Page 24 of Bearly in Love
nineteen
MADISON
I woke up tangled up with Bo, which was exactly why I had put more clothes on than usual the night before.
The man was infuriating.
And confusing.
He snored continuously as I peeled my sweaty body off his. It took some serious effort to get his gigantic arms off of me, but I fought hard. Soon enough, I was free.
I was breathing harder than I should’ve been when I finally got away, shoving my hair away from my face.
My gaze lingered on the giant in my bed.
Our bed.
His bed.
It needed to be his. I couldn’t keep sharing it with him, or I was going to end up screwing him again.
We’d already thoroughly proven that our communication skills were too shitty to keep screwing like we had before.
If we wanted to survive a mate bond long term, we had to find a way to stick with friendship.
That would require moving past the stuff we’d already done and felt.
Including his obsession and feelings.
And my emotions.
He hadn’t asked me about them, of course.
He was my brother’s best friend, so he had been thoroughly trained in the art of ignoring my emotions.
I stopped in the bathroom, then grabbed Bo’s phone off the countertop when I sat down in the kitchen.
Artie and Emily were planning on staying another day and a half.
They said it was to help us get settled, but I was pretty sure Artie just wanted to hang out with Bo since he’d already made the drive into Cub Lake.
There were so many boxes in the garage that I wasn’t going to complain about the help. Especially because all of the stuff was Bo’s. I only had my two trash bags and a duffel.
Pulling up the group text thread with my friends, I sent a quick message.
Me
Current life update
I was abducted by the alpha and his goons from Bo’s cabin two days ago. Bo bit me shortly before they interrupted. I thought it was just a kink thing, but he showed up at the wedding the next morning and told the alpha I was his after threatening to kill him
Vera
PLOT TWIST
HOLY SHIT!
YOU’RE MATED?!
Me
Kind of?
I think he’s mated to me but I’m not mated to him?
I don’t know
We have issues
At least I’m not mated to the alpha
Vera
No kidding!
I’m jealous but happy for you!
Happyish, at least! Sexy grizzly mate is wayyyy better than creepy dickhole fox mate
Sage
Since when is dickhole an acceptable insult?
Me
*shrugs*
Vera
Since dicks have holes
Sage
Should’ve known
Sorry you ended up trapped in a mate bond, Madison. But I’m glad you’re not stuck with that bastard
Me
Same
It’s hard to be pissed at Bo when I know how much worse the alternative is
Sage
What are the issues?
Me
I don’t think you guys have time for me to list them out
Vera
Rude of you to assume we don’t have time for you
Sage
Seriously
Me
Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you though.
I gave them a quick rundown of everything that had happened and come to light.
Sage
Wow
Vera
No kidding
You guys are a mess
Me
Right
Vera
Might be time to find a therapist
Me
I can tell you right now that stubborn bastard won’t go to couple’s therapy with me
Vera
But it sounds like he wants to be a real couple
Maybe?
Me
I don’t know
Sage
It’s only been a day since all the drama went down. If you have some space for a few days, maybe you guys will be able to talk things out a little easier
Me
I can try
Vera
And hope!
I heard heavy footsteps behind me.
Me
He’s awake, gtg
Vera
Love you, update us when you can!
Sage
And seal that bond so the alpha doesn’t try to use it against you!
Me
Will do
Talk later
I deleted the messages and pulled up Bo’s conversation with Artie. The last texts my brother had sent were the ones I’d responded to.
I sent another one.
Bo
Madison wants to go to the thrift store to get her bed back this morning
Artie
They don’t usually give things back
Bo
I’ll offer some cash
Artie
We can try. I’ll let you know when we’re headed your way. Emily’s still asleep, and I’m not waking her up early
I gave him a thumbs-up as Bo came shuffling out of the bedroom.
I didn’t let myself notice the gigantic erection tenting his shorts. Or how good his wild curls and tired eyes looked together. Or the fact that he was shirtless, leaving his sexy, bare chest on display.
“Pretending to be me again?” he rumbled, not bothering to take the phone out of my hand as he sat down next to me at the kitchen’s island.
“Yep.” I slid the phone over to Bo.
He scanned the messages before sliding it back.
“If you want to go back to sleep, you can.” I gestured toward the bedroom. The man looked exhausted.
“We’ve got things to do.”
“I can handle them.”
“I’m helping. I’ll go pick up the mattress now, before it gets any more weird smells from the store than it already has. It should fit in the back of my truck. I’ll stop for groceries on the way home, too.”
“If you drop me off at the store, I can take care of the grocery shopping while you pick up the mattress.”
“Or we can do both errands together,” Bo said, meeting my gaze head-on.
The look in his eyes was almost a challenge.
He didn’t think I had the balls to spend the morning with him.
“Fine,” I agreed.
He blinked in surprise, but recovered quickly. “Give me a minute to get dressed.”
“I’ll change after you.”
“We can pick up food on the way. I don’t want to open my freezers until they’ve had time to get back to the right temperature.”
I nodded, and he disappeared back into the bedroom.
The grizzly had two massive freezers full of basic foods.
Mainly meat, bread, and other similar staples.
I’d been surprised when I saw them while he and Artie loaded them into the moving truck, but I guess I shouldn’t have been.
He’d told me before that he would never run out of food, and I knew how much he ate.
That meant he had to have a ton of storage.
It still caught me off guard.
Not in a bad way, of course.
When he came out in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, I slipped past him and into the bedroom. My duffel was next to his boxes of clothes, so I pulled out a clean pair of leggings and a long-sleeve shirt, once again forgoing a bra.
My tits were small enough that it wasn’t obvious when I’d skipped one. I didn’t particularly care if it was obvious, either.
My hair was extra wild, so I tied it up in a ponytail with a hairband I found in the side pocket of my bag. I took a minute to brush my teeth and throw on some deodorant too, figuring it was better to smell like chemicals than like sweat.
When I stepped back out of the bedroom and found Bo frying what must’ve been the last of the eggs he’d had in his cabin’s fridge, I hesitated.
Part of me wanted to go back into our room.
And close the door.
And avoid all contact with the gigantic shifter.
I was a fox, though. Not a chicken.
So I forced myself to walk back to my chair.
“I thought you wanted to eat in town,” I said as I went.
“That’ll be second breakfast. There’s not enough to fill us up here,” Bo said, looking over his shoulder.
His eyes moved over me slowly.
The heat in them was unmistakable.
I sat down in my chair.
He looked back at the stove. “Do you usually not wear bras, or are you doing it for my benefit?”
My face flushed.
Maybe my boobs were more noticeable than I’d realized.
“I only wear them when it’s not socially acceptable not to,” I said.
“It was socially unacceptable not to wear a bra in my cabin?”
“No. That was different.”
“Different how?”
“Different like I was temporarily living with my brother’s best friend who hated me.”
Bo growled in disagreement.
“I didn’t wear them all the time there,” I added quickly, before he could argue.
He argued anyway. “I didn’t hate you.”
“It felt like you did.”
“I wasn’t trying to make you feel that way.”
“But you still did.” I leaned back against my chair. “It’s in the past, though. We need to move on. I think we should use the vows to make our bond official before we leave the house. Just in case.”
His shoulders stiffened. “You just went from telling me I made you think I hated you to asking me to be your fucking husband.”
“Officially,” I said. “Unofficially, you already are.”
“Right. I forgot.” The sarcasm in his voice was only slightly thicker than the tension in the room.
I was going to lean into the sarcasm. That seemed safer and easier than acknowledging the tension. “I can buy you a ring if that would help you remember.”
“I’d forget it was there and lose a finger the next time I shifted.”
“Well, you definitely wouldn’t forget you had a mate if you lost a finger because of me.”
Considering he was a grizzly, his fingers would get thicker when he changed forms. I assumed the jewelry for his piercings had been sized to avoid a similar problem, or maybe he just didn’t grow that much down there when he shifted. Female shifters never had a problem with ear piercings, after all.
Bo snorted.
I rested my forearms on the table. “So, the bond?”
There was a short pause before he said, “We can make the vows before we go.”
“You hesitated.”
“No.”
“Yes.” I leaned forward. “Why did you hesitate?”
“You don’t trust me. Seems fucked up to make vows with someone you don’t trust.”
I frowned.
He wasn’t wrong. In some ways, I didn’t really trust him.
“I trust you to keep me safe,” I finally said.
“That’s a low bar for someone you’re going to spend your life with.”
“I don’t know how you expect me to change that.”
“I don’t either.”
“Then maybe we shouldn’t seal the bond.” I leaned back in my seat. “The alpha probably won’t come after me today, anyway. He’s probably still pissed.”
“We need to seal it to keep you safe.”
“But you just said?—”
“I know what I said, Madi,” Bo growled. He turned to face me, setting a plate down on the counter roughly and sliding it over. “I want you to trust me. You don’t. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t solidify our bond to keep you out of the alpha’s hands. I was just talking.”
He was trying.
That’s what he was saying.