"You're not going to be steady on your feet for a while." The coolness of her palm lands on the back of my neck, and I hate how it brings instant relief. "You need to stay down for today. Get your bearings back. Tomorrow you'll feel better, other than the soreness in your ribs."
"I don't have time to be down." I don't even know what time it is, but I should already have the range open by the light outside. I have a group of police officers coming in at noon to practice before their periodic qualifications and a shipment arriving in the afternoon. "I'm getting up, and I'm going to work. I can have someone tow your car to the shop and drop you off somewhere. Where do you live anyway?"
When I'm able to lift my head again, she's across the room, standing at the door, oblivious to my last question. Or, is she purposely avoiding the answer. "Okay tough guy. You think you can manage a day of work. Why don't you try walking to me. Let's see how well you do with that."
She's joking, right? I've been slammed on the head more times than I care to remember. I've had a bullet ripped from my chest, broken more bones than I can count, and had two teeth knocked clean from my skull. If she thinks last night is going to keep me down, she doesn't know why the original Prez branded me Bear.
I squint one eye open and up at her. The other won't open against the harsh light from the window. "I'll make you a deal. I make it to you, you take my offer about the car and the ride. I don't make it, you get to hang around here all day and babysit."
Bree seems to think deeply before she answers. She nods first, and I almost miss the way her lips angle up in a smirk. "Fine, hotshot. Deal."
She folds her arms over her chest, and my attention flies to her breasts. Damn, is Bree cut from a mold most women only wish to achieve. I'm a big guy, and I like my women curvy with something to grab ahold of. Bree has plenty of places I'd love to get between my hands and squeeze. My cock stiffens at the thought which isn't going to make walking across my bedroom any easier.
"You coming or not?"
She taps her tennis shoe on the floor and tilts her head, egging me on. She knows what she is doing, and if the sparkle in her eyes is any indication, she's loving every minute of torturing me.
"Keep your shirt on," I yell back and brace my hands on either side of my body to push off the bed. "Or don't." I grin as I stand.
The image of her pulling off her tee-shirt and two round breasts bouncing free from the fabric almost knocks the wind from my lungs. I can feel them heavy in my hands as I squeeze them and a plea for more, muted by a deep moan, ring in my ear.
Part of me wants to sit back down. If Bree walks over to gloat about being right, I could pull her into my arms and have her under me on the bed. I haven't been with a woman in so long, my body aches from unused muscles just at the thought of taking Bree.
But another part of me, the one that screams the loudest, knows I would damage this girl beyond repair. I'm not in a place to show the kindness she needs. I'd ruin her, and I'd move on, leaving her to pick up the pieces.
Even in my fucked up mind, I know that's wrong. I grit my teeth against the pain in my back and legs, and I step forward until she's pinned between my chest and the door. Then, I look down at her with our foreheads almost touching and her heat soaking into all the cold parts of my body, and I tell her exactly what I know she doesn't want to hear.
"I told you, I'm fine. I don't need you watching over me."
Her next breath presses her breasts into my lower chest, and a shadow falls over her face. "If you say so."
"I do. I'll have one of the guys drop you at home and deliver your car when it's done." I lean in, and for a second, her eyes flutter, and she tilts her mouth upward. She's holding her breath, and she doesn't move again until I reach around her for the doorknob and push it open.
As I do, her eyes flutter open, and she backs away from me into the hall. "Have it your way then."
"I usually do." I pass her and turn just enough to speak over my shoulder. "Thanks for the help." I know if I stop or even turn enough to see her, I'll never be able to walk away. I don't even know her, and Bree has the strongest hold on me I'd felt with a woman. I can't place it, but there's a connection—a deja vu kind of feeling like I've stared into those eyes before and walked away.
I can't shake it, so I just keep walking.
Out of sight, out of mind. At least I hope that is how this is going to work. I've hurt enough people in my lifetime.
I refuse to add this gorgeous goddess with red curls to my list.
Bree
It takes me all of ten minutes to explain to Doc I had no place he can drop me. A week ago, I'd packed my life into my little car and headed in the direction of the future. No job. No place to live. No family waiting on my return. I left out the part about Bear being my brother's commanding officer or David's instructions to find him if I ever needed help.
After three states, six cities, and an exhausting list of names and addresses, I found what I'd given it all up for. Doc isn't going to scare me off, no matter how many times he tells me Tempest Elite is no place for a girl like me, and if Bear was in my sights, I'd be better off moving on.
By noon, my smile and persistent head shaking ran Doc out of the clubhouse. Gunner, a salt and pepper haired guy from the night before, makes me feel more welcome. He tells me to pull up a stool at the bar, and he makes me a hamburger and fries with a diet soda. I hadn't realized how hungry I was or that I hadn't eaten since breakfast the day before until the smell of sizzling meat hit my nose.
We chat a bit about Doc being overprotective of his brothers but harmless and about Bear being hard-headed, and even the patched brothers, whoever they are, can't make him slow down.
Beyond the bar that I assume was the restaurant when the motel was open, there is a large lobby with a connecting wall removed so I can see straight from my seat to the front door. There are tables scattered about. Most are empty—some with small groups of men eating the same lunch as me and drinking beers.
After lunch, Gunner introduces me to his daughter, Everly. She's so bright and full of sunshine and life, I find it hard to believe she was raised by members of a motorcycle club.
She told me the full story about her mother being a sweet butt and getting pregnant and how she left Everly behind after she was born. I can't imagine growing up surrounded by big, furry, leather and denim-clad men and having to experience all the firsts a girl goes through.
Still, Everly wears the biggest smile when she talks about her family and how she brought her husband into the club. She's a physical therapist and spends two afternoons a week working with the guys on old war wounds and fighting scars.
She's only at the club for her lunch break, but she manages to find time to help me with a change of clothes and show me where I could shower and clean up in a bathroom no one would accidentally enter.
Once Everly leaves, I feel the last forty-eight or so hours catch up with me. I return to Bear's room under the watchful eye of Doc, who's only been away from me long enough to drop my car off at the body shop. I tell him I'm just going to lay down and take a nap, and he stalls before he nods and lets me shut the door. I can't tell if the guy is fiercely protective of his leader or just distrusts me.
As soon as I lay down, I smell him. Bear. He has an unusual scent, even beyond the stale beer from last night. The leather is there, and so is the undertone of some aftershave or cologne. But then there is something else. Something that screams only Bear, and as I try to place the scent by breathing in deeply, my eyes grow too heavy to keep open, and I drift.
The room is dark when I peel one eye open against the dead weight of sleep. It takes me a few seconds to remember I am in someone else's bed. Wearing someone else's clothes. I don't recognize all of the voices outside the door, but I do catch Doc and Bear's. Doc's voice rises before Bear's grows over him. There's a third calmer voice mediating. I can't be sure, but it sounds like the guy who made me lunch. Everly's father maybe.
There isn't a clock in the ro
om, and when I reach in my bag for my phone, it's dead. I'm not sure if it is eight at night or past midnight, but my whole body is sore from the deep sleep I know I've been in for several hours.
"We can get her a motel." I think it's Doc's voice I hear over the others.
"Why? We have plenty of room here, and it wouldn't be the first nonmember we've put up for the night."
The second voice sounds so much like Everly, it has to be her father, Gunner, speaking.
There's a silence that has me sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning in to make sure I catch whatever comes next.
A low grumble fills the air, and I'm guessing Bear is clearing his throat.
"It's really up to you. Bree came here with you, Bear. What do you want to do with her?"
Another pause after Doc speaks, followed by another low grumble. "She said she didn't have a place to stay?"
"She's living in her car."
Bear laughs a one beat laugh that holds no humor. "That explains the trunk full of garbage bags."
I resent him calling all of my worldly possessions garbage, but once the landlord gave me hours to be out after canceling my lease, I had to grab what I could in any way I could.
"She could bunk in with one of the sweet butts. We can drop a mattress on the floor in Everly's old room."
"No." I recognize that bark as Bear's and a rush of something I can't define runs through my body, heating my blood as it travels. "She's my responsibility. She'll stay with me. I owe her that much after wrecking her car."
My skin prickles and breaks out in goose flesh, and my belly tightens, but it's not a regrettable knot. More like a rush of excitement, that's almost too much for my system to take all at once. Though, I scolded myself right away for it. I should have a say in where I stay. I didn't ask for Bear or anyone else to put me up for the night. I have money, and I'm sure a motel will serve me fine if he doesn't want me here.
I'm about to throw my legs over the side of the bed and tell him just that, when the door swings open with such force, I lean back into the bed and pull the covers up over my chest.
Bear stops short when he sees me. I can tell by the perplexed wrinkles in his face he didn't expect me to be up, or at least he didn't expect to find me staring.
"You're awake." He stands in the doorway as if he isn't sure what his next move should be. "Doc said you'd be out cold until morning." Bear glances outside the door before he steps into the room and closes it behind him.
"Doc also said he wouldn’t let me stay last night, and yet here I am."
"Full of surprises, aren't you?" Bear circles the room. He cleans out his pockets and drops his wallet and keys on the dresser.
"I could say the same for you, tough guy. How's your head feeling?" I pull my knees up to my chest, making room for him to sit on the bed. But he takes the chair by the bathroom door instead.
"Hurts like hell, but I've had worse. You were right, though. I should have taken the day off. Almost knocked out a whole display of ammo with a dizzy spell."
I chuckle, imaging Bear and the bull in the china shop only he's a tremendous brown grizzly in a firing range.
"It should go away by tomorrow. Just keep taking the pain meds and icing your back."
"How do you know all this stuff?" he asks as he leans back in the chair. He's getting comfortable, which helps me feel less like I need to entertain him or get the hell out of his way. "Nursing school. I'm only a nurse technician at the moment."
He grins, and I swear my ovaries swell at the sight of his dimples under all the scruff on his cheeks. "You're not a nurse? Why not? You're smart enough."
"Yeah." I lean my chin on my knees. David pushed me so hard to start college right out of high school, even though money was super tight. He took out a loan through the military at a lower rate and was paying it back monthly with a deduction from his pay. "Smarts only get you so far in this world. You need money to climb the ladder."
He nods like he completely understands my meaning. It's strange how in sync I feel with Bear. We may have only met less than twenty-four hours ago, but there's a connection like he's reading my mind, and I can almost see his as clearly.
That's how I know what is coming next in this conversation. "Where were you headed when you stopped off at Grinder's last night? There aren't too many nursing schools out this way that I'm aware of."
"I'm kind of living the nomadic lifestyle at the moment. Having a place to call home is so overrated."
"I can understand. Most of the guys here were on the same path before they became members. You'll find where you fit in."
I scrunch up my lips. It's a lousy habit David said made me look like a dying fish begging for water. I can't help it when there's something I want to say but know I shouldn't. It's my way of keeping my mouth shut.
"You've implanted yourself into my room and my life. Don't feel like you have to clam up on me now."
There it is again, the reading me thing. It's almost unsettling how spot on he gets.
"I…" I start, but my voice cracks. "I heard you all talking. I don't want to cause trouble here. It's been long enough since your accident that you should be fine. I just need a ride to--"
"You're not going anywhere, Bree."
His voice is so stern and dominant, I take it more as a demand than a comment. I don't do commands well. They make my back go straight, and the scrappy little girl who had to fight her way through life rears up inside me, and I lash out at anything perceived as a threat.
"I'm not going to come between you and your friends."
"Brothers," He corrects quickly. "And you're not. Doc's just being Doc. He can't help being an asshole most of the time. And, besides. Where the hell are you going to go? You said yourself you're a nomad, and your car won't be ready for a few days."
"A few days?"
Bear shakes his head. "You had no idea you were driving around in a ticking time bomb. Someone should be ashamed for letting you on the road in that broken-down heap."
My chest clenches. That someone didn't know my car was a wreck because he was too busy fighting to stay alive. I narrow my gaze on Bear, who seems amused to find himself firmly under my skin.
"Then I'll call an Uber. Doc mentioned a motel." I grab the one bag I thought to bring in with me and dig for my phone from the bed. "What's the name of it again?"
"It's where the neighborhood prostitutes meet their dates. You're not staying there, Red."
He laughs, though I don't see anything funny about our conversation, and it's a bit late for him to start playing savior.
"Damn it, where is my phone cord?" I almost have my whole head in my bag when I remember leaving my charger in the car last night. I had my phone plugged in to get directions, and I never took the cord out, thanks to a big lug distracting me. "Fuck."
"Damn." Bear whistles. "With a mouth like that, maybe you could hold your own at the motel."
"Not funny." I throw the covers off and stand. Everly gave me a tank top with the Tempest Elite logo across the front and a pair of cutoff shorts that hug my curves tight. She's not quite a size smaller than me, but I'm several inches taller, and I feel it in the inseam.
Bear stalls, and his gaze moves over my entire body with a sweep up and down that burns all the way to my bones. He can't hide the appreciative groan from deep in his throat, and goose flesh breaks over my skin again.
This man can not hold me captive. "Fine," I say, collecting the bag and my shoes. I have my wallet and my dead phone and...I remember too late I had my car keys until I gave them to Bear. "I saw a phone downstairs in the bar. I'll make a call from there."
Bear steps back in front of the door. "I'd like to see you try."
I don't get it. I glare at Bear as if I can move him with my mind, but he only smiles back. This morning, he wanted me out. Gone. Last night he didn't even want me to drive him all the way to the club's front door. Now, he won't let me leave. "What gives, Bear?"
My shoulder's slump, and my bag hits the
ground.
"Until your car is fixed and I've paid my restitution, you are under the protection of the club. We took a vote while you were sleeping. I'm the reason you are stuck here, and I'm a man who pays my debts."
I blink hard. Other than David, I've never been under anyone's protection. It's thrilling at the same time I can't help but feel disrespected by the gesture. "I never asked for that. All I wanted was a chance to speak to you."
Bear folds his massive arms over his chest, and I'm reminded how big he is. The cuff of his sleeves forms a tight band around his upper arm and my mouth waters.
Stop it. Bree. You're after answers, not getting your freak on.
"If it makes you feel any better, I didn't ask for it either. I'm the Prez of this club, and my membership just outvoted me. There are guards at the gate, and everyone is under orders to keep you here. But if you're determined to leave, I won't stand in your way."
"Great," I spit out at him. "You won't stand in my way, but how many men outside this door will?"
"Enough," he answers before heading into the bathroom and closing the door.
I'm screwed. More than that, my body is humming with excitement at the thought of sharing Bear's bed, even if my heart knows it means nothing, and my head is screaming warnings.
But, if I stay, maybe Bear will give me what I am after. Maybe he'll have the answer to why David killed himself. He can help me understand what I did wrong.
Knowing that answer is worth spending a night with a brooding bear of a man. Even if I know it puts me in danger.
4
Bear
I stare into the bathroom mirror, debating a shave. Running my fingers over my chin, I'm overdue by several days, and rubbing this stubble over the skin of that sweetness outside my door will mark her for sure.
Maybe that's what I want. To mark Bree as mine. I glare at my own reflection while the shower water warms. I'm a simple man. The club and the shop are my life. I haven't needed more in so long, I didn't recognize the burning in my gut as desire until I saw Bree in my bed with the covers molded to her body.
Bear Page 3