Page 15 of Bear
“Let me run something by you, Shadow,” I said, switching topics. He let out a sigh like he could see through my maneuver but he still listened.
“What’s up, Bear?”
“Cecily feels like a horrible person because a kid she was watching got caught in some crossfire. He died as a result. She’s beating herself up and I know she’s second-guessing everything right now. Taking care of kids is her entire fucking passion. She lights up when she talks about teaching or helping children. I don’t want this to paralyze her with fear. I also don’t want her to think she’s a bad person because she’s fucking not. I want to show her what a bad guy looks like.”
“Bear, don’t take that girl on a run with you,” Shadow blurted. A smile inched across my face and I shrugged my shoulders.
“I said I wanted to run it past you. Not get your permission, Shadow. I figure if she sees me in action she’ll know that she has nothing to worry about as far as being a bad person.”
She’ll also see that I’m not as good as she thinks I am.
“You like to teach hard ass lessons, don’t you?” He chuckled.
“I try.”
“Well, don’t kill anyone in front of her. She seems…innocent.”
“She is. I want to keep her that way.”
“So you wanna kill motherfuckers in front of her?” Shadow stood up with a sigh. “I get where you’re coming from but ease her into it. It might rattle her enough so that she sees the difference between being around when someone is killed to seeing someone get killed in cold blood. Those are two very different things. Trust me. I know.” We slapped hands and he let out another yawn. Fatherhood was kicking his ass but it must have been rewarding too because he looked happy.
“I’ll bring Ivy and Sarah by when we scout places for the next sweet shop. Ivy misses you.”
“Why wouldn’t she?” I smirked.
“Yeah. Fuck you, Bear. I’ll be in touch.” Shadow stopped at the foot of the steps and called upstairs, “I’m leaving. It was nice to meet you, Cecily.”
Her footsteps immediately rushed to the top landing. “Bye, Titan. Nice meeting you too.”
“I’ll see you around, darling. Keep this suave motherfucker out of trouble.” He flipped me off before leaving and I laughed a little. Sometimes I wished I was the type of person capable of having real friends that I could let get close. Shadow, Cecily, and my right-hand man, Ace were the closest I’d get.
“I see your ass got dressed.” Cecily wore a pair of light blue jeans that fit her like a second skin, with horizontal rips up both thighs and a black shirt that had more than a dozen tiny buttons undone well past her cleavage. I didn’t know how the fuck she got into that shirt but she looked damn good in it. I ran a hand over the bottom half of my face and pushed out a breath. Everything looked painted on her and I was reminded of how tiny her waist was and how full everything else was. I was going to have to divert all kinds of eyes today.
Any man in his right mind would drink Cecily in like cinnamon hot chocolate and I was getting ready to bring her around all the men I worked with.
What the hell was I getting myself into?
CECILY
Bear stood at the foot of the steps staring at me like he didn’t know if he should be pissed or amazed. To be fair, he didn’t tell me where we were going. He just said get dressed. Naturally, I wore something cute as hell. I should have known I made a mistake when I saw him marching up the steps toward me with that ever-present scowl.
“You need to button this shit up now,” he growled. He took to closing the tiny buttons on my shirt until he closed in on my cleavage. His knuckles brushed against my skin and I tingled there. The cold hard feeling of his rings pressed against my flesh made my mind go fuzzy.
“I’m twenty-one, Bear. I can dress myself. Thank you.”
“Cecily.” His voice was deep and rough. I tensed inside. I tensedeverywhere. Sometimes, Bear knocked me completely off my axis with his tone. Heat rose to the surface of my cheeks as I folded my arms. I was a kid all over again.
When I was fifteen, Bear had a fucking fit because he didn’t like the guy I went to the sophomore spring dance with. He said the guy was trying to get into his operation and he didn’t want me around anyone like that. He even told my mother and father then insisted that I go to the dance with Kareema instead. She had her own date but she didn’t have a date anymore after Bear talked to the guy.
I couldn’t roll my eyes enough.
“Bear.” I pretended like he didn’t make my knees knock together but he saw through it. He took one more step toward me until there was no more space between us.
“Button that shit the rest of the way up or change shirts.”
“Why do you always do this? I’m not a little kid anymore.”
“I know that. I also know we’re going to be around some dirty motherfuckers and it’s no place for you to have your titties out.”
