Page 80 of Knot my First Rodeo

Autumn presses her lips together before shifting again, slower this time and when another crack of thunder rattles the windows, she exhales quietly and pushes away from the table.

“I think I’m gonna go lie down and read for a while,” she says, voice softer than usual. “I’m just… tired.”

Nobody argues with her or cracks a joke, and somehow that feels worse.

“You want me to bring you pop or somethin’ later?” Tripp asks.

She shakes her head too quickly. “No. I’m okay.”

Lie.

She stands slower than normal, one hand briefly catching the edge of the table before she straightens. Another cramp maybe? Whatever it is, she hides it fast enough that somebody not paying attention would’ve probably missed it.

I don’t.

Briggs definitely doesn’t. His whole body shifts toward her before he catches himself and settles back hard enough that the chair creaks.

“Night,” she says quietly.

“Night, Darling,” I tell her.

She disappears upstairs and the room stays quiet after.

I lean forward slowly, elbows braced against my knees.

“I think she’s goin’ into heat.”

“No way.” Tripp looks up so fast he nearly drops his pizza. “She packed suppressants,” he says. “Hunter told us she packed ‘em.”

“I know,” I respond quietly. “But somethin’ ain’t right.”

Briggs finally looks up. “What’re you sayin’?”

I drag a hand slowly over my jaw, trying to figure out how to explain instinct to people who already know exactly what I mean.

“Remember when I said we were in the chicken barn earlier, and her scent hit harder than it should’ve?”

That gets Briggs’ attention fast.

His posture shifts in the chair, forearms bracing against his thighs while his jaw stiffens. He looks toward the stairs, fingers tapping once against his knee like he’s deciding whether he should go up after her.

He exhales hard through his nose and drags a hand over his mouth before leaning back again, though not all the way.

“She packed suppressants,” Tripp says again.

“I know,” I say. “But she’s barely eaten all night, keeps cramping, scent’s stronger than it should be, and she looks like she’s tryin’ real hard not to let us notice.”

“She didn’t say anything,” Tripp mutters. “Wouldn’t she have told us?”

“Unless this is the issue Hunter was talking about. He never said what it was, just that he would take care of it. What if she told him, and that’s what he’s gonna fix?”

I’d bet my lasso that she told her brother she doesn’t have her suppressants, and he’s trying to keep it from us.

Briggs grabs his phone. “I’m calling Hunter.”

Voicemail.

He tries again.