Page 15 of Wanted Beta

“You made the mistake of inviting everyone,” I remind him.

He pulls a face. “Yeah, well, the popular crowd usually don’t appear if I do that.”

“You’ve done this before?”

“A couple times. I guess valley kids are different from city kids.”

He shrugs and excuses himself to go get the door.

I watch him go with a pang of jealousy.

He’ll be ushering the bitch squad in next.

I have no doubt that Chelsea will touch back when he puts his arm around her.

He’ll probably be her new boyfriend by the end of the night.

“Are you okay?” Carla asks me.

“Huh?” I ask, looking at my friends.

Annie’s already making her way over to the table.

Carla’s leaning against the counter, watchful eyes on me.

“He’s hot, right?” She gives me a wry smile. “But he’s an Alpha. They’re always bad news for Betas.”

“Not always,” I find myself saying, knowing I’m being crazy.

There’s no way a guy like Rourke picks a girl like me.

I’m the class clown, always doing something weird or embarrassing and playing it off as a joke.

Chelsea’s the girl all the boys’ chase. She’s the trophy girlfriend, and probably the only girl who can come close to matching Rourke’s level of hotness in this town. She’s as close to an Omega as he’s going to get.

“Beth …” Carla starts, sounding worried.

“I’m not going Alpha-crazy,” I assure her, not sure that’s true. “Let’s see what snacks we’ve got over here.”

I walk over to the table where Annie’s standing with a red cup, staring at the bottles of booze.

“This stuff is all so expensive,” she tells me. “Like seriously. It’s the kind of booze you can drink without a mixer.”

“You’re not drinking without mixers.”

“Of course not, but I could,” she murmurs, as she picks up an unopened bottle of vodka and uncaps it. “Wow. I can’t believe I get to drink this stuff.”

I make sure she doesn’t go to crazy with her pour.

We might never have gone to a party before, but Annie and I have had more than a few nights in her bedroom with stolen sips from a bottle of hard liquor.

If she goes too hard, she’ll puke.

If I go too hard, I get klutzier than usual.

It’s never a good combination.

Carla puts a couple sandwich triangles on a paper plate, while frowning at Annie.

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