I apologize for how long this took. It's been a day. However, I am just about done with it as a whole, so... there's that, right?

Anyways...

~Speklez

"Oh... Fucking Christ."

Sprawled out on his stomach across Bella's bed, Paul wasn't sure if he actually wanted to cry as Bella's fingers dug into the overly tight muscles of his back. There wasn't so much as a hair on his body that didn't hurt, and if there was an inch of skin that wasn't discolored, he would be surprised. He had already taken an hour long hot shower, and Bella had been working on his back for another hour, but holy shit, did he still feel like he was going to die.

Sitting astride Paul's lower back, Bella frowned as she watched him bury his face in her pillow as she worked on a particularly nasty knot in his shoulder. It was so tight, she was actually up on her knees so she had enough leverage to try and massage it out, but it just didn't seem to want to go anywhere, leading her to think it was less to do with that afternoon and more to do with where he carried his stress.

Paul always thought he had a pretty high tolerance for pain, but this was agonizing. Unable to take anymore, he reached over his shoulder and set his hand over both of hers. "Stop. For the love of God, stop."

Wincing, Bella pulled her hands back and closed her fingers into fists and held them against her chest. "Sorry, but that's a really bad knot."

Groaning as he slowly shifted to his back, he closed his eyes as his hands settled on Bella's hips. "Who you tellin'?" Rolling his shoulder and cracking his neck, he grunted again. "Fuuhuhuck." Opening his eyes, he tightened his grip on Bella's hips so she would look at him, a frown coming to his lips when she didn't. "Swan." She still didn't lift her head, but she did flick her eyes to his. Good enough, I guess. Trying to smile, though he knew it was strained, he sighed. "I'm fine, Swan." When a brow slowly slid up her forehead, he sighed. "Yeah, I'm sore, but situationally, I did spend three hours getting my ass kicked by vampires. I'm gonna be sore for a bit. It'll pass. Nothing is broken, though not really due to lack of trying on their part, I'm sure, so I'll be fine."

Letting out a hard breath from her nose, Bella crossed her arms loosely over her chest. "I'm allowed to feel bad you're hurt, Paul."

Rolling his eyes so hard, all Bella saw for a moment was the whites of his eyes before he sat up. Though it was something of a struggle, after a minor readjustment of his legs and how Bella was situation, he moved his hands from her hips and laced his fingers together behind her back as he looked her in the eyes. "What can I do to help you feel better? Hmm?"

Playing with her fingers, Bella then lightly placed her hands against Paul's chest as she looked up at him through her lashes. "I thought I was supposed to be making you feel better."

Humming in his throat, Paul tilted his head from side to side. "Mmm, yeah; but..." leaning in, his lips brushed hers as he spoke, "I'm fine." Before she was able to say another word, Paul captured her lips in a searing, silencing kiss.

Hands sliding up Paul's chest, her arms wrapped around his neck and her head tilted to the side, Paul taking advantage and deepening their kiss as he pulled her closer.

Bella had gotten much better at being an active participant in their more heated make out sessions, her mind all but going blank as she melted into his hold and basked in the warmth of his skin. That would have been exactly what happened this time had, when he rolled them over, he didn't make a noise of discomfort. Breaking their kiss, her breath caught in her throat when he dipped his head and turned his attention to her neck. Her stomach tightened and one of her legs wrapped around Paul's lower back. Her voice was breathless and strained when she was able to force her words out, what she said completely going against her actions. "Paul, you're hurt."

He didn't give a shit if every bone in his body was broken. A little bit of pain wasn't about to stop him. He did stop his assault long enough to inform her that wasn't a deterrent, before he went back to searching for that one spot he was looking for right around her collarbone.

When he found it, Bella's brain completely skipped out on her, and without her own permission, blurted out her virginal status by informing him she had 'never done this before', effectively freezing Paul in place.

He had already been informed she hadn't slept with the vampire, but she left out the fact she had never slept with anyone else either. Eyes darting back and forth, not wholly sure what he was supposed to do at that point, his lips puckered before he grunted. "That's one, though." Pushing himself up and off his girlfriend, he then scratched the back of his head and made an unsure noise in the back of his throat. "Do... do you wanna stop?" For as many notches in his belt as he had, none of them were virgins, and he wasn't really sure what the protocol was in this situation.

No, she didn't, at all. But, considering the fact he could barely move, no matter what he said, she thought they should. Arms falling from his neck and landing by her head, she groaned loud and looked at the ceiling, her voice a hard sigh. "Noooo."

The tip of his tongue ran along his top lip as Paul looked down at her with a slightly raised brow. "I think that was the yesest sounding no I've ever heard." When she made a face up at him, he sighed and fell like a rock onto his back, shifting slightly to accommodate that lump on his shoulder. "Just as well." Turning his head to look at her, he grunted as he adjusted his back. "Probably wouldn't have been very good at it tonight anyway."

Frowning as she turned to her side, propping herself up on her elbow. "I'm sorry."

Jerking back from the statement, his lip curled. "For what? If you're not ready to go there, you're not ready to go there." Laying flat again, he pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, speaking under his breath, "I can't feel my fucking face." He then ran his hands down his face and returned his eyes to Bella. "We'll cross that bridge when you're ready... and I can actually move." When her frown deepened more, he sighed and reached an arm out, wrapping it around her shoulder and pulling her down to lay on his chest as he closed his eyes. "Stop it, Swan." His fingers running through her hair, he smiled slightly. "It's really not the end of the world." Smile morphing into a smirk, he chuckled. "Today, tomorrow, or a year from now, the result will still be the same."

Against her better judgement knowing just how crass he could be, she looked up at him and went ahead and asked anyway. "And that is."

Cracking one eye open, he looked down at her, his teeth showing from behind his lips as his smirk widened. "I'm gonna fuck your brains out and claim that pussy of yours in the name of Saint Paul." Then, he winked at her as her eyes widened. He expected the retaliation, but the level of sting her hand left when it slammed down on his chest almost took his breath away. Though he laughed as he rubbed his chest, it was strained and harsh. "Oooouuuuch... not sure I deserved that."

Blushing a shade of red not yet known to mankind, Bella scoffed, but she was clearly mortified. "Jesus, Paul."

The next line came without thought. "One of the many things you'll say that night." Ready for it this time, he caught her hand and cringed. "Don't hit me again. I have booboos"

Blinking at him, Bella shook her head as best she could as she chuckled quietly. "You're an ass."

Looking back down at her, his head was slightly turned. "I thought I was a resounding ass." When her face flattened and she leveled him with an unamused expression, he cleared his throat and settled back against her pillows. "I'll stop."

The rest of the evening was spent watching movies... or Bella watched them. Paul didn't make it through the previews of the first one before he fell asleep, and the movie wasn't fifteen minutes in before his breathing leveled completely and he was out for the count. Several times she had to get up so she could cool down, and about an hour after sundown, had to fly downstairs as fast as she could to head Charlie off at the pass so he wouldn't open her door and find a half naked man in her bed. Sure, Charlie had decided he liked Paul, but that didn't in anyway mean he wanted him sleeping in his daughter's bed. Especially when she was still only 17, and Charlie knew Paul was in his twenties. Sure, she would be 18 in a couple weeks, but until then, if Paul pissed her police chief of a father off, it had the potential to turn into a huge mess.

She stayed downstairs long enough to make her dad something to eat, and hung out in the living room with him for about an hour after that before he announced it was late and he was heading up to bed, suggesting she should do the same. Before he vanished into his room, she told him she wouldn't be home for most of the day because she, Kim, and Emily were heading up to Seattle for a girl's day, and they were leaving pretty early in the morning. Since it was true Kim and Emily were heading out of the area, he could actually check if he wanted, and the story would hold up.

Scratching the under part of his chin, Charlie hummed. "Girl's day, huh? You sure it isn't you and that boyfriend of yours heading up to the city?"

Biting into the corner of her lip, she shrugged. "Didn't think he would be into manicures."

Setting his hand on the knob to his door, Charlie grunted. "Didn't think you were. Kim driving?" When Bella nodded, so did he. "You girls be careful, and answer your cell."

Passing him in the hall, she smiled at him as he stepped into his room. "Will do. Night, Dad."

"Good night, Bells."

For the often strained relationship she had with Charlie, she really did hate lying to him. Leaning against her door once she closed it, she sighed and looked to the window. This was second time she was telling her father a lie about the where and why only a few scant hours before she went running off to see a vampire. Pursing her lips, she shook her head and climbed back into bed next to Paul, leaving the TV on to cover the fact Paul kinda snored.

If she lived tomorrow, she vowed this would be the last time she lied to her dad about what she was doing.