Page 4 of Bearly Hanging On

“Goodnight, Daria…”

Her arm rose as she waved to me limply, then I heard a low whistle as her eyes fell closed. With a sigh I looked at the chaos in our lounge room, then turned off the TV, vowing to deal with it tomorrow.

Apparently that wasn’t goingto happen. I was deep in sleep, some rhythmic bass thumping in my head as I danced with not one, not two, but three faceless hotties. Rather than my usual uncoordinated thrashing, I was fluid, graceful, sexy. I smiled into my pillow, enjoying the fantasy, but right as they drew closer and I could get a clearer look at their faces, I was rudely awakened.

“Rise and shine, bitch!” I blinked, blinked, tried to focus my eyes, and then groaned when I realised what the thumping was. Not a drum beat, but my head throbbing in time with my heart. Daria’s face swam into view, forcing me to jerk back.

“What the actual…?” I moaned and then pulled my pillow over my head. “Bugger off, Dar.”

“No way.” The sheets were pulled off me, and when she caught sight of my lily-white arse, she let out a little scream ofhorror before turning off my air conditioner. Sacrilege. I flopped on my back like a fish, spreading the pillow over my bare torso. “You said you’d come to the hardware store with me.”

“Hardware?”

When my vision cleared, I saw her standing there in a very cute pair of daisy dukes and a t-shirt tied at the waist. Her hair was in goddamn pigtails, and she tapped her feet impatiently.

“I realised I’m done chasing after emotionally unavailable white collar guys who think their bank balance gives them a get-out-of-jail-free card that lets them be the biggest dicks. I want a real man.”

“Feel free to get one while I sleep…” I closed my eyes, feeling sleep ready to claim me. “And turn the damn aircon back on.”

“You want one too.”

I loved Daria, I really did, but right now I didn’t like her at all. She grabbed my arm, obviously intent on dragging me out of bed bodily if that’s what it took. I pulled back, feeling my brain slosh around in my head as I sat on the side of the bed.

“OK, OK, I’m up. I’m up.” I glanced at her owlishly. “So what’s the plan again?”

“Enough apps,” she said with a grin. “We’re meeting guys the old way. Walk up the aisles, look for someone hot and most importantly, single, and then see if you can get them to help with some DIY project. I’ll even buy you a sausage sandwich.”

“Two,” I countered. “Gonna need it to soak up all that tequila. Now, let me have a shower in peace and order us an Uber. Neither of us is in a fit state to drive.”

“Yes…!”

I watched her pump her fists in the air as she walked out of my room and then shook my head. Humour Daria and then come back to sleep the day away. What could go wrong?

I needed to scrub that phrase from my brain, because that was just tempting fate, and Lady Fate? She was a tricky bitch. Aswe spilled out of the Uber after Daria had paid the fare, I didn’t realise I was about to go on another date.

A date with destiny.

“Alright, let’s meet some hot tradies,” she said, rubbing her hands together.

Chapter 2

Kieran

“So what do we need?”

I pulled out my phone, looking over the instructions the dads had sent me. Being the son of bear shifters was fun. Being the son of four guys that expected all of their kids to jump in and help with any community project but refused to accept anything other than the best was even better. I scrolled through the many, many texts I’d received on the way over here. Pretty sure at this point it would’ve been easier for them to go to the hardware store and grab what they wanted themselves, but my sleuthmate, Tor, walked up to the many hooks on display and started grabbing stuff.

“Hooks.” He dumped a packet of them into a basket. “Wall plugs. Wire.” It was then he shot me a broad grin. “Done. So let’s get this?—”

“Wrong sized plugs for those hooks.” Mack was the other member of my sleuth, and right now he pawed through the basket, putting everything back. “Wrong sized hooks for thepictures we have to put up and… wrong gauge wire. That’s three for three, pussy cat.”

Tor was a tiger shifter, something that became clear as Mack went to ruffle his dark hair. You could almost see his beast shift under his skin, laying his fluffy ears back against his skull as he hissed at Mack. His eyes turned from that weird green colour to a coppery gold, but that just got Mack riled up.

“Least I don’t sniff other people’s butts, dog boy,” Tor shot back.

Mack was a wolf shifter and a big one at that, which meant the two of them seemed locked in some kind of weird dominance fight to the death. Not for the first time, I wondered at the wisdom of a mixed species sleuth.

Trouble is, that was a view most of my kind shared.

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