Page 29 of Choose the Bears

I liked the pretty pink blush in her cheeks, right before Asher spoke.

“Do you think you could cook meals like that on a larger scale?”

“What?”

Her smile faded as my mind raced, trying to think of a way to bring it back, but Asher forged on.

“We have a commercial kitchen at our headquarters, but it can be difficult to retain staff. Good, solid, stick-to-your-ribs food like this.”

I saw then that Asher had polished his stew off super fast as well, which was saying something. He tended to treat food like it was a necessary evil, so watching him eat had my brain ticking.

His too.

“Too often the women we help are forced to cook for themselves,” Asher continued. “We have a company delivering meals for us currently, but they aren’t great. You’d have the kitchen to yourself, or we could hire staff if you liked. I’m pretty sure we could offer a better pay deal than what you’re getting at the supermarket.”

This was prime Asher, making decisions without our input, but right now I couldn’t argue. It made perfect sense. Imogen would be somewhere safe most of the day. Our bears would be soothed by the fact she was in our space. And bringing in more money? That had to be attractive to her. I turned then, anticipating her yes.

“You really take this charity thing seriously,” she said, her eyes creasing at the corners. “Helping me move, buying me groceries, protecting me from my dumb ex.” Imogen looked around the apartment, seeing all the adjustments we’d made. “But you must have other people who need your help more.” I watched her rise to her feet, go to collect the now empty dishes, but I couldn’t allow that to happen. My hands were reaching for them before she could react, dumping them in the sink, then collecting all the other things used for cooking. “Maybe you should be getting back to the real victims.”

I felt her eyes on me as I ran the water, filling the sink, but focussed on finding the dishwashing liquid and a sponge rather than Imogen’s searching look. We couldn’t avoid her for long though.

“Truth or dare?” I asked as I sank the bowls into the water, starting to scrub them clean.

“What?”

“Truth or dare, Imogen?”

My eyes met hers and I wondered then if she saw a hint of my bear. Fur didn’t appear, nor did my fangs, but he was there, staring out at her. She shook her head and then answered, “Truth.”

“Do you want us out of here? Does having us around make you feel uncomfortable? Are you longing to just have some time and space to yourself?”

“That’s a whole lot of questions,” she said.

“You opted for truth,” I replied.

“I didn’t think we were playing anymore?”

“Who said we were playing?” I removed my hands from the water, letting the bowl I’d been cleaning sink under the suds. “So truth or?—?”

“You being here…” She looked around, seeing we had an audience for the first time. “It feels like a parachute slowing my descent, but its not going to stop me coming down to earth hard. I need to know when its going to cut out on me, because then I’ll be in freefall, going down, down, down.” I could almost hear the sharp whine of a bomb being dropped in my ear. “The only way I’ll survive is by anticipating the moment I’ll be on my own.”

My mouth opened, ready to say something, anything, to reassure her, without revealing what we were to her, but Asher stepped forward.

“Truth or dare?”

“It’s not my turn this time,” she said.

“No, it’s not. Ask me.”

I watched her shift then, a restless energy rising in the face of his implacable stare, but she did as she was asked.

“Truth or?—”

“Truth.” His hands were shoved into his jeans pockets as he took control, the same way he always did. “We’ll be here, with you, until such point as you don’t want us around, so don’tworry.” Imogen and I snorted at that, because I think we both knew our brains didn’t work that way. “The job is yours for as long as you want it. I’ll have contracts drawn up, whatever you need. If you want to stay at the supermarket, then we’ll make sure you’re safe when you go to and from work. Experience tells me that people have let you down. They saw what Mike was doing and refused to step in and help you, perhaps because you weren’t ready to leave.”

He shook his head slowly.

“That’s not us. We know what we’re doing, how to help you make this adjustment. Moving beyond surviving to thriving, that’s always been our goal, now, I dare you to let Kyle finish the dishes and clean up the kitchen.”

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