“No,” Stacey cut in, as gently as she could manage. “I mean, we’re done. Whatever we are, whatever you want us to be, it’s done. This used to just be a job, but you’ve crossed a line.”
And then she saw a quick flash of rage in Jack’s eyes. She hadn’t been expecting it, because he never showed her his emotions, but now they were flowing clear as crystal in his eyes. She saw a vulnerability there that he hadn’t possessed for a long time, and a confusion and panic that really did make him look like a lost little boy. But in moments, the pain was over. Something dark clouded Jack’s gaze and his face turned emotionless.
Over his shoulder, he said: “I’m out. She’s all yours, Al.”
There were two chairs behind Jack, arranged at another table. Stacey watched two figures rise from those chairs, and she got to her feet too, looking to the first figure with disgust. Big Al Moschino had made his way up from LA to see her, in all his gutsy, greasy glory. His hair was slicked flat to his head, a bad dye job trying to cover grey with jet black, and he wore a suit that must have fit him once, and gradually been stretched over the years. The cigarette hanging from his mouth gave him the appearance of a patchwork walrus with one remaining tooth. He grinned at Stacey, and she looked away, only to find that her shock increased with the second person that she saw.
“You were spying on me?” Kurt asked. “This was all bullshit.”
“See what I told you, buddy,” Jack said to Kurt, his tone harsh. “You gotta watch these women. They’re not to be trusted.”
Stacey wanted to scream, not from fear but from anger. In that moment, she didn’t care what the vicious Big Al might do to her if she stepped out of line, she only wanted Kurt to know that she had never meant to hurt him. They’d gone into their first meeting on the wrong foot, but everything thereafter had been real. She wanted him for his grin, his kindness, his warmth and his truth. She needed him to teach her how to be honest again.
“I wish we hadn’t met this way,” she told him. “I really-”
“Save it,” Big Al snapped. “You can do your lovey-dovey shit later. First, the bear-boy and I have got a deal to strike.”
Jack stepped up to Stacey, hovering beside her like he’d restrain her if he needed to. She could feel the anger coming off him in waves, and at least she felt some small relief that she was no longer going to have to spend time around him. They both watched in fraught silence as Big Al squared up to Kurt. They were both the same considerable height, though Al was much wider round the middle, and Kurt seemed too hurt to be intimidated.
“I’m willing to cut you an offer, Mr. Ruxpin,” Big Al began. “You remember that toy? It was a talking teddy bear. Ahh well, before your time I guess. Well, I can make my seven gees back in one night, taking bets on a high profile fight. If I can get a shifter in to fight, I’ll score a fortune and you’ll be all clear. How does that sound, kid?”
“No,” Stacey said at once. Jack grabbed her wrist and shook his head.
Kurt glanced at her, those gold eyes flashing with hidden pain.
“Who would I be fighting?” he asked.
Big Al shrugged, giving a genial grin. “Just a couple of my boys. No weapons, I swear. Just ropes, you know, to restrain you if they win.”
“How many?” Kurt asked.
“Five?” Al returned.
“Three.”
“Four.”
“Done.”
They shook hands before Stacey could even protest again.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to suggest the venue,” Kurt said. “Fairhaven’s private land, it’d be better for both of us to keep this quiet.”
“Good thinking,” Big Al returned with another grin. “If you were half as good as gambler as you are a dealmaker, you wouldn’t be in this mess. Come on Jack, let’s get organized.”
Stacey waited until they’d left, and then she rushed to Kurt. He stepped away at once when she reached for him.
“Are you crazy?” she demanded. “Big Al Moschino’s not a good guy. You can bet those damn boys of his will be armed up to the back teeth.”
“What does it matter?” Kurt shot back. “It’s my only way out. And it looks like I’ve got nothing left to lose anyway.”
His stern voice broke on the last few words, and Stacey felt her tears returning. She knew it was a mark of how strong their bond was, the fact that she could cry so easily with him. Kurt looked at her, then looked away again at once. If he really wanted to be away from her, surely he’d have already left the deserted bar? He was still standing there, which meant she still had a chance to make things right.
“What we have,” she began, her voice shaking, “what we feel when we’re together, you can’t fake that. I didn’t tell you why I was here, sure, but everything else I said was true. I really do want to help you. There was nothing between me and Jack except him being a creep. You gave me the strength to admit what I really want.”
“What’s that?” Kurt asked, eyes still downcast.
“Something true,” Stacey admitted. “Love.”
The word hung like electricity in the air between them. When Kurt finally turned to face Stacey, she felt her chest rise with the force of impossible hope. He stepped towards her, but did not reach for her. Instead, he tried to grin. It almost made its way onto his face, lighting up some of the shadows there.
“Do you think that’s what we are?” he said softly. “Love at first sight?”
“I didn’t believe it either, until it happened,” she replied.
The fight was two nights later, and Stacey and Kurt had talked and talked in the time in between. They had not shared so much as a hand-holding moment, though, and Stacey knew she’d have to give it some time before Kurt could trust her again. Their conversations were long and winding, learning more about each other every time, but ultimately everything came back to the moment which was looming between them. The fight would decide Kurt’s future, and Stacey’s too. If all went well, they’d be free to start over. If it didn’t… Stacey couldn’t handle thinking about that other option.
Kurt had chosen the venue, just like Big Al promised. He and Stacey walked up the steep hiking trail that led to the dirt bowl, a little before midnight. There were voices ahead, whispering frantically to one another. When they reached the very top of the rise, Stacey saw a collection of greasy men and women who had come to bet and watch the fight. They stood in groups around the rim of the dirt bowl, some peering down into its depths. To combat the darkness, someone had set a large lantern aglow in the bowl’s center. It lit the place up like an arena, and Kurt was to be its gladiator.
“You don’t have to-” Stacey began, but Kurt cut her off.
“I do,” he said, “and you know it.”
The men he was intending to fight had already scrambled down into the bowl. They were stripped to the waist, revealing muscles just as well-defined as Kurt’s, and they appeared to be stretching and preparing themselves to take on a shifter. One, Stacey noticed, was patting down the legs of his pants.
“Weapons,” she murmured to Kurt, “I told you.”
“Don’t panic,” Kurt replied, though his face was anything but calm. “I’ve got claws of my own, remember?”
Stacey had only ever seen Kurt’s bear form once, in the very spot where he was about to do battle. She remembered those huge claws digging into the earth, and she realized at least that Kurt would be able to escape if he needed to. That was some small consolation, for the more she looked at the four men in the dirt bowl, the less she trusted them to fight according to the terms.
“Ladies and gentlemen, gather ‘round,” Big Al called in a hoarse voice. “Final bets, please. The competitor is here, and we’ll begin as soon as he transforms.”
He waved a large hand at Kurt, indicating the bowl. Beside him, faithful as ever, Jack shot Stacey and Kurt a withering look. It was strange to see him and feel so detached. It had barely taken a week for Stacey’s whole life to change. She felt a thumb and finger gently
take hold of her chin, turning her face until she was looking into Kurt’s deep golden eyes. He looked serious, the carefree grin gone, and she would have given anything to have it back.
“Everything’s going to be fine,” he assured her. His voice was low and level, yet she couldn’t bring herself to believe him.
“Sure,” she said shakily.
Kurt leaned in and kissed her. His warmth cut through the darkness of the night, and he held her close as their passion made the world melt away for a moment. In his embrace, Stacey could believe anything. She could see their future in a way she’d never dared to imagine before. When he broke away, and reality came caving in again, she felt like he’d taken part of her with him. Stacey watched, devastated, as Kurt scrambled down into the bowl.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Jack announced over the crowd, “the odds just went up on death in the ring. Absolute final wagers please.”
He’d done it on purpose, and Stacey knew it was meant to frighten her. She kept her eyes on Kurt instead, blocking everything else out to watch him prepare. He had stripped off his shirt and put it to one side, kicking off his shoes and socks to add to the pile. When he let his pants slide away, the crowd and Stacey gave a gasp. He hadn’t bothered with underwear – Stacey supposed the transformation would have ripped it to shreds anyway – and he stood naked before his foes. Exposed, and totally true to himself. And when he looked back over his shoulder, up the hill to where Stacey stood, the grin was firmly back in place.
His transformation was swift. The crack of bones landed like thunder, echoing off the walls of the dirt bowl. His human frame was illuminated by the lantern light as he arched his back, suddenly growing in size. Fur sprouted everywhere, obscuring skin, until he was a giant ball of tawny hair. Then the limbs came, powerful legs with clawed paws thumping into the ground. Kurt let out a roar and stood on his hind legs, and his four intended foes seemed to give a moment’s pause. Big Al would never let them back down now, Stacey knew it. The fight was on.
One of the men had attained a length of rope, those designed to restrain the bear. He kept his distance, trying to lasso the rope over Kurt’s head, but he was sharp on reflexes. His huge head swayed side to side, avoiding the loop expertly. When he suddenly lunged forward, all his weight on his front paws, the ground gave a mighty shake and one of the men fell over. Kurt sat on his legs, and the man gave a squeal as he struggled to be free. Some people in the crowd were laughing; others clutched their tickets angrily. Stacey folded her arms with confidence. If they had bet against Kurt winning this, then they needed to think again.
But it was just that kind of overconfidence that gamblers always had in the moment before things went wrong. The man who’d been patting his pockets earlier had hung back at first, but now he suddenly made a run for the bear. Kurt was too busy enjoying playful swipes at the man underneath him, and even a cry from Stacey didn’t alert him to what was coming. In seconds, there was a long, sharp blade shining silver against the lantern light. The wielder gave it a huge slash as he neared Kurt’s head.
“You bastards!” Stacey shouted. “No weapons, you said!”
Jack glanced her way, but neither he nor Al answered her. The crowd was drawn to the fight, as the bear suddenly reared up and gave a howl of pain. There was blood on the blade, but Kurt’s wound was lost somewhere in his fur, too obscured to make out whether it was a full slash or just a cut. He charged for the man with the sword, but had to rear up again when the human pointed it right for his skull. Two of the other adversaries had gone to help their flattened comrade get out of the dirt, but knife-boy was confident. Stacey wasn’t surprised to find a maniac in Big Al’s employ, but she was fearfully impressed by his fearlessness. Even when Kurt snapped and snarled, bearing a huge jaw full of teeth, the sword wielder made another charge forward. He had Kurt on the run.
Stacey willed him to run up the side of the dirt bowl. She knew Kurt could get out if he wanted to, digging his claws into the earth to make the climb. Kurt was circling the lower part of their makeshift arena, as if considering his next move. He was too proud to run from the man. He wanted to best him. It was then that Stacey remembered what he’d said about winning and the search for excitement. This fight was just as a much of a drug as his gambling woes.
Kurt took a sudden lunge forward, intending to throw his enemy off guard. It worked, to some extent at least, for the sword wielding man dived to the left to avoid the attack. But his reflexes were just as good as Kurt’s, and when he landed, he shoved the blade deep into the ground. The crowd gave a horrified gasp. The long knife had gone straight through the center of Kurt’s paw, trapping him in place. The bear gave a pained howl, trying to free himself, but it was no use. Stacey watched in horror as the man returned to his other fellows, retrieving the lasso rope from them. If he put it round Kurt’s neck, it was all over. Stacey saw her future being stolen from her.
She couldn’t let it happen. She was running down into the bowl before anyone could stop her, and she heard the annoyed hollers of the crowd following her down. Every sound echoed larger in the bowl, and the closer she got to Kurt at the bottom, the more speed and force she seemed to build up. Gravity was on her side, and she knew exactly what to do with it. Changing course, she let herself barrel straight into the man with the rope. Her speed knocked him flat, and she fell on top in a haze of pain and panic. She would hold him off as long as she could.
Fortunately, she didn’t have long to struggle. A huge floodlight came down into the bowl, blinding everyone in its brilliant white beam. It had come from a portable rig which two men were holding up on the ridge, and once her vision had cleared, Stacey recognized their uniforms as that of the police. Officers were everywhere, swarming the crowd and taking Big Al and Jack into handcuffs. They were scrambling down the side of the bowl too, racing towards the men, who couldn’t get away even if they’d tried.
There were others coming down the hillside too, four men in park ranger uniforms. Two dark-haired men who looked fairly similar raced towards Kurt, who had collapsed in a pained heap. They were shouting at one another and examining the knife carefully. Stacey realized that she was being helped to her feet by the other two men. One had a stern face, full of fury as he gave the rope wielding man, still on the floor, a solid kick. The other man was blonde, the same kind of blonde as Kurt, but with a slightly older, kinder face.
“You must be Stacey,” he said brightly. “I’m Hart. My brothers told me all about you. Everything’s going to be all right now. I promise.”
Two months later.
“Sixty days,” Kurt said.
He crossed the day off the calendar, the one with the big red ring around it. Sixty days had arrived, and Stacey felt a thrill rush through her.
“I can’t believe we’ve waited this long,” she said in amazement.
“Well, there were a few slip-ups,” Kurt added. “A few temptations. But we made it.”
Kurt set the calendar on the table, and settled himself on the sofa. They were sitting in the back room of the Rangers’ Lodge, where Stacey had recently moved in. She crawled across the wide, soft fabric of the sofa, nestling her lips against Kurt’s ear.
“Sixty days with no gambling,” she crooned, “I’d say that deserves a reward.”
It was what they had agreed, albeit reluctantly on Stacey’s part. Kurt said he couldn’t be with her until he was sure that his problem was under control. Sixty days clean was enough to prove that he could stay away from casinos and the like if he wanted to. Now, they were free to be together, with Big Al and Jack safely locked away for racketeering.
“Hang on,” Kurt said, a hitch in his voice. “Here? Don’t you want to go upstairs? What if someone comes in?”
Stacey let her tongue slide out, teasing Kurt’s earlobe. He gave a groan.
“You weren’t shy about being naked in the crowd before,” she reasoned. “Besides, it’s the middle of the day. They’re all working.”
Ian (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 4) Page 58