Angel: Rochon Bears (11 page)

E
ddie leaned back
in his chair and propped his feet up on his desk. He had his mate, an amazing son that came with that mate and a new baby girl. His life was as golden as you could get. He did feel bad for Angel. He knew how serious this was for his little brother to find his mate when he was so immature. But maybe the fates decided that his lack of direction and inability to make a decision would be cured by tossing his mate into the mix.

Eddie felt for that woman, though. Angel was not as bad as he used to be. He wasn’t as crazy as he was growing up. But he still lacked direction, and no matter how much gentle prodding he got from his family or his clan, he was still a little lost.

“What else do you know?”

“She works at the county. She smells like coconut and heaven. We fit like two puzzle pieces, and she is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”

“I’m sure of that. Nobody is as pretty as your mate. That is the honest truth. Did she like you?”

“What do you mean did she like me? Why wouldn’t she?”

Eddie raised his eyebrow at him.

“She seemed to like me,” he mumbled.

“Well, that’s something. You’re not ugly, so you have that going for you. On the other hand, you don’t like your job, although you still do it. You didn’t go to school. There is the fact you have a modicum of talent when it comes to music.” Eddie knew he was pushing his brother’s buttons, but he couldn’t help the taunt.

Angel let out a low growl. “Believe me, I can see clearly now that I haven’t given all that I could to my job. Up until the moment I saw her,I felt like I was just biding my time. I’m so excited to have found her, and at the same time totally embarrassed about how much I’ve been slacking. I wish I hadn’t wasted the last few years. I wish I had spent more time learning the business so I could ensure that I could provide for her. This is weighing heavy on me and I don’t want to screw this up with her.”

That made Eddie laugh. “My two cents—you have to spend some time with her. Talk to her and try not to hump her leg like a dog.”

That got him another growl.

“I’m serious. You need to ask her out. See if she’ll see you. Find out about her, hopefully by asking, but if that doesn’t work, snoop. Check in and see if Tanner knows her. He knows everything in this town, even more than I do. It sounds like she may have a whole life that you don’t know about. Is she even single? Where does she live? What is her career? Does she have kids? These are all things you need to find out, and you need to do it delicately. No bulldozing in. Don’t tell her about yourself until you know for sure it’s something she’s willing to accept and that she can keep the secret.”

Angel knew he was right. No matter how much his bear wanted to be with their mate. He could tell she could be easily spooked. What did a bear do if their mate rejected them? This was not something he wanted to find out about. He also didn’t want to be known as the bear that couldn’t land his mate.

He needed to plan out how to find out who his mate was. If he could learn about her, he could make sure that he supported her in her wants and needs. There had to be a way for him to provide for her. His family was full of men with happy wives and families. They all seemed content as fuck to pet and coddle their mates, change diapers, and play peek-a-boo. Angel wanted that now more than ever. The switch in his goals was like experiencing whiplash. He totally got it now. Everything that had seemed like a mystery the day before now made sense.

Shit, he was thinking about someone other than himself. This was not something he usually did, hell, ever did. He wasn’t a complete asshole, but in a clan as big as the Rochons, there was no lack of helping hands. Angel had always been happy to sit back and let everyone else do the heavy lifting. His selfishness wasn’t a cruel thing, more of an opportunity he took full advantage of. Now his years of avoiding responsibility were coming back to bite him in the ass. The good thing is, he could change all of it. He had the brains and the drive to make changes to every aspect of his life.

This time, he needed to take care of the woman that had just flipped his world upside down. He didn’t want anyone else near his mate. The feeling of belonging, the part of him that was no longer alone, was coming from somewhere deep inside him. The day before, Angel was thinking about his music and the new song he’d been writing. It was a mix of rock and country and currently was a ballad that he was writing on his guitar. Now that song was for her. Like it had always been for her.

He also was thinking about how to get through the day at work without his boredom showing. Now he needed to show her and his clan that he could take care of his mate. Cage would give him the opportunity if he asked for it. Even if it was just a small way to prove that he could do the job and be an adult.

Today, he had responsibilities. He had a drive to take care of another person. A human that had no idea about shifters but was now deeply entrenched in a world kept hidden from humans. Becks couldn’t begin to understand the depth of his need to make her his. That everything about her was perfect to him. Her body, her mind, her likes, and dislikes. They were the map to his future happiness. And his map was not beside him. He couldn’t follow the path to making her his without being with her.

Angel looked up to see Eddie watching him. “I’m an asshole. She’s a woman with a life. How the hell am I going to convince her to give me a chance?”

Eddie laughed. “This is one of those moments that I should be able to enjoy. Seeing you get your comeuppance. Instead, I know the pain you’re in, so I’m going to be kind. Just talk to her. You need to get to know her as much as she needs to find out who you are. You have the advantage. The need for her is all consuming. For her, you are some punk kid that she probably regrets spending the night with. Sounds like she has her shit together, and you're a complication. Show her you aren’t what she thinks. And above all, don’t fucking show her your bear until you are sure she’s committed to you. Your age puts you at a disadvantage and explaining your animal will just muddle up some already muddy waters.”

“Wouldn’t telling her I love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her be a good thing? Isn’t that what chicks want?”

“First, do yourself a favor, and don’t call her a chick. It’s immature, and whenever you start to say something, pause and think would my brother and cousins do this? And when the answer is
no
, do the opposite.”

“Thanks for making it easy, asshole.”

“I’m here for you. I really am. This is a big deal, man. You don’t get another shot at this. Your bear needs this, and so do you. Make it happen.”

Angel knew his brother wasn’t being a jerk. He was trying to make it sink in that Angel couldn’t float his way through this one.

“Can I call you?”

“Anytime, you know that. Just if it’s after nine, text. The kids are in bed, and that’s my alone time with my mate, if you know what I mean.”

“Dude, gross. I don’t need to know that.”

“Hah, see how much you care what other people think of you after you’ve bonded,” Eddie said.

Angel wanted that. He wanted it badly. The twisting in his stomach was irritating him and his bear. He needed to do something to soothe his animal.

“Alright, I’m off to see if Tanner knows about her.” Jumping up, Angel offered his hand to his brother. He saw Eddie’s eyebrow raise then he shook Angel’s hand.

“Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

Angel knew he needed more than luck.

T
here was
a chance that if she could make it to a phone, Becca would be able to hire a hitman to put her out of her misery. That was if she could take the excruciating pain of the light coming from the phone’s screen. There was no end in sight to the pain. She couldn’t tell how long it had been. She was afraid to even look at the clock on her nightstand. It was a red LED that she’d purposely purchased because it didn’t reflect into the room. There was a chance she had only been laying there for an hour, but she could also have been lying there all night.

Time didn’t matter when you felt like your brain was on fire. She recalled at some point crawling to the bathroom to throw up. With the empty stomach, she took a chance and took a Valium hoping to relax the knot of muscles at the back of her neck. Sometimes, the tension kept the pain train rolling.

She thought she fell asleep for some period of time, and when she woke up, the knifing pain had moved from behind her eye to the middle of her skull. That usually meant she could count on it being another twenty-four hours of working through the hurt.

Becca kept her eyes closed and felt around for her phone. Taking a deep breath, she chose to hit speed dial and put the phone to her ear instead of attempting to stare at the bright screen in the dark room.

The phone rang, and she winced. She fucking hated her headaches. Besides wanting a man in her life that loved and adored her, the number to a large winning lottery jackpot, and a slightly smaller ass, she wanted her headaches gone.

Her doctor had run her through all the tests; she’d visited a neurologist and even had a CAT scan when she landed in the hospital after one of them lasted three days. There was no reason they could find for the cause of her headaches. Becca had never wanted anything in her life more than she wanted them to find a tumor or cluster of fucked up veins. Something to explain why she had to suffer.

“Honey?” Alicia’s groggy voice answered told Becca it was the middle of the night.

“Hey,” she whispered back and saw colors behind her eyelids as the sound came out of her mouth. There was no holding back the moan that came out.

“Oh, sweetie. Is it bad?” Alicia whispered. She’d been through this with Becca before.

“So bad. Won’t be in tomorrow. You call?” She knew her words weren’t coming out like they should. But the fewer words she spoke, the less pain she had to go through.

“I’m on it. Text if you need me for anything.”

“Mmm—kay”

Stabbing at the phone screen, she hoped it hung up and then tried to find the closest spot on the nightstand for it. Her normally sunny disposition always tanked when she was in the middle of a headache. Calling it a headache didn’t even seem fair. Her whole body was involved. As the hours progressed, the nerve endings in her body all started to get involved. The tension started in her neck with her muscles contracting against the pain. That would travel down her back until she’d realize her thighs were flexing in anticipation. That’s when she would resort to the Valium.

Knowing that she didn’t need to have an uncomfortable conversation with her boss the next day took a little pressure off. Her boss was nice about her situation. He knew that she always made up her work and only called in when it was desperate.

Now that she didn’t need to set her alarm or worry about how she was going to drive herself to work with her eyes closed, she fell back into a medicated pseudo-sleep.

* * *

A
fter he had left Eddie
, Angel had sat for a while and thought about what his brother said and how he should proceed. Delicately was the word that kept coming to mind. Angel assumed it was his bear’s input, so he took it to heart.

Angel drove to the Sheriff’s station to see if Tanner was working.

“You really aren’t going to help me out with this?”

“Man, we all have to trudge through the mating dance on our own. Why should you get any extra help?”

“Because you’re a cop, it’s your job.”

“My job was to try and keep you out of trouble most of your life. Now my job is to sit back and watch my deputies do all the heavy lifting for me so I can relax a bit.”

“As a clan mate, shouldn’t you be ensuring my happiness?”

Tanner snorted. “I’m under no obligation to ensure your happiness. You have your mate, well almost. That should be enough.”

“I don’t have her yet, that’s why I’m here.”

“Hey, I found my mate when she didn’t even know who she was. Remember the whole mate in a coma ordeal? I think I may win most complicated mate courtship. You just need to do a little legwork. So why don’t you go sniff her out. I’m not giving you any personal information about her so stop asking.”

Angel attempted to glare at his cousin to make him change his mind. When that didn’t work he decided to try and wait him out, but Tanner found other ways to hold his ground.

Tanner occasionally looked up from his phone to stare at Angel and shake his head. From the goofy smiles on Tanner’s face, he was talking to his mate Brooke. He’d occasionally laugh to himself before typing something back.

He hoped that Tanner would get called away so that he could sneak a peek on his cousin’s computer. He propped his feet up on the desk which got him a serious glare from the Sheriff, then pretended to be checking his messages. Then he moved on to checking his online farm to kill a little more time.

Happily, Apex was not a town that was in need of an overly active police force. It was quiet unless it was tourist season. That was when the town got a good chunk of its revenue from speeding tickets. Tanner had moved from chatting on his phone to dozing off in his chair.

That gave Angel an idea. He started searching through Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram to see if he could get lucky. A Rebecca that lived in Apex should narrow it down.

He did get lucky. He found her picture and title under the county’s website. Rebecca Kelly. The picture looked to be a number of years old; she looked like someone that was starting a new job. Nervous smile, a little too big and bright shining eyes staring at the camera.

Through Facebook, he found her profile page, but it was locked down tight from prying eyes. There was a picture of her house she’d made her profile picture a few years ago. It was a small cottage with, what looked like to him, an overgrown yard. It was all flowers and large bushes. He wasn’t someone who knew if what he was looking at was good or a project she was working on.

What he did know was that the house looked familiar. It was in a part of town where the houses were cookie cutter. Built in the nineteen fifties, they were the first round of houses built by loggers that weren’t just single guys living in the woods. They had families that needed something other than tents in the trees.

He had a picture of her house. Did he dare show up knocking at her door? Would it end up with Tanner taking him away in handcuffs? Not that Tanner normally would do that, but he might to make a human feel better.

Angel didn’t know what he would say if he did knock on her door. She wasn’t feeling good and probably wasn’t in a mood to have a conversation with him.

Standing up, Angel saw Tanner open one eye at him. He gave Tanner a salute and left without another word. He decided to take the work truck back to the base camp and pick up his truck. His cousin Cash sold him his old Chevy after he had to get a family car to fit his mate and new twin cubs.

It wasn’t flashy, and it wasn’t fast. It just got Angel from one place to another. Now he understood why Cash gave it up, even though Angel thought it was a great truck. It wasn’t safe enough for a mate or cubs. There were no airbags, and it barely had seatbelts, just lap belts. He was going to have to get something better.

That would mean working hard and saving up. He’d always have a job with the family, but what if he had gone to school? He’d be on a better track for a career that paid better. Not that his family didn’t pay all the workers a fair wage. But now thinking long term, Angel’s space above his parents’ garage was not something he could bring a mate too.

It had worked for him for years. He had it set up bachelor pad style with a big TV, a mini fridge and a bed that sat on a low frame. He was using cinderblocks and spare wood as shelves. The only thing worth anything in the room was the musical equipment. His Gibson was on a stand next to his Marshall amplifier. His Yamaha drumset was in the corner. He knew if he ever got good at it, he’d upgrade that set. He also had a Yamaha keyboard set up, and there were various brass instruments strewn around the room that he’d tried out. There was a week where he’d thought a trombone would be fun. It wasn’t. Any money he had ever earned went into the items in one corner of his room.

Now he thought he should have invested in towels and plates. Or sheets that weren’t hand-me-down.

“Classy, dickhead,” he moaned. Things needed to change.