All Chapters of BREAK ME KNOT: An Omegaverse Quarterback Romance: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Maeve's POVMy mother sent the dress two weeks before the event, which was her way of making sure I didn't show up in something she didn't approve of. It arrived in a garment bag with a note in her handwriting that said the green is perfect for you. Wear your hair up. Not a suggestion. A brief handed down from someone who had already decided how the evening was going to go. The green was perfect for me. I hated that she was right about that. The fundraiser was in Hartford, at one of those hotels that had chandeliers so large you had to actively avoid looking at them, or you'd spend the whole night with a crick in your neck. I had been to enough of these that I could navigate one in my sleep. Smile at the right people, hold my glass correctly, make conversation that was warm enough to be pleasant and vague enough to be noncommittal, and stay close enough to my mother that she could steer me where she needed me without having to come find me. I was good at this. I had been traine

Maeve's POVI said yes to Preston because my mother was watching and I needed to appear normal. That was the honest version of it. The version I told myself on the drive to the restaurant, sitting in the back of the car my mother had arranged because of course she had arranged a car, because every part of this evening had been arranged by someone other than me. Preston had called, not texted, which my mother had noted approvingly when I mentioned it. He had suggested a restaurant downtown that had a three-week waiting list for reservations, which she had also noted. He had done everything correctly, and she wanted me to give him a chance, and I had run out of reasons to say no. The restaurant was the kind of place that didn't put prices on the menu, which I had always found deeply irritating. Either put the prices or don't charge that much. Pick one. Preston was already there when I arrived, which was the right thing. He stood when he saw me and smiled like a man who was genuinel

Maeve's POVI broke up with Preston on a Sunday morning over text, which I knew was not the right way to do it, but a phone call would give him room to argue and I didn't have the energy for a well-structured argument from a Harvard law student at nine in the morning. I've been thinking about it and I don't think we're compatible. I'm sorry. He responded in four minutes. I think we should talk about this. Can I call you? I blocked him. I put my phone down and looked at the ceiling and felt the bond do its smug warm thing from his end, and I ignored it with the practice of someone who had been ignoring that feeling for three months. I had not ended things with Preston because of what was on the other side of the bond. I had ended things with Preston because dinner had felt like a job interview and the kiss had been nothing and I was tired of performing. That was the reason. The only reason. Alana looked up from her book. "You look like you just did something satisfying." "I e

Maeve's POVI found out about winter break on a Wednesday when my mother texted me the return dates. Car will be there December 15th. We have things planned through January 8th. Pack for the cold. I read it twice and then I put my phone face down on the desk and sat very still for a moment. December 15th was three weeks away. January 8th was after New Year. That was nearly a month, which I had known was coming because it came every year. Going home for winter break was not a question in my family, it was a schedule item, non-negotiable. I had gone home every break of my life without thinking about it twice. I was thinking twice about it now. The bond was doing what it did in the evenings, that low settled warmth that meant he was nearby and not in distress and going about his life on the west side of campus. It had been like this for weeks, since the Preston thing resolved itself, a different quality to it than the first three months. Still not resolved, still carrying all the

Maeve's POVThe last day of term was a Friday, and I woke up knowing it was the last day with a heavy weight on my chest. It sat in my chest before I was fully conscious, that awareness, and I lay there for a moment looking at the ceiling while the bond was warm and present. I got up and started packing. Alana watched me from her bed with the mug of tea she made every morning, quiet in the way she was when she was thinking about something she hadn't decided to say yet. "What time is the car coming?" she asked finally. "It should be here by two," I said. "It's eight in the morning, Maeve." "I know." I folded a sweater and put it in the case. "I pack early." She said nothing to that, which was its own kind of commentary. I kept folding things and the room filled up with the particular silence of two people who had been living together long enough to communicate in it. "Have you decided?" she said, at some point around the third sweater. I knew what she was asking. "No," I sai