Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
TEDDIE
The air left my lungs.
The room resembled the bedroom I grew up in. The small, cozy room in my dads' house. The place I always felt the safest of anywhere in the world. The one place I could retreat to whenever the world had me off-balance.
I sucked in a breath, then another. Forced the surprise and disorientation back, clearing my head and allowing me to think rationally. Calmly.
As I stepped into this room and looked more closely, I realized there were significant differences.
Yes, the bedspread was my favorite color, blue, but it was darker than anything I ever had before. The timber bed was made from a darker wood. The desk in the corner matched, but the chair that sat in front of it looked a lot more comfortable than my small, rickety desk chair.
Lamps sat on tables on either side of the bed but their bases weren't in the shapes of teddy bears, like I used to have. These resembled clay pots, glazed blue. I recognized the workmanship as a local potter from downtown Saltgrave.
"Lucky guess," Hel said with a shrug. "You'll find a closet over there. We had a few things delivered for you." He was holding something back.
I glanced at him sidelong, then stepped over and opened the closet.
'A few things' was an understatement. The large closet was packed with clothes, jeans, shirts, skirts, even a dress or two. Everything still had a tag hanging from it. My eyes widened at the numbers written on one of the dresses. It wasn't from Walmart, that was for sure.
"Oak guessed your size."
Of course Oak had. Out of the three of them, he was the one who had hands-on experience, albeit short.
Hel opened a drawer in a dresser beside the closet. Inside were piles of underwear and socks, also with tags attached. Several of the socks had teddy bears on them.
I lightly touched the teddy bear necklace that hung around my throat. A gift from my dads when I turned sixteen They always found excuses to buy me little bears, as if I could forget what my name was.
I decided not to ask what Hel had as a reminder of his own name. I hadn't seen a door to a basement yet, but I was certain it existed.
"Which one of you has the bear fetish?" I asked, teasing lightly, hoping like hell Hel had a sense of humor.
That brought the hint of a smile to his face.
"Just trying to make you feel at home.” He was still holding back, but I couldn't figure out why.
What more was he going to spring on me? As far as I could tell, the only lock on the bedroom door was on the inside.
They couldn't lock me in, but I could lock them out.
"Are you sure?" I asked. "You own Egger Security, don't you? The logo is also a bear." I wasn't sure if he'd confirm that or respond evasively. He'd gone to such lengths to protect his identity that he might not want to reveal everything all at once.
"Coincidence," he said without blinking. "My father had a thing about them. They represent power and protection. And you know what they say." He stepped over to adjust the curtains before turning back. "Women always choose the bear."
"Is that your company tagline?" I peered into the bathroom that was attached to the bedroom.
A clawfoot tub, tucked right under the window, was big enough to lie in comfortably.
The shower was big enough for four people at least. The matching double vanity stretched across the other side of the room, leaving more space than I'd ever need for my toiletries.
Not surprising. I caught sight of a few of those in the shower and beside the sink: shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste.
All of the essentials. Was there anything they hadn't thought of?
"No, but maybe it should be," he said. His gaze lingered on me. Was that what he wanted? For me to choose the bear?
Right now, I felt like a fish out of water. I reminded myself all I was doing was living here. They told me I had no obligation beyond that. I didn't need to choose him or any of them. Although, I couldn't deny Hel was attractive.
I still didn't know why he wanted to do this. Why me? So far, I hadn't seen any signs of other women here, apart from Shannon.
I opened my mouth to ask, but Hel was stepping toward the door.
"I'll leave you to get settled in," he said. He raised a finger and pointed toward the desk. "There's a new laptop for you in the top drawer, and a phone.” Before I could say anything, he was gone, closing the door behind him.
"Thanks," I said to the wooden door.
I had a laptop, but it was old. In spite of that, I didn't know how I felt about accepting a new one. I stepped over and slid the drawer open, then gaped.
The laptop was still in a sealed box, but I knew the model. State of the art, top of the line. If this device didn't do something, I didn't need it. Same with the phone.
"This is too much," I said to myself. Could I accept a gift like this?
Honestly, I suspected the question was, could I refuse? I had a feeling they wouldn't be returned to the store if I did. Hel would leave them somewhere convenient until I changed my mind and accepted the gifts. He didn't seem like a man who took no for an answer.
I chewed my lip and decided I'd repay them for the devices. I'd make a list of everything they bought me and return the cost when the year was out, if not before. I wouldn't have a new debt hanging around my neck.
"What are you doing, Teddie Ward?" I asked myself.
I swung my bag down off my shoulder and placed it on the bed, opened it, and pulled out a plush teddy bear my fathers gave me when I was a kid.
Purple with pink paws. I'd left her at their house when I moved in with Lyra, but I decided I wanted to have her here with me.
For some reason, she made me feel less alone.
I placed her on a table beside the bed where I could see her. She could watch over the room. Watch over me.
I wandered around, taking in everything, before I stopped in front of the window that overlooked the ocean.
The waves crashed against the sand like nothing in the world was amiss.
Like I wasn't standing here in a stranger's house, with a closet full of new clothes and a computer I wouldn't have been able to afford to buy for myself.
I wasn't naive to think there wasn't a long list of things they wanted in return.
This wasn't me continuing to live my life, but under a different roof.
No, these three men would come to claim their debts, sooner or later.
Try to, anyway. I wasn't going to make it too easy on them. In fact, this could be interesting.
Why shouldn't I enjoy my time here? When would I ever get to live in a place like this again?
Chances were they'd expect me to leave the laptop here when I left. All the clothes, too. In the meantime, I might as well enjoy them.
I walked back over to the closet, and started to rifle through the clothes inside. Chose a pair of dark jeans that would hug my ass, and a black tank top that would make my breasts look amazing.
I tied my hair back in a curly bubble, then stepped out of the room and headed back downstairs.
My feet made no sound on the floor as I stopped outside Hel's office. Voices came from inside. I recognized him and the guy I now knew as Fade.
I shouldn't be listening. It sounded like they were talking about work, but I was curious. What did Fade look like? Where did I know him from?
I leaned in and listened.
"Yeah, I know the account is important," Fade was saying. "Sometimes we have to make tough decisions."
"You think I don't know that?" Hel snapped. "I've built this business making tough decisions. This is another one. We'll keep working for them for now, but keep an eye out on…" He dropped his voice and said something I couldn't hear.
"How is the…" His voice was louder, but trailed off. The sound of a chair scraping on the floor was followed by footsteps.
I started to move away, but Hel looked out at me before I made it more than a handful of steps.
His expression softened. "Teddie, come in."
"I didn't mean to interrupt," I said.
"You're not interrupting." He gestured for me to walk ahead of him into the office.
I stopped a couple of steps in.
Stared.
One of Fade's eyebrows rose. "You look like you've seen a ghost," he drawled.
"I didn't recognize you without a book in front of your face.
" I dropped into the seat beside him. He smelled as good as he did when I met him at college.
Right before I slipped into the restrooms and got myself off.
I remembered thinking he'd been watching me.
If he had, his expression gave away nothing.
"Looks to me like you recognized me just fine," he said, sitting with his elbow on the back of the chair, a hint of ink at his sleeve.
"It's hard to forget someone like you," I said, giving him a scathing look.
He grinned. "Of course it fucking is." He seemed impressed with himself. Prick.
I wanted to kick myself. I should have identified his voice immediately. On the other hand, it was a good thing I hadn't. He seemed to have a healthy ego without me knowing who he was by his voice alone.
No, he was going to have to work a lot harder than that to impress me.
"You two know each other." The expression on Hel's face was as tight as his voice, but his irritation seemed to be squarely aimed at Fade
"She bumped into me at college," he said, as if it was all my fault.
I smirked. "He was walking around with a book in front of his face. He was practically a bombie."
"A bombie?" Fade echoed, amused disbelief on his face. As if he couldn't believe I was accusing him of anything.
"Yeah, like a zombie or a phombie, but with a book," I explained, my gaze skirting over to him, like the answer should have been obvious.
He responded by giving me a slow, sarcastic clap. "Look at you inventing new words. What a talent you have."
For a moment, I considered whether or not it would be rude to flip him off. I decided it wasn't and carried through with it, giving him a venomous smile to back it up.
He lowered his hands to his thighs and leaned over towards me. "Just for that, I'm going to spank your ass."
I didn't move away from him. "You wish," I whispered back.
"I don't need to wish, sweetheart. It won't be long until you're begging me to redden your ass with my hand. That's what girls like you do. They beg for guys like me."
His blue eyes were dark, boring right into me like he could see into my soul, or right down to my pussy. He leaned back and toyed with the inside of his lip ring with his tongue, as if somehow he'd won this round.
Fortunately for everyone concerned, he couldn't see my ruined panties.
"It's time we laid out some of those rules," Fade said. His eyes were on me while his face turned towards Hel.
"What rules?" I asked. I had agreed to that, hadn't I?
Fade smiled slowly. "Let me explain the first one."