7. Knot(X) like you
1906 Words
ASHELENE
The first thing I heard was a strangled groan. I blinked. It was coming from next to me.
The second was a panicked, “Where the hell am I?”
I blinked awake, my limbs warm and heavy from sleep and s*x. A whole lot of s*x. The man sitting upright at the edge of the bed was breathing like he’d just been dropped into a strange place...
Ah.
"That must be the human..." Mei said groggily.
“You must be Knox,” I whispered, stretching my arms, staring at his bare back, my eyes tracing the muscles. Goddess, Neon... Knox was so f*****g beautiful.
He spun toward me so fast the blanket slid off his hips, giving me a very clear, very unfiltered view of his very naked everything. His co.ck was just as beautiful as he was...
“f**k—!” He slapped both hands over his erection, face going beet red. “Oh god—nope—nope, nope, nope.”
I bit down a laugh as he grabbed the nearest blanket and wrapped it around himself like a panicked Roman senator, complete with toga-style draping.
“This cannot be happening,” he muttered, clutching the blanket closed to him like it was armor. “I—I was gone for one night and what—what is—WHY am I—”
His gaze darted around the room, looking at everything but me, his lips pulled up.
“Who are you?” he demanded, pointing at me with the dignity of a man who had none left. “Why are you in my—my—whatever this is? That bastard—Neon—the wolf—he—”
Then his eyes flicked lower, really noticing how naked I was beneath the sheets.
“Oh god, did he—did I—did WE—???”
Before I could answer, a low, sleepy groan rumbled from beside me.
"What's all this commotion so early in the morning?" grunting, Rhett draped an arm over my waist like a steel bar, pulling me back into his chest as he murmured, half-asleep, “You’re warm…”
Knox’s jaw fell open.
“Rhett?” he choked, his eyes going comically wide. It was so hard to maintain my face when he looked so scandalized.
Rhett didn’t respond. If anything, he pulled me closer, face buried in my shoulder. His fingers flexed possessively at my hip, like a sleepy dragon defending his hoard.
Knox made a helpless gesture at the both of us.
“Rhett, you f*****g—” He sputtered, flinging his free hand. “What is this? What am I looking at? I go for ONE NIGHT—just ONE—and the wolf throws my life into a—into a threesome??? With—Oh my god, are you both naked under than blanket?!”
“You are naked too,” I murmured.
“That does not help,” Knox said, shuddering.
He scanned the room again, looking for logic like it might be hiding behind the curtains.
“What even—why is my body sore? Why does my back hurt? Why do I have scratch marks—”
He glanced down at the faint red lines on his chest and promptly squeaked.
“You...” he frowned, then pointed at me. “YOU—did you do these???”
I lifted a brow. “You’re asking that like it’s an accusation. You... I mean... Neon enjoyed it.”
“I’m asking that like I’m trying to piece together why my entire existence has gone off the rails!”
Rhett’s voice finally entered reality, gravelly and barely awake:
“Knox… shut the f**k up and let me sleep.”
Knox spun, blanket swishing dramatically.
“I will not shut the f**k up. You told me you were going to take a walk to ‘cool off’ last night! A WALK, Rhett! A normal, innocent walk! And instead I wake up in a luxury hotel room naked next to—” He gestured frantically at me. “—her! And you! And—and—whatever the wolf did! Is this France or hell?! You should have stopped Neon, not... joined him? What the f**k is wrong with you?" Knox looked like he was this close to hyperventilating.
Rhett cracked one eye open at him.
“It’s too early for your bullshit, brother.”
“Early?” Knox barked. “It’s eleven a.m.! I checked the clock and nearly died!”
I snorted.
Knox pointed accusingly. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Yes,” I said honestly.
He gasped—an actual gasp—clutching his blanket tighter.
Rhett, still half-asleep, dragged me even closer and muttered into my neck, “Ignore him, baby. Knox wakes up dramatic.”
“Dramatic?!” Knox sputtered. “I’m having an existential crisis in a blanket dress!” He stood, still wrapped like an ancient philosopher having a meltdown. “This is not how waking up as a human again was supposed to go,” Knox grumbled, stomping toward the mini-bar. “I was supposed to get coffee. Maybe a quiet morning. Not a— a—”
He gestured wildly between all of us.
“Whatever this… ménage catastrophe is!”
Rhett snorted into my skin. “He’ll calm down after caffeine. Knox, go have a cup of coffee and talk to your wolf."
“I will NOT calm down—!” he grunted. "And the bastard was playing pretend dead. I know you are in there, you freaking wolf..."
I snorted.
"He might really be tired after last night," I said, poking the already agitated man. Knox whirled around, eyes accusing.
His hair was messy, his cheeks flushed, and the blanket kept slipping off his shoulder. And despite the sexiness, he was so f*****g adorable.
I couldn’t help it. I laughed again.
Knox stilled, eyes softening just a fraction, confusion flickering across his face.
“Do you find this amusing?"
"Very much so," I replied, much to his shock.
"I… I need coffee,” he muttered, half to himself.
Rhett mumbled, pressing a lazy kiss behind my ear. “Have two. You need it.”
Knox glared. “I hate you.” He stomped away as I pulled away from Rhett.
"What?" Rhett groaned.
"I'm just going to check on him. He looks so flustered..."
"It is fine. He'll get over it. He knows what will be happening..."
"But really... how did they figure out how to completely shut a part of themselves off?"
"I have never tried, and never found out. Knox is... Knox hates many things, so he lets Neon deal with it. It works for them."
Nodding, I got out of the bed and quickly pulled on my discarded dress before walking toward the kitchen.
Knox stood in front of the espresso machine like it had personally wronged him, pounding the buttons with more force than necessary. The blanket slipped again, exposing a hipbone, and he yanked it back up with a hissed curse.
"Let me," I breathed, and he jumped back like a startled kitten. I realized how different Knox was from Neon. "I don't bite."
"I am not sure," he said, pointedly looking at the bite mark on his shoulder.
"Ok, unless asked. Neon asked, and I am sorry... but Neon said you knew..."
"I-I..." he trailed off, stepping away from the machine. I quickly made him two cup and handed it to him.
"Thanks," he said. "And what is your name? I mean, it is only fair I at least know your name after you biblically know everything about me."
"Ash... it is Ash."
"Is that it? You don't have a last name?" Knox prodded, looking at me strangely.
“I have a last name,” I said, lifting my mug, “but we decided none of us needed to know that. It’s… fun like that.”
Knox looked at me like I had just announced I worshipped spoons.
“I have no idea what you consider fun, but this isn’t fun… not at all.”
I tilted my head. “You’re not like Neon.”
His jaw tensed. He didn’t meet my eyes.
“I know,” he muttered, like it was something he heard often and hated every time. “He’s… fun. Charming. Reckless. I’ve been told.”
“And you’re not?” I asked softly.
Knox huffed, a humorless sound. “I’m the part of us that worries about taxes and consequences.”
I snorted before I could stop myself. “You do taxes?”
His ears flushed. “It was just an example.”
I smiled. “You’re funny.”
He blinked, like no one had ever said that to him sincerely.
“I’m not,” he said quickly. “Neon is. I’m just—” He gestured vaguely at himself, as though the rest was self-explanatory.
“Human?” I offered.
“…Yeah,” he said, voice low, almost embarrassed. “Human. Boring. Definitely not the one who should be waking up after…” His cheeks went crimson. “…all of that.”
“You’re not boring,” I said. He blinked again.
“You don’t even know me.”
“Not yet,” I said, shrugging. “But I can tell.”
He shifted awkwardly. He was… sweet. Softer than Neon. More easily overwhelmed. More breakable.
“I’m not like him,” he said again, quieter. “I don’t do… chaos. Or impulse. I can’t just—” He waved his hands in a vague circle. “—jump into things like he does."
“Maybe that’s why you’re both stuck in the same body,” I murmured. “You balance each other,” I said.
For a moment, he didn’t argue.
He just looked at me—really looked—eyes flicking over my face like he was trying to read something written there for him alone.
I just shifted closer to reach for my coffee, and my thigh brushed his. Soft. Bare. Warm. Knox froze.
His breath stopped, and then he leapt back like I had electrocuted him.
“What—!?”
The blanket slipped to his waist, exposing way too much skin... He yanked it back up with frantic hands, face going bright red.
“I—I didn’t—”
“Knox,” I said slowly, biting back a laugh. “Relax. It was an accident.”
He pointed at me like I was a loaded weapon. “You can’t just—just— rub your thighs on people!”
“I literally moved half an inch, Knox. It is okay. We are grown ass adults. You don't have to look at me like I assaulted you."
Knox cleared his throat.
"I know... I am sorry."
“Knox,” I said softly. He looked at me like I might set him on fire. “I’m not trying to… do anything. I just moved.”
He swallowed, still pink. “…I know. I just… I’m not— I'm sorry.”
“It is fine." Something warm tightened in my chest.
He wasn’t as flirty as Neon or as confident and brooding as Rhett.
He was quieter. Easier to startle. And somehow… painfully endearing.
And I liked him all the more for it... which was not reasonable, but there it was...
___
- Writer
