Page 80 of Protecting the White Bear

Like before, Monica was quiet as she moved up the stairs. They didn’t hear anything on the second floor. No talking, no movement, nothing.

He wondered if they were asleep. They couldn’t have been alerted that they were here. Hell, if Denny and Eloise climbed off the balcony, found her car disabled, and saw his car down the road…

He could imagine them breaking into his car, possibly hot-wiring it and taking off, leaving Monica and him stranded!

He ran ahead of Monica to the door and shoved it open. No one was in the bed. Hell. He rushed into the bedroom and looked out the glass door at the deck. There were no footprints.

Monica dashed to the bathroom door and signaled to him that someone was in there.

She opened the door, and Denny rushed her, naked as the day he came into the world and was covered in soap and water. He quickly tackled her for her gun, throwing her back onto the slippery tile floor. The shower was still on, and the bathroom was steamy from the hot water.

Andy was on top of Denny instantly, but he was wet and soapy, and getting hold of him was nearly impossible. Andy got him in a neck hold finally and yanked him off Monica. She quickly pulled her handcuffs out and slapped them on one of his wrists. Then Andy helped her to get the cuff on the other wrist and locked them in place.

“Hey, you can’t leave me here like this!” Denny said.

They dragged him out of the bathroom onto the wooden bedroom floor.

Monica quickly headed for the bathroom again while Andy joined her. “Out of the shower now!” Monica shouted to Eloise, who was in the shower stall.

The glass was fogged up, and it was as if she could hide in there until they left.

“What are you doing here! Shit! Give me a towel, why don’t you? Damn pigs.”

“When you get out. Turn off the shower now.”

Instead of turning off the shower, Eloise opened the door and sprayed Monica with the shower hose. The water was steaming hot, and Andy yanked Monica out of the bathroom to keep her from being scalded.

“Now what?” Andy asked, calling from outside the door as water splashed all over the floor. “Eventually, your hot water will run out. You’re coming with us whether you want to or not.”

Denny began moving behind them, and they turned to see him on his knees now, his hands still handcuffed behind his back. He was trying to get them to his front, but unlike Lionel, who had been able to do that, Denny was having a hard time, which was good for Andy and Monica.

They still had the problem of taking them to the car like this. They had to get them to dress themselves, which could be practically impossible if they didn’t cooperate, and nothing in their previous actions said they were about to do so.

"We could always resort to calling in the white coats," Monica told Andy.

Yeah, as bears, they wouldn’t have all the guff. "We could. We’ll let them prove they can get dressed on their own first. I would rather not have to dress them ourselves."

"Agreed."

Eloise was no longer shooting water out of the shower, so Monica peeked inside the bathroom. "Turn off the water now."

Eloise aimed the hot spray of water at Monica again. Only this time, Andy rushed in, yanked the hose out of Eloise's hand, and dragged her out of the stall. With Monica's bad hand, he couldn't wait to see if she could manage to wrestle with the violent woman. Instead, Monica shut off the shower, still holding her gun at the ready.

"You know, if you hadn't tried to scald us and had acted civilly, we wouldn't have had to take such drastic measures.” Monica grabbed a towel off the rack and shoved it at Eloise.

Andy released Eloise's arm so she could wrap the towel around her. Instead, she started to towel dry herself. Andy grabbed another towel, dried off his parka, and hung the towel back on the rack. Then he left the bathroom while Monica continued to hold the gun on her. He returned with Eloise’s clothes, handed them to her, and left the room again to keep an eye on Denny.

"He's cute for being a pig." Eloise walked into the bedroom with her clothes in hand; probably because the floor was so wet, she would have gotten her clothes wet—or at least her pant legs and socks.

Monica watched her dress while Andy glanced out the window, and his heart rate increased.Hell.Wendell was trudging up the drive through the path the rest of them had made. He wouldn't know the car sitting on the drive belonged to Andy, but he would probably be wary of who it belonged to. Wendell headed straight for the front door of the house.

Andy checked on Eloise. She wore her bra and pants but was still playing with her sweater. Andy stalked over to the bed and yanked the sweater from her hands.

"Hey, dammit! I can do?—"

He jammed it over her head and forced her arms into the sweater sleeve, then quickly handcuffed her.

"You watch these two." Andy located a gun on the bedside table that most likely belonged to Denny. “I'm going to make us all some hot cocoa."

---