Bearly Breathing (2 page)

Alfred’s eyes went wide and he clenched his jaw. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Miss Hawkins.” He looked past them over Rebecca’s car.

“Yeah,” Angie continued. “The Padres’ pitching is atrocious this season. And their batting is the worst in the league.”

Alfred’s neck was turning red over his crisp, white collar. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Miss Hawkins but I will say that the Padres pitching is probably full of rookies that are going to develop over time into the best bullpen in the league. And the batting slump is probably just temporary.”

“It sounds like you’re a fan,” Angie said, looking out the car at the sweating man.

“No, no, no,” he said, thickening his British accent. “I only watch cricket and
foot
ball.”

Grace came bounding through the twelve foot high double doors of her family’s mansion. She wore heels and a tight gold dress that showed off her slender thighs. Her blond hair was tied up behind her head with a diamond encrusted barrette holding it up into a bun. A second butler followed her out rolling her large suitcase.

Rebecca popped the trunk as Grace got into the back seat.

“We’re only going for a weekend,” Angie said, as the butler struggled to lift Grace’s heavy bag down the steps.

“Yes but there’s breakfastwear, afternoonwear, hikingwear, eveningwear, dinnerwear and pajamas.” She leaned forward between the seats and checked her reflection in the rear view mirror. She slid her finger over her eyebrow.

“Hello ladies,” Grace’s dad said, walking down the steps to Rebecca’s car.

“Hi Senator Briggs,” Rebecca and Angie said together.

He smiled, his perfect, politician smile. “You two are grown ups now,” he said. “You can call me Richard. Senator Richard.”

“Okay bye Dad,” Grace said. She leaned forward and whispered in Rebecca’s ear. “Just go.”

Rebecca slid the car into drive and pulled away from the curb. She drove past the perfectly manicured bushes on both sides of the long driveway towards the steel iron gate. The two security guards in the booth opened the gate and waved to them as they passed. Rebecca always felt so stupid driving her used, ten year old car through these gates. Just the electronic gate alone cost more than she’d probably make in her life as a kindergarten teacher.

“So remind me again why we’re going canoing in the forest,” Grace said from the back seat.

“It’s kayaking first of all,” Rebecca said, pulling onto the road. There were multi-million dollar mansions everywhere she looked. “And you’re doing this because you owe me. You’ve dragged me to enough charity dinners over the years that I think you can give me one weekend.”

Grace organized the fanciest charity dinners in New York for the cities’ wealthiest elite. They were full of people bragging about what they had and comparing their expensive toys and Grace was always dragging Rebecca to them.

“Fine, but why kayaking?” she whined. “Let’s take my Dad’s jet and go to Ibiza for the weekend.”

“No we got the trip set up already,” Rebecca said. “We’re going in the mountains.” Rebecca always found the forest and mountains to be so peaceful. So serene. It was definitely what she needed after the rough couple of weeks that she had.

“There’s no place to take your mind off of Mark like Ibiza,” Grace pushed. “Some sweaty, muscular, Italian guy pushing up against you on the dance floor will make you forget Mark ever existed.”

“We’re going kayaking,” Rebecca insisted. “I already got the tickets.”

“Off of a radio station contest,” Grace said. “Yuck.”

Rebecca turned to Angie. “Help me out here.” Angie had her bare feet up on the dashboard, flipping through an old book of CDs.

“I don’t know,” Angie said, “Ibiza sounds pretty nice.”

“Thank you,” Grace said from the back, slapping the seat.

“But I do have to get back to the lab Monday morning,” Angie said, her face lighting up. “We have a Graphene Quantum Dots Accelerator on loan from Japan and we’re close to wrapping up our experiment for breaking the band gap energy flow.”

“See?” Rebecca said, looking in the rear view mirror at Grace who was in the back seat with her arms crossed and pouting. “Angie has to get back Monday morning to her evil, super villain lab to take over the world.”

“Oh shit,” Angie said, pulling out a CD. She slid it into the CD player and looked at Rebecca with a smile. “What does this remind you of?”

An old familiar song came on through the speakers. “Oh shit!” Grace yelled. “Prom!”

“Oh Justin,” Rebecca said, as she recognized it as N’Sync’s
Bye Bye Bye
.

“Lance all the way baby,” Angie said, holding her arms to her chest.

The first verse started and the three best friends sang at the top of their lungs. This was just what Rebecca needed. A weekend with her girls to take her mind off of Mark. She had been waiting by the phone waiting for him to call all week, even after the shit he put her through. She still would’ve taken him back and she was just waiting around for the opportunity.

She sped down the road, leaving the mansions in the background, singing with the first love of her life. Justin.

three

“So remember what I told you guys about professionalism,” Connor said to the two werebears sitting in front of him. The girls would be here any minute and he didn’t want them messing things up.

“Why are you looking at me?” Sidney asked, putting his hand to his chest. “I’m not the one that phases and eats all of the food.”

“Yeah but you’re the one that offers our guests autographs for ten dollars a piece.”

“That’s a deal,” Sidney said, with a look of outrage. “You don’t understand. You’ve never been a celebrity.”

“Either have you,” Connor said. “You played two NFL games and got kicked out of the league. If you’re famous for anything it’s being the player who had the shortest career ever.”

Edwin laughed and smacked Sidney’s shoulder.

“And you,” Connor said, turning on him. “Can you please stay in your human form for forty eight hours? That’s all I’m asking. I know it’s hard for you but these are city girls. They won’t know what a werebear is and I really don’t feel like explaining it to them as they’re running away screaming.”

Edwin nodded while he scratched himself inappropriately.

Connor stepped forward and pulled his arm away. “Remember what I taught you about the scratching?”

Connor exhaled. How could he have thought that hiring a feral werebear was a good idea? He should have asked some of his cousins from the Hudson Crew in Montana if they had wanted a job. Ellis or Finch would’ve been great. Even Keene or Quint would’ve been better than these two jokers.

Sidney turned to Edwin. “If you have to change to a bear just go behind the cabin and phase. I’ll distract the girls for you.”

“No, no, no,” Connor said, waving his hands. “There’s no phasing. And that’s all there is to it.”

Edwin nodded his head. “I won’t let you down boss.”

The crunching sound of tires on gravel came in from outside. Connor took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Alright, they’re here.” He walked to the window and peered through the curtains.

His breath caught in his throat when he saw the driver of the car. She was perfect. She had bouncy brown hair that stopped just before her shoulders, as if her body was too intimidating to touch. Connor’s stomach tightened as he imagined what it smelled like. Her lips were thick and full, curled up in a delicious smile. She had a trail of freckles along her upper cheeks, just under her light brown eyes.

She stepped out of the car and looked up at the tall trees and smiled. Connor grabbed the windowsill to brace himself. His knees weren’t strong enough to hold him up all of a sudden.

The two other girls exited the vehicle but he couldn’t take his eyes off the driver. She was wearing shorts that showed off her thick legs. They were nice and full, just the way he liked them. Her breasts were small and perky under her light blue tank top.
Go out there. Introduce yourself.
But he couldn’t move. His feet were frozen to the floor.

“Look at that redhead,” Sidney gasped over his shoulder. Connor finally pried his eyes off the driver and looked at the other two girls. A cute redhead stepped out of the passenger’s side and stretched out her arms. She was short and petite with a thin, pretty face. She was holding a thick textbook under her arm.

“I’m going to mate with that blond,” Edwin said, creeping up behind Connor’s other shoulder.

Connor was still too taken in with the driver to correct him. A tall, skinny, blond girl with a tight gold dress on climbed out of the back seat. She was covered in gold and diamonds. Her face was beautifully set up with makeup and her hair looked like she just got out of the salon.

Connor stared as the girls popped the trunk. The girls were laughing as they tried to pull out a heavy suitcase from the old car.

All of the three, strong werebears could have lifted that suitcase with two fingers but they just stood there in shock instead of going out and helping.

Loud popping and snapping sounds followed by a crash jerked Connor out of his daze. He whipped his head around and there was a brown bear behind him in the cabin. Edwin’s clothes laid on the floor in ripped shreds next to the potted plant that he just knocked over.

“You just promised!” Connor yelled, his hands flying to the top of his head.

“Boss they’re coming in,” Sidney said, staring out the window. “She’s beautiful,” he muttered.

Connor ran over to the docile bear and slapped him hard across the face. The bear looked at him with sad, confused eyes.

Connor grabbed the bear’s ear in his fist and yelled into his ear canal. “Phase back right now!”

The ear pulled away from his fingers as it shrank back into his head and the bear curled in on itself. Connor ran to the window and glanced out in a panic as Edwin phased into a human behind him.

“Shit,” he cursed as the girls walked in.

This place is perfect.
Rebecca smiled as she turned down the windy forest road and the cute, little log cabins appeared in front of her. There were small guest houses on the right where she guessed they would be staying and she could hear the babbling river somewhere off to the left. This was just what she needed. Peace and serenity in the middle of the mountains.

“That’s the cabin?” Grace asked from the back.

“Oh it’s cute,” Angie said. “Good job Becca. This is going to be fun.”

“Easy for you to say,” Grace said to Angie. “You’ll have your nose in a book the entire time. You don’t care where we go.”

Angie held up her thick book for Grace to see. “I’ll let you borrow it after I’m done.”

Grace squinted her eyes and read the title. “Advanced string theory and particle physics. Ugh. Thanks, I can use it as a doorstop.”

Angie was a leading theoretical physicist who specialized in quantum electrochemistry. She had been nominated for the Nobel prize last year, and almost won, for some work that she did on an experiment that Rebecca still had no idea what it was, even after Angie tried to explain it to her several times. She was by far the smartest person that Rebecca had ever known. But she wasn’t too smart in the relationship department. She had always been attracted to really smart men, which usually meant nerds with no muscle definition, who put their studies and work before her needs. Her last boyfriend was a one hundred and twenty pound teacher of particle physics. His glasses weighed more than he did. Angie complained about sexual frustration for the whole year that they dated.

They stepped out of the car and Rebecca looked up at the tall trees and breathed in the pine tree scented, fresh air. She had always tried to get Mark to take her out of the city while they were dating but he always refused, preferring to go out drinking at a pub or to drag her to a Yankees game instead of to the forest and mountains which her body had craved so much. Well Mark was gone for now. She would enjoy the time while she could. She was still hoping that he’d come back.

“Where is Alfred when you need him?” Grace joked as she struggled to pull her massive suitcase out of the trunk.

“You didn’t pack him in here?” Rebecca asked, pulling on the handle with all of her strength. “It feels like it by the weight of this thing.”

The three girls managed to pull out the heavy suitcase and it fell to the ground with a thud. Rebecca’s car sprung back up to its regular height.

Grace frowned at her Louis Vuitton bag sitting in the dirt. “I’ll let the bell boy come and bring it to my suite.”

Angie laughed. “The bell boy?” she asked with her eyebrow raised.

Rebecca walked towards the entrance with a jump in her step. This weekend was going to be amazing. Just her girls, some kayaks and mother nature.

Her hand flew up to her mouth and she gasped as she walked through the door. There was a naked man in the lobby with a floral patterned curtain wrapped around his waist. His perfect, muscular chest was bare.

“Oh my God,” Grace said behind her.

Angie broke out in giggles.