Bearly Consenting: Russet Falls Series (6 page)

“Like a contract?” he questioned.

She turned to smile at him. “Yes. Exactly like that.”

She brandished a somewhat yellow piece of paper in front
of him and placed it down. The words were hard to read and Drew squinted,
wondering if he needed glasses.

“Sorry, it’s hard to read,” she said dismissively. “I
didn’t have access to a great printer,” she laughed. She handed him a pen.

“Wow,” he said, turning the pen over in his hand, “This
looks old.”

She smiled again. “Yes, a family heirloom. I’m quite
partial to it.”

Drew nodded. “Where should I sign?”

“Right here!” she pointed to a line at the bottom of the
page.

Drew placed the pen to the paper and thought he felt a
vibration move through his arm. He shook his head. Maybe he was tired. He
signed his name, finding it difficult to move the pen.

“Ouch,” he exclaimed, as his hand cramped up. He opened
his hand and then closed it again. He placed the pen back to the paper and
signed it.

Seraphina smiled widely.

“Wonderful,” she whispered. She snatched the pen from
Drew’s hands and clutched it closely to her chest.

Drew felt a searing pain down his arm and across his own
chest.

He gasped as he nearly fell of the chair.

He quickly righted himself, unsure of what was happening.

“It’s done,” Seraphina said quietly.

A strange feeling of foreboding came over Drew and he
somehow sensed that he had just made a terrible mistake.

“Two things and then you are free to leave,” Seraphina
murmured. “One, my business is in Portland and you leave tonight. Two, you are
going
alone
. All ties with Avery must be cut.”

He backed angrily out of the driveway. Seraphina had him by
the balls, but he was going to find a way to see Avery. She had never banned
him from being with Avery, he just couldn’t have taken her to Portland seven
years ago. But by some twist of fate, she had found her way to the same city as
Drew. And seeing her again, and being near her, only made him remember how much
he cared for her and what a positive influence she had been on his life.

He thought with disgust about all the women he had brought
back to his house—money hungry, gold diggers, superficial—none like Avery. Nothing
and no one could ever fill the void that Avery had left and he would be damned
if he was going to let her slip through his fingers again. The fact that she
was unattached only furthered his quest.

He needed to get back to Portland, but he also had to say
goodbye to his mother. When he pulled back in front of the dilapidated house,
he saw Flynt’s beat up truck parked in the driveway.

“Great,” he muttered, getting out of his car. He wanted to
get this over with as quickly as possible and then he hoped it would be another
solid chunk of time before he had to return back to clan lands. He was crawling
out of his skin and wanted away from his family.

“Look who’s home,” Flynt slurred the moment Drew walked in,
and Drew knew he was drunk just from the smell.

“Flynt,” he said dryly, “I see you still haven’t given up
the bottle.”

“Why would I?” Flynt asked, his tone instantly defensive.

“Right,” Drew said matter-of-factly, he peeked in the small
kitchen looking for his mom.

“She’s upstairs,” Flynt said napping, “She’s resting.” He
gave Drew a cold look. “Having you home has been hard on her.’’

After his encounter with Seraphina, he was in no mood for
games.

In a flash, he grabbed Flynt by the collar, and slammed him
against the wall, pushing his forearm against Flynt’s throat. “What’s hard on
her,” Drew growled, “is having to live in this piece of shit house and having
to deal with your bullshit. She’s better off now that Dad is dead.”

“Fuck you!” Flynt spat, pushing himself free and stumbling
across the room. “She’s never been the same since you left!”

“Spare me,” Drew rolled his eyes, “She barely blinked. And
if you disappeared tomorrow she would barely bat an eye too.” He looked at his
older brother who looked so pathetic suddenly. “Or don’t you remember? Have you
forgotten how she neglected us? Forgot to feed us, didn’t bathe us, dressed us
in dirty, worn clothes!” His bear was just below the surface and Drew felt his
vision fleetingly shift; he needed to keep himself in check.

“She couldn’t help it!” Flynt defended, putting down his
beer bottle.

“Bull shit!” Drew yelled. “She was our mother! It was her
job to take care of us! But she was so damn busy pleasing our father and
walking around on egg shells that she all but forgot about her kids!”

“Not true,” Flynt said weakly, sitting down. Drew could see
that Flynt didn’t have it in him to argue; Flynt knew it was true.

“She is our mother, and she let us rot,” Drew said angrily,
“Rot.”

“Why don’t you tell us how you really feel.”

Drew whipped around to see his mother standing at the bottom
of the stairs, and he cursed himself.

“I’m sorry you overhead that, Mom.” He was sorry she heard
it, but he wasn’t going to take any of it back. It was the truth.

“Just go on back to your big city life,” she said, her voice
cool and angry. “We’ll be just fine here.”

“Mom, I told you that I’m going to take care of the house.”

She waved her hand at him, and slipped into the kitchen. She
looked like a mess and Drew knew that she wasn’t going to find anything to eat
in the house.

There had never been food in their house.

She angrily opened up the cabinets, coming up short. She
found a box of crackers, and she reached in and grabbed a few.

“Well, go on!” she said crossly. “Get back to your big
house, and your busy meetings, and all those twits who work for you and have
their heads shoved so far up your ass.”

Drew took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. “Mom, I’ve
tried to help you.”

“Oh, you’ve tried,” she mocked.

“What more do you want me to do?” He exploded, throwing his
hands up in the air.

“I don’t know!” she screamed, throwing the box of crackers
across the kitchen. “I don’t know.” She looked long and hard at Drew.

Drew never really knew who his mother was inside and he
realized that she never knew him either.

“Well if you think of something that I can do to help, let
me know,” he said quietly. “I just came over to say goodbye. I need to head
back to Portland.”

“Yes, go back to Portland,” she sneered.

Drew nodded, he was done arguing with her.

He turned to Flynt who scoffed at him. “I don’t care what
you think of me,” he said in a low voice so that their mother wouldn’t
overhear, “but take care of her.”

Flynt looked away but nodded.

“Goodbye,” Drew said to both of them, before walking out of
the house.

He got into the car, threw it in reverse and backed out. The
sooner he got Russet Falls behind him, the better.

Chapter Eight

Avery sat on the bed in her room back in Portland, staring
at the wall. She had been home for over an hour, but she couldn’t shake her
uneasy feelings. The weekend had been so much more than she had anticipated,
and she was trying to feel like Portland Avery—the Avery who lived a pretty
decent life and taught Kindergarten, and had a handful of close friends who
made her feel whole.

But she couldn’t quite get the right feeling back—as hard as
she tried, she couldn’t feel like Portland Avery. Yet, she didn’t feel like Old
Avery either—Old Avery who lived in Russet Falls and loved Drew—no that Avery
was long gone. That was
old
Avery.

Or maybe she was just crazy.

That was probably it.

Who went away for the weekend and came back feeling like a
different person?

She had thought that one day she might run into Drew again—after
all, they had grown up in the same, small tribe. Hell, they came from a clan of
werebears—basically the entire population didn’t even know such creatures
existed.

But she thought it would be years from now if she ever ran
into Drew again. And honestly, she had envisioned herself married with babies,
and she always imagined that Drew was married too. She had imagined the run-in
many times in her mind—she and Drew were in their forties, each with spouses
and children. They would look at each other, probably not smile, but they could
see that the other was okay, that they had survived without one another. Avery
pictured herself going home and having a good cry as she hugged her babies
closer. She would tell herself that it was okay that she didn’t end up with
Drew because she had her family.

But that was not what happened.

Avery was nowhere near forty.

There was no husband.

No babies.

No wife or babies for Drew either.

There was no coming home and hugging her children and being
grateful for the path her life had taken instead.

No. None of that.

Instead, she felt off balance now. Her world had shifted
slightly and she didn’t know how to go back. How to
un
-know that Drew
was single and living in Portland, of all places!

No, it was like opening Pandora’s box and now there was no
going back. She would think about him constantly.

And Drew had promised to call her, so even if she wanted to
cut ties, she knew the wound had been reopened.

Like it or not, she and Drew had somehow connected again.

“Avery? You in there?” A knock came at the door and Avery
jumped.

“Come in!” she called back to her roommate Molly.

“Hey,” Molly said coming in, “I heard you come in, but you
disappeared up here.” She pushed back a lock of her short hair. “Everything
okay?”

Avery gave her a big smile and nodded. Her smile was forced,
but Molly didn’t question her. She had met Molly back in college when they were
both studying elementary education. Molly was originally from Portland, and she
moved back to Portland after graduation. She and Avery had always kept in
touch, and after Avery’s failed year of living in San Francisco, Molly had
urged her to come to Portland, plus Molly had an extra room in the house she
shared with her cousin.

Molly’s cousin, Lindsay, was an accountant for a big firm in
Portland, and she worked long, busy hours and traveled a few times a month.
Avery was pretty certain that Lindsay could easily afford her own place, but
she guessed that Lindsay got lonely and she liked the company when she was
home.

“Is Lindsay home” Avery asked, changing the subject away
from herself.

Molly shook her head. “She left this afternoon for
Vancouver. She’s there until Wednesday,” she bit her lip, “or maybe Thursday.”

Avery vaguely remembered Lindsay mentioning going to
Vancouver, but she had been so caught up in going back to Russet Falls, that
she hadn’t paid any attention.

“Did you eat?” Avery asked, standing up and stretching.
Molly was pretty bad when left to her own devices. She was known for having a
dinner of popcorn and an apple when she was home by herself.

“Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “I was waiting for you.
Want to walk down the street and grab a pizza.”

Avery nodded. They loved the small pizza shop down the
street and a walk would be a good way to clear her head.

She grabbed her purse and she and Molly headed out. Avery
debated telling Molly about Drew, but she decided not to. Molly didn’t know
much about Drew to start—only a little bit of info that Avery had shared back
during their freshman year when they lived on the same dorm floor. It had been
so fresh back then, but even then, Avery had been hesitant to share.

If she talked about Drew, then it made things real. If she
never spoke of him, then she could pretend they had never happened.

Which is what she tried to do now.

She arrived at work Monday, and her room full of
Kindergarteners kept her busy and she only had fleeting thoughts of Drew. She
stayed at work late, catching up from being out on Friday and then
lesson-planning for the rest of the week. She was so exhausted when she got
home, that she barely ate dinner before crawling into bed.

That was part of what she loved about teaching elementary
school. She could stay as busy as she wanted—it was simple to arrive at school
before seven in the morning, and stay until nine at night.

Tuesday evening she actually had plans to go to happy hour
with some of the other teachers, and luckily that kept her mind busy too.
However one of the teachers mentioned Lake Oswego, and Avery’s head snapped up.

She knew now that Drew lived there, and she realized that
every time she heard the name of that neighborhood, she would think of Drew.
After that, Drew was on her mind the rest of the evening, and she shouldn’t
have been at all surprised when an unknown number popped up on her cell phone
as she was getting ready for bed.

“Hello?” she answered tentatively.

“Avery,” the familiar voice breathed, and Avery sighed,
feeling as if she had wrapped an old familiar blanket around herself.

“Hi Drew.”

“I was wondering if you would pick up.”

“How could I not?” she asked honestly.

It was quiet for a moment. “How are you?” he asked. “Are you
getting settled back home?”

“I’m fine. I’ve been busy catching back up at work. How
about you?”

He sighed. “I had a run-in with my brother and mother before
I left, but I guess it was to be expected.”

“Thank you again for literally saving me when that tree
crashed down,” she shuddered remembering the freaky event.

“Of course,” he said darkly, “I’m just glad I was there.”

The line was awkwardly quiet for a moment and Drew cleared
his throat. “So there was something I wanted to ask you,” he said carefully, “I
have to attend this gala charity event next weekend. And I wanted to see if you
would like to go with me.” He sounded nervous over the phone. “These things can
be kind of stuffy, so if it’s not your thing, I won’t be offended.”

Avery sucked in her breath as she listened. She was
flattered, excited and nervous all at the same time.

“And besides wanting to see you again, I thought you might
enjoy it because it benefits children, particularly children living with
cancer.”

As if Drew inviting her to a fancy gala event wasn’t
enticing enough by itself, but he then had to throw in the children.

The children with
cancer.

Against her better judgment, she found herself agreeing.
“I’d love to go.”

“That’s great. I’m so pleased.”

Avery racked her brain, trying to think if there was
something suitable to wear in her closet. She doubted it. She may need to go
shopping.

“So how dressy of an event is this?” she asked carefully,
“Just so I know what to wear?”

“It’s black-tie.”

Avery’s heart sank. She certainly didn’t have anything that
would be black tie appropriate.

“But I don’t want you to worry about it,” he said quickly,
“I invited you to this thing and I have a friend who has some dress
connections. Just send me your address after we hang up, and I’ll have some
things sent to you. If you don’t like them, or they don’t fit, just let me know
and I’ll get some more things sent over.”

“Drew, really, that’s not necessary!” she bulked. Fancy
clothing shipped to her house? That would be absurd.

“I insist,” he said chivalrously. “Like I said, I invited
you, and my friend owes me.” He chuckled. “Let me take care of this. Please?”

It didn’t take much for Avery to concede.

“Fine. If you say they owe you a favor, then I guess I’ll
accept.”

“Perfect. I hate to run, but I have a late client meeting.”

Avery checked her watch. It was after nine at night!

“Wow. Those are some hours,” she mused out loud, though she
wasn’t one to talk since she regularly stayed in her classroom until the
janitor kicked her out when he locked up at ten.

“Yes, I know,” he said, his tone somewhat unahppy. Avery
brushed it off and said goodnight to Drew, wondering when she would hear from
him again.