Chapter 2 "Unleashing the Guard Dog"

Rick Graves POV

She was sitting in a metal chair next to the dance floor, all alone, looking like sex on legs in that red dress and those fuck me heels. Jesus, I'd wanted her beautiful ass the first time I saw her, but now that I was seeing her dressed to the nines, I could feel myself hardening just looking at her.

She had been dancing with that Call idiot, but he seemed to be trying to get away as quickly as possible as he dumped her with the homely and unattached bow-wows along the wall. I looked around hastily.

Where was he? I knew he couldn't be far, because he never was. As much as I hated to admit it, Jacob Black scared the ever-loving shit out of me. And he was always around her, always, without fail, like some kind of fucking guard dog.

I didn't get their relationship. They seemed really happy together but you never saw them do more than hold hands or touch each other casually unlike the other couples around, who groped each other at every available chance. We all knew what he wanted, though. It was blatantly obvious every time he looked at her and snaked his possessive hand around her waist. And it was even more obvious when he stared at any guy he caught looking at her. It was like he had some weird kind of sixth sense that gave him the instinctive awareness that you were horning on his girl. When he caught me at it, he looked like he was going to rip off my arms and legs. It was bad enough to give me nightmares. Seriously, I could feel the violence rolling off of him and heading towards me like a stampeding herd thundering straight at me.

I looked around, anxiously scanning the throngs of people. Black was nowhere to be seen. Finally, she was alone! I hurried over before somebody else could grab her. As I stopped in front of her, she slowly looked up to my face. Her warm brown eyes had trouble focusing on mine but then they seemed to glaze over with lust as she realized it was me. God, she was so sexy and she didn't have a clue about it.

"Hey, Bella, want to dance?" I asked politely and smiled.

"Sure, Rick!" she flashed a smile at me. "I'd love to dance. Wearing steel toed shoes?" she giggled adorably. Everybody knew what a klutz Bella was. There was an ongoing gambling pool in our history class betting on the next time she'd fall on her ass. My bet was this Tuesday at 10:45. I might have to trip her, but I'd win that two hundred and forty seven dollars.

"Naw, I'm gonna tough it out. Just getting you in my arms is worth the risk," I confessed as I inhaled her scent and wrapped my arms around her. Oh sweet Jesus, this had been a long time coming. Her hair rippled down her naked back and I peered over her shoulder at the folds of her dress caressing her ass, hoping to catch a glimpse of that fine behind. Maybe if I slid my arm a little lower down the back of her dress and clutched her against my hard-on, I might just get a look. Disappointed, I realized that no, I couldn't see anything but I brightened considerably when I noticed I could feel that fine ass moving against my hand. God, she felt amazing in my arms and I smiled as I heard her sigh. She must be feeling the same way. I tried not to lose my cool.

My other hand slid up her arm and I touched the mane of mahogany hair that I'd been fantasizing about all semester. It felt like liquid silk flowing down the creamy skin of her back. She seemed to burrow in closer to me when I rubbed her hair. At this point, I knew she wanted me and all I'd have to do was to get her away from Black.

"I'm so glad to get you to myself, Bella," I whispered seductively into her ear. She looked up at me, confusion clearly written on her face. "It's good to see you away from Black for once."

"He's with Amy," she said, a frown crossing her beautiful features. What? Fantastic! Christ, was Jacob Black stupid enough to go for that dumb bimbo, Amy Nichols, when he could have this gorgeous sexpot instead? Blood pooled in my groin as I decided I was taking this beautiful girl home with me tonight. She snuggled closer into my chest. She'd never go back to that fucker after she had a night with Rick Graves.

I ran a hand up that naked back and dug my fingers into her curling hair. I licked her ear and snaked my tongue down her long, white neck. She tasted sweet, like nectarines. I heard her moan softly. The erotic sound made me realize she wanted me as much as I wanted her. I ground my erection against her and trailed my lips across that warm cheek to the lips I'd been fantasizing about for months. Just as I touched them, a burning, iron hand ripped me away from my sweet angel.

The voice of my nightmares snarled at me. "What in the fuck do you think you're doing, Graves?" Before I knew what was happening, that fucking inflexible hand had jammed into my neck and thrown me against the wall. Holy. Fuck. I was a dead man, I realized as I looked into the burning eyes of my executioner.

"I am going to rip off your dick and shove it down your throat, you piece of shit," Jacob Black hissed at me. "Don't you ever lay a finger on her again. In fact, don't you ever so much as look at her again." Okay, that sounded like maybe I was going to live another day. I could live if he ripped off my dick, couldn't I? I knew he'd do it, too. I glanced around frantically for a means of escape as Black looked down at Bella. On the other side of the gym, my so-called friends were carefully avoiding my eye. I reached for Black's hand with both of mine; frantically trying to loosen his hold, but it felt like I was trying to bend steel. He was squeezing my neck so hard, it was impossible for me to whisper, much less screech the bloodcurdling scream for help I wanted to let loose.

I felt my head hit against the wall and any confidence I had in my survival abandoned me.

"What kind of lowlife fuck are you, getting her drunk and putting moves on her?" he snarled. His eyes seared into my brain. I started shaking. Black turned to Bella and then he whipped those icy eyes back at me. Something had changed. He was getting angrier, not calming down like I thought he would.

I was literally lifted off the floor by my neck and was hanging against the wall as Black brought me to his eye level. His fucking lips curled back from the biggest, whitest teeth I'd ever seen in my life. His face twisted, and his features became disfigured, making him appear…wild. Not crazy wild, no, more like…animal wild. His jaw seemed to lengthen and harden, his nostrils flared and his eyes, Jesus Christ, those eyes! I'd never seen anything like it. They were solid black, like the eyes of an animal, narrow with hate. He was going to fucking kill me. He shoved that terrifying face into mine and smiled. I almost soiled myself.

He slowly turned his head so his teeth were closer to my neck and I could feel his hot breath on my skin. He was going to rip my goddamned throat out!

"Did you put something in her drink?" I could hardly hear his vicious whisper over the frantic beating of my heart. Surely he wasn't going to eat me right here in the middle of the Valentine's Dance. Someone would keep the crazy son of a bitch from killing me in public, right? I was sure that I only had a few more minutes before he dragged me out to the woods and tore the skin off my body. I was frozen in terror and breathing was becoming impossible. I tried to cry out but all that emerged was a pitiful squeak.

Black fixated on me with the intensity of a predator before it struck its prey. He wasn't human. No fucking way. I was dead meat and I was going to be eaten by the monster that was Jacob Fucking Black. The only question was how he was going to do it. I was betting on suffocation as I frantically gasped for air against his tightened grasp. He leaned in closer to my throat.

The low, intense whisper continued. "I am going to tear off your head and piss down your throat, you fucking-" I felt my own piss going down my leg at the thought.

"Hey, Jake, we got it from here, bro," came the sweetest voice I'd ever heard. Three of those monster Quileute guys rushed up around me. I could feel their hands try to pry the iron hand off my throat but to no avail. Waves of sound roared through my ears and black spots dotted my vision. Images came in and out of focus except for the savage face of Black. That sight relentlessly remained at the forefront of my air-deprived brain.

"Jake, man, JAKE! You got to let the son of a bitch go. You're going to kill him!" My gasps for oxygen had turned into hysterical wheezing.

"Jake, you can't rip his head off in public, dude. Take care of Bella. We'll take care of this guy. He won't bother her again. Ever. Will you?" They glared at me like I was capable of answering back. I tried to rasp an answer but failed. Shit, I couldn't even shake my head against that hand.

"You're gonna crush the asshole's windpipe, man. Bella needs you, Jake. You gotta get her out of here." At least one of the three hundred friends and acquaintances I had here was pleading for my life. The pleader sounded more concerned for Black than interested in my survival. Everybody else was probably too frightened to confront Black. I would never have interfered with the terrifying son of a bitch. If I survived the night, he was welcome to eat anyone he pleased as long as he kept those gruesome iron claws off me. I thought I heard maniacal female laughter in the background, but couldn't be sure. I was probably delusional at this point.

Finally, Black released the vice his hand made around my neck and stepped back. I fell to the floor like a pile of cooked noodles and I lay there, quivering. I gasped for breath and felt air pour into my starving lungs. As soon as I could breathe, my thoughts turned to escape. Could I crawl away from this tribe of killers? Was there anyway I could escape Black? I looked up to see four giant vultures surrounding me. I wasn't getting away unless they decided to grant me mercy, and there was no way I was going to receive mercy from Black. I stared at him pitifully.

Thank Christ his attention turned to Bella. She was snorting with laughter as she looked down at me. Well, she didn't seem too fucking concerned about my well-being. Fucking whore. It hit me for the first time; Bella was crocked. She was stumbling around and seemed to be trying to sing with the music, laughing up at Black. Holy shit, she didn't give a fuck about me or about what was going on here. She was all over Black and acted like I didn't exist, that I wasn't lying here, dying on the floor. Well, fuck me! I'd almost croaked here, been murdered by her psychopath of a boyfriend, and she obviously could have cared less…except that it had upset her precious Jacob. I saw him grab her and head out the back door. I stared up pathetically at the leftover Redwood Giants that surrounded me.

"Jesus, Graves, did you piss and shit yourself?" Call wrinkled his nose in disgust and I noticed the other two were turning their heads, gasping for breath.

"Well, hell, I thought I was dead, Embry. I couldn't help it," I croaked through my wrecked throat. The shit in my pants was the least of my concerns right now. But, damn, how bad did I stink that people five feet away could smell me?

"You touch Bella Swan again, fucker, and we won't pull him off you next time. He'd kill me for less and he likes me." Call laughed as if something in that statement was remotely funny.

"Just crawl your shit-ass right out the door and stay out of Jake's sight if you're planning on being a senior. We don't want to see the pile of bodies he's got out in the woods get any bigger. How many is it now, Jared? Seventy-three or seventy-four?" Quil Ateara asked.

My eyes rounded in horror. They were just kidding, weren't they? I knew they had to be kidding. Maybe not, though, I thought as I brought my hand up to my bruised throat, remembering that inflexible hand that would, for sure, be visiting me in my nightmares.

"Dude, you missed the first string football players over at Wellington State. Yeah, they came in Pappy Joe's Pizza a couple of weeks ago when Jake and Bella were there. Some guy tried to cop a feel while Bella was standing at the jukebox and snap!" He acted like he was breaking a bone to show how the poor dullards met their demise.

"Must have been when you were at Claire's. So that makes it what, Embry, eighty-six?"

"Yeah, I think he's going for a hundred by spring break. You want to be eighty-seven, Graves?"

"No, man, never! I swear I'll never touch Bella Swan again, I swear!"

"Hey, your funeral if you do, shit head. We're just tired of cleaning up the blood."

I gulped and glanced furtively at the back door, making sure he hadn't returned. I climbed shakily to my feet but hunched over so I would be less visible if he came back in. I had to get out of there now. The Quileutes scowled at me but evidently were so disgusted by my stench that they seemed reluctant to personally throw my ass out the door. I remained crouched and hurriedly scurried away like some kind of fucking crab.

My mind was going a mile a minute. First thing Monday, I was dropping my engineering class. So what if I was an engineering major? Black was too. I was staying a minimum of a hundred yards from that motherfucker for the rest of my life. Maybe I needed a new major. I was dropping History of the Middle Ages, too. It was a stupid class anyway. While I'd miss seeing the beautiful Miss Swan, there was no point in taking chances that Black would see me in the class with her and get some crazy idea. In fact, I suddenly decided that I didn't really like this college all that much. Maybe it was time for a whole new scholastic experience, one that didn't include Wild Animal Jacob Black or Sweet Angel Isabella Swan.

But right now, my biggest challenge was to get into my car without Killer Psycho catching me. With my luck, he could probably smell me across the parking lot! Shut up, Ricky, I thought to myself. I had to get a grip because my imagination was running wild. Even though he was scary, Jacob Black wasn't Superman. He was just a seven-foot muscle bound he-man that had hands like steel and eyes that looked like a rabid wolf's. Jesus Fucking Christ, those eyes. Yeah, there was no way I was going in the parking lot while there was a possibility that Jacob Black was out there. I was just going to hide in this nice dumpster until everybody in the parking lot went home. There was no way he'd catch and kill me tonight.

None of this was my fault, anyway. I'd been perfectly blameless in all of my actions at the dance. After all, was I to blame if Bella Swan couldn't keep her hands off of me? She was the fucking harlot here. I was merely the innocent object of her lust. Was it my fault she had a murdering maniac for a boyfriend? He'd been the one that abandoned her, plastered off her ass, in the middle of a school dance, not me! I'd simply tried to help out one of my fellow classmates during her time of need and what had been my reward? I'd been assaulted and nearly killed. Subsequently, I had lost all bodily functions, been verbally berated, as well as being figuratively tossed out on my ass in front of my fantasy girl. I had literally crawled out of a significant college event in front of most of my on-looking classmates and was now hiding in a fucking dumpster, frightened for my life.

Well, this had been a humiliating lesson for the ages. After coming so close to having Bella Swan, I'd taken a nosedive off the social ladder to the bottom rung. If I lived to be a thousand and Bella Swan was the only girl on the planet, I'd stay away from her as long as Jacob Black was alive. I'd learned my lesson; if I wanted to turn twenty-one, I'd better not ever glance at that fucking tease, Bella Swan, again.