Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Chapter 4-. Hurt you.
"What is it that you're planning, Lahote?" Bella asked as Paul searched her living room for a map of Forks. She was leaning over Paul as he trashed her place.
"Well, since there are many bloodsuckers in the area I can't actually take you anywhere into the deep woods, but I know there's a place around where we can go and do something fun." Paul moved things here and there until he found the map. "HA!"
"Fun like what?" Bella asked, intrigued. Paul looked at her with a crooked smile.
"When I was little, my parents divorced, and my old man brought me to La Push." He said, hoovering his sight over the now fully extended map. "My mom left without any explanation, and before I knew it, she was remarrying. I was young, so I got hurt that she didn't take me with her and my old man was really pissed. He took me on a little camping trip to cheer up. We made a bonfire and burned all her things, I guess it was kind of cathartic for the both of us."
"So, you're taking me up the mountains to burn all these things?" Bella bit her lip, looking at the mementos Paul had found from her time dating Edward. She secretly wanted to ask about his family but felt a little intrusive at the time. "Can't we do it out in the yard then?"
"It makes no sense if you do it where you will see it and remember it." Pail scolded her. "If you do it back in the mountains it will be washed out by the rain… and you also won't have to worry about burning down your house." He laughed, and Bella did too.
"Got it." Bella looked at all the possible places that they could go together, and suddenly, the fact that she was planning a little trip with Paul hit her. "Isn't it weird? A few hours ago, I could've sworn that you hated me. Now we're planning a trip together, to forget about my vampire ex-boyfriend nonetheless."
"If I am being honest, I never really hated you." Paul sighed before looking at Bella straight in the eyes. "I was annoyed that you didn't see it. When you came looking from Jacob and asked what we had done it was like the last straw. How could you think that I wanted this for anyone, or myself for that matter? If it wasn't for the Cullens… I would have my same friends, I would be going to school, maybe I would have had a couple girlfriends or whatever, but instead I was stuck hunting leeches and putting myself in danger for nothing."
"I guess I never saw it that way, I'm sorry Paul." Bella's pale skin became paler and her eyes met the ground.
"It's long gone, Swan." He reached out to her, and just naturally patted her head. "Now, help me pick out a spot."
Both of them had a fun time trying to map out a spot far away enough for Paul not to cause a commotion if he had to shift but not that far that it would be easy for any other vampire to attack them. They decided on place that they could reach by means of Bella's truck and a little walking and although it was a little weird for them to be interacting that way, it was working out perfectly. Paul was grumpy enough to fall into similar restriction lines as Bella, so neither had to worry about pushing too much out of the other or disagreeing too much. They threw all the things from underneath the floorboard into a backpack so that they didn't need to worry much about them. Paul liked to have Bella's undivided attention to himself, and Bella liked how Paul wasn't too tender or too pushy. Their late-night project turned into an all-nighter, and when the sun rose they were hardly sleepy but decided to rest just in case.
So, it was a surprise for Jacob to find them asleep in Bella's living room. He had come over to bring her back to La Push, where they could probably hang around Emily's until he was needed at the Clearwater's. He had noticed the smell of a wolf, but had guessed it was Sam's, and no way in hell he would've thought that Paul had spent the night at the Swan Residence. His blood boiled over at seeing him way too close to Bella, although neither was touching each other. He thought of shifting and shredding Paul to little wolf pieces but kept his cool and didn't. That, and that he was still under the order of not shifting until told otherwise.
"Good morning." His loud and deep voice woke up the other Quileute but not his friend.
"Jacob." Paul mumbled. He had completely forgotten about the detail that Jacob entailed in this whole messed up thing.
"What brings you here, Paul?" If stares could kill, Paul would've been dead instantly. Bella woke at the feeling of Paul moving around, which gave him the perfect chance to avoid Jacob's question.
"Jake?"
"Hey, Bells." Jacob didn't hide his annoyance but seemed hardly upset at her.
"Morning…" She was still a little out of it, but still smiled a little and made an effort to put herself together before realizing that Paul Lahote was just asleep next to her when Jake walked in. Her cheeks went bright red. "What brings you here?"
"Charlie guessed that you wouldn't be going to school, so I was asked to bring you to La Push in case he didn't come back home tonight as well." Jacob raised an eyebrow to Paul. "I was thinking we could hang out at Emily's, but I see now that maybe we should make a sleepover over here, what do you think Paul? Was it good?"
Bella grunted as she stood up and pushed Jacob towards the kitchen. His skin had gone a few degrees up and, for the first time, she felt awkward and uncomfortable at touching Jacob. His dark eyes met hers and she could tell how upset he was. It didn't cross her mind how weird it would be for others that she and Paul became friends overnight, especially for Jake. Bella's brain worked hard to come up with an excuse, as fast as Jacob's temper allowed for one. Paul had said that he didn't want any questions asked about the previous night and she wanted to help out with that. She pushed her big friend against a corner where Paul couldn't see them and hopefully couldn't hear them as well.
"It was my fault he ended up here, okay? He was patrolling and I called him over because my window was open, and I freaked out." Bella said, trying not to make an elaborate lie and slide some truths here and there. "He checked the rooms and the house, that's all. He seemed tired, so I let him sleep over."
"That doesn't explain what you were doing down here with him, Bella." Jacob's gaze was heavy on Bella's shoulders. She exhaled to give herself more time to answer.
"I was still scared, okay? I didn't want to be by myself, so I slept on the couch while Paul rested on the floor, I probably fell down in my sleep, you know the klutz I am."
"Why didn't you call me?" Jake seemed hurt and Bella was running out of patience. She didn't want to take a long time in there and make Paul suspicious.
"I just didn't want you to worry too much, Jake. You and Billy are busy at the Clearwater's anyway." Jake huffed and left the kitchen, although he seemed to be in a better humor.
Somehow Bella managed to remain calm enough after that to invite both guys to breakfast. While she was cooking she could feel the eyes of both teens on her back which made her face and neck burn in embarrassment. Because she wasn't sure how hungry they were, she scrambled almost all the eggs she had left with a few sausages and bacon and, scared of that not being enough food for them, she made toast and leftover pop tarts. Jacob was very clean when eating, and Bella knew he was also very conscious of his image whenever she was around, but Paul was the complete opposite. He stuffed his mouth and moaned when he liked something he was eating (right that moment it was a pop tart), and he would rarely clean around his mouth when eating. Bella found that cute and chuckled, although before she would have thought that it was a little over the top for just eating food. Jacob, still cautious, rolled his over when he saw his friend enjoying herself too much at the sight of the other teen wolf. Needless to say, Jacob and Paul ate most of the food, leaving Bella a little bit of eggs and some toast. She suddenly worried about the amount of money Emily spent every time she made a meal for the pack.
"We should get going." Jacob said when he had cleaned his plate. Paul had done the same not much earlier.
"I just need to get a couple things, why don't you guys turn on my truck in the meantime?" Bella reached for her key from the counter and, feeling a little full, she ran upstairs to pack a bag with her stuff.
She took a couple hygiene products, such as some dry shampoo and an extra toothbrush, and for the first time in a long time she threw in a bottle of perfume Renée had given her. She was so used to having vampires that cared a lot about the smell of her blood that she kind of forgot for a while that wolfs were more suceptible to superficial smells. She also packed her calculus books and some notes after she realized that she had a test coming up. She hesitated before picking out her only black dress and shoes and with a sigh she stuffed them into her bag too. When she was leaving the house, the map of forks caught her eye; it was still on the coffee table at the living room, so she quickly grabbed it, folded it, and put it in her back pocket. Jake was already in the driver's seat when she went out. Paul seemed a little out of it while seating in the trunk, and she felt bad that the other guy wasn't traveling in the cabin with them, even if it would be a little too crowded. She just passed by him and went inside instead, while remaining quiet during the drive.
Once in La Push, everyone seemed to be either patrolling or helping figure things out at the funerary home. Emily's home was open to the pack as always, but it was Sam the one who was running things around, as his fiancé was at her cousin's home helping her aunt prepare food for the funeral and sending all the visitors away with the time and place at which the final rites would start. It wasn't hectic, but the mood was definitively heavy and did not allow for anyone to play around. Quil, Embry, Sam and Jared were taking turns with patrolling, and with Jacob too busy helping prepare the funeral and under the strict command of not shifting, Paul decided he would spend his afternoon waiting around with Bella. The last rites wouldn't start until that night time and the wake would last a couple days, so they decided to become productive in the meantime. Paul missed more days of school he could remember, so Bella helped him out in whatever she could, but there was a lot to cover and he would rarely ask for help anyway.
"You should use the second derivate here." Paul pointed out when Bella got stuck in a problem.
They had been working on their own for a little and his deep voice startled her a little. They were sitting next to each other on Emily's kitchen table so Paul just reached to point at the part of the problem she wasn't doing right. Bella glanced at Paul, surprised of how naturally he had answered, and after confirming that it was the right answer her mouth fell open.
"Hey, I skip school a lot, but I used to be a couple grades ahead in math." Paul laughed at Bella's reaction.
"I was just convinced that you would be a bad student type of thing." Bella confessed, with her whole face turning strawberry red.
"I guess I wasn't." Paul shrugged. "Do you need help?"
"Yes!" Bell said, way too enthusiastically.
Paul helped Bella study for a little while more. He was a strict teacher, and sometimes it would take a second for Bella to catch up with his quick thought process, but when she would get really stuck he would concede and give her helpful hints. She felt that the Lahote guy had a lot more to him than she had ever imagined and that he was way too mature for his age, even beyond Jacob's maturity. Bella's eyes kept meeting with Paul's, but it wasn't a tad awkward anymore. While Bella felt a lot more confident for her test, Paul finished a lot of the piled-up homework he hadn't done. After cleaning up, both sat down in the living room and watched open T.V. while making fun of over exaggerated commercials and old soap operas. Their fun didn't last long though, as a growl brought them out of the house. Paul was the first to rush and find Quil putting a shirt and some pants on before approaching the house.
"What happened?" Paul asked.
"Are Jake and Chief Swan around here?" Quil asked back, worried.
"No, why?"
"Goddamnit."
"What happened Quil?" Paul asked, noticing that Bella behind him had gotten worked up.
"They aren't at the house, and none of them are picking up their phones…" Quil looked over at Bella. "We traced a new scent over to your house… it's been doing some radius patrols as well, as well as visiting places you go to. We can't approach it too much because we're afraid it will attack the Chief if it senses danger, but it seems to be following him around." Bella gasped, and her hands went into fists. "Do you know where he might be?"
"N-No, he would normally go straight home if he said he would." Bella whispered. Paul trembled and without any notice he shifted in front of Bella and Quil, and before the later could stop him, Paul had ran into the woods, trying to find this new scent.
"Ugh, Paul." Quil sighed. "I'm sorry, Bella, I will fix this, don't worry. You'll dad will be fine, Jake's with him." Quil apologized before phasing. Bella nodded in shock, even though both guys were gone.
When Quil shifted, he was hit by a wave of worry and anger – Paul's worry and anger. Everyone was slightly disappointed at Quil for not stopping him in time, but the pack was already aware of the fact that given how hot-headed Paul was, it was only a matter of time before he jumped to help out his imprentee. Sam talked strategy and positioning and tried to push back Paul's eagerness to attack without a thought. It was five of them against one of them, yes, but they couldn't risk Chief Swan seeing them or the bloodsucker in question.
"We will protect him, Paul, calm down." Sam said to the guy before they started to approach their pray.
Unexpectedly, a sixth thought joined the pack.
"Jacob, why did y-" Sam was angry at the younger one for defying him, and concerned he would attack Paul, he pushed his thoughts back as much as possible.
"Cullen." The image of Alice Cullen in front of Jacob jumped into everyone's mind. "Retreat."
"Fucking leech." Paul's mind became flooded with thoughts of Bella and vengeance, and before anyone could stop anything, in a fraction of a second, Jake and Paul were already running towards each other.
"WHAT THE FUCK PAUL." Jacob's anger increased by the second. "HOW FUCKING DARE YOU, YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!"
"Embry, Quil, stop Paul!" Sam ran as fast as he could, trying to surpass Paul. "Jared, help me out with Jacob! NOW!"
Alice Cullen's presence in Forks was pushed to the back of everyone's mind, as the fight between two young wolfs was about to unleash a disaster of even a bigger magnitude.
Hoo! I've been on a streak lately! This story is super fun to write! Thanks everyone for leaving reviews and following this story, it really means a lot to me! Are you excited about Alice? What about this coming fight? If you expected things to go smoothly for a while, I am sorry to hit you with this so soon! HAHA Anyway, thank you again, and see you soon! xx
- Xavier
PD. OMG I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT I UPLOADED A DRAFT VERSION OF THIS CHAPTER. I AM SO SORRY. THE CORRECTED VERSION IS UP NOW WITH SOME EDITS AND BETTER GRAMMAR. AGAIN, SO SORRY.