Page 14 of Dove
Moments later, though, he's turned his eyes to Bear–his own dad–and grown hard as a diamond.
"Let's go," he mutters.
I reach back and grab Orion, the only biker close enough, and follow him, ready to save Bear from yet another mess–probably of his own making
When we arrive at the scene of Bear's fight, another man has joined in, and they've got Bear on the ground. One of the guys iskicking him while another punches him in the face, and I can see we only have seconds before he's out cold.
Orion, Cameron, and I move like we've already got a plan, the three of us striding into the fight with our fists up and our eyes on the men in question. Orion pulls a knife from somewhere and Cameron has come up with a bat, and between the three of us, we must look like some sort of ragtag gang of misfits.
That doesn't make us any less dangerous, though.
Orion leans down and grabs the guy hitting Bear, then turns and throws him in Cameron's direction. Cam lines up and swings, catching the guy in the face, and he goes down, body limp and broken. I watch him fall and then run for the man bent over Bear, jumping on his back and sinking my teeth into his neck. He roars and throws me off, but Cameron is there to catch me and Orion kicks the guy in the face, sending him to the ground as well. The third guy takes one look at the men I'm with and decides to run–smart–and the fourth guy also takes one of Orion's knees to the face.
I rush to Bear, get his arm around my shoulders, and pull him up, staggering under the weight until Cameron takes his other arm. We manage to get him to his feet and stumble toward the sidewalk, both of us knowing without speaking that we need to get to the alley between the buildings, where we can get Bear out of sight.
He may be sheriff but that doesn't make him safe. Better to let Mars, Dutch, and Orion deal with whatever's going on out there while we hide the man those bikers were attacking.
By the time we get to the alley, Bear is stumbling on his own, and within seconds of us getting him to shelter, he shakes us off and staggers forward without us, as though he got here of his own power.
Like we didn't wade into a fight that wasn't ours to try to save his sorry ass.
Typical.
The man has been nothing but arrogant since he got back to town. I should have known better than to think he'd change just because we rescued him from a fight.
He rounds on us and glances from me to Cameron, and I'm struck once again by how much his son looks like him. Bear has the same dark, unruly hair and those wide, sharp cheekbones. His chin is slightly rounder than Cameron's, making him look somehow softer, and instead of dark charcoal, his eyes are a bright, twinkling blue.
He's taller than Cameron, and broader, but I can see the resemblance there, as well. Wide shoulders tapering down to narrow hips, and hands large enough to nearly wrap around my waist.
When I drag my eyes back up to his face, I find him staring back at me. Watching me take him in. Observing me while I run my eyes up and down his body, cataloguing every inch of him and wondering what made him the way he is.
His lips twitch in a smirk at whatever he's thinking, and I feel it over every inch of my skin. The cocky slide of that grin, like he knows something I don't, and then the white-hot heat of his eyes as they rake down my own body, returning the favor.
I narrow my own eyes, furious at both him and the reaction he's bringing about in my body.
He might look like Cameron, but the two are nothing alike. Bear is cocky and arrogant, every inch the asshole, while Cameron is quiet, brilliant, and loyal.
I may have dragged Cam into a fight to save his father, but as far as I’m concerned, Bear could never hold a candle to his son.
"What?" I snap.
Bear shrugs, looking like he wasn't just about to get his ass handed to him. "Just didn't expect to get up this morning and see you mixing it up with the local biker gang." Then his smilefalls and he turns deadly serious. "Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You seem to specialize in making trouble."
That's the other thing I don't like about Bear.
One minute he's joking and laughing, and the next he's flipped on you and turned cold. Hard. Dangerous.
And yet.
And yet, he’s related to Cameron, and no matter how much we hate him, that makes him blood—which makes him ours. He deserted us both when we were fourteen—and that’s just the most recent example—and has been harassing us since the day he got back to town, acting like he has a right to tell us where to go and who to see.
But he’s still family.
And around here, that means something.
Especially when the only real family you’ve ever had killed herself when she got tired of dealing with you.
Bear is still glaring at me when he steps forward, so I see the moment of realization slide across his face when his knee gives out. I dart toward him just in time to catch him before he goes down… and only then do I realize that this is the second time in five minutes I have my arms around this man.
