Page 9 of Poke the Bear

I had to remind myself that this is what I wanted, that I’d been working my whole life to win a Magarey medal. Rise to the top, catch the eye of the national football league scout’s attention. Get… All my ambitions fell apart the moment I tried to remember what they were.

Because of her.

I could hear my teammates talking around me, some even calling out shit to me. I saw Darryl out of the corner of my eye and that he was leaning over so far his face was partially buried in some girl’s cleavage. I knew Jack would want me to say something, that my dads would want me to make them proud, that Kaine wouldn’t want me to fuck this up, but… I could barely feel my face as I stared at her, just her. My phone buzzed in my pocket, again and again, but I ignored my brother, because this moment, it was mine?

“Do you need me to move in closer?” she asked in a low husky voice, doing just that while looking around herself surreptitiously. “Make people think I really am your date for tonight?”

“Yeah…” My voice was all scratchy, the bear shoving forward, threatening to break free. He tolerated sport, the human world, everything, because we hadn’t found her. But right now the medal count meant less than nothing to him. He shoved at our bond, knowing full well that he could push us from skin to fur and the whole ballroom, the whole hotel would clear out from the freaking horror of seeing a damn Eurasian brown bear.

And then there’d just be me and Freya standing there.

Soon, I promised him. Before the night ends. Just give me this. I need to convince her this is a good idea. I need to try and persuade her to choose us.

And that stopped him cold. We didn’t love Freya, but we would. I knew that from the rapid beat of my heart, the way every muscle was locked down. This was like standing in front of the goals for a penalty kick, your team, the opposition all watching as the crowd surged to their feet. People in the stands would shout muffled advice, urging me to kick the ball hard and true, through the goalposts. I could get this right or I could fuck it all up.

Nope, just like in footy, I couldn’t even let myself think it.

I smiled finally, sliding my arm around her back and then leaned closer.

“Yeah, I need you to make it look real.” Her scent was rising, becoming sweeter by the second. I sucked it in, saying to the bear, See? She’s responding to us. I moved even closer, brushing my lips across the shell of her ear and I felt her shiver, her respiration rate picking up. “If you do that for me, I’ll be able to get through tonight in one piece. You can do that for me, beautiful, can’t you?”

I felt like I’d fucked up then. Her eyes flicked up to meet mine, but we were too close to see each other clearly. Didn’t matter, I saw it, saw her brows crease lightly. Her scent soured and she went to pull away, so I tightened my grip on her.

“Please?”

I’d never asked anyone for anything with that kind of neediness before, but I couldn’t keep my cool, I just couldn’t. She was so close, and she smelled nice, and she had these greenish flecks in her brown eyes that I think made them hazel, and they felt like the cool depths of the forest as I walked deeper in fur.

“Yes.” She seemed as surprised as I was when she said that, but she put her hand on my thigh then, making my dick lurch like a dog on a chain, trying to get to her. That little hand felt like it was burning a hole right through my pants, but while I shifted restlessly, I didn’t want it anywhere else. She squeezed my thigh, her eyebrows jerking up, as if surprised she’d do that. Freya smiled then and it felt like it was more beautiful than a million fucking sunsets. “Yes,” she said, much more definitely.

Apparently that was all the encouragement I needed.

Kaine was always on my fucking case, because apparently I was too impulsive, but right then, I knew he had a point. I darted closer, apparently about to be real fucking silly, closing the gap between us, and then brushed my lips against hers.

Fuck.

The pitch of the compere’s voice, rising, rising, was like that of a sports commentator’s the day of a match. I heard the sound of music, knew that they were playing the video presentation that they always did at the start of the medal count, summarising what happened during the footy season this year. They were playing tiny little clips of me playing other fellas, but I couldn’t look. If you’d put a gun to my head, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what team I played for, just this.

Freya smelled like wildflowers when we kissed and she made this cute little noise when our lips collided. Her lips were soft, so fucking soft, I felt like I could dive right into them and never want to come out.

But then she kissed me back.

The moment her lips moved against ours, kissing me, touching me, the bear settled.

For now.

He didn’t have a chance now, my control perfect, because I would not give him an inch while I had this. My lips tingled. Fuck it, my whole body did when I pulled away. Freya, that’s what my heart beat. Freya. But then a voice cut through it all.

“Adam Farrelly…”

My head jerked up like a kid caught taking a nap during class, and the compere smiled at the gotcha moment.

“He’s had a helluva a season this year and looks like his night is gonna end with a bang too.” The slimy fuck winked at my girl, making me growl low in my chest. But then he moved on to talking about the other front runners, like Nathan fucking Lyons.

Tigers supporters hated Port Adelaide ones and vice versa, and he was a prime example of why our team didn’t like theirs. The smug prick just listened to the compere list all of his achievements, like he was king shit or something, nodding along, as they omitted all the shitty details.

The sledging, the too high tackles, the elbows in ribs, or footy boots ground into you the moment you were on the ground. The guy was a fucking prick and he deserved a kick in the nuts, not a fucking medal. I directed my attention back to Freya then, noting the ways her lips seemed more swollen now, the red lipstick partly rubbed away, and then smiled.

“Do you know what happens at the medal count?” I whispered.

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