Page 96 of Defiant Beta

My overweight fifty-year-oldscience teacher spits out his ball gag. “This isn’t what it looks like.”

He’s on his hands and knees with Mrs. Stratton, the married secretary, riding him like a horse. Both are naked. She’s holding a leather whip that she flings to the floor, scrambling up and snatching a sheet from the bed to cover herself.

I think this is exactly what it looks like.

Levi and I leave the room to give them time to dress.

Frankly, after what I just saw, I don’t know how I’m going to look them in the eye, but we’re here for a reason, and so I stay.

Levi says nothing as we wait in the hallway. He just keeps scrubbing a hand over his eyes as if trying to wipe away the image of what we just saw. I relate. I relatehard.

“You can come in,” Mr. Irwin calls out.

Levi takes a breath and opens the door, holding it for me.

Both are wearing fuzzy, light-brown robes, which I hope belong to them and not to this sticky motel. Mr. Irwin is perched on the edge of the bed while Mrs. Stratton stands with her arms crossed in the corner, pretending to be invisible. Obviously, this is as mortifying for her as it is for us.

I avoid looking at the whip on the floor. I have seen more than I ever wanted to.

“So, you’ve been coming to a motel to screw each other’s brains out,” I say as soon as the door closes behind us.

Levi raises his eyebrow at me.

“What? The sooner we get the information we need, the sooner we can leave, and I can shower.”

He makes a soft sound of assent, his gaze lingering on a stain I don’t even try to identify on the pale brown sheet.

Mr. Irwin buries his face in his hands, the gold wedding band on his finger glinting under the room's yellow lights. “Iris and I have been having problems for a while.”

I move to console him.

I’m about to perch on the edge of the bed when I recall what the motel clerk said about cleaning up used condoms after ourselves, and decide that standing is preferable to sitting. “So, you, uh, haven’t been killing anyone?”

The school secretary blinks her hazel eyes at me from the corner of the room. “Killing?”

Levi subtly shakes his head at me.

They are not responsible for killing their omega, just having an affair.

“I’m not judging you or anything, but why here, of all places? Surely your car or even an alley somewhere would have been better than, well… here.” I eye our sticky surroundings. “Or is the dirt as necessary as the whip and the ball gag?”

Levi has his head down and his arms folded. His shoulders are shaking.

I think he’s laughing, but he’s not making a sound.

Mr. Irwin was boring, I thought, until now. The beta has brown, balding hair, blue-gray eyes, and a large belly. He wears striped shirts, navy pants, and sensible brown shoes.

Then I look at Mrs. Stratton. The pretty strawberry-blond beta has to be ten years younger, and she’s so put together that I struggle to comprehend what she sees in him.

“Things with Graham just happened,” she says softly. “Life hasn’t been easy the last couple of years, and Graham has always listened.”

She looks sad, and I realize maybe a part of mewasjudging them.

Her eyes suddenly widen in alarm. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

I shake my head. “No. Sorry we interrupted. We’ll go now.”

As the door shuts behind us, I look back. Mrs. Stratton is sitting next to him on the bed, with his arm around her.

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