Bo and the Beast (Book #1) (Completed)

27. Birthday Plans

The Beast stood framed in the doorway, his shoulders heaving as he gasped for breath from running. His face looked crumpled, defeated. Bo was actually shocked to see the expression that played across his features. She couldn't put a name to it, but it made something in her chest call out in response.

The Beast stepped into the entrance hall, his footsteps hurried and short. He began immediately pacing back and forth. "No luck?" he asked.

"No, sir," Chan replied.

"I can't find her, either!" he exclaimed. He ran his hands over his buzzed hair and turned on the spot as if he couldn't figure out what to do with his energy. As he rotated toward her, the Beast's eyes landed on Bo as she stood on the third step down.

Relief washed over his face so heavily that Bo nearly apologized for no reason. She took a few more steps down, but he bounded up the steps and met her halfway down. By the time he was within a few inches of her, though, his face had transformed from relief to an intense glare she'd seen when she'd first arrived at his house. A shiver ran down her spine.

"Where were you?" he demanded, his hand smacking the bannister and making Bo jump.

"I was in my room, where do you think I was?" she retorted. His tone was clearly angry, and she immediately went on the defensive.

"You weren't. I went up and looked when you didn't come down for dinner."

Bo opened her mouth to argue, but realized she'd been caught. She sighed and narrowed her eyes. "Okay, look, I'm sorry. I fell asleep on the roof and lost track of time."

"The roof."

"Yeah, the roof. I have to go up there to escape all these little disloyal spies." Bo pointed specifically to Chan, the only one she recognized. The robot gasped as if he was offended by these words.

The Beast ran a hand over his eyes. "Fine. Just don't do it again," he said, his voice becoming more even.

"It's not my fault," she said, placing her hands on her hips. "Keep the Service-Matons out of my personal bedroom, and then I won't have to climb onto the roof to have a moment to myself."

The Beast's lips pressed together, his nostrils flaring. She thought for a moment that he would yell at her again, perhaps ban her from the sky room and her viewing screen for a few days, but instead he released his balled fists and turned away from her.

"Fine."

She watched in astonishment as he walked down the stairs. She'd only been trying to get a rise out of him. Yet, here she was with a promise of her room's privacy being kept. She didn't know how to react, so she just stared at his retreating back until he was gone from view.

---

Despite his insistence that he looked ridiculous tracing tiny letters out of a romance novel, the Beast was a fast learner. Only a few days and he was already capable of reading a few small sentences on his own. He still forgot many of the rules Bo told him over and over, but overall he wasn't doing that bad. Bo actually felt a little bit of pride in the fact that he was sticking with it and could learn so fast. She didn't like thinking that it might be due to the alien's advanced IQ, but she did like to think that maybe she was a better teacher than she'd thought. Aston had given her hell about a gun tutorial she'd tried to give the younger teens once, but now she'd taught an alien to read. She finally had something to hold over his head.

It wasn't until a moment later that she'd probably never meet Aston again to get a chance to hold it over his head.

The Beast glanced at her from across the table, his hand pausing in mid-word. She tried to force a smile, but found that she couldn't. In fact, she only wanted to go upstairs and climb into bed. The house suddenly felt so awfully suffocating.