Page 73 of Beautiful Beast

Someone knocks on the door as the meeting is ending and I’m about to shut down my computer. I assume it’s Belle, arriving early for our planned night hanging out together.

We’ve come a long way from talking through the door.

But it’s Eric Briggs, one of the few people who can get past Enrique without a call up to warn me. I haven’t seen him since the plane ride home from Syria, and his presence is a familiar comfort even though I’d never admit it out loud.

He wraps me in a bear hug as soon as I get the door open, and I should have figured ignoring his check-ins would eventually lead to a house call.

“You look like shit,” he greets me, closing the door behind him.

“I’m aware. It will be fixed.”

He rolls his eyes. “Not the scar, dude. You just look… exhausted.”

“It hasn’t been an easy few months.”

“I was at the funeral, but I couldn’t find you.”

He’s one of the few people – other than Belle – who is comfortable in my place. He heads straight toward the wet bar and pours us each a few fingers of whiskey.

I explain my hidden vantage point at the funeral and try to give him an excuse about why I haven’t been in touch except to ask him to pick up Belle from the club.

I’m such a shitty friend.

“It’s been intense with losing Uncle Dennis and taking the helm of–”

“Cut the shit, Townsend. You had time to text me. You just didn’t want to.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “It’s not that I didn’twantto.”

My life is just in shambles, and I prefer to break without an audience. Even with someone who understands exactly what I’ve been through because he’s also been through it, being weak isn’t comfortable.

“Have you been going to the office?” Briggs asks as he makes his way to the fridge that my housekeeper keeps stocked even though I rarely bother to cook.

It’s easy enough to avoid her presence with all the space in the penthouse, and she’s discrete enough not to disturb me. Even if she did happen to catch a glimpse of my face, anyone who works for my family has been vetted and wouldn’t break confidentiality.

“Everything is happening via video conference,” I return. “Not that I keep my camera turned on, but you get the idea.”

Briggs starts the process of making a sandwich, so at least someone is going to eat the food I buy. It’s just so much easier and more convenient to order in or pull from the prepared freezer meals that my housekeeper makes.

And unless Belle is cooking, that’s usually what I do.

“It’s not like you to hide,” Briggs notes. “What are you so afraid of?”

“It’s not even so much that people will think I’m ugly. I’ve gone through life always able to get the girl, and despite how my face currently looks, I’m still with a smoking hot one.”

He pauses in the middle of spreading mayo on bread. “Is Belle your girlfriend now?”

“I don’t really know. Not exactly, I guess. It’s… complicated.”

“So, you’ve been getting your dick wet and yet don’t have time to text your best friend?”

“I’m sorry, okay? I’ll do better.”

Satisfied, he continues the sandwich prep. “I agree with you, man. She’s a smoke show. And I want you to tell me more about her after I’m done grilling your ass. I need to know why you’re living like a fucking elderly recluse.”

There’s no way around it, and maybe if I finally spit the words out, he’ll stop poking at me. Belle is a lot gentler, and that’s why I choose to spend my time with her. She won’t force me to do or say anything I’m not ready for.

Briggs is a hell of a different story.

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