After leaving Port Numas, they moved into a small apartment in a sketchy neighborhood in Seattle. It was all they could afford after his parents cut him out of their lives. Crystal waitressed and Chet worked two jobs, doing his best to pass as a human. During the day, he worked as a janitor at the apartment complex in trade for rent and at night he was a telemarketer for a home security company.
The first six months or so were pretty tough. Not only did he have to come to grips with no longer having a family or any of his old friends, but he was working jobs that, in his previous life, he would have considered beneath him. It was a tremendous blow to his ego, but one for which he was now grateful. He’d needed to be taken down a peg or two — or maybe a hundred.
If it hadn’t been for Crystal, he wouldn’t have made it through that early rough patch. Her acid wit and no-bullshit attitude gave him perspective on life that he never would have had in Malibu. It took longer than he cared to admit, but eventually he came to understand that working for a living — no matter the job — was never a shameful thing. It was called being a man and taking care of business.
Not long after that epiphany, he started thinking outside the box. He learned maintenance skills from his coworkers and was quickly promoted up the ranks until he was the super for the entire complex, managing a staff of workers.
That allowed him to quit the heinous telemarketing job — one of his best days ever — and spend his evenings making love to his new bride. The wedding had been a simple civil service job at City Hall. Crystal’s mom and her flavor-of-the-month were the witnesses because her grandparents were ‘busy’ that day. It broke Chet’s heart because he knew it broke her heart, but it was what it was. They’d warmed up to him over the years and, now that Crystal was having a baby, they were calling nearly every day.
It didn’t hurt that he’d graduated from cleaning piss out of stairwells to building a small but lucrative business owning rental homes. He only had five so far but the profits allowed them to move into a nice home in a better neighborhood.
Nearly every day of his life, Chet wondered what he would be doing if he hadn’t met Crystal. It always gave him shivers to imagine the soul-sucking debauchery he might have joined in. While he missed his family, he didn’t miss his old life. Not even a little bit.
He did have a couple small lifelines back to his family. His cousin Sandy stayed in touch when she could, filling him in on all the goings-on. Her parents wouldn’t have approved but she wasn’t one for rules.
She’d just gone through her rite of passage and was off to college, determined to stay single long enough to become a lawyer. “My fated mate, if he’s even out there, can just wait till I’m ready,” she wrote in a letter a few weeks earlier.
Chet’s brother, Brad, also maintained contact with him, frequently sending him photos of his adorable nephew Max. Damn, that kid was awesome.
They’d visited Brad and Janey a couple times, and Janey was all set to come up to help with Crystal’s delivery. She promised to stay as long as they needed to get comfortable as new parents. He wondered if ‘forever’ might be too long.
Chet was unreasonably worried about Crystal’s pregnancy. They’d waited a long time to conceive because they wanted to be able to financially support a cub, but once she actually got knocked up, he was more worried about her and the baby’s health than money.
“Chet, we’re fine,” she’d soothe, rubbing her tummy, swollen with his cub. His bear strutted with pride inside him but his human side wondered what the repercussions of a human-werebear mating actually were. Sandy insisted that it would be no different from a regular werebear mating, but the old wives tales that had been instilled in him since birth were hard to dismiss.
Crystal had been seeing a human doctor, which suited her just fine, but Chet would have liked some reassurance from someone who instinctively knew how the pregnancy was progressing. Unfortunately, because of their non-status in the werebear community, no local clan healer would examine her so he was left in a state of limbo.
“Once the baby — excuse me, cub — is born, will you stop worrying?” she asked the night before, stroking his cheek with her soft palm.
He clutched it with both hands and pressed his lips to the softest part, loving her more today than the day before. He would never stop worrying about her and their soon-to-be-born cub. He would always protect them and provide for them. Every single thing he did, he did with their future in mind. They were his entire life.
And now, another day in their amazing life had started. Chet was excited to find out what it might bring. Stretching one more time, he threw back the covers, ready to get to work on the nursery. Most of the decorating was done, but he wanted to hang a sweet little bear mobile that Sandy sent. Plus he had an impossibly long list of baby items to buy before the big day came. How was it possible a tiny little baby needed so much stuff? He would never understand it, but if Crystal wanted it, he’d move the earth itself to get it.
Crystal was perched precariously on a chair at the kitchen table when he came down. The aroma of strong coffee roused his sleepy bear and made his mouth water. She made the best coffee. He didn’t need to look to know that she was sipping on a cup of herbal tea, as she had every morning since she took that pregnancy test so many months ago.
“Mornin’, baby,” he mumbled, leaning down to give her a mercifully quick smooch — his breath was horrendous. Dipping lower, he placed another kiss on her taut belly. “Mornin’, baby,” he repeated. It was his morning ritual. He couldn’t wait to kiss the real baby.
“How’re you feeling this morning?”
She shrugged, and he noticed she was paler than usual. “Didn’t get much sleep. My back hurt all night. I just couldn’t get in a comfortable position. The body pillow didn’t even help.”
“Seriously, I’ll move to the couch or the floor, if you’ll be more comfortable.”
Her weak smile sent up flares of concern. She wasn’t usually so tired in the morning.
“I told you before, it comes with the territory. I read it in my pregnancy book. He or she will be here soon enough, and then neither one of us will get to sleep.”
He stroked her head, pressing his lips to her forehead to slyly see if she was running a fever. If anything, she felt cool. That was better than hot.
“Dork, I know what you’re doing,” she smirked.
He smirked right back and went to pour himself a cup of glorious wake-up juice, the nectar of the gods. Crystal grunted behind him, a sound that had become very familiar over the last couple months. She’d grown so ripe with his baby that she grunted when she sat, when she stood, even when she shifted in her seat. Poor thing.
The next grunt sounded different, distressed. Whirling around, he was caught in her surprised gaze. Both hands clutching her belly, her mouth formed a perfect O, the edges twitching. Her eyes sparkled from the tears spilling out.
“Chet,” she gasped, reaching a hand toward him.
He thought his heart might leap straight out of his chest as he crossed the kitchen in a single step. His bear was on high alert, giving him speed his human side lacked. Before she could speak another word, he was on his knees in front of her, searching her face.
“Sweetheart? Are you okay? Is the baby okay? What’s wrong?”
His anxiety was pouring out of him like a raging river and he needed to get it together for her sake, but he was terrified his worst nightmares were about to come true. That the wives’ tales were true and that this was going to be the last day they would have together. He couldn’t imagine his life without her in it. No, until he held a squirming red infant in his arms, he’d be in a state of near-panic.
“Shhh,” she soothed, stroking his hair and cupping his face with her hands. And smiling. She was smiling. God, he loved her smile.
“It’s time to go, Tubbs.”
~ The End ~
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for buying and reading Bearly Hanging On, a Laid Bear novel. If you had fun reading it, I would love you forever if you would pop over to Amazon to leave a review!
Bearly Hanging On is part of the Laid Bear series from New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Marina Maddix. It can be read on its own, but fans of the series will recognize Chet from Laid Bear and Laid Bear: The Kodiak Clan, both of which are available on Amazon:
Laid Bear (A Werebear BBW Shifter Romance)
Curvy girl Bethany Mills can't believe her good fortune when her new neighbor turns out to be devastatingly hot. But someone that gorgeous could never fall for someone like her...could he? A charming personality and appreciation for sappy music aren't the only things Maximilian Pearce is hiding, and just when Bethany thinks she might get her very own happily ever after, a shocking revelation forces her to make a heartbreaking choice.
Sneak Peek
Chapter One
Bethany slowly fingered a gap in her front room’s blinds so she could peek at her new neighbor. Her landlord, a big gruff guy by the name of Chet who’d never seemed to like her much, had informed her he rented out the other side of the duplex and, oh by the way, he had someone very interested in her side if she was thinking about leaving.
She had no idea why Chet hated her so much, but ever since he bought the rental from her former landlord several months back, he’d been hinting she should find another place to live. Fuck you, I know my rights, she thought every time he made some comment like that.
So she was diligent about making sure her rent was on time, never a day late — even after he raised it unexpectedly — and that she never did anything he could evict her for. Heck, she even took care of most of the minor maintenance stuff in the place because it was easier than dealing with that jerk, even though it was his responsibility.
As Bethany peered out the window, she watched Chet hovering near the bed of the new guy’s pick-up. He was a fat, hairy schlub of a man while her new neighbor was what could only be described as eye candy. Yet her landlord acted like he usually did — superior to everyone else. Yuck.
Her new neighbor had been wearing a wife-beater — an honest-to-goodness wife-beater — when he arrived, but at some point he shed it as the heat of the day beat down on his bronzed skin. Sweat glistened on every hard curve of his torso, rivulets disappearing into the waistband of the jeans that rode deliciously low on his hips. She swiped her tongue across her dry lips, sucking her plump bottom lip between her teeth.
God, he was hot! Bethany’s heart raced at the thought of skimming her fingers — screw that, her lips — across all those ridges and bumps. It had been so long since she’d been with a man — like, almost a year, and then it was just a rough and drunken tumble at a friend’s party. Afterward, he’d called her a fat slut and stumbled out to his beater truck. She’d heard he got a DUI on the way home and was not-so-secretly pleased.
The memory of her last encounter brought her back into reality. She let the blinds snap closed and headed into the kitchen. Why get all hot and bothered over a guy who would never look twice at her? He looked like he should be an underwear model — probably was! — while she was big and tall and full of curves. The only guys she ever seemed to attract were either assholes or drunk, and more often than not, both.
As she rummaged around her freezer for just the right flavor ice cream, Bethany wondered how she was ever going to find a good man and have a family. She’d grown up with three older brothers who taught her how to be tough…on the outside. Inside, she was as soft as her ample ass.
Every rejection, every nasty comment, every disgusted look sent her farther and farther into an abyss of self-doubt and self-pity. She knew she couldn’t control other people’s reactions to her bountiful body, but she just wished that occasionally that reaction would be positive. Her friends all insisted she was gorgeous, voluptuous, Rubenesque, but she knew that was just shorthand for ‘fat’. Of course, eating Chunky Monkey out of the tub probably didn’t help matters.
She was jolted out of her reverie when the doorbell bonged. It didn’t bing-bong, like a normal doorbell; it had broken a few months earlier and now just bonged. One more thing Chet should fix but wouldn’t. She knew before she opened the door that he would be looming there, telling her she’d done something wrong — like the time she didn’t set the garbage cans at the curb just right — and ask yet again when she was moving.
The sight of her handsome new neighbor filling her doorway caused her throat to clench and her stomach to drop as the door swung open. Holy hell, this guy was even better up close. A sharp whiff of sweat caused her nostrils to flare. Her eyes closed as she inhaled this man’s feral scent, every bit of her body becoming highly sensitized in response. The sound of her own sigh startled her.
“Um, hi, neighbor.” There was definitely a hint of amusement in his deep rumbling voice. Oh, shit, he caught me! A deep crimson flush spread from her chest to her blond widow’s peak.
Bethany gulped and allowed her eyes to sweep up his rippled chest, droplets of sweat glistening in the sun, to his impossibly handsome face where they met warm brown eyes. She’d never seen eyes quite like his before, flecked with gold and…cinnamon? How was it possible that everything about this man was the most gorgeous thing she’d ever seen?
It took a moment for her to realize she hadn’t uttered a word yet. “Hi,” she squeaked. More than anything she wanted to avert her gaze but it was proving impossible. She was mortified, which wasn’t an unusual state for her, but this time she’d done it to herself in front of her god-like neighbor. Yet she couldn’t tear her eyes away from his. It was as if they were magnets locked together.
“Just wanted to introduce myself,” he said. Thank goodness he took the initiative or they would have stood there all day, Bethany drooling all over herself, no doubt. Her gaze trailed down his bulging arm to the hand he was extending to her. Why was everything moving in slow motion?!
“I’m Maximilian Pearce, but everyone calls me Max.”
Even his name was perfect!
“Uhh…” Her downfall was about to be complete because for the life of her, she couldn’t remember her own name. Brittany? Brittania? Bathilda? “Bethany… Mills.” It came out a whisper as she watched her fingers disappear into his paw of a hand.
The amused tone was back. There was something else, too. Something deeper, more throaty. “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Bethany. I’m sure we’ll bump into each other very soon.”
With that, he turned and strode back to his truck, where Chet stood glowering at her over Max’s shoulder. Bethany was numb as she eased the door shut, her eyes never leaving his perfect retreating figure. The last thing she saw before an eggshell white wall of door blocked her view was Max glancing back over his shoulder, his lips twitching in a smile. Then he winked.
~ * ~ * ~
The growl of Max’s truck driving away brought Bethany to her senses…on the floor. She’d just managed to close the door before leaning back against it and sliding into a puddle in her entryway. That was the most male interaction she’d had in months, if you didn’t count Chet (which she didn’t), and it was with the sexiest man on the planet.
“I have to call someone!” She flicked through her mental Rolodex, frantically trying to figure out who would be as giddy as she while still sane enough to offer her sound advice. Kimmy would tell her to fuck Max’s brains out, Paul would ask if he could fuck Max’s brains out, Joanne was visiting her sick mom…Charlotte! Charlotte will be the voice of reason, Bethany thought as she scrolled through her phone’s contact list.
“Hey, B! How freaky is this?” Charlotte wasn’t much for pleasantries. “I was just picking up the phone to call you and invite you over for a party on Saturday. Weird, huh?”
“Yeah, yeah, sounds good. Listen, I need some of your famous words of wisdom.”
“Sure, what’s up?”
Bethany described her interaction with her new neighb
or, not leaving out a single detail, including his epic hotness. She wandered around the apartment as she spoke, ending up in front of the bathroom mirror.
“Ohmigod!” she screamed into the phone.
“Shit, B! Take it down a notch.”
Bethany wanted to cry at what she saw. A big smear of Chunky Monkey was drying near her mouth, and a dollop decorated the tip of her nose. Charlotte just laughed at the news.
“Forget about it, B. So he’s hot, and so you had a little ice cream on your face. Big whoop. It’s not like anything can happen between you two anyway — you’re neighbors. Like gramps always said, never shit where you sleep…or eat, or something like that.”
Scrubbing the tell-tale signs of her culinary weakness away, Bethany let her friend’s words sink in. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Besides, a guy like him would be better suited to some hard-body like Kimmy.”
“Girl, don’t sell yourself short. You’re a good-looking broad. A lot of guys like a girl with a little meat on her bones. Kimmy’s a stone-cold fox but she’s all hard angles, ya know? She’d probably bruise him.”
Bethany giggled at Charlotte’s joke. She felt better. “I knew you were the right person to call, Char. Thanks.”
“Anytime, B. So are you a yes for Saturday?”
“Huh? Oh, sure, as long as I won’t be the only singleton there. I already feel enough like Bridget Jones without going to a couples’ party, thank you very much.”
“Weeeeell….”
“Oh, no, Char!”
“C’mon, it’ll be fine. There’s only one couple you don’t know. And Paul might come. You’ll have a blast. Besides, you haven’t been over for weeks. Please say yes?”
Charlotte knew Bethany couldn’t say no to her wheedling tone. “Fine. But I’m not bringing a goddamn thing!”
Bearly Hanging On (A Werebear Shifter BBW Romance) (Laid Bear Book 3) Page 12
