by Fox, Kim
She turned and left to find the one person who did.
Grace pushed past the long line-up of guys waiting to use the bathroom. They threw out a barrage of drunken pick up lines at her.
“Hey sexy.”
“You want to hold it for me?” a guy said, swaying at the urinal.
She glanced under the stalls at the feet on the floor, of the poor guys who had to go number two in a nightclub. Grace’s worst nightmare.
Edwin wasn’t there.
She pushed through the crowds of people who kept stepping on her toes. She struggled to see over the sea of gelled heads.
An exit door to the side, discretely hidden down a hallway, swung open and a wide eyed, busboy ran in, still holding the bag of trash that he probably went outside to throw out.
Uh oh.
Grace pushed through the crowd towards the exit, slapping away a stray hand that was sliding down her lower back. She broke out of the crowd and hurried towards the doors.
She burst through the exit and the cool, fresh air of the evening washed over her face. Just as she suspected: there was a brown bear in the alley. He was smelling a dumpster.
She rushed down the metal fire escape, her heels clanging on each stair, into the back alley. Normally she wouldn’t go near an alley in the middle of the night but she couldn’t imagine herself in danger against anything with Edwin beside her.
The bear raised its fluffy head and watched her approach. She could see Edwin in its eyes, watching her, loving her.
She ran her fingers through the long, soft hair on its head. The bear pushed his wet nose into her belly and purred. Grace kissed the top of his head.
“What are you doing out here?” she asked.
The bear turned back to the dumpster, smelling the lid.
“I didn’t like it in there either,” she said. “It was a little too fake.”
Grace was done with those people. Life was too short and getting shorter every day, and she was done wasting time and energy on them.
“If you’re hungry I know a great place to eat,” she said. The bear turned back towards her. “It’s about as nutritious as what’s in there,” she said pointing to the dumpster, “but it sure is good.”
The bear groaned and nudged her hand with his wet nose. She scratched behind his ear and he purred.
Grace leaned down and whispered in his ear. “But I need Edwin to come out. You’re not going to fit in my car.”
five
Grace had never seen her Dad so excited. He was on.
His people, hired staff, campaign volunteers, and lighting and camera crew were swarming the living room like bees.
Her Dad’s announcement that he was going to be running for President would be traveling through micro cables across the country onto computers, televisions, smart phones and radios in just a few hours.
Grace’s living room had been transformed. The corner where she put on concerts, lip syncing to Paula Abdul tapes for her mother before she died, now had a large ominous looking camera pointed at the fireplace. Her Dad wanted the announcement in their home. He wanted to look like a family man. Every angle plotted and planned to maximize support from the American public.
“There’s my girl,” he said, waltzing over, smoothing out his tie.
“Hi Dad,” Grace said. “There’s so many people here.” A young man holding a clipboard ran between them.
“Well it’s a big day,” he said, looking around with his politician smile on. “It’s a historic day for our family. Imagine, the Briggs family name on the walls of the White House.” He swept his hands in front of him on the imaginary wall.
“Our family name will be joining the Washington's, Lincoln’s and the Kennedy's.” He nodded as he spoke. Grace had heard this speech half a hundred times.
“That would be great Dad,” she said, forcing it out. Grace couldn’t imagine what life would be like having a secret service escort following her wherever she went. She would get no privacy. It would be horrible. She wondered if her father ever stopped to think how his run for Presidency might negatively effect her life. She highly doubted it.
“I’ll be giving the announcement in front of the fireplace,” he said, walking towards it.
Grace followed behind him.
“The camera will be centered on me and then at the end of my speech it will zoom out and you and Daisy will be standing behind me, one on each side.”
How fitting. We are always stuck behind him.
But someone was missing.
“What about Edwin?” she asked.
He turned towards her and frowned. “Edwin won’t be on camera.”
Grace’s breath caught in her throat and she almost choked.
“I sat through that sham of a dinner last night,” he said, shaking his head, “but I’ll be damned if your weekend fling will get in the way of our family getting to the White House. He has to leave.”
“It’s not a weekend fling,” she said, her cheeks flushing.
“If the reporters get wind of his background, his lack of education, which they will. It will make us look bad. And I can’t afford to be made to look bad. I can’t afford any embarrassment.”
And having a whore of a wife isn’t an embarrassment?
Grace took a deep breath. “I really think that if you get to know him you’ll-”
He held up his hand, cutting her off. “I’m sure that he’s a nice guy, but now is not the time. It’s for the-”
“Good of the family,” she finished for him. “Right.”
He smiled. “I’m glad that you understand,” he said, patting her on the head.
Grace snapped her head away from under his hand. “Actually I don’t understand. How can you say that-”
He put his index finger up in her face, snatching the words from her mouth, and reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out his cell phone and answered it.
“Jerry you old dog!” he said, laughing into the phone. He turned away from Grace and walked across the room. “You better vote for me or I’ll have the FBI investigate that new business of yours.” His booming laugh filled the room.
Grace gritted her teeth together.
Edwin stepped out of the guest room in the pajama pants and white t-shirt that Grace got him and headed to the bathroom down the hall. Grace’s stepmom, Daisy, was sticking her head out from behind the bathroom door. Waiting.
She casually walked out as he approached. She was wearing nothing but a skimpy, wet bath towel. The white towel was perched on her large breasts, barely covering her nipples. It finished on her upper thighs. Her hair was wet and little droplets of water ran down her chest into the cavern between her breasts. Edwin looked away.
“I was just washing my naked body,” she said, with a throaty voice.
Edwin stared at the wall as he walked. “It was so hot in there,” she said, the last word sounding like a moan.
He passed her, keeping his eyes averted.
“Edwin,” she said, at the entrance of her room. He stopped and looked at her. “This was the last towel. You can come borrow it.” She disappeared into her room, leaving the door open. Her hand reached out and hooked the wet towel on the door handle. “Come and get it.”
Edwin gulped and ran down the stairs. He sprinted around the corner and stopped in his tracks when he saw the living room. There were people everywhere. The Senator was in a chair in front of a mirror and a girl was applying makeup onto his face.
He looked around for Grace but couldn’t find her. He glanced back at the Senator and he was staring at him through the mirror. He turned around and waved Edwin over.
Edwin gulped and made his way through the maze of people and television equipment.
“Edward,” he said, when Edwin arrived. “Let me tell you a story.”
The make-up lady was hovering around the Senator like a pesky mosquito dabbing his forehead with a little brush. He slapped her wrist away. “Leave us alone,” he snapped, his voice thundering. The lady scat
tered away like a scared mouse.
“Once there was a boy,” he said, turning on the chair and staring Edwin down. “This boy was born to a father who was a mechanic and a mother who was a maid. This little boy was not like other boys. He had ambition. He had drive.”
He turned towards the mirror and combed his hair.
“Not your regular I want to run a lemonade stand ambition. He had an: I want to become the most powerful man on the planet ambition. This boy studied textbooks while other kids his age read comic books. He watched Presidential elections while the other kids watched cartoons.”
He placed the comb back in his pocket and turned back towards Edwin.
“This kid went on to start two companies by the time he turned twenty. He made his first million by the time he turned twenty one. He went on to make billions. That’s billions. With a capital fucking B.”
Edwin wasn’t liking this story. He wished that Grace would find him. Things were always better when Grace was by his side.
“But all that money still wasn’t enough for him. Sure it was nice but the little boy wanted power. He wanted his family name to end up in the history books. He wanted to make the Briggs name proud. You see his father was a drunk who was called by his first name his entire life.” He looked away in disgust. “His father brought shame to his name. He made it into a joke.
“The boy entered politics. He became a mayor and then he became a Senator. And one day in the near future that boy will become the President of the United States of America.”
The Senator grabbed Edwin’s arm and leaned in close.
“And if you think that I’m going to let a pissant, redneck, mountain boy who has charmed my ungrateful, spoiled daughter ruin it…then you have another thing coming.”
Edwin’s inner bear grumbled.
“Now I want you to crawl back into whatever Hobbit hole you came out of and if you so much as even think about my daughter again I’ll send a Navy Seal Team to visit you and believe me kid - They will never find the body.”
He let go of Edwin’s arm and turned back to the mirror. He straightened his tie and winked at his reflection.
Edwin cleared his throat. “But I make her happy.”
He glared back at Edwin. “Perhaps I’m not making myself clear. I don’t give a shit. You are not going to ruin this for me. Everything has to be perfect. Now disappear. Vanish. Scram. And don’t let me ever see you again. I’m not a man to fuck with.
“Make-up!” he screamed, turning back to his reflection.
The scared little mouse of a lady came scuttering back with her head bowed down.
Edwin felt light headed and his hands started to shake. Not good. He tried to slow down his breathing as the tips of his fingers and toes burned, the way they always did before he phased.
He held his bear down and tried to remain calm when someone bumped into him.
This was not good. He could not phase right now. He would never see Grace again if he did. The Senator would make sure of that.
He sprinted out of the room and took off down the hall turning into the first room that he could. It was the kitchen. And it was empty.
Edwin leaned against the counter and closed his eyes. He focused on his breathing. In. One. Two. Three. Out. One. Two. Three.
His bear slid back down inside him and Edwin sighed in relief. He dropped his head back and breathed in again, slowly.
A soapy smell hit his nostrils as a hand slid down his pants. Hard breasts pressed against his arm as fingers wrapped around his shaft.
His eyes sprang open and Daisy was there, on him, with her hand down his pajama pants. She was wearing a robe that plunged down her chest, showing off her cleavage.
Edwin grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand out of his pants. “What are you doing?”
“You don’t have to play that game with me,” she said with a throaty voice. “I’ve seen the way that you’ve been looking at me.” She slid her rope belt open and the robe fell to the sides. She was naked underneath. “Go ahead and look. I want your hands on me. I want your cock in me.”
Edwin was holding her wrist as she struggled to get her hands back on him.
“Mrs Briggs,” he said, feeling his inner bear getting riled up. Bears didn’t respond well to other women trying to replace their mates.
“Call me Daisy,” she said, “or whatever you like.” She leaned into his ear, her hot breath on his skin. “You can even call me Mrs Grace.”
Edwin jerked his head away. His chest began humming. His bear was pushing towards the surface. Edwin tried to control his breathing but it was hard with this woman trying to put her hands all over him.
“I’m in love with Grace,” he said, feeling hot flashes. His bear was pacing inside him. It wouldn’t be long before Edwin couldn’t contain him anymore.
“Well I won’t tell her,” she said. “I can keep a secret.” She pulled Edwin’s hand towards her privates and he yanked it back. “I’ve kept the secret before. Many times.” She leaned in again, her unwelcome breasts pressing into his arm. “I’ve fucked all of Grace’s boyfriends.”
Edwin pulled his hands free and held onto the granite counter. He lowered his head and closed his eyes. His bear was on the verge of breaking through. His skin was hot. He was breathing heavy.
He concentrated on an image of Grace’s face. On her silky, long, blond hair. On her lips. His bear was hovering dangerously close to the surface.
She was back. Her hands slid across his chest. “You’re breathing so heavy,” she said. He kept his eyes closed. “You can’t tell me that you don’t want me.”
Edwin’s bear snapped inside him and lunged, trying to get out, trying to scare away this impostor who was trying to take the place of his beloved mate. Edwin closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, holding his bear in.
Edwin focused on Connor’s smooth words. He always managed to get him to stop phasing.
Daisy slid her hand down his ass and Connor’s words vanished.
He grabbed the granite counter top and squeezed. A thick, piece of rock broke off in his hand.
“Oh my,” Daisy said. “You’re a strong one.”
The door in the back of the kitchen opened and miraculously, Daisy ran away.
Edwin exhaled in relief as his bear grunted. He was still wound up but at least he wasn’t making breaks to the surface, trying to escape.
“Just the stranger that I was looking for,” Alfred said in his funny British accent.
Edwin hid the pieces of granite behind his back. Alfred was marching towards him wearing a tuxedo on his body and wearing an evil, satisfied look on his face.
“I knew you were trash,” he said. “You’ll never set foot on this property again. Mr Briggs has assured me of that.”
Edwin gulped. His bear grumbled inside him. He wasn’t responding well to someone threatening to keep him from his mate.
“Come with me.” He grabbed Edwin’s arm and pulled. His inner bear lunged forward but Edwin was able to hold him back. He was getting closer to phasing with every attempt. Edwin couldn’t phase. He had to keep his bear under control for Grace. He had already failed her last night outside of the nightclub.
Edwin pulled his arm free from Alfred’s grasp. He focused on his breathing, trying to settle his bear.
“Brilliant,” Alfred said in his British accent. “I was hoping you would pick the hard way.”
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a stun gun. His arm shot out, surprisingly quick for an older man, and he shocked Edwin in the chest.
Edwin grimaced as electricity flew through his body. He couldn’t hold it back any longer. His bear surged forward and ripped out of his body in an instant.
“What the flying fuck?!?” Alfred screamed, dropping the stun gun as he climbed onto the counter.
He grabbed a plastic spatula and held it up like a sword.
Edwin sighed, watching through his bear’s eyes. He had failed Grace.
“Holy shit balls,” Alfred sc
reamed, his accent lost. “He just changed into a fucking bear!”
Edwin’s bear growled at the man. Edwin tried to phase back. His bear couldn’t be here. He tried to push forward but his bear wouldn’t let him.
Alfred was standing on the counter, plastered up against the cupboards. “Ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck,” he muttered on repeat.
Edwin spoke calmly to his bear. You have to let me take over or you’ll never see your mate again. You have to trust me. Everything will be okay.
Edwin hated lying to his bear.
The bear groaned and let Edwin phase to the surface. His large paws turned into hands and his brown fur receded back into skin.
“What the fuck was that?!?” Alfred asked, still on the counter. “Shifters are real?”
Edwin gathered his torn clothes and put them back on, tying them together.
He didn’t know what he was thinking, coming here. This would happen again and again. It wasn’t fair to Grace. She deserved a normal life. A happy life. And it was clear that Edwin couldn’t give it to her.
“I’ll leave. Now,” he said to Alfred.
He wasn’t going to say goodbye to Grace. He didn’t want to drag her into his cursed life any more than he already had. He would suffer for her: a bear without his mate. It was a horrible way to live but it was what was best for Grace.
She would marry some rich guy and have kids and be happy and have a normal life.
And he would remain alone like he should.
There was something wrong with him. Something that made him not worth loving. His parents were the first to have seen it. That’s why they abandoned him. Grace’s Dad had seen it and Alfred too. It wouldn’t be long before Grace saw it as well.
He didn’t want to drag her down for another second. It was better this way.
For her.
And it was all about what was best for her.
Edwin glanced up at the terrified man on the counter. “How do I walk to the train station?”