Between a Bear and a Hard Place(85)

“Yeah,” she said, as Cleo rolled to her feet, barked, and Eighty-Three did the same thing. “But who the hell would want to get away from this?”





-26-


“It’s weird, but... I feel like I’m home.”


-Claire


“You all settled in?” Fury asked as he put the last touch on a coat of paint. The interior of Eighty-Three’s little row-house, which was nestled in the middle of the Broken Pines cubs’ places, was mostly painted a steel gray color. It made him feel at home. Although he had wanted the kitchen done in bright orange and a bathroom in an almost headache inducing crimson. “Just trying it out,” he had said.

“Think so,” Eighty-Three came back from the back room, where he’d been unpacking. “I really can’t thank all of you enough.”

Claire strolled in with her hair done up in a do-rag printed, fittingly enough, with a bunch of wolf paws. Cleo clomped in after her, and promptly collapsed on Eighty-Three’s feet for another scratching, which he indulged with a grin. “I think we’ve got all the holes from cub wrestling patched. If you find any more, spackle’s in your laundry room.” She turned her back to adjust a couple of tchotchkes on the mantle, and when she turned back, Eighty-Three had stopped scratching Cleo, and was staring at something in a box.

“What are you... oh,” she stopped, as he slowly lifted the gasmask out of the box.

Stone reached for it. “No reason to have that around anymore. I’ll get rid of it.”

Eighty-Three pulled back, keeping the mask in his clutches. “This is all I kept,” he said. His voice was distant. “It’s been a month since I was... fixed. I couldn’t bear to leave this behind. I lost all my other memories, I don’t want to lose this one.”

“But it was so awful, it was—” Claire began, but he cut her off.

“It was part of me. Just like the name. James. It’s all part of me. I don’t want to forget anything anymore. After all, if not for this mask, I never would have met my new family.”

“Might still have the old one,” Fury said.

After he stared into the reflection in the black glass goggles for a moment, Eighty-Three said, “But I don’t, if I ever did. I do have you.” Everyone was silent as he put the mask back in the box, even Cleo. “I’ll keep it in a closet, but I’ll keep it. Anyway,” he sniffed, and then smiled. “That’s the past, and I think that name is, too. I think I’m ready to be James.”

Stone regarded him for a moment, squinting slightly. “No,” he said.

Everyone’s head turned at once.

“I think you’re more of a Jim.”

The two former blood enemies, who had been just about to murder each other two months before, embraced. After about three seconds, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room, though Fury did his best to pretend.

*

“I can’t believe it’s over,” Claire said, sitting down on the couch in their new digs. “And I can’t believe how quiet this place is. I figured we’d be able to hear everything through the walls.”

“You mean lovemaking?” Stone said, with an expression befitting his name. “The eager sounds of mates slaking their thirst for one another? Moaning, ecstasy, and finally release?”

Claire was staring at him, gawk-eyed. “Uh, well yeah, something like that. Also holy shit that got me kinda hot in places I shouldn’t feel hot before I take a shower.”

“You humans and your showering,” Fury said with a laugh. “Or I guess, ‘you human-raised bears and your showering’ considering.”

“Okay well, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll make you both a deal. I’m gonna go get cleaned off, because I’ve been sweating like a warthog for the past six hours.”

The two bears exchanged a glance. “What’s the deal?” Fury asked.

“After I do that, you’re going to make sure that the neighbors hear me. Get what I’m saying?”

For a long moment, Stone and Fury seemed to be processing her request. Finally, in his gravelly, panty-dropping baritone, Stone said, “She means vigorous lovemaking.”

Fury let his head drop, and his shoulders slouch. “That’s... very good. Yes.”

“But I’m right!” Stone protested as Claire took her exit. “That’s what she meant! She meant lovemaking!”

*

The steam and the bar of Irish Spring and the built-in music system piping Debussy into the shower were pretty amazing. But stepping out of the bathroom, not bothering with a robe or a towel, and finding herself staring at two guys who would have been right at home on a Hunky Guy Calendar?