Chapter 4 #2
She shakes my hand. “How polite you are. Bear and Rick did a good job hiring you.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I’m glad to work for MedEx Couriers. This is a wonderful opportunity.”
Smiling, Penelope walks us through to the back, chatting easily about the orders today.
Bear checks IDs, signs their log and confirms temperatures.
I watch how he operates. His movements are quick and precise.
He double checks seals. When she mentions a delayed shipment, he adjusts the route out loud, already recalculating.
“She’ll handle the paperwork?” the woman asks, glancing at me.
Bear looks at me, rather than answering for me. I speak up. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll do everything my brother and Bear do.”
“You’re Rick’s sister?” she says brightly. Looking me over, she adds, “I should have seen the family resemblance.”
Something about her overt approval warms me from the inside out.
Back in the truck, Bear hands me the clipboard. “See if you can figure out how to log this one.”
I look over the page, filling in all the parts that make sense and asking about the one space I can’t figure out.
Bear carefully explains what goes in that space and checks it over once I’m done. “You did good, Natalie,” he says as he hands it back. In that moment, I begin to realize that this job might not be all that hard.
The next stop is at a small compounding pharmacy tucked between a nail salon and a closed bookstore. The pharmacist greets Bear by name. He asks about a regular client before looking through the crate of meds.
“Fred’s waiting,” the man says. “The IV antibiotics need to stay cold.”
Bear nods. “Is it packed in dry ice, right?”
“Yes. I packed it myself.”
We load a white insulated container into the truck and Bear secures it with more care than the weight alone would warrant. I watch the way he handles it, like he how valuable that medication is, and there might not be more where this came from if it’s a special order.
On the drive, he explains the delivery. “Fred is homebound. He has to take an IV infusion every eight hours for a persistent bone infection. Missing one sets him back days.”
“That’s a lot of responsibility,” I say.
He nods once. “Yeah, we have people’s lives in our hands. We can’t afford to drop the ball.”
When we arrive at Fred’s house, it’s modest, clean and quiet. A man in his forties answers the door, pale but smiling.
“Right on time,” he says when he sees Bear. Relief washes over his face.
Bear steps aside so I can hand over the clipboard. “This is Natalie. She’s joining our delivery team.”
The man looks at me, then back at Bear. “Good. You and Rick have been running yourself ragged to keep the deliveries flowing.”
Bear glances at me briefly, then back to the delivery. “Don’t you worry about getting your meds delivered. We’ll keep you stocked.”
Inside I watch Bear remind Fred about keeping the medication refrigerated. They talk for a few moments. And Bear listens and jokes around with his lively customer. He waits for the conversation to die down before moving on.
When we’re back in the truck, my hands shake just a little as I write the notes.
“Are you okay?” Bear asks.
“Yes,” I say honestly. “I just didn’t realize there would be so much customer contact.”
“Most people don’t like to talk very long,” he says. “Fred loves to talk because he doesn’t get a lot of visitors.”
The afternoon stretches out with one delivery after another. People know Bear’s name and trust him with the meds that keep them alive. With each stop, he explains the details of each case. He’s got it all memorized in his head.
At one house, an older woman opens the door with suspicion etched deep into her face. When she sees Bear, her eyes widen and she jerks back.
Bear stops immediately, steps back, keeping his hands open at his sides. “MedEx Courier,” he says gently. “I’ve got your insulin.”
Her gaze jumps to me, then back to him. “You’re really big.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he says simply. “I won’t come close unless you give permission.”
She studies him, then nods. “You can set it on the table. I’ll take it when you leave.”
He moves slowly, to avoid startling her. By the time we leave, she’s thanking him and asking if we’re going to be her regular delivery drivers.
“How do you handle that?” I whisper.
In the truck, he relaxes. “You get used to it,” he says. “People are individuals and respond to things differently.”
We’re at it all day, but there is something about this job that speaks to me. Maybe it’s the opportunity to help sick people. The sun is lower in the sky by the time we finish. The truck feels lighter without all the meds we packed in there earlier today.
Bear pulls into the lot and shuts the engine off, then we sit for a moment.
“You did good today, Natalie,” he says.
I smile at him. Praise is easier to accept when I feel like I actually did a reasonably good job. “I like this job.”
“Maybe tomorrow you can start driving the route. Rick was dealing with the mandatory screening side of things today. It’s just a formality, we’ve got a man at Las Salinas PD who should be able to speed things up.”
Pride surges in my chest, because he wouldn’t be giving me more responsibility if he didn’t think I could handle it. “I’ll look forward to it.”
He opens the door, then looks back at me. “This work is important. It saves lives, you know?”
And so do you, I think to myself. He also gives his customers support, conversation, and reassurance, things money can’t buy. And the kicker is, he doesn’t seem to realize all the ways he contributes to their lives.
But instead of saying that, because I know this big gentle man would be embarrassed at such praise, I say, “I know. It’s one of the reasons I want to do it.”
Something shifts in his expression. It feels like we’re on the same page.
As we head back towards the clubhouse, my phone buzzes in my pocket. I don’t check it because I already know what the text message will say.
“You ready for some dinner?” he asks. “Rick should be off gate duty in ten minutes or so.”
“Yeah, running around works up an appetite.”
Heads turn to look at us when we walk through the door to the clubhouse and then quickly get back to whatever they were doing.
I’m still new enough to catch their interest. Bear walks half a step ahead of me, not leading, but not leaving me behind either.
People greet him as we pass. He answers each one, good-naturedly.
Even I can see that he’s in his element at the Savage Legion clubhouse.
Bear stops near the bar and murmurs something to one of the older members. “Grab a table,” he tells me. “I’ll be right there.”
I pick one near the wall and sit with a thud. I’ve not had a chance to get a drink yet when one of the club girls meanders over to me. She slides into the empty chair across from me like she’s been invited.
She’s pretty in her own way. She’s got perfect hair and is wearing a cutoff tank top that screams for attention from every brother in the room.
I can’t say I like the way her eyes skim over me.
“So,” she says, giving me a sly smile. “So, you’re with Bear?”
I give my head a little shake. “I’m actually Rick’s sister.”
Her smile tightens. “Didn’t know he had one.”
“Neither did he,” I shoot back.
She leans back, crossing her arms. “You planning to stick around here for a while?”
“Of course. I’ve got family here. And I work with MedEx. My whole life is here.”
Her gaze flicks to the door and then back to my face. “You won’t last long. Outsiders never do.”
There’s a pause, just long enough to drive her point home. “Bear doesn’t usually bring girls around during work hours.”
I shrug. “If you want to know why he does the things he does, why don’t you go ask him?”
Her lips purse. “Don’t be rude to me. I run the club girls and don’t take shit from anyone.”
Before I can respond, a shadow falls across the table. Rick’s shadow. He’s still in his prospect cut, sweat darkening the collar, jaw tight as soon as he clocks the scene.
“What’s going on, Jewel?” he asks, his voice annoyed.
The woman turns, surprised. “Nothing. I was just getting to know your sister.”
Rick looks at her like she’s something he’s about to scrape off his boot. “I didn’t ask you to come and introduce yourself, to sit with her or any damn thing else.”
Her cheeks flush. “Damn, prospect. I was just making polite conversation.”
Rick plants a hand on the table and leans in. The look on his face whips that smile right off her face. “You don’t get to make my sister uncomfortable. You don’t get to comment on who brings her where or speculate why. And you sure as hell don’t get to mouth off to her. Am I making myself clear?”
Other brothers in the room watch what’s going on and nobody interferes. That tells me all I need to know about this woman.
Jewel grinds out, “She’s an outsider.”
“She’s my fuckin’ family,” Rick shoots back. “Which means she’s off limits to you. You don’t get to question her, demand answers, threaten her or whatever in the fuck this is.”
She swallows. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
Rick stares at her harder. “Liar. You like messing with people. You should know that fucking with her again might end with a ban.”
Jewel stands quickly and backs away. “Asshole. You know you’re just a prospect, right? You don’t have any power here.”
Rick reaches out with one hand, grabs her by the arm and jerks her forward. “Yeah, I’m also a prospect that will mess your shit up. Now, get the fuck away from my family.”
When the club girl scrambles away, he turns his attention to me.
“Sorry you had to see that, Natalie.” His expression is already shifting to concern. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” I say honestly. “She wasn’t subtle, though.”
He snorts. “That one never is.”
I smile at my brother, feeling a little uncomfortable at how he handled that woman. I’d had worse things said to me in the past, and she didn’t seem so bad. “Thanks, bro.”
He waves it off like it’s nothing, but I see the tension still riding him. “That one’s trouble. You might think I was out of order, but you gotta shut that shit down. You don’t owe anyone explanations. If someone gives you shit, you come to me or Bear.”
As if summoned, Bear appears at Rick’s side. His gaze flicks from Rick to me, then tracks the direction the woman went.
“Problem?” he asks quietly.
“Handled,” Rick says. “Jewel was just being a garden variety bitch.”
He doesn’t look particularly angry. “I’ll have a word with her too.” Something about the certainty in his voice makes me feel safe but also makes me wonder if their response isn’t overkill. Sure, she was being a territorial ass but surely, they don’t intend to be this overprotective all the time.
We sit down together and things are awkward for a few minutes until the prospects come with plates of food.
Slowly the noise rises back to normal. Rick launches into a story about gate duty like he hasn’t just shut some club girl down in front of half the club.
Bear listens while shoveling food into his mouth.
His eyes occasionally flick up to glance around the room.
At one point, he glances at me. “You sure you’re good?”
I meet his intense gaze and then glance away. “Yeah. I just wasn’t expecting that to happen.”
He then nods and goes back to eating his food. “Always expect the unexpected. That way no one will catch you by surprise.”
That’s when my phone buzzes in my pocket again.
As I eat, I can feel it vibrating over and over again.
I can’t handle reading anymore of their messages, so I focus on the way my brother talks with his hands, on the way he’s trying to distract me from what happened with an entertaining story.
I owe this brother of mine everything. Because of him I have a roof over my head, warm food in my belly, and a job I’m sure I’m going to love.
This is more than I thought I would ever have and I can’t believe how casual he is about it.
Bear’s presence at his side is just icing on the cake. He’s quiet, watchful, and protective, like a gentle giant. Whichever woman is lucky enough to end up with him will be blessed beyond measure.