Page 2 of Gigi and the Gym Rats

“You know it,” Bee says with a grin.

I shake my head. “No, no, no. Not right at all. I’m a beta. One hundred percent. I love being a beta! I’m just waiting for my soulmate to find me. I’m not interested in several guys. Just the one, okay? And it’s not even serious. Lust isn’t serious. It’s only casual sex I’m interested in right now, to be honest. And…”

The customers have leaned forward even further. I should probably lower my voice. No idea why I’m getting so worked up about this. We’re only here to have cake and talk about Bee’s newfound happy life with her pack, right? Not about me.

But Bee then says, “What about your roommate, then? I saw you two talking and you looked pretty cozy together.”

“Oh, no.” I lift my hands and shake my head. “No. That’s it, I want my lawyer.”

* * *

“Look, wanting more than one man is not a crime, is it?” Bee reasons with me as I walk her across the street from the café to her new place where she lives with the St. Laurent pack. She lives in a new high-rise. The apartments there cost more than I will ever make in a lifetime, but that’s okay because two of her boyfriends are super rich.

“No crime, no. I mean, if you only want them…” I let the idea play out in my head. “For sex.”

“Yes, for sex,” she says slowly, watching my face. “Why, what else did you think I meant?”

“Nothing,” I say quickly. After all, she’s absolutely right. So what if I’m attracted to more than one man? I just wanted that clarified, laid out in black and white. Like I said, a healthy sexual appetite is natural.Right?

“Listen,” she says gently, “I’d be the last person to tell you how to live your life. But your designation shouldn’t matter. I learned that from you guys.”

“You’re an omega,” I protest. “You’re meant to be with a pack.”

“But I had planned to be with a pack even before I knew I was an omega.”

“Yes, but your true nature shone through in the end, didn’t it? There’s no doubt aboutmydesignation. I don’t even want to be an omega. I just…”

“Want sex?”

“Yes.”

“Then go get it, girl. What’s stopping you?”

Good question.

As it turns out, many things.

* * *

Bee may well tell me to just go and get laid, and maybe she thinks that with me being a beta it’s really simple. We all have certain ideas and stereotypes on our minds about designations. Omegas are the sensitive, weepy ones. Alphas are the growly, strong ones. And betas, well, they are the independent, I’ll-go-for-it-just-you-watch-me types.

Sex without attachments.

Control of our emotions at all times.

Nurturing but not clingy.

Faithful but shying away from quick commitment.

Seeking our one and only true mate to spend our lives with.

As I climb the stairs to the first floor of the Book Café where I currently reside, sharing an apartment with two guys and a girl who isn’t Bee because Bee moved out, I realize I have no idea why we think such things.

I open the door with my key and step inside, kicking off my shoes and nudging them with my foot to the side, then stepping through the hall.

Not that I’m saying those ideas are necessarily false, only that they seem a little too restrictive and I think…

I’m sorry, what was I saying?

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