Grin and Bear It (Ursa Shifters Book 3), page 9
“So the plumbing is what we were going to focus on…”
“New flooring.” Cole scuffed his boot across the carpet. “This is like vintage 1960s—”
“70s,” I corrected somewhat defensively. “And there’s no way I have the budget for that.”
“Light fittings,” Tyson said, flicking a switch on and off. “Looks like the wiring is OK though.” He walked down the hall and then flicked open the switchboard. “This needs updating though. Fuses?”
I wasn’t sure who he was asking that question of, but I bristled. My heart had sank the first time I’d had to replace a fuse, longing for those nice, neat modern switchboards too, but hey, we did what we could with what we had.
“I thought we were focussing on—”
“A repaint definitely.” I imagined Cole’s blue eyes taking in every brushstroke, every paint drip and growing colder by the moment. “Something lighter to brighten the place up. Maybe a warm grey?”
“What the hell is a warm grey?” I muttered but no one paid me any attention.
“And a complete kitchen fit out,” Lin announced, my kitchen seeming to shrink in size when he stepped into it.
“Damn, old lady textured glass and everything,” Tyson said, peering at the cabinets. “Some new cabinets, a glass backsplash, stainless steel appliances—”
“Whoa!” I threw up my hands as if to hold them off, but all three of them leaned on the kitchen benches tossing around ideas. “Guys, I cannot—”
“New tiles on the floor,” Cole added as Lin scribbled that down.
“Guys—”
“A range hood that works,” Tyson suggested, peering up into the old copper one I had presently.
“Hello? Is anyone hearing me?” I moved closer, trying to catch their attention. “Earth to hotties, come in, hotties.”
“Hotties?”
That’s what got their attention? The kitchen was abandoned as each one of them focussed entirely on me.
Unlike every woman in a rom com, I didn’t have a gay male best friend, so I didn’t know the proper etiquette. Was it OK for a straight woman to remark on a gay guys’ attractiveness? I wasn’t sure of the rules of objectification in this instance.
“Did she just say we’re the hotties?” Lin asked, grinning broadly as he looked at his partners.
“I think she did,” Tyson answered with a sly smile.
“OK, you’re all hot, so let's move on to the important part of the conversation.” I sucked in a breath and then when I let it out, I thought of Nash. “Everything you’re pointing out, I’m well aware of. This place is a crack den.”
Tyson snorted. “It’s not that bad.”
“Pretty close,” I amended. “I know all those things need fixing. I saw them when I first walked in here too, but you have to know why they haven’t been done yet.” I felt very small, very stupid and very vulnerable as I stood before them. “I don’t have the time, money or skills to complete them. I thought I would, but…” I shrugged. “I bit off more than I could chew with this place and…” I scratched my head, ready to write the place off entirely when a male voice cut in.
“But we do.”
Nash stood on the doorstep and the boys were at his back, looking around wide eyed. I felt curiously ashamed right now, remembering all the shitty comments the kids made every time something didn’t meet their perilously high teen standards in class.
“We have all three and we can get this job done for you, Ellie,” Nash told me, missing the reactions of his nephews. Their faces seemed to close down, their eyes taking on a familiar brittle quality. All emotion was scoured from their faces, leaving them as blank as dolls.
I wanted to accept Nash’s offer. Perhaps he and his guys were part of a kindly bunch of gay tradesmen that helped hapless women out of their DIY nightmares. But I couldn’t. I admit, I’d partly gone along with the journey there for a moment, because what they saw was what I saw when I first walked into the house. All the dated features wiped away and replaced with something sleek, modern and airy.
My home.
“That’s a little more than is required to make amends for what happened,” I told Nash, letting him down easy. “I seriously appreciate the offer but…” Coll was gonna kill me for this, but I couldn’t do this to Nash or the boys. “But it’s not a good idea.”
Chapter 13
Nash
I could do this.
I’d driven over every inch of the city I’d grown up in, from the moment I first got my licence and me and the boys used to escape the eagle eyes of the various bear clans by taking off in my shitty Datsun 180B, to doing jobs on houses in every suburb. My fingers flexed around the steering wheel. It was as natural as breathing, driving.
So why was I sitting here in the driveway, engine idling, when I had somewhere to be?
Pick the kids up, I told myself sternly. Take them to Ellie’s.
Fuck.
Just saying her name in my head created a burst of warmth in my chest, but for some reason that fucking ached. I scratched at my sternum, that bloody feeling spreading, spreading until I started to worry I was having a fucking heart attack or something.
And I guess it was one of a sort.
I’d been lying in bed, just staring at the ceiling when she called. I hadn’t even wanted to answer it. I thought it was one of my dads again, nagging me about coming over or the boys or something, so I’d snatched it up, ready to unload on whoever was dumb enough to ring me.
When I heard her.
Her words came out lightning fast and they hit me like a bolt, electrifying my whole fucking body. My cock was hard, my heart thumping and suddenly I wanted nothing more than to hear her talk. I listened to her tales of woe, trying to read between the lines and work out what the fuck had happened, ready to lay waste to her enemies, when I realised what was happening.
Ellie Jennings was mine.
My mate, the other half of my heart. The only woman I’d ever love and right then I’d do anything to keep her on the line. She hadn’t meant to ring me, that was clear, and when I heard what the boys had been up to, I worked out why she had my number. White hot fury had licked through me, burning away all the apathy that hung over me like a heavy black cloud since I’d got the news…
“Take a breath,” I’d told her last night, and I took my own advice this afternoon, grabbing my phone out before I put the car in gear.
I’m picking you up, I sent as a group text to both boys.
We’ll catch the bus, came Knox’s reply.
I shook my head slowly and then forced my jaw to unlock.
Meet me out the front of the school. I’m on my way.
I tossed the phone in the front seat, ignoring the answering buzz. The boys would be there. They’d better fucking be there, or we’d be having words. I eased my foot off the brake and then put it on the accelerator, pulling away from the house and towards her.
“We don’t need you to—” Knox started to say as soon as he opened the car door. Who fucking knew picking up your kid was such a difficult thing? There were cars for miles, it felt, when I pulled up out front of the high school, but when I got to the front of the school, the twins disengaged from their pack of ‘bros’ and Knox stuck his head in the open passenger side window.
“Get in the car,” I growled.
“We can catch the bus.” Maddox tried for a more reasonable tone. I knew it well. He’d used it often enough in the past few months when he came to my room. “We’ll be home on time and get our homework done.”
“You’ll get in the car, is what you’ll do.” I shot them a hard look. “Now. Cars are backed up behind us.”
The two of them let out frustrated little hisses, but the back door was wrenched open and the two of them clambered in without a word.
Good.
But as I pulled away from the curb, getting out onto the road, Knox piped up.
“So she’s the one?”
There was no need to clarify what that meant. All of my pack took fur when it pleased them and the boys would too, when they reached maturity. They knew exactly what a fated mate was, because their own mother had been my brother’s. My focus shifted to the rear vision mirror and both boys stared back at me, their eyes flat and angry.
It was a look I was very familiar with right now.
“Ty and Lin, Cole, they confirmed it?” Maddox asked, much more cautiously. “Ms Jennings—”
“Ellie belongs to us,” I said, feeling that rush of satisfaction again and savouring it for just a moment, before they flopped back against the seat and then stared at each other.
Twin ESP, that’s what Adam, my brother, had called it. Maddox and Knox were identical and they’d shared something that none of us could touch since the moment they were born. If you took one away from the other when they were babies, they’d cry until they were reunited, making things tough on their poor mum. Sharney… I shook my head and focussed back on the road.
“So you’re gonna what?” Knox asked, “Fix our teacher’s house for her and use us as free labour, so you can get into her pants?”
I heard the steering wheel creak and it was only when I looked down that I saw the prickle of golden brown fur across my knuckles, alerting me to the fact my bear was close. Too close, because I hadn’t let him out since… I grit my teeth and then took another slow breath.
“I don’t want to get into your teacher’s pants.” A rude snort from the back seat. “I want to mate her, love her, for the rest of my fucking life.”
The boys knew this. They were a product of that kind of love, growing up safe and secure and adored by my brother, Sharney, and the rest of his sleuthmates. The boys had seen men find their mates, heard the stories of the lengths blokes needed to go to get their girl, so this couldn’t have been a surprise for them. So why did their faces get that same fucking stubborn look? Fuck, that look was all Adam.
“And you two need to make up for the bullshit you’ve been pulling.” I wanted, needed a reaction from them, and that was what was riding me right now, not good sense. The world felt too bright, the streets too busy, the sounds too intrusive as we drove towards Ellie’s place, the months I’d spent off the road removing all of my tolerance for this concrete jungle. “What would your parents think about this?”
Wrong way, go back.
I could almost see the red warning sign in my mind as I stared at the two of them. Closely enough to see those stiff masks crack for just a minute, and then pain flare bright in their eyes. It felt like a win for just a second, but then they closed right down again so abruptly it felt like something was being locked down forever.
“Fine,” Knox snapped, arms crossed and Maddox just stared at the two of us.
“Fine,” I replied, returning my focus to the road.
Chapter 14
Nash
My dads had told me all about the rush that came from finding your mate, but when I’d been the same age as the twins, I’d just rolled my eyes, sure it was all just overblown bullshit. But as I jumped out of the car and forced myself to stroll towards Ellie’s house, I felt it. My blood was pumping, my muscles flexing with every step, ready to propel my body a whole lot faster. The dull thuds of my car doors behind me let me know the twins were following along, even at a distance, but I didn’t wait for them.
I couldn’t.
My mate was living in a fucking dump. She hadn’t exaggerated when she’d wailed about how terrible this place was, but I saw it differently. My eyes raked over the roofline, the desolate garden and the cracked concrete driveway. We could fix this. With a bit of time, some elbow grease and if we called in a few favours from some of the other sleuths we worked with, this house could be amazing. That belief burned inside me right up until I walked in the front door.
“I don’t have the time, money or skills to complete them. I thought I would, but…” Ellie told the others. “I bit off more than I could chew with this place and…”
And there she was. Fuck, Ellie was luscious. She had these old, well broken in jeans on, that hugged her every curve, and a Nirvana t-shirt, who were now my new favourite band. And somehow she made the outfit look sexier than if she’d greeted me at the door in red lace lingerie and thigh high stockings.
Shit… I felt my cock jump in my pants. Don't think about that. That became a whole lot easier to achieve when I heard the pain, the hopelessness in her voice. I saw a problem, a big one, but I knew I could fix it and that energised me.
“But we do.” I said that with every confidence, loving it when her eyes swung my way, when they widened as a result. Yeah, look at me, I thought. I can fix this for you. I’ll fix everything. “We have all three and we can get this job done for you, Ellie,”
Ellie’s eyes shone for just a moment and it felt like my heart stopped beating for just a second. But then a small frown formed as she looked past me and at the twins.
“That’s a little more than is required to make amends for what happened,” she said. “I seriously appreciate the offer but…” I watched her shoulders square, her spine straighten. “But it’s not a good idea.”
The earth opened up beneath me then, didn’t it? It had to as it felt like my stomach dropped.
“Ah…” Say something, dickhead, I thought furiously. You have to win the girl, so make your move. “What’s not such a good idea? Because, me personally? I think functioning plumbing is pretty awesome, although, seeing as that’s my trade, I might be a little biased.”
She giggled at that. Fuck me, she had no idea what kind of emotional rollercoaster she had me on right now, that warm feeling in my chest flaring brighter again. Keep her laughing, the bear told me. Make her happy.
I wanted to with every breath. She didn’t know that now, but I would move heaven and earth to eradicate every one of her problems. Especially that dickhead, Derek. The bear growled in approval at that.
“Plumbing, yes,” she replied, then looked over my shoulder. “Forced labour? Not so much. Boys, right now you look like you’d rather do twenty hours straight of maths homework than work with your uncles. Is that right?”
I turned to stare at them, willing them to make the right fucking choice. I’d been up early this morning, getting the two of them out of bed and then hitting them with what I’d found out they’d been up to, before they’d even started on their Weet-bix. They knew how fucking pissed I was with them. Not just because Ellie was mine but because… fuck. That kind of shit? I wasn’t a teacher, but I knew people were fucking paranoid about adults preying on their kids and the prank they’d pulled could’ve fucking ruined someone’s career. But Knox straightened up under my steady gaze, a familiar light in his eyes. Adam, my little brother, was the fucking same, that pig headed bloody streak—
“We’d literally rather do anything else but this.” He turned to his brother. “Right, Mads?”
Don’t do it, I begged the quieter twin. Don’t do it, kid. But the little fucker saw the desperation in my eyes and then nodded definitely.
“Right.” I heard Ellie’s sigh and I closed my eyes for a second, feeling like all hope was bleeding out of me before I forced myself to turn around. “So that’s not cool. What the boys did? It wasn’t OK, but compounding that with labour as punishment is not going to resolve that.”
She turned to the boys.
“Why don’t you come inside and I’ll make you something to eat? We can sit down and talk this through like we would in a RJ. Would that be OK?”
“What’s an RJ?” I asked.
It was all going to shit, all of it. Just like when–
“Restorative justice,” she replied with a small smile. “It's something we use a lot in schools and it's a great tool. What do you think, boys?”
Seeing surprise and a little confusion on Knox’s face triggered the same response in me. I expected him to tell her to get fucked, the bear growling at that, but instead he blinked and then nodded, just slightly.
“OK, well, come in. The place is an absolute mess and I want to put that down to the plumbing issue, but I can’t.”
The rest of my sleuth hovered around the kitchen as she bustled about, pulling out bread, peanut butter and some plates.
“I wish I could offer you something fancier, but shopping day is tomorrow. Peanut butter sammies and a can of Coke do?”
“Boys?”
I stared intently at them when they didn’t respond, but they edged closer and then nodded.
“Thanks, Miss.”
Food. I hadn’t really thought about that, about how potent it was with teenage boys. I was a bottomless pit at their age and someone could have gotten my attention with a peanut butter sandwich real easy, especially if there was a potential for more. The boys had breakfast and Ty said he gave them a bunch of money before school so they could buy food at the canteen, but right now the two of them watched her make the sandwiches like they were their last meals.
And maybe that’s how they felt.
She sliced several rounds of sandwiches up and then handed them over to the boys before turning to us.
“Did you guys want something to eat as well?”
You, that thought came from nowhere, punching me in the gut, but I just smiled and shook my head.
“Wouldn’t mind a Coke though, if you’ve got one?”
She reached into the fridge and handed me one, my fingers lingering way too long before I pulled it free, wanting to slide down and— Ellie handed them out to everyone else, her eyes seeking mine for just a second, a question there, but then she ushered us towards her dining room table, before reconsidering.
“I… wasn’t expecting company.” She waved sheepishly at the mess piled high on the table. “Maid’s day off and all that. Let's go into the lounge room.” But she hurriedly picked up dirty plates and then put them in the kitchen sink before tidying up a pile of magazines and finally sitting down.
