Read Gray Back Bad Bear (Gray Back Bears Book 1) for Free Online

made it better. “What the hell happened?” she asked, approaching slowly.
    Matt scrubbed a hand down his face and shook his head. “Nothing.”
    “Bear shit?”
    Narrowing his eyes, he huffed a sigh. “Yeah, bear shit.”
    She brushed her hand under a long gash across his rib cage, half-healed already. “Do you repair yourself fast?”
    “Yeah. Give me an hour, and I’ll look normal again. You’re early.”
    “Were you hoping I wouldn’t see you looking like a murder victim?”
    “Ha.” Matt’s single laugh echoed across the river, and a smile brightened his somber face. “Kind of.”
    “Well, mission not accomplished. You look like shit.”
    Matt bent at the waist and scooped water over his forearm. It was then she noticed his skin. Crisscrossed in hundreds of long scars. His entire back was striped like a tiger.
    “Matt,” she said on a breath. Pulling his arm, she studied the marred skin across his ribs, then when he stood back up, over his stomach.
    His face went hard as she studied him in horror. “I was going to put a shirt on to swim,” he muttered as he crossed his arms over his chest, but that only exposed the scars across his six-pack abs. Pink and silver, each a different length and age from what she could tell.
    “What happened to you?”
    His eyes looked a hundred years old as he angled his head. “Nothing.”
    “More bear shit?”
    He dipped his chin once.
    Anger slashed through her, but it wasn’t at Matt. It was at whoever had done this awful thing to him. Shrugging out of her backpack and tossing it on the ground, she said, “Falling off my bike, age seven.” When he gave her a confused glare, she pointed to the crescent moon shaped scar on her right knee. “It was pretty awful.”
    Matt cracked a grin, and she could almost feel the relief roll off his shoulders. He didn’t want to talk about what happened, and honestly, she didn’t know if she was ready to hear what had ruined his skin like this. Already, she could feel tears forming and her throat thickening. She yanked her gaze to her discarded backpack so he wouldn’t see how affected she was.
    “What about this one?” he asked, gripping her arm and pressing his thumb against the scar on her elbow.
    “Ha! You’ll love this story. I was at band camp—”
    “Of course you were at band camp—”
    “Hush. I was at camp, and I was going head to head with Jenny Nador, who was such a bitch and always got first chair. I’d been trying for two years to get first chair just once. So we were up on this stage, and I was playing my ass off—”
    “Wait, playing what instrument?”
    “The flute, naturally. I am also a badass on the piccolo. Stop laughing. So I’m up on the stage with my marching band, and my instructor has this smile while I’m playing like hell-yeah-she’s-making-a-run, and I know I’ve got this. I’m going to finally beat Jenny Nador, and I already have my victory dance all planned out. I turn to shoot Stupid Jenny Nador a triumphant grin as I hit the last part of my solo—”
    “Your flute solo—”
    “Yeah, contain your boner. So then when I turned, the back leg of my chair slipped off the riser I was sitting on, and I fell backward, then out of my seat, then off the stage where I broke my arm in two places.”
    Matt let off a booming laugh and doubled over.
    “I’m glad my pain amuses you.”
    “Holy shit,” he crowed. “Please tell me your instructor gave you first chair after that.”
    “Third. I didn’t finish the song, and then the ambulance came to get me and I didn’t get to go back to band camp. I was heartbroken, naturally.”
    “You’re the clumsiest human I’ve ever met.”
    “Yeah, well…you’re the bloodiest bear-man I’ve ever met. Let’s wash you off before I get queasy.”
    “Hmm,” he said, lifting his chin. “I don’t imagine you’re afraid of much, Nerd.”
    “That’s completely untrue. Wasps. Clowns. Open closet doors at night. Choking on a hot dog. Tight