Page 24 of Cross To Bear

“Well, we can fix it, but it’s gonna take some work.”

“I’ll pay you, obviously—”

“Will you?” That trademark smile was back, something I’d missed in the last few weeks, though none of us had smiled for a while. Cress made jokes about bears with sore heads, right up until I snapped at her in seriousness. Then she sat me down, made me a coffee and made me spill the beans. “We might just take you up on that offer.”

“So how much? Shit, you wouldn’t know that until you’ve had a proper look at it, would you?” she said.

“Oh, I know how much.” His eyes met mine, and I saw the reckless light flickering there. “No money though, love, so don’t worry about that. You just let us take care of you.”

“What?”

“As long as the car is in the shop, we’ll pick you up and take you to work then take you home again in the evening. You let us make you dinner, run those long baths you like with the pretty smelling bath bombs, massage your aching feet—”

“And what would you get out of that?” she asked, her back stiffening.

“The same thing any bloke worth his salt gets,” I replied, my voice hoarse. “Satisfaction that the most important person in the world to him is happy.”

I watched her shake her head slowly, that tight feeling in my chest rising, though when she turned to face us, she didn’t look pissed.

“You know my insurance would cover the damage.” She paused, then blinked. “At least I assume so.”

“Think of it this way.” Razor moved closer, so she subconsciously would get used to the idea of being wedged between us. “This way you won’t have a rise in premiums.” He smiled as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “It just makes good financial sense.”

“Right…”

That breathy tone told us everything we needed to know. Maddie was ours, she knew it on some level, and so did we. All we needed was for her to finally accept that consciously.

My dads always said everything happens for a reason. Well, right now I wanted to believe that was true. Maddie, the car, Jesse had neglected to look after both of them, but we would never make the same mistake.

“Let’s get you home,” I said when a sharp breeze had her shivering. “Because your ‘payment’ starts tonight.”

Chapter 15

So this wasn’t awkward at all.

After the panic of my car trouble washed away and my car was loaded on the back of the truck, I found myself wedged between a massive Bjorn and a just as freaking huge Razor. The tow truck only had a single cab, so there was a bench seat that could fit three human men comfortably, or two bear shifter men, and one woman, with a lot less space. Their thighs pressed against me, making mine lock together in an attempt to take up less space; and then Bjorn slung his arm along the back of the car seat. I could feel its solid weight pressed against my neck as Razor leaned back, holding the steering wheel almost negligently, as he drove me home.

I shifted, but wiggling my butt just pressed it against each of their sides and Razor looked down with a lazy smile. One that just got wider, the more he took in. Perhaps because my hands were primly clasped in my lap, itching to grab my phone, send Mal a quick message and have her ride to the rescue.

Though from what?

Hot biker dudes who promised to wine me, dine me and then rub my feet afterwards? I couldn’t do it to her. Anyway, she would’ve just stood on the sidelines cheering them on, which meant…

“Here we are.” There was something infinitely feline about Razor, which didn’t make sense considering what animal he was, but the fact remained. He looked like a cat that got the cream as he pulled into my parking space. “Home sweet home.”

“So I really need to have a long bath and—”

“Sounds good,” Bjorn said, then glanced over the top of my head. “I’ll run the bath, and Razor can make the G&T, then whaddya reckon? Thai food from that place up the road?”

“You like a good curry, don’t you, Maddie?” Razor asked.

“Yeah, but—”

“Chicken Penang for you, beef Massaman for Bjorn and red curry for me. Rice or noodles?”

“Um, rice, but—”

“Job’s on,” he said, then opened up the truck door and jumped out. I went to do the same, when a pair of hands went around my waist, forcing me to suck a breath in, right as Bjorn picked me up and set me down beside him like I was no more than a doll. I blinked as I stared up at him.

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