Page 9 of Beast

“Do you really want to risk finding out?” I feel the giant’s dark gaze like a warm caress on my skin. Something shimmers in the tight air between us. Something dark and delicious.Something dangerous.

I shiver and swallow down the strange excitement I feel prickling beneath my skin.

“Careful, Beast. You wouldn’t want to start something.”

“Don’t test me, Gaston. You’re done here.” The man I now know as Beast turns to me and says, “Run home, Belle.”

He doesn’t need to tell me twice.

I grab Uncle Maurice’s hand and do as Beast says.

We run.

And we don’t look back.

We just keep running until we can’t run anymore.

We make it to Port Town, a safer neighborhood, where there is more light and less access to the tunnels beneath the town. A bus pulls up just ahead of us and we climb on, and I’m grateful for the coins in my pocket because they mean we can ride the rest of the way home in the safety of the bus.

By the time we make it to our tiny apartment on Le Prince Street, it’s raining again. And as I lock the door behind me, it’s then I realize, the Beast called me by my name.

Once inside our little house,I light a fire, then fix my uncle a bowl of the chicken noodle soup he loves.

He’s sitting by the fireplace in the old recliner chair when I take it to him.

I need to talk to him about what just happened. But since we arrived home he’s withdrawn into his shell and isn’t making any sense.

He’s getting worse.

My heart aches for him. Once upon a time, he was a revered scientist and achieved many great things in his long and prestigious career. Now he disappears inside himself more and more every day.

Some days are better than others. I hope tomorrow is a lucid day and we can talk. But for tonight, I’ll let him rest.

While he enjoys his soup, I retreat to the cold kitchen and stare at the bills attached to the refrigerator. Electricity is past its due date, likewise with the water, and somehow we’re a month behind in the mortgage.

I stare out the massive window into the backyard and watch the torrential rain machine-gunning the concrete path with fat bursts of water.

The encounter with Gaston has me left me rattled and a ghostly finger runs up my spine. I can still see the menace in his eyes. The way they had swept up and down my body, shamelessly undressing me. Just the thought of him makes my skin ripple with goosebumps and nausea curdle in my stomach.

“Oh, Uncle Maurice, what have you gotten us into?” I whisper into the lonely kitchen.

The night feels unsettled.

Something tells me morning can’t come quick enough.

CHAPTER 4

BEAST

I steermy Harley toward the clubhouse.

It's the old castle ruins on the hill that overlooks St. Boniface.

It's raining now and I'm soaking wet. But after my encounter with Gaston in town, I needed to ride off my anger and fury.

Thirty minutes late, I pull into the garage beneath the clubhouse, which used to be a boat slip, and find Lars waiting for me. He greets me as I climb off my bike.

“Trust you to be late to your own goddamn inauguration celebration,” he says.

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