7 Roughneck Bears Two - Part 1

Liam Lawerence dropped his bags in the middle of the floor of the home he rarely used. As he looked around at the thin layer of dust over everything, he made a mental note to hire a maid service to come in once in a while. In the meantime, it was only fourteen days, and then he would be back on the rig, doing what he knew how to do. It was a far cry from the woodlands that he'd grown up loving, but it was better than sitting here now. Liam didn't know what to do with his time since he'd decided not to call Ava. His bear grunted at the thought of her name. Ava Clarendon was supposed to be a one-night stand between hitches. She'd quickly turned into much more for him when his bear acknowledged her as their mate. He'd politely kept that part to himself over the last two years. It was easier to pretend the friends with benefits premise they'd been working under was more along the lines of what they both needed. She didn't push for more, and he never offered more. It was starting to show.

Liam took a beer from the fridge. The empty two-bedroom condo was a neatly decorated bachelor pad for his days off, but its main purpose was for nights when he would bring someone home. In his experience, women felt more at ease when there weren't piles of dirty gym clothes stacked up everywhere. He tried to be a mostly decent man. His mother insisted as much, and even thousands of miles away from her he hadn't forgotten about it. Still, Liam knew his place had outlived its value to him when he realized he'd never bought Ava here.

It wasn't an accident. He didn't want her to come up to this hollow shrine to his bachelorhood and get the wrong impression of him. He was different with her, and he wanted things to remain that way. Liam knew this hitch home would be different for him. Normally he would have gotten off the plane and gone straight to her house. They'd already be wrapped in each other's arms. He just couldn't go to her while he was still wrestling with himself about them. This would be so much simpler if she were a werebear like him. He wouldn't think twice about coming clean and telling her that she was his mate. Then again, she would already know. Liam brushed his hands through his blonde hair. He didn't like having problems he wasn't sure how to work himself out of. It made him feel unstable, and instability wasn't something bears coped with well. He was no different.

He picked up his phone and stared at the message Ava sent. She knew his schedule; she knew he should be with her by now. As he closed it, he wondered what he could say to her so that she would give him space for a few days. He just needed to be sure he could let her go before he actually said it. Once the decision was made, Ava wouldn't let him come back. He felt that in his bones and he didn't like the pain that came with knowing it. Liam exhaled heavily. He couldn't keep avoiding her. If he did, it would only make things worse. After another swig of beer, he dialed her number.

"Hey, where are you? I expected you hours ago," said Ava on the other end.

"I know. It took me longer than usual to touch down," said Liam dryly.

There was silence on the other end as Ava sorted through what he wasn't saying. It unnerved him that she may be coming up with the wrong idea, but there was little he could do to stop her imagination. He thought for a moment and wondered if he should just tell her now. In the end, it was too much of a gamble, and he didn't want to risk it just yet.

"So, are you coming over? Ava asked.

Liam felt a jab of pain as the question came to his ears.

"Not tonight. I'll be sure to see you before I leave, but I don't have a concrete time," he said.

"Oh, okay. I just thought… Well, I guess I will see you when I see you then," said Ava.

She felt dejected. He could hear it in his voice, and he felt like shit for causing that. Liam's bear started to revolt. It growled loudly within him, the beasts anger was evident as it pawed trying to get out. This was no way to treat their mate, and Liam knew it. He felt guilty enough about it without his bear asserting his position. There was no way for him to get the beast to understand that these things had to be handled delicately. The bear in him didn't want to hear such nonsense. As far as it was concerned, the fact that they knew Ava was their mate meant they could risk everything and not fail. Liam wasn't so sure.

"Listen, I got to go. I'll call you when I'm free alright?" he finished.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't know I was holding you up. Okay. Just call me later," said Ava.

Liam hung up the phone. He couldn't stand the drop in her voice one second longer. He felt like such a bastard. It went without saying that they had something special and in no uncertain terms he'd just told Ava that wasn't true. She didn't know him well enough to know this was a farce, a way to brush off their affections so that he could go back to his empty life the best way he knew how. Ava's lush body invaded his thoughts. The feel of her warm skin beneath his and the scent of her aroused sex swarmed him. It would be so simple if she were like other girls. He could just walk away and never look back, but she wasn't. In addition to her perfect body, she was smart and funny. Her blue eyes saw right through him and didn't flinch. He had a love/hate relationship with the way she regarded him. Liam wanted Ava to know him as well as she thought she did, but there was so much that came with knowing him. It wasn't easy to be a bear's mate, and there was no way for him to know if she could handle it without telling her. The problem walked in circles and only made Liam more and more anxious. There had to be a resolution, but he wasn't sure what it was yet. He didn't have much time to figure it out.

* * *

Ava stared at the phone in disbelief. What the hell just happened? She'd been talking with Liam all week about his coming over, and now suddenly, he didn't know if he'd have time. It was a complete about-face from his previous reactions. Normally, Liam was on her doorstep within minutes of getting off the plane. After three weeks on the rig, he was always so happy to see her and this time was definitely different. The distance in his voice was palpable and for a second, it was as if they were strangers. Never had Liam made Ava feel like he was doing her favor with his company, until today.

Ava tossed her cell phone into her nightstand. The device landed with a loud crash against her other belongings. She was angry, or more specifically, she was fucking pissed. Had she known he was going to change his mind like this, she would have made plans. Anything to keep herself from sitting in the middle of her bedroom, all dolled up, and waiting for someone who might never show. Ava didn't know why she didn't get it by now. Men like Liam were never the forever type. It was just that this time, he'd made her believe he could be. It was a brutal way to break someone's heart. Ava wasn't sure that he knew that was what he'd done, but that was the weight of it. He probably didn't. Liam told her early on that he wasn't the fall in love type, and she should have walked away then. It wasn't like she believed she could change his mind. On the contrary. What she'd believe was that whatever time they spent together would be a much-needed way to relieve some built up sexual frustration. She never expected them to last this long. There was no way she could have predicted the comfortable expectations they'd come to have for one another. Or, that Liam would suddenly pull all the foundations they were building away.

She wanted to scream or cry. At this point, she was unsure which one would do the deed of emptying her out. There was so much to process from their brief conversation. She didn't know what to make of all it, and she never stayed in one emotion too long. On one hand, she was dead set on never speaking to him again. He didn't have the right to make her feel like an inconvenience he would have to pencil in and her entire body rejected the idea. On the other hand, she didn't have a right to Liam at all. They weren't exclusive, she'd known that from the beginning. Over time, the years of them seeing each other on his by-weeks home, they'd slipped into an easy rhythm. She'd come to think of him as hers, and it was proving to be dangerous. Without permission, she'd fallen in love with the sexy Driller, and she'd finally convinced herself to come clean to him about it.

Ava looked around her bedroom. She'd gone to great lengths to make some custom changes to it. Namely, she'd special ordered a bed that was big enough to accommodate his large size. At five feet and nine inches tall, Ava was used to being with tall men, but Liam was different. Not only was he abnormally tall, his broad shoulders and chest often meant she had to sleep on top of him if either of them was getting any rest. Not that Ava ever complained. She liked his muscled arms holding her safely against his hard chest. Ava had been ready to feel that hard body against hers tonight. Now that she knew she wouldn't be, she didn't know what to do with the bottled up sexual frustration or the quiet voice in her head insisting that he was the one. Ava sat dejected on the side of her bed. Her oval face burned red at the cheeks. Her blue eyes crested with tears as her emotions finally stabilized. The most prominent of them, sadness, wanted to pour out of her right now. A swift tear escaped down her cheek, and Ava quickly wiped it away. She'd decided long ago that she wouldn't cry over boys anymore.

The straps of the sexy pink lingerie she'd chosen just for him drifted down her shoulder. The get-up seemed like a waste of money now. She'd bought it on a whim, at a little plus-sized boutique that had some things she suspected he'd like her in. All week, she'd been so excited to show it off for him that now that he wasn't coming she didn't know what to do with it. She had to get out of it for one thing. It felt like an uncomfortable itch, a symbol of what wouldn't be happening anytime soon. Whenever Liam decided to join her at her place, they would have some talking to do. The little pink seduction would just have to wait.

Ava slowly peeled the lace from the soft places of her body. Her full curves spilled from it and once out of it, she felt like a fool for ever putting it on. It was far more risqué than anything she'd ever put herself in, but she was hoping to enjoy it. It was the type of thing she never would have put on had she not met someone like Liam. No one had ever loved her body as much as Liam had. It wasn't just how he touched her, it was the way he looked at her too. Every stare was so full of lust and admiration that often it made Ava blush. She couldn't stand his gaze for more than a few minutes before her body would go into a frenzy. He wasn't pretending to like her ample hips, big and lush breast, or her soft middle. He actually did. He wanted every inch of her all the time and in a very genuine way. It was one of the things that kept Ava holding on.

Then there was always the unparalleled way that their bodies locked together every time they had sex. The first time he'd entered her, the breath literally flew from her lungs. She'd felt completed, and until then she hadn't even noticed that part of her felt empty. He'd always been so giving when they made love. Every touch and look were meant to drive her just a little closer to the edge. Maybe that was why she didn't notice it at first. It was accidental and so easy to fall for him. In the beginning, she thought it was just lust. Her love-starved body was tired of being ignored. Liam changed that with the brush of his fingers over her skin. Ava tried not to think about it. Doing so would only make the ache even harder to deal with. She didn't deserve to want him like this…to need him and not have him.

Ava hopped into the shower. She needed to assuage the fire that was still simmering in her and sort out her thoughts. There had to be something that changed in him to make him act the way he did with her tonight, but until he revealed it to her she didn't want to let her thoughts get away from her. Her mind could be rather brutal where her heart was concerned. She'd seen the ugly side of love and had come out with more than a little scarring, but Liam felt different. As Ava baths beneath the shower, she hated the route her thoughts were taking. She scolded herself for getting so entangle in Liam that she lost herself. She'd just wanted him so badly, and before she could pull back, he was in her heart. Ava lathered her body. She rubbed the places that missed his touch most. The stiff peaks of her nipples didn't know he wouldn't be here tonight to tease them. The slow throb of her pussy didn't know how to weaken. Every part of her readied in anticipation of his presence, and she didn't know how to stop it. It was at that moment that Ave realizes she was in deeper than even she wanted to admit.

Ava fought back more tears as she tried to soothe the ache of Liam's absence. It was both confusion and an unforeseen defeat that settled into her bones. She wanted to reach out to her best friend Juliette to see if maybe something happened on the rig that would have upset him, but doing so would come with its own set of questions. Ava hadn't been exactly forthcoming about her dealings with Liam. In retrospect, this was probably the reason for her keeping the only secret she'd ever withheld from Juliette. Her best friend would surely have had a lot to say about continuing a relationship with a guy who was only supposed to be a one-night stand. Now, whenever she did talk to Juliette, there would surely be more questions than answers for her. It was a dilemma she didn't feel up to handling tonight.

She stepped from the shower and patted herself mostly dry before crawling into bed alone. The cool sheets wouldn't let her forget that she was alone. Ava wondered if Liam missed her presence wherever he was tonight. As she closed her eyes searching for sleep, she could only hope that he was.