Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and is only intended for readers aged 18 and over!

**Sam POV**

I watch Embry's car until it turns the corner. Hopping into my truck I start the engine and back out of Chief Swan's driveway. Setting course for the liquor store I turn the radio on and switch over to one of the metal channels on the satellite radio.

Pulling into the parking lot of the liquor store I find a space, and park. Shutting off the engine I take my keys and open the small locked stashbox in the side of my dash. I grab out a wad of cash and put it in the inner pocket of my cut.

I hurry through the rain into the liquor store and grab a cart. We usually have plenty of beer on hand at the clubhouse so I don't have to worry about that. I know we have a couple of bottles of harder stuff too but definitely not enough for everyone to get a good buzz on.

I wander through the store making sure that I grab a large bottle of citrus vodka, and one of Malibu coconut flavored rum for Bella. I pick out 2 big bottles of Jack, a bottle of vanilla vodka, one of plain vodka, 2 bottles of regular rum, and a mid sized bottle of Everclear 151.

A girl wearing way too much makeup, and far too few clothes for the middle of the day, walks past me as I put the Everclear in the cart, "Wow, you must be having a pretty badass party."

Smirking, I reply, "I guess you could say that."

She gets in close, "Any room for extras?"

Raising my eyebrow at her I shake my head, "No, sorry, it's club members and their ladies only."

She arches an eyebrow at me, "Well, I could go with you."

I smile, and try not to be a dick, "Sorry, I'm with someone."

Her face falls, "Oh, that's too bad."

She takes out a piece of paper from her purse and writes something on it, "Just in case it doesn't work out, or you want a little variety."

She hands me the paper and walks away. I open it and see that it's a name and a number, shaking my head I crumple it up, and put it in my pocket to throw away later. I start to make my way up to the register, thinking about Bella. She had told me she loved me in front of Embry, for a girl like her that was huge.

I bump into someone, "Shit, sorry, my fau…"

Cutting off I realize that the person I knocked into is Tyler Crowley. He has a similar assortment of booze, and is also alone. I put on my nice face, and act happy to see him, "Hey! Tyler! what's up, man?"

His eyes are glazed with fear, and the nerves are visible on his face, "Sam! Hey man! I uh, was just getting ready for a party with my guys."

I nod at him, "Oh yeah? Same here. So I was wondering if you could come down to The Den for a meeting on Monday? I was going to call you that day actually, but now I don't have to!"

He blanches, "A meeting? What about?"

I smile what I hope is a friendly smile, "Oh just business stuff, percentages, and crap like that. Nothing too serious."

He seems to relax, "Oh. Yeah, I guess I can do that. I'll bring James with me."

I let my face go cold because he already knows how I feel about James being ANYWHERE in La Push, "No, I'd really rather you brought someone else. What about that Ben guy? He's reliable isn't he?"

He nods, "Yeah, that's fine. Sorry man, I know James isn't allowed in La Push, totally just spaced on it for a minute."

I smile, "It's all good man. So say about 8 on Monday?"

He nods again, "Yeah, Cheney and I will be there. Hey man congrats, I hear you got yourself a piece on the side."

I tilt my head, looking at him quizzically, "Where did you hear that?"

He shrugs, "Just around. I heard you're banging Chief Swan's daughter, your wife on board with that?"

I let the predatory glint into my eyes, and my tone is cold, "My wife is actually the one who is out of the picture. Chief Swan's daughter is my Old Lady, so I guess whoever your getting your gossip from is at least half right."

He steps back, "Well, congratulations on the relationship then. I went to high school with Bella Swan, she wasn't very friendly back then though. She hung out with the Cullen's, and thought she was better than us mere mortals, good to know she's gotten down off her high horse."

Laughing I smack my hand on his shoulder hard as I move past him, "You have no idea. I'll see you Monday man, 8 o'clock. Don't be late."

He gulps a little, "I won't be. See you then."

I ignore him and make my way up to the register. I put the bottles on the counter and the clerk rings them through and boxes them up, "That'll be 400 even."

I go into my cut and take out the money I'd grabbed from the truck, I peel off 4 hundred dollar bills, and hand them to the clerk. He rings the sale through and hands me a receipt, "Have a good day."

I nod at him, and grab the box. Getting back to the truck I load the box into the passenger side before going around to the drivers and getting in. Pulling out of the lot I head back to my place.

I reach into the pocket of my cut and pull out the piece of paper that the girl from the store had given me. I open it up, and almost laugh out loud as I realize that the girl from the liquor store is the same girl that Quil Ateara had cheated on Bella with. What an idiot that guy is.

Not wanting the scrap of paper to somehow come back to haunt me later I toss it out the window.

Pulling into my driveway I get out and open up the fiberglass cover on the bed of my truck and pull out Bella's two bags. I sling the duffle over my shoulder so that it won't drag, slamming the cover I lock it again and walk up to my front door.

I fumble with my keys for a minute, and let myself into the house. I bring Bella's bags into the bedroom and leave them on the bed. Going back out the door I lock it carefully behind me and get back into the truck.

I pull out of my drive and go on my way to Jakes. It's about 3, and I'm right on schedule. Pulling up in front of Billy's I cut the engine, and head up to the door. I knock and Jake calls out, "C'mon in Sam!"

Letting myself in I flop down on the couch next to Jake who's playing some first person shooter on his Xbox, "Hey."

He nods in my direction, "Sup man? Bella get her stuff alright?"

I run my hands through my hair in frustration, "Pretty much. Some asshole was parked on her block, watching the house. I'm losin it man, what if I hadn't been there? What would whoever it was have done to her? I took a plate number, Charlie's gunna run it when he goes into the station."

He hits the pause button, "Someone was on her fucking street?"

I nod, and the fury on Jake's face matches my own, as he exclaims, "Who the fuck is that FUCKING STUPID! Seriously Charlie is gunna have to do something legal about whoever it was, otherwise they're gonna end up in a shallow fucking grave. Fucking ridiculous!"

Nodding again I tell him, "Dude, you're preaching to the fucking choir. I ran into Crowley at the liquor store up in Forks. He's coming by The Den on Monday night, and bringing Ben with him."

Jake smiles with a malicious glint in his eyes, "How do you think he'll sell his two severely broken hands?"

I shrug, "Work mishap?"

He laughs, "So you stopped over to pick up smoke for the party tonight, right?"

I nod, and he gets up and heads down to the basement. I follow him down the stairs, and over to the little corner where he keeps his safe. Jake kneels down and opens the safe up. He pulls out a 2 gallon vacuum sealed bag, one of many that I know is in the safe, and tosses it to me, "Take what you need out of that, that's some killer Kush that I grew for Dad. It's a literal monster, it took his pain away no problem, but he said it made him too foggy and he couldn't function, so now I only grow a plant of it here and there for personal."

Taking the bag I go over to the table, take out a scissor, and cut the bag open. As soon as the bag is open the smell is overwhelming, "Shit, Jake! This shit stinks! In a good way though."

He laughs, "I wasn't joking when I said it was a monster."

Smirking, I answer, "Yeah, I'm definitely getting that impression"

I take 2 sandwich bags out of the drawer and fill the first one with bud. I pinch the lines together and close the bag leaving a corner open. Bringing the corner to my mouth I suck the air out, effectively vacuum sealing it, before closing the zip strip the rest of the way and sticking it inside the other bag and sealing it up tight.

Jake takes the cut open bag and folds the broken part over before putting it into a new bag and sealing it haphazardly, "I'll do a better job of it later. You wanna play a quick round of Halo before we go over to The Den?"

Chuckling to myself I shake my head, "Nah, I suck at first person shooters. There's gotta be a game on around now, you wanna watch an hour of that?"

He shrugs, "Yeah, that's fine, my dad's prolly watching it up there by now anyway."

**Time skip Bella POV**

For the last 3 hours I had Seth and Embry cleaning the clubhouse from top to bottom, moving the existing small tables into the storage room, and setting up a bunch of long folding tables.

While they were doing that I had been working on the food. There were going to be 7 grown men, and a handful of women. I figured lasagna was safe, Embry, Jake, and Paul had all had my lasagna before and all had good things to say about it.

So I had made a large tray of lasagna, and also a tray of a chicken and pasta casserole to go along with the steaks and stuff that Sam had had me order from the butcher. That stuff thankfully I didn't have to worry about because Sam would be grilling that stuff when he got here.

The clubhouse's kitchen was set up like a restaurant kitchen so it had plenty of space to maneuver. I put the trays into the oven, and head out to the bar area. Embry is putting the last of the chairs out, and Seth is running a vacuum cleaner. I grab a glass and pour myself a coke as Sam and Jake come through the door of the club.

Sam sets the box down on the bar, "Damn babe, you did good!"

Smiling at him, I lean over on the bar, "Actually, the Prospects did most of the work out here. I dusted the bar, and then went into the kitchen to make some food to go along with the burgers, and steaks you'll be doing."

He nods, "Well good, I'm glad you put them to work, that's what they were here for. It looks great out here."

Sam leans down and presses his lips to mine, his lips are soft, and the contrast between them, and the stubble surrounding them makes me moan breathily as I deepen the kiss. Sam's hand comes up to cup the back of my neck as his tongue swirls around the inside of my lips.

We're broken out of the kiss by Embry exclaiming, "HEY! Brother in the room! I so don't need to see that!"

Sam shoots a warning glare in his direction, "Watch it Prospect!"

Emb glares right back, "Maybe you should watch it. She's my baby sister Sam, have some respect for that."

Seeing that this is going to be a problem I interject, "HEY! Why don't both of you knock it off! You both have good points. Embry, Sam is my boyfriend, he's also the President of this club! So if you WANT to continue prospecting, I suggest you knock it the fuck off! Sam, Embry is my big brother, he's been protecting me for as long as I can remember. He tried his best to get me away from Cullen when I was dating him, but I told him to butt the fuck out, and finally dad stepped in and told him that I had to make my own decisions. The point is that he's been my big brother for more than a decade, don't expect that he's going to just stop acting like any big brother of a little sister just because he's a prospect in the Pack."

They both look chagrined, but Embry is the first to apologize, "I'm sorry Sam. Bella's right, you're her boyfriend, she's 21, and I have to let go a little. She's been taking care of herself for a good long time now."

Sam nods his head, "I agree. At the same time though she's right about me too. I've never had a little sister, or even a girl I was close to who was like a sister, but I know that if I did I wouldn't want to see some dude devouring her face either. So I'm sorry too man. I'll try to take your proximity into account when I want to show her some affection, and I'll try to keep the PDA to a minimum."

Rolling my eyes I say, "Umm, no. Sam you can touch me or kiss me whenever you feel like it. Embry's gunna have to just deal with it. All I was saying is don't expect him to like it."

He smirks, "Well, the lady has spoken. Sorry Embry."

Embry smirks back, "Yeah, well, Bella's always gotten her way so why should this be any different."

Sam takes a seat on one of the barstools and leans on the bar, "Bella girl, hand me the wooden box that's down there."

I look under the bar and find an ornately carved wooden box on the shelf. I pick it up and hand it to him, and he takes a zip lock bag of weed out of his cut and puts it in the box before handing it back to me, "Here. I don't want to start smoking until after dinner, Jake says this shit is a fucking monster."

As if on cue Jake comes out of the kitchen, "Bella made lasagna! It smells fantastic back there Bells!"

Sam raises his eyebrows and goes into the kitchen, while Jake comes and takes the spot he just vacated. I start emptying bottles out of the box Sam brought in, and smile to see the large bottle of rum, and the other of vodka.

Sam comes back out from the kitchen, and Jake goes off to find Embry, as Sam says, "Damn babe, food looks amazing! I shoulda just had you cook and screwed the steaks and stuff."

I wave him off, "Trust me, those 2 trays won't feed everyone, I mostly made them in the event that someone doesn't eat steak or doesn't want a burger. How many girls are coming? I know there are 7 of you guys, is anyone else coming?"

He laughs a little, "I'm not really sure how many girls are coming. I assume Kim, Sophia, and Rachel. Obviously you already know Rachel, and Kim. Sophia is my sister in law, she's 5 months pregnant so she's just coming for dinner and to meet you. She hated Emily with a passion, though she was always nice enough to pretend to her face, but I expect she'll love you just for being Emily's replacement. Sophia is the epitome of a true Old Lady, after the party if it doesn't go too late I wanted to go over to my brother's place so that we could sit down with them and they can give us some guidance on how this dynamic works. I've never had an Old Lady before, Emily was a wife, and barely even that in the last year."

I nod, "Aww, you're going to be Uncle Sam!"

We both laugh for a minute over the joke before I continue, "If she's 5 months pregnant she's probably exhausted Sam. Maybe we could get together with the two of them tomorrow? We could have the two of them, and Kim and J over for dinner?"

Sam nods, "That's a really good idea. She'll appreciate that. Brady says she's been on his back about how much time he's been spending out of the house, but I think it's really just the hormones kicking into overdrive."

I nod sympathetically, "I don't think you really know how scary it is when you guys are out doing Pack stuff, I can't say that I've lived it like this before, but with Jake and then Paul I got a touch of it. It's terrifying to think of someone you care about being hurt, getting into an accident, possibly getting arrested, or god forbid killed in a deal gone wrong. I'm tied to so many of you, Jake's been family to me since I was in diapers, Paul and I were whatever we were and now he's with Rach so he's family too, Embry has been my big brother, my rock really since I was 10 years old. Now there's you as well, and you came into my life so unexpectedly, but I can't imagine being without you. And I know we won't always be lucky. Things will go wrong, we'll be separated, but I'll always be here waiting for you. So in that way I can understand, especially with a child on the way, why your sister in law may be freaking out a little."

He's about to reply when the door bangs open and J comes in with his arm around Kim, along with a familiar man who I assume is Brady because the woman with him is obviously pregnant. I'm surprised to find that Sophia Uley is not Quileute, or at least not full blooded anyway, she stands about 5'6, her hair is a mass of beautiful thick dark curls that hang down to her elbows, and her skin is a light tan with a heavy olive undertone.

She comes straight over to the bar and takes a seat on one of the stools, her accent is thick confirming that she is indeed not Quileute but of Hispanic heritage, "Hello! You must be the Bella that my brother in law speaks so highly of! I'm Sophia, it's wonderful to meet you finally! I am so very glad that Sam has finally replaced that puta Emily! My husband tells me that you are very connected to our Pack."

I smile at her, "Yeah, I've known Jacob and Paul's girlfriend Rachel practically since I was born, Jared's girlfriend Kim is my cousin, Embry and I have been like siblings since I was 10 when our parents dated for about 6 months, Seth Clearwater's dad has been a friend of my dad's for like 20 years."

She smirks a little but her tone is teasing, and not unfriendly, "And of course there's you and Paul"

I worry my lip a little, "Yeah, we were close, but Rach is the girl for him. They fit, like I feel Sam and I fit. I still consider Paul a close friend though, there's no hard feelings on my end."

She nods, "Good girl. You never want to try to come between brothers, it will not work out for you. My Brady says that you are very strong, that's good because Sam needs a strong woman. Emily,"

She breaks off with a grimace, as if just her name leaves a bad taste in her mouth, and spits the word, "Puta! She was not strong, she could not support Sam as he needs to be supported. She tried to tear him in half emotionally! Hopefully you are different."

The timer that I set in the kitchen goes off, and I politely excuse myself, "I'm sorry I need to go check on the food."

She slips down off the stool, "I'll go with you."

She follows me into the kitchen and stands off to the side while I check the food, "It needs about another 15 minutes, and then I'll turn the oven off and leave it in there to keep it warm."

She nods, and takes a peek in the oven, "What is that chicken dish?"

We walk back out to the bar as I explain, "It's a layer of cooked spinach with garlic powder salt and pepper, a layer of fettuccine noodles on top of the spinach, the chicken is just chicken cutlets in seasoned flour half cooked in butter, then you make a cream sauce in the same pan you cooked the chicken, put it on low, and simmer the chicken in the sauce till they're most of the way done. Pull the chicken out, pour the sauce over the pasta, spread the chicken on top, and then cover it with cheese and bake it in the oven till the cheese is bubbly."

She purses her lips in consideration, "I will definitely try that, if it's as good as it sounds maybe you could give me the recipe."

I smile at her, "Sure, if you like it I'd be happy to."

As we come out into the clubhouse proper I see Sam at the door arguing with Seth's older sister Leah, who I barely remembered from growing up around the res. She was older, the same age as Paul, Sam, and Rachel, and so while I knew her I never really spent any time with her.

When I was with Quil though she had thought she would come at me and make a comment about him dating a paleface. When I reminded her that my mother was full blooded Quileute she had laughed, and said that my mother was a full blooded whore who didn't even want me. I had maced her in the face, and proceeded to put the beating of a lifetime on her ass. She had her jaw wired shut for 3 weeks, and I could claim responsibility for the odd cant in the bridge of her nose, though she wisely kept her mouth shut on who it was.

The damage was so severe that Harry thought it was some sort of girl gang initiation ritual. My dad had agreed thinking that it had to be at least 3 people. The only one who knew it was me was Embry, and Quil, and there was a time where he wasn't averse to using it to try to get into my pants.

Crossing the room I stand next to Sam, "Is there a problem here?"

She scowls at me, but I can see the fear underneath the bravado, as she yells, "You're damn right there's a problem! Who the fuck do you think you are, Swan?"

Stepping in front of Sam, I put my hands on my hips, "I'm Sam's Old Lady, that's who the fuck I think I am. This is private property, invitation ONLY, and by my recollection no one here invited you. So I suggest you move your bony ass along before I help you out with that, and bend your nose the other fucking way!"

She scowls, opens her mouth, apparently thinks better of it, and turns on her heel and hurriedly walks away. I can't resist taking one last parting shot, "Yeah, that's right Bitch! Keep walking, the fuck on outta here!"

She turns back and shoots a last glare at me before getting in her car, and peeling out of the lot.

I turn back, and Sam is looking at me with pride, he wraps an arm around my waist, "See, I told you she was a tough chick."

Sam's brother nods, "I don't think Leah's ever looked that scared of anyone, and Bella's like a half a foot shorter than her."

Smirking I decide to tell the truth, "Yeah, well do you guys remember about 3 years ago when Leah supposedly got jumped by that girl gang?"

Seth is looking at me wide eyed, "That was YOU?"

I nod, "I was provoked."

He takes a deep breath, "Shit! She had to eat through a straw for months!"

Sam looks surprised, "Why didn't you tell me?"

I shrug, "You never asked for a full account of my bitch fights Sam. I was with Quil, we were down on first beach, Leah comes up and starts giving him shit for dating a 'paleface'."

Kim interjects, "That nasty fucking bitch! You are just as much a Quileute as anyone else here Bella, Uncle Charlie has been a fixture down here for more than 30 years, and is her father's best friend! How DARE she…"

I cut her off, "Kim, chill! Let me finish!"

She shuts up quick, "Anyways, I politely reminded her that my mother is full blooded Quileute. She comes back saying my mother was a full blooded whore who didn't even want me. It may be true, but it still hurt. I snapped, and I beat that bitch so bad I doubt she even knew her own name there for a little while. I used my gun to pistol whip the shit out of her face, frankly she's lucky I didn't completely lose it and shoot her. Since then she talks a tough game around me, but underneath everything she's scared as shit of me."

Seth is still staring at me wide eyed, and Sam catches his eye as he holds me tighter to him, "You got a problem with this Seth?"

Seth runs his hands through his hair, "Nah, man. If I was Bella I probably woulda beat her till she was fucking dead for that shit. I just have a few questions."

I nod, "Go ahead, I'll answer it if I can."

He licks his lips, "How'd she get to the hospital?"

I answer, "Quil took her. Told the Dr's that he found her at the beach."

Seth nods, "Does Charlie know?"

I shake my head, "No. I couldn't make him keep something like that from your dad. The evidence all pointed to a gang initiation, Quil and Embry told Dad that they'd seen 3 or 4 non native girls with tattoo's roaming the beach that day. With her injuries they thought it musta been at least 3 girls."

He nods, "Okay. Look, Leah's my sister, but she's a sister to me the way Rebecca is a sister to Jake. We don't talk. We don't hang. We're family, but we're far from friends."

Sam squeezes me a little as I ask Seth, "We cool?"

Seth nods, "Yeah, we're cool."

Paul comes in the door with Rachel, and Sam says, "Oh good, everyone's here. Or I'm assuming that's everyone. Seth? Jake? Embry? You guys invite anyone?"

They shake their heads in the negative, and he nods, "Okay then so who wants steak? Burgers? Bella made lasagna, and some sort of casserole."

Paul tells him, "I'll take a steak, smaller one though, Bella's lasagna is legendary."

Embry calls out, "I'll take a burger, med rare, I've had Bella's chicken fettuccine before and I'm definitely going to take a bunch of that."

Most of the guys end up echoing the orders for either a burger or a small steak, and Sam goes back into the kitchen to start grilling. I follow him back, and go over and flip the oven off and crack it halfway open.

Going back out into the main room I go behind the bar, and grab a bottle of soda, "Can I get anyone a drink while I'm back here? Sophia? I have bottled water if you'd like."

She comes up to the bar, "I'd love a bottle of water, thank you Bella. I have to say you handled that bitch Leah like a true Old Lady. You, and your cousin I think will both fit in just fine around here."

I hand her the bottle and drop my voice, "and Rachel?"

She raises an eyebrow, "No, she's a girlfriend, he calls her his Old Lady, but she's a snake in the grass. I know that you consider her a sister of your heart, but I don't think she feels the same way about you. She's been hanging around for about 8 months now. The first month, Paul would tell her he wasn't interested, that he was seeing a girl from Forks. He told her your name. She persisted, eventually she wore him down, seven months ago."

I can feel what little color I have to begin with drain out of my face. Seven months ago Paul and I were still together, he hadn't come to me to tell me about Rachel till a month after that. He had NEVER mentioned that she had been pursuing him. I take a deep breath, and keep my cool, "Thank you for telling me. It seems everyone else here thought it was something I didn't need to know."

I reach into my pocket where my cell is, and I trigger the ringtone. I take it out and pick it up like it's my dad, "Hey Dad, what's up?"

I wait a couple minutes, nodding like I'm listening to him talk, "Okay. I'll get Embry to bring me up."

I pull it away from my ear and pretend to hit end as I stick it back in my pocket, "Embry!"

He looks up, "Yeah sis?"

I fake a slight air of panic, any more and they'll all insist on coming with us, any less and I'll never get out of here, "Dad needs us, we have to go home right now."

Jake stands up, "What's wrong with Charlie? Do you need us?"

I shake my head, "No, no, it's nothing serious. He slipped off a ladder, I need Embry to drive him to get an x-ray."

Sam comes out, "Bella? What's going on?"

Half smiling at him I tell him the same lie, "My dad slipped off a ladder, he's okay just needs an x-ray for his ankle. He just called, Embry and I can handle it. I'm sure he'll be fine for fishing tomorrow, I'll see you at home. Love you."

He comes over and gives me a kiss, "I love you too, call me when you get out of the ER."

I nod, "I will. Promise."

Concentrating on holding myself together I turn to Sophia, "It was really nice meeting you. Very enlightening. I look forward to spending more time with you."

She nods smiling, "As do I. Is there anything I need to do with the food you prepared?"

I shake my head, "No, just pull it out of the oven and serve it."

Kim comes over, "Bella, everything okay? Do you want me to come with?"

Biting my lip, I reply, "No, thanks. I'll call you later."

She nods, "Okay, love you cuz."

Embry comes over, "You ready Bells?"

I nod, "More than."

Concentrating on getting out to Emb's car I can feel the anger, and the hurt rolling through me. I want to castrate Paul. I want to tear Rachel's throat out. Most of all I want to know who knew, which members of my family had been lying to me for the last 8 months.

As Embry pulls out of the lot, I turn to him, "We can just go back to Sam's."

He tilts his head in confusion, "What about Dad?"

Sighing I tell him, "I lied. Dad never called, as far as I know he's fine."

He sits back in confusion, "Then why did you say he was hurt!"

Clenching my fists, I answer, "Because you and I need to talk big brother."

He lets out a breath, "Oh this can't be good."

I turn the radio on and sit back in the seat, "Just drive."

We get back to Sam's and I let us in with my keys. I go into the fridge and grab out a beer and hand it to Embry on my way back to the room. I go in Sam's nightstand and grab out the baggie of bud he keeps in it along with a short fat glass bowl.

I go back out to the living room, and sit down in Sam's recliner as I open the baggie and start to pack the bowl, "How long have you been a Prospect Embry?"

He raises an eyebrow at me, "Why do you ask?"

I finish packing the bowl and set it on the end table next to the chair, "Just answer the question. You stopped coming around about 9 months ago. Have you been Prospecting that whole time?"

He sighs, "I was a hang around for the first 3, been a Prospect for about 6 now."

I sit up straighter, "Did you know that Rachel was sniffing around Paul for 2 months before he broke up with me?"

He averts his eyes, and my blood goes cold, "Em? Did you know he cheated on me with her for a month before breaking it off with me?"

His eyes snap to mine, "WHAT!"

The anger and surprise is clear on his face, and I breathe a little easier, "Yeah, Sophia told me that Rachel was hanging around the clubhouse for the last 8 months, and that after the first month she wore Paul down and he started up with her."

Embry's anger turns to fury, "I can't fucking believe the two of them would do that to you Bella."

I breathe slowly, "Yeah, me either. How stupid do I feel? I believed Paul when he told me how much respect he had for me, how much he loved me, how he would never do anything to hurt me, and that he was coming to me with respect to ask me to let him go. How fucking STUPID am I?"

The dam breaks, and the tears start to fall. Embry comes over, and before I even know it, he's scooped me up in his arms just like he did when I was a teenager and I was hurting over some stupid slight or another. He brings me over to the couch, and sits down with me still in his arms, as he whispers, "shhh, little sister you are not stupid. The two of them, now they're fucking stupid thinking they could hide this from you."

I snort derisively, "And why shouldn't they have thought they could hide it from me? Paul probably shit himself when I started up with Sam. He probably thought I would get out of the area, find new friends, new people to spend time with. Why did you really start avoiding dad and me Emb? What was that about?"

He chuckles darkly, "Our good friend Paul, I had seen him hanging around talking with Rachel, looking nice and cozy. When I brought it up he told me it was nothing, she was Jake's sister and they were friends from way back. I told him I'd see how you felt about it. He told me that you and Dad weren't down with the club, and that if I told either of you that I was hanging around that it would hurt you. He especially said it would hurt dad, with his cancer and all I knew he couldn't take another blow. I didn't want to hurt either of you."

I chuckle to myself the tears still falling down my face, "Christ, Emb, Dad works with the club. You know how close he is with everyone down here. Him and Sam are fucking tight, he's the one who convinced me to give Sam a chance."

Emb laughs harder, "Christ that is fucking hilarious. What the fuck do we do Bells?"

I snuggle against him, accepting the familiar familial comfort that Embry has always provided, "I don't know Emb, I guess it depends on who knew what. If Sam knew, then he and I, we're done. I gave him a timeline on my thing with Paul, if he knew that something was happening with them before Paul and I were over, he had an obligation to tell me."

He sighs, "Do you think Jake knew?"

I suck in a pained breath, "God I hope not. Nothing other than the idea of you knowing would hurt me more. Sam, Jared, Brady, they didn't know me, they didn't owe me any loyalty. My problem with Sam comes if he knew because of what we are now. He owed me the honesty."

Embry nods, "Do you really think that I would be a party to you being cheated on? Or that Jake would? Shit he almost killed Quil for the same offense."

I cut him off, "Yeah, but Rachel is his sister."

Embry replies, "Yeah, and before she all of a sudden came back into the picture he hadn't seen her in over 8 years! He's trying to be close with her for his old man's sake, but he and I have talked here and there, he feels for her about what Seth feels for Leah. The real problem is that Paul is a founding member, no matter what, he's here to stay. No matter how mad you are at him, no matter how much he hurt you, if you're going to stay with Sam, you may need to just let it go honey. As hard as that is, as humiliating as it may feel, you may have to make that choice."

Sighing I let out a choked sob, "I know. I guess it just depends on what he knew."

Embry lets go and I get up, "Do you mind staying, maybe giving Sam a call in a couple of hours and letting him know we're here and that Dad's okay. Don't tell him anything about this, I need to talk to him myself."

He nods, "Of course. You goin to get a nap?"

I nod, "Yeah, figured I'd smoke a bowl and catch a nap after I catch my buzz. Thank you for being someone I can trust Emb. I love you big brother."

He smiles at me and pats my hand, "I love you too little sister."

A/N: So things have twisted a little. I'm sorry! It just happened! That'll probably be Paul's excuse too… Or do you think maybe Sophia is lying because she wants to hold on to the top Old Lady spot? Do you think that if Sam knew that Bella has a right to be upset with him if it's true? Leave a review!