Page 153 of Beau and the Beast

“You looked awfully comfortable a moment ago—not at all like a man who’s up against a death sentence in a few weeks.”

“You don’t think after ten years of this hell that I deserve a little happiness?” he spat.

Her expression didn’t soften. “You deserve a lifetime of happiness, Wolfram, but we both know that it won’t be possible if you don’t break this curse.”

His mood took an abrupt turn. Wolfram had been so happy just a few minutes ago, but now his ire was rising. He hated to fight with Violet, but he couldn’t get his anger under control fast enough to avoid it.

“And what if Beau isn’t the key to it?” Wolfram demanded. “What if we’re down the wrong course and it’s entirely too late?”

Blood roared in Wolfram’s ears like rapids.

“Don’t forget you’re not the only one who’s cursed,” Violet said. She was keeping her calm and that made him even more furious. “The rest of us don’t stay prisoners here for fun.”

“I would never forget it. Every day for almost a decade and I haven’t forgotten it. I live with the guilt of it every goddamn day.”

“Then do something about it. Don’t get in the way of the one person whomightbe able to help.”

“It’ll be over and broken for you all in a few months anyway,” Wolfram said. “You were only ever collateral damage. We all know you’ll walk away from here one way or another.”

“Maybe you don’t care what happens to you, butIdo,” Violet said, crossing her arms. “I’ll tell him if you won’t, Wolfram. Beau deserves to know what he’s doing—what he’s contributing to when he dallies with you.”

“Jesus, Violet—“

“Your time is running out,” she said, more gently now. “And I’m not going to stand by and watch you destroy yourself—especially not when you have areasonto be happy now, to want to leave this place.”

“Indulging in time with Beau isn’t me destroying myself,” Wolfram said. He forced himself to take a deep breath, to think rationally. “He’s almost done with his manuscript—which you would know if you would just bother to talk to him about it.”

“He is?”

“Do you think I would take up with him formonthswithout pause? That I would totally let time run out? Of course he’s almost done. He’s been working on it every day.”

She sat back.

“Don’t tell him about the time, Violet,” he said, wanting to beg, feeling suddenly panicked. “Please don’t bring it up.”

“Why is it so important to you to keep it a secret?”

He hadn’t examined the impulse until that moment, but even as she asked he knew.

“If he thinks there’s no future with me, he’ll be done. If we don’t break the curse, he won’t want me, Violet. Let me have this one good thing.”

She nodded. “If that’s your decision, so be it. If he’s really as close to finishing as you say, maybe it won’t matter.”

He didn’t for a minute believe it. Wolfram was long past getting his hopes up over things. But at least she had given in. She would let him have Beau, would stay complicit in the lie that they could have a future in some way.

* * *

Noah nearly jumpedout of his skin when the door to the apartment slammed closed. He hadn’t heard Lincoln unlock the door and then there he was, in the middle of the day, striding into the living room where Noah had set up to work.

“I fucked up,” Lincoln said, pacing. “I mean, IthinkI fucked up. Oryoufucked up.”

“Slow down,” Noah said, holding up his hands. “What’s up? What are you doing home?”

Still pacing, Lincoln explained that he’d gotten impatient that morning, more and more absurdly worried about Beau. Noah couldn’t blame him. Several more days of sitting outside 330 West had yielded nothing, no trace of Beau, no trace of anything suspicious going on at the condo building.

“So I went to the building on my lunch break and I went up.”

“What the hell do you mean,you went up?”

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