Page 23 of Cross To Bear

“And Jesse…” I saw the little fucker standing there, laughing with one of the apprentices and some of the hangarounds that liked to appear at the garage when it was close to knock off time. My hands formed fists as I stormed over. His smile faded the minute he saw me, a familiar look of surly anger replacing it.

But not for long.

His hands gripped my wrists as I grabbed the front of his shirt and shoved him so far up the wall his little fucking feet paddled in the air.

“You fucking cunt…” he gasped out.

“No, you’re a fucking cunt. You left a woman stranded on the side of the road while her car caught on fire?”

Everyone was coming out of the woodwork now because adult life wasn’t that much different to the schoolyard. People knew when there was blood in the water and they came sniffing around to get their taste.

“You did what…?”

Razor stood there, looking like he’d just been slapped, but he recovered quickly, lunging forward to pull me away. Jesse collapsed on the ground in a messy tumble, then my real brother turned me around to face him.

“Maddie’s car is on fire?”

“Just a little bit, she said.” My hands rose and fell. “How does something catch fire a little bit?”

“Let's go and find out. We look after Maddie, right?”

I nodded sharply. “Right.”

“And as for you…” Razor was like a snake, never hitting out in anger, only with surgical precision as he lunged past me the minute Jesse got to his feet. His fist was up and then went smacking into my brother’s jaw, sending him flying backwards. My bear roared then shouldered forward, wanting his turn. “Get your fucking shit and get the fuck out of my garage, because I swear to god, if I see you again, I’ll fucking kill ya.”

And just like that, as if he hadn’t threatened Jesse with death, Razor patted my shoulder and then we both loped over to the tow truck. I couldn’t take a full breath until I was inside the cab, old school metal music blaring from the speakers as he wrenched the truck around and out onto the road.

“Reckon Mal will let us write off some speeding tickets as a work expense?” he asked me, his lips twisting into a bitter smile. “Let’s find out.”

The drive was a blur, a high speed one, where Razor swerved between cars with race car driver-like precision, but I didn’t notice any of it, until I saw her.

The sun was setting, and what light there was created a halo around her head. Her thumb was in her mouth and she was chewing her nail, just like she did whenever she was scared and didn’t want to let on. My chest felt like it was clenching so damn hard, I half expected to be having a heart attack.

And I guess in some ways, I was.

She was mine. Maddie was mine, and she was scared and vulnerable and in danger and maybe that’s what excused what came next. As the truck rolled to a stop, I threw myself out of the cab. My arms were around her without thought, and I held her close, mumbling something soothing as I legged it up the road. The man knew that if there was gonna be an explosion, it would’ve happened by now, but the bear… He was done playing by human rules. He was pushing me hard, demanding control, ready to throw her on his back and force her to hold on as he went running up the freeway. We’d disappear into the bush and we’d hunt, forage, take care of her and she’d be…

“Mine…” I whispered. “Mine.”

“Bjorn!”

My eyes closed and my feet slowed when I felt her arms around me, holding me tight. It was everything I’d been longing for so violently for three years. I buried my face in her hair and just breathed her in for a second.

“I’m here.” My voice broke on the words. “I’m here, Maddie. You should’ve rung me first.”

“I didn’t want…” She gasped that out. “I thought I should—”

“Call me.” I pulled away then, staring into her eyes, drinking in every inch of her. “I don’t give a fuck what’s wrong, you call me. Promise me that.”

“Promise us that.” We turned around to see Razor was toting a fire extinguisher. He shook his head, brows creased, before he shot her a harsh smile. “We’ll always be there for you, you know that. Maybe we weren’t upfront about it, but… We are now. You got an issue, you fucking call us.” He stabbed a finger at his chest. “Call us, Maddie.”

She pulled away then, nodding slowly before wiping her eyes.

“I wasn’t ready to. This means something and I… I wasn’t ready to do that yet, but hey, car fires wait for no woman, so… what’s the verdict?”

“The car’s fucked.” I growled at his bluntness, and he just shrugged. “It was supposed to be serviced a couple of years ago, but I’m guessing Jesse never took it in for you.”

“I gave him the keys…” She shook her head. “I should’ve followed up on it. It’s my car.”

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