Page 122 of Beau and the Beast

“Case the place?” Lincoln asked, laughing. “What is this, the fuckingOutsiders?”

“Oh my God,” Noah said, throwing his hands up in mock surprise. “Lincoln’s read a book!”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuckyou,” Noah shot back. “Jesus, I just mean, like sit outside the building and look at who’s coming and going. It’s a starting place, at least. For all we know, Beau could be walking around the neighborhood and we’re both sitting here sweating bullets about him being kidnapped.”

If Lincoln had a comeback, he held his tongue.

“I can do that. I’ll go there, check it out for a few days, and let you know what happens,” Lincoln said. “That’s a really good idea.”

“Thanks. I have those sometimes.”

“What are you going to do while I do that?” Lincoln asked.

“I’ll keep digging, figure out what I can find out about this organization and what they’re doing without raising any red flags.”

Lincoln nodded. “Sounds good. Sounds… like a plan.”

A thought occurred to Noah, something that had been bothering him all week.

“You know, if you hadn’t stopped by that first week, I’d probably still be in the apartment waiting for Beau to come home.”

“Yeah, well, you always were a kind of crappy brother.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “I’m serious, Lincoln. I’m glad you were looking out for Beau, even though he broke up with you.”

“Contrary to popular opinion, I’m not a completely sleazy piece of shit,” Lincoln said. “I cared about your brother. Like, yeah, I was pretty burned that he wanted to break up with me like that but—“

“Uh, hedidbreak up with you like that, dude,” Noah shot in. “I hope you don’t think you’re going to win him back by showing up and rescuing him, right? Because you’renoPrince Charming.”

“No, Noah, I get it,” Lincoln said, going suddenly serious. “I don’t care if he never wants to see me again. I just need to know that he’s ok.”

“Great. Just making sure we’re clear.”

“Crystal,” Lincoln said with a frown. “And what about you? Do you think you’re safe in the apartment?”

Noah hitched his shoulder. “I don’t know what other alternative I have.”

“You could come stay with me,” Lincoln said as if it were the most logical thing in the world. “You could set up your computer and whatever and I’d go sleep on the couch.”

“That’s ok.”

“Seriously, I don’t think you should be alone if some non-profit mafia weirdos are, like, wiretapping your apartment and shit.”

“I’m sure it’s not that,” Noah said. “I was just freaking out earlier when I said we couldn’t talk on the phone. I hadn’t thought it through yet.”

“I’d feel better if you stayed with me until we have this sorted out,” Lincoln said, crossing his arms in front of his broad chest and staring Noah down, as if he could intimidate Noah into changing his mind.

“Just give me a little more time to think things through,” Noah said. “I don’t want Beau to come home to an empty apartment.”

When the server came back, Lincoln had him take all the leftover food away to box it up for Noah, passing over his credit card to pay for the meal before Noah had time to protest.

"What?" Lincoln asked, noticing that Noah was staring at him.

"Thank you for being concerned about me," Noah said. "And the grocery runs. And everything. It’s sad but I never realized how much Beau took care of me every day until he was gone."

Lincoln snorted. "You and me both, kid."

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