Page 72 of Beau and the Beast

“Who was he even going to meet that day?”

“Some billionaire at 330 West,” Noah said. He’d held back the details the first time Lincoln had come by but now, something had changed.Lincolnhad changed.

And so Noah explained where Beau had been going the day that he’d disappeared—and why Noah had sent him there. Beau had never told Lincoln what errand he was asking the man to accompany him on. Lincoln’s frown grew deeper as Noah’s story continued.

“Jesus. A wild animal?”

“Beau was convinced it was a creepy costume,” Noah offered.

“Oh, good—even better. You sold your brother to some freaky Satanic cult. That’s great news.”

“It’s not a Satanic cult—“

“You don’t know that,” Lincoln insisted. “Who even owns the condo? What do theydo, that they could pay Beau all this money to stay there?”

“I got as far as the dollar amount and the security hack,” Noah said, hitching a shoulder.

“Can’t you get further than that?” Lincoln asked, his eyes pleading.

“If they were giving Beau a job, I thought it would be a bad idea to hack into their files. If they find out, they could fire him or…whatever. You know?”

“Your brother always said you were really good at what you do.”

“I’m ok. What’s your point?” Noah asked.

“Can’t you find out more about them without them knowing? Maybe like, look at stuffrelatedto them, but nottheirstuff? Christ, I don’t know the first thing about all this stuff—I just know what I’m doing isn’t working. And I’m scared for him, Noah.”

Noah nodded.

“If something happens to him,” Lincoln continued, “how are we gonna live with ourselves? You were supposed to be the one going—and I was supposed to go with him. And now we’re the only ones out here wondering when he’s going to come back.”

What if they’re counting on that,Noah thought with a jolt of panic.What if they chose Beau because they thought nobody was going to miss him?

“You’re right,” Noah said a moment later. “We’re in this together.”

* * *

Wolfram wasin the middle of a long soliloquy on Saturday about the semester he spent abroad during grad school when he stopped mid-syllable.

"I'm sorry, uh, I—"

He twitched oddly where he was sitting and then twisted at the waist. His tail swished behind him, annoyed.

"Christ, I—"

Wolfram was trying to scratch a spot on his back and Beau almost barked a laugh as he watched the other man twist and move to get his claws to the spot where he wanted them. He'd never seen the man go from being so composed to instantly being so desperate to accomplish something before. Wolfram screwed up his face as he shimmied this way and that to reach the spot. After a moment, he shrugged out of his vest, as if that would help.

It was odd to see him disrobe like that. Even though the vest did very little to clothe him, he did suddenly look quite naked above the waist.

"It's always in the goddamned spots you can't reach," he muttered.

Beau laughed and pushed up from where he'd been sitting. "I got you," he said. "Don't even worry about it."

Wolfram didn't stop moving and trying to reach the spot, though, and he was still attempting to scratch himself as Beau settled, kneeling behind him, careful not to step on his tail.

"Here?" Beau asked, putting his hand in the spot that was just out of Wolfram's reach.

"Yes, God, please," Wolfram begged, his voice almost hoarse with need. Beau laughed again and began to scratch. "Oh God, that's amazing, oh thank you Lord in heaven..."

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