The next day I awoke at the ass crack of dawn to the WORST pain. My hand was still swollen to twice its size and now looked almost black. Great. I got up and checked my phone real quick to see what time it was and my heartbeat picked up.

37 missed calls

23 texts messages

1 voicemail

All from Embry… the voicemail being from an hour ago I sighed and played the voicemail.

"Kai! Oh my god Kai I'm so sorry, please, I shouldn't have said that to you. I was just… well, I don't know, I can't really explain it. I just - please I can't take it if you're mad at me. I will spend the rest of my life regretting this. I just need to talk to you, please." There was a long pause and a sigh. "I'm going to head over to your house to start moving your stuff in, I hope we can talk there." The voicemail ended and I felt nauseous.

I didn't want to see Embry but I needed to move into my house before the start of school next week. I shook off my feelings and decided I was going to do my best to just ignore Embry and get unpacked. A knock at the bedroom door drew me out of my thoughts. My mom entered and smiled.

"I thought you may need some help getting dressed with your hand out of order," she glanced down at my black and bruised hand. I inwardly cringed and nodded at her. I stood up and walked over to my open suitcase and grabbed a pair of black jean shorts and a green halter top. She helped me pull off my pajamas and slip into my clean clothes before she sat me down and ran a brush through my hair. Once I looked presentable she helped me down and into the car and we drove over to my house.

I smiled as we pulled up outside. The yellow paint and empty flower beds promised me that I had months of work ahead, but I was excited. I was going to turn this house into my dream house while working my dream job. My happiness was quickly crushed when I noticed a bunch of beefy tan men drive up and Embry jumped out. He jogged over to my door and opened it. He extended a hand for me to take but I brushed by him and walked over to the other side of the car where the rest of the giant men were standing. They all gave me small sad smiles.

"Who are all of you and why are you here?" My mother shot me a disapproving glance but I shrugged it off. If all of these guys were like the new Embry I didn't want to know them. The tallest guy walked over to me with a woman trailing right behind him. She had 3 horrible scars down her face that made my heart hurt a bit. Her warm smile told me she didn't mind them at all. The man cleared his throat.

"I'm Sam Uley, and this is my wife Emily. Embry had mentioned you were moving and might need some help so we showed up to lend a hand." His wife smiled at me.

"Yes, any friend of Embry is a friend of ours!" she added. I laughed, which caused all the guys to give me weird stares.

"I don't really consider Embry much of a friend right now, but it would be rude of me to turn you all away since you're already here and I don't know you. And also since I basically broke my hand on Embry's face yesterday. Thank you for showing up, I would appreciate the help!" The guys all smiled but Embry just looked sad. They all grabbed a box and started making their way inside. I felt Embry's presence behind me, I knew he wanted to say something but just then we heard tires on gravel. I turned to see the car of my best friend. I could feel the tension rolling off Embry as her car came to a stop and she got out.

I could tell she was irritated but she saw me and smiled.

"Kaiiiii I'm so sorry I'm late! SOMEONE was supposed to pick me up this morning on his way over but I guess he forgot," her eyes cut behind me to glare at Embry. He stepped around me and reached out for her. My heart began to ache as she fell into his embrace.

"I'm so sorry Shay, I totally forgot! I was up really late with work… I'll make it up to you I promise!" he said to her. I could already tell she had forgiven him as she stretched up and covered his lips with her. I felt tears forming on my face so I turned quickly and almost ran inside. As soon as I got in there I saw one of the guys giving me a sad look. He approached me and leaned a little closer.

"You ok?" he asked. I shrugged a bit and looked back outside to see Shay and Embry still talking. The guy was still giving me a sad look.

"I don't really know you all that well," I whispered. He smiled at me and extended his hand. I hesitated for a few seconds before grabbing his hand and shaking it.

"I'm Brady, and you're Kai, I've heard a lot about you." I blushed a bit at that.

"Nice to meet you Brady. I've heard a bit about you from Embry but haven't seen any pictures so it's hard to put faces with names." he nodded a bit like he agreed.

"Yeah I get that, the only picture I saw of you was from before you left. You had long frizzy hair, braces, and wore baggy boy clothes!" he laughed. I gawked a bit and slapped him lightly.

"It was not that bad! I was just, I was…. I… I was a kid!" I felt myself pouting a bit but something about his laughter put me at ease. I smiled up at him and there was a comfortable silence between us. For the first time since I had gotten back from college I didn't feel so alone. I hadn't realized our hands were still locked until I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I turned to see Shay and Embry standing in the doorway. Shay was smirking at me but Embry was staring at Brady like he wanted to kill him. I could've sworn I heard him growling. Brady cocked an eyebrow at him and let a smirk appear on his face.

"Oh hey Em, I was just introducing myself to Kai here! She looks a lot different than that picture you all showed us, a lot more grown up. Extraordinarily beautiful actually," he said while turning to smile at me. I blushed under his gaze and at his words. All of a sudden he was gone from in front of me and pressed up against the wall with Embry's hand around his throat. Embry was growling while Brady was still smiling widely.

Sam and Quil were the first to react. They were grabbing Embry and attempting to pull him off of Brady. A couple of the other guys were pushing Emily and Shay behind them. Brady didn't look worried at all as Embry was being dragged off of him. Sam and Quil got him outside as Brady stood across from my rubbing his throat lightly. I rushed over to him.

"Are you okay?! What the hell was that about?!" My hands flew up to his neck to check for any damage but it didn't seem like there was any. He lightly grabbed my hands and smiled down at me.

"Hey, I'm ok. Don't worry about it. I should've known not to antagonize him when it comes to you." I gave him a funny look and he seemed to panic for a second before recovering. "You're one of his best friends, he's protective. But enough about him, let's get you unpacked!" he stepped around me and walked outside to grab more boxes as I began unpacking what had already been brought inside.

Embry didn't return that day, but Sam and Quil did after a few hours. Shay left when they returned to go find Embry but everyone else hung around to help us finish unpacking everything. Everyone finally left around 10 pm. Brady was the last one out the door.

"Hey, if you ever need help fixing anything around here or you're just lonely just shoot me a text and I'd be more than happy to help!" His happiness was infectious. He spent the rest of the day talking to me and joking. We shared a lot of the same interests and hobbies. He and I had exchanged numbers earlier in the day.

"I will, thank you so much for helping me today Brady, it was awesome meeting you and I can't WAIT to kick your butt at Halo soon!" He laughed loudly and engulfed me in a hug. His body was strong, solid, and warm. As soon as he let go I felt cold and lonely again. He gave me a wink and jogged down the steps of my front porch to his truck that was parked out front. He shot me one more smile and wave before he got in his truck and drove away.

I closed my front door and padded down the hallway into my bedroom. I changed as quickly as I could with a messed up hand and climbed into bed. As I shut all the lights off and listened to the silence around me I couldn't help but feel like even though I was lonely, I wasn't alone...