The phone shrieked through the house, penetrating the abject silence with its methodical insistence. Lifting her head from its sullenly downcast position, Bella stared out of her bedroom door to the landing, waiting for the overtly loud, recently installed answering machine to kick in.
Her senses strained, first listening to Charlie's barking, unfriendly greeting, a clear deterrent to anyone thinking about leaving a message, and then finally her ears met a warm familiar tone.
"Bella..." He started, his tenor sounds wrapping around her body as she pushed herself rapidly from the bed, darting down the stairs.
"Hey Emb, what took you so long? I thought you were gonna call me earlier." She asked, as she breathlessly alerted him that she was now actively on the other end of the line.
"Sorry Bells, I got caught up in some stuff with my Mom. So, are you coming over?"
Looking out the front window to her now nearly perpetually parked truck, Bella wrung the debate through her head for a few moments. For days it had been nothing more than school and home, home and school, a monotonous repetition she couldn't seem to escape, but she'd also promised Charlie.
"I don't know Emb. I mean, Charlie's been pretty…" She tried to think of the right word and finally settled on, "…absent." It was the only appropriate thing to call it, because he'd been home plenty, but he'd never really been there. "I kinda told him I would stay off the rez and I don't want to make things any harder for him right now."
Fingering the keys which hung on a hook right next to the phone, Bella wondered what harm it could really do. She just needed a break, an hour or so to remember that she was a person and not just a hermitic robot.
"C'mon Bella, he won't even know you're gone and anyway isn't it safer being here with me than just sitting in that house by yourself?" He pleaded, earning him a hidden smile for his efforts.
"Gee, thanks Emb, like I needed another excuse to freak out!" Looking over her shoulder irrationally, Bella swiped the keys from the wall, knowing any peace she normally found from the four surrounding walls had just been utterly shattered.
"So, is that a yes then?" He asked, and she could already hear the pleasured triumph in his voice.
"Yeah, that's a yes. I'm setting off now so I shouldn't be long." Looking over at the kitchen clock, she mentally calculated that with the time approaching four thirty and with Charlie at work until seven, that meant she had a good couple of hours before she was in danger of him being any the wiser.
Skipping out to her truck, she cast a quick glance over the tranquil neighborhood, pleased to find herself thoroughly alone.
Turning down Embry's street, a grin broke out on her face when she saw him already sedentary in his driveway, boredom obviously taking its toll as he amused himself by throwing stones out into the road. He was at her door before she had a chance to open it, and though she was enthusiastic herself, he all but pulled her out of the cab with wild abandon.
"You wanna head over to Jake's?" He asked with eager impatience, and while he thought he'd spoken with casual inflections, she caught him looking back over his shoulder in displeasure.
"Sure, whatever you want. What's going on in there that you're avoiding?" She asked, her hand gesturing to his house as they walked out into the street, taking their usual shortcut to Jake's more remote property.
"Nothing really, it's just Paul. My mom convinced him to come over, and he's been here for hours." Bella turned to see if she'd missed the black truck that she normally took as her own warning to stay away, but the street was bare bar for her own red behemoth.
"How'd she manage to do that, I thought he'd skipped town?" Bella asked, looking up into Embry's hazel eyes, shaded with a seriousness that only emphasized his discomfort with their topic.
"Well, he's back. And apparently she had some stuff for him, things that used to belong to my… our dad." Embry shoved his hands in his pockets and glared straight forward as they walked, his footsteps widening until Bella was nearly half jogging by his side. It wasn't a topic she'd ever brought up with him before, but she also knew from Jake that Embry had only found out Paul was his brother a few months prior. Their dad had rolled back into town for a few drunken days, full of poor intentions and a mouth which betrayed personal secrets with an ugly sneering slur. Bella had seen Paul around, knew enough to keep out of his way and on the one occasion when she had bumped into him, got a very distinct impression he didn't like her, mainly because he had no qualms telling her so.
Trying to change the subject, Bella flipped through the past few days of school, looking for anything interesting to comment on. "So, one of the Cullen's tried to talk to me." She said, not expecting Embry to stop dead in his tracks. Catching up to the speed of his movements, Bella whirled herself around to his rigid figure, waiting for his reaction.
"Oh." He finally said, looking over her shoulder through to the forest, clearly considering something. "So what did they say?"
Bella cocked her head slightly, once again trying to figure out why both Jake and Embry were so weird whenever she mentioned the eerie family. Embry seemed to catch on to her interest and without receiving an answer walked on, leaving Bella once again to trail behind.
"I said 'tried', not did." She offered, spiting him by being ambiguous herself. He seemed to relax with her words and she took the opportunity to broach something else that had been on her mind.
"Hey Emb… don't you think it's kind of weird about Emily Young? I mean, first Sam, and then her…" Bella had heard from Charlie that Sam was back in town, but it didn't stop her thinking the whole thing was just too weird and coincidental to be unrelated.
"Do you know something? I mean, they announced on the news that it was an animal attack. Did Charlie say otherwise?" Embry asked, his voice hard and suspicious as he turned around and eyed her cautiously. Bella felt a little stupid under his gaze and shook her head, telling herself that she needed to revise her list of off-limit topics of conversation to include Sam, Leah and now Emily.
"No, he refuses to talk about the case. I just thought it was weird, that's all." She shrugged her shoulders, trying to play off her words as something casual, but he didn't even flinch.
They didn't speak again until they reached Jake's garage, and it was a wonder with all her missteps that the silence managed to remain so content.
"Jake?" Embry called, peering into the gloomy little structure behind the main house, turning back to Bella with a shake of his head when his efforts came back empty.
"Maybe we should try the house?" Embry suggested, his feet already leading him in that direction. He was almost around the corner when Bella caught up to him, pulling him back into the shadows.
"Hey, do you mind if I don't come in? I mean, if Billy knows I'm here, he'll tell Charlie for sure." Seeing the obvious practicality in her dilemma, he turned back towards the house and then back to Bella again. "Yeah, but maybe it would be a good idea if you waited in Jake's garage?"
Bella nodded, but as he walked away, she couldn't decide if she preferred the idea of sitting in the dark little space alone, rather than out here in the open. A truck pulling up the driveway took her choice away and as she ran to the sliding tin door, hearing loud footsteps pound behind her, she hoped she'd moved fast enough to remain unseen.
"What the hell are you doing?" She cried as Embry pushed her aggressively down behind the car Jake was always trying to fix-up.
"Just, whatever happens, stay quiet." He growled out, but she was too confused to really obey just yet.
"Why? What's wrong?" She pressed against the hard ground as she tried to stand, but Embry just pushed her down again.
"I'm not supposed to be out either okay!" He hissed angrily and it was enough to silence her momentarily.
"Embry?" The foreign voice startled Bella and she immediately ducked down, pressing herself against the cold naked metal frame.
Listening intently, Bella could hear two distinct voices and then the sound of Embry's footsteps as he showed himself, a slice of twilight pouring in before Embry replaced the thin metal façade, concealing her behind him.
"…are you doing here, Embry? I told you to stay at home today and I remember very distinctly telling you that it wasn't a good idea to bother Jacob right now. You know you aren't well enough to be out wandering about." The voice was sharp and angry, and very clearly belonged to an irate Mrs. Call. The more rounded tone to Embry's voice made it impossible to distinguish his response, but a third sound, a loud sneering laughter which cut through his mumbling phrases, sent a cold shiver down her spine.
Slowly, the voices began to fade and when the only sounds she could hear were those of nature, Bella found some peace in her solitude. Sinking down to the ground, she couldn't help the little jolt of fear which spread through her like wildfire when she suddenly realized she'd been left here alone.
Minutes felt like impenetrable hours and as her eyes returned over and over again to an ever darkening sliver of visible sky, Bella knew she didn't have time to dawdle. This would teach her, she thought, as she tentatively stepped out from her hiding place, facing the encroaching bitter dusk.
Looking around for any signs of life, Bella decided against cutting through the trees as both she normally would have done, instead she flitted from the side of Jake's house to the hidden side of Billy's imposing tan truck, until a deep mocking gloat stalled her steps.
"I wondered how long it would take before you came scuttling out. You just can't stay away from that little brother of mine. Can you Swan?"
Lifting her head, she took a deep breath preparing to mentally defend herself, but what she found there wasn't anything like what she'd expected. Paul had always been good looking, annoyingly so, but as her eyes focused on him, she could see now that he was something else entirely. Leaning casually against a tree hidden in the shadows, she began to assimilate herself with the idea that he had been waiting there for her.
She couldn't put her finger on what it was about him that was so captivating, but she wasn't about to tear her eyes away either, so she had plenty of time to assess the subtle and monumental differences.
Bella had always guessed he was somewhere in his late teens or early twenties, but he suddenly looked like he'd aged five years, a deep maturity had settled somewhere within him, and certainly not in a bad way. His shoulders had widened, the muscles in his arms were now fighting their way out of his shirt and his face, she thought, my god, his face. His deep brown eyes, which were still full of devilish mischief, met with hers and just for a moment, she thought she caught something that looked a little like disbelief. But just as quickly as it came, she watched it retreat behind a cold mask of indifference.
He was malevolently beautiful.
The insults which would usually have followed didn't come, but she too wrapped up in just staring at him to notice. Feeling her cheeks grow red under his reciprocal attention, her eyes darted down, unwilling to see the moment when he dismissed her with a sneer, or cruel remark.
Now that she was no longer held in his gaze, she felt a sudden thicket of shame wrap over her. Not only had she been checking out Embry's brother, someone who had been overtly antagonistic towards her, but she was doing it publically and with very little shame. Taking her body back quickly, she raised her hands behind her to feel the smooth edge of the truck, following it as a guide as she retreated from his formidable presence.
Hearing the sound of twigs snap carelessly under his weight, she knew he was approaching and doing so fast. She pushed her whole body onwards, even though she could feel an insistent nag telling her to turn around. She hoped that maybe he would get the hint, but when she felt him draw closer, her heart flipped out of her chest. She was about to turn the corner at the end of the truck, when a strong hand gripped her arm, her whole body whirling around, moving her body to face his. With feet that weren't nimble enough to catch up with her upper-body, she reached out and placed her outstretched palm against his chest to steady herself.
His warmth was initially a little unsettling, but when she didn't take her hand away and she could feel the cold fade from her core, Bella did the very opposite of what she knew she should be doing.
She stepped in.
For the longest time she didn't pull herself away, mainly because the thought didn't even enter her head. But as she watched him stare at her hand in something that looked a little between hunger and anger, she retracted her fingers, pulling the sleeves of her sweater down to prevent any more foolishness.
"What do you want, Paul?" Bella asked unsteadily when he didn't offer the information himself. Her voice seemed to snap him out of his weird trance and the hunger definitely gave way to anger this time.
"I want to see what a Swan tastes like." His dancing eyes were staring hard into hers, but his voice was the thing that really sliced into her, shocking her with its ferocity.
Bella shivered involuntarily and when she tried to think of something harsh or witty to throw back at him, she came up with nothing. So instead of standing there listening to him try and quite successfully intimidate her, she whipped back around and tried to walk away.
His hand snaked instantly around her waist and as she begged her heart to come down from its maladjusted high, she felt his breath heavy on her neck, intimidating her with his proximity. She didn't want her feet to move, but she felt him encourage her to pivot on the spot, her body working in opposition to her mind.
Feeling her resistance, a dreadful sort of laughter seemed to roll from the very depths of his being.
His eyes ravenously darted over her body and she forced herself to remain still, to not feed into whatever intimidation tactics he was now employing. Finally, his eyes returned to hers and it was almost worse than the physical assessment, because now not only did it feel like he was staring right through her, but she could feel her cheeks betraying her by darkening in response. There was simply no denying it, she was hypnotized by him and she couldn't help the immoral thoughts that flitted through her mind to have him so close. Bella closed her eyes, hoping with his dark beauty gone from her sight that she would be able to think rationally once again.
Taking deep, steady breaths she counted to ten, but nothing could stop her body from vibrating with energy, reacting to the sliver of space between them. It felt like all her muscles were pulling forward, straining at the edges of her skin to be just that little bit closer. The only thing holding them back was the fragile hold she still had on her sentient mind, the one that reminded her that this could only be a ruse. Bella knew the minute she gave in she would hear a cackling laugh of satisfaction and her weakness would be used against her for the rest of her existence. So instead of stepping forward, she concentrated all her energy on pushing herself back into the truck.
She knew the plan had backfired the moment she felt the cold steel seep into her thin sweater. An icy metal pressure met her from behing, capturing her body in a warring dichotomy. Gasping, she felt him press down on her, and her eyes intuitively flew open to see just a glimmer of a smile on his lips, scarcely a moment before they crushed down on hers.
a/n: Wow, first can say a huge big thank you to all of you who left behind a little love, alerted, or simply took time out of your day to read chapter one. I'm amazed by the positive reception and I can tell you, it freaked me out a little because now I'm nervous chapter two won't live up to expectations. Ahhh, I imagine my beta wants to berate me right now (sorry hun!) for all my self-deprecation. The next chapter will be up on Sunday, so hopefully I'll see you then too!
A big gushing thanks to my beta Twiticulate, quite simply, you rock chica! I hope I didn't mess up too much on my last minute changes.x
On a side note: I recently sent in my submission to the FandomFightsTsunami appeal, a one-shot featuring Jasper/Bella. Even if that's not your cup of tea, I can't encourage you enough to go and peruse the list of authors, because no doubt there will be someone there who's words you know and love! It's a really great cause, there are nearly 300 authors contributing and all you have to do is make a donation to receive the whole catalogue. So please, please do something wonderful today - go and check it out!
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