Page 20 of Beauty Sleep

No, I’m supposed to be distracting you. Did it work?

PRINCE:

It did until you threw shade at my love life

QUARREL:

OnlyFans isn’t love, darling, it’s direct community support

I should tell Quarrel what happened last night. Then he’ll really eat his words. But the seconds are ticking by and I’m still just staring at the keyboard, my thumbs hovering over the letters.

Why didn’t I tell him last night?

We had a few minutes to talk near the beginning of the night. And sure, I left in a rush after my set, but I didn’t text him anything either. Normally we share every passing thought—and horny encounter.

But this time felt different.

I don’t want Beauty to be gossip fuel.

Oh. Yeah. That’s exactly what it is—because that’s how the scene ends up tearing people to shreds, when people pick apart other people they don’t even know.

It’s not just because men like Beauty are sleepwalking through life.

It’s because the rest of us are secretly jealous. Most of us wish we could be a little more like them—naive and filthy-minded, innocent and full of desire… and above all, sweet.

A lot of us wish we could be that sweet, and lose the edge of bitterness we feel like we have to use to protect ourselves from the world. And even our closest friends.

I can’t stop remembering last night, just before I climbed out of Beauty’s window. I turned to get one more look at him, and I saw him tucked in right where I put him, under the covers, drifting off to sleep with a smile on his lips.

And the sight of it… did something to me.

There it is again.

Something is unfurling in my chest. A part of me that feels… well… a little like Beauty, actually.

Sweet.

I kept that naive part of me under lock and key, but it never quite went away. It’s fizzing away—I’mfizzing right now, in a way I forgot I was capable of. Tentative, nervous, excited, hungry… and just young and dumb enough to think this could work.

My phone buzzes and I swallow hard, looking down at it.

QUARREL

You know what else counts as community support in this trying morning?

PRINCE

Let me guess: bringing you coffee in bed?

QUARREL

Even better: I’ll meet you there in 5. I’m paying.

Jeez… he really must feel sorry for me.

But I’m not gonna turn it down. Just like I probably can’t afford to turn down Friday’s shift of patting pockets, scanning IDs, and keeping the waiting customers happy.

PRINCE

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