CHAPTER TWELVE

We walked slowly back to the truck, my hand in Paul's, a smile on my face that I doubted I would be able to wipe off even if Mom and Leah had a go at me. When I glanced at Paul he was grinning too and I couldn't wait to be able to see him properly after I was settled back in at home. He drove me there now and parked on the driveway behind Leah's car.

"I'll wait out here," he said. "They're going to get enough of a shock that you're back. I'll start unloading your stuff."

"Ok. Thanks."

I shot him another grin, jumped out of the truck and went up to the house, letting myself in. I could hear Mom and Leah's voices in the kitchen and they had obviously not heard the truck arrive. I stepped into the kitchen and both of them looked up from what appeared to be a late lunch.

"Seth?" Mom's mouth dropped open.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Leah cried.

"I've come home," I said as they both came to hug me.

"Why? What happened? What about college? You were doing so well!" they chorused.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you in a few minutes after I bring my stuff in. Um...Paul came to get me; he's outside."

"Paul Lahote?" Mom frowned.

"Yeah."

Leah glanced at me. "I'll help," she said, ushering me back out of the kitchen. "Why would Paul fetch you?" she whispered.

"I called him. Don't say anything to him, Leah, he helped me. I'll explain all of it to you and Mom."

"Ok."

Much to my surprise she followed me outside without another word and we found Paul already unloading my stuff from the truck and piling it in the driveway.

"Hey, Leah," he said.

"Hey." She eyed him curiously as she grabbed my laptop and a rucksack, but said nothing else. She turned and went back into the house.

"I didn't tell them anything yet, only that you fetched me," I told him. "I said I'd give them the whole story after I got unpacked."

"Are you planning to tell them about us?" he asked.

"Yes."

He grinned now. "You reckon they'll let you out later to see me?"

"There's nothing they can do to stop me." I beamed back at him.

"How about I pick you up around seven? Take you out for dinner?" Paul suggested.

"You're going to take me on a date?" I said in surprise.

"Yeah, why not? Don't you think it's time we had one?" He grinned wider and winked. "I'll catch up on a few hours' sleep and then come over and get you."

"I can't wait," I said.

"What can't you wait for?" Leah appeared again and I turned around.

"Do you have to creep up on people?"

"I wasn't creeping, you were too busy grinning at each other to hear me. Are you going to give me the heads up before you spill to Mom so I can at least decide whether to back you up or not?"

"Leah..." I sighed. "Yeah, ok, we got together."

"Finally," added Paul behind me and I smirked.

"This is why you quit college? Seth, what the hell are you thinking? Why would you throw it all away over a man? You're crazy! Mom will go mad!"

"Leah, shut up!" I cried and immediately heard Paul snort with suppressed laughter. "Me quitting college is nothing to do with Paul. It was all over for me a month ago and I called him to come and help me. I'll tell you and Mom together if you'll give me a chance."

"For once I'm actually not the bad guy," Paul said. "I'm not going to fuck with Seth, Leah, I never have done. I care about him, so maybe you should just let him tell you what happened and forget about me for the moment." He grabbed the last couple of boxes from the back of the truck and placed them at my feet. "I'll see you later," he added, planted a quick kiss on my cheek and got into the truck. A minute later he was gone.

"Seth, Mom is going to..."

"Go mad, yes, I know," I said. "Leah, you know I've always been crazy about Paul. Remember when his Dad died?"

"Yeah, I remember telling Mom you stayed at Sam's and then you came home crying your eyes out." She sighed heavily. "I don't want to see you hurt like that again."

"He didn't do that, I told you, I walked away myself," I said. "Don't try and wreck this for me, sis, I love him. And he wants to be with me now. It turns out he did before, only he didn't think he was good enough for me, or some shit. Can you believe that?"

Leah actually laughed. "I guess he's only thinking the same as the rest of us. Ok, listen - he gets one chance with me and only because you're my little brother and I'm so glad you're back, whatever the reason. But he so much as hurts one hair on your head and I'll..."

"He won't." I picked a couple of the boxes quickly. "Come back in, I'll tell you what's been going on."

We quickly brought in the rest of my belongings, dumping them on the floor in my room for the time being. Mom was making coffee and she brought three mugs into the living room; then she and Leah sat listening with growing horror as I told them what happened to me. I made light of my attack as much as I could and I played down my fear afterwards, but even the little I told them brought tears to their eyes - yes, even Leah's.

"Oh, Seth, why didn't you tell us when this happened?" Mom said.

"Because I didn't want you to be upset - like you are now. I thought I could handle it. Then it turned out I couldn't and I just felt like I was letting everybody down."

They both bemoaned how hard I had worked only to have it ruined by Perry. I had to tell them several times that much as I hated failing, I realised I had made a mistake taking the scholarship and knew I didn't want to make a career out of sport, so really it had been a blessing in disguise. Mom didn't seem convinced and worried that I wouldn't be able to get a decent job if I didn't graduate at all.

"I'm going to ask Jake if I can work with him, at least for a while," I said. "He's looking for a guy to help him. You don't have to worry about me, I'll figure out what I want and I'll make it work."

"I don't doubt that," Mom said with a sudden smile. "But there's one other thing I don't understand. Why did you call Paul to come get you? Out of all your friends here...what about Jake? Or Sam?"

"Before I left, Paul said if I got any trouble I should call him. He helped me once before when two thugs jumped me here in La Push. I didn't tell you at the time because I didn't want you to get stressed about it. Out of everybody, Paul's the one person I'd have with me in a fight."

"You got attacked before?" Mom gasped.

"It was nothing. Just two morons fooling around after school. They never bothered me again."

Mom let out a sigh. "I wasn't aware you even knew Paul that well," she said.

"I've kind of had a thing for him for years. Don't you remember everyone taking me camping when I turned fourteen and I...uh...kissed him?" I avoided looking at her.

"Oh! That..."

"Yeah, well we had a sort of a...moment...a year or so after that too...it doesn't matter about that now anyway."

"Seth! You had a 'moment'? What does that even mean?" demanded Mom. "That boy is trouble. He's unstable, violent..."

"He's actually not half as bad as you think," Leah interrupted. "He clearly cares about Seth."

"What are you saying exactly?" Mom glanced from me to Leah and back again.

"We're together; me and Paul," I said.

"This is sudden."

"No, it's not. I always hoped...since I was a kid. It turns out he hoped too, only he didn't do anything about it because he thought I was too good for him."

"You are!" exclaimed Mom. "Why him? Can't you find a nice boy, like Collin for instance?"

"I don't want nice, I want Paul," I said firmly. "Even when I was seeing Collin, it was Paul I really wanted."

"Mom, you're not going to change his mind; I already tried that," said Leah. "You might as well give it a chance. Seth is going to see him whatever we say; he's nearly seventeen so it's not like you can really stop him. Who knows? Maybe they'll be good for each other. Stranger things have happened. I don't really think Paul's all bad; I think a lot of it was his Dad's influence, to be honest."

I glanced at her in surprise. Either Mark really had turned her soft, or I was going to owe her for the rest of my natural life.

"He's been running his own business for over a year, he hasn't managed to fu...mess that up yet," she added. "Maybe he just needed to grow up a bit; take on some responsibility."

Mom sighed again. "Well, I suppose if you're that determined. I can't very well ground you or confiscate your phone any more. If you're going to be working that makes you an adult, so you make your own decisions. I just don't want to see you hurt again, that's all."

"I'll be fine," I said, smiling. I couldn't quite believe how well the pair of them were taking everything. "And I'll speak to Jake tomorrow about the job. I better get my stuff put away now, I'm...um...going out later. Paul's picking me up at seven."

"Where are you going?" asked Mom.

"Out for dinner."

"Oh! Well, don't be too late."

That was all she said, but Leah came to my room to help me put my things away and questioned me some more.

"Are you staying the night with him?"

"I don't know!" I flushed uncomfortably, but at the same time my stomach churned with excitement. I hoped I would be staying the night with him.

"Seth, just text me if you are, ok? Mom will give you hell, but I'll talk to her, just this once, since I'm so glad my little brother is back safe and sound. After that, you're on your own, squirt."

"Thanks, Leah." I grinned at her. "But do you think you can stop calling me 'squirt' now? I'm about six inches taller than you!"

"Yeah, but you're always going to be five years younger." She smirked at me and left me to finish unpacking.

I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging around the house talking to Mom. Mark turned up to take Leah out and I told him a few brief details about why I was back while he waited for her to get out of the bathroom, then she left and I dived in the shower. It was only five o'clock, but I wanted to make sure I was ready and then have time to relax before Paul came to pick me up. Not that I really thought I would be able to relax when I was waiting for my first date with him.

I finished the shower, messed around with my hair for a while and then pulled on light blue jeans and a t-shirt. Then I changed my mind about the t-shirt - we were going out for dinner, better wear a proper shirt. I put a white one on, which was creased to hell and even ironed would make me look like I was going for an interview. I had a grey one which I'd worn to Dad's funeral, which was neat and pressed and hadn't been worn since that day, but it no longer fit me. I knew I had a couple other shirts somewhere, but hell knew where they were; maybe I left them at the apartment in Portland. I delved into my rucksack, which I thought was just full of books and CDs, but yes, there they were jammed into the bottom of the bag, all screwed up and wrinkled - one black and one striped. They were clean, but that was about all they had going for them.

"Godamnit, Seth, stop being such a girl!" I muttered to myself. I grabbed the black one, went into the kitchen and dug out the iron.

"Seth, what are you doing?" Mom asked at once.

"Ironing."

She raised her eyebrows. "You really have grown up." She observed for a moment and then brought a jug to where I was struggling to get a thousand stubborn creases out of the shirt and began sprinkling water onto the fabric. "Those creases are going to need some help," she said. "Try now."

"Thanks."

After about another fifteen minutes, finally the shirt was looking presentable and I put it on, vowing I was never going to iron anything again as long as I lived. It was six-thirty and I went to brush my teeth again, put my wristwatch on, stuffed my cellphone into my pocket and then tried not to pace about and make it look obvious that I was excited and nervous and counting off the minutes. Finally I heard the sound of the Harley's engine outside and I grinned to myself. Mom probably wouldn't be impressed he was calling for me on a bike, but I couldn't wait to get another ride on it. I grabbed a jacket, shouted out to Mom that I was leaving and went outside.

Paul climbed off the bike and came towards me. He had on a leather jacket and black jeans and his face was now clean shaven. He looked so good, I almost wished we weren't going out for dinner, but going somewhere we could be alone. He grinned at me and flashed his perfect teeth, then greeted me with a light kiss on the lips.

"How did it go with your Mom?"

"Better than I expected. She's even going to give you a chance. Leah fought our corner, can you believe that?"

"Told you that Mark guy had turned her into a girl," Paul grinned. "She's all loved up; she probably wants everyone else to be the same."

He turned back to the bike, grabbed the helmet and passed it to me, then backed the machine off the driveway and mounted it. I slid onto the pillion seat and wrapped my arms around him eagerly. The trip to Forks took just over fifteen minutes and I loved every second; the feel of the wind buffeting me, the sound of the bike's engine, the vibration coming through the seat and the feel of Paul in front of me. Within a few minutes it was turning me on and by the time we reached town I was rock hard and uncomfortable, unable to stop thinking about what might happen later and wondering if Paul was thinking about it too. I climbed off the bike when he parked up in the lot behind the Italian restaurant and took the helmet off, relieved that I had left my shirt untucked so it would cover my excitement.

Paul had booked with it being Saturday night and busy and the waiter led us to a table for two in one of the far corners. Each table had trellis type partitions between with plants everywhere and dim lights - the perfect setting for a romantic dinner. I slid my jacket off and sat down. Paul was wearing a shirt too, white with narrow stripes, the sleeves rolled up and a few buttons open so that I could see a little of his chest. I did my best not to keep staring, but I couldn't seem to help myself. If I didn't look at his chest I looked at his face and every time our eyes met I knew I was blushing and smirking stupidly.

The waiter brought us menus, alcohol-free wine and a basket of bread, then left us to it. I had no idea what to choose. I loved Italian food, but I couldn't concentrate on anything except Paul sitting next to me, his hand suddenly grasping mine, lacing our fingers together as he read his own menu.

"I'm going to have arrabiata," Paul said. "Have you decided?"

"Um...I'll have the same," I said at once.

Despite the restaurant being almost full, the food was quick to arrive and although I initially thought I might struggle to get through the large portion of pasta with my stomach full of butterflies, once I tasted the rich spicy sauce I discovered I was actually pretty hungry and ate every bite. Afterwards we ordered desserts - tiramisu for Paul and icecream for me.

"Do you want a taste of mine?" Paul asked after a minute, licking his spoon.

"Don't you think the other diners would complain?" I said before I could stop myself and then sniggered and blushed.

"Hell, Seth, I've been trying not to think about that all night," Paul whispered, leaning close so that his lips brushed my ear.

"Me too," I admitted.

Suddenly I didn't feel shy any more; just eager to kiss him, to feel his hands on me, his body pressed against mine. His teeth nipped gently at my ear lobe and I shivered.

"Have you any idea what you do to me?" His tongue circled my ear and his warm breath almost made me moan.

"Stop it," I whispered. "Eat your dessert."

"I am." Another nip with his teeth and I giggled.

"Paul..."

"Mmm..." He drew back a few inches. "Sorry." He dug his spoon into the tiramisu and then held it up in front of my face. "Try it, it's really good."

I wrapped my lips around the spoon, wishing we were anywhere else but in a restaurant full of people. Who would have thought sharing food could be such a turn on? Paul put the spoon down and then leaned closer again, touching his lips to mine, sliding his tongue out and teasing my upper lip. I let my eyelids droop as he continued caressing my lips gently with his, my jeans rapidly growing far too tight again. He drew his mouth away from mine after a moment and kissed my cheek, then my ear.

"I think we should get out of here soon," he whispered.

"I haven't finished my icecream yet."

"Hurry up then...or I'll help." His tongue flicked out again and traced the shape of my ear.

"Seth!"

I pulled back quickly, flushing and looking up at an astonished Jake standing next to our table with Embry. Paul snorted softly and picked up his spoon again.

"What are you doing here?" Jake asked me, eyes wide and darting backwards and forwards between Paul and me.

"I...um...having dinner," I stuttered. "I'm back. I mean, I came home."

"When?"

"Today. I was going to come over and see you tomorrow," I said. "It's a long story."

"And we're busy right now," Paul put in with a smile.

"You two are together? When did this happen?"

"It's a really long story," I told him. "I'll tell you everything, I promise."

"Just not now," Paul said with a slight growl to his voice.

"Ok, I'll catch up with you tomorrow, Seth," Jake said. "I'll be home all day."

"Sure," I nodded.

Jake and Embry both smiled at me and then went to a table nearby.

"Bet they're wondering what the hell you're doing with me," Paul chuckled.

He raised a hand as our waiter walked by the table and asked for the check. I quickly finished my icecream while Paul paid for the meal, then we grabbed our jackets and got up. I was aware of Jake and Embry staring as we hurried out of the restaurant, Paul's arm draped around my neck and I couldn't help grinning again at their disbelief. I was certainly going to have a lot of explaining to do over the next few days.