Okay. So I know I just posted a chapter yesterday, but this chapter was itching to be written and as soon as I finished it, I just wanted to post it. So…here you are. As always, thank you for all of your reviews. Enjoy.
Embry Call was everywhere.
He would be sitting at the kitchen table watching Alex read one of her countless fashion magazines when I finally stumbled out of bed in the morning. He helped me fill up my Mini at the gas station while Alex pretended to examine her nails. He ran by us at the beach when Alex and I went a walk. He turned up at the door with pizzas and beer when we were babysitting Kiera.
"I can't take this anymore," Alex hissed when Embry turned up at the supermarket where we were shopping, "Are you seriously telling me that you have no vampires on speed dial that could take a chunk out of him?"
"He's just trying to get you to notice him," I laughed as I tried to remember the ingredients to my Mum's lemon cake. Throughout the week Alex and I had been spending a lot of time with my Mum and June in an attempt to ditch Embry. It never quite worked like that. Instead, he would patrol around the house until we left. The whole thing was beginning to verge on obsession.
"Oh, I notice him alright," she said loudly, "I notice that he's been wearing the same shirt and pair of shorts for four days. He should go home and change or something."
"Subtle." Alex just shrugged and pretended to examine a bag of flour. I could see the way she was watching him out of the corner of her eye when she thought I wasn't watching. She was attracted to him, however much she wanted to deny it.
"Why are you even attempting to make this cake? We both know you suck at anything that isn't microwaveable."
"It's my Mum's favourite.." I trailed off.
"And Lisa's. I don't even know why you're trying. She has made it perfectly clear that she doesn't want to talk to you and I don't see why you should make an effort. She is a bitch. Personally, I think we should just get in the Mini and drive back to LA."
We both pretended not to hear the whining sound that came from the aisle behind us.
It had been hard. Every single time I went to visit my Mum, Lisa would leave. I felt unwelcome in my own home. Our room didn't look like our room anymore. There was an empty space where my bed used to be and white marks where my photographs used to hang. It was as if she had done everything to remove me from her life. It was as if I had never existed at all.
"She spoke to me yesterday," I reminded her.
"She told you 'to get the fuck out of her way so she could get some candy.'" We both pretended not to hear Embry's muffled laughter. I let out a sigh.
"It's progress," I decided.
"What else do we need?" Alex whined, "I'd quite like to make this cake at some point today so I can actually eat some of it."
"Lemons!" We definitely needed lemons.
"If we drove all of the way home without lemons, I may have had to murder you in your sleep."
"The death threats are getting a little old," I muttered under my breath as we walked to the fruit aisle. I didn't have to look behind me to know Embry would be there. As annoying as it was, it actually felt quite nice to know there was someone looking out for us, even if it wasn't for my benefit. I felt safer than I had in years.
"Don't lie. You love the death threats. You could use them as inspiration for your next book."
The words had barely left her mouth before I whacked her in the arm, hard. I checked behind me but Embry seemed to be too engrossed with a poster advertising chips on the wall to be listening to us for a change.
"I don't know why you don't just tell everyone. If I were you I would boast about being one of the most successful authors of the twenty-first century."
"If you don't shut up," I hissed, "I may have to come up with some death threats of my own. You know some of the stuff I write about comes from personal experiences. I don't want these people to know how fucked up I really am."
"Hun. Most people already know."
I glared at her. I knew she was only joking around but it hurt all the same.
"Hey," I bit my tongue to stop myself from lashing out as Embry appeared in front of us, "I found you some lemons."
"We were perfectly capable of finding them on our own," Alex murmured as she snatched the lemons from his hands without touching him.
"Well, you were walking in the wrong direction," he smirked.
"Well, we-" Alex spluttered as she looked in my direction for help. I certainly wasn't going to give her any. It was the perfect opportunity for me to enact my revenge for her earlier comment and for making me climb down a drain pipe four days previously. I still had a giant, purple bruise on my leg from that little experience.
"Hey, Embry? Do you need a ride home?"
I had to hold in my laughter at the ear splitting grin that appeared on his face. It was as if I had told him that he had just won the lottery.
"He managed to get here perfectly fine," Alex glared at me, "So I'm sure he's capable of making it home alive."
"He ran here?" I guessed and he nodded enthusiastically, "It's raining outside and we have extra room in the car," I said as we approached the cash register, "He's coming with us."
"Then I'll walk," Alex decided while the cashier was scanning my items. Embry looked stricken but I just pulled him along after me when we finally paid.
"We cant just leave her," Embry tugged me backwards, "It's raining. She could catch a cold or get lost or worse."
My heart clenched tightly in my chest. He cared so much about her and yet he hardly knew her. I wondered what it would be like to have someone care so much about me.
"Don't be stupid," I hit him on the arm even though I knew he wouldn't even feel it, "I give her forty seconds when we get in the car before she comes running over."
It was actually 32 seconds before she slipped into the passenger seat. Embry looked ridiculous squeezed into the backseat but he had insisted that Alex be comfortable. She didn't even meet my gaze as she shook the rain from her hair. I saw Embry's hand itch to reach out and warm her up.
"Just drive bitch," she grumbled but rolled her eyes at the same time to let me know that she wasn't really mad. I let out a laugh. It was surreal how free I felt despite being back in La Push. It was as if I finally had some direction in my life. I had goals; even if those goals were to get over my ex boyfriend and make friends with my sister again. At least I was living my life again.
"I can't bake," I realised after driving for five minutes. Desperately in my head I was trying to remember how my Mum did it. I tried to remember the measurements and how long to put the cake in the oven. It had to be perfect.
"Oh god," Alex put her head in her hands, "I have tried to tell you that several times in the past four hours."
"Everyone can bake," Embry pronounced from the back seat. Alex actually looked horrified at his input.
"Lily set our old kitchen on fire when she tried to cook a frozen pizza. I cook the food in our apartment, always." She narrowed her eyes at him as if that should have been obvious. He just smiled at her, which seemed to infuriate her more.
"I really can't bake," I whined.
"Why cant Alex just do it?" Embry said that as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and pressed down on the accelerator. It felt suddenly too warm in the car.
"This isn't just about baking a cake dumbass," Alex stared straight ahead but she shifted around in her seat as if she desperately wanted to turn around and make eye contact with Embry, "It's about her making her sister's favourite cake. It's an apology to her Mum and a gift to Lisa. Baking is something her family shared before Paul, it has nothing to do with him which is why she feels comfortable doing it. It's about moving on."
I wanted to deny everything she was saying, but I couldn't. At times I wondered how transparent I was. Alex always seemed to see right through my actions.
"You girls are too complicated," Embry frowned.
"I'm just being stupid," It dawned on me, "I'm just using this to focus on instead of all the other crap in my life. Besides, if I'm in a kitchen, it lessens my chances of running into Paul."
"You're going to have to see him at some point. He is marrying your sister," Embry spoke again. I was beginning to regret my decision of offering him a lift. He was right, but I didn't really want to face up to the facts at that moment in time.
"So not helping asshole," Alex narrowed her eyes at him in the rear-view mirror. Energy seemed to sizzle between them and I wondered how she was managing to fight such a strong connection. I remembered clearly how Kim barely touched her food when Jared was away fighting vampires and the way her body relaxed when she knew he was near. Imprints were so in sync that sometimes it terrified me. I stepped down on the accelerator again.
"Doesn't June bake?" Alex spoke suddenly.
It had been interesting to watch Alex integrate into La Push life so easily despite being so outrageously different from everyone else. The minute I had introduced Alex to June, they launched into a conversation like old friends while my Mum and I rolled our eyes. They had so much in common. June had moved to the reservation to marry a local boy she met in a dingy bar - Paul's father. She could relate to Alex's observations of La Push where as I thought everything was normal, it was how I had grown up after all. Where as Alex just thought everything was 'damn weird.'
"Yeah, she does," Embry said in answer to her question, "I remember when she brought that kick ass chocolate cake to Sam's birthday bonfire. I think I might have eaten the whole thing." Alex looked mildly impressed while I just continued to press on the gas. The wolves and their stomachs had always been a constant source of amusement for me when I had first met Paul.
"She can teach me," I decided, "And then next time I can make it myself."
"Oh damn. There's going to be a next time," Alex groaned.
The familiar landscape passed by me in a blur of green. I could clearly remember the reckless way that Paul drove, one of his hands on my knee and the other on the steering wheel. He would turn the Foo Fighters up full blast and laugh at my ridiculous singing instead of concentrating on the road ahead, yet I had never felt afraid. That laugh of his had made me warm all over. At times, he had made me act like a reckless girl and I had loved him for it. I had craved every moment with him, even if it was just a drive in the car from A to B. Everything had made sense when Paul was in my life. Everything had felt right. I wondered if that was how Lisa felt.
"Holy shit," Embry grabbed onto my seat from behind interrupting my train of thought, "You're driving like a lunatic. Slow the hell down."
I eased off the gas. I hadn't even realised how fast we had been going. It felt good to speed though, it felt like I was escaping from something. It was how I imagined flying would feel like. I wondered if that was how the wolves felt when they ran.
"Chill out," Alex laughed, "If you think this is fast, you should see her driving around the race track in LA. It's her way of blowing off steam."
"You are both mental. You mean to tell me you drive around like a maniac on a daily basis?"
I shrugged. I wasn't going to deny it.
"If Chief Swan pulls us over, you can just use your get out of free protector card and Alex can flash some chest. We're not going to get a ticket." Emrby shook his head at me. I could see his eyes piercing holes in the back of Alex's head, I wondered if she could feel the intensity of his gaze.
"You sound like…" he trailed off.
"Paul," I realised suddenly, "I sounded like Paul."
Alex narrowed her eyes at Embry while I studiously avoided his gaze. Slowing down, I went over the many other things I had picked up from Paul. My love for sweet chilli sauce. My intense need to swim in the sea when the sun shined. The way I always slept on the right hand side of a bed. My dislike of cats. He had been a part of my life, even when I had tried to push him away. He would always be a part of me in some way.
A heavy silence hung over us for the rest of the drive.
"Is her front door lying open?" Alex gasped as we pulled up outside of June's house. The rain had finally stopped and I could tell that Embry was aching to stretch his legs. The tension between the three of us was thick.
"This is La Push," he shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Lots of people leave their doors open. Everybody knows everyone."
"And you say we're crazy," Alex scoffed as I switched off the ignition.
Embry and Alex were still throwing insults at each other while I grabbed the shopping from the trunk and walked up the open door. I wished I could lock them both inside the car and they could leave me alone with June. I felt like I hadn't had a proper opportunity to talk to her since I got back. She was like a second mother to me. I prayed that Paul wasn't home visiting as I gently pushed the door open.
I knew instantly that something wasn't right.
"You are so annoying," Alex was saying to Embry behind me.
There was a smashed mug lying in the hallway as if it had slipped from someone's grasp. I could hear the background noise of the television but June wasn't in the lounge.
"Something isn't right," I whispered, stopping Embry and Alex mid conversation.
"June?" I called out desperately as I made my way down the hallway, "June?"
"June?" Alex called out from behind me, "Are you here?"
Embry put a hand up to silence us as he tilted his head towards the ceiling. He screwed his face up as he moved towards the staircase.
"She's up the stairs I think," he murmured, "Something doesn't feel right."Instantly, I dropped the shopping beside the smashed mug in the hallway and ducked under Embry's arm to run up the stairs. I had never ran so fast in my life. A bad feeling wormed it's way into my stomach. Something was very wrong.
"June?" I called out again but she still didn't answer.
It took me a moment to register what was happening as I burst into the bedroom. I heard a scream and it took me a second to realise that it had left my mouth.
"Call an ambulance," I choked out as I scrambled towards June, "Now!"
"Oh God," Alex whispered from behind me.
June was doubled over in the corner of the room. She had been desperately trying to reach for the phone but now her hand was pressed against her heart.
"C-can't breathe," she wheezed.
Tears shone in the corners of her eyes as she doubled over again. She seemed to be struggling to get any air to her lunges. I had no idea what to do. It was so disconcerting to see such a strong women helpless.
"It's going to be okay," I croaked as I reached out to her, "Everything is going to be fine."
I hoped I wasn't lying.
Thoughts?