Page 14 of Bear the Burden

That meant Hyett would see his leg. He would freak out like the last guy, but it would hurt even more this time. Wesley hadn’t known the rando. They’d simply hooked up. But with Hyett, it was different. Wesley really liked him.

Now the man stood in front of him, staring at him like Wesley was the crazy one. The hysterical laughter probably didn’t help matters. Neither did his throbbing leg. Wesley shouldn’t have walked so far from the road.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” Hyett reached for him, and Wesley didn’t stop him. He wanted the relief, but more so, he wanted to feel Hyett’s strong arms around him. The man pulled Wesley to his chest and hugged him close.

“You’re a bear,” he said into Hyett’s pec. Why did the guy have to be so freaking tall?

“I am.” Hyett rubbed his back. “Don’t let that scare you, sweetheart. I would never do anything to hurt you.”

Wesley burrowed deeper into him, sighing as his pain began to ease. “How are you doing that? Is it because we’re mates?”

“Yes.” Hyett hugged Wesley tighter, as if the guy needed to be touched just as much as he did.

“Magic?” After what Hyett just revealed to him, Wesley would believe him.

The guy softly chuckled. “No magic. You just completely relax when I touch you, hon.”

Truthfully, Wesley had been kind of hoping it was magic. He’d been having such a rough time that it would be nice to discover something so cool.

Like the fact Hyett could change into a bear? That’s what should be freaking Wesley out the most, not the mate thing. The gorgeous man wasn’t even human, yet all Wesley cared about was Hyett’s reaction to seeing his scars.

“Agh!” Wesley quickly curled his arms around Hyett’s neck when the man scooped him up and held him to his chest. “What’re you doing?”

“I think it’s pretty obvious.” Hyett smiled as he started back toward the road. “I’m carrying my honey because his leg hurts.”

“But the pain went away,” Wesley argued. “I’m too high off the ground. What if you drop me? I feel ridiculous being carried.”

Despite his many protests, Wesley was loving every second of it, even though Hyett looked a little too smug with that goofy grin on his face.

“You feel wonderful in my arms, and there’s no chance in hell I’m gonna drop you.” Hyett made it back to the SUV in no time.

Wesley wished he’d taken longer. He might have felt ridiculous, probably even looked twice as absurd, but who was he to argue if Hyett liked carrying grown men?

“Dude, I can get into the car without any help,” Wesley said when Hyett wrestled with the handle then opened the door, placing him gently on the seat.

The guy kissed him on the nose then smiled. “What if I like doing it for you?” He wound the seatbelt around Wesley.

“Okay, now you’re going too far,” he grumbled, smacking at Hyett’s hands. “I can buckle it myself.”

The seatbelt clicked into place.

“Already done.” Hyett kissed his nose again.

Wesley crossed his arms. Hyett chuckled as he closed the door. “What in the hell am I doing?” He could not let this mate thing progress any further. The guy wasn’t even human, and Wesley had a horrific leg. It just couldn’t work.

“Are you really upset I did all that?” Hyett asked after he climbed in and closed the door.

Wesley opened his mouth and then chickened out, so he closed it. He wanted to tell Hyett the truth, that he was terrified of the guy seeing his leg, but he couldn’t bring himself to say the words out loud.

“I’m sorry if you thought I was taking away your independence, Wes.”

Wesley instantly stiffened. “Please…please don’t call me that.”

Hyett studied him for the longest moment. “Okay, Wesley. I won’t do it again.”

Shit. Wesley knew he was a mess, but he hadn’t realized how screwed up he was until he met Hyett. He wanted to tell the guy why he hated the shortened version of his name, but then Hyett would discover how fucked up Wesley’s homelife was. The guy might argue with his brothers, but that kind of thing was normal among siblings.

What wasn’t normal was Wesley visiting a drug house once a week to score for a man who unleashed hatred on his son when he was in pain. It also wasn’t normal for that man’s son to accidently take the drugs he never wanted to buy in the first place.

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