Page 110 of Beau and the Beast

In the next picture, there weretwo figureswalking out of the shop.

"Holy shit. Do you have more of these?"

"Sure. You recognize the guy he's with?"

Geoffrey pulled up a photo of them from the front and zoomed in on their faces. Noah waslaughingand Lincoln—the man with him was Lincoln! He was smirking, his arms weighed down with bags of groceries.

"Do you know that guy?" Geoffrey pressed again.

Beau snorted. "Yeah. He's my ex-boyfriend, Lincoln."

"Yikes," Geoffrey said, grimacing.

"Oh my God, it's not like that," Beau said, annoyed at the implication. "I'm just surprised to see them together. They... really hated each other."

"Apparently not," Geoffrey said. He clicked through more images of Lincoln and Noah laughing together in the apartment lobby, on the elevator together, and then entering the apartment.

"This is so weird," Beau said, fighting a laugh.

Geoffrey hitched a shoulder. "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I was just trying to verify that he was alive."

"No—it's good. I don't know if he'd have any human contact at all if Lincoln wasn’t there. God, I wonder what they're doing."

“He’s been there both times Noah went to the store. Looks like your ex has been helping your brother grocery shop.”

“Certainly does,” Beau said. How had Lincoln known to meet Noah at the bodega? Was it possible that Lincoln had reached out to Noah—or vice versa? If they were getting along well enough to spend more than a few minutes together, more power to them.

Beau felt a pulse of affection, then, for Lincoln. They’d been awful together and no, they had no future. Be that as it may, he’d always been kind to Beau. What did he think about what was going on?

What would he think about Wolfram?he wondered suddenly.What would Noah think?

He shook his head as if he could force the thought from his mind. They wouldn’t have to do any sort of explaining once Beau broke the curse. Wolfram would be free to come with him, would look like anybody else.

That’s a sad thought, he realized. Once the curse was broken, people would assume that Wolfram was just like the next person. But Beau’s book could change that. He’d tell the man’s story the best way he knew how and the world would be forced to see what an amazing, changed person he was.

“So, is that enough to put your mind at ease about your brother,” Geoffrey asked, shattering his line of thought, “or do you want me to keep digging?”

Jesus, I can’t even spend two minutes thinking about Noah without getting sidetracked with Wolfram, he thought, chastising himself.

“I think that’s good,” Beau said. “I don’t know. I guess it’s great. He looks well.”

“What’s the problem, then?” Geoffrey asked.

“I wish I could justtalkto him. I don’t want him to worry about me.”

“Why don’t you ask the boss to call him?”

“Do you think he’d let me?”

Geoffrey snorted. “I was talking about Violet, actually. But I’m sure you could ask Wolfram instead. He’s probably more likely to break the rules for you than she is.”

“Hm.” Beau considered it. Would Wolfram deny him if he asked?

“I’m just saying kid, you’re the lion tamer,” Geoffrey said, holding up his hands. “Couldn’t hurt to cash in on the fact that he’s got a soft spot for you.”

Beau had to bite down his smile. If only Geoffrey knew just how right he was.

They concluded their meeting and Beau went back to the kitchen only to find that Song and James were already chopping ingredients for the stir fry that Beau had planned for that evening.

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