Page 1 of Her Embarrassed Bear Mate (Crescent Lake Bears #5)

ONE

Alix

Alix wasn't someone who usually drank her problems away but the current circumstance definitely warranted it. That was why she found herself inside the bar of a random posh hotel with a ridiculously overpriced cocktail in her hands. She was well aware that getting drunk would solve nothing but she just wanted to forget.

The clicking of heels sounded behind her and a woman sank down on the stool next to her. "Whisky. Neat. And make it a double."

Just from the tone of the woman's voice, Alix could tell she also wasn't having a good day. She didn't know why or what but it made her feel slightly better knowing that all around her, other people were having shitty days too.

She took big swigs from her cocktail, glad that the taste of pineapple masked the harshness of the alcohol. She could never drink whisky the way the woman next to her was chugging it down.

"Another one," they said at the same time.

The bartender gave both of them a polite smile and swiped their empty glasses away.

"Rough night too?" the woman said.

Alix gave her neighbour a proper look. The whisky drinker was a stunner. Dark-haired with long eyelashes and smokey eyeshadow that made her blue eyes pop. She had a distinct beauty mark under her nose that drew anyone’s gaze to her full lips and sat on the barstool like it was a throne. On top of that, her handbag was an expensive brand and the necklace and earrings looked like they cost a fortune.

She was exactly Alix's type. Beautiful, out of her league, and clearly damaged.

"You have no idea," Alix responded finally. Usually, she would never confide in a stranger but that first cocktail was already making her lips looser. "I'm being forced to move even though I don't want to. It's not like I have a choice in the matter. You?"

"My dad is being an asshole."

The bartender arrived with their new drinks.

Alix picked up her pina colada. "Cheers to misery."

"They do say misery likes company," the woman toasted back.

Without hesitation, Alix took a big drink from her cocktail. It was sweet, creamy, and very coconutty. It was also a drink that suited a hot summer day on a beach, not a rainy night in the city. It certainly didn't suit her broody aesthetic.

The woman next to her, that was how it was supposed to look. Beautiful, mysterious, chugging whisky with a doomsday expression.

Alix chugged her cocktail down, trying not to think about how she could've gone to a supermarket and gotten drunk for the price of a single of these overpriced drinks. If it hadn't been raining, that would've been her choice but here she was.

Instead of ordering another pina colada, she asked for a glass of whisky too. The woman next to her radiated class and wealth so Alix felt silly sitting there with her childish cocktail. She took a big sip, too big, and was overcome by the harsh burnt taste. She fought against the urge to cough which was a big mistake because it made her expel the sip with violent force. It sprayed all over the bar and some of it even hit the other woman’s arm.

Alix wanted to die.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry!” she shouted, her entire body growing hot of embarrassment.

The woman next to her was a class act. She just smiled and dried her arm with a little napkin. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not used to whisky,” Alix confessed.

“I can see that,” she said while taking a smooth sip of her whisky. Such a flex.

Alix considered leaving hers except that it cost way too much to waste it. She took the most miniscule sip but it still made her grimace. “Yugh. How can you drink whisky straight-up like that?"

"Practice," the woman rasped. "It's my dad's favourite drink so I developed a taste for it."

"The dad that's being an asshole?"

"The very same. Even when I’m mad at him, I’m still trying to get his approval. Pathetic, right? Anyway, if you don’t like whisky, consider yourself lucky. It’s a money trap. You have no idea how much money my dad has spent buying the finest bottles of whisky from goddess knows where. Not to drink, but to have.”

Just like Alix suspected, the woman next to her wasn’t just rich but wealthy. It made her feel even more embarrassed and small. While she got used to the whisky, she checked her phone to see if she had any new messages, like perhaps an apology from her mother, but no. It seemed like her mother genuinely didn't care that she was uprooting their entire life just for a new man.

At twenty-four, Alix was well aware that her mother had every right to move on with her life. She knew some people would probably find it pathetic that she still lived at home or that home was a static home in a trailer park. She should be happy that her mother's new man was opening his fancy mansion to the both of them. Not all her mother's boyfriends had been that generous.

But then again, this wasn't a regular boyfriend. This was a fiancé.

Alix's stomach turned just thinking back to her mother's earlier announcement. No warning, no conversation, no discussion. And somehow she was supposed to be happy for them?

Well, Alix was not happy. Maybe it was selfish but she'd seen enough of her mother's relationships break down over the years and the person who had to pick up the pieces was always Alix. But if they moved out of their home, there would be no more safety net to fall back on.

Why was her mother being so blinded by love?

The woman next to her ordered more whisky and turned to her. "Do you have a cigarette I can borrow?"

"You can't really borrow cigarettes because you consume them," Alix returned, not sure why she was choosing this moment to be pedantic. "But also, no. I don't smoke."

"Neither do I but this seemed like a good moment to start." The dark-haired woman let out a frustrated sigh and her head dropped down on the bar. "Ugh. I hate feeling like this."

Alix hesitated for a moment before reaching over and patting the woman's shoulder. Even though they were total strangers, she felt a sense of kinship with her seat neighbour. "Do you want to tell me why your dad is an asshole?"

"He's always so inconsiderate. He called to say he had something important to tell me but that he couldn't do it over the phone. So I drove all the way over, only to find out that all my other siblings are here too. And who doesn't get a guest room but has to rent an expensive hotel?" The woman pointed at herself. "Me."

"So what's the important news?"

"He still hasn't said! My youngest brother hasn't arrived yet and Dad wants to tell us all at the same time. If I'd known in advance, I would've come over tomorrow. But no, he didn't think about that, did he? It's like he doesn't understand I have my own life."

Alix didn't think it sounded all that bad but she tactfully didn't voice that. She didn't know this woman or their family dynamics or why this was such a big deal. To a degree, her opinion didn't matter. The dark-haired woman was clearly distressed and upset and that was that.

"I know I don't know you but I'm sorry you're having a tough time," she said. There was no reason to socialise or console this stranger, but at least it was taking her mind off her own problems. And all this doom and gloom of drinking in a bar looked good in films but in reality, it wasn't all that fun. She wasn't forgetting anything and she was only making a fool out of herself.

Her seat neighbour dropped her head on the bar. "I know I shouldn't let it get to me but it's always the same story. I thought a drink would calm me down but I'm just getting more and more riled up. A part of me wants to march home and give my dad a piece of my mind."

"Oh, I don't think that's a good idea. Drunk shouting never fixes anything. If you're feeling restless, you should go dancing," Alix suggested.

"Dancing?" The woman turned to look at her, her eyes slightly narrowed. "I don't dance."

"Then maybe you're not drunk enough yet. Drunk dancing is the best."

"If you think so, why are you here instead of drunk dancing yourself?"

"Touché." Alix said, finally cracking a smile. "Well, then maybe you and I should drink some more and find a club to go crazy."

"I don't know you."

Alix shrugged. "So? Do you have something better to do?"

The first smile appeared on the dark-haired woman's face and it instantly made her look a lot more approachable. "I suppose not. Do you know any good clubs?"

"I know all the good clubs. I'm Alix, by the way,” she said, deciding that if they were going to party together, she should introduce herself.

"Alix? That's an interesting name. Short for anything? "

Alix had lost count of how many times she’d been asked that throughout her life.

She shook her head, a lot less prickly about it than when she was a child. "Nope, just Alix."

"Okay. Well, it's nice to meet you, Just Alix.” A little grin appeared on the woman’s face. “I'm Veronica."