Hagen, Lynn - Tater's Bear [Brac Pack 22] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (5 page)

Again, his eyes rolled. Did Olsen see him as a helpless twit? His lip curled back as he slapped his hands onto his hips. “I can handle my own.”

Olsen grabbed Tater’s upper arms, forcing him to look up. “Sometimes being safe isn’t always a physical thing, Tater.”

Tater could feel his body tremble in rage. Olsen was talking about Tater’s heart, and it was more than he could deal with at the moment. “Let me go.”

Olsen removed his hand, holding it up as he took a step back. “You know, I don’t get you. I come after you, and you back away. I back away, and you come after me. Let’s cut the dance and get to the point. What are you so afraid of?”

Tater clenched his jaw as Olsen hit the million-dollar question on the head. His lips fixed to say the word
commitment
, but Tater refused to allow the single word to pass. He knew that if he told Olsen the truth, the bear would only try to reassure him that he had nothing to be afraid of. Olsen wouldn’t understand his fear and brush it aside in his attempt to get closer to him.

If it were that easy, Tater would have committed to Olsen on the spot. Too bad it wasn’t. “Nothing. I’m not afraid of a fucking thing. This was a mistake. I should go home.”

To his surprise, Olsen didn’t try to stop him. Tater wasn’t sure if he wanted the man to or not. His emotions were conflicting, and his gut was twisted into a knot. He wasn’t sure if he was coming or going. But Tater knew one thing for sure. He needed to get as far away from Olsen as possible.

He needed to think without a gorgeous bear of a distraction standing in front of him.

“Do you need a ride?”

Olsen was giving Tater what he wanted. Letting him walk out without a protest. So why did he get so damned pissed when Olsen asked him that question?

“No.” Tater turned on his heel and stormed out of the bedroom. The sun was rising higher into the morning sky, so his walk should be less harrowing than it had been last night. He couldn’t believe he had gone over twenty-four hours without sleep. Maybe that was his problem. Lack of sleep could make a person irritable as hell.

“It’s a long way from here to your house,” Olsen reminded him with a bit of humor in his tone as he followed behind Tater down the steps.

“I walked it last night. I’m sure I can handle doing it again.” Tater wavered for a split second. He was torn between staying and leaving. He knew Olsen wanted more than a roll in the sack. The bear wanted a commitment, and that was Tater’s deciding factor. “Bye.”

He thought about D in the guestroom, but it was daylight out and there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. Besides, Tater knew the vampire was in good hands.

Too bad his own brain wouldn’t process that knowledge about Olsen.

* * * *

Tater was quickly rethinking his dumb ass idea of walking home. He was so tired that he wanted to lie down on the side of the road and sleep. The black asphalt was looking mighty good right about now.

After what felt like a thousand years, Tater finally turned down his dirt drive and headed toward his house. His entire body felt like one big, sore ass muscle. His legs felt weak enough to give out. Tater wiped his hand down his face as he climbed the porch steps.

Having plenty of time to think on his long walk home, Tater realized that he hadn’t wanted to leave. He was too afraid to voice his fears and wanted Olsen to take charge, make him stay, and make him commit.

Tater knew that wasn’t how Olsen would handle the situation. The bear would always give him choices. Tater had had an epiphany on his long walk. The realization scared him, but he allowed the truth to surface.

Tater wanted Olsen to control him.

He walked the creaking staircase as he made his way to his bedroom. His bones actually hurt from lack of sleep and walking the long distance. All Tater wanted to do was sleep. First he needed to shower though. The two-day grime was making his skin itch.

Tater indulged in a long, hot shower as he prayed the pounding spray helped to relax his muscles. He lifted his head, allowing the stream of water to run down his face and over his hair. He wondered how he was going to tell Olsen what he truly wanted. Hell, he couldn’t even find the courage to voice his fear. How was he going to voice his desire?

“Tater, stop taking all the hot water,” his mother called from just outside the door.

Fuck.
He needed to find his own place. This was ridiculous. He had no privacy here, and it was driving him crazy. The problem was, Tater needed to find a job first. He’d always been a drifter. Drifting from one thing to the next, never committing to anything or one job. Tater was beginning to think something was seriously wrong with him.

“Tater!”

Tater sighed as he cut the water off. He couldn’t even find solace in his own damn bathroom. Grabbing a towel, Tater dried off as he wondered if he’d ever find his way in life.

* * * *

“Have you tried talking to him?” Pa asked as he sat down in one of the chairs in the living room.

“I have. He seems so out of reach. I’m not sure how to handle this situation,” Olsen confessed.

His pa rubbed his chin as he looked to be considering Olsen’s words. He leaned forward, laying his arms on his powerful thighs. It still amazed Olsen sometimes how strong his father truly was. Every last one of the boys thought for sure that his pa was going to shrivel up and die when their mother had passed away. His father had fooled them all. He was still as strong and commanding as he had been when Olsen was a cub.

“You ever think that maybe this is all a little overwhelming for the young man? He hadn’t a clue shifters existed until we told him. Some men need time to absorb something like that.”

Olsen sat on the edge of the couch, mulling over his pa’s words. “You think that’s it? That he just needs time to adjust to the news of were-creatures and vampires existing?” Could it be that simple? He thought that he was going to lose his mind this morning when Tater had waltzed right out of Olsen’s house. He worried himself sick that something bad would happen to his mate, but he knew Tater would have thrown a fit if he’d gone after him.

“Don’t take my word for it. It could be something entirely different, son. I can see the hunger in his eyes when he looks at you. My question to you is, what kind of hunger is he craving?”

Olsen wasn’t sure what in the hell his pa was talking about. What did he mean what kind of hunger was he craving? That didn’t make any sense to him.

“Don’t forget we’re having a cookout this weekend. Invite your mate. Make him feel at home here.”

Olsen nodded absently as he headed out of the living room and into the kitchen. He pushed the kitchen door open and walked toward the corral, turning his pa’s words over in his mind. No matter what angle he looked at it from, his pa’s words still didn’t make any sense to him.

Olsen had been chasing after Tater for weeks now, his mate not giving him an inch. Olsen began to wonder if his relationship with the strong man was already doomed from the start.

Maybe fate didn’t always get it right.

* * * *

Alex sat at the top of the steps and listened to Olsen and Pa. He knew listening in was wrong, but he hated to see any of the Lakelands sad. His mate, Gavin, had shown him what a true family had to offer, and Alex wanted his cousin Tater to feel it, too.

He knew Tater’s problem. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. Okay, maybe it would, considering Olsen was clueless. Alex saw the need, the hunger in Tater to be dominated.

Now all his cousin needed was for the bear to see it as well. Somehow Alex had a feeling Olsen was going to need an anvil dropped on his head before he bought a clue.

Chapter Four

Maverick threw his feet up onto his desk as he looked at his cousin. It didn’t seem real that Sloane was here. How long had it been since he last saw the fucker? Two hundred years, maybe more?

“Talk,” he commanded as he rested his chin on his chest, his fingers entwined and resting on his stomach as he listened closely.

“It was Haggard. I swear. Do you think I’m crazy enough to betray you? Even in your youth you were the largest timber wolf alive.”

Maverick gave a soft snort as he studied his hands. “Flattery will get you killed. I want the truth, and don’t get sidetracked. My patience has gone to shit since I’ve gotten older. My family members are the only beings that have my patience. You do not.”

“But I’m your family,” Sloane pointed out indignantly.

Maverick was on his feet and across his desk in under a second, grabbing Sloane by the front of his shirt and lifting him out of his chair and across his desk. “I don’t have time for this. Talk.”

“Do you remember the great oak tree?”

Maverick nodded. He remembered it well.

“I got in trouble with Ma, so I was hiding out in the branches of the oak tree when Haggard and Aunt Jasmine walked up. They were acting all crazy-like, looking around like they expected someone to jump out at them at any moment.”

Maverick growled and slammed Sloane into the wall. “What in the hell does this have to do with you betraying me?”

“I’m getting to that,” Sloane squeaked. “I swear.”

“Get to it faster.”

“On–once they stopped looking around, they started talking. Well, Aunt Jasmine started talking. Haggard just kind of stood there with drool rolling down his face.”

Maverick’s eyebrows shot up. “Haggard and Aunt Jasmine? Seriously? I thought Aunt Jasmine couldn’t stand Haggard.”

“Well, apparently, she hated
you
more.”

“Me?” Maverick’s eyebrows drew together in a deep, thoughtful frown as he remembered back to when he lived with his birth pack. It might have been over two hundred years ago, but he didn’t think he’d ever forget having to fend off his aunt’s sexual advances. It was one of the things that made him appreciate being with men more.

“She started making promises to Haggard,” Sloane continued. “If he got rid of you, then she would agree to mate with him and rule the pack at his side when your father stepped down. With you gone, Haggard had a better chance at being next in line for alpha.”

* * * *

Olsen chewed his lower lip as he stared at Tater’s house from his truck that was hidden behind a nearby tree. He wasn’t sure if he should bother his mate, but he missed him. He wasn’t so lost in his manhood that he couldn’t admit that. He missed Tater’s delicious scent, his beautiful green eyes, and he missed the way his mate’s nostrils flared when he was pissed.

Olsen was so damn screwed.

He stood up straighter when he saw Tater come from the back of the house, his arms animatedly flailing around. A low growl escaped Olsen’s lips until he saw Tater’s dad come around the side of the house a few seconds later.

He got out of his truck, creeping along the tree-lined yard as he attempted to get close enough to find out what the hell was going on. He hated that his mate didn’t have a stable home life. Olsen wasn’t sure what he would have done if his family was as dysfunctional as Tater’s seemed to be. His brothers were overbearing, nutty as fruitcakes, and immature as hell, but he loved them and would kill a rock over them.

“I don’t care, Dad. It’s none of your business.”

Tater’s father bristled, his face pulling back into a mask of rage. “It is my business when you have men coming to my house to see you. I know for a fact that they’re not just friends. Don’t lie to me, Tater. Are you gay?”

Olsen’s heart beat out of his chest at Tater’s dad’s words. What men? Did Tater have boyfriends coming to his house? Did Tater have boyfriends? Olsen was ready to rip something apart as his anger escalated. He tried his best to tamp down his anger. Tater’s dad had asked a serious question, and this was a monumental moment in his mate’s life.