Bearly Hanging On (A Werebear Shifter BBW Romance) (Laid Bear Book 3) (7 page)

“It’s time to go, Tubbs.”

“I have good news, Chet,” Uncle Max said over dinner later in the week.
 

Chet barely heard him. His thoughts were still with Crystal, remembering what they’d been doing behind the equipment shed at her work just a few hours before. It took every ounce of strength for him not to take her right then and there, despite the fact Andy might walk around the corner at any moment. She wouldn’t have resisted, either, but they’d both agreed to not have sex until after they told their families. Which, of course, depended on when — not if, but when — Crystal realized they were fated to be together.

He didn’t understand what was taking her so long, honestly. His bear had known in a heartbeat that she was his fated mate, even if it had taken Chet’s stupid brain a little longer. But Crystal was still uncertain, he could sense it and couldn’t figure out why.

“Chet? Earth to Chet.” His uncle snapped his fingers, jerking Chet out of his reverie.

“Sorry, Uncle Max. What did you say?”

“I was saying that I forgot to tell you before you bolted out of the office this afternoon, but the date has been set for your initiation into the clan. Isn’t that great?!”

“Oh, yeah, great,” he said, trying to muster some enthusiasm. He’d almost forgotten about the rite of passage. It was only his sole reason for coming here — though, now he thought maybe the real reason was to meet Crystal. Somehow, he doubted his aunt and uncle would feel the same way. “When is it?”

“Next week. Saturday night. After that, you’ll be a full member of your family’s ancestral clan. An adult
were
without a clan is a tragic thing.”
 

“Sounds like heaven to me,” Sandy snorted as she munched on a corn cob, butter dripping from her fingers. Good thing she’d taken off her lace gloves or they’d be ruined.

“Don’t say such things, Sandra Jean!” Aunt Clea gasped. “And certainly not with a full mouth.”

“Relax, Clea. She’s just being rebellious. She doesn’t understand what it truly means to be banished.” He laid his fork next to the hunk of barbecued salmon on his plate and soberly looked at his daughter.
 

“Sandy, being shunned is the worst thing that can happen to a werebear. You’re kicked out of your community and no one will speak to you or even acknowledge your existence. You no longer have friends or family. They’ll mourn as if you died! There’s no going back after you’ve been shunned, no second chances.”

Chet had heard all this before. He was raised with it, and the thought of never seeing his family ever again curdled his blood. But he wasn’t worried. The crimes that got you kicked out of your clan had to be pretty severe, like murder, and he had no intention of committing any of them. In fact, even though they weren’t official members of the Xus Clan in Malibu, his family was privy to all the gossip, and he’d never heard of a single shunning there, like, ever.

The old ways were enforced differently in each clan, though. Members of the Xus Clan could freely socialize with humans, for example, but not mate with them. Apparently, the Skookum Clan — his ancestral clan, even though the only members he knew were sitting at the dinner table with him — did things a little differently. It was a bit old-fashioned, in his opinion, but nobody was asking for his opinion.

A tendril of shame wiggled through his guts that the thrill of new love had completely overshadowed his impending rite of passage. In truth, he couldn’t wait to become a full member, a ‘real’ adult. When he was younger, he’d ridiculed the ceremony as being archaic but the closer the time grew for his own induction, the more excited he’d become.
 

There wasn’t much he had to do to prepare for the ceremony. He just had to show up. The hardest part was being separated from kids his own age. His uncle kept spouting some bullshit about giving the initiants space and time to reflect on their new status in the clan, but he really thought it was just a way to keep them from getting into too much trouble celebrating the last days of their ‘youth’.
 

It was going to be weird getting inducted with a bunch of young people who’d grown up together, who all knew each other already. For them, it would be like a reunion. He’d be the loser from out of town that nobody knew. He was suddenly nervous to face all those strangers, but he didn’t have a choice. It was all part of being a werebear.

“Chet,” Aunt Clea said, carefully setting down her third glass of Chardonnay and placing a perfectly manicured hand on his arm. “You’ve been such a big help to your uncle that we wanted to thank you. We know how difficult it’s been for you, being all cooped up here with no friends—“

Sandy shot an indignant glare at her mother. “Um, hello!”

Aunt Clea ignored the interruption. “—and how bored you’ve been, so we’ve decided to let you borrow our car to go to town for a few hours tomorrow night.”

Chet was shocked. They’d barely let him
ride
in their Cadillac, and now they were going to let him
drive
it? To town?!
Unchaperoned?!
He was powerless to stop the grin that spread across his face thinking about squiring Crystal around town in the Caddy. He knew just the suit he’d wear…

“Of course, you’ll take Sandy along with you,” Uncle Max added, reaching across the table to pat Sandy’s buttery hand. “She only ever gets to go to town with her old fuddy-duddy parents.”

The grin fell from Chet’s face and plastered itself on Sandy’s. His upper lip curled in disgust when she grinned at him, corn bits clogging her braces. Dammit! How was he supposed to spend time with Crystal if Sandy was tagging along?

His bear was chuffing in aggravation but as soon as her parents looked away, Sandy tipped him a tiny wink. Happiness surged through him. She’d make herself scarce as soon as they got there. He almost laughed out loud but caught himself in time.
 

“Thanks, Aunt Clea and Uncle Max. You have no clue how much this means to me.”
 

They really didn’t.

~ * ~ * ~

The next day dragged out forever. He’d managed to see Crystal in the morning to tell her about their date that night, but his uncle had offered to drive Pete home that afternoon so Chet could spend some time getting ready for his big night out on the town — and, of course, waiting for Sandy to get all dolled up.

“Now remember,” Uncle Max said as he handed over the keys to the Caddy, “be back by eleven. And don’t get too cozy with the locals. And don’t let your bear get the better of you if anyone…what’s it called? Oh yeah,
disses
you.”

“You got it, Uncle Max.”

“Oh,” he added as Chet tried to scurry out of his office. “And don’t let Sandy out of your sight. If you haven’t noticed, she’s a wild child and she’ll push to see what she can get away with.”
 

Uncle Max sighed and shook his head in resignation. “That girl is going to be the death of me. Who thought it was a good idea to bless me with a daughter?”

If Chet hadn’t been so keyed up, he might have felt a little more sympathy for his uncle but he was too anxious to listen.
 

Later, he wished he had.

“Are you sure Sandy’s going to be okay alone?” Crystal asked as Chet led her out of Paulie’s by the hand. They’d met there and shared a small pepperoni, olive and mushroom pizza before heading out on their date, leaving Sandy behind.
 

“She won’t be alone,” Chet laughed. “There’s a whole gaggle of girls in there to keep her company. I’m going to pick her up outside at 10:30 so we can be home before 11.”

Forget the stomach, butterflies fluttered around inside Crystal’s entire body cavity. She couldn’t believe she was so nervous that she half-hoped Sandy would tag along with them. They’d been spending as much time as they could together since Chet started driving Pop-Pop home, but tonight was different. Those other times had been stolen moments, maybe an hour at the most. This was an honest-to-goodness date, and she wasn’t sure what was going to happen. She knew what she
wanted
to happen but Chet was adamant that they not make love until she was sure about her feelings.

If she was being completely honest, that’s what she was anxious about. That Chet would ask her —
again!
—if she’d realized he was her ‘fated mate.’ It was such a weird way to say ‘love of her life’ but she got his meaning. Still…how was she supposed to know that so soon? They’d only been going together for a week, plus she was all of eighteen. She hadn’t even been to a frat party yet! Well, not as an official college student, anyway.

Throughout the day, she would think of reason after reason why she couldn’t tell Chet what he wanted to hear, but the moment she saw him, she couldn’t remember a single one. Being with him felt so…
right
. Like when you’re falling asleep, that moment when your mind stops spinning and you’re aware that the soft warmth of slumber is about to take you. Like he was the missing puzzle piece to her soul. Like he made her whole.

But that couldn’t be…could it? It didn’t seem possible that she’d already found the man she was supposed to be with forever. She’d always imagined she’d do the career girl thing — what that career might be was still a mystery — before settling down with one guy, much less having kids.
 

The thing was, she ached for those things when she was with Chet. Little Chets running around pretending they were Crocket and Tubbs or little Crystals prancing around in tutus (black, of course). Her heart nearly filled to bursting at these silly school-girl daydreams. And was that so wrong?

She’d spent most of her youth fighting off the advances of her mother’s boyfriends and wondering why her dad didn’t come to her band concerts. Her life was a freakin’ after-school special, and she’d played her part perfectly: rebelling against authority, experimenting with sex and drugs, and hanging out with the ‘bad kids’. The realization struck as she was hosing out a tourist’s puke pile from the bottom of a whale watching boat, and it nearly caused her to add her own lunch to the smelly mess.

How could she, of all people, have become such a cliché?!
 

In that moment, the truth about life dawned on her. It
is
a bitch.
And
you die. So why spend so much of it trying to fix the past, which was totally impossible? It was time to fix her
future
!

Of course, she had no idea what that entailed but she knew what her heart wanted. Now her brain just needed to catch up. That meant spending more time with Chet — all of it, if she could. Aside from her grandparents, he was the only person in the world she could really trust. She knew in her heart that Chet would never hurt her. An inexplicable sense of safety washed over her when they were together, as if he would protect her from anything. Though what that might be in real life, she couldn’t imagine.
 

But his constant pestering about that ‘fated mate’ thing put too much pressure on her. Her stupid brain needed more time to get used to the idea, so when he brought it up tonight, as he undoubtedly would, she’d simply have to tell him to back off a little. That was easy to think about but the closer the moment came, the more nervous she got. She didn’t want to hurt him, and she most certainly didn’t want to end their relationship. All she really wanted was for him to shut up about it.

“M’lady.” Chet opened the passenger side door to his uncle’s massive brown Caddy and waved her in with a flourish, bending low as she climbed in. Her anxiety burst out of her in a stream of giggles. He gave her a funny look before closing the door and walking the mile and a half around the front of the car.

Climbing in next to her, he asked, “Where to?”

Of course he wouldn’t have any idea where to go, since he only drove between Pearce Forestry and her grandparents’ house. She still didn’t understand why it was such a terrible thing for him to hang out with her. Some weird class thing, no doubt.
 

“Well…the tide’s about to change. Go down Seymour Street and take a left,” she instructed.

The destination wasn’t very far but it still took a good twenty minutes of careful maneuvering to get the big boat of a car down the rutted forest service road to the overlook spot. It would be light till nine, or even later, so they should have a good show.

“What is this place?” Chet asked, clunking the gear shift into ‘park’.
 

Crystal hopped out and waved for him to follow, leading him to a rocky outcropping overlooking a narrow channel. Patting the mossy granite next to her, she said, “Come sit by me. This is gonna blow your mind.”

Chet snuggled up close to her, his purely masculine scent wrapping around her like a tendril of warm smoke. It went straight to her core and wriggled its way to her most sensitive parts. He never failed to get her all hot and bothered, but it became so much more intense since he stopped wearing Polo. A carefully calculated comment about how his own musk was vastly more sensual than the cologne did the trick, and it wasn’t a lie. If she could only smell one thing for the rest of her life, it would be Chet.
 

Bacon would be a close second.

He loved to smell her, too, if his nuzzling of her neck was any indication. “You’re right,” he murmured huskily, taking a deep lungful of her and triggering a goosebump outbreak on her flesh. “My mind is definitely blown.”

He wrapped his arms around, drawing her back with him to lean against a spongy, mossy log. Every part of her wanted to lie there and bask in his love, but she’d brought him here for a reason. Drawing on the reserves of her self-control, she shook her head.
 

“No, you dork. Look there.”

It took him a moment to extract himself from the nook of her shoulder and follow the line of her pointing arm. He seemed unimpressed now, but in a few minutes, he’d be in awe.

“That’s Tremble Rock,” she explained, pointing at a small rocky island about 100 feet across and forty feet tall lying in the middle of the channel. “It’s named that because, rumor has it, the rock vibrates when the tide is at maximum current. Andy says he went out there once in a small dinghy and sat through a full tide change. He thought the island was going to break apart, it was shaking so hard.”