Page 78 of Regally Binding
“Strike and I were talking about that. We’ll head back to town on Thursday morning in a couple of days. You can chat to Isla, get your stuff together for your next steps, and speak to Steve, too, if you want.” He was playing it casually, but out of the corner of her eye, she witnessed his hunched shoulders. “And I promise to not be a dick to him. Scout’s honour.”
She elbowed him, although it didn’t ripple a muscle. “As if you were a scout.”
He huffed as he turned on the television.
Two invoices down, eighteen more to go. They could add another bodyguard to their team if they didn’t spend all their time on this. After five minutes, Bear still hadn’t moved. His back was straight, and his shoulders tensed. There was no sign that he was watching the sitcom.
“You okay?” she asked as she sent another email.
“Yeah, all good,” he said with a higher voice than usual.
“High voice means lie voice,” she replied without thinking. “Sorry, that’s something my mum used to say when I came home from school tattered.”
“Tattered?” He faced her, but she buried her nose in the laptop. He turned off the television. Seconds ticked by, but he wasn’t filling the silence.
“I was bullied a lot at school.” His stare was like an insect on her skin. “We were poor and moved around a lot. My lack of confidence and being a poor kid meant I was easy pickings.”
“I would have destroyed them if I’d been your friend then,” Bear declared, causing her to roll her eyes as a smile tickled her lips.
“And got into more trouble for it.” Liss shared stories of the worst things they did to her, including locking her in the school. “It’s weird to think how different life would have been if the Kingknew about us sooner. Maybe Mum would have got the medical help she needed. Maybe she’d still be here.” She’d give anything to have her mum close, even for one more minute.
A tear slid down her cheek, and she turned away to hide it, but there was no fooling Bear, who slipped the laptop on the floor and lifted her onto his lap. She sighed as he enveloped her and held her against his chest. If anyone else had done it, she’d have pushed away their support, but with him, everything was different. He was right earlier. Maybe he was under her skin as much as she was under his.
“Tell me about your mum.” Bear dusted her forehead with a kiss.
His heartbeat was like a comfort blanket, and she counted the rhythm before speaking. “She was funny but didn’t mean to be. She worked a lot, but the system was against us, and she never saved enough to buy a house because she was always renting. But even when she was exhausted from working three jobs, she’d help me with my homework or sit and watch movies with me. I got my business mind from her, not that she used it how she wanted.”
“A clever woman.”
Liss hummed her agreement as she leaned against his chest.
“Super intelligent. One of her jobs was on the production line at a car factory. She’d explain how to improve processes and write proposals for changes that saved the company thousands.”
“Did she take the proposals to her bosses?” Bear asked. His woody citrus scent was like fresh air for her soul.
“Yes, but they didn’t listen. They told Mum they knew better than a factory worker, but then they’d steal her ideas and pass them off as their own. One of them received an award for the cost savings and transformation of the paint shop.”
“Bastards,” Bear mumbled under his breath. Her heart threatened to burst from her chest from that minor word of support. These feelings for a virtual stranger hit hard and fast.
“Exactly. Mum wasn’t always serious and work-focused. My favourite memories are our trips to the city to find random tat for the fancy dress box from the market and eat fish and chips while seagulls attempted to dive bomb us.” Liss giggled to herself.
“Fancy dress box?”
“Once a month, we’d dress up in items from the box and have a themed meal. One night, we dressed like Nana and had to speak like her. On another night, we dressed up as if we were in an eighties high school film, and on another, the theme was how aliens might see us. Our clothes made no sense, and we talked backwards and ate weird food concoctions. It was hilarious.” Her mum was an incredible woman with a creative mind that rivalled her business brain, but life kicked her repeatedly. Liss sighed sadly. “How’s this for irony? We wore plastic tiaras and old curtains one night and pretended to be royalty. We drank from cheap chipped china cups and ate teeny cucumber sandwiches.”
Liss glanced at Bear, whose gaze softened. A tear slid down her cheek. Most people weren’t allowed to see her vulnerable. Somehow, he’d become her safe space and a friend she didn’t want to lose. “I miss her so much.”
Bear hugged her tight.
“When she died, it was the two of us. She avoided pain medication or anything that made life a little easier for a long time. She punished herself because she was leaving me alone. I never did anything to make her feel that way, but throughout her life, she carried guilt from her relationship with my dad and for not giving me the life she wanted. She’d hate that I was alone. Imust accept my royal title for her and live the life she couldn’t. And to have that chance to have a real grandad.”
Bear remained silent, which was the wisest thing he could do, but it wasn’t what she wanted. He should tell her not to join the royals and remind her of her other options. “You’ll be a fantastic royal and make a massive difference. Your mum would be proud, and I’m sorry for her suffering. I’d do anything to take that away from you. Did she take the painkillers in the end?”
“Yeah. Eventually, Mum relented. The doctor gave her various things, including one that gave her hallucinations and nearly damaged her liver before they realised she was on the wrong meds. Shit!”
Liss jumped out of Bear’s arms and paced the living room. Wrong drugs. It triggered a memory. She stopped in the middle of the room and squeezed her eyes tightly. There was something about medicine from the party at the palace.
“What’s going on?” Bear’s mouth gaped, and his eyes darted.