Bear

Chapter 20: Birdie

"That was hot."

Bear's heated stare warms me to my core, his eyes trailing my body with a ravenous delight. Though he knows every inch of my skin, he never stops looking at me like this— with such intimate hunger.

A small shudder goes right through me, settling between my thighs. I have to force myself to remember that we're not exactly on the best terms right now, but it's so hard when he's looking at me like he wants to devour me right here in the middle of the bar.

"I'm still mad at you." I look away, to anything but him, because the last thing I need is to be distracted by his stupid sexy face. "But Zeva convinced me that we probably shouldn't leave things so up in the air."

I sit myself down beside him on the cracking leather of the booth, and he swings his arm around my shoulders tucking me into him without hesitation. His face nuzzles the side of my face, but he doesn't say anything.

I no longer have to remind myself of my irritation, because it flickers back to life with his silence. I know he's a quiet man, but this really isn't the time for that.

"You're not going to say anything?" I try to keep any bite from my voice, but it still comes out a little harder than I mean.

"What do you want me to say Robin?" He sighs his exasperation, pulling back away from me to look me in the face. "I sure as hell ain't gonna lie to you and tell you this is not going to happen again or some shit like that. I told you, this is the way that this life is."

He only ever calls me Robin when he's annoyed; I try to ignore the way the sound of it has my chest tightening and my stomach curdling.

"So that's it, that's just how it is?" My face twists with a bitter disbelief, my head shaking in my refusal to agree. "You just want me to accept that, no questions asked?"

"Yes."

"You've got to be joking right." His blatant answer pisses me off further, because does he even hear himself?! "If that's what you want then I really am just a glorified soul eater."

Bear pulls back as if I've wounded him, as if he can't believe what I've just said. He shakes his head, his expression growing darker, colder. He's sitting right beside me, and yet he's putting so much distance between us I'm afraid that we've reached the end.

"I knew this life wasn't for you." Is the only thing that he says, turning away from me with that empty look on his face.

I want to hit him, kiss him— anything if it means he would do something, anything but just accept that this is the inevitable end that we've been waiting for. But I don't.

I don't know what stings more, my disappointment in him or my disappointment in myself. If there is anything I believed about Bear, it's that he's the kind of man to fight for what he wants. Maybe that is true, maybe the part I got wrong, is that he wants me.

"Well if you only want me for one thing, I'll call a spade a spade. And you've made yourself abundantly clear, so I won't bother to waste any more of your time." I practically snarl, damning back the burning feeling at the back of my eyes and the growing tightness in my throat. "Don't worry I'll have all my shit moved out of your space before you get back."

His hand clenches into a fist on the table, shooting up from his seat and walking away without another word. He shoves his way through the bar as he heads towards the door, Ripper stops him with an arm to his chest. The two pause for a moment, Bear grumbles something before continuing on his way out the door.

I sit and watch this world that I fell into, that a part of me belongs to, but that I don't entirely fit into. I don't know how long I sit watching the bar— the drunken laughter, the boisterous brotherhood; this strange and yet inseparable clan, an entire world of its own, carrying on completely oblivious to my turmoil.