“He’s not exactly a kid, Bear. Actually, I’m pretty sure he’s older than you, and it’s not that he doesn’t see what’s in front of him. It’s that he just doesn’t give a shit.” I was more than tipsy, working my way to more than drunk. My words grew bolder in my mouth before I spat them out. Any filter I ever had was completely gone. “What do you see when you look at me?”
Bear looked out on the water and scratched his beard. “I see a very, very fucking beautiful girl who shouldn’t be hanging out with the likes of anyone up in that house. Or anyone sitting next to her, for that matter. We’re bad seeds, little girl. You’re a good seed. I can tell. Shit, anyone within a hundred miles of here can tell. You don’t belong here. That much is obvious.”
“I don’t belong anywhere,” I admitted. A fog started to settle over the water, emerging from the trees on the other side of the bay, traveling toward, and brushing my ankles as it spread under the pier.
“Sure you do. First, you have to figure out where that someplace is. Then, you just have to want to belong there.”
I’m not sure if Bear knew my entire story, but what he said was way too simplified of an answer, especially in my case.
I laughed. “Oh yeah? Well, I’m leaving here tonight, and I have nowhere to go. I don’t want to live on the streets again, but that’s where I’m going to be. It takes a lot more than wanting to belong somewhere, or not belong, or whatever,” I said, my words slurring together.
“I remember talking to you that first night. Do you remember what I told you about coming back to the clubhouse with me?” Bear asked.
“Yes.”
“I should’ve never sent you up to King. I should have dragged you away right then and there and made you mine that night before King had his way with you.”
“King has never had his way with me,” I slurred. “His way or the highway, maybe.”
“No shit? Well that changes everything, baby,” Bear said. His smile reached all the way to his eyes which were shockingly bright and beautiful. I was pretty sure his beard hid even more of his good looks, and a very drunk part of me wanted to pull on it to see if it would come off.
“It changes nothing, Bear. I’m still leaving. He’s still with the brunette girl with the…” I cupped my hands in front of my chest. Bear laughed out loud, revealing a perfectly straight line of pearly white teeth.
“It changes everything, actually. Our bro code only goes so far. Seeing as how he’s not claimed you as his, as stupid as that is, my offer is still good. What’s fair is fair,” Bear said, again taking the bottle from my hands.
I looked over at him and half-expected to find him laughing at his own joke, but his lips were in a straight line.
He was dead serious.
He also wasn’t bad to look at. That night was the first time I’d seen his blonde hair pulled into a high bun on the back of his head.
“Listen,” Bear said. “King’s been my friend almost my entire life, but he knows the rules I live by. In my world, you’re fair game, and I would love to put you on your back in my bed.”
“You’re just saying that. The truth is that you’re not gonna want me when you find out that I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to—” I darted my eyes to the bulge in his jeans. “—that.”
“Fuck,” Bear swore, biting his bottom lip. “Darlin’, I believe I want you even more now.”
“You’ve got freckles under your eyes,” I said, leaning toward him. He grabbed onto my shoulders before I fell forward.
“Yeah, kid. So I’ve been told.” He laughed. He also had a dimple on his left cheek, which was on it’s own a ridiculous contradiction when it came to the big biker man sitting next to me.
“Why did you send me to him?” I asked. “I would’ve gone with you. You’re nice. I needed a place to stay, and you’ve got freckles under your eyes, and I would’ve been a good biker whore for you.”
Bear’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh yeah?” he asked, a crooked smirk on his face. “I don’t really see you as the biker whore type. But I can definitely see you on the back of my bike.”
“But you said I don’t belong here. That I shouldn’t hang out with you. Or any of those—” I waved the bottle around behind me, missing Bear’s jaw by only an inch or two. “—people up there in the stupid house. Stupid people in the stupid house on stupid stilts.” My shoulders slumped. “Bear, my heart was just getting warm. Now, it’s all cold again.”
Bear grabbed the bottle from my hand and set it down on the dock.
“I said you didn’t belong here. I said you were too good to hang out with me. I didn’t say that I wouldn’t hang out with you. You may be too good for me, but I’m the kind of guy who can live with that.” Bear placed a hand against my cheek. I could see why they called him Bear. He was strong and warm and his hands were so big they reminded me of giant paws. I closed my eyes and swayed into him. He leaned in close, his lips only a breath away from mine.
“Will you come with me, baby girl? I don’t know if I can warm your heart, but I sure as shit can warm your body. I know for a fact that you can warm my bed. Then, maybe, we’ll work on that cold heart of yours. We’ll take it one day at a time.” He assured me.
Bear sounded sincere, and what he was offering was exactly what I was looking for weeks earlier.
It seemed like a lifetime ago.