Driving down the road toward the reservation, Bella looked in her rearview mirror and got an eyeful of tanned skin and toned muscles. Averting her eyes as quickly as she could, she shook her head and swallowed hard before calling out the open window. "Jesus, dude. Don't you ever wear clothes?"

Paul, who was standing in the truck bed and leaning on the top of the cab, smirked as he scanned the trees. "Over rated. Besides, they just get destroyed when I shift. We don't always have enough time to strip before that happens, and I don't have an unlimited number of replacements, so be glad I'm wearing anything at all."

A tremor danced down Bella's spine, but she was horrified to find she wasn't sure if it was revulsion or not. It should have been a pretty clear answer, but from what she had been staring at for the last two hours, it wasn't. Paul was an asshole, plan and simple. He was blunt, crass, and had a worse mouth than her father during football season. Still, he had a body to rival any male model, and more than once that morning she had to catch herself from following the deep cut 'V' of his hips. Something she wanted to slap herself over. She was supposed to be in mourning over her boyfriend and his family, not ogling the first guy that ran around shirtless that crossed her path.

Pressing her lips together, Bella cleared her throat. "Yeah, thank God for that." A snort caressed her ears, but she chose to ignore it. She was beginning to learn that engaging in any sort of way with this guy led to nothing but sexual innuendos and requests for food. Prior to that morning, she had never known you could actually proposition someone and ask for more food in the same sentence. Then again, she guessed that was really her own fault for making sausage instead of bacon for breakfast.

Shaking her head, she refocused on the road in front of her, refusing to acknowledge the man in her truck bed any longer. It was really better for all parties. Though Paul had tried to get her to talk about her dead vampires, asking some off the wall questions, Bella completely ignored him. Not only because she was having a hard time not focusing on his torso, but more so because she still wasn't ready to talk about the Cullens, and she wasn't sure she ever would be. Also, some of the things he asked wasn't really any of his fucking business. She failed to understand why he thought he deserved to know if she and Edward ever had sex, and she also didn't think he had any right to keep pushing her to answer that particular question.

So, due to that, the rest of the drive to La Push was both extremely quiet and pretty damn uncomfortable.

It wasn't until Bella was about to make the turn into the residential part of the reservation that Paul reminded her she wasn't alone. With a foot propped up on the side of the truck bed, he leaned around the side of the cab and spoke through the open window, telling her to head to the cliffs instead of the houses. She jumped at his proximity, but did as she was told while not giving into the reflex of turning to look at him.

Parking when she was told, Bella cut the engine, but stayed in the truck for another minute, taking that time to collect herself. She didn't know why, but there was a sense of foreboding in her gut and she couldn't shake it. It wasn't because she was going to follow a guy she didn't know into the woods, that much she knew. If anything, she knew for a fact Paul was the least of her problems. If he was going to be one, he would have been one already.

Rolling her shoulders, she got out of the truck, but didn't make it five steps before she heard her name behind her, sending ice down her spine. Biting her lip, she looked at Paul, telling him she needed a minute. When all he did was cross his arms and lean on a tree, Bella wrapped her arms around her middle before turning to face Jacob.

She tried to smile at him, but she knew she didn't fully succeed. He didn't return it, so she sighed. "Hey Jake."

Jake looked at the girl he had been in love with since they were kids with something closer to disdain in his eyes. "What are you doing here, Bella, and with him?"

She had no answer for that she could actually give. What was she going to say? 'Oh, nothing. Secret meeting of the giant puppy dogs about my dead vampire boyfriend and his surviving family that wants to kill me and what the Society of Mutant Wolves are going to do about it. You know, nothing special'. So instead of saying anything, she just looked at him and ignored his questions. "I've been meaning to call you."

That didn't help anything.

Jake's eyes narrowed slightly and his jaw ticked. "Have you? Yet, instead of calling me, you show up here, after months without a word from you, with the reservation's biggest delinquent."

Jolting back from the venom in Jake's voice, Bella blinked. "Well, sorry I haven't thought about you, Jacob. My boyfriend died."

"And I've been giving you your space to get over that."

Now she was starting to get a little miffed. "That's not something you just get over, Jake. Besides, if you were ever my friend, you'd have been there for me when I needed you and not over a month later when I finally leave the damn house. If you weren't there to help me pick up the pieces, then you don't get to have an opinion on how I choose to do it. I shouldn't have had to be the one to reach out to you." The moment that was out of her mouth, she regretted it.

When Jacob went to open his mouth again, Paul beat him to it. "Walk away, Black. You don't wanna go there."

Turning his eyes on Paul, Jake clinched his fists and glared. "This doesn't concern you. Don't you have bank to rob or something with the rest of your pals?"

Paul just smirked at the asshole. "Wow, you know us so well, Black. You're right. We do have some shit to stir up for someone. And today, that someone is Bella here. Now, why don't you go inform your daddy of the horrors of us taking her cliff diving. And, why you're at it, make sure you tell him we're corrupting Kim as well. I'm sure he'll be so incredibly pissed off about it, he might even come running to their rescue."

Out of more reflex than anything, Bella's arm swung out and the back of her hand and forearm connected with Paul's stomach hard enough to make him grunt and leave a sting on both their skin. He looked down at her as he rubbed his abused muscles and cocked a brow. She just narrowed her eyes. "Leave Billy alone, Paul. That was mean."

Paul, still rubbing his stomach, just shrugged and tilted his head to where Jake was just standing, Bella turning to see he was walking away. "Maybe, but it had the desired effect. Unless you want him caught up in this mess, it had to be done."

Her eyes dropped. "He's going to hate me when this is all said and done."

Paul looked over at Jake's retreating form and shrugged. "Naw. He'll hate me instead. Besides, I warned him he didn't want to go there. Com'on. Sam and Jared are waiting."