Tame his Beast - Claire C. Riley Page 0,17

mouth set in a hard line. I scowled at her, enjoying the way she blew out a frustrated breath, her usually soft features tensing.

“Would you like some pudding?” she asked tenderly, and fuck me I couldn’t stop a small smile from coming to my face, despite my anger and my pain. Of all the things I expected her to say, that was not one of them. This girl continued to surprise me. No matter what I did she kept on coming back for more. “I’ll take that as a yes then,” she said primly, and left the room to go get it.

I shook my head and dropped my smile.

Pudding. Motherfuckin’ puddin’, of all the things, had made me smile.

Chapter Seven

~ Belle ~

“How is he today?” I asked Joey, the prospect sitting outside Beast’s room.

I was running late that day and still tugging my wild curls into a little silver clip at the back of my head as I jogged toward Beast’s room. Joey and I had gotten close since we talked every day. He warned me if Beast was in a particularly awful mood, and I brought him candy and books as payment. It was a boring job sitting outside the room all day, and we’d struck up an unlikely friendship over the past couple of weeks.

“Quiet today,” he said, standing up and putting his book down. “Hey, you know Heathcliff?”

I smirked. “Not personally.”

The joke was lost on him and he continued regardless.

“He’s like, all broken up and shit and that Catherine bitch is—”

“Have a little respect for her,” I warned.

“Sorry, well, I think she should pick Heathcliff. That Edgar dude is a dick.”

I laughed and he stopped talking and looked at me with a hurt expression. “I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you.”

“Sure seems that way,” he grumbled.

“No, no, I’m not. It’s just Edgar is just a nice guy. How can you say he’s a…” I shrugged, leaving Joey to fill in the blank because I didn’t want to swear.

“A dick?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Because Catherine is Heathcliff’s! And sure, he’s a little fucked up—but most people are, and at least he has the balls to know what he wants and go after it.” He stared at me, his gaze thoughtful as he waited for me to give him my thoughts on his summary.

“Wow, well, I hear what you’re saying but I guess life’s just not that simple.”

“Nah, fuck that, it is that simple. Heathcliff was unhinged but he deserved love too. And that Edgar guy was a pussy and needed to step off. Standing in the way of true love and all that.” He look so irritated by the whole thing, and I felt a motherly pride.

“I hear you out there, Belle!” Beast yelled from inside his room, and Joey rolled his eyes and swiped at his hair.

“You better get yourself in there.” He sat back down and picked the book back up before looking back up to me. “Thanks for the book rec, Belle.”

I smiled. “No problem.”

I pushed on the door and headed inside. Beast was sitting up in bed, staring straight ahead at the small television fixed to the wall in the corner of the room. Some of his biker brothers had put it up earlier that week and he’d been glued to it ever since. He didn’t really seem the sort of man to sit around watching TV all day, but I guess when you had nothing else to do…

“Took your damn time,” he grumbled.

“Well, it’s not like you’re going anywhere so I thought why rush?” I bit out sarcastically.

His head swung in my direction. “What the fuck did you just say to me?”

I refrained from apologizing automatically and instead headed over to get my cart. I pulled out the key to the little med cupboard and unlocked it, grabbing his medicine out and locking it again.

He was still glowering at me when I turned around and I sighed. “I was joking,” I said in exasperation.

“Real fucking hilarious,” he bit out, turning back to the TV.

I washed him down, my gaze going to the TV a couple of times to see what he was watching. It was some old cowboy movie and I smirked and glanced over at Beast.

“I didn’t know you liked cowboy movies.”

“Didn’t know I liked anal either but hey I guess we learn something new every day, huh,” he replied without looking away.

I tutted. “You don’t have to be such a jerk all the time,” I mumbled, gently sponging down his thick thighs as