The Germaphobic Beta

FOUR

I sat in my office fidgeting with my pen. It’d been over an hour and I had got nothing done. Luckily, all documents for the conference were ready and with Minka. Mildred made sure of that.

I kept my mind preoccupied with this morning’s events. I had never had such a vivid dream in my entire life. Part of me craved it, desperately wanted for that experience to be repeated, but the restraining part of me fought that thought. For the first time in a really long time, I began to consider if the pleasure was worth the risk.

I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about how Tiana laughed as well. It looked like she had a halo around her. She was as beautiful as she could only be. What was King up to? The way Tiana laughed was cute, but at the same time concerning. I had no control over King. I had the feeling he was keeping secrets from me, and I, on the other hand, was completely exposed to him.

Three knocks on my office door distracted me from that thought.

“It’s time, boss,” Mildred said, and I sighed. Just thinking about it gave me goosebumps and made my stomach turn.

Time to face the music. I had to suck it and face people, strangers, lots of them. We would all be in the same conference hall, breathing the same air.

-Sniffing each other’s farts...

-Don’t!

I stood up from my chair, got frozen for a few seconds, and sat back down.

-Ah, s**t! Not going. I shook my head.

-Can’t do it. My hands were shaky.

-Get your ass out there or I’m telling on you.

I knew what he meant. I shook my head.

-Just another minute. I was trying to find an excuse. But of course, he knew that. He f*****g knew everything.

I heard my phone’s notification going off, and I checked it. It was a message from Tiana, ‘I’ll see you there in thirty, OK?’.

-Oh, you wouldn’t leave her waiting, would you? King teased me.

-Let me think. I said, tapping my fingers on the desk.

-A cute little beauty like Tiana, holding a warm homemade meal, in the middle of a hall full of horny males. Alphas and Betas, to be precise. So many big, throbbing dicks...

-Oh, hell no!

That did it. I stood fast, took my jacket, and walked out of the office, not even stopping to disinfect everything or wash my hands as I usually do. Hand sanitizer would have to do. Lots of it.

“I’m heading out, Mildred,” I said hurriedly, not giving her time to respond. I took the napkin out of my pocket and opened the door. As I arrived at the elevator, Aaron’s door opened as well.

I pressed the down button, and Aaron walked out, followed by Scarlett and Natalia. Light brown short hair and green eyes like Dad’s. His square, stupid face had a ridiculous smirk on it. As usual, he was wearing a navy blue suit a size too small to make him look stronger than he was. I bet that if he squats, it would rip in half.

-I’ll like to see that.

Minka was a few steps behind them with three large bags of documents and other things. One of those bags was surely today’s handouts.

-What a f*****g i***t.

“What do we have here? Did you grow some balls and decided to grace us with your presence?” Aaron said, in his condescending tone, as always.

-Prick.

Aaron was just like ass hair, completely unnecessary and full of s**t.

“Help her for f**k sakes, all those muscles are not for show,” I said, pointing at Minka. Minka was in her mid-thirties, a bit short, and of Asian descent. She usually kept her pitch-black hair in a ponytail and wore a simple black blazer with low heels.

“Nah, she can manage. Can’t you, Minka?” He asked her and she replied with a fake smile. If looks could kill, Minka’s would have already stabbed Aaron in the back.

“If it bothers you so much, why don’t you help her then?” He said with a sarcastic smile.

-Suck my d**k and choke on it, t**t.

“Can’t f*****g believe it,” I said between my teeth and turned my face away from him, grinding my teeth to hold myself from latching out. I took a pair of disposable latex gloves from my pants right pocket and put them on.

“Pass me the bag.” I stretched my arm towards Minka and she struggled to balance all the things she was holding. Minka tried to give me the lightest one.

“Not that one, the big one,” I said with my arm still extended and she nodded. The elevator’s doors opened and Aaron just walked in with Scarlett and Natalia. Both of them still had Aaron’s d**k smell on them.

I took the bag from Minka, making sure I wouldn’t accidentally touch her and signal with my head to the elevator. “I’ll bring the bag to you as soon as I arrive there. OK?” I said, and she nodded with a smile.

“Thanks, Idris,” she said before heading into the elevator.

I made way for Minka to enter the elevator and stood right outside of it. Holding the bag as far away as I could from my body.

“Not getting in?” Aaron asked with a hand gesture as to invite me in. He knew well there was no way in hell I would share that f*****g small space with so many people.

“Nah, I’m taking the next one. This one is full of shit.” I said with a cynical smile and Aaron laughed. He leaned against the elevator’s back wall and snaked his arms around both girls’ waists. Scarlett, a redhead to his right, and Natalia a blond to his left. Both girls had micro mini-skirts shorter than a folded tissue and heels pointy enough to be fit for weapons. They were beautiful, I won’t deny that. I thought they could do much better with their lives than just suck Aaron’s d**k.

I gave Aaron a death stare with my brows frowned. My dark eyes fixed on his green ones until the doors closed.

If this motherfucker wasn’t my brother, I would have let King kill him off a long time ago, save us all a f*****g headache.

-I want to impale him on a stick and hang him like a flag on top of the building.

I waited for a few seconds and then pressed the down button repeatedly. Three minutes after, I got in the elevator and reached the underground garage. Opening my car’s trunk, I took the disinfecting spray and applied some to the bag. I put the bag in the trunk, sprayed some on myself too, and closed the trunk.

-That was unnecessary.

-You can never be too sure.

After I got in, I took the gloves off and put them inside a plastic bag I kept in the car to put the contaminated napkins in. It took me fifteen minutes to arrive at the conference hall. As soon as I arrived, I rushed out of my car, put on a fresh pair of gloves, and took the bag. I was really hoping I had made it there before Tiana did.

I rushed in looking for Minka so I could get rid of this freaking bag for once and for all. In the distance, I found her organizing things next to Aaron’s table at the front.

I took a few steps towards her and quickly stopped myself. I f*****g forgot my face mask.

-I can’t be here without my face mask. I felt my heart beating faster.

-You are already here without a mask, dude.

-f**k it! I’ll just hold my breath. If I wasn’t breathing, then it wouldn’t suck in the germs and droplets in the air.

I held my breath and walked fast, wanting to make it to Minka before I turned blue and passed out.

-f**k me sideways! King wasn’t able to breathe either.

Once I got closer to her, I stood at the corner and took in a much-needed breath. It was less likely for people to be randomly standing in corners, anyway. It should be safer.

-People go fart in corners.

-f*****g hell! I held my breath and got away from that corner fast. Dropped the bag on the table and left, leaving Minka standing there with a confused expression on her face. I rushed out of the hall and into an empty hallway, where I leaned forward and gasped for air.

-Why the f**k am I here?

-Tiana

-Yeah, I know, for Tiana.

-No, stupid, Tiana. Look.

I looked up and there she was, far from where we stood. She looked like a ray of color shining in between a crowd of dark suits. She was smiling like she often did. Wait.

-Who is she smiling at?

Inside I felt King release a low growl, pacing around, getting inpatient. I stayed there with my eyes intensely fixed on her. Soon, some blurred bodies moved out of the way and I saw who she was talking to. A guy. A f*****g guy.

-Fuuuuck!

-Who the f**k is that? I said and my fist closed.

-Don’t f*****g know, but I’m about to find out real fast. King said, and I knew he was mind-linking the guy.

I saw that dimwit stand straight, the smile on his face slowly morphing into a mix of fear and nervousness. Whoever the f**k he was, took three steps back and nervously waved bye to Tiana. I saw him mumble something fast, turn and disappear in between the moving bodies in the crowd.

Tiana’s arms fell to her side, disbelief in her eyes. T’s head turned in my direction and she narrowed her eyes at me, pressing her lips together, her jaw clenching.

Not knowing what to do, I just played dumb. I raised a glove-covered hand to wave hi to her and did my best to give her a sweet, innocent smile.

Tiana shook her head no, and her eyes narrowed even more. Just when I worried that she’d be pissed with us, the straight line that her lips were making, curved into a smile. Tiana started laughing, loud enough to bounce over the loud sound of countless conversations being told among the crowd.

Tiana started walking over to me, her curls bouncing as she moved. It took her about half a minute to get to me.

-What did you tell him?

-I’ll cut his balls off.

-Good. I nodded my head in approval.

“Idris Einar!” She put a hand on her hip. Tiana was carrying two bags. The cube-looking one was our lunch, the other one was her own handbag.

“Who, was that?” I asked as if I wasn’t very interested. I was horrible at pretending.

“Don’t know him.” She looked behind her as if she could see him again. No chance, that t**t disappeared already.

“He’s from the pack to the south of ours, Crimson Pack. He asked me out.” She said and King growled once again. My chest trembled and T noticed it.

-s**t.

“And... Are you going to?” I bit my lips while searching in her big teal eyes. Without breaking eye contact with me, Tiana thought about it.

“Nah, I’m too busy this weekend.” She said and my heart dropped.

Too busy? Too busy? She didn’t date him because she was too busy? What if she wasn’t busy?

-We’ll have to get rid of the body.

I nodded, he was right.

Tiana’s nose scrunched. “Did you.. did you spray disinfectant on yourself?” She narrowed her eyes at me again, making me feel stupid.

-Because you are stupid. Told you.

“I…, I… might have.”

She shook her head. “Where’s your mask?” She pointed at my face.

“I... forgot to bring one.” I dropped my head and looked away from her.

Why was I nervous?

“Here,” Tiana said, reaching inside her bag and pulling out a new sealed bag of face masks, and my lips curled up in a smile.

-That’s my girl.

-I’m just glad I’ll be able to f*****g breathe.

As always, T saved my ass. What would I do without her?

-Hold your breath until we die.

“Those are the only ones I have left, don’t waste them.” She ordered me and I nodded.

“I won’t.” Those masks were worth more than gold to me.

“I found an empty room where you can eat, come. The conference will start in twenty minutes, you have little time left.” She said turning around and started to walk. I put a mask on and followed her.

There was something strange about Tiana. Whenever she told me to do something, I did. No questions asked. I couldn’t exactly pinpoint it, but I knew there was more to it than just a simple command.

Suddenly I realized something. Did T always carry all that s**t for me? What would she need the masks for? What else she had in there? My head leaned to my right as I curiously observed the bag hanging on her right shoulder.

-Girls put a ton of s**t in those. Who the f**k knows what, though.

-Yeah, I won’t waste my time thinking about it. Who the f**k knows?

I observed Tiana walk as I followed her. She had a sassy way of swinging her hips as she walked. I found it cute, but I couldn’t even guess how her body looked underneath those baggy clothes. Sometimes I even found her comical. Tiana was way over a foot shorter than me, like a doll. A G.I. Joe doll. Tiana was short but strong. Kendra was a badass fighter. I still didn’t know why Tiana just wanted to be a cook. She had so much potential.

“Here,” she said after opening the door and held it open for me. Inside there was a small table and two chairs. We got in and T closed the door behind her. We cleaned our hands with sanitizer before she set the lunch for both of us. Tiana got us lasagna and vegetables. She brought everything in glass and metal containers. I didn’t trust plastic. I wouldn’t eat from any container I couldn’t disinfect with boiling water first.

T sat across from me at the table. While eating, her phone got a notification. Her face turned serious, and she scratched the side of her face.

-Kane’s looking for you. Eat faster. I nodded at that.

“All good?” I asked, showing curiosity and concern for her.

“Yeah, I’ll have to go soon.” She said but didn’t say why. Maybe it was personal.

“So, what do you think will happen this time?” she asked before taking another bite. She was changing the topic.

“Same old. It will all go from what we can do together to join resources and help our people to who’s best at what and who has the biggest what. This is nothing but a glorified d**k-measuring contest.” I said as I shook my head.

-I call it, we win.

-Sure, everyone knows you are the biggest d**k in town.

-On so many levels. (Laugh)

Most of these alphas here gave a s**t about their people. Just like with my parents, power was all they were truly after.

“All I hope is we won’t end the day getting into another conflict over some stupid non-important s**t,” I said and took the last bite.

“How many true Alphas are in the building?” she asked after finishing her meal and began to put things away.

“My father, his heir, Damon Dain from the White Claw Pack, Marcus Cain from the River Ash Pack, and his son, Troy,” I listed, and she nodded.

“Where is Damon’s son?” Tiana seemed to be in a rush to put things away.

“Damon still doesn’t have a true heir. Nobody knows why.” I passed my container to her, and she put it away as well.

“Doesn’t he have like four kids, or so? Who’s the oldest?” Tiana said as she kept packing.

“Liam, but he doesn’t have the gene. No one knows what happened there.”

“Hm, curious.” She finished putting things away.

We heard three knocks on the door and our eyes traveled there.

“It’s time, Idris,” Kane said. They were the best assistant a Beta could have. A genuine friend as well. One of the few people King would listen and pass me messages from.

I saw Tiana take her perfume out and spray on way more than she needed. That thing was so strong it almost numbed my nose.

Only women. f**k, damn it. And she complained about the disinfectant.

There were two more knocks on the door.

“Just a second, Kane,” Tiana said and turned to me.

“Look at me,” she said, and I did. “You can do this. I know you can. You are ready. You have overcome so much already. This is nothing. Kane will be right next to you as well. Everything will be OK.” She smiled and I could see her dimples. I love those dimples.

I nodded and took a deep breath. She would usually give me a pep talk like this on important days. I still f****d up most of the time. T raised a fist in the air as to say, ‘you can do this’. I really didn’t want to let her down.

“See you tonight,” I said and turned around. Time to man up. Kane opened the door for me and I stepped out into reality.

**A/N We have a non-binary character that uses them, they pronouns in singular.*

THANKS FOR READING THIS EXCERPT. THE BOOK WILL BE PUBLISHED ON NOVEMEMBE 20 FALLOW ME ON MY SO CI AL ME DI A FOR MORE BOOKS AND INFORMATION.

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