Page 50 of Choose the Bears

“Look you pus-filled boil on the arse of society,” I said, cutting him off. “Your mate beat a child black and blue and had been doing the same to his wife for years. If that's the kind of person that you call ‘friend,’ I look forward to all the shitty things that will happen to you when you no doubt join him in jail if you’re hiding him right now.”

Mike’s breath was coming too hard, too fast.

“Stay the fuck away from Imogen,” Lucas snapped. “Make sure your ‘mates’ do the same.”

“Or what?”

That might’ve sounded tough if I didn’t catch the thready note of bravado in his tone.

“Or you’ll find out exactly what happens to men that mess with women we protect.”

I stabbed a finger to end the call then held the device out. Kyle took it back with a raised eyebrow, no doubt wanting to ask all the questions about what was going on in my head right now but unable to with an audience.

“Let the cleaners finish their work,” Asher told Imogen. “They’ll have the place looking like new before they’re done.” His brows jerked down as he stared at the door frame. “Better than new. The frame will be replaced and the door rehung, but…” He was going to tell her something she didn’t want to hear, we all knew that. “Until Phil is found, you need to stay somewhere we can keep you safe.”

“But work…”

Her protest was thin. Even she could see the wisdom of what he was saying.

“We can contact your duty manager for you,” he replied smoothly. “I gave Jade my number and she already has someone ready to cover your shifts.”

“But…”

She wanted to fight this, fight the reality of what she was seeing, and that’s when I knew just how strong she was. Imogen didn’t want to lie down and just accept the shit dealt to her, but she couldn’t change this.

I could fix one thing for her though.

“Show me the covers of the books that have been damaged,” I told her. “I can find replacements.”

“You can’t.” She swayed slightly and I moved forward, stabilising her with a hand on her back. “You can’t. A lot of these books are out of print now.”

“You don’t like e-readers?” I asked.

“Paper.” She shot me a helpless smile. “I like paper. The feel of it, the smell…”

Her eyes filled with tears and I pulled her close, not even caring that we were supposed to be taking things slow. I couldn’t let the one woman I’d love suffer through this alone. Hot tears stained my shirt as my hand moved in slow circles, trying to soothe her through this.

“Trust me, if something can be found on the internet, I’ll be able to locate it,” I assured her.

“Luc is the king of the geeks,” Kyle said with a weak smile. “You should see him dressed up in cosplay.”

“Cosplay?”

She peeled her face away from me and stared into my eyes.

“Not cosplay. LARP.” I swallowed hard, realising this wasn’t the time. “But yeah, I have magic fingers.” I wriggled them in the air, miming them flying across a keyboard. “Every book that’s damaged, I’ll replace, I promise.”

I’d scour every secondhand book site on the internet, and if they couldn’t be found, then print-on-demand sites you could. Hell, I’d approach authors directly and see if I could pay to have copies printed if that’s what it took.

Anything for my girl.

I felt her arms tighten around me for just a second, then she pulled away, self-consciously wiping away her tears.

“Thanks. I don’t expect you to do that obviously, but…” Her eyes met mine and I saw there a hunger, to be understood, to find rapport with someone who knew what this loss meant to her. I had a stash of comics I kept very carefully in their archival sleeves, rarely pulling them out lest the acid in my fingers damage them. I knew all too well how it would feel to lose books. “I appreciate it. I guess we just go back…”

Home, she nearly said it and the bear roared his approval inside me. While I’d never want something like this to happen, if it brought us closer together, I would always treasure that.

“Go back to headquarters and I’ll…” She frowned then, as if remembering something. “You said you wanted an in-house cook? I can’t promise anything long term, but if I can’t go to work, I may as well do something.”

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