Chapter Thirty-Five

Kim remained lying on the couch for several long moments after Jared left, still frozen in a slight state of shock as she attempted to process the events of his hasty exit. But, as the moments continued to pass, her brain only kicked into overdrive thinking up reasons why her boyfriend would have run out of the house like a bat out of hell. And they were most definitely not pleasant reasons her mind was thinking up.

Before she descended into full-blown panic, however, Kim forced herself to take a deep breath and sat up slowly. She could approach this rationally. Really, she could. There was obviously a perfectly reasonable explanation for why Jared would need to make such a swift exit.

Naturally, the first explanation that came to mind was that he heard one of his pack mates howling. And actually, the more she thought about it, the more she thought she might have actually heard said howling herself (she was only mostly sure about this, however; damn Jared and his intimate knowledge of all her distracting weak spots).

From there, though, it was only logical to conclude that the reason for the howling in the first place was the presence of a vampire nearby. And that's what really worried Kim.

Things had been quiet for the wolf pack ever since the Cullens left back in September. Kim was almost inclined to think things were too quiet…almost, though, because honestly there hadn't exactly been any real vampire threats in the area while the Cullens were living here, so it only made sense the threat level would go down even more once they were gone. Unfortunately, though, that brought Kim's thought process to her next point of concern.

If there was currently a vampire in the area, Kim was pretty sure the pack had never actually faced a real Cold One before. And, as much faith as she put in their supernaturally-heightened senses and abilities, she couldn't help but be terrified for them…for Jared. She had a feeling they would laugh at her if she ever voiced that thought, but she also had a feeling Emily would completely agree and sympathize.

Oh! There was a thought! Emily. Maybe Emily had at least a small idea of what was going on right now. Kim could call Emily and find out what she knew.

"Kim!"

Kim paused in the middle of standing up from the couch. It figured that right now was when Kylie wanted attention. Hmm…she could probably ignore her little sister for long enough to call Emily to get a concrete reason to worry about her boyfriend, right?

"KIM!"

Alright, so maybe not.

With a heavy sigh, Kim stood up and quickly made her way to her sister's room. Surprisingly, when she entered the tiny space it was to find Kylie sitting on the floor in the middle of what looked to be every article of clothing she owned, and on the verge of tears. Kim immediately shifted into responsible big sister mode and hurried to the younger girl's side.

"Kylie? What's wrong?"

And that was when Kylie finally lost it and burst into tears. Through all of the sobbing, Kim was, however, just able to make out that apparently Kylie was supposed to be going out with her dad and Paul today, but Kylie's favorite shirt (which her dad thought she looked very pretty in) was missing and her hair brush broke when she was brushing her hair earlier, and everything was completely awful, and now her dad was never going to want to go anywhere with her ever again!

"Oh Kylie…" was all Kim could say in response at first, gathering Kylie up in her embrace. "Everything is going to be just fine; we'll work it all out. And of course your dad is going to spend time with you, even if your hair isn't brushed and you aren't wearing that specific blue shirt."

"A-Are you s-sure?" Kylie sniffled, looking up at her big sister with wide eyes.

"Of course I'm sure," Kim replied easily. "Now, how about I go get my brush and I'll finish brushing your hair for you? I could even braid it, if you like?"

Kylie nodded slowly, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes.

"Alright then, in the meantime," Kim continued, "If I'm thinking of the right blue shirt, I do believe you just wore it two days ago, so that means it hasn't been washed yet. Instead, I think you should wear this—" She quickly rummaged through the pile of clothes beside them for the shirt she thought she'd briefly glimpsed buried in there earlier, after a long pause finally pulling out the one she sought "—Ah ha! Got it! You should wear this purple one instead."

Within fifteen minutes, Kylie was all set to go and her room was once again in a semblance of some kind of order.

"There we go," Kim stated, hanging up the last of the shirts Kylie handed her, "Good as new. Didn't I tell you everything wasn't a complete disaster?"

Kylie nodded rapidly now, cheerful once more.

"You're my favorite, Kimmie," Kylie proclaimed, wrapping her arms tightly around her sister's middle; Kim's arms automatically came up to wrap around her in response. Kylie tilted her head back and rested her chin on Kim's stomach so that she was looking up at her. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Of course you can," Kylie replied instantly.

"Last weekend," Kylie began, "When I was at my dad's house, I made Paul brush my hair for me."

"Oh?" Kim questioned with a slight smirk, her mind immediately jumping to all of the times she'd (usually secretly) witnessed Kylie talking Paul into playing with her dolls or other toys over the past few months. It was really sweet (and beyond amusing) to see the giant teenage boy catering to the whims of the tiny eight-year-old.

"And he promised to make it look really pretty for me," Kylie continued earnestly. "But all he could do was tie it in a ponytail!"

"No!" Kim gasped in mock-horror.

"Yep, and not even one of those cool high ones you sometimes do for me," Kylie informed her. "It was all lumpy when he tried, so he just had to do a low one. And," She continued, sounding scandalized now, "When I asked, he said that they didn't have any ribbon in the house at all, so he couldn't tie a bow in my hair."

"That's sounds pretty rough," Kim commiserated. "Boys…"

"And that's why you're my favorite sister," Kylie stated, "Because you're the best at doing my hair. But…" She bit her lip now, suddenly looking worried. "It's…it's okay if Paul is my favorite brother, too, right? Because we have fun together, too."

Kim felt her heart break just a bit. All things considered, Kylie had adjusted well to her new family situation over the past few months. But maybe things weren't working out quite as perfectly as Kim and her mom thought they were.

"Of course it is," Kim stated resolutely. "In fact, it's more than okay. There's nothing wrong with liking spending time with Paul and your dad. Mom and I just love it when you're happy."

Nothing more could be said on the matter, though, because a loud knock suddenly sounded from the front door.

"That's dad and Paul!" Kylie exclaimed excitedly, clearly back to her usual bubbly self as she wriggled out of her sister's embrace and sprinted for the front door. Kim followed after her at a more sedate pace.

However, when Kim reached the front door only a few moments behind her sister, it was to find Kylie talking off only her dad's ears. A quick glance over Mr. Lahote's shoulder showed absolutely no sign of Paul either outside or in the car. And in Kim's mind, that was anything but good, Jared's earlier hasty exit forefront in her mind once again.

"Hello, Kim," Gene greeted her pleasantly when he noticed her arrival.

"Hi, Mr. Lahote," Kim replied. "No Paul today?"

"Last minute work emergency," Gene said easily though he gave her meaningful glance, which only served to increase Kim's anxiety. "He had to take a rain check on our dinner plans. Well, there's always next time."

Kim's responding smile was very forced. Yes. Next time. Unless they all got torn to shreds by bloodthirsty Cold Ones.

Naturally, she refrained from voicing those concerns.

"Well, you two have fun," Kim stated, still forcing the smile to stay on her face as she moved to close the front door after them as the father-daughter duo made their way outside.

As soon as the door was shut and bolted (not that she really thought it would do much good if there really were vampires roaming the area), Kim hastily made her way to the kitchen. She needed to call Emily to see if she knew what the hell was going on, and she needed to call her now.