T.J. Klune - Bear, Otter, and the Kid 2 - Who We Are Read Online Free PDF Page B

me, forcing one of his big legs between my own.
“I love you, Bear,” he whispered sweetly as he reached up to switch off the light.
     
It went dark. He dropped off almost immediately.
     
I stayed awake long into the night.
    “ A
HH !” I practically shouted when I opened my eyes the next morning. There it was. Right next to my face. Mocking me.
A fucking hair. My life was over.
    Otter grunted and rolled toward me, cracking open a blurry eye and sighing. “Bad dream?” he asked in a sleep-roughened voice. Normally, it was sexy when he sounded like that. Normally, it zinged straight to my dick. But now? Oh Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, now all I could do was stare in horror at the pillow, the single hair moving gently in the breeze from the ceiling fan, like it was waving good-bye , like it was saying so long .
    “What is it?” he asked, coming more fully awake.
I raised a shaking hand and pointed at it.
    His eyes followed my finger, and a look of confusion came over him until he became aware enough of what we were staring at. He reached over and picked it up, pinching it between his fingers, pulling it right in front of his face, his eyes thoughtful, the left side of his mouth struggling not to quirk. “Bear,” he said quietly, grinning. “It’s just a thread from your shirt. You’re really not letting the Kid get to you, are you?”
    I was, but I couldn’t tell him that. I schooled my face and reigned in my breathing. “Of course not,” I scoffed. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
    “Uh-huh.”
“But….”
“But what?”
    “Never mind,” I muttered, pulling the covers up and over my head, hiding so he couldn’t see the warm crawl of fire burning my face. He followed me down into the dark and cuddled up against me, scrunching up his body so he could spoon up against me. I tried to resist, but… well, you know. It’s Otter. I can’t resist him no matter how hard I try. I found myself giving in and moved to my side, facing him, our knees bumping, his morning breath on my face. If you knew what that smelled like, you’d know how much I really loved him to be able to face it head-on.
“The Kid’s a jerk,” I grumbled at him.
    “Should’ve watched where you put his shirt, huh?” he said, reaching over to rub the back of his hand on my cheek. There was no admonition in his voice, just a gentle teasing, lightened by the grin that I knew so well. Even there, in the dark, I could see the gold-green, now awake and starting to shine. I started having uncouth thoughts toward his person.
“Whatever,” I said, trying to shove it away.
    But Otter knew better, and he leaned forward and brushed his lips against mine, the lightest touch. I loved it, gross breath and all. “Even then,” he said before he kissed me again.
    “What?” I breathed, noticing how hot it was getting buried in the blankets, how hot it was getting because his hands had found their way to my sides and were beginning to rub against my shirt, suddenly against my skin. I was finding it harder and harder to think as a digit slipped down the waistband and caressed my ass.
“Even if you’re bald,” he said seriously.
    “Shut up,” I growled before he laughed and rolled on top of me, smothering any other retort I might have had. It was okay, though. I’d get him back later.
D
ID you know that you can change Wikipedia? That apparently it’s a “living” encyclopedia, that people can update it whenever they want? I sure as hell didn’t know that.
    So imagine my surprise, then, when the Kid showed me on a Wikipedia page headlined “Bald” that researchers in the UK had discovered that eating meat was directly linked to losing your hair. Imagine my surprise, then, seeing those words slashed across the screen, that a Dr. Edmund Paddington-Kingsleyshire at the University of British Hair Studies had conducted an exhaustive six-year study into the matter. The Kid looked at me solemnly as I read the words, that vein on