Page 67 of Taming the Bear
“Baby, what’s wrong?” I ask him. My thumb rubs against the apple of his cheek and he butts his head against me.
“Fuck, baby. I thought something happened to you. When they told me you left, I was scared. I couldn’t lose another person. I just couldn’t bury another woman that has my heart in their hands.”
Tears begin to leak from my eyes and I look at my parents staring at us with wonder. “I know you guys don’t know me and you’re probably wondering what the fuck just happened… I can’t tell you everything but I’m so sorry from the bottom of my heart. You have my sincere apology.”
“I love you,” I blurt out.
My mouth closes right up and my eyes grow big. I feel the tips of my ears start to flame red and I cringe. “Uh, oh shit,” I mutter and place my hands over my face.
Joe looks down at me and he winks. He doesn’t say anything but he just winks at me. I’m so fucking embarrassed that it’s making me want to throw up! This is awful.
My parents are staring at me with their mouth open and then they shrug. “Well, uh, son, you have some explaining to do about what you're doing with my daughter,” my dad says.
“All in good time,” Joe responds.
*
By the time my parents left, I was beyond ready to get out of this sterile room that I was in while I healed. The walls are white and there’s a sickening smell of bleach that is permeating my nose.
I look over to my left and see that Joe is looking at his phone rather intently but I’ve had enough of this silence. I want answers and I want to know what the hell happened. I want to know everything that he could tell me and it has to be now.
Each breath that I take, I hope it’s another breath that will give me the courage to ask the important questions. There’s so much of what happened over the past few weeks that I can’t even fathom and it’s creating more anxiety in me than I need right now.
“What are you thinkin’ about over there, baby?” Joe’s smooth voice speaks out and I look over at him still not looking at me. “I can hear your brain movin’ and I know that you’ve got something to say.”
I nod my head and then reach out for his cell phone. I grab it out of his hands and then place it on the other side of my body so it would make him work a little harder to get it. “I, uh. I need to ask you something…” I hedge and close my eyes a little.
“Go on,” Joe encourages me.
“What are we? What the fuck just happened? Why did it happen? How did Smokey and Q Ball know that it was me that hacked into their computers?” My questioning is interrupted by Joe who places two fingers over my lips.
I fight the urge to not bite the pads of his fingers.
He leans in and brushes his lips on my forehead and I smile at his gesture. “Chantal, I don’t know what we are but I know that we’re somethin’. I’m not no knight in shiny armor that you girls fantasize over. But I am a man in leather that can’t imagine my life without you.”
My cheeks heat up from his words and my eyes begin to leak with tears. No one has ever said anything like that to me and it’s amazing. There is one more important question. “Who is Dana and J.J.?” I blurt.
The man that has captured my thoughts and wormed his way into my heart, takes a deep breath and then looks up at the sky.
The Bear
This pink haired woman has the ability to slice me open and make me spill everything that I have kept to myself.
“Bear!” Slice calls through the door.
“What?” I yell back. Chantal winces at the loudness and I lean over to kiss her cheek. “Baby, I’m so sorry.”
“You gonna be stayin’?” He asks me.
I look over at the door and then back at Chantal and I knew exactly what I needed to do. I needed to get her out of here so I could talk to her about Dana and J.J. Being in the clubhouse, there are too many distractions and too many people around that could fuck us up.
“No,” I answer. When he doesn’t say anything, I look down at Chantal’s face. Her lips are the puffy pink that I think about all day and her cheeks are flushed. “Baby, wanna get out of here?”
“Yeah,” she murmurs.
Even though she tries to get up off of the bed, I lean over her and pick her up bridal style. “Alright, are you good for riding in a car?” I ask her. She nods her head and burrows into my chest.
I don’t stop and talk to anyone on my way out of the clubhouse and I don’t give a shit if that’s rude. I handled the club business and now it’s time for me to handle what’s going on with Chantal.
