In Bear's Clutches: Pt. 01

Bear was pretentious, but Bear was also Wes' best friend. Kind of. Well, not really. Bear was more like Wes' mortal enemy a lot of the time, but he loved to loudly declare himself Wes' oldest friend, and Wes had to admit this was true.

It had been eighteen years give or take since Bear's dad had suffered a career-ending ACL injury which led to a very quick turnover in the court of public opinion when it came out he had cheated on Bear's mum with his physiotherapist, her assistant, and her mummy-vlogging best friend Shandice Adams. That was the end of childhood sweethearts Chrisa and Hennrick McNeil's perfect image. Which brought on Hennrick's reign of terror, from then -- after a very messy and bitter divorce -- he became the tabloid's resident bad boy, bouncing from woman to woman. Whilst all this was happening Chrisa, Bear's mother, went to go find herself for three years in Thailand, leaving her son, Bear, in the care of Hennrick's mother, Aunt Winkle as everyone in Shinfort lovingly called her.

Wes had lived in Shinfort his whole life. Most of which he spent in hospital getting prodded at or in his bed staring up at the ceiling drenched in his own sweat. Wes was a sickly child of a single mother, and Aunt Winkle had always lived in the house next door. They were both often alone, so they made great company for each other. Aunt Winkle often watched over Wes as he did his homework after school, routinely washed his clothes, and was often the last person he saw before shutting his eyes.

One sunny afternoon in July, as Wes laid in bed staring up at the ceiling, she arrived at Wes' home with Bear trudging behind. Wes hadn't thought much of him then, and Bear had thought even less of the grey little thing swaddled up to his neck despite the summer's heat. But come winter, three years later, when Bear's mother returned, the pair were inseparable, which made their severance all that more devastating for the boys.

It was the fond memories of those three years that Wes clung to when Bear was in moods like he was in today. "Black" Bear, as Wes would call him behind his back. Today he was Black Bear.

Wes could sense this as he saw Bear barrelling towards his desk. Silently he saved his work, and followed Bear to the bathroom. Only once they were alone standing side by side at the urinals did Bear utter a word.

Life had moved very far from Shinfort. Bear had travelled the world with his mother until he tired of that and eventually settled alongside his mother's brother Benson of Benny's Real Estate, who was happy to groom Bear to inherit as Benson had no children of his own. It hadn't taken long for Bear to stampede his way up the ranks of employees under Benson's guidance, and when he made it to the top he wanted someone he could trust at his side.

In one afternoon Wes packed up the little he had occupying a sad one-bed apartment in Shinfort and followed Bear into the city. For years Wes watched Bear's back; he was clearly his underling, but was more than happy to watch his friend succeed with his help. After all, Wes hadn't expected much out of life before Bear, and now he worked for a lucrative company far from a hometown where he was nothing more than a burden. Wes was a homeowner now with a beautiful wife and a direction, because of his decision to follow Bear. So now he did so without complaint.

"I'm telling you, one of these days I'm going to dip my big, sweaty balls in his coffee and watch him drink it." Bear huffed as he palmed his cock and shot an angry stream of piss into the bowl. "The pathetic ginger prick is determined to undermine me in front of Uncle Benson. It's not my fault the smarmy cunt is going to be passed over for the CEO when Benson retires. I mean, who would trust their empire to that balding pile of blubber anyway?"

"Was it Harvey again?" Wes asked, although he knew. Unfortunately Black Bear's description of the man was spot on, and Wes shuddered to think how Bear would have described him in this current state.

"Who else?" Bear snarled. "Are you just going to watch?"

Bear had this thing. Wes wouldn't call it attachment issues, but more like some inbred cousin of that diagnosis. There was nothing Bear liked to do alone. Not eating, not sleeping, not fucking, not even peeing. It was as though he tried to make up for the separation between them over the years though this extreme closeness.

Wes couldn't have predicted how long his morning meeting would last, Uncle Benson loved to talk, and he'd already used the restroom. He cursed himself as he took out his penis and aimed at his own urinal.

"Really? That's it? Fucking hell Wes I've dribbled more in my sleep." Bear chuckled from beside him.

Wes could feel the back of his neck heating in embarrassment and he hurried to put his penis away.

Wes chuckled along and said, "I haven't had a lot to drink yet. I guess I'm a bit dehydrated. Wanna grab a coffee?"

"Nah you're alright. I have a meeting with Clara from HR. I might need a caffeine pick-me-up after though, bring me one of those blueberry muffins from the canteen and a coffee in fifteen." Bear said as he walked over to the sink.

"Fifteen? You really think your meeting will be finished by then?" Wes said, following.

"Trust me. We are well practised in keeping our meetings brief." Bear said, winking at Wes through the mirror.

Bear splashed the water from his washed hands at Wes and walked out, and Wes sighed in relief.

He didn't mind being the one to collect the food, it was his job. What Wes minded was the looks from the other guys at the desk. They didn't fetch anyone coffee, or lunch, but they weren't Wes, and they didn't work for Bear. The only one who really understood would be Megan, one of the girls on the front desk. Bear's rival, Harvey, was particularly sweet on her to the point where she took on a role not much different to Wes', fetching Harvey's paperwork, refreshments, and fulfilling his desires. According to Bear they were fucking behind Harvey's wife's back, so that was where their similarities ended.

Wes wasn't overtly sexual, but he was explicitly attracted to women. That wasn't to say that Wes did not know Bear was an attractive man, he was straight not blind. Wes had seen the man from top to bottom, he was well-proportioned, sculpted, and his face was easy on the eyes too. When they were growing up Wes had envied Bear's lankiness, and as Aunt Winkle warned, he should have been more careful with his wishes, as puberty made Wes gangly and Bear leanly muscular, and he had envied that even more. Other than those obvious differences in stature, Bear's olive skin had a glow to it that Wes was sure his would have if he hadn't been so sick as a child. They were both Italian on their mother's side, though Bear's sandy blonde hair did it's best to deflect the lineage.

It didn't take Wes long to grab the food from the canteen, but he had a bit of time to kill. His work wasn't going to complete itself, and Bear was in the middle of brokering a large deal for an exclusive client which he had poached right out of Harvey's pocket, so every hand was on deck. Wes had been tasked with combing through all the paperwork with a fine tooth comb so that Wes was not caught with his pants down when Harvey inevitably did find out. This was an easy enough job to get done, there hadn't been much else to do in Wes' childhood locked up in his room other than read. Ava, his wife, was much the same. She was doing a book reading at his local library when they met. Ava always laughed and called their meeting by chance, but Wes was sure it was fate. She took his breath away as soon as he saw her on that stage, and he'd immediately sat down in one of the unoccupied chairs. He was not even sure he really heard a thing she had read, but when the reading portion was over he was amongst the first in the queue to get a signed copy of this book he had never read, or heard of. To this day that book lived on the mantel in their home and they returned to that same library together often. They had almost held their wedding reception there, until Bear insisted on upscaling the venue. Bear adored Ava, and Ava tolerated Bear. They went for coffee- COFFEE. SHIT.

Wes bolted from his desk in a hurry, and flew down the stairs to the canteen. The elevator would have taken too long he thought, though he paid for that decision dearly as he fought desperately to catch his breath in the queue. By the time Wes got to the front there was only one blueberry and one lemon drizzle. Bear hated lemon drizzle, they both did.

"Can I get one blueberry muffin and one lemon drizzle muffin, please."

As he approached the door to Bear's office Wes' stomach buzzed with anticipation. He had no time to hesitate; their coffees were burning a whole through his hand. With his foot Wes kicked open the door whilst balancing the muffin bag under his arm, and was instantly hit with the smell of sex.

Clara from HR was bent over the desk getting roughly penetrated by Bear from behind. Each stroke pushed her further into the files until they reigned onto the floor. Bear met Wes' gaze steadily, daring him. Wes kept his gaze locked in, trying to ignore the grunting, slapping, and moaning that accompanied each thrust. Bear didn't like that much. His hand met her buttocks with a weighty smack, which made Clara bite down on her hand to stop from crying out. Her head snapped up instinctively, and that is when she saw Wes standing there with the coffee in hand.

"Wes! Wes! The door!" She shrieked.

So she was familiar with their arrangement.

"You heard her, Wesley." Bear smiled. "You're late. I was recording it for you."

He nodded over in the direction of his video camera and tripod. Well that answered Wes' question on how aware Clara was of their arrangement. She was a natural. Eye-fucking Wes as she bucked hard into Bear. Arching her back flawlessly. Her face and ass in perfect view of the camera, each moan purposeful but not excessive. Wes could not help but take in her performance. In the office Clara commanded respect, she pinched her auburn hair back from her face and kept her makeup to a minimum, but under Bear she was different. Her modest skirt was bunched around her waist and was being used as a suspender to keep her close, and her once respectable blouse was more like a prison for her heaving breasts that fought through to free themselves from it and her bra entirely. Wes' eyes caught on a flash of silver in the pink nipple that came into view for a brief second before Bear pushed Clara's head onto the cool surface of the desk. She was feral, grunting and drooling onto the desk as he dominated her. His large frame now enveloping her's as Bear craned closer to her ear whispering things that Wes could not make out, but burned to know. Wes knew Bear was taunting him; this was all a game, as he whispered and thrusted he never took his eyes off Wes, and neither did Clara. Her mascara smeared under eyes, and her lipstick across her cheek as she bucked her way to orgasm before Wes' eyes. And he drank it all greedily, her moans, convulsions, and his power. Readily surrendering his own.

"Swallow." Bear commanded.

Swiftly Clara climbed down to her knees before Bear, and before Wes too. He watched her obediently open her mouth and accept the dripping phallus between her lips. In three steady gulps she swallowed Bear's seed, rounding and hollowing her cheeks with each draw. Bear's eyes closed upon release and Wes watched as Bear slowly bobbed Clara's head on his penis.

"Clean my cock for me baby." He cooed at her.

She hummed back at him and as Wes watched his throat became dry.

Eagerly Clara slurped at his appendage, moaning and worshipping. Wes felt his old friend envy came crawling back up his throat with a vengeance, and for a minute he let himself wonder what it would be like to be the one in control. What would it feel like to be the one thrusting as Bear watched? To shudder to orgasm in his presence. He thought of his load entering Clara's throat, his hand gripping what was left of her sleek bun, and Bear's eyes on him. He could feel it now, Clara's silky hair threaded around his fingers, beads of sweat dripping down his back as he rocked himself to and from her soft lips. He could feel her tongue tickling his balls and her throat's walls bending to conform to the shape of his shaft. He'd take her and Bear would watch with his coffee. Wes was deep in these thoughts until he heard Clara giggling.

"Thirsty?" Bear asked.

"What? I- urm-no. I'm fine. I wasn't-" Wes managed to choke out.

"You sure? You've been licking your lips for a little minute there. A bit more than just wetting your lips, to be honest. My cock's almost jealous."

"Hey!" Clara interjected playfully.

Bear raised his hands in surrender. "I said almost. Almost being the imperative word. I am very satisfied."

She smiled like the cat who got the cream at that little helping of praise.

If only she knew how generous he was on Wednesdays (the day after poker night), it would put whatever was going on here to shame Wes thought to himself. He helped her onto her feet and helped himself to a hearty grip of her ass as she fixed her blouse. She squealed in delight as Wes watched, swatting his hand away and making her way towards Wes and the door.

Bear bowed his head in laughter and zipped his flies. "Chill Wes, I was asking about the coffees. I'd be more surprised if you didn't have a woody after one of our playdates. It would mean I was boring you. I'd have to switch tactics."

"Next time kick up a seat, darlin'" Clara drawled.

"Hmm." Wes chuckled uneasily as he allowed himself to look down at his painful erection. He could not help but squirm as he realised his were not the only set of eyes locked on it in the room.

"I mean I'm sure Clara would love to give you a hand with that chubby real quick, but I'm also sure that Ava would fucking behead me. So I'll just send you the video later." Bear said as he casually strolled over to pluck his now lukewarm coffee out of Wes' hands. "Muffin?"

"Muffin." Wes mumbled back.

Ava. Wes had forgotten, today was the annual banquet of her foundation and she was counting on a large donation from Benson's Real Estate to get her latest grant scheme for underprivileged kids up and running. Despite rallying efforts from Ava's top brokers in the foundation, Benson refused to be wined and dined, leaving Ava with only one card left to play. Bear. Specifically via Wes. This was huge deal, and Wes was hoping that it would not come with equally large billables.

"Why is there a lemon drizzle in here touching my blueberry muffin, Wes?"

"That was all that they had. I'll have the lemon."

"Yes, you will." Bear grumbled as he took a mouthful and plonked himself in his chair.

Clara cleared her throat, reminding both men of her presence. "I'll just leave you both to it. Let me know when to pencil in our next meeting." With a wink and a kiss to Wes' cheek she left. Cleverly turning in the direction of the nearest bathroom.

Wes watched her leave, and kicked her lacy blue panties in the direction of Bear's desk.

"Think she left you a parting gift." Wes said as he dismantled the tripod.

Bear gulped his coffee. "She always does. I think Clara gets a little confused about our arrangement. I leave them for Johnathan."

"The guy who cleans the office?"

"Yeah," Bear shrugged. "We have our own arrangement."

"Right." Wes nodded his head slowly, a weight lodging in his throat. "I-urm-"

"Spit it out. You want to ask, so just ask." Bear's eyes were cold. He was back in business mode.

"It's Ava." Wes said as he took a seat opposite.

"She okay?" Bear asked, warmth creeping into his gaze.

"Yeah. She's fine. She- I wanted to invite you to dinner. Tomorrow. You could bring Clara?"

"You're funny." Bear reclined lazily, into his desk chair. "You're cooking is awful."

"Come on, it's for Ava."

They both began to laugh until tears formed in their eyes.

"No honestly, your cooking is almost as bad as Aunt Winkle's"

"Hey! Aunt Winkle made some good meals too."

"If that's how you choose to remember it, be my guest." He aimed and successfully shot his empty coffee cup into the bin behind Wes, then met his eyes again. "I'll come if you promise Ava will cook."

"Done." Wes sighed in relief.

Bear squinted his eyes and took in Wes' relief. "Why do I get the feeling this is more than just dinner? Wes?"

"Look, Ava is asking you to hear her out. And I am asking you to come over for dinner with an open mind and an empty stomach. When don't I have your best interests at heart?"

Bear sized him up.

"Friday. Now get back to work. I need this deal to be finalised before the meeting tomorrow." He said firmly.

Fridays in the office are not a relaxed environment. Not this office anyway, Fridays at Benson Real Estate were the last chance in the week to break a sweat. So it was hell, predictably.

What wasn't predictable was Bear's thunderous rage as he left the meeting.

"Do not follow."

That was all he said to Wes the entire day. He did not see him again, not that he went looking. Instead, Wes went looking for answers.

Harvey came out of that same meeting with the largest shit-eating grin spread across his face, so he decided to start there. He perfectly timed his lunch so that it would coincide with Megan's and caught her in the canteen.

"Do you mind if I sit?" Wes asked.

"Of course, though I am surprised to see you without Bear. I thought he'd need all the comfort he could get about now." She said as she moved her laptop and tray to make space. "Sorry, sit. This is probably the last thing you want to talk about on your lunch."

"No. No, I need to hear it. What happened in the meeting this morning? Bear walked in as his usual self and exited a completely different person."

"You mean you don't know?"

"Let's assume I don't."

"He tried to poach a long-term high roller of Harvey's, but his deal went through. Apparently his figures were wrong, and the client saw him as unprofessional." She shrugged. "They decided they were more than happy where they were."

Wes felt as though the ground had fallen out from beneath him. The waft of hot cheese and tomato from the pizza on his tray made his stomach churn, and his pits began to sweat.

"How... why? Why did the deal fall through?" He sputtered.

Megan chomped noisily on her salad and watched Wes wearily. He was especially skittish today, she noticed, and what she was about to tell him would only make it worse. So she gave him a brief reprieve. It's what she would want. She finished the food in her mouth and sipped her lemonade slowly. She also wondered to herself if she looked like Wes on Harvey's bad days. Squirming in his seat like a worm, eyes dead set on her mouth. His gaze wasn't like Harvey's all hunger and greed, at this moment Wes was more like a deer in headlights. When he began tugging at his shirt, Megan decided she'd put him out of his misery.

"You had a lunch break yesterday." She began.

"Yes. Why?"

"You were in a rush. Darting here, darting there." Megan paused for another aggravatingly long sip. "And you left your computer open. Harvey got the perfect opportunity to see what was giving Bear the extra pep in his step he'd been sporting recently."

"My-my computer?"

When? How? He had saved his work, hadn't he? He always did. In fact Wes couldn't think of the last time he left his desk without saving and closing everything down. And that was the problem. He couldn't remember.

"Yeah. Hate to be the one to break it to you, but you should have seen Harvey's smile. He was so... happy. He needed this meeting to go well, and it's only a minimal tank for Bear. More of a public embarrassment than a hit to his career, when you think about it. And I'm sure he won't stay mad at you for too long. I mean this is the first time..."

Wes couldn't breathe. He could see Megan's lips moving, and her head bobbing, but the sounds were blurring together. He stumbled to his feet and moved as fast as he could get from that table.

Wes wanted to run out of the entire building altogether. No resignation email, no packing his things, just poof; gone. His feet began to take him and he didn't resist. Down the stairs, again, past the canteen, through the lobby and out of the automatic doors.