Chapter 25: Caught
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, SM owns all.
Seth's POV
The pack decided to make a weekly appearance at the training sessions to keep our skills up. I was in the process of fighting Troy, using a bit more force than normal. Still I couldn't believe he slept with Julie.
He did what? Jake gasped. Edward's jaw dropped.
"What did Troy do?" Edward said, stopping the fight momentarily. I looked wearily between Edward and Jake.
Please don't say anything, I begged. It happened a while ago.
"I'm not doing anything. We are supposed to be – Edward," Troy's eyes narrowed. Crap. He knew that Edward knew. Then he'd know where he found that out. The two mind readers stared each other down. "You can hide your thoughts all you want. I'm good at prying." Troy seethed. Edward smiled smugly.
Edward leaned next to Alice. "I have to give you props for hiding your mind so easily from me. It's not simple," Edward smirked. With anger in his system, Troy leaped at me. Distracted, I got pinned quickly. Thinking on the spot did help because he didn't see my bite coming. Normally, he'd look into Edward's mind, which read my mind. It wasn't efficient because Edward barely ever focused on the fights, but here and there he would.
Still, he'd be just a semi-second ahead. I froze when I heard the familiar whooshing of the wind. Fighting in defense instinctively, I continued listening for her. I let out a bark, but nobody listened, thinking I was just whimpering in pain.
Jake, that's Jess, I thought in a panic. I contemplated stopping the fight, but that wouldn't have helped. She'd still wonder why all of us are in the woods. Jake was confused at my thoughts. I tried warning him, but then Jess stumbled upon us.
"Oh my gosh!" she gasped and nose dove into our fight. I lightly smacked her aside. He wasn't winning this. Not with him toying Jess's emotions.
How much have you been hiding? Jake snorted. I shrugged. To my surprise, Troy sped to catch Jess even though she would have been fine. Landing in his arms, Jess gasped.
"What were you all doing?" she said, slightly scared. Troy winked at her.
"Fighting over you," he mumbled. If a vampire could blush, I imagined that's what it would have looked like. I cleared my throat. He smiled sheepishly. "Actually, we were just training."
"Training?" Jess said, her arms still around Troy's neck. She made no move to get down as she stared into his eyes. He sighed and looked up pleadingly. I almost blew a gasket. Troy was pleading with his eyes? What happened to him? How could he get this desperate?
"We have to tell her," he pled. Quickly, I ducked behind a bush and phased, pulling on shorts.
All eyes went to Esme. We knew this would be difficult. She was the one who wanted her to stay. It was her descision. Reluctantly, she nodded. "Jess, just know we have good intentions. We love you," Esme gripped Carlisle's arm tightly.
"Troy, a word?" Edward said before he started the long story. Edward pulled me and him aside. "You have to do whatever you can to convince her to stay. Seth, convince him."
"Why me?" I grumbled but he already left. The pack had scattered. There was only Alice eyeing us suspiciously before she too left. I understood suddenly. "Troy, you like Jess, don't you?"
"She's hot, I'll admit that. It's not everyday I get to find someone hot and also my age… Why do you care?" Troy snorted. He still had no clue I was the one who leaked his dark secret.
"Jess is fragile. She's going to hate that we kept her in the dark. You have to convince her to stay. There's one thing that everyone is looking for," I whispered, remembering Esme's words from so long ago, "and that's love."
"I don't-," Troy said in a flustered voice. His eyes narrowed on me. My veins tingled, but I held my stance.
"You are the older one of the two of you. Alice thinks you two are mates. Edward thinks you have a delayed reaction because of your age," I sighed. They told me their theories before, but I dismissed them because I was so mad at Troy. Now that I thought on it, maybe it was so. Troy's hands were clenched.
"I do not," he seethed, stepping even closer. I glanced at Jess, who tried her best to listen in.
"You do. You know it. You want to fuck her. You want to kiss her. You want to keep her safe in your arms. You just want to make her happy. You flirt with her and don't stop when she gets mad because you know that she secretly likes the attention. You'd only know that if you were mates. You-," I listed off reason after reason. His muscles stiffened at every sentence. I got him. His hand gripped my throat and shoved me against a tree. I threw him off with ease. Troy tumbled on the ground so I stepped on his chest and bent by his face. "Don't tell her about Julie. Make her stay. Do anything you can to make her trust you and stay by her side. Bring her back before it's time for the battle. Oh and if you touch a hair on her body, I'll skin you alive."
With that, I left Troy to sort out his feelings while Jess pestered him. Edward had to be correct. He just had to. I didn't want to lose Jess. She was a little sister to me. She'd hate us, but trust Troy for telling her. We were all hoping she would run away with Troy in her anger at us and he'd stop her from going to the Volturi. When she came back, fingers were crossed that she'd stay on our side. As long as Troy could do his part.
. . .
"I'll add on to the house if I fucking want to, little whore! You should be happy. Now there's more places for you to fuck your old daddies," the telephone receiver screeched. I didn't even need the phone to hear it with how loud Robert screamed. A door slammed, implying that Talia had left the house. I was on my way over. Normally, since Oliver got older, Riley insisted she didn't need me to come over to deal with him, but I didn't trust Oliver to handle it with as much care Riley would like.
The thing was that Oliver practically hated his dad. I only found this out so long ago when he tried dealing with him in his drunken moods. Oliver knocked him out, to Riley's horror. The entire ordeal was scary. Riley, on the other hand, somehow loved her dad. She said that getting drunk was a natural part of life and it was still fun.
No matter what she said, her dad shouldn't have gotten drunk so often and so much. Predicting how the next morning would play out, Riley pouting in her room until Robert apologized guiltily but said it would most likely happen again, I grabbed her Christmas gift seeing as I'd hopefully get to spend the night. Talia had left, Julie invited me over, Leah was with her husband, Robert would stay in his room nursing a hangover, and I wasn't needed elsewhere.
Smacking fists echoed in my ears as I walked in. The sight was horrific. Oliver, knocked cold, was on the tile floor with Julie cowering protectively over his body. I heard his steady heartbeat. My cell phone was buzzing to no end, no doubt from Riley hiding in the closet that her little brother normally hid in.
"Don't hurt him!" Julie sobbed. Robert towered over her and pulled back a hand. There was already a red handprint across her face.
"I'll do what I want, bitch!" he slurred, wobbling unsteadily on his feet. Before any harm to come to anyone, I dashed behind him and put him in a headlock. "Don't you fucking touch me, boy."
He clawed at my arms, but I barely felt it. Seeing as Talia, despite my hatred toward her, sounded very woozy in the clearing behind their house, I had to deal with Robert. A light punch to the jaw had him off his feet in seconds. Running outside, I found Talia swaying and brought her back in. She clutched at my neck, most likely unsure of who I was.
When I brought her in, Julie merely glanced at her before shoeing us away so she could get a cold rag for Oliver. It was no surprise. Lying Talia on the couch, she mumbled something almost inaudibly. But I heard. And I did as told; I did something I never thought I'd do. I called her husband Danny and told him to come over.
Then she passed out. With a heavy sigh, I listened for Riley but couldn't hear her. "Where is she?" I said, slightly frantic, and moved to Julie's side where she cradled Oliver's head in her lap. Julie bit her lip and looked up unwillingly. "Where?"
"The bathroom with some girl."
There was a hole in the door on the ride side of the handle to the bathroom. It was fist sized. If I listened for long periods of time, I could hear two separate, raddled sets of breathing. Coming closer made them disappear for longer. Reaching for the handle from inside was Riley's hand, most likely trying to unlock it.
The other girl in there burst into sobs so I hurriedly opened the door. "Shut up!" Riley hissed to her before she saw it was me. That's when she broke down
My arms automatically opened wide and engulfed her small frame. She squeezed me tight and I ran my hands up and down her body, checking for any hints of a scratch because if so, Robert would have gotten a second beat down.
"What am I going to do?" the girl behind us screeched, her head in her hands. Opening my eyes, I found it was Cat. Soothing Riley's frizzled hair calmed her enough to speak, but she didn't make a move to detach from me.
"You're going to wait in my room until I come up," she mumbled. Cat only sobbed worse. "Fine. Go help Mom with your idiot boyfriend." The young girl dashed from us quickly. Three objects sat lined on the sink counter, all with little plus marks. They were pregnancy tests.
Seeing as Riley still hadn't let go, I pushed that from my mind. They couldn't have been Riley's. We hadn't had sex yet. It must have been… "What happened?" I cut to the point. Riley never liked being coddled more than she took on so asking if she was okay was pointless if she was clutching onto me like I was the last parachute on a crashing plane. With Riley not moving, I sat against the door and pulled her onto my lap, her curling into a ball leaning on my chest. "Babe, tell me."
"Cat came over. Said – had pregnant – Dad drunk – asked if possible – Ollie nodded. Dad yelled. Talia yelled. Cat punched Talia. Talia yelled at Dad. They fought. She left. Dad yelled at Oliver. They fought. Mom got in way. Dad slapped – Oliver knocked out. You came. This happened," was what I got from Riley. I searched frantically in her eyes for an answer that made sense. Her breathing was ragged and short.
"Riley, just breathe," I took her hands in mine, covering every inch, and pressed them to my chest. "In rhythm with my heartbeat." She nodded and stepped away from me just enough so I could look at her face. Finally I was convinced she wouldn't hyperventilate. "Sentences this time." She scowled and hurriedly spit out what happened.
Basically, Cat came over claiming she was pregnant and forgot that Oliver's parents were home. Robert was drunk and asked if they had sex before. Oliver nodded and got into a fight with him about a bunch of stuff that Riley said she'd explain later. Talia called Cat a slut and idiot and other hurtful words – apparently Talia didn't like any of her siblings' choices – and Cat ended up punching Talia. Talia yelled at her dad for letting that happen and they argued about who the hell knew. Once she left, Oliver and Robert argued for a short time before Oliver swung. Robert, forgetting Oliver was half his body weight, began a full-fledged fistfight and Julie tried to stop it. Robert smacked her cheek so hard she was blinking stars all because she was 'in his way.' I walked in only moments after Oliver was knocked out cold.
"Riley…" I said in shock. Robert had never gone so far to actually hit them before. "What are you going to do?"
Riley removed her hands from mine to grasp her head. She groaned, "I don't know. I love my dad, Seth, I do. I don't want to put him in jail but…"
"But you can't keep living like this," I guessed and she nodded. Looking her up and down, I found that she was much different than the last time something close to this happened when Oliver was only so little. If anything, she looked older despite not aging a bit. It was the way she carried herself, with sureness and self-respect, two things she didn't used to hold. It gave me pride and that was how I knew she could hear these words.
"Riley," I began, "it won't get easier. Your mother will need your help. He may be your dad, but dads aren't supposed to hurt people."
"But-," Riley stopped her words at the same time she dried her eyes. "If he's going away, he at least needs to know the truth." Jumping from me with a guilty look, she strutted to the kitchen. I followed but was cautious. I had this feeling, a feeling that had my skin crawling, though I couldn't exactly place it. "Go home, Seth. Come back in a couple of hours. We have some things to talk about."
For a moment, I thought she was mad at me. Then I realized that it wasn't anger pushing me away. In fact, nothing was pushing me away any more than a regular boyfriend should be pushed away. It just so happened that Riley needed me too much before, she needed me to cope with her family. And now she's grown up. She doesn't need me, I need her, but there are limits.
A smile tugged at my lips in pride at how much she's able to take on her own now. For an odd reason, she didn't reciprocate the smile, only turned away hugging herself as if she regretted something.
. . .
"- I didn't even know her brother was straight, let alone had a girlfriend!" I flung myself again on my bed. Leah had been silent while I filled her in. I just needed to vent and I probably chose the wrong person. There was no way she'd not have an opinion about that.
"What are you going to do?" she asked to my surprise. I shrugged and covered my face with a pillow. "Simple to find out. Are you mad at Riley?" I shook my head. "Is she mad at you?" I shook my head. "Then things will be okay if you just let them unravel. Waiting is all you can do at the time."
My ears perked up and I wondered for a moment if I was still talking to my pessimistic sister. "Why are you helping me? I thought you hated Riley," I said with suspicion. Leah sighed and sat next to me, one hand twirling a piece of my hair that needed cut. When we were little so long ago, Leah and I both had long hair. We'd fondle with each other's, sometimes even tying knots, other times just playing around with it. She even taught me how to braid hers but despite her begging, I refused to let her braid mine.
"Seth, you are the last piece of family I have left and she's the reason you won't live with me," Leah said, her anger missing from her regular statements referring to Riley. I looked up from the pillow and finally met her eyes. They were sad, as sad as mine were when we came back to our old town.
"Lee, it's time to make our own family now," I gripped her shoulder lightly, but she still didn't want to let go. "I've grown up, Leah. Now let me take care of myself."
"I am, alright?" Leah snapped. It was much easier when she was slightly annoyed with me; otherwise I had no idea what went through her complicated mind. "If things ever get cleared up, Seth, call me. I want to spend some time with Riley. But for now…" Her eyes drifted to the window.
"Don't go," I dreaded how pathetic that sounded, but she was right; she was my last family.
"Matt and I have jobs. I can't keep shifting back and forth. We want kids, Seth. Soon. I – I still don't know if it's possible, but I need to find out. There's no chance of that if I stay near this place," Leah stood. Suddenly she was so much older than me, so more mature. She understood things that I may never know. Riley tied me to this earth, but Leah tied me to our family. For the quickest second, I didn't want to build a new one if it meant totally forgetting the first. Then Riley's face flashed before my eyes and I was so confused. "Don't let her drag you into her family and forget ours, that's all I ask. Seth, please stay safe."
"But…" she used to be the one protecting me whether I liked it or not. Back when we switched packs. When she fought to keep Riley safe even though she didn't know the girl all to keep me from dying of a broken heart.
Riley just blossomed to her own new level with her family, but was I ready to do that with mine? I didn't really have a say. I hadn't realized I closed my eyes, but a car's engine outside stirred them open. I made it to the window to watch Leah's head look back, one tear streaked down her face. She never cried. Not for me. Suddenly, I wanted to drop everything and live with her and Matt and be coddled like the fourteen year old I still felt like inside. My body was technically that age, but it looked much older. My mind? Who knew what age it was at? I used to think over 150 years, but then I questioned it.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I already knew it was Riley. She made me remember that things weren't how they were where the Cullen family and I moved around without a care in the world. Suddenly, I was crushed by all the weight on my shoulders. Why couldn't I grow up? Riley needed me and my body mechanically walked to her house, but my heart and focus was lying splattered in a heap in my room.
I didn't want to deal with her family crisis. Even as small of a family I had, we had problems too. Where was Jess when you needed her?
. . .
Even though they already left, I could hear the cop cars in the distance. Everyone knew he wouldn't get that hard of sentencing, but it would be terrible to his business. Another thought popped into my mind. What would happen to Julie? She didn't work; all their income came from Robert.
Riley met me outside with a grim expression, but she wasn't crying. Wringing her hands, she led us to the clearing. It was cool outside as the rain dripped lightly on. With nothing to say, I leaned hard against a tree while Riley watched me.
"I don't know where to start," she sighed. I studied her face and thought over what went down. Then I decided it was time for some answers.
"Start by telling me who the hell is Cat," I said, harsher than I meant. Her eyes met mine and flashed away. She could tell I meant more than my question asked so I left it at that. Finally, she stopped her pacing and leaned against the tree beside me.
"Look, Seth, Oliver and I had this plan."
"What plan?" I growled. Just the sounds of it didn't sound good. Then I remembered it was Riley I was talking to and hated myself for growling at her. Stupid Seth.
"I told you before we wanted Mom and Dad to separate…but not like this," she bit her lip, averting her gaze again. I cleared my throat, finished with this avoiding the topic bullshit. Riley looked up and seemed to remember that she had the courage to speak. "Oliver isn't the antisocial, almost gothic kid he seems to be." I snorted.
"I'll start from the beginning. He just hit puberty and mom and dad wouldn't stop fighting. It was all the time. So he gave them something else to fight about. He fed the fire, gave them a real reason to argue and finally divorce. Oliver said he'd play the part. He'd change on the ride to school, he'd never bring any friends over, he'd seem so quiet and withdrawn normally," Riley was on a roll, and subconsciously before any of this hit me, I blurted out.
"But soccer got in his way," she looked shocked that I spoke but nodded.
"He wanted to let you in, but didn't. Your mind was open to so many people. Oliver really is a popular, jock, partier with a steady girlfriend. I'm so sorry Seth. I-," I stopped Riley by taking her hand. Anger boiled in me at Oliver, but not Riley. Suddenly, I didn't know him. Everything he'd said, or lack of, was bogus. The kid I trained endlessly in soccer just vanished, replaced with this foreign person.
"You don't have to be sorry for your brother's mistake," I hissed lowly, my skin boiling. It was a pain to force those words out without screaming. My body shook in refusal, but I pushed it down. There was something else she was trying to tell me, but I couldn't hear over the red, couldn't see over the red.
Snapping her fingers got me out of my haze long enough to listen. "I'm sorry because it was my plan. I…knew the whole time," Riley mumbled. Like glass, the red was shattered, replaced by a less uncomfortable, more suffocating dark, dark purple feeling. I only knew this once: betrayal. I stumbled back, away from the tree, and stared wide eyed at Riley. For once, I didn't see her as my beautiful, caring imprint – I saw her as a wickedly powerful sorceress who knew little restraints on her powers, so little that they licked free, causing misery in their wake.
"You…you knew and didn't think to tell me?" I couldn't fathom the idea of not telling Riley, my everything, about a little secret worth sharing. Why couldn't she? I trusted her with my life. I put her first. I did everything right and she let me watch that special little boy grow up, thinking he was a totally different person than who he was. I no longer knew him. I wanted to, but who really knew if they were faking that as well?
"Seth…I wanted to – my parents, if they found-," two tears made their way down Riley's face. My hand inched to wipe them away and then retreated, unsure. She didn't even try to tell me, only wanted to.
It made sense from her perspective. If I had somehow let it slip, years of their plan were ruined and worthless and her parents would stay together, horribly how it should have been. Riley forgot to look at it from almost anyone else's view.
"You lied to me, my family, nearly a whole community and you were worried about your parents? How? How could you not stop to think in the eight years you put this on?" I shouted in exasperation. "I trusted you, Riley and you couldn't even trust me with the real personality of your own brother!"
"Seth," Riley choked out mid sob. She stumbled forward, but I stepped back almost instinctively. Shaking my head, I started to run, running back into the woods, the place where I could maybe process what happened.
"Please!" she yelled, calling my name for almost an hour before finally giving up. I had already phased and went off on a jumble to Jake, who took it all in without a word. Good ole Jake.
What's he even like? Why would she do that? How was it physically possible? Riley, I thought over and over. Neither of us knew how she managed to gather the courage to lie to her imprint. Oliver hurt me as well. He and I practiced soccer daily with no words when we could have been hanging out talking about girls, which was a surprise that he was interested in them. I'd have given anything to know if he was the type of guy who could hang out with me.
But if he was like his sister, I didn't want to be around people like them: liars. They forgot about anyone else's feelings and what good did it get them? Oliver knocked up his secret girlfriend only Riley knew about, his mother with a large slap mark and probably pressing charges, ensuring for Robert to never see his children again, and Oliver passed out cold. Hopefully the betraying was worth all of that.
Stupid. That's what I was. Who would have eben stupid enough to buy his acting? Why would Riley lie to me? Why would she even feel the need to lie to me? I jumped when Jake mentally cleared his throat.
Sensing him, I stumbled until I could find the strength to phase out. It was in hearing distance of her house. Focusing on not crying, I stumbled blindly away, trying and trying to get away of her voice, of his as well, but it was impossible. Even if I were I were in New York, I would have heard them. They surrounded my head. Images spun around me, causing me to lose my footing.
I rolled down the hill toward the Cullen house. So many years ago, Leah and I watched Jake in the same spot I was in as he cried, thinking Bella had died. Now it was my turn. So I cried.
My heart pounded in my chest, loud enough for even a human to hear it, I was sure. I wanted to be mad. Mad wouldn't make me cry. Mad would have been much better. I could have yelled and got it over with and Riley and I could have kissed to make up. Alas, I wasn't mad.
Of course it made sense for her to do that, especially if Oliver was asking. She loved Ollie more than me, she'd do anything for him, tell him anything. No, no, no. It made sense, I could've grasped it if it had happened with anyone but Riley.
Riley…she lied to me, she made me love her little brother who wasn't even real. No. Emotions made the perfect sense fade away. I needed my sister. I needed her. I needed Riley. And I lost both of my family in my life.
I was alone. I needed holding, I realized as I squeezed my knees to my chest, because being held made you feel like you were exactly where you were supposed to be. My mom used to hold me. I pounded my fist into the ground at the memory as hot tears ran down my cheeks slowly.
This was the type of thing Mom should have been here for! She was gone! I hated my genes! If I hadn't known I had a perfect match out there, I would have settled with a girl on the Rez when I was young and could have gone through this shit while my mom was there to support me. Dammit.
Human footsteps came running down the hill. I didn't bother to look back; Jake's gait was unlike anyone else's. He stopped short when I growled, but then continued coming. I looked away, back to the house. Alice and Jasper stood at the glass watching me with worry. Jasper, probably about to send out waves of calm, stared at me but Alice stopped him and fled. As terrible as this felt, it would have been worse being forced to be calm about the entire situation. The tears actually made me feel…whole. Not better. Whole.
Jake didn't acknowledge my cries, which was comforting; he just sat down beside me. I knew what the rest of the pack would have done in this situation. A majority of the pack wouldn't have cried. Quil and Jake would have, as would Leah, but Leah would have also lashed out. Nobody would have cried as hard and as passionately as me. Of course. Once again, the cry baby.
"Seth," Jake said, not with pity, which was a surprise, but with a firm distaste in the matter at hand. I looked at him, my eye glossy, and just caved, falling apart right in front of him. I sobbed and sobbed until it hurt, but I felt an arm grip firmly on my shoulders.
It was hard to form words, real hard. "Ho…w, I just-," I couldn't create a full sentence, but Jake didn't push me to. He did read my thoughts, knowing exactly what I was feeling.
So we sat there for the longest time. He even shoed away Nessie, which was big for Jake to do considering they were scurrying to get their wedding plans made. Until finally, I stopped crying and sat there looking strait ahead at nothing.
"It's going to be okay," Jake sighed, lying down on the dirt. I wanted to follow his lead but got too lazy and stayed put. "You'll forgive her and everything will be back to normal."
I glared even harder at those words, those inevitable words. That's exactly what had to happen because I imprinted on her and no matter what she did, I would love her. Then why the hell wasn't I feeling the love then? How could I just up and forgive Riley for taking away my normal and replacing it with some jock that hid from me his entire life?
"Yeah? What's normal now? Tell me, Jake, cause I don't know," I mumbled with a hoarse voice, finally looking down on Jake with a pouting expression. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find an answer. Exactly.
A/N: Disappointment. That's all I'm saying. I'm going to hurry and put it all out because I basically have it finished. I really want to out out my next story. Maybe more people will read it. Hmm.