Page 7 of Beta and the Beast (Beastverse #2)

Sarah

" O kay, okay, so let me get this straight: there are hotties working on the shop next door, and that's a bad thing because…?" Hazel lets her voice trail off as her question turns into giggles.

"Because they're alphas who are single-handedly ruining my business," I tell her as I gesture around the empty coffee shop. "Did you think I closed early? No, this is what it's looked like here since they started renovating next door."

"Maybe no one knows you're still open because of the construction.

" Hazel shrugs and doesn't even attempt to hide how she ogles the alpha outside, who set up his woodcutting saw thing too close to my windows.

I'd love to say it was an accident, but he's flexed every time he's come to cut something, and it isn't for my amusement.

"It's been dead in here since Tuesday," I groan and lay my head on my hands. "I'm going to go out of business at this rate."

"It'll be better once they're done with construction.

Every beta with a brain in their head knows to stay away from alphas, and you have a whole handful right outside your door.

" Hazel gives a little two-finger wave to the alpha outside when he purposefully turns to look inside with his newest cut of wood.

"Does that mean you have no brain?" I ask, pouting a little at how easily she can flirt with the enemy right in front of me.

"I think we both know I have a brain that works just fine," Hazel laughs. "I just also like the thrill of being the object of an alpha's desire. There's something wicked about it, don't you think?"

"No, no, I don't." I huff, grabbing my cleaning supplies from behind the counter and starting my closing duties. There's still an hour left until I technically close, but this shop has been unofficially closed since my last customer showed up on Tuesday.

Hazel shrugs at my rejection of her taboo lifestyle of chasing alphas, but doesn't take it to heart.

She's always been interested in them, always had a thing for them.

It's why she makes good money working at a strip club most nights.

It's an alpha bar that caters to certain fantasies, one of which being a beta who's just as interested in them and willing to submit as an omega is.

A lot of guys get off on imagining splitting us in two on their dicks and us being willing to do it.

"Oh!" Hazel perks up and brushes her hair away from her shoulders, exposing her neck.

Yeah, she knows how to get an alpha all hot and bothered, so I just roll my eyes and assume she's seeing Mr. Wood-Cutting-Saw again.

At least, I think that until she's skittering across the shop floor over to me and hitting my shoulder. "One of them is here."

"Yeah, they're all over the place," I grumble, spraying down the table I'm at and wiping it down even though I've done the same thing every afternoon, and no one has sat at this table all week.

"No, he's at the door," Hazel squeals a little too loudly and a little too excited.

I whip my head around to figure out what she's talking about. None of the alphas from next door better think for even a second that they're allowed in here. They might be moving in next door, but they're not about to infiltrate my place of business. No way n—

"Ugh." I roll my eyes as I stomp to the front door and throw it wide. "What?"

I hear Hazel's little gasp of concern from behind me, but she doesn't know that this behemoth of an alpha wearing a fuzzy baby blue sweater isn't about to start growling and demanding my submission just from me being a little snippy at him.

Sure, plenty of other alphas would, and I'd never dream of talking to them this way, but Henry isn't about to do anything to me.

No, even worse, his lips twitch up in a smile at the bark in my voice, even though two of his contractors are looking over here with their brows tugged together.

"I wanted to see if we could go ahead and install the new filtration system," Henry says, his smile firmly planted on his lips even as I look up to scowl harder at him.

"I'm not closed for one more hour." I cross my arms over my chest, not moving an inch to let him inside. "You can come back then."

Henry's brows quirk as he glances behind me. I try not to let the fact that my shop is empty, save for Hazel, get to me. This is still my hard work and dreams, and I'm not embarrassed by them just because I've hit a rough patch.

"You don't look too busy," Henry says, and it's the tone of his voice that tells me he's not trying to be an asshole. He's probably thinking he's being kind by doing this during work hours, so I don't have to stay late. But it's not kind, and he is an asshole.

"Yeah, my store is dying because some meathead and his whole meathead posse have taken up the entire sidewalk outside and set up their stations right in front of my windows all week.

I'm sure all of my customers who used to come here for an alpha-free environment are just so excited that you're crawling all over the place. "

Henry's smile falls as the bridge of his nose wrinkles. His eyes are golden and bright, letting Romulus out. The beast isn't interested in me. No, he's pissed off at everyone else.

" Who put their fucking shit in front of her store? " Romulus spins around, pinning the two contractors watching all this happen with a steely gaze. They both drop their heads as a third comes out of the bakery.

"What's going on?" the third asks, his hands going up to show Romulus he isn't a threat. He even tilts his head to the side for good measure.

" Your guys have been staking claims outside her shop, " Romulus snarls, his nostrils flaring as he inhales deeply. He points at one of the guys, the one Hazel's been flirting with all day. " That one. He's marked the whole front of the building. "

"Fuck me," the third says before grabbing the flirty alpha by the back of the neck and dragging him inside the bakery.

He comes back a second late. "I'll handle it.

" Then he turns to look at me, his eyes flicking over me once.

Not in a sleazy way, but like he's sizing me up, trying to figure me out.

When he looks back at Romulus, he smiles.

"You'll have to introduce me to your beta another time. "

"I am not—"

" Enough, " Romulus cuts me off, stepping to stand between me and the other alpha. " Handle your guys. Henry doesn't like me out. He thinks I'll scare the beta away. "

I push Romulus's back like that's going to do anything. No, worse, he starts purring like I'm some omega who needs calming right now. Romulus looks at me over his shoulders, eyes narrowing.

" Wicked little beta, " he murmurs before closing his eyes and letting Henry have control of their body again.

"Sorry about that," Henry says to no one in particular as he rubs the back of his neck. "Now then, about the filtration system."

I let out a strangled sound and slam the door in his face.

Well, it doesn't slam so much, as it slowly closes since it's one of those doors that refuses to be slammed.

Not that I've ever had a reason to slam it because I haven't.

Not until alphas moved in next door. I turn my back on Henry, frowning at how Hazel is giggling behind her hands.

A knock on the glass has my lips pulling back in a snarl. When I turn to face him, Henry is smiling again.

"I'll need inside your apartment, too."

I don't dignify that statement with a response.

No, I give him my back again, ignoring the rumble of his laugh as it spreads through my body and pools low in my belly.

I also blatantly ignore Hazel's eyes because she'll think things that aren't true.

Worse, she's going to ask follow-up questions that will make it seem like her assumptions are true.

"Who was that?" Hazel asks in a sing-songy voice, and my cheeks are already heating.

"That would be my brother's business partner," I say, trying and failing to keep some semblance of respect in my voice.

"Whatever you're thinking, stop. He's the reason this business is failing, and he doesn't even take me seriously.

So, no to whatever you're trying to cook up in your scheming little brain. "

"Not scheming," Hazel says, grabbing a spare towel from behind the counter and starting to help me with closing duties. "Just thinking. He seemed more than interested in you."

"His beast wants to stick his dick in me," I say on a huff. "That's the beginning, middle, and end of that story."

"Ah, and I'm sure that has nothing to do with why we're going out tonight?" Hazel asks. She's so good at making it sound like she's just curious instead of prying, but we both know she's prying right now.

"We're going out tonight because I need to get laid, that's it."

Hazel doesn't ask anything for a long time, but when I look up at her, she's looking outside.

I bite back my groan because I'm pretty sure it'll be Henry out there again, and I don't know what he's going to say next.

I don't think he has any interest in me.

Sure, Romulus does, but that isn't flattering at all.

Beasts want to fuck anything with a hole, and I'm more than just a hole.

"I think he likes you," Hazel teases me as we both watch Henry and the third alpha that came outside spray down the front of my shop with odor neutralizer.

The wood-cutting saw has also been moved back in front of his building.

Not to mention the two other alphas growling and grumbling near the work truck as they spray themselves down.

"He wants to keep me happy so my brothers don't kill him," I respond, my voice a little breathy as I watch Henry work.

He doesn't look at me. In fact, he tries his hardest not to look inside. It would irritate me more if I weren't thoroughly upset at myself for being thankful for his care. It's all so ridiculous.