Page 49 of Coveted By the Bear

The drill was a noisy, filthy, unsafe, physically draining work place. I loved it. There was no other job I wanted to do than one out on a land rig. The metal screeched around me as heavy machinery was pulled to and from the rig floor. I trusted Brian not to hit us with anything.

“Evan, cut it out,” I warned as my brother sprayed Reyes with the hose like a child. There was no room for horseplay up here. A misstep didn’t mean you got written up by an annoyed employer. It meant you got seriously injured—or worse.

Evan flipped me off but put the spray back on the drill as it slowly retreated out of the earth. With a clang, it pulled free, and I turned off the mud pumps. Evan and Reyes hooked the slips around the joints of the pipe, and I hopped down off my platform to help pull the length of metal upward.

“You and me, we need to switch jobs for a day,” Reyes said through a muddy grin.

“I already put my time in as a floorhand. I’m good.”

Reyes was an old friend who had moved off after high school. When his mother got sick about six months back, he came snooping around for a rig job, and I put in a good word. He was a greenhorn and had a lot to learn, but he would be an asset—eventually. I still watched him like a hawk, though. Evan on the floor tended to bring out everyone’s worst behavior. Which was probably why, after so much time, he was still in the exact position he’d been hired in and hadn’t ever seen an increase in pay. I adjusted my hard hat and booted mud off the metal decking while I waited for Reyes to clamp on the tongs before we lifted.

“Caleb,” our supervisor called from above us. “Need to talk at you.”

I finished hauling the pipe and glared at Evan. “You think you can add more pipe without messing up?” The slow churning fury I kept inside threatened to escape when he saluted me. Evan had only become more obnoxious with age.

I took off my work gloves and scaled the metal stairs two at a time until I reached the platform Mr. Wilson waited on. “Yes, sir?”

“Got a call from the big rig. Said they need to know your answer today. They’re already working shorthanded.”

I rubbed my hand over the stubble on my face. I wasn’t ready to make the decision. By all accounts, I should’ve been. I’d known the position was mine if I wanted it since the night of the disastrous family dinner with Mira. My father had enlightened me. This was my chance. I should’ve jumped at it already, but I couldn’t quite escape the panic that hit me in the gut when I thought about moving three hours away from home. Away from her.

“Afraid I’m going to have to respectfully decline.”

Mr. Wilson stared at me like I had spoken to him in Gaelic. “I don’t understand. Have you thought this through, son? I mean, ignoring the significant pay raise, you’d be on the fast track. You can’t work a rig forever, McCreedy. Your body will get older and refuse you. With your knowhow, work ethic, and name? You have a chance to get in on the business side of this eventually. You won’t have to be an old timer doing this kind of labor.”

“I like this kind of labor, sir. My answer is no.”

Mr. Wilson took his hard hat off and ran his fingers through his graying hair. He opened his mouth to object but was interrupted by a short yell and the clang of metal against metal. My legs were moving before I even fully registered the scene below me. The floor thudded as my mud-covered boots hit it running. Evan hovered over Reyes and yelled for help. Reyes held his bleeding hand to his stomach and rocked as if it would ease the pain. Open flesh hung from the side of his palm, and I cursed. It looked fucking ruined. I wanted to hit Evan. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind this was his fault. I swallowed a snarl and averted my eyes in case the damned things were glowing under my fury.

“We need to get him to the clinic,” I barked out.

Mr. Wilson handed me the first aid kit he’d swiped from one of the stashes. Though they tended to be well stocked and not your average medical supplies, it was still monumentally inadequate for an injury like his. I wrapped an entire roll of gauze around his hand, ignoring his screams of pain.

Mr. Wilson squatted beside me. “Evan, drive him into town,” he ordered.

Evan leaned against the rail like we had offered him a rat. “Me? Why don’t you make your golden boy do it?”

Mr. Wilson’s face turned a deep shade of furious red. “Because that golden boy actually works around here.”

Evan crossed his arms stubbornly. “No, thanks. Don’t want him bleeding like a stuck pig all over my truck.”

I didn’t hesitate. I tossed him the keys to my truck. It wasn’t surprising in the least that he worried about his trashed out pickup over his friend. That was just Evan.

He sighed heavily and stomped down the stairs, leaving Mr. Wilson and I to trail behind with a very pale looking Reyes propped between us.

****

Mira

How would I ever get used to the feel of touch? I had gone for so long without any kind of physical contact. It sent my skin buzzing. I brushed my mouth with my fingertips and imagined for the thousandth time what Caleb’s soft lips had felt like against mine.

Even more important than affection, Caleb had opened up and shared his favorite spot. He’d held my hand the entire way back to the house and kissed me at the front door when he dropped me off. And he’d returned and kissed me again before he made it all the way to his truck, like he couldn’t get enough. My lips throbbed just thinking about the way he’d kissed me for half an hour before he left.

“Oh, lover girl,” Opal sang as she slammed the phone into its sling.

I straightened and laughed in embarrassment. I had spent most of the day in a dream. The lunch rush was over and only a few customers remained. All satisfied and not wanting for anything, I had drifted off down memory lane. Again.

“We got an order for three Very Cherry pies. They are picking them up first thing in the morning. Put the big sugar granules on top like you did last time.” Her voice faded as she disappeared into the back room, but I could still hear her when she said, “They’re like little tongue orgasms.”