Page 56 of Beau and the Beast

When he made his way to the open part of the penthouse, he could hear the pleasant sounds of people preparing for a meal together. There were so many different smells that it was almost overwhelming. There were the distinct signatures of his staff, Beau's scent that he enjoyed so much, but also the smell of red wine and food that had been freshly prepared in the kitchen—onions that had been chopped and fried, brined olives, and corn tortillas.

And meat.

So. Violet had told Beau about his peculiar dietary requirements.

His heart fell a bit at the realization. He'd hoped that he could sit down and eat a normal dinner with them all, that nobody would bring up the fact that most food other than meat made him rather ill and did nothing to slake his hunger for things that would actually nourish his body—for the large servings of meat that he ate several times a week to keep himself healthy.

But someone had cooked it, at least. He could smell that much. That, at least, would be a small comfort. He wouldn't be dining on raw steaks in front of Beau any time soon.

When he stepped out into the kitchen, everyone seemed to be making themselves busy. Song was rounding the dinner table filling wine glasses and James was setting the table with charger plates, cloth napkins, and silverware. Someone had found one of the large, armless chairs that Wolfram could actually sit in and had brought it to the head of the dining room table. Violet was with Alfie in the kitchen, serving something out onto plates, and Beau was at the stove.

"Hey," Beau said brightly. He was the first to spot Wolfram. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving, actually." And he meant it. It was normal for him to fast for several days each week, subsisting on tea and wine, but he'd developed an appetite in anticipation of dinner.

The rest of the staff looked over at them, varying degrees of worry showing on their faces.

Wolfram didn't blame them. He knew the night was going to be awkward for all of them—but they'd have to go through it if they were going to show Beau why they didn't dine together—or see that much of each other at all, for that matter.

"Go ahead and sit," Beau said, gesturing to the table where several of the staff had already sat down.

Wolfram sank into his chair at the table.

"Long time no see, boss," Song said, smiling.

James, Violet, and Song all smiled at him but Geoffrey and Alfie seemed to avoid his eyes. He couldn’t blame them. The two of them had been particularly edgy around him since his transformation, even after all this time.

They each had plates in front of them with portions of something Wolfram didn't immediately recognize—tortillas wrapped around cheese and vegetables, maybe, but Wolfram couldn't remember the name of the dish. It had been so long since he'd enjoyed those particular flavor combinations.

Along with his visual external changes, Wolfram had changed physiologically, too. He'd tried to stay on a normal diet only to find that he didn't have much of a taste for cooked food. It made his stomach turn, and eating the meals that his staff had delivered for themselves always led him to an uncomfortable purge later in the evening.

After a moment, Beau was there withhismeal though.

He had two dishes in his hands. One was a platter of steaks and the other was a normal dinner plate.

Wolfram nodded as Beau set the dishes down in front of him.

The platter of meat alone would've been enough to feed everyone seated at the table, but Wolfram knew it would only barely be enough to quiet his appetite.

Beau sat at the opposite end of the table and everyone seemed to look to him for a cue. He was the one, after all, that had suggested they needed to dine together.

"Cheers," Beau said, holding up his glass of wine. "To all of you seeing each other's faces a little more often."

"Cheers," Violet said quickly. The rest of them held up their glasses in their toast.

"So, I have a question," Beau said as the people around the table began to dig in. "I know you have internet and everything here but... so, do you all like, watch Netflix?"

That earned him a round of laughter from the staff.

"Hell yeah we do," Geoffrey said. "We just binged Breaking Bad the other day, even though we've all seen it through twice."

"Everybody but Wolfram," Song pointed out.

"I tried once but I couldn't stomach the violence," Wolfram said, truthfully.

The staff members began eating and talking to Beau about his favorite television shows, what kinds of movies he liked to watch.

Wolfram realized that he hadn't asked Beau a thing about himself since he'd started working there.

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