ROMANCE: Bear Naked Seduction (Billionaire Bear Trio Book 1) (58 page)

Chapter 5

“Yeah, you're um, you're Ivy, right?” I said in response, trying to play it cool but nerves were storming through my body.

“Yeah, wow, this is crazy! I never thought I'd see anyone from that place again. Wow, and you've changed a lot,” she said. It seemed like she was giving me an admiring glance but I wasn't sure.

“You haven't changed a bit, well, apart from your hair.”

She laughed. “You'd be surprised. Everyone changes. How long have you been here?”

“Just a couple of days.”

“Wow, you're new! How are you finding it so far?”

I wanted to be brave and cool and tell that I was taking it all in my stride and that I was loving life. Instead I told her the truth.

“Actually it's a little more difficult than I thought it was going to be. There are so many people here that it seems easy to get lost in the crowd and I just feel so...alone.”

“Yeah, it's a big culture shock. I remember when I first came here, didn't know what I was going to do or where the next meal was coming from, but at least I didn't have to put up with some condescending people always looking down on me and telling me that the way I lived was wrong. It'll get better, we all find our way, it might just take a bit of time,” she said. I smiled at her, and she returned the gesture. Her eyes were as blue as the sea and they seemed to shimmer as I gazed into them. I could have lost myself in them, and was in the process of doing so when another customer came in and interrupted us. I scowled as he ordered a drink and wished that he would leave. I made a face at Ivy. She giggled and stepped to one side as I served him. Just as it was done she glanced at her watch and gasped.

“Shit, I'm sorry, I have to go!” she said, and once again my world crumbled. “Look, it was good seeing you, are you free for a drink later? It'd be good to catch up with someone from my old life.”

“Uh, yeah, that'd be great.”

“Cool, there's a bar just down the street from here,” she said, and pulled out a pen to give me directions to the place. “I'll be there from nine, come and say hi,” Ivy said, then flashed a smile at me that made me want to melt.

For the rest of the day I was floating although I was nervous as well. I had led a sheltered life and was still unsure in these matters so I didn't know whether it was a date or not. Besides all that I didn't really have many good clothes to wear, and I didn't want to overdress so I decided on something casual. I perched myself on the end of my bed and waited for time to tick over to nine. It seemed to take an eternity and the longer I waited the more nervous I became until my toes were tapping on the floor and beads of sweat were pulsing against my temples. I didn't want to seem to eager but it was torture waiting, so I needed to do
something
. I left a little earlier than I expected and ended up getting to the bar on the stroke of nine. Ivy wasn't there yet, so I ordered myself a drink and then took a seat at a nearby table. It wasn't long before Ivy came in and I felt a swell of relief. She looked around and I took delight in just watching her exist. From the moment she came into the room it was like she owned it, and she had a magnetic pull that drew everything towards her. From years of not thinking about her, I was suddenly thrust back into that adolescent haze, a dream that seized me and would not relinquish its grip on me. She walked to the bar and leaned forward, so much so that her top rose against the sides of her body, providing me with a teasing glimpse of her pale skin, and another tattoo that stretched around the small of her back. Once the drink was ordered she turned around to have a better look, and waved at me when she saw me.

“You're an eager beaver,” she said.

“I was just sitting at home so I figured I'd come down.”

“That's cool. So...how is the old town?”

“Oh, you know, same as ever. Nothing ever really changes there.”

“No, that's because those with any sense decide to leave.”

“Did you ever think about going back?”

Ivy took a long sip from her glass and shook her head. “No, never.”

“Don't you miss your parents at all, or your friends?”

“It took me a long time to realize it but I never had any friends there,” she said in a hollow voice. I sensed that there was a dark story to that and part of me wanted to press her for more information but she continued talking before I could say anything.

“Anyway, the best thing I ever did was leave home. Just wish more people would realize that the place is dying.”

“What do you mean?”

“You must see it, they're so stuck in their ways that there's no new blood going into the place. Do you not see that nobody ever moves there? The only new people are the ones who are born and they're going to keep bleeding out once they realize the horror of living there, and at some point there are just going to be a load of old people sitting around complaining that there's nobody to take care of the town, and they'll blame everyone apart from themselves while the rest of us will have actually left to live life.”

I can't say that I wholly disagreed with her sentiment but I did feel bad for the people who still lived there because unlike Ivy I still had friends and family there that I cared about.

“I might go back one day and try to see if anything's changed. I just wanted some time away from that place to find myself. I didn't think that I could be the person I always wanted to be while I lived there.”

“I hear that. They want to crush anything they don't understand.”

“Is that why you left?” I asked. The question had been burning inside me ever since I found out that she ran away.

She smirked. “Why do you think I left?”

“Everyone had a story. Some said you were thrown out, others said you had a huge row with your parents, that they told you you could either get married to Pete or leave, and you chose to leave. I even heard some of them say that you were pregnant.”

“People and their imaginations...they do love to spin tales don't they?” She said, and took another long gulp of her drink. Her glass was almost empty while I had barely touched mine. I took another sip to try and catch up. She set the glass back down on the table and I watched the drops of condensation settle on her hand.

“The truth is far more mundane,” she said, “although Pete did have something to do with it. He was very...aggressive in some ways and he knew what he wanted. He wanted me. I was happy to have him around for entertainment but then he got harsher and nasty and I didn't want to be around him anymore. When I told him that he threatened to tell everyone about me, he wanted to bring me down and make my life misery and I was just done with it. Didn't want to put up with all the games and didn't want to have to pretend anymore. Everyone back there thought they were so important but none of them matter. Look at how many people are in this city that don't give a crap about us? All they wanted to do was control us and I was done. I tried to stick around because I wanted to try and change things for the better, to show people that there was a better way to live but I knew that they would just fight me and every turn and try to change me and that was never going to happen, and the only way it was going to end was with some big blowout and I was only one person so I'd be the one that lost. Better just to avoid all that and come here. It's a much more peaceful way of living.”

“And what's it been like?”

“Not going to lie, it's been hard, I've had to struggle a lot more than I thought but I wouldn't have changed one minute of it. I've been so free and been able to do whatever I want when I want, and there's nothing that's better. And you'll feel the same too once you start enjoying yourself properly. I'll show you the way to live, so drink up!” she said, finishing her glass and prompting me to do the same. I looked at mine and then at her, and to please her I swallowed everything. I let out a small burp and laughed. My head was swimming and I felt the first flush of intoxication. Ivy went to the bar and got us two more and then pulled her seat beside me, so close that our legs were touching. My breath caught in my throat as she leaned forward and turned her voice into a breathy whisper.

“I'm so glad you turned up tonight. It's good to see an old friend.” Her liquid eyes stared at me and I could see some pain inside them.  I would never have  agreed with her that we were old friends but I was hardly going to refute the assertion, but up until that day we had never really had a proper conversation.

“What's wrong?” I asked. Her eyes flickered and it looked like she was about  to tell me when there was a flurry of noise entering the bar as a group of people came in. When they saw us they called out Ivy's name, and she rose and hugged them warmly. I felt isolated and left out.

Chapter 6

I continued to sit as Ivy walked through the crowd of people and greet them until she got to one girl. The tension was evident between them and they exchanged an awkward greeting before they went in opposite directions. Ivy came back to sit with me.

“Who's this?” one of the girls said. She was clad in black clothes, had bright red lipstick on, and was covered in tattoos.

“I'm Selina. I come from the same place as Ivy,” I said. Ivy's attention was still on the girl at the bar, and my mind was alive with various thoughts.

“Oh how exciting! Ivy never tells us about her past, tell me some secrets!” she pleaded. I looked at Ivy but she was still distracted.

“Oh, I don't know, I don't really have any, it was just a quiet town  and not much happened there.” At that point Ivy rose and went to speak to the girl at the bar again. I looked over to them.

“Who is that?” I asked.

“Don't even go there. Those two are, god, when they're good they're great but too often they're terrible. Both of them are as bad as each other. They need a good girl to straighten them out but when they get together they just bring each other down. Both of them know it too. Brie is the one that's trying to remain strong and resist but Ivy isn't making it easy.

“Oh,” I said in a small voice. I wanted this night to be about me and Ivy but it was quickly turning into something else.

“You like her, don't you?” the tattooed woman said. I squirmed in my seat but I knew there was no point in denying it. I'd been denying it to everyone else for so long as well that it was nice to admit it to someone.

“I'd tell you to do yourself a favor and go after someone who is better for you, but I know that's not going to do any good. Ivy has a way of getting under your skin. We all call her poison Ivy. She hates it, but it's accurate.” She had a lilt to her voice that suggested she had suffered from the same affliction as I, and we sisters-in-arms raised our glasses to each other.

“I don't know if anything is going to happen, but I've liked her for as long as I can remember and I never...the place we grew up in was very traditional so I never got a chance to be myself, if you know what I mean.”

“I do, but you don't have that excuse anymore. If you want something to happen with her then you're going to have to tell her, but just go careful, she'll tell you she doesn't believe in love but there's no doubt in my mind, she loves Brie. Don't let her take advantage of you.”

“I won't,” I said. The woman left to go back to her friends, but not before squeezing my shoulder. I appreciated the gesture and I had never felt as unsure as I did in that moment. I was just a small girl in a world of complicated emotions that I didn't understand, and when I glanced at Ivy, who was returning to my table, I knew that it wasn't going to get any simpler anytime soon.

“Let's go outside,” she said, clasping my hand and not giving me any choice in the matter. We walked up a narrow staircase and then out onto the roof. There were a few other people there but they were all lost in their own worlds. We walked to the edge of the building.

“It's beautiful, isn't it?” Ivy said as she looked across at the sea of glittering lights. All I could think about were all the lives being lived at that moment, and we were just two small parts of the universe, yet we held within us such power to affect each others' lives. The night was cool and the air was warm. Ivy lit a cigarette. The end glowed orange as she placed it in between her lips. A plume of smoke was forced from her lips and it wafted into the air, becoming nothing. She offered me one but I declined.

“Still a good girl,” she said teasingly.

“Not all the time,” I said, trying to be playful. Ivy only glanced towards me, seemed to study me for a moment, and then turned her eyes back to the city.

“I thought I'd be happy once I left but it wasn't that simple,” she said. “Things happen, you know.”

“I know.”

She smiled at me again.

“You're still young, I'm not sure that you do know, but it's alright. You will soon enough.”

Again I was filled with the sense that although she wasn't technically much older than me she had much more life experience.

“Who was that girl in there?” I asked, fearing the answer but knowing I had to ask the question.

“She is...fuck, she's probably the love of my life and I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to escape her. We're not good together, we just end up in bad places, but I just can't help myself.”

“I see.”

She laughed a little. “You're really sweet, you know that?”

My face lit up.

“If you could have one thing in the world what would it be?” she asked. I chewed my lip.

“I'm not sure, you go first.”

“That's not how it works. I asked you.”

“Age before beauty,” I resisted. She narrowed her eyes at me but accepted the challenge.

“Fine. I guess I just want to be happy. I want to be able to be myself and not worry about not being good enough. I want to be with someone and have it just work without all the drama or bullshit. I guess I just want a shot at what everyone else seems to have. Now you go.”

I stepped forward to stand right by her side. We were both looking out onto the city, like we were gods looking down on our kingdom below.

“If you had asked me that a long time ago I would have said the chance to be alone with you. And I think maybe you need someone who has known who you were, not just who you are. I always had the biggest crush on you Ivy...and we've both ended up in this same place. Does that mean anything to you?” I asked, my voice tinged with desperate hope. Ivy flicked her cigarette off the roof. The ashes fluttered like gray snowflakes.

“I'm not what you think I am Selina. I'm not going to be any good for you. You deserve better.”

“I don't care about what I deserve. I care about what I want. Maybe you don't need love right now. Maybe you need companionship. Maybe you just need whatever I can give you. I'm still trying to figure myself out as well but all I know is that I've wanted you since forever, and right now there's only me and you up here.” I took her hand in mine and stood in front of her, searching her eyes for some glimmer of hope. She licked her lips and I could see her staring back at me.

“Selina...” she said, but I didn't let her finish. I leaned forward and stole a kiss from her. I could taste the cigarette on her breath. Her warm lips pressed against mine, getting more eager as our passion grew. Her arms wrapped around my body tightly and my fingers ran through her hair. I grinned as we lifted each other up on our tiptoes and let the world melt away around us. We broke off and I felt her warm breath linger against my face as she caressed my head, planting softer kisses on my cheeks.

“I think maybe I've been waiting for you to catch me up,” she said.