Shared By The Alpha Bears - Complete (6 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

           I cried while driving home.

I knew I shouldn’t. There was no logical reason for me to be as sad as I felt. Yes, I was leaving the forest behind and the two guys I’d met there with it, to go back to my much less appealing life, but it wasn’t as if I would never return. I’d see them again, I was certain of that. So why did I feel like I was giving up the best thing that had ever happened to me?

It was dark by the time I made it off the Interstate and back to civilization. That suited me quite fine. After the natural beauty I’d enjoyed over the last few days, I wasn’t all that interested in seeing the dirty, graffiti-covered, geometric buildings and hard, litter-covered streets in full daylight.

All around me were the ugly signs of the real world that I’d been trying so hard to get away from: the hardnosed motorcycle cop writing a ticket to the delinquent kid in the wool cap who was standing beside the open door of his hand-me-down pickup, desperately trying to convince the officer that he wasn’t high; the skanky hooker in the fur coat and miniskirt standing out on the corner smoking a Virginia Slim, waiting for her next meal ticket to drive by and flash a big enough bill in her face; the shirtless man racing out the door of an apartment complex in the middle of trying to get his pants back on, while a half-naked bottle-blonde appeared at a window above him and dumped the rest of his clothes right on his head before sharply calling him a barrage of unpleasant names in loud, screechy tones.

Home sweet home.

I stopped at a cheap diner on the way, hoping to prolong getting back to that apartment complex as long as I could. I spent a bit too long just sitting at the counter, poking my fork at my plate of spaghetti with my face resting in my hand, propped on my elbow, only occasionally remembering that I should actually eat. It had only been a few hours and I already missed them.

As soon as I pulled up to the street outside my apartment complex, the first place my eyes went to was my landlord’s window. It was dark. That probably meant the old stick was in bed already. I hoped. It was an unpleasant ritual I had come to dread most nights when I returned home late: I would head up the stairs, only to be ambushed on the way to my door by that creaky old bastard bursting out of his door and demanding to know where his rent money was. But if the evidence before me was any indication, that wouldn’t be happening tonight. Fingers crossed.

I walked into the complex, and stopped to check my mailbox, which had piled up with bills over the last couple days. Great, just what I needed. I began carefully walking up the stairs, starting to tiptoe as I neared the top, where my door stood on one side and my landlord’s stood opposite. I kept my attention on his door, from which I still heard no sound and saw no light peaking from under it. I slowly started to gain a bit more confidence that I wouldn’t have to deal with him tonight. I turned toward my own door, still watching his, and carefully turned my key in the lock, trying to make it as silent as possible. I quietly pushed my door open, turned on the light, and—

I jumped about a foot in the air when I saw my landlord sitting in my easy chair, watching me come in with his vulture’s eyes, puffing on his cigar and stinking up the room. “Mr. Norton!” I gasped.

“You think I didn’t see you pull up, freeloader?” he rasped.

“I, uh…”

“So what, you thought you’d skip town for a couple days and I’d just forget that you’re still a month behind?”

“No, I swear, I just… needed a little vacation.”

“You don’t get a vacation from your rent, toots. I hope you enjoyed your getaway, because if you don’t pay up by the end of the week, it’ll be permanent.”

I gaped at him as he pushed himself up from the chair with his cane. “Mr. Norton, I told you I’m just out of a job!”

“And ain’t that a bitch,” he grumbled as he stepped up beside me on his way to the door. “Show me the money, or I show you the door.” He took a drag from his cigar and blew a puff of smoke right in my face before he walking out. I coughed and gagged, and slammed the door after him.

I grabbed a beer and curled up on my couch. I didn’t last long there before I determined I had to do something about the smell the rotten old stick had left behind. I grabbed a can of Febreeze and began spraying everywhere, and then collapsed back on the couch again and proceeded to guzzle the drink in my hand. I wanted more than anything to go across the hall and tell that old fart to go fuck himself; if only I wouldn’t have been condemning myself to homelessness if I did that.

I spent several hours lying awake that night, feeling the very stark emptiness of my bed. I wanted my bears. I wanted them here with me… I wanted to hold them…

For a brief moment, I grinned to myself. They weren’t just bears; they were my teddy bears! And they were miles away. My smile disappeared again. No use dwelling on “I wish.” Reality calls.

I woke up the next morning and heated myself some frozen waffles, a pale excuse for breakfast after Jake’s pancakes. I stepped outside into the busy, smoggy city around me. After spending three wonderful days enjoying the woods and the affection of two big strong men, now I had to endure a day of applying for jobs with employers who didn’t look any happier to be doing their jobs than I was to be applying me a job.

The one bright spot in my day was meeting my friend Mina from my old job for lunch. We went to one of my favorite places, that sandwich joint down the street from where we used to work together. She regaled me with questions about my “hiking” trip—I’d almost forgotten that was what it was originally intended as. I got kind of spacy as I got into telling her about it. I did in fact tell her about the fact that I met two guys out in the woods and that I fucked both several times. I just left out the part about them turning into big hulking beasts.

She told me how jealous she was, and with a smirk, she shamelessly admitted she’d always wanted to experience two men at once. She actually started asking me to get a little more graphic than I probably should have in a public place. I’m a little ashamed to say I told her anyway, but at least I had the good sense enough to keep my voice down. She asked me for specific details; what positions did I take them in? Which one did I do first? Who was bigger? I only blushed when she asked if they DP’ed me. I admitted that with how big both of them were, I didn’t think I was up for taking either of them up the back door, even if I had ever tried that with any man in the first place.

It was a nice diversion and a nice trip back into memories of the days I’d just had, but all too soon lunch was over and it was back to reality for me. By the end of the day, I was no closer to finding a new job and finding the money I needed to keep living across from that old stinker…

Why was I putting up with this again? Why was I breaking my back to earn enough to remain under the roof of a rotten bastard like him? As I sat in front of my TV watching the latest celebrity gossip channel with my microwaved lasagna, my thoughts kept turning back to the conversation I had with Jake on that rock. Why was I going back, he asked me? And I told him I had to. But now that I was here, I honestly couldn’t remember why.

Was it to late to go running back to Jake and Max? Was it too early? Was I giving up too easily? Was it worth continuing to endure? In the battle between temptation and good sense, good sense didn’t seem to have too many compelling arguments. These thoughts could wait, I decided. I still had a couple more days before Mr. Norton’s ultimatum. After a few more beers and bad sitcoms, I began to wonder if I was wrong to hope I didn’t find a new job.

The next thing I remember was waking up on my couch with the TV still on. It took me a minute to distinguish the pounding on my door from the pounding in my head. I turned off the morning traffic report and got up with a painful grunt, trying to shake off my hangover and wondering which was more urgent, the door or the bathroom. I ultimately chose the door, which I ended up regretting as soon as I opened it, and found Mr. Norton’s ugly face scowling at me, still hitting the door with the head of his cane.

I blinked, half hoping he might disappear once I woke up more. “Mr. Norton?” I rasped.

“Do you have my rent, freeloader?”

“You said I had until the end of the week.”

“It’s a legit question.”

“No, I don’t have it.”

“Then I hope you know a good cheap hotel.”

“Do I have until the end of the week or not?”

“I’m seriously questioning it.”

It was a terrible temptation to just slam the door right on his big, gourd-shaped nose, but my better judgment held out. And I’m really glad I didn’t because of what I saw a second later. “Is the old guy bothering you?” a familiar voice said.

I

looked up, and blinked several times, thinking at first that I must still be delirious from drinking too much. But I soon realized that the person I was seeing behind Mr. Norton was in fact really there.

“Max?” I gasped.

“Hey Billie.”

I think I knocked Mr. Norton right on his rusty hip replacement in my rush to embrace Max. I wasn’t paying attention to the old stinker anymore. I jumped into Max’s arms, throwing my legs around his waist and showering his face with kisses.

“Whoa, whoa, I’m happy to see you too, but easy, girl!”

I calmed down enough to put my feet back on the floor, and guided him into my apartment, stepping over the prone form of Mr. Norton, who grunted up at me, “I think you broke my good hip!”

“And ain’t that a bitch,” I said before closing the door on him.

Max made a move to advance on me, but I held up a hand to stop him, suddenly conscious of my less than auspicious state. “I’m sorry, I’m just a mess right now. I’m kind of hung over, and I really need to pee. And be honest with me, how’s my hair? If it looks like I just slept on the couch after too many Coronas, it’s because that’s exactly what I did.”

“You’re a damn sight better than not seeing you was.”

I was sorely tempted to kiss him some more, but that would have to wait until I was more presentable. “I’ll be back after I freshen up,” I said. “Make yourself at home.”

I relieved myself, showered and brushed my teeth, and was about to step back out of the bathroom when I stopped and looked down at the towel I was wrapped in. I grinned to myself, remembering whose company I was in and decided I should start rethinking some of my trained habits. I hung the towel back on the rack, and stepped out again buck-naked.

Max was apparently hungry as… well, a bear, since I found him with his head in my fridge when I returned. “You don’t have any ham, do you?”

“Never been much of a cook,” I shrugged. “Can you make do?”

“It may not be exactly Chateau le Max but I think I can come up with something. Have you had breakfast yet?”

“Literally just woke up right before you got here.”

“Perfect! Breakfast for two!”

I watched him start pulling ingredients from the fridge, not paying attention to what they were. I was just looking at him. As he set them down on the counter, I stepped up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, finally getting him to look at me. “Max,” I said, “not that I’m not delighted to see you, but what the hell are you doing here?”

“Well isn’t that obvious?” he said, putting a hand on my naked hip. “I missed the fuck out of you, so I came down to see you.”

“After one day?”

“Are you going to stand there and tell me you weren’t dying to see me too?” He had a cocky smirk on his face as he said this, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t right. So I answered him with a kiss.

I sat down as he got back to cooking. “All seriousness,” he said, “after you left, Jake and I tried to get back to our normal routines, but, having had you around had kind of shaken things up. Suddenly the regular stuff just felt plain dull. Jake said we would have to get used to not having you around again, and things would be just the usual, but, I wasn’t as interested in getting used to things. We argued about it for a long time. Jake kept saying it was your life, and we should get back to ours, even though I could tell he was missing you like crazy, too. I kept trying to tell him we should say ‘fuck it’ and just come get you. I eventually let him think he won and came back out here on my own. He doesn’t know I’m here, and he’d probably have a few words for me if he did.”