Page 9 of Beau and the Beast

"Where and when?" Noah asked.

"Tomorrow, five p.m. Penthouse."

Christ. They were asking him up to the penthouse? He wasn’t looking forward to navigating a trip that far away from home with his cane.

"Why don't we find some neutral ground?" Noah suggested. "I know a few places where we could make an easy exchange."

"No dice," the man said. "Fifty thousand, penthouse only, or we can't make the deal."

Noah thought it over. If he let Beau know where he was going, he'd be safe. Hell, maybe he'd even have time to find a gun between now and then...

"Done," he said quickly.

"Tomorrow, then."

When Noah recounted the call to his brother, Beau just kept shaking his head. By the end of the story he was worrying a fingernail between his teeth.

"Quit that," Noah said. "Mom hated it."

Beau didn't smile at the mention of their mother. "You know what else Mom would've hated? My idiot little brother talking himself into a stupidly dangerous situation for cash."

"Think about it though, Beau," he urged. "Fifty grand would change everything for us. You could quit your shitty reporter job, get your head sorted out, and start to write your book."

Beau shook his head. "I appreciate the offer, but it's not worth it if it gets you killed."

Noah shrugged. "Well, it's not like I have a choice now."

"What do you mean?" Beau's voice was ice cold.

"They pinged me back last night after I called. They must have a hell of a hacker on their own end because there's no goddamn way to trace what I was doing."

"Clearly thereisa way if they pinged you back," Beau said, his voice going high with panic. "What does that mean? They know who you are?"

"They at least know where we live."

"Fabulous. Fucking incredible."

"So you see why I don't really have a choice at this point," Noah said. "If I don't show with the video tomorrow, they're going to come looking for it anyway."

"Noah, you really fucked us this time," Beau said in a voice that was surprisingly gentle. "Good Lord, kid."

* * *

It only tookBeau an hour to come up with a plan that suited him better than Noah's.

Beau would go make the drop.

Yeah, Noah had gotten them into the mess—but Beau was better at talking his way out of things. And no, he wasn't a big guy, but at least he was bigger than his little brother. At least he could move faster if he needed to run.

Maybe he could even phone a favor in to Lincoln and ask for him to come along. He'd feel better with a bit of backup, even if it was coming from the guy he'd just broken up with.

He brought the idea up to Noah over dinner.

Noah didn't protest until Beau mentioned Lincoln.

"You're seriously going to invite your asshole boyfriend to do this with you?"

"Ex-boyfriend, actually," Beau corrected.

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