Seventeen
You stomp like Cowboy
“Baby, which one’s the key?” Max groaned.
My mouth was currently attached to his neck as my hand rubbed the length of his erection all while we stood outside my loft door.
After Max set me straight in the stock room, and I apologized profusely with my mouth in said stock room, we made our way back to my loft to continue what I’d started. The drive home had been an exercise in control or lack thereof. Max, being a man, had insisted on driving back to my loft. However, every red light found my mouth on his as cars honked in frustration as red then turned to green. Once home, he parked in the back, hauled me out of my Jeep and then up the stairs to my second-floor loft. The cameras in the staircase, I have no doubt, have a recording that would be considered R-rated if anyone were to view them. And if he didn’t find the key soon, the cameras in the hallway outside my Loft were gonna record X-rated.
“Silver one,” I panted as my hand went up and then inside his pants.
“Jesus,” Max hissed as he stopped looking for the key so he could capture my mouth with his own.
Needing him inside me more than I needed air, I broke the kiss and ordered, “Give me the keys.”
Just as I inserted the right key, while Max was standing behind me revving my motor with his hands and mouth, my door ripped open and Jess, whom I hadn’t heard from in two days, stood on the other side smiling at us both. Dressed in jeans, an old concert tee and her signature boots, she opened the door wider and her smile grew as Max removed his hands from my breasts.
“I came to check on you after your meeting, but I can see all went well,” she laughed.
Mortified, I turned around and buried my head in Max’s chest as I attempted to button my blouse.
“Meeting went as planned,” Max gritted out as he waited for me to right my clothes. While I was there, I figured I better work some damage control on him so I started to tuck his shirt back into his pants. Max had other ideas.
“You stick your hand in my pants one more time and I’ll take you in front of Jess,” he whispered in my ear.
Yikes!
That stopped my hands and I turned back to Jess, avoiding her eyes. When Max was done adjusting things, he nudged my back so we could enter.
My loft was one bedroom with a huge open kitchen and living room. My decor was shabby garage sale that I spent my weekends restoring too shabby chic. I loved old furniture with chipped paint, and overstuffed couches with lots of throw pillows so you sank into them while you read. My only new furniture was a denim covered couch and chair that was so soft and squishy you weren’t likely to move unless your house was on fire. I had a long entryway with a wall at the end where I’d hung a huge old wood mirror, and right now, I intended to get a closer look at my appearance.
No doubt, I looked worse for wear since Max seemed to like my hair and made a point of always tangling his fingers through it. A quick look in the mirror told me I wasn’t wrong, so I tried to smooth it with my hands as we walked out of the hall.
“Waste of time,” Max whispered in my ear as he curled me into his side.
“I always look like I’ve been in a wind tunnel when you get through with me,” I complained.
“Get used it. Any opportunity I have, I’m gonna—”
Max stopped talking as we entered my living room because sitting on the couch was Brian Snodgrass, CPA.
“Mia, Max, this is Brian. Brian, this is my Mia Bear and her man, Max.”
“Brian, wow, nice to meet you, but I’m confused. I thought you were meeting tonight to have dinner?” I asked as we moved towards him.
“Well, when we arrived back on Friday I contacted Brian and we got together Friday night,” Jess explained.
Brian stood, shook Max’s hand, gave me a gentle hug, and then curled his arm around Jess’s shoulder drawing her to him.
“What Jess isn’t saying is that we haven’t been apart since Friday night,” Brian chuckled.
That got a responding chuckle from Max as he curled me into his side.
“So? Are you going back to Trails End?” Jess asked.
“Yeah, Max explained it would be in my best interest to return.”
“Told her she was returning didn’t you?” Jess asked.
“Yep,” Max agreed.
“Whatever, the point is I’m going back to supervise the removal of the bears from Grizzly Pointe to Max’s property. He’s setting up a private wildlife reserve that should satisfy any activist gunning to nationalize Grizzly Pointe and stop hunters from shooting at my bears.”
“How long will the removal take?” Jess asked.
“It depends on how quickly we can locate all the bears. We have to tranquilize them in order to move them and eight hundred pound bears aren’t easy to move. It requires cages, the manpower to lift the bears, not to mention securing the fence along Max’s property,” I explained.
“Well, count us in. I’ve been keeping up with Maxine and once I knew Max was on his way here and what he had planned, Brian and I discussed it and knew you would need help.”
“You’ve known for two days that Max was coming? Lucky for you I’m happy with the way things turned out,” I informed her. “But, your sister card has been flagged and is now under review.”
“My Aunt card, which requires I do my utmost to make sure you're happy, trumps the sister card, dear niece.”
Turning to Max, I asked him out of curiosity, “What does a man card entail?”
“You only earn a man card by not knowin’ what the fuck a man card is,” Max replied with a look of disgust.
“Right,” Brian jumped in looking equally concerned by the question.
Rolling my eyes at his Thor-ness, I moved to my kitchen and opened my fridge. Seeing I had no food, I turned back around and announced, “We can order pizza or go out.”
“Pizza,” both men replied as Max took off his suit jacket, loosened his tie, and rolled up his sleeves revealing his leather cuff. Underneath all that civilized clothing, the man he was and always would be showed itself. He was primal, almost dangerous, the sexiest and most fascinating man I’d ever met. And it still hadn’t sunk in completely that he flew all this way for me, geeky Mia with her cartoon tees. All that wanted me, just the way I am. If I lived to be a hundred, I’d never understand how I got so lucky. But, one thing I was certain of, I wouldn’t take it for granted and I sure as hell wouldn’t make the same mistake again. Leaving without letting him explain had been a mistake. I should have trusted him and not let my own insecurities about Annie cloud my judgment. Lesson learned.
The lush meadow, where our small pocket of grizzlies lived, has a sense of isolation about it. Though Trails End is a ten-minute drive by car, after a thirty-minute hike down on foot, you feel as if you’re the only person on earth when you’re out here.
Most grizzlies live alone, solitary creatures for the most part. Our bears, eleven of them by last count, stayed close to this meadow and made their winter dens not far from here. We’d arrived in Trails End at the end of September, just as the salmon run was ending. After losing fifty percent of their body weight during hibernation, our bears had spent all spring and summer eating, mating, and preparing for the coming winter months. In Alaska, the winter months come quicker than in the lower forty-eight. If we were going to move them, we needed to do it quickly so they had time to secure new dens for the winter. But, to do that, we had to locate them, isolate them one at a time, and then tranquilize them for the move.
Frank and Lucy had spent the last week tracking the bears to determine how many, size and color, and most importantly which one was the alpha male. Like humans, one male reigned supreme within this colony of bears, and Lucy had named him Cowboy for his swagger and brutish size.
Cowboy was a deep brown colored bear that weighed over a thousand pounds by our estimation. He wasn’t the oldest bear in the group, but he was by far the cockiest and most powerful of the males. And, without question, he’d be the last bear we moved.
Max had spent the last three days since our return outfitting a truck with a bear cage that could be pulled behind the truck and then driven through the gate, he’d had his men build into his fence that bordered Grizzly Pointe. The land Max owned had once been included in the bear’s territory until his grandfather bought it. Then, as years passed by, a fence was erected to keep the bears on their side to protect them as much as the humans who lived among them. Though the meadow encompassed a few miles of land, when you have young children roaming around, a few miles between you and a colony of bears wasn’t enough.
Ever the forward thinker, Max told me now that I was his, and that ten kids needed protecting (insert eye roll), he planned to put another fence around his house to keep those future children safe. And if Maxine had her way, that would be nine months from now (insert another eye roll).
It took me all of three days, not that I hadn’t seen it before, to realize I’d agreed to explore a lifetime with the dynamic duo, or was it Laurel and Hardy? No, more like Lewis and Martin, only Maxine was smarter. Anyway, I digress. What seemed humorous when I first meet them had now become old hat, and when they got started, I learned to walk out of the room and do my own thing while they went at it. Of course, Max always thought he won those arguments, but I knew better. No one told Maxine what she could or couldn’t do, including her son, and the sooner he figured that out, the lower his blood pressure would be.
Jess and Brian, true to their word, flew in last night and were heading up to Grizzly Pointe to help us with day one of removal and relocation. We’d kept in touch on Facebook and all seemed to be going well with Brian. Though, I was looking forward to seeing them in action.
I’d sent an email to my parents, who were traveling overseas, about my new job heading up the wildlife preserve for Max and SIOZ. I’d also mentioned that I’d finally met someone with whom I foresaw a future. It was easier to break it to them slowly that, barring any unforeseen fetishes, such as more than one wife, I’d eventually be making Alaska my permanent home. They’d been thrilled of course and couldn’t wait to hear all about it upon their return, though, they both questioned my sanity about living in a state with uneven terrain.
Day two of my return to Trails End I was once again in a situation with Max and Annie together. I’d driven up to his logging operation to talk to him about the bear cage and found him in the lumber yard with his hands on hips as she spoke. When he saw me pull in, he motioned me over. So, I walked over, uneasy, of course, until he’d pulled me in close as Annie watched.
“Annie’s here to say goodbye,” Max had announced as soon as his arm had me tightly in his grasp.
I didn’t know what to say so I just nodded and smiled weakly at the woman. After hearing Max and I had pushed her to drink after years of sobriety, it weighed heavily on me and I was determined not to cause her any more grief. Max had explained that she’d come to Trails End about four years ago to work for Ralph, her uncle, and to escape a past that included alcohol abuse. Her father had been abusive growing up and she’d started drinking at an early age to compensate. When she finally got control of her drinking, she’d moved to Trails End to avoid the pitfalls that would send her back to her addiction, her father. Now she’d fallen off the wagon for another addiction, Max, and it seemed clear she was leaving to avoid the same pitfalls that would send her back into a life of addiction again.
“I’ll let you two talk,” I told both of them. However, as I turned to leave, I looked back at Annie and explained, “You’ll find him some day. Anyone as strong as you are definitely has something beautiful coming your way, you’ll see.”
Annie had smiled when I told her that, and Max kissed my forehead before I made my way to his office to watch out the window as they’d said goodbye. She cried a few times, but Max kept his distance, he didn’t make the same mistake as last week. When she went to leave, after all her tears ran dry, Max had given her a brief hug before she climbed into her packed car and driven away. After she was gone, he’d climbed the stairs, made his way straight to me, and I’d hugged him close as I thanked God he’d chosen me.
Basically, as you can see, I’d been a busy beaver between Max, Annie, Maxine, Jess and Brian, Mom and Dad, and preparing for the relocation. The only loose ends that hadn’t been tied up neatly in a bow were who killed Curly and Donald and when the wrath of Thor would wreak vengeance on the Chief of Police. (Jury’s still out on that one since Max is playing his vengeance wreaking cards close to his well-defined chest.)
“I think we should move BooBoo and his mother today. Other than Cowboy, they’ll be the hardest to move, and it needs to be done at the same time,” I suggested to Lucy and Frank.
“Agreed,” Frank replied.
“When is Max coming over with the truck and men?” Lucy asked.
“Should be here anytime, he’s just scouting the meadow between here and his property for the flattest route to pull the cage over.”
“Jesus, look at the size of them,” Brian mumbled from behind me.
We were currently at the edge of the meadow, maybe a mile from base camp, watching Booboo and his mother trying to catch what salmon were left in the river. Booboo seemed to be healing well from his gunshot wound and was now standing next to his mother Nala as Lucy had named her.
“I can’t believe you can get this close to them without them attacking,” Jess stated.
“We’ve been coming up here for five years, three times a year, as long as we keep our distance and don’t approach them, they ignore us,” Frank explained.
“And if they attack?”
“Hasn’t happened yet, if it does, I’ll let you know,” Frank chuckled.
“I feel so much safer,” Jess mumbled.
“I’ll protect you,” Brian jumped in kissing her forehead. Jess melted a little as I watched them interact and I wondered if that was what Max and I looked like to others.
“Older couples are sweet,” Lucy whispered to me as we both watched.
“Yeah, they are kinda cute, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, way cuter than you and Max. You two are more like watching these bears during mating season. You cross your arms, glaring, while Max stomps his scent into the ground, grunting, ‘look at me, I’m the biggest bad-ass bear in town,’ he even has the walk down.”
Just then, Max came into view with his truck and we watched as he pulled up, got out, and we laughed as he stomped his way towards us.
“I’m not even gonna ask,” he sighed as he walked up, curled his hand around my neck, kissing me sweetly.
“You stomp like Cowboy,” I told him when he finished.
“I stomp like your bear?”
“Yeah, during mating season the males have a distinct walk when they approach a female they want to mate with. They stomp their scent into the ground to let others males know the female is his.”
Smiling, Max replied, “Does it work on the females as well as it works on you?”
“It doesn’t work on me,” I defended.
“Wasn’t that you I stomped in the kitchen this morning and last night in the shower? What about yesterday on the—”
“Fine it works,” I snapped as I covered his mouth with my hand.
“You ready Max?” Frank chuckled.
“Jake and Buddy are right behind me on an ATV. You know which one you’re moving today?”
Upon hearing Jake’s name, I saw Lucy run her hand through her hair and look down at her clothes. She’d been cooped up on the mountain for the past week putting a dent in her love life, so to speak.
“We’re gonna move Booboo and his mother, get them out of the way first,” I told Max.
“Will they both fit in the cage?”
“Yes, we’ll tranquilize the mother first since it takes her longer to succumb to the drugs. Then we’ll tranquilize Booboo. Once they’re both out, we’ll tag them, draw blood and hair samples, measure their feet and then we have tarps we’ll place them on so we can easily load them in together. Once that’s done, we’ll take them both over to your property and wait for them to wake up. When they’re awake, we’ll raise the gate and out they will run. Simple.”
“Who’s tranquilizing the bears?”
“The best shot in the county,” Shane announced as he walked up with our dart gun.
“Best shot my ass,” Max smiled.
“I have shot your ass. Did that buckshot wound heal by the way?”
“Yeah, Shane, my ass healed about twenty years ago.”
“He’s still pissed he couldn’t sit for a week,” Shane explained as he turned to me.
“Is that what those dimples are?” I giggled.
“Are they right around his lower left butt cheek?” Shane smiled and I burst out laughing.
“Are you two done?” Max snapped looking between the both of us.
“Not if he has more stories like that.”
“Jesus, remind me not to introduce you to any more of my friends.”
“Just show him one of your imperfections, Mia. Not that you have any from what I can see.”
Max’s eyes shot to Shane’s upon hearing I had no imperfections and Shane’s grin grew wider as he put his hands up in surrender.
“Sorry, big guy, all fun and games man, you know that.”
“Can we get back to the matter at hand?” Max bit out.
“Right,” I agreed quickly ‘cause Mad Max was in the house. “So, Shane will tranquillize the bears and we’ll wait for them to take effect.”
“All right, only request I have is that you stay back from the bears until they’re in a cage.”
“They’ll be out cold, Max.”
“I’m not arguing about this, let the men handle the removal and you stay back with Jess and Lucy.”
“Max—”
“He’ll just “stomp” you, Mia, might as well give in now, and save yourself the headache,” Jess laughed. Max smiled and then winked at Jess while I considered disowning her and stomping Max myself.
Ignoring them both, I watched Shane load a large dart into the rifle as Frank pointed out Nala. The shot had to hit a large muscle to avoid injury or overdose so he aimed for the muscles around her neck. Luckily, he got her on the first shot. She jumped, then spun around looking for danger to her cub, and then settled down once she didn’t see an immediate threat, but kept shaking her neck trying to dislodge the dart. Shane then loaded a dart, with a smaller dose of tranquilizer and took aim on Booboo, who was already on alert and sticking close to his mother. Shane took aim, pulled the trigger and Booboo took the dart near his shoulder.
Now we wait.
Max gave up on stomping me when the bears went down twenty minutes later and I marched out ignoring his rumbling voice as he walked behind me. He was not going to tell me what I could or could not do and the sooner he got used to that the better.
When we reached the bears, Jess and Lucy stood to the side as Max, Brian, Frank, Buddy, and Jake dragged Nala onto the tarp. Then waited for Frank and me to tag and take measurements as Shane drew blood. After we’d finished, they carried Nala and placed her in the cage, then we repeated this with Booboo until both were safely inside and the door was lowered.
Like I said, simple.
Now all they had to do was drive back to Max’s side and when they woke up, open the gate and set them free. Two bears down, nine more to go and then all the bears would be protected for generations to come.