Bear Meets Girl
Page 108
Unfortunately, by the time Peg had figured out what Whitlan was up to, hed already hunted, killed, and stuffed one of the sons of Jebediah Meirston, patriarch of the Meirston bear clan, a very old and very powerful jewelry merchant family. Jebediah himself had come to Peg asking her to help him find the hunter whod killed his boy, and considering how much money the Meirstons gave to BPC, her assistance was not in question. Yet the more Peg had dug into what happened, the more terrified shed become, because she soon realized what a fool shed been. Just like the FBI and the NYPD. Only when the news got out that shed let some full-human play her, thered be no trial, no newspaper headlines. Shed be lucky if thered even be a grave because bears didnt really tolerate stupidity. And God, shed been so stupid.
Even worse was that as soon as shed finally gotten a true lead on Whitlan, so had that goddamn boy. Anyone but Crushek. If it had only been one of the Group or those ridiculous cats, she wouldnt have worried. But Crushek ... he was one of the few who could convince Meirston of her involvement because everyone knew Lou Crushek was old-school honest. Whatever the hell that meant.
The door to her office opened and Gray and Chazz walked in, ignoring her assistants requests for them to wait. Well, shed known this would be coming....
How could you? Chazz demanded. How could you do that?
Considering that neither of these idiots knew what was really going on, she could see why they didnt understand how Lou could bring her down. And although killing their brother would do nothing but make matters worse for her, shed had to do something and shed gone with crippling him. Not hurting his arms and legs because that wouldnt stop him, either, but his little feline girlfriend? That was his weakness. So shed done what shed had to do.
Look, boys, Im sorry about your brother
Chazz scowled. Our brother?
Forget our brother, Gray snapped. What about the goddamn team? How could you do that to the Carnivores?
Peg sighed. Yeah, shed been right from the beginning. Of the three, the contrary one got all the brains.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Three days after her career-ending injury, Cella returned to the Sports Center. Crush drove her over and walked in with her, but let her go into the locker room by herself to get the rest of her stuff. And she was grateful he was being so understanding because Cella just wasnt ready to face her old team yet. Her knee might be healed but her life still felt a little shaky.
But Crush ... well, he was being amazing. So shed rush through these five stages of grief thing that her family kept talking about and get Crush back to the hotel. There she could use somesex treatment to recover from her trauma. An excellent plan as far as she was concerned.
Yet as she stood there, staring at the old training jersey she held in her hands, she really wondered if shed ever be over all of this. If she couldnt work for KZS anymore, she wouldnt shed a tear. Would she miss it? Yeah. She would. She loved hanging around cats. But hockey ...
Cella! Cella!
Hearing her name bellowed, repeatedly, outside the locker room, Cella tossed her jersey to the bench and walked to the door, yanking it open.
What? she demanded, seeing that Crush had been doing his best to keep Reece Reed from shoving him out of the way. Shame the bear really was a mess on skates because he seemed to have a healthy grasp on the rest of hockeys basics. What the hells going on?
You have to come to tryouts. Please.
Cella dropped her hand to her hip, lips pursed. Are you trying to hurt my feelings? Are you trying to make me cry or something? Because if I cry, Ill make sure you cry with me, Reed.
No, no. You dont understand
Because I know that it must be fuckin high-larious to you guys that big-mouth Malone is out of the league and now you can say all that shit to my face that you had to say behind my back, but let me tell you
Novikov is handling the tryouts.
Cellas words stopped in her throat and she began blinking too much. Because she must have heard Reed wrong. She must have.
Im sorry. Did you say?
He took over the tryouts. Insisted on it. Said you were the only one he trusted to do it and with you gone ... Reed took off his baseball cap, ran his hands through his hair. I heard from one of the maintenance guys that you and Crush were in the building. I know you want to pack up your stuff and go, but you need to understand ... hes destroying peoples will to live. He made a hyena cry. A hyena. They laugh at everything, but this one was sobbing in the girls bathroom and one of the lion male football players felt so bad for him ... he went in to comfort him. Lion males dont do that.
Why was he in the girls bathroom?
Probably because thats where Novikov said he belonged. Because he was such a girl.
Cellas eyes narrowed. That mixed-breed, misogynistic motherfucker.
No one knows what to do and Van Holtz has already swung at him twice.
Where the fuck is Reynolds? The Carnivores increasingly useless coach.
In his office ... drinking.
Its eight in the morning.
Even worse was that as soon as shed finally gotten a true lead on Whitlan, so had that goddamn boy. Anyone but Crushek. If it had only been one of the Group or those ridiculous cats, she wouldnt have worried. But Crushek ... he was one of the few who could convince Meirston of her involvement because everyone knew Lou Crushek was old-school honest. Whatever the hell that meant.
The door to her office opened and Gray and Chazz walked in, ignoring her assistants requests for them to wait. Well, shed known this would be coming....
How could you? Chazz demanded. How could you do that?
Considering that neither of these idiots knew what was really going on, she could see why they didnt understand how Lou could bring her down. And although killing their brother would do nothing but make matters worse for her, shed had to do something and shed gone with crippling him. Not hurting his arms and legs because that wouldnt stop him, either, but his little feline girlfriend? That was his weakness. So shed done what shed had to do.
Look, boys, Im sorry about your brother
Chazz scowled. Our brother?
Forget our brother, Gray snapped. What about the goddamn team? How could you do that to the Carnivores?
Peg sighed. Yeah, shed been right from the beginning. Of the three, the contrary one got all the brains.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Three days after her career-ending injury, Cella returned to the Sports Center. Crush drove her over and walked in with her, but let her go into the locker room by herself to get the rest of her stuff. And she was grateful he was being so understanding because Cella just wasnt ready to face her old team yet. Her knee might be healed but her life still felt a little shaky.
But Crush ... well, he was being amazing. So shed rush through these five stages of grief thing that her family kept talking about and get Crush back to the hotel. There she could use somesex treatment to recover from her trauma. An excellent plan as far as she was concerned.
Yet as she stood there, staring at the old training jersey she held in her hands, she really wondered if shed ever be over all of this. If she couldnt work for KZS anymore, she wouldnt shed a tear. Would she miss it? Yeah. She would. She loved hanging around cats. But hockey ...
Cella! Cella!
Hearing her name bellowed, repeatedly, outside the locker room, Cella tossed her jersey to the bench and walked to the door, yanking it open.
What? she demanded, seeing that Crush had been doing his best to keep Reece Reed from shoving him out of the way. Shame the bear really was a mess on skates because he seemed to have a healthy grasp on the rest of hockeys basics. What the hells going on?
You have to come to tryouts. Please.
Cella dropped her hand to her hip, lips pursed. Are you trying to hurt my feelings? Are you trying to make me cry or something? Because if I cry, Ill make sure you cry with me, Reed.
No, no. You dont understand
Because I know that it must be fuckin high-larious to you guys that big-mouth Malone is out of the league and now you can say all that shit to my face that you had to say behind my back, but let me tell you
Novikov is handling the tryouts.
Cellas words stopped in her throat and she began blinking too much. Because she must have heard Reed wrong. She must have.
Im sorry. Did you say?
He took over the tryouts. Insisted on it. Said you were the only one he trusted to do it and with you gone ... Reed took off his baseball cap, ran his hands through his hair. I heard from one of the maintenance guys that you and Crush were in the building. I know you want to pack up your stuff and go, but you need to understand ... hes destroying peoples will to live. He made a hyena cry. A hyena. They laugh at everything, but this one was sobbing in the girls bathroom and one of the lion male football players felt so bad for him ... he went in to comfort him. Lion males dont do that.
Why was he in the girls bathroom?
Probably because thats where Novikov said he belonged. Because he was such a girl.
Cellas eyes narrowed. That mixed-breed, misogynistic motherfucker.
No one knows what to do and Van Holtz has already swung at him twice.
Where the fuck is Reynolds? The Carnivores increasingly useless coach.
In his office ... drinking.
Its eight in the morning.
