Page 130 of Beau and the Beast

“Gonna get you set up,” Lincoln said, as if it was obvious. Noah watched stupidly as Lincoln dragged the little desk into his room, shouldering the dresser over to make room for the new addition.

“It’s really okay—you don’t’ have to—“

“Whatever, I don’t wanna hear your typing in the living room and I bet you stay up all night farting around on the internet.”

Well. He’s not wrong.

After struggling a little more with furniture and grabbing a chair from the other side of the bedroom, Lincoln had set up a perfect little nook where Noah could work, right in front of a big window facing the street.

“There you go. Make yourself at home.”

“I can sleep on the couch, you know.”

“Too bad you’re completely set up in here,” Lincoln said, shrugging. “Bed’ll be better for your back anyway. You’ll thank me tomorrow.”

“I’m thanking younow, Lincoln,” Noah said, fighting a smile. “I really appreciate all this.”

Lincoln waved his hand, dismissing him. “Beau’ll kill me if he gets out and you’ve been all freaked out about being under surveillance.”

Noah nodded even though that excuse didn’t really cut it anymore. Lincolnwasbeing good to him, and it seemed unlikely that all of it was motivated by the theoretical future chastisement from Lincoln’s ex-boyfriend. Noah had obviously misjudged Lincoln.

When it came down to it, he thought, Lincoln wasn’t a bad guy at all.

* * *

When Beau wokethe next day he was surprised to find that Wolfram was already gone from the bed.

He’s sleepwalked again.

The thought struck him through with cold terror. The window in the guest room hadn’t been fixed yet. What if Wolfram had wandered in there and then out the window?

Beau leapt out of bed, his hands shaking, and he tore into the study.

But no: Wolfram was there, perfectly safe, stooping over the middle table.

“Jesus, Wolf, you scared the living daylights out of me,” Beau said, crossing to him and throwing his arms over Wolfram’s shoulders.

“What’s the matter?”

“I thought you were gone—I thought you went out the window—“

Wolfram hummed and put his hand over Beau’s. “No. I don’t think I’ll be sleepwalking anymore. You’ve set the anxious, frightened parts of me at ease.”

Beau was happy to hear it, though the panic he’d felt just a moment ago was too real to ignore. He forced himself to work through it, to trust that Wolfram was right. If the man didn’t feel like it was still going to be a problem, Beau would trust him until presented with evidence otherwise.

Still, he thought,I should check with Violet and see when the window will be fixed.Maybe she had a key so that they could lock the guest room door until it no longer presented a danger.

“What are you up to?” Beau asked, moving from Wolfram’s back to the other side of the table. Wolfram had spread out magazines, newspaper pages, and computer printouts across the table.

“I’m afraid you’ve gotten a one-sided view of me,” Wolfram said without looking up. “For the full picture, I believe you ought to see what others wrote before you.”

“I read all of those magazines you gave me. There was nothing there that I could use.”

“You didn’t read these yet because I didn’t give them to you.”

Beau leaned in, looking at the pages Wolfram was organizing. He scanned the headlines.

“Foreclosure rate skyrockets following crash, officials say”

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