Page 60 of Grin and Bear It

“C’mon then, Nerd.” Knox nudged his brother’s shoulder. “The guys are waiting down at the court.”

“So go.” Maddox paused, looking back over his shoulder to see what his brother would say, but Knox just sighed so Maddox turned back to face me. “Look, Miss, you told us all about the Nazis, about how any culture can turn into being one where they judge people, then ostracise and end up killing people for being different.” His golden eyes bore into mine, widening slightly as he spoke. “You showed us all of those massacres all across the world that have happened since, that people don’t learn from history.”

His jaw muscle tightened then, but he forged on.

“That one group decides to hate on another, because of one little thing. I think that’s pretty shit, Miss, that people do that.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “That they take one thing about someone that they don’t understand, and then make some big judgement about them.”

I knew what he was referring to, remembering what I’d said to the class the day we talked about the rise of the Nazi party. Overlaid upon that was the memory of the resignation in Tyson’s eyes as he stripped off and then became a bear.

“It is shit,” I replied, and Maddox smirked at the fact I’d sworn. “And, as you might remember, I said it’s tied to a pretty common human emotion. What was it?”

“Fear.” He answered that without question, standing taller. “But, Miss, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.”

And with that he took off, Knox at his side, leaving the school building to go and shoot hoops.

Chapter30

"What the fuck…?” I hissed as I pulled up out the front of my house. Tired, faded paint was what I expected to see. Scaffolding going all up one side of the house was not. And on the platform there was a familiar face, his brows furrowed as he worked, rolling a fresh coat of grey paint over the side wall of my house.

“What’re you doing?” I barked once I’d marched up my driveway. Cole looked down, frowned, and then set the roller down. He slid down the ladder rather than climbing down, before landing before me. Yup, he was still fucking hot, wearing an old white t-shirt, flecked with many different colours of paint, along with a pair of jeans that seemed to lovingly hug his form.

“What does it look like?” he snapped back. Those blue eyes looked like chips of ice right now. “I woulda thought it was obvious.”

“You’re painting my house.”

“No flies on you, love,” he drawled. “Now, if we’re done—?”

The prick turned away from me then, about to go and get back to work, when my hand shot out and grabbed the back of his jeans.

Only to instantly regret it. I felt the warmth of his skin when I did, so I snatched my hand back. But Cole turned around slowly with a smile.

“We’re not done. I didn’t agree to this,” I said, trying to puff myself up bigger.

“No?”

It felt like I was seeing a whole other side of this man now. The one who had sweetly coached me through paint swatches was gone, and instead there was this big, bad… Shit, I saw Tyson’s bear, and started wondering what Cole’s looked like.

I held my ground through sheer will alone, my irate response to that arrogant dickhead look on his face making it impossible for me to back down. He noted that with a slow smile, taking a step forward.

“If you don’t want me to fix this, stop hating on this house,” he said.

“What?”

“I’m a bear shifter. I can smell your scent, feel your energy, and it always sours when you’re here.” He glanced at the house. “It’s just a fucking house, except for you it’s not, somehow. It makes you feel bad and I…” He shifted slightly closer. “I can’t have that. You don’t want us?” There was no vulnerability in that, none at all. “That’s fine, but this house will be fixed, because that’s how it works. You don’t understand anything about us.”

“I think I’m starting to,” I snapped back.

“Hate us, reject us. Do whatever the fuck you like.” The light in his eyes seemed to die a little. “You will anyway, but you’ll do it living in a house that you like or, at least, don’t hate.”

“You can’t forcibly renovate my house for me,” I said, throwing up my hands.

“Watch me.”

He turned on his heel, walking back to the scaffolding and climbing up with an insulting slowness, as if to piss me off sufficiently that I’d try to drag him right back down again.

Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea…

“Hey.”I turned to find Colleen standing there, squinting as she looked up at the house and Cole. “So. Is he doing that on your orders or—?”

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