Bear Meets Girl Read Online Free Page A

blame him, though.”
    “Yes. I can.”
    The coyote shook his head. “Look, don’t be an idiot, Crushek. This is your chance to make some real money. Do you know how much that division pays their detectives?”
    “I don’t care. God knows I’m not into this shit for the money.”
    “You’re into it to be a badass.”
    “I am a badass.”
    “But you can still be a badass and make money to help you pay the mortgage on your new place. In fact, you get this job and you might actually be able to live in your house rather than in that rat hole you’ve been using for your cover.”
    “I do live in my—”
    “You can have friends that are actually friends rather than just people you plan to eventually arrest.”
    “I get your—”
    “Maybe a girlfriend. Someone who wasn’t once a stripper with a sob story.”
    “ Okay .” Crush studied his ex-partner. “This is your wife talking to me, isn’t it? Through you.”
    “You know she worries about you.”
    “And I didn’t date the stripper; I just bought bus tickets for her and her kids.”
    “Sucker.”
    Annoyed, Crush snarled and looked back at the game. “I’m not wearing a suit.”
    Conway snorted. “No one in that division wears a suit. And maybe you’ll get to work with MacDermot now. You two seem to strangely get along. Of course, with her living with that male cat, you must be like a breath of fresh air.”
    “But what am I going to do there? Kill on command?”
    “They don’t do that ... I don’t think.”
    “Yeah. That’s comforting.”
    “God, Crushek, get over it already,” Conway snapped. “Nothing’s worse than a whiny bear. Especially a whiny bear that’s going to be making a lot more money than I will.”
    Crush didn’t say anything, just skated out onto the ice with his fellow players when it was time. Conway was with him, a few minutes later, going for a puck. That’s when Crush coldcocked him with his stick.
    The coyote, eyes crossing, went out like a light, crashing to the ice, and their team captain yelled, “Jesus, Crushek! I thought we told you no more hitting Conway!”
    Crush shrugged. “He called me whiny.”
     
    Freshly showered and wearing sweatpants, tank top, and sneakers, Cella walked into the family kitchen, but immediately stopped right at the threshold.
    It was her father, brothers, and several of her aunts around the kitchen table. Normally nothing weird. The kitchen table was where they always met to talk, argue, and occasionally eat. The dining room was for holiday dinners or, as her mom put it, “fancy meals.” But what really worried her was that as soon as Cella walked in, they all stopped talking and faced her, gazing at her. Her family didn’t stop talking for anything. Malones were not known for being a quiet breed of feline.
    “Hi,” she said, wondering what the hell was going on.
    Cella’s father, Butch “Nice Guy” Malone, walked over to her and gave Cella a big hug, softly murmuring, “Don’t ever forget, baby, we’ll always love you.”
    “Okay,” Cella said, pulling away from her father and nodding at her family before walking out.
    She went across the backyard, around the Olympic-size family pool, and into the connected backyard of her best friend’s family. Cella hadn’t met Jai Davis, a mountain lion originally from Valley Stream, Long Island, until they were both seventeen and very pregnant. But they’d become friends quickly with both of them being feline and teen moms. As soon as the girls were born, the pair had teamed up, sharing responsibilities when they could, and covering for each other when necessary. It wasn’t normal for Malones to allow outsiders into their world, but her father had accepted the Davises without question, which meant all the Malone males accepted them without question. And when Cella’s third cousins moved out, returning to a Malone campsite in Boston and leaving the house next door available, the Davises had moved in.
    Although, how Cella’s