He smiled at Bob.
Bob didn’t smile back, his face briefly twitching before Beast’s huge fist collided with it so hard Bob crashed into the nearest wall and slid to the floor with blood spurting over the gray tiles. He screamed out, clutching his nose with one hand and raising the other in an attempt to protect himself. “No, please! It’s a misunderstanding, I swear!”
“No!” Laurent yelled in panic and grabbed Beast’s arm. “Stop! What are you doing? How dare you!”
Beast hunched his shoulders, glaring at Laurent with his lips pressed so tightly together they were pale. “Go on, tell him what you do!” He roughly pulled out of Laurent’s grasp and grabbed Bob’s wrist, dragging him over the floor.
Bob shrieked, curling into a ball, as if he expected Beast to kick him. “I didn’t do anything!”
Laurent tried to stand between them but Beast pushed him away with ease. “Stop tormenting this poor man! All he wanted to do was to get to know me better! Is that such a sin?”
“Know you better?” Beast hissed, widening his eyes at Laurent. “This man doesn’t paint. He takes naked pictures of people and puts them up for everyone to see. That’s how he makes money!”
Laurent took a step back, unsure what to believe. “Is that true?” he whispered, looking down at Bob, whose nose bled all over the floor.
Bob put one hand up, holding the other to his nose. “I’m sorry I misjudged things. I can just go!”
Beast punched the wall so hard his fist left a dent, and Bob screamed out, shielding his head. “You are banned from here. Try to come back, and I will personally break your arms, you piece of shit! Paint him like your French girls... what a joke!”
Laurent took another step back, farther into the shadows, so deeply embarrassed it physically hurt. And the worst thing was that Bob wouldn’t have even had to come up with lies to win Laurent’s favor. Laurent would have considered being intimate with the man anyway. Now the very thought of it repulsed him. Was it his fate to be deceived by everyone he chose to open up to?
Bob scrambled to his feet, having to hold himself up with the help of the wall. “Sure, sure! I’m going! No need to get violent.” He laughed nervously and a bubble of blood burst at his nostril.
Beast snapped his fingers, and it was enough to send Bob out through the door without even a glance at Laurent.
They were alone again, with Laurent’s back hugging the wall, Beast’s hulking presence filling the walkway with stiff muscle and deep gasps, and the muted noise that people in 2017 called music.
Beast licked his lips and spared Laurent a brief glance. “He didn’t give you any strange things to eat, did he? Are you feeling weak?”
Laurent shook his head quickly, still confused why Beast would even follow him in the first place if he despised Laurent so much. “It must have been my outfit that gave him the wrong impression,” he said weakly, backing out even farther. He was dying to be alone, to take off the clothes and rub off the paint from his eyes. This night was a disaster.
Beast pushed his hands into his pockets and opened his mouth, making no sound when a man and a woman stumbled into the corridor locked in an aggressive kiss. Laurent and Beast watched them try two doors before one gave, and the couple rushed into the room.
Beast cleared his throat. “He must have noticed you don’t know what he was talking about. He wanted to use you because you’re naive,” he said in the end.
The dam that was holding in Laurent’s frustration gave and he spread his arms. “I’m not naive! I’m trying so hard to make the best of this situation, and yet I’m sure this will not be the last mistake I make. Why do you have to flaunt just how much you know everything better than I? So my clothes are ‘slutty’, and I’ve misjudged Bob’s intentions. I will know better next time.”
“Laurent. This isn’t a game. This is your life. You can’t just jump into things. Your past life didn’t prepare you for any of this.” Beast licked his lips, stepping closer.
Laurent stood his ground, releasing a heavy sigh of exasperation. “How am I to learn? I’ve been wanting to touch a man this way for so long, and every attempt ends in disaster!”
Beast’s Adam’s apple rolled up and down his neck, and he briefly looked to the floor. “A week ago, I thought we’d become friends. Why did you make a fool out of me in front of everyone?”
Laurent’s misery would know no end. The man Laurent had treated with malice for his own gain rescued him once again. He couldn’t possibly tell Beast the truth, and yet no matter how much he hated what he’d done at the viewing, there was no alternative. Laurent couldn’t allow Beast to change living quarters until his next birthday. Was there a half-truth he could say? One that wasn’t his motivation yet described his feelings?