Double Bear Secret: Werebear BBW Menage Romance (Hockey Bear Season Book 2)

by Anya Nowlan

  Lily hoped the tension in the air wasn’t too palpable as she got up from behind the table, trying to put on a smile.

  “Better, thanks,” she said, brushing past the man and quickly walking upstairs to her room.

  Closing the door behind her, she let out a long sigh. Now that she was alone, everything came crashing down on her. Even though she knew she had misjudged the brothers when it came to their guilt, she also felt angry.

  It was clear they still didn’t believe her about the traitor. Or worse yet, maybe they did and they wanted to protect whoever it was. She could fool herself into thinking they were now on the same side, but that wasn’t exactly true.

  Making the deal that she’d made, that she would go to them first with any suspicions, meant giving the twins an opportunity to meddle in her investigation or warn the person she was looking into.

  Obviously it was so they could protect their friends. And their loyalty just might make Crash and Connor blind and protective enough to ruin whatever progress she could make.

  One thing was certain, though. This was a hell of a mess and there wasn’t any coming back from it. There was no trust between her and the twins now, meaning any form of a relationship was basically ruled out.

  Whatever they had was over, and the knowledge hurt more than she wanted to admit or think about.

  Way to fuck up the very first relationship that ever got your heart fluttering, she chided herself, sinking into her bed face-first.

  Rocked along on a sea of conflicting emotions, Lily decided it would be best to take feeling out of the equation entirely. Obviously she still felt more than bad about what the brothers were going through with Alison, and regretted accusing them of something they weren’t guilty of.

  But with so many lies and hurt feelings between them now, it was better to let it go and focus on the investigation instead.

  It’s what I’m here to do, she reminded herself.

  So she took the ache radiating from her gut and buried it deep, shoving it into a dark corner within herself, knowing it would pop back up sooner or later. Right now, she had more urgent matters to attend to. She was fresh out of suspects, and hadn’t found anything incriminating in the players’ rooms.

  So whoever it is, he’s careful. If I could only get my hands on their phones…

  Feigned illness and her overwhelming desire to pull the covers over her head and stay in bed forever aside, she knew she had to go back downstairs and try to at least dig up some sort of new lead. She was willing to grasp at straws at this point.

  Getting up and pulling her hair into a tight ponytail, she glanced in the mirror to see if she looked as bad as she felt. Her skin looked even paler than usual and her eyes were watery, but that would go towards selling her story about being sick, so she didn’t worry too much about that.

  She hesitated for a moment before leaving the room, hand hovering over the door handle like there was something about to pounce on her on the other side.

  But she squared her shoulders and marched out anyway, heading downstairs. She immediately felt even worse when all the guys there crowded around her, wanting to make sure she was alright and asking if there was anything they could do.

  One of you could confess to selling sensitive information, she thought to herself, trying to make light of things and failing miserably.

  “Really, I’m fine. It’s probably something I ate,” she said, looking around at the circle of familiar faces.

  She felt somewhat disingenuous, considering them all friends, seeing how she was deceiving them. But her gut was telling her they were her friends, nonetheless. These men genuinely cared about her, despite only knowing her a short while. And she was feeling more and more apprehensive by the second.

  If her investigation turned out to be successful, someone’s life was going to be ruined. Lily couldn’t stop thinking about who it would be. Would it be Sal she’d help bring down? Or Graham that will be kicked off the team in disgrace because of her?

  Another thing I’ll have to box up and deal with later. I have a feeling most of my paycheck will go towards covering my therapy bills.

  “Glad to see you’re feeling better,” Ben remarked from behind the others before turning to leave.

  He had been suspicious as soon as she had told him she wasn’t feeling well in the morning, and she couldn’t exactly blame him for that. She had been going through his players’ stuff, after all.

  From the glare he threw her way, she got the feeling he already knew about that.

  Crap. I bet that’s going to come back and bite me in the ass.

  The guys started to disperse, and she noticed that Crash and Connor were nowhere to be seen. It was a relief, in a sense, but a disappointment in another. But she did catch Miles and Wyatt exchanging a look from across the room she found odd for a reason she couldn’t articulate.

  It was like Ben’s comment had prompted them to communicate something wordlessly. But it was more than that. The way they did it seemed familiar, comfortable somehow. It wasn’t something self-proclaimed strangers would do, in her opinion.

  Looking at each other isn’t a crime, Lily, she told herself.

  But she still couldn’t shake that weird feeling. There was no reason the two should hide knowing each other. Then again, what did she know? People had all sorts of secrets and all sorts of reasons for keeping them.

  I’m reading way too much into this, she reminded herself, but her alarm bells were already ringing.

  Miles didn’t even look that comfortable with Mason, who was busy making himself a sandwich in the kitchen. Thinking back, she could recall more instances of Miles looking to Wyatt when important topics were discussed, instead of turning to his boss.

  Her gut was telling her something was up, but she wasn’t exactly trusting her instincts at the moment. She had already been wrong once, and she wasn’t keen on a repeat performance. Still, she would make a point to look into possible connections between the men later.

  Right now, she sank into the couch, next to Eddie and Sal. Sal was busy watching TV, while Eddie was on his phone, typing up a message that she couldn’t read from under his fingers. But she did notice who it was to, and it made her freeze where she was sitting.

  Hendrix Allen? she thought, staring at the screen in Eddie’s hands. Eddie is texting Hendrix Allen, one of the most well-known bookies in all of Denver?

  She looked away, trying to seem as casual as she could while her mind was building up different scenarios, none of them particularly good for the Predators’ goaltender.

  Eddie, what have you gotten yourself into?

  Thirty-Seven

  Connor

  It was getting dark out and Connor still hadn’t left his room. He didn’t feel like looking at or talking to anyone, not in the mood he was in. Having somehow managed to wrap his head around why Lily did what she did, he found it didn’t make him feel that much better.

  He still felt stabbed in the back. But what was most scary, he still felt so drawn to Lily. Her face kept crowding in on his every thought, alongside memories of what her body felt like under his hands.

  But that didn’t undo the damage her lies had done. After Alison, he couldn’t afford to get involved with someone he couldn’t trust completely. And then there was the fact she believed one of the guys on the team, one of his best friends, was selling them out.

  Impossible, he scoffed to himself.

  Lily was wrong, and he wasn’t about to let her drag any of his friends’ names through the mud. That put them at odds. It was a conflict that seemed insurmountable.

  A heaviness settled in his chest when he realized that it might mean he would never get to kiss Lily again. There were just too many things that put them on opposite sides.

  Even if that weren’t the case, he couldn’t risk it. Putting himself out there again, after being betrayed by Alison, and now learning Lily wasn’t even who she said she was… Connor wasn’t proud of the way he was letting his fears get to
him, but he couldn’t see any other way.

  How he felt about Lily was intense, terrifying, all-consuming. Jumping into something like that could end in tragedy, and probably would. Weren’t relationships supposed to be built on trust? That’s what all the movies and magazines seemed to say, at least.

  And while he no longer thought Lily was a bad person for hiding her real identity and effectively spying on the team, he couldn’t exactly have blind confidence in her either.

  Frustrated and somewhat confused, he started pacing around the room, wondering how Crash was dealing with all of this. His brother was putting on a better face than he, but Connor knew this was bothering him just as much.

  Crash might have been the more reasonable one when Lily’s real goal came to light, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t struggling.

  As if on cue, and really driving home the whole ‘twin telepathy’ thing that had suddenly become relevant recently, Connor stepped into the room following a quick knock on the door.

  “Hey. I figured you were in here, driving yourself crazy,” he remarked, walking over to sit down on Connor’s bed.

  “Just thinking things over,” Connor replied, with a small roll of his eyes.

  Crash always thought he knew Connor so well. Connor wasn’t that enthused with that idea. It made him feel too predictable. But he couldn’t argue with his brother’s conclusions most of the time. Well, he did argue, but he also acknowledged there was always a grain of truth in his brother’s conclusion.

  “Sure, Mr. I-over-analyze-everything,” Crash scoffed. “What have you come up with?”

  Connor’s brow knitted together as he tried to think of what exactly he had decided. Was it that he should finally take his own advice and stay away from Lily? Or that he couldn’t do that even if he tried? He wasn’t sure if he was relieved or not at not having to answer when another knock at the door made both brothers stare at it.

  What now? Connor sighed internally.

  “Yes?” he called out, ready to shoot down the idea for a game of pool or another movie night.

  He should have known better. Most of the guys wouldn’t even bother knocking. It was Lily, standing hesitantly at the doorway, looking at both of them like she was about to turn around and go back the way she came.

  But she squared her shoulders and stepped inside, shutting the door tightly. There was a note of resistance in her voice, as if she had to force herself to say the words.

  “I promised I would come to you with any suspicions. So here I am.”

  Connor and Crash looked at each other, Crash’s face betraying the same sense of apprehension that Connor felt. It was good that she was honoring their agreement. But Connor wasn’t keen on finding out which one of his friends she was getting ready to accuse next.

  “Go on,” he prompted, in spite of himself.

  “It’s about Eddie. I’m pretty sure he was texting a bookie whose name has come up in Fiona’s initial investigation. Hendrix Allen,” she stated, standing stiffly near the door.

  “That’s all? That doesn’t mean anything. It’s probably even not the same Hendrix Allen,” Connor replied.

  Lily’s rigidity turned to fire in an instant.

  “Another guy named Hendrix? With the same last name? You have got to be kidding me,” she huffed, her eyes lighting up. “We’re not talking about a Tom or a Paul here,” she added, her hand flying to her hip.

  Connor was none too impressed by her sudden belligerence, but he would be lying if he didn’t find it absolutely attractive at the same time. This was the real Lily, persistent and passionate, and not about to give in on something that was important to her.

  Connor could appreciate that. Even if in this case, she seemed to be passionate about insisting Eddie was a lying traitor.

  I have to be going insane. There’s no other explanation.

  Struggling with how he could still possibly admire this woman, Connor fell silent. Luckily, Crash picked up where he left off.

  “There has to be another explanation,” Crash said calmly, standing from the bed.

  The brothers were now standing side by side, crowding the bedroom as their wide shoulders connected, almost creating a wall in front of Lily. They were a united front, a fact that seemed to make Lily even angrier.

  She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut, thinking better of whatever she was going to say. Strands of her auburn hair had slipped out from her ponytail, framing that gorgeous face of hers perfectly. Connor knew he wasn’t going to like what she said next, but he couldn’t help but stare at her nonetheless.

  “I knew you weren’t going to be able to stay objective on this. Was the whole point about me coming to you first ever about finding the traitor together, or was it just a way for you to meddle in my investigation and undermine me?” she demanded after a moment of silence.

  Her anger was starting to turn to hurt, he could see it in her eyes. Connor didn’t want to impede her investigation, or stop her from doing her job. And he hated that she would think they were so underhanded and deceitful.

  But he also knew, with one hundred percent certainty, there was no fucking way Eddie would ever sell the team out.

  “You don’t know Eddie like we do,” he started, trying to assuage the situation the best he could. “If you did…”

  “I’m going to have to stop you there,” Lily said with a tired sigh. “I am not here to be your friend. I am here to get to the truth. You can’t see past your personal relationship with these guys, and that’s fine. I can’t expect you to. But you can’t expect me to take your word over evidence. And honestly, if you’re going to blindly protect people like this, you’re no better than the piece of shit selling out this team,” she declared, meeting both of their eyes.

  Before Connor could even reply, Lily turned on her heel and walked out, slamming the door shut after her. In a fit of anger, Connor grabbed the nearest thing he could find, which happened to be his phone, and chucked it against the wall hard enough for it to shatter to pieces.

  “That could have gone better,” Crash commented after a moment, looking from the door to Connor’s trashed phone.

  “Understatement of the decade,” Connor mumbled in response.

  One thing was clear, though. Lily was done with them both. And as much as Connor tried to tell himself that might be a good thing, it didn’t stick.

  Thirty-Eight

  Lily

  Assholes, she thought bitterly.

  She wanted to take the word back immediately though. Which was difficult, seeing as she’d only thought it.

  Lily was practically trembling when she left Connor’s bedroom. Almost everyone had already turned in for the night, but she was too worked up to sleep. So she started aimlessly wandering the halls in an attempt to calm down or maybe get some clarity.

  She had expected resistance when she went to the brothers with her doubts, but their blind denial had turned out to be too much for her. It wasn’t hard to realize why it affected her the way it did.

  Looking inward, she knew it was because she had desperately wanted for her and the twins to be on the same side.

  After the whole fiasco of them finding out who she really was, she had secretly thought that maybe now that the truth was out, they could find a way to work together. Maybe even mend the broken trust between them. Now it was clear that wasn’t going to happen, and it hurt like a sword through the chest.

  Did I really expect them to choose me over their team? she scoffed at herself, feeling a wave of self-contempt wash over her. I’ve been such an idiot.

  Lily hadn’t admitted to herself that there was a hidden part of her that had seen a future for her and the twins, as insane as that was.

  Being in a relationship with two people at the same time? That was crazy enough. But thinking it could work between her and the men she was here to investigate, whose friends she was here to investigate, that was ridiculously absurd.

  And who knows, they could still be involved. If they’re t
his obstinate about Eddie, it could be because they’re in on it, that endlessly pessimistic side of her whispered.

  Yet as her anger started to die down during the third time she’d walked through the entire house, she started to feel inconsolably sad. The reality was, she was probably never going to see Connor or Crash again once this camp was over. And that was scarier than anything she could think of.

  A mess of conflicting emotions swirling inside her, she was just about to go back to her room and look over the files Fiona gave her access to again, to see if she found a connection she had previously missed between Miles and Wyatt. But a soft sound from downstairs made her still.

  Carefully sneaking closer to the staircase, she hid behind the bannister as she peered down, looking for any movement. In a house full of shifters, she knew she was outmatched when it came to moving around silently, and that with their hearing, even her heartbeat could give her away. But she had to try anyway.

  Despite her earlier suspicions, she was still shocked when she observed Miles and Wyatt wordlessly slide open the glass doors in the living room and step outside. Wyatt looked grim while Miles seemed entirely neutral, still wearing his sharp suit, but paired with sneakers this time instead of dress shoes.

  Lily waited until she could no longer see them to go downstairs, keeping her eyes peeled and ears perked. Her heart was already thudding fast. Something was going on here, that much she knew.

  Why else would Miles and Wyatt be going outside together in the middle of the night? Unless it was to discuss something they didn’t want anyone to hear.

  Moving the curtains aside, she peeked out from behind the sliding doors, looking for any sign of the men. Reasonably confident they were out of earshot, she slowly slid the doors open and crept outside, goosebumps erupting all over her skin as she did.

  Not having planned on going outside, she was dressed in only in jeans and a t-shirt- Shivering, she moved along the edge of the house, taking a guess at which direction the men had gone in. The sky was clear and the moon full and bright, so she didn’t have to stumble around in complete darkness, at least.