A/N: I've been sitting on this chapter for a while and decided to just get it posted! This will be a short story, three chapters possibly with an epilogue but we'll see
Disclaimer: Any recognisable characters, places etc beong to their respective owners, not moi!
"I can't do this."
I couldn't believe what had just come out of her mouth. Leah Clearwater had just admitted that there was something she couldn't do. I quickly checked the sky for signs the apocalypse was coming. Finding nothing but dreary dark clouds I returned to staring down at her small form. Six foot isn't all that small for a girl but for a werewolf she's a certifiable midget. Even in her heels she was still a few inches shorter than me.
"Yes you can." I rolled my eyes as she shook her head.
"I can't Embry, really can't." She practically pleaded.
She turned to stalk back to her car. With her back turned I seized the opportunity and grabbed her by the tops of her arms, pinning them to her sides while I lifted her a good foot off the ground and marched her towards the door.
"Let go!" she hissed, her tone much more like the Leah I knew, "Embry, I swear to god, let me the fuck go. Right now."
"Nope. You dragged me along. You have to suffer the consequences."
"I didn't think you'd be so forceful." She grumbled, giving up her struggles, finally realising we were definitely going to cause a scene. Not that she usually cared about that kind of stuff.
Suddenly I realised something, "That's why you brought me isn't it? You didn't think I'd make you do it if you decided to chicken out."
"I'm not chickening out. Put me down!" It didn't go unnoticed that she didn't answer my question.
"It is isn't it? Why not bring Seth instead?" I asked, setting her down just outside the doorway.
"Because, moron," she spun round to face me, shooting one of her best death glares in the process, "Seth would have given me the puppy eyes until I caved."
I frowned, "Why not Jacob, or even Quil?"
She snorted, "If I'd chosen either one of them then I'd have had to put up with incessant imprint talk the whole drive over here." She said, rolling her eyes as if she was stating the obvious. In truth she probably was.
"That still doesn't entirely explain why you made me come along."
"Urg…First of all Call, I didn't make you," she glared again, folding her arms over her chest, "I asked you. You said yes. Second, excuse me for not wanting to do this by myself. It is a big deal. And thirdly… well because dammit, you can actually be a pretty good listener when you want to be so if I was too chicken shit to go or I failed spectacularly, which lets face it is the more likely of the two, then at least you'd let me bitch and whine to you." She finally finished her mini rant, her lips puckering into an adorable pout.
She looked down then, twisting the hem of her jacket in between her long fingers, clearly nervous.
"Leah, look at me," when she made no attempt I held the tops of her arms again and her eyes met mine with a sort of nervous desperation as I leant towards her, "You can do this. You're not going to fail. You're going to go in there and kick major ass. Not literally, I know what you're like," I warned. She smiled at my assessment, probably imagining the same thing I was; a light gray wolf tearing the sky-scraper to pieces, "You're going to do great. The Leah Clearwater I know is fearless and determined and brave, so just suck it up and get in there."
She smiled up at me, "Thanks Embry," she said softly before squaring her shoulders and putting her game face on.
"I'll be in the car when you get out."
She nodded meekly before turning and pushing the door open, her legs trembling slightly as she did so. She disappeared into the big building and I slowly made my way round the block to the car.
Sighing, I cranked back the passenger seat, settling myself in to wait it out.
I hadn't really known what I'd got myself in for when she'd asked me to do this. I didn't fully understand why she'd need- or more to the point, want- anyone to come with her, but I'd jumped at the chance to do something for her, especially if it meant getting to spend most of the day with her. I realised right there and then that I'd fallen for Leah much harder than I'd thought.
I found Leah attractive, hell, everyone did. It'd be impossible not to notice her perfect face; her ridiculously full lips, her long eyelashes, or the way it all lit up when she gave one of her rare true smiles. You'd be blind if you missed her legs, long, thin and toned to perfection, or the way her small hips swing with every graceful step.
Somewhere between eye-fucking her and actually having proper conversations with her- now that we were in Jakes pack and she'd mellowed somewhat- I'd started to become attracted to more than just her body. Yeah, she was a total bitch, something I'd been on the receiving end of more than a few times, but she had a wicked sense of humour, a fierce pride and loyalty, and somewhere underneath it all was an incredibly caring person. Plus the bitch thing was totally hot, especially when she was pissed at the same time.
After being in Jakes pack with her for almost a year now I had come to accept that the nasty girl in Sam's pack had, in actuality, been very hurt and confused. She'd lashed out because she was in pain. It didn't make it right, but it made me understand it. She said she owned so much to Jake, that he had literally set her free but neither he nor the rest of the pack see it that way. She's strong, impossibly so, and she would have gotten over Sam eventually with or without Jakes help. She really had no idea how strong she was, her actions outside the building earlier had proved that.
It was only a job interview for fucks sake. How could she be so nervous? Granted, it was her dream job and hell, even I felt a bit nervous for her. In fact, if my stomach muscles tightened anymore from the butterflies I felt on her behalf then I'd definitely need to get out her car before I made a mess. But Leah had actually let the façade drop for five minutes and let me see just how bad she was feeling, something she never, ever does.
I hoped that that was the real reason that she'd invited me. That she was only willing to drop her guard around me, but I quickly squashed that thought down. Leah wouldn't look at me twice, not in that way anyway. There was simply no point in trying to date Leah, she'd kill me before I even finished asking.
I checked the clock on the dash, she'd been in there for half an hour now. What did that mean? Was it a good sign that things were taking so long or were they just running late? I hoped it wasn't the latter; Leah didn't need to be sat in there waiting, she'd probably bail before they called her in. I imagined her sat there, looking all lost, a small frown creasing her perfect face. I groaned, trying to think of something else. The image of Leah looking all vulnerable in her sexy little skirt and heels wasn't something I should be thinking about right now. It wouldn't be good for her to come back to the car and notice my raging hard-on for her.
I'd almost died when she pulled up at my house this morning. She was wearing a tight fitted white shirt, tucked neatly into her pencil skirt, which had obviously been designed for short girls as it sat at mid-thigh length on the bronzed beauty that stood before me. Her impossibly long legs were sheathed in pantyhose. Well, I hoped they were pantyhose- I really didn't need to think about Leah in stockings, positive that I'd bust in my pants if she was. And to top it all off she'd been wearing heels, stilettos to be precise. Black, shiny, fuck-me stilettos.
She looked sophisticated; her outfit was definitely appropriate job interview attire. But she also looked damn assed sexy. Of course, Leah being Leah, she had absolutely no fucking clue how gorgeous she looked. In fact I'd bet my life savings that if someone put 100ft tall letters along first beach even claiming something as mild as 'Leah Clearwater is pretty' she still wouldn't get it. One of the many, many reasons Sam felt so bad about breaking up with her was because she'd never really had any sense of self worth, and he knew that what little he'd managed to build up in her during the course of their relationship would be in tatters.
He'd been right. Leah never notices the looks she get from guys, including the way I'd all but gawped at her this morning before setting off on our (very, very long) drive to Seattle.
A sharp click followed by a whoosh of cold air snapped me out of my thoughts as Leah quickly hopped in the driver's seat.
"How'd it go?" I asked instantly sitting up, winding the seat up with me until I level with her.
Her face was pinched together and for a moment I panicked. Nervous Leah I could deal with, a crying Leah? Not so much. I'd never even seen her cry before. But her face broke out into the biggest, prettiest grin I've ever seen.
"I think it went great." She breathed out in a big gust of air.
"That's great." I smiled, reaching over to give her a quick hug, relishing in the opportunity to actually have an excuse to touch her. I thought she'd pull away as fast as she could but instead Leah wrapped her tiny arms around my neck and buried her face in the crook of my neck. It was pretty awkward, considering we were both in our own seats and had the gear shift to contend with but to me it still felt fantastic.
"Thank you." She whispered, and I could have sworn that as her lips brushed my neck as she talked she planted a small kiss on my pulse point. But then I was pretty sure I must have dreaming it.
I chuckled, the sound coming out much lower than I'd anticipated, "You're welcome. So…when do you find out?"
She groaned, releasing me so that she could sit back in her seat and look at me, "A week, at the minimum. I don't think I can wait that long!"
"I'm sure it'll fly by." I reassured.
She snorted, "No it won't. It'll be all I'll think about. I'm going to drive you all crazy on patrol."
"You already drive us crazy, Leah," In more ways than you can possibly imagine, I thought to myself as she pealed off her jacket, unintentionally pushing her breasts forward, making the material of her thin shirt strain with the pressure.
"Hey." She swatted my arm and for a minute I was positive that she caught me checking her out but then she didn't punch me so I assumed she was reacting to my 'crazy' comment.
"Joking aside," I went on as she started the car and pulled out, "I'm sure you'll hear from them in no time. And I'm sure it'll be a yes too."
"God I hope so," she breathed. Her quiet tone at complete odds with the scowl on her face, aimed at the guy driving right up her ass. I flipped him off on her behalf, which earned me a scowl of my own before she flipped the idiot off for herself.
"I just want this job so, so much."
"I know you do."
Leah had applied for a junior position at the Seattle Times. She wanted to work her way up. She'd always wanted to be a reporter and this job was a good first start. I had to admit that she'd make one hell of a journalist; hard as nails when she needed to get the answers and yet nice and caring enough to tease out some of the more sensitive stories.
Half of me desperately wanted her to get this job. It was her dream and I imagined that a smile similar to the breath-taking one she'd given when she got back in the car would permanently grace her beautiful face if she got it. I'd saw myself in half just see her smile like that on a regular basis. Lots of people would. Her mom, the pack, and most of Sam's pack would too. Not to mention Emily, Rachel (who'd been Leah's friend since they were like two) and Billy- who despite the fact that her mom's relationship with Charlie was starting to look serious- Leah considered a second dad.
Billy had always been good to Leah but he was really there for her when Harry died. She'd grown so close to the old man that Jake had joked that it felt like he had three sisters. Billy had then replied that he'd tried to swap Jake for Leah on many occasions but Sue wouldn't hear of it. It's also led to Leah spending a day at the Black house ordering Jake around like 'a true big sister would,' as she'd put it. After having to clean his room and his garage to spotless perfection Jake never made that joke again.
I hated to admit that the other half of me, the significantly more selfish part of me was dreading the prospect of Leah getting the job. She would have to move to Seattle, away from the pack, away from me. I would just have to sit back and watch her go. I wouldn't even have her in my mind anymore.
Apart from the cubs, and maybe Paul, we'd all managed to gain enough control to be able to stop phasing if we wanted. Of course, none of us had wanted to just yet, especially in Jakes pack. But if Leah got the job she would be giving up her wolf completely.
Even if I wasn't having weird feelings for Leah, her departure would still sadden me. We were a unit, a team. I really didn't know how our pack would function without her. It probably wouldn't, there'd always be a void. I wasn't looking forward to how Jake would react either. No one, apart from me, knew about Leah's plans, or her interview today. Jake would be happy for her, absolutely no doubt about it. They were close, very close. I would definitely be jealous if it wasn't for the fact that Jake had an imprint. Joking aside, they did have a very brother/ sister type relationship.
I had been a bit pissed- though I'd hidden it well- when Jake announced that Leah was his Beta. I'd secretly thought that it would fail pretty quickly, they'd argue too much and literally want to kill each other and then either me or Quil would take her place. But she'd been fantastic. An Alpha needs someone to back him up, especially in front of others and even more so in front of a different pack, but they also need someone to call them out on their shit. They need someone who can tell them honestly if an idea or strategy sucks. Leah does that for Jake and so much more. When they'd gotten over hating each others guts they realised they actually worked pretty damn well together, firmly becoming the best of friends. Again, I'd definitely be jealous of that if Jake didn't have Nessie.
But then, Leah probably wouldn't be so casual with him if he was un-imprinted. I'd noticed, not too long ago, that she's actually a very tactile person. She often hugs Jake, Quil and Seth, even curling up on the couch with them, snuggling to watch a film. She never did that with me but I suspected it was because they were all 'safe'; Jake and Quil had their imprints and Seth was her brother. I was single, and even though she had no idea about my feelings for her, she knew on some level that it would mean something different with me.
The journey home felt short; Leah was so hyped up that she talked most of the way home with me adding nods and questions in all the right places. It was fantastic to see her so lit up about something. Her eyes were wide as she looked at the road, her wild hand gestures causing her to take both hands off the wheel on multiple occasions. It didn't even feel like ten minutes had passed since she'd got in the car when she pulled up outside my mom's tiny house.
"Thanks for listening, Embry," she said sincerely as I checked my watch, noticing that two and half hours had passed.
I looked up, noticing for the first time that the sky had darkened, "That's why you brought me," I answered simply, unbuckling my seat beat before stretching out my back muscles.
While my back was arched, arms still above my head- bent at the elbow and still touching the roof of the car- she slid her arms around my torso, her fingers just grazing my abs, causing them the harden in response. She placed her head on my chest, squeezing me tightly.
"You don't know how much I appreciate today Embry. Thanks for kicking me up the butt."
I chuckled, returning her embrace and planting my cheek on top of her head. "You're more than welcome." I breathed, quickly inhaling her scent as slyly as I could, drowning in the smell of wildflowers.
She pulled her head back, though she kept her arms around me. I froze when she stopped moving back, her face just inches from mine. I knew she wasn't going to do anything but the close proximity was driving me crazy. If I just bent my head down a little then ours lips would be brushing. The movement would be so simple, and yet it could cause any number of consequences. All of them ridiculously bad.
"I umm…I'd better go," she stuttered. Stuttered? Leah never did that.
I snapped out of it as she retracted her arms, "Yeah," I said lamely, "See you."
"Bye." She said, in an almost puzzled tone as I shut the door.
Making my way up the porch steps all I could think was what the hell was that about?
A/N: My first dip into Callwater, what did you think? Let me know if you want me to continue with it. Normally I don't let a lack of reviews stop me from posting new chapters but I've got so much going on and of course, my other stories to continue so I'll only update this one if there's interest in it.
Speaking of other stories (see what I did there!) Pitch Black has been nominated in three catergories of the Gem Awards. It would be comepletely fantastic if you could take a teeny bit of time to vote. Pretty please?
http:/gemawards (dot) blogspot (dot) com/