so suddenly. The studio execs were riding our asses hard last year—mine more than Bree’s since they think they’re above dealing with her. They’re all a bunch of idiots who think that an omega’s only real job is keeping house and having babies.

“So I try to keep them away from Bree because she doesn’t need to deal with that. After the discovery that Sophia and Chase were an omega pair, all eyes were on us. Half of the execs didn’t believe it, and the other half wanted to cash in on it. I was doing everything I could to keep them away from the compound and out of Sophia’s business. Then they started saying we needed to create more drama between the omegas and the suitors. They didn’t want the show to be fully unscripted. They thought we’d lose viewers because there wasn’t enough drama.

“Which is ridiculous considering the amount of drama that had already happened on the show. When one of them showed up at the compound, requesting a tour, what could I do but give him what he wanted? Then he started talking about how Sophia needed to reject the rest of Pack Lewitt or that Chase needed to tell Sophia he didn’t want to share them with her. He kept talking about how many viewers that we’d get from that. I was just trying to get him the hell out of there, so I agreed to see what I could do.

“Unfortunately, Sophia overheard the conversation and was having none of it. I’d like to say I wouldn’t have tried to do that to them, but fuck knows at that point. Bree and I had already forced Sophia into doing a public rose ceremony and to send someone home. All because of the pressure the execs were putting on us. They were threatening to take away our budget or to cancel the show. Which, if I’d been in my right mind, I would’ve known was bullshit. We’re their top-rated primetime show.”

Tessa lifts her head, her eyes meeting mine, and I can see the pain there—the guilt.

“I don’t think I would’ve let them push us so hard if I hadn’t been dealing with my own shit. The only person who knew was Bree because I didn’t want anyone else to know. I was embarrassed or something. I don’t know. It was ridiculous, either way.” She shakes her head, looking away. “I had ovarian cancer and was undergoing treatment for the first part of the season but refused to allow it to keep me from working. It was hard, but it’s what I wanted.

“Once treatment was over, I was in remission—which is great—but they told me I was infertile just before the ceremony where we forced Sophia to make certain decisions when she didn’t want to. My doctor and I went to extremes to make sure I kept my ovaries in hopes that I’d be able to have children one day. After all, with infertility running rampant in our society, no one wants to lose another babymaker, right?” She scoffs. “I didn’t even care that the doctor was more worried about that than I was because I did want to have kids one day. I knew the chances were slim, that it would be hard. But I at least wanted the chance, you know? It tore me up knowing that it wasn’t even an option anymore.

“I was distracted and grieving something that might never have happened regardless. I let them push me around and did things I’m not proud of. I would change it if I could, but I can’t. I’ve explained all of this to Sophia and her pack, and I’m hopeful that one day they’ll forgive me. It’s not an excuse for what I did, I take full responsibility for those choices, but part of that is getting the story out there. Bree tried to protect me the best she could from any backlash, but I need to own up to what I did. And I wouldn’t feel right going into a relationship without that person, or people, knowing what I’d done.”

Tears fill my eyes as I watch this beautiful alpha fighting back her own. I can’t even imagine going through what she did. The pain she must have felt—not just from what she lost but from the treatment she went through. Of course, her facilities weren’t all there. Of course, she made mistakes. After all, she’s only human—just like the rest of us.

“Oh, Tessa.” Cora reaches out and pulls the other woman into a hug. “You poor thing. You really went through it last year, didn’t you? I’m sure the pack will forgive you once they’re further from it. I’d never hold you responsible for something like that, considering what you were going through.”

“Agreed,” I tell her as I move across the hot tub to wrap my arms around both of them. “And though you didn’t owe anyone an explanation, thank you for telling us.”

It doesn’t take long for Natalie and Lillian to join our group hug as we each cry and assure Tessa that no one will hold that against her—at least none of us. I don’t know how long we stay like that, but when we pull apart, I’m ready to get out of the hot tub.

“Next time we have a group therapy session, we definitely shouldn’t do it in the hot tub. I’m dying,” I announce, pulling myself out and heading for the pool.

Without waiting to hear any responses or seeing if anyone is going to join me, I dive into the pool. I touch the bottom before pushing to the surface and pushing my hair out of my face. The other three women are standing alongside the pool and jump in as soon as they know where I am.

I wanted to get to know the suitors and for them to get to know one another, I guess that’s been at least partially achieved with Tessa’s confession. Now to spend time with the men—you won’t hear any complaints from me.