Chapter Twelve
I let out a heavy, miserable groan, burying my face in my hands. On the granite counter before me sat the cream-colored wedding invitation, practically mocking me with its elegant, cursive font.
I was torn.
A massive part of me desperately wanted to toss the card straight into the trash chute and forget it existed. Jason would be there. My biological mother would be there. The rest of my extended family would undoubtedly be hovering around the buffet, shooting me those suffocating, pathetic pity looks all night.
The sharp click of a door handle broke the morning quiet. I lift my head from my hands, my dark mood instantly evaporating as a slow, wicked smirk spread across my lips.
Mitch was walking out of his room wearing absolutely nothing but a tight pair of dark gray boxers.
“Hey,” he grumbles, his voice thick and impossibly deep with sleep.
Look at that. I actually get spoken to in the mornings now, I thought triumphantly. Progress.
“Morning,” I murmur, my eyes tracing the sharp lines of his chest as he slid onto the barstool right next to me.
Without asking, he reaches out and snatches the wedding invitation right out of my hands, his emerald eyes scanning the elegant print. “What’s this?”
“An invitation to my aunt’s wedding,” I sigh, leaning my chin on my palm.
“Are you going?” he asks, throwing the card back onto the counter.
“I’m honestly trying to figure that out myself,” I mutter, staring at the cursive text. “Jason and my mom are both going to be there.”
Bear’s jaw clenches, a low rumble vibrating in his chest. “She’s not your mother, Danny.”
“Well, technically she—”
“No actual mother would ever do something that disgusting to her own child,” Bear interrupts sharply, his voice cutting through the air like a knife. “She might have given birth to you, but that’s where the title ends.”
A warm, fluttery sensation erupts in my stomach. I lean in slightly, nudging his bare shoulder with mine. “Wow. You really do care about me, don’t you?”
“Shut up,” he grumbles, though his cheeks flushed a faint shade of dark pink. He abruptly stands up from the stool and walk around the counter, grabbing a box of cereal from the pantry to mask his sudden embarrassment.
I watch him pour the milk, a sly, brilliant idea forming in my head. “By the way... is there any possible way you can find somewhere else to be this Friday night?”
“Why?” he grunts, walking back around and sliding onto the stool beside me again.
“Jay and Mac are coming over to the apartment for a girls’ night,” I murmur smoothly.
He stops his spoon halfway to his mouth, turning his head to glare daggers at me. “No.”
“Oh, come on. It’s happening whether you like it or not,” I say, putting on my best stern, uncompromising face.
Bear set his spoon down with a sharp click against the ceramic. “It’s my apartment, Danny. You just rent a room.”
“Fair point,” I concede easily. But I wasn’t backing down that easily. I slide my stool an inch closer to his, bridging the gap between us. Reaching out, I slowly ran the pad of my index finger down the heavy, defined muscle of his tattooed forearm. “But... since we’ve established that you care deeply about me and my overall well-being, I think I should be allowed to have my friends over to my home.”
Bear didn’t pull his arm away, but his emerald eyes tracked my finger before locking onto mine. “Flirting with me isn’t going to magically make me say yes, girl.”
“Oh yeah? Then what will?” I question, my voice dropping an octave.
“Nothing.”
I tilt my head, a teasing smirk playing on my lips. “Are you just jealous that I’m going to be giving your other family members all of my undivided attention?”
“I don’t give two asses where you decide to give your attention, Danny,” he snaps, his breath hitching slightly.
Ding, ding, ding. Sensitive area alert.
I lean in closer, shifting on my stool until our faces were inches apart, my warm breath fanning across his split lip. “Are you sure about that? Or do you just want to be the one hanging out with me on Friday night?”
I let out a sharp, surprised gasp as Bear suddenly reaches out, catches the back of my neck, and smashes his lips against mine. The kiss was sudden, passionate, and scorching hot, heavy with all the unvented frustration he’d been bottling up. His lips move against mine with a fierce, possessive hunger that entirely melted my brain.
Just as quickly as he starts it, he pulls away. A soft whine of protest escapes my throat, which only made his lips curl into a rare, devastating smirk.
“That’s exactly what I want to do on Friday night,” he murmurs, his voice incredibly deep.
“Okay,” I whisper, completely dazed.
Without another word, the smirk vanishes from his face. He picks up his spoon and casually went right back to eating his cereal as if he hadn’t just totally rocked my entire universe.
I clear my dry throat, trying to regain my composure as I reach for my phone. Pulling up my messages, I quickly texted Mac.
Me: Can’t do Friday x
Mac: Why?
Me: Bear said no
Mac: I’ll deal with him.
She didn’t send anything else. I toss my phone aside, but my eyes violently widen in horror a second later when Bear’s phone began loudly ringing from the depths of his dark bedroom.
He sighs, pushing his half-empty bowl away to go grab it. Acting on pure, chaotic instinct, I lunge forward and jump entirely onto his back. Because he was completely caught off guard, his massive frame stumbles forward a step.
“What the actual hell, Danny?!” he roars, his hands instantly reaching back to catch my thighs so I wouldn’t fall.
“You can’t answer that phone!” I yell into his ear, reluctantly sliding off his back and planting my feet on the floorboards.
“And why the fuck not?” he demands, turning around to glare down at me.
“Because it’s Mac!” I answer frantically. “She’s calling to yell at you about why we can’t have our girls’ night.”
Bear let out a heavy grunt, brushing past me. “I’ll talk to her.”
He gently pushes me to the side and walks straight into his bedroom, snatching his phone off the nightstand. I didn’t even hesitate—I follow him right across the threshold, casually strolling into the forbidden zone and tossing myself onto the edge of his bed.
“Hey,” he grunts into the receiver, pacing the floorboards in nothing but his boxers. “Yeah, she told me.” He rolls his eyes dramatically, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Because it’s my apartment, Mac.”
He let out a sharp, irritated huff, his posture stiffening. “I don’t give a shit that you’re my parole officer and can throw me right back into a cell,” he snaps savagely into the phone. “Do it. See if I care.”
My heart stops. I leap off the mattress, sprint across the room, and snatch the phone out of his hand before he could say anything else stupid.
“Don’t actually send him back to jail, Mac!” I yell into the speaker, my breathing frantic.
A loud, amused cackle echoed from the line. “Oh, hey girl! Relax, I was just trying to blackmail the idiot, but it clearly didn’t work.”
I let out a massive sigh of relief, leaning against Bear’s desk. “Oh, thank God.”
“Why? Are you two actually getting close now?” Mac teases, her voice dripping with sheer amusement.
“Sort of,” I mumble, my cheeks heating up as I glance at Bear, who was currently glaring a hole into my forehead.
“Man, Jay completely called it,” Mac chuckles on the other end. “Though honestly, Danny, I thought you could do way better.”
I frown, entirely confused. “What do you mean by that?”
“Bear has a lot of serious baggage, Danny,” Mac explains, her tone shifting into something a bit more grounded. “He gets angry incredibly fast, and when he loses it, he really struggles to control himself.”
I look up at Bear’s battered, bruised face, remembering how safely his arms had held me while I cried on the curb two nights ago. “I can handle him,” I say, a wave of fierce, unshakable confidence washing over me.
“We’ll see about that,” Mac replies with a knowing hum. “Do me a favor: tell Mitchell that if he doesn’t let us have our girls’ night, I will personally sit you down and tell you every single detail of what happened during his first year in the state penitentiary.”
A genuine giggle escapes me. “Okay, will do.”
I tap the screen to hang up and hand the phone back to Bear. He snatches it from my fingers, his expression dark. “What did the bitch say?”
I smirk, crossing my arms. “She said that you don’t deserve me.”
“She’s an absolute nightmare,” Bear growls, tossing his phone onto the bed.
“She’s the mother of your adorable niece,” I correct, nudging his hip. “Be nice.”
“You are absolutely not having that stupid girls’ night here, Danny,” he snaps, turning on his heel. “I am not having my fucking living room smelling like toxic nail polish and cheap perfume all weekend.”
“We literally don’t even do that at girls’ nights,” I deadpan, rolling my eyes. “We just get completely wasted on white wine.”
“It was an illustrative example,” Bear hisses, his jaw clenching. “Now get the fuck out of my bedroom.”
“No,” I say stubbornly. I march right back over to his bed and sat down squarely in the center of the dark blue satin sheets. “It’s actually really nice in here.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly why it’s my bedroom,” he snaps, throwing his hands in the air.
“Don’t be so incredibly moody,” I sigh, running my hand over the smooth fabric. “I don’t even understand why you’re so terrified of letting me in here anyway.”
“Because it’s my damn space, Danny! And the second I let you get comfortable; you’re going to start moving all your pink, girly shit into my room,” he growls, gesturing wildly to the charcoal walls.
I blink at him, entirely amused by his twisted logic. “Why on earth would I start putting my stuff in your room when I have my own perfectly fine bedroom right down the hall?”
Bear huffs, his chest heaving as he completely ran out of arguments. “Never mind.”
“Wait... are you talking about the future?” I question, a wicked grin spreading across my face. I lean back against his pillows, interlocking my fingers behind my head as I look up at him. “Like... when we possibly might be more than just friends?”
“Stop being so completely—” Bear groans, cutting himself off as he slams his hands over his face. Unable to handle the teasing for another second, he spins around and stormed entirely out of his own room, leaving me alone.
I smile brightly, rolling over onto my stomach and burying my face directly into his pillows. I take a deep, lingering breath, catching the heavy, intoxicating scent of woodsmoke, cologne, and iron that clings to the fabric.
God, it smelled so good.