by Amelia Jade
"I'm going to be busy, though. With this storm supposed to last through the night, I'll probably have a bunch of calls in the morning. I can't just up and leave that."
"Did you at least tell her that you'll come by Saturday instead?" Jet asked.
Andy looked him in the eye, closed his eyes, and then finished his drink. "I'll be back in a moment," he rumbled, heading for the men's room.
"You didn't, did you?" came the call from behind him from an astonished Jet.
Andy simply threw up the universal acknowledgement sign, but he chose a different digit besides him thumb, to get his point across to Jet. The deep guffaws of laughter that chased after him didn't help. He knew Jet meant well and would help him if he needed it, but Andy was just plain no good with women.
He'd had girls before, but it had been awhile since the last. It seemed he was rusty, out of step with the dating game now. If he was to have any hope of succeeding, he might have to make some adjustments to his currently non-existent strategy.
Exiting the washroom, he looked out at the bar. There were several different couples that he could see, including Calan, Harley, and their little girl, Alexia. The bar had a simple layout. The L-shaped bar started off to his left and ran across the width of the bar before hooking to the right, ending almost directly in front of him.
Half a dozen tables dotted the space in between, with a small dance floor off in the right hand corner from where he stood, along with an old-fashioned jukebox. The main doors were in the far right hand corner, and he watched as they admitted another set of lovers, hand in hand as they quickly moved to the sole unoccupied table.
Love, it would appear, was in the air at the Quencher tonight. He wondered if it was a sign.
"So she's helping with the demo-derby and motocross stuff for the next week only?" Jet asked as he got back.
"She drives," he replied, tilting his head in polite acknowledgement of the fresh beer that was waiting for him upon his arrival.
"Drives what?"
"One of the cars in the competition."
"She's a demolition derby driver?" Jet asked in shock, drawing several looks from other patrons.
"Yes. Supposed to be one of the better ones, too, according to herself," he said with a smile.
"Well, you should probably go verify that for yourself, shouldn't you?" Jet asked.
"What?"
"That's your reason, man. You go see her tomorrow. She says she's happy you came. You tell her, that you heard from anonymous sources, meaning her, that she was one of the best drivers. You had to come and verify the truth of that statement."
Andy sat back and looked at his friend. "That's a damn good idea, Jet. I just may use that line," he chuckled, nodding to himself as the scenario played out in his head. "She's certainly got the personality to appreciate the joke."
"Sounds like you two had quite the enjoyable morning. What all did you do?"
"I helped her on her car after her boss stopped in front of the place for directions. Then I made her lunch—"
"You made her lunch? At your place?" Jet interrupted, his surprise at Andy's willingness to invite the woman inside his den clearly evident.
"Yes, I did. It was the right thing to do."
"Andy..." Jet started, then stopped, pausing before he started again. "What does the bear tell you? Is she your mate?"
Mate.
Andy was stunned. The idea hadn't even crossed his mind, not the slightest whisper of it. Now that Jet was bringing it up, however, he allowed himself to think it, to hear it.
To consider it.
"I don't know. I have to go," he said. In a daze, he left his beer half-full and wandered out to his truck.
"Could she really be my mate?" he mumbled out loud, pulling the door closed behind him. It seemed so far-fetched, a concept that he had long pushed off as being unavailable to him. It was mostly his own fault, chasing after women that had no interest in being with him in the long-term. It hadn't taken him long to realize that he was just going after shifter-groupies, those humans who wanted to sleep with a shifter just to say they had.
As his interest in them faded, he had slowly closed himself off to the dating world. Several women had left him after they realized what he did and how he felt about it. They wanted someone who was going to move on up in the world, to strike it rich and give them everything.
Andy wasn't interested in wealth and glory. He had a business that earned him more than enough to get by with, and through it, he provided a service that helped people. That kept him content and happy with where he was. He had no interest in opening a nationwide chain of service centers with his name on it. All he wanted was to do his job and be able to relax at night. It, unfortunately, had not endeared him to many women, so over time he just stopped trying at all.
But now...
***
The first rays of the suns light filtered over the mountains to the east, waking Andy from a restful slumber. He sat up, bleary-eyed, blinking rapidly to clear the sleep from his eyes as he gazed out through the window. The view never got tiring, there was also something different to it. This morning it was the formation of clouds that, if he looked closely enough, seemed to form an outline of a bear.
It was gone swiftly though, as the high-flying clouds swirled onwards in their journey. They were light and fluffy, showing no signs of rain, just like the rest of the clear sky. Today was turning out to be better than the forecast had predicted. Perhaps, he thought—a slim bubble of hope rising—perhaps he would not have a busy day, to the point that he could take off a little early, to go see Robyn drive.
A swift glance at his phone told him he had already risen earlier than normal, which would allow a head start on the day. Smiling, he went through his morning routine and then headed off to his truck as he started listening to messages. There were a one from Joe, the farmer whose truck he had been working on, wondering if he had found the issue yet.
He skipped one from a telemarketer, snorting at the ridiculousness that they could find him all the way out in the middle of nowhere. Then he got to the first business call. Someone's car had gone over the shoulder and into a ditch. Andy quickly scribbled the address on the worn notepad he kept in his truck, other hand turning the keys as he held the phone between his shoulder and ear.
The location was no more than two miles up the road, at a particularly nasty bed in the road. Andy was quite familiar with it, as he seemed to be retrieving a car or two a month from the hairpin. He would have to speak to that new mayor, see about getting some more warning signs up there. It was great for business, but one of these days someone was going to be killed instead of shaken up. The embankment wasn't steep, but there were trees at the bottom. All it would take is someone flipping or going in sideways to end a life.
He pulled up to the spot, flicking the lights on above his truck. It was bright out, but he wanted people to know that the vehicle was stopped and unmoving. Andy knew that the slow speed limit on this stretch did not deter everyone. The car was still there, so he picked up his phone and dialed the number the person named Janet had left on the message.
After getting the approval, he set to work free the car from the ditch, all the while keeping an eye on his watch. If he was going to go watch Robyn, the last thing he wanted was to be late. He wanted to make a good impression with her, so that perhaps they could spend some more time together, to try and confirm his thoughts.
The night before, he had slept soundly, Jet's words playing through his head over and over again. It seemed like he should have slept fitfully as he tried to decide the truth of how he felt, but his bear hadn't given him the opportunity to think anything else. The monstrous, vicious animal inside him that was always looking to pick a fight with anyone who glanced at him wrong wanted nothing more than to curl up to Robyn, or her beast.
He was turning into a soft teddy bear in her presence everywhere except between his legs. That was where he noticed the biggest change. Every time she appeared in his
mind, his cock rose to full attention, straining the seams of his pants as it ached to be buried deep within her.
The human part of Andy knew it would take longer to get to that level of intimacy with Robyn, but his bear did not care. It wanted to fuck her gorgeous little brains out and did not care one whit for human dating rules. He knew he would have to be careful getting so close to her, but spending more time apart was becoming harder and harder to contemplate.
"Fuck this," he swore to himself, tossing down the phone before he could check the next message. The few hours it had taken him to remove the first car had been challenging enough. He couldn't stand the idea of not seeing her now, and there were only two hours until she was due to compete. It was unlikely he would finish the next call in time to then go home, make himself presentable, and get to the park. So he went home early, instead.
Now wearing a nice pair of clean jeans, a tucked-in blue and white plaid dress-shirt, and his comfortable hiking boots, he turned off the main road onto Scenic Park Drive. Wide-eyed, he drove onwards, amazed at the change that had been wrought in just a few hours. What had once been an empty field had been transformed into a hubbub of activity.
The park was a several square miles of flat land reserved for just these sorts of things, festivals, county fairs, weddings, and more. The park ran right up to the state highway he had turned off of and then along the gravel road he was now driving on. The right-hand side of the road had row after row of big rigs and the assorted trailers they were towing.
"Holy shit," he said. Nobody had informed him it was going to be such a big spectacle.
Parking was off to his left, and he paid the fare without complaint. Families small and large had driven in from hours around to come visit, and the place was, for a small town, full of people. He thought there were hundreds, if not a thousand or more, people around. It was unbelievable.
There were vendors hawking their wares, their perfectly-modulated voices audible over the general buzz even outside the grounds as he was. There was a lineup at the ticket booth that he joined, but his focus was elsewhere.
Straight ahead was what he guessed to be the midway, with several dozen different games all set up and children and teenagers crying in delight, or more often failure as they tried to win the prizes but didn't. Andy knew the games were rigged in the vendors' favor, but the whole spectacle of it brought a smile to his face.
"How many?" The call came from the elderly lady working the ticket booth.
"Hi, I was told to ask for Amy?" he said, unsure of what else to say.
"By who?"
"Robyn? She's one of the—"
"Wait over there please, sir, she'll be right over. Next!" The lady was already looking around him for the next person, so he went in the direction she had pointed, toward the exit side. As he waited, he looked around the fair some more. To the left of the midway, there was a stage set up where several people in costumes were performing a play, to the delight of a dozen or so children.
Then he heard it.
The roar of engines followed by the elevated scream of excited fans. The engines roared again then died away. Andy looked at his watch, he still had twenty minutes before Robyn was supposed to start. He should be okay. The sounds had come from behind the midway as best he could tell, so he would have to work his way through there. As long as this Amy didn't take too long, he wouldn't miss his mate in action.
His mate.
Andy shook his head. He couldn't be talking like that just yet! Not even to himself, he had no idea what was going on between them, and until he figured it out, he had to consider Robyn as a woman he was interested in. A beautiful, bear-shifter woman that drove him insane after only knowing her a few hours. But simply a woman he was interested in knowing better, at this point. The last thing he wanted to do was jump the gun and ruin what may be his last chance at love.
"Andy?" The tentative call came from his right, inside the park.
"That's me," he said, turning to face the caller.
"Hi, I'm Amy," she said, sticking out her hand.
He took it, shaking her hand firmly.
"What?" he asked, surprised at the look on her face. Amy was giving him a rather strange look, as if she were trying to decipher if he were real or not.
"You're here to see Robyn?" she asked, not bothering to conceal the disbelief in her voice.
"Uh, yes? The one that drives the cars, if there happens to be more than one here..." he said, trailing off as Amy's eyebrows seemed to arch just a tad higher.
"Really?"
"Why, is that a problem?" he asked, his bear becoming angry at the way she kept asking him the questions.
He saw the fear flash through Amy's eyes and forced himself to back down. Sometimes he forgot how imposing he could be, especially to non-shifters who didn't know him.
"N-No problem," she stammered, holding out a laminated card that was swinging from a black lanyard. "This is a pass for the week, just show it to the folks at the gate and you'll be let in without hassle. This is a ticket for the reserved seating for the derby. Don't lose it."
"Thank you, Amy," he rumbled, letting a bit more of his bear through.
"No problem," she said quickly.
"Hey," he called as she turned to run off, bringing her to a quick halt as the command in his voice washed over her. "Now, do you mind telling me why it's such a big deal that I'm here to see Robyn?"
Amy turned back to look at him once more. "Men don't come calling on Robyn. Ever," she said slowly. There was no anger or warning in her voice. Just a sense of wariness at the man who, it seemed, had finally come to call on her.
"I do," he said firmly, before pushing past her and heading inside the park.
He made a beeline through the midway, not stopping to look at any of the stalls. People moved out of his way as he lumbered forward, no one wanting to get in the way of the massive hulk that was laser-focused on his destination. The derby arena was set against the backdrop of the forest beyond. Temporary bleachers had been erected, forming a very shallow crescent facing the ring. They were only set to hold several hundred, and they were mostly full, with more people streaming in as he watched.
Approaching the entryway to the fenced-off area, he noted the cars all being given a once-over and warmed up to his right. He saw Robyn giving her car a fine tuning. As he watched, she finished and slammed the hood down, wiping her hands on a rag that she threw into the car when she was done. Donning a helmet, she began to climb inside the window.
He so badly wanted to jog over to her, to wish her luck. He knew the security guard couldn't stop him, but he didn't do it anyways. The last thing Robyn needed at that moment was to be distracted from her driving. He would see her after the show, and hopefully congratulate her on moving on.
Passing his ticket to the person manning the gate, he thought hard about the rules she had outlined to him, trying to remember the points system she had to follow. By the time he found out where he was supposed to sit, he was fairly positive he had it down properly.
"Oh hey, big fella, glad you decided to come on out and join us!" a voice said, pulling his focus back to the people in front of him.
It was Charlie, surrounded by an entourage of young women and a few other men in suits. They all nodded at him, as if the acknowledgement from Charlie that he existed allowed them to see him as well.
Rolling his eyes, he realized he had to follow Charlie to the seating area.
Please, don't let me be seated next to him.
As it turned out, he needn't have bothered, because the folks with Charlie had taken up the entire reserved seating area. There wasn't a single seat left to him.
"Is there a problem big guy? Danny, wasn't it?" Charlie asked as he stood at the end of the row, looking at his ticket and then at the occupied seats in front of him.
"My name is Andy. I'm supposed to have a seat here," he growled, holding up the ticket, as if that would make Charlie move. He knew it wouldn't.
"What
? Really? I'm so sorry—Annie, did you say? The seats are all full, as you can see." The folks with Charlie all laughed at his deliberate mispronunciation of Andy's name, until they saw the storm clouds gathering on Andy's face. Then they became very, very quiet.
"I can see that they are full. I take it, since they were overbooked, I'm free to find a seat elsewhere without issue?" he ground out.
"Sure, sure! Wherever you want. Just not here!" Charlie snapped right back. Unlike his followers, he did not seem to be infused with a solid, rational fear of the titan in front of him.
"Thank you," he sneered with false cheer, doing his best to ignore the red he was seeing. The last thing anyone needed was for Andy to rip Charlie's arm off. He left the reserved area and clambered up into one of the bleachers, finding a spot with a good vantage point, where he could watch the competition clearly. Eventually, the bleachers filled in to capacity, though there was a large space left around him.
That suited him just fine as he watched Robyn roar out of the gate. He kept flicking his gaze back and forth between the ringed area where the drivers were smashing each other up, and the scoreboard that counted the points as they were earned. When the round finished, Robyn was in second by only a point. The crowd stood and roared its approval almost half an hour later. Andy was right there with them, clapping and yelling his support.
The sound system announcer began going on at length about the victor of this round, but all that Andy cared about was when he heard that Robyn would indeed be moving on. That was good. She would be happy and more willing to see him. He hoped.
Climbing down the bleachers, he paused for a moment by the exit, the crowd parting around him like water, as if he were a rock dumped into the stream. There was a pathway that led off toward the drivers area. Looking around, he waited until the man in the purple and gold shirt he had come to recognize as the uniform for anyone who worked the show was looking the other way. Then he made his move, slipping out of the crowd and under the bleachers, moving silently for a man of his size.
The announcer was speaking again, talking about some motocross event or another that was going to start in an hour's time. He didn't care, he ignored everything else except the thought of Robyn. He needed to find her.