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Della

My overweight fifty-year-old science 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 relate hard .

“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 me was judging 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.

I don’t know what this was. Just an affair or something more, but it has nothing to do with us, and we’ve invaded their privacy enough.

“I feel bad for bursting in there,” I admit quietly. “And for judging them for coming to this disgusting place.”

“You’re a good person, Della.” Levi bumps his shoulder against mine.

“Not really. So, what now?”

He shakes his head. “Not sure. He was our number one suspect.”

As we walk back down the hallway, the motel clerk suddenly appears at the end. His eyes narrow. There’s a suspicious bulge in his pocket, and I don’t think it’s the kind that says he’s happy to see us.

“Everything okay with your room?” he calls out.

“Fine.” Levi’s hand tightens on my arm as he guides me to the right side of the hallway. “Thanks.”

He unlocks a door and pulls me inside, closing it and pressing his ear to the wood. “We just got here, and he’ll think we’re cops if we leave so soon. We need to give it some time. Fifteen minutes, maybe.”

I eye the burgundy comforter with the lime green sheets on the bed, the only place to sit in this room. Then I take in the mustard yellow carpets, and I don’t know what repels me more. “Amazing.”

Levi stands near the door, arms crossed and head tilted slightly as if he’s listening.

“Is he still out there?” I whisper.

He lifts one shoulder in a casual shrug. “Not sure.”

A knock sounds on the door.

“Oh my God ,” I yell. “Yeah, just like that.”

Levi trains his unblinking eyes on me.

I shrug and gesture, making a ‘you’re next’ motion.

He groans.

I lift an eyebrow, mouthing, “That’s it ? You get an Oh my God, and I get a tepid groan?”

He shakes his head and presses his ear to the door again, mouthing. “He’s walking away.”

Great.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Levi turns the doorknob, pulls, and the thing comes off in his hand.

I stare at the round piece of wood. “Please tell me that doesn’t mean what I think it means.”

He attempts to reinsert it. “It’s come loose. There should be a screw.”

“Where’s the screw?”

“On the other side of the door.”

Shit.

I eye his broad shoulders, figuring they’re going to save us. “Can’t you knock the door down?”

He continues fussing with the door. “It opens on the inside.”

Fuck.

I spin around, eyeing the room with the disgusting, probably unwashed in ten years' sheets, the lack of a window, and the mirrored ceiling I requested for reasons only known to my weird ass mind.

I spot a door and head toward it.

“Where are you going?” Levi calls out.

“There might be a window in the bathroom,” I call back and step into the bathroom, spin around, and immediately walk out again, shuddering as I close the door firmly behind me.

Levi looks at me. “No window?”

“Or cleaning products ever used.” I shudder again as I vigorously scratch my arms, craving an hour-long blistering hot shower. “Any luck with the door?”

“Check if there’s a phone to call the front desk.”

I guess no luck with the door.

I search both sides of the bed for a phone. “Nothing.”

I don’t know why I’m surprised. This room charges by the hour, and the guy at the front desk was on drugs. He’s not going to be offering room service.

At the door, I shout, “ Hello ! We’re locked in here. Can someone help?”

Nothing.

I try shouting again.

“It’s like we’re the only ones in here,” I mutter.

“My guess is everyone is preoccupied with other matters,” he says dryly.

Yeah. I got that with the eavesdropping.

Levi places the doorknob on the floor and reaches for his cell phone.

“Calling for help?” I brighten.

“I’ll try the front desk.”

He searches the internet for the motel number, dials it, and it rings out.

I frown. “Why isn’t he answering?”

“Asleep? Doing drugs? Just doesn’t care? Who knows?” Levi dials again with no response.

“I’ll call for backup.” He calls two numbers, then curses. “Vincent isn’t answering.”

No surprise there with that news announcement. He’s probably battling to put out a million fires before the Council replaces him. “And Xavier?”

I watch him tap out a text message.

Moments later, his cell phone vibrates, and a text message appears on his screen. “He can’t leave the school now. He’ll slip out when he can.”

I stare at him. “So, we might be here for a while.”

He nods. “Yep.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.”

I pace as Levi struggles to open the door. Eventually, the need to get comfortable overtakes my disgust with the room. I’m still recovering from the event I try not to think about, and I’m not one hundred percent.

As I lie on the bed, wincing at the pressure on my back, Levi turns to face me. His expression is blank, but I know what he’s thinking. “Don’t look at me like that. I need to sit down. I’ll shower twice after.”

He snorts and goes back to wrestling with the door.

Fifteen minutes later, he also lies down. Inches separate us on the bed.

“This actually isn’t so bad,” I say.

“As long as you don’t think about what happened in this bed before us.”

I glare at him through the mirrored ceiling. “You just had to say it, didn’t you?”

His lip quirks in a half smile.

There’s no TV. It smells funky, and the pillows are flatter than I’d like, but things could be worse.

“Fuck, baby. Give it to me!”

My eyes dart to Levi as the loud groan bleeds through the paper-thin walls. He meets my gaze and says nothing. Not sure what anyone can say at a time like this.

Then the banging starts. The sort of rhythmic banging that can only be from a headboard slamming into a wall. The only thing I have to be grateful for is that it isn’t my science teacher.

I hope.

“I’m sure it’ll stop soon,” I say.

It does not stop soon.

It is loud, and it goes on for fucking ever. The guy is on Viagra or something. He goes on, and on, and on .

Maintaining eye contact with Levi becomes increasingly difficult as the sounds of pleasure bleed through the walls. It’s not just the banging or the energetic moans and groans. It’s the wet sounds of sex because these walls are like tissue paper.

Levi’s eyes become heated, as if the sounds are turning him on as much as they are me.

When his phone vibrates, I scramble up from the bed, deeply embarrassed and incredibly turned on. “Is he here?”

Levi picks up his phone from the nightstand. Brave, I thought, him putting it on there when we don’t know when anyone last cleaned it.

He scans the message and shakes his head. “Xavier hasn’t left the school yet.”

Shit.

“Did he say why?” I ask, a touch desperately.

“No. Just that?—”

“That’s it, baby,” the guy groans from next door. “Get on your knees for Daddy.”

I put my face in my hands so I won’t have to look Levi in the eye for this next round.

“Della?”

“Shh. If I keep my eyes closed, it’s easier to pretend this isn’t happening.”

Levi laughs.