by Mirajane
“Turn the damn music off!” He bellowed.
I glanced at the bartender who walked over and turned off the stereo. The bar was awash in annoyed groans and amused grins.
“There is something going on here,” Oren said. “Something that must be addressed and dealt with. This is something that we have all been led to believe is the stuff of fairy tale, but it is happening right under our noses. That’s right.”
“What the hell is he doing?” Angie whispered to me. I could tell how tense she was now. She was scared to death. I kissed her forehead and ran a hand through her hair.
“It will be ok,” I said. “Let him speak. The moron.”
“Now, let me ask you a question,” Oren said. “If we were all being lied to, we’d like to know about it, right?”
The bar full of patrons nodded and cheered. Oren continued.
“Well, it has come to my attention that we are being lied to, and that there is a problem we must come together to rid ourselves of before more people die. Brad Stewart was just the start. We all believe that a bear came down out of the hills and the woods and killed Brad Stewart. Maybe it did, but after what I saw the other day, I don’t think so. We have something else amongst us.”
He waited until everyone had a chance to muse amongst themselves as to what in the hell he was talking about.
He took another drink. “That man over there at that booth. Do you all see him? That’s right. Tyler, you should give us all a wave.”
I ignored him. My eyes were glaring right at him. He had to be scared of me, but he knew I was not going to do anything to him here in the bar. He had to believe that.
“Well, Tyler here is an old friend of mine, from our class. He used to be a bit of a nerd, but now it seems he has undergone a radical transformation. He is tall, handsome, athletic, and rich. And he has taken the heart of the prettiest, most popular girl in school, the girl who used to be with me. Well, I’m sure you are all asking yourself how he managed to accomplish such a radical change in the past four years. I have the answer.”
“Oren, stop this!” Angie yelled. “You are drunk. Go home and sleep it off.”
Oren held his hand up for her to be quiet. I wanted to rip it off and shove it up his ass.
“This man, is actually not a man. That is the thing,” Oren said. “He is in fact, a bear.”
The bar was silent for a moment, and then they began to erupt in laughter which branched out into applause. Several of them were actually giving me a standing ovation. They must have thought bear meant something else. I couldn’t help but laugh at the way they were practically worshipping me. I hammed it up more by raising my hand and giving them a round of nods and smiles.
Oren was getting pissed. This just made it all the more fun.
“No! No! He is a fucking bear. He changed into a real bear. He almost killed me. I know he killed Brad Stewart. I’d bet my life on it! He is the one. We have to lock him up.”
The patrons continued to laugh and praise me in an almost mocking manner towards Oren. A few people came up and shook my hand. Someone asked for my autograph. I couldn’t believe how funny this was turning out to be. I was infuriated that Oren was trying to do this, but it was completely backfiring on his stupid ass. And now everyone would see what a moronic piece of pig shit he really was.
This was hilarious to me and the rest of the bar. Angie was squeezing my arm as she laughed her head off. Our whole table was drinking to this, offering toasts to each other. Finally, Angie stood up to really milk it for all this was worth. “Let’s hear it for Tyler, The Bear, Chambers!”
We all raised our glasses and toasted to me. It was the best thing ever. I was having a blast with it.
“You fucking morons! This is real! He is playing you!” Oren shouted.
But it was no use. He was essentially being laughed out of the bar.
Oren pointed a finger at me and glared. “You motherfucker! You will pay for this! It’s not over by a long shot!”
I nodded at him and smiled. He walked out of the bar in a huff and threw his beer bottle against the wall as he exited where it shattered all over the place. The bar owner glared at the door. I hoped he’d kick that idiot out of the bar for good. He couldn’t have been much of a good customer, except all the beer he drank and couldn’t pay for. What a loser.
To think I’d actually feared that idiot in high school. My, how the tide had changed.
Angie and I looked at each other and I could feel the relief washing between us. I was fairly certain that he would be laughed at for spouting such nonsense to people, but you never really knew. All it took was a few superstitious believers to understand that the world we see and the world we know are actually quite different. And even among this crowd, I was not fully convinced that no one believed what Oren said. They were just afraid of being singled out and laughed at as he was.
But this made me a bit nervous. I wasn’t sure that I could breathe easily and feel safe around this group now. It was a bit frightening.
I would feel good when the week was over and I went back home to the big city where I could blend in much more easily.
“So, would you like to go look at some of the Christmas lights over on Orchard street? They are always the best,” I said to Angie.
She smiled. “Sure. I’d love that.”
I kissed her softly and took in her sweet, wonderful lips as they pressed against mine. I could never get enough of that.
And I hoped I would have this forever.
Chapter Twenty-One
Angie
I awoke to the sound of my phone ringing.
At first I thought I was dreaming, but then it wouldn’t stop and it seemed to be growing louder. I wondered if I could let it go to voicemail. I believed that I did, because the ringing did stop momentarily. I felt relieved and continued to sleep, but then it started right back up again, and somehow it seemed even worse this time.
I opened my eyes angrily and then reached out to grab the phone. It sounded at first like I had forgotten and set an alarm, but then I realized that I was receiving an actual phone call. The caller ID said it was Heather. And it also said the time was ten minutes after seven in the morning. Why would she be calling me over and over again this early in the morning? Something must have been terribly wrong.
I also realized I was at Tyler’s. I was in his bed. He was sleeping soundly beside me, but the phone call was starting to rile him awake as well. Last night, after we’d left the bar, we went to Orchard Street and watched the Christmas light displays. They were beautiful and a lot of fun. It was also very romantic.
After that we came back to Tyler’s where we made sweet, exquisite love to each other. It was so special. I never wanted it to end. I was still on a high from it, a sweet buzz. I wondered if Tyler was finished yet, because I could have easily rolled over and climbed right back on that succulent cock of his. When he was inside of me, I felt more complete and whole than I’d ever known I could feel. It was something that would actually touch my soul.
I answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Have you seen the news?” Heather asked me.
“No, you woke me up. It’s early,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“Oren is dead,” she replied.
The words echoed in my head, but did not make sense. I had not heard what she just said. That was impossible.
“What?” I asked. “What did you just say?”
“Oren is dead,” she replied. “He was mauled, just like Brad Stewart. They say it was another bear attack. They are urging everyone to stay inside after dark. This is getting crazy.”
“Wow…oh, shit… what…? I don’t know what to say. I can’t believe it. We all saw him last night.”
“Yeah, they say he drove his car into a ditch, and then was trying to walk the rest of the way to his house when he was attacked.”
“Do they know what time it was?”
“I’m not sure. Shit. This is really bad. Oren wasn’t al
ways this guy he became, was he?”
“Well, yeah. He was. Don’t you remember what he did to me?”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. He was a shit. But did he really deserve this?”
“No,” I said. “That is so crazy. I can hardly fathom that it’s really happening.”
“Right? It just doesn’t seem real,” she said.
I ended the call with her a few moments later and I could hear her voice choking up. She was deeply hurt by this. I was too, on some level. It was hard to lose someone that way, even someone you hated. Oren had just tried to kill me a few days ago. So, a part of me felt somehow vindicated.
“Stop it,” I said. I had to snap out of that vengeance mindset. It was no good to anyone. It was wrong. It would lead me down the wrong path. I was a better person than that. I was better than Oren.
“What’s going on?” Tyler asked.
I looked over at him. He was still wiping the sleep out of his eyes. “Oren is dead.”
That shook him awake and his eyes went wide. “What?”
“Yeah,” I said. “He is dead. He was found in a ditch mauled to death, just like Brad. They say another bear attack.”
“Another…? What? This doesn’t make any sense.”
As I watched his reaction, a deeply disturbing thought began to take place in my mind. It was so unsettling that I tried my best to push it away and not even pretend to have it, or to have to deal with it, but before I could the thought presented itself in my head and there it was now. I sighed. I supposed that this idea was there from way back after Brad was killed, but I had been able to stop it.
But now, knowing about Tyler’s secret life, I had to ask myself if this was something I was entertaining and if it was something I was actually going to ask him. But before I could dwell on it, the whole thing just came out of my mouth. “Tyler, did you have anything to do with this?”
Shit. What the hell was I saying? That question had come out of nowhere and it had rolled off my tongue effortlessly and without much forethought.
He looked like I’d just slapped him. His mouth was dropped open and his eyes were wide. “What?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I had to ask. That just came to me. But… you can see how it looks from my perspective.”
“From the perspective of a woman who said she loves me? That perspective? From that angle, it looks like I’m capable of being a vicious murderer?”
Tyler rolled out of the bed and started pacing back and forth. He was so pissed and he had a right to be. Even with him being angry, it was hard not to be distracted by the fact he was naked.
“This is bullshit,” he said “I can’t believe you just fucking asked me that.”
“Well, you still haven’t actually answered the question,” I reminded him.
He stared at me. “No. I had nothing to do with their deaths. I’m sorry that they died. They were assholes, but it’s not up to me to decide who lives and dies. They both should have been convicted of their crimes in a court of law and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. But I do not take justice into my own hands.”
I believed him. At least, I thought I did. I wasn’t going to start thinking of the man I loved as a liar. I hated that I’d actually asked him that. This was something I felt sick about. Why did I do that? What was I thinking about?
Fuck. I was so wrong here.
But this was something I was still concerned about. I wasn’t sure I believed that there was really another bear or another shifter going around killing people in town, and those people had a bad connection to me. That was the biggest thing. Both of these men had done bad things to me. And now they were dead.
I knew what I was thinking and even though I was sorry, the seeds of doubt were planted inside of my mind. I wasn’t totally sure that I believed what Tyler was telling me. But I wanted to. I wanted to believe every single thing that he always told me. The foundation of any relationship was truth and honesty, so it was no wonder he had just gotten so pissed at me.
He was still pacing back and forth. But now he was putting on his clothes. “I’m going for a run,” he said. “I need to cool off.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know where that even came from,” I said. “I never should have asked you that. It’s just that, if you did have something to do with it then I would understand. It would make sense to me.”
He stared at me like I was insane. “What are you saying? That you would be ok with me killing people if you think they deserved it? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. I just said… shit. I’m sorry.”
I was not going to win this argument. Everything I said came out wrong and kept getting twisted around. I knew better than to keep digging myself deeper into this hole, but I didn’t want Tyler to be angry with me I needed him. I loved him so much.
He walked out of the bedroom. And I was alone.
“Real smooth, Angie,” I said. “Real smooth. Dumbass.”
I hated myself for what I’d said. I should have kept my thoughts about this to myself, at least until I actually had some sort of proof. All I had was anecdotal evidence. It looked weird, but I couldn’t allow myself to believe that Tyler was capable of such horrific crimes.
If he was, then what did that mean for me? Who was I really getting involved with?
I had to convince myself that I was totally wrong. I’d just hurt Tyler deeply.
I’d wounded some of that trust we had.
Just then I heard breaking outside. And then voices. They were loud. I couldn’t understand what was being said, but they sounded angry and they were chanting and screaming something. What I the hell? I quickly got dressed and ran downstairs where I found Tyler standing in front of the front window.
“What is going on?”
He pointed outside. “There are people out there who apparently had the same idea you just did.”
I looked out behind the curtains and there they were. If I had to guess there were about twenty people out there. They were throwing things at the house and banging up Tyler’s car. This was crazy. What in the hell were they doing?
“What are you talking about?”
“Just listen,” he said.
I did so. “We know it was you! This isn’t going to fly here!”
“You go back to where you came from!”
“You won’t get away with this!”
“We know what you are!”
I looked over at Tyler. I was surprised that he didn’t even appear scared. He was just standing there looking at the idiots and watching with an oddly amused look on his face. He pointed and said, “This is what happens when people believe in things like me.”
I saw what he meant. This was crazy, even for some of the superstitious people that existed around here. What had Oren really done? His words had more of an impact than he realized apparently. “I guess, with his death they figure he was actually telling the truth. It’s too much of a coincidence. What about the cops?”
“I was just about to call them. If I go out there, things might get really out of hand, you know?” Tyler said.
“No. If you call them, they might lock you up. This gives you motive for Oren’s murder. Even if they do believe he was mauled by a bear. They might think it was staged. Hell, there might even be people on the force who think this is what this was.” Then the biggest lightbulb of all went off inside my head. How had I not thought of this until now?
Tyler must have seen my face change, because he looked at me inquisitively. Then he asked, “What?”
“His uncle,” I said.
“His uncle?”
“Yes. His uncle is the Sheriff,” I replied. “His uncle is going think you had something to do with this when he finds out that you had a beef with is son. You have to get out of here.”
“I’m not running,” Tyler said. “I won’t be put out that way. I’m not the weakling I was in high school. I’m not a kid. I stand for what is right and what I believe in.
I’ll stand my ground to the end.”
I could see that Tyler was serious. He wasn’t going to budge. And he was a few minutes from going out there and making those people sorry they’d ever come on his property and “poked the bear” so to speak. He was getting that fire in his eyes.
I had to do something.
Walking closer to him. I took his hand in mine and looked up into his eyes. “Please. You need to leave town. Do it for me. It’s not safe for you here anymore. The sheriff is going to come for you and if he is convinced that you are guilty, he will absolutely make you pay for what happened to Oren.”
“But I’m innocent,” he said.
“I know that. I do. But why don’t we go away together. We can hide out for a bit until it all blows over, or until evidence points to the real culprit of these killings.”
He thought a moment and then his demeanor softened. He looked into my eyes and kissed my hand, holding it gingerly. He sniffed my skin and moaned softly. I could see exactly how much I meant to him and how much loved I was with him. That was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I wanted nothing more than to be with him.
“Hey,” Tyler said. “I have an idea.”
“Why don’t we just have our families, our friends, and anyone else we want to invite, and invite them up to the Stockton Ski Lodge. I’m an investor in that one and I have several cabins at my disposal. It’s not even opened officially yet. But I do have keys and everything is in perfect working order. I even have some employees there being trained for opening up the first week of January. It should be all ready to go. We can have it all to ourselves. What do you say?”
I was not sure he was really serious, but it became apparent that he was. “That sounds amazing,” I said.
“Great. Let’s make some phone calls, but first we have to get these nut jobs out of here.”
Tyler walked into the kitchen and then went downstairs to the basement. I hadn’t actually been down there yet. But when he returned, he had a twelve gauge shotgun in his hands. He smiled at me and without saying a word he went outside.
