Page 109 of Choose the Bears

I was exactly the same, I realised. I’d done this kind of shit to Maddie more times than I could remember, and that flush of shame turned into something hot and angry when I stared Phil down. “Well, last drinks have been called and yours is poured away, so off you toddle.”

I waved him away like one might a child, the idiot jerking himself to his feet in response. He barely stood as tall as my shoulder, and that had him turning beet red. His nostrils flared and he snorted like a wounded bull, right before he pulled away.

“Don’t want to hang around here anyway. If you cunts would just fix my fucking car, I could get out of here.”

“Gotta get that deposit together first…”

I meant that as a snappy retort, but as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I looked over at the till. Daisy was halfway through counting the ten-dollar notes, staring at everything taking place. While I don’t doubt a dick like Phil would’ve liked to get his rocks off with Daisy, what he needed was far more prosaic.

The money in the register.

“Finish closing up,” I told her in a firm but gentle voice. “I’ll go and lock up all the doors.”

I’m not sure if the publican would’ve approved of my methods, but I moved everyone on, getting them out the door, their glasses whisked away.

“Thanks,” she said when I came out of the kitchen, after putting each glass through the washer. “You’re better help than Kelly is.”

“Hey!” the other woman said, retrieving the mop bucket.

“We’ve just gotta finish up the floors and then…” Daisy’s hand slid down my shirt, plucking at the buttons. “You can take me home.”

“I’ll sweep,” I told Kelly, stepping away from Daisy’s grip, “if you mop.”

“You got it,” the other woman replied.

About half an hourlater I saw Kelly to her car and then Daisy and I slid into the cab of the truck I was borrowing from Greg. The silence was a strange one, heavy and laden with subtext.

“I—”

“What’s that stone?”

Daisy pointed to the small charm hanging from the keyring. Greg had put it on with a snicker, because it was a metal image of a bear, a greenish stone in its paws.

“Just a joke.” He’d meant it to be a cruel reminder of which keys were mine. I was the son of bear shifters, so a bear charm it was. “The fellas, they call me… It doesn’t matter.” I turned the keys in the ignition, the old truck rattling to life. “Where am I dropping you off?”

She gave me her address and I eased the car forward, turning right.

Coober Pedy is a tiny town, so it didn’t take me long to reach her place. I killed the engine and turned to face her only to find Daisy had already taken her seatbelt off and was leaning forward. Those beautiful tits were all on display, but I didn’t rise to the bait. They were like works of art, able to be observed for their beauty, but you didn’t put your dirty mitts on them.

“Did you want to come in for one last drink?” she asked, and I sighed. My hand rubbed over my face. I felt impossibly tired. It felt like I’d been here before, and a well-worn road was laid out before me. I could take her inside, then to bed, ensuring she was safe from any threats outside, then rut her hard, fast, getting my rocks off and hers too, if I had a mind to.

But then what?

If fucking barmaids solved all my problems, I’d be the happiest man alive right now, and I wasn’t.

“That bloke at the bar, he’s got me worried,” I confessed. “The way he’s been looking at you, it isn’t right.” She flushed then, thinking she was getting some big declaration of attraction, but that wasn’t it. Daisy was just some girl to me, but even some girl didn’t deserve to be hurt by a creepy fuck. “Until he leaves town, I’ll pick you up at the end of your shift, bring you home, like one of the bouncers should’ve and…”

“And?”

That seductive little purr she let out each time a guy approached the bar felt different in an enclosed space.

“And I’ll stay out here, make sure you get inside safe.” The light died in her eyes, but I forged on. “Lock your doors behind you and your windows. I’ll give you my number, in case you need?—”

“Don’t worry about it.”

She was hurt and I hated that, but I didn’t know what else to do. Because the longer I looked at her, the more I saw another barmaid. One with beautiful red hair and green eyes that rivalled the crystal on my keychain, who just like Daisy, saw through my shit and wasn’t too impressed by it. This girl wanted nothing more to do with me, obviously thinking I was leading her on, but I waited and watched for the lights to flick on in her windows. Hers was the only silhouette I saw. As the night air breezed through the car, I felt a shiver as the sweat cooled on my skin and that had me looking down.

Were my arms always that fucking hairy? I turned my forearm one way then the other, the fair hair gone from blond to white right now. It had to be the moonlight bleaching it pale, didn’t it? Because as I looked closer, that white gleam faded. I glanced up and saw the moon had gone behind a cloud and worked out that had to be it.

---