Racing Hearts

Chapter Eleven "Anger"

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my made up characters!

Saturday, May 22nd (Same Day) Annabelle POV

I stepped out of the car with Nessie glued to my side. She was going on and on about how amazing the races were. I loved hearing her talk so excitedly about it, but my stomach was in knots at the thought of seeing Jeremiah. Paul, Jacob, Sue and Charlie were all with us too. Paul was really the only one that would cause a reaction from Jeremiah but now that we were going to bonded forever by the imprint, we were at least going to be friends. Jeremiah would have to get over it. I wasn't even sure what I wanted anymore. Did I want to stay with him after last night?

Jeremiah had scared the hell out of me and it just opened my eyes to the fact that he could hurt me in an instant. I couldn't even fight him off if I wanted to. He hadn't even been squeezing that hard and I bruised badly. I could see Jasper throwing me looks and I knew he was probably feeling what I was. I tried to calm down but my heartbeat picked up as I saw Jeremiah come out of the woods. At first he wore a smile but once he spotted Paul, his face turned into a scowl. I looked down and headed straight to the barn with Nessie, not even looking in Jeremiah's direction. Surely he wouldn't cause a scene with Charlie here right?

Clover nickered at me as I walked into the barn and I smiled. "Hello my beautiful girl!" I kissed her velvety nose as I opened the stall door. Twilight stared, his nose wet with milk. "Well hello to you too, little cutie!" I rubbed his little black body and he nuzzled at Nessie, not even concerned with me. I laughed. "Look at that Nessie, he is completely yours. He's not even worried about me."

She grinned happily. "It's probably just cause I get to spend a lot more time with him since I don't go to school."

"Maybe, but he really likes you." I told the young girl with a smile. "It just means that I'll have a partner in training these two young babies."

"It'll be great!" Nessie's eyes lit up and I saw myself at a young age. Horse crazy and wanting to do anything and everything that involved horses. I couldn't wait until September.

Someone cleared their throat at the stall door. It was Jeremiah. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" I hesitated for a moment. "I just want to talk."

"I'll be right back, okay? Then we're gonna check out Secret." Nessie nodded and resumed doting on Twilight. I followed Jeremiah out of the barn and out by one of the paddocks. I met Paul's eyes from where I stood and he gave me a slight nod, indicating—or so I thought—that he saw me and would watch to make sure nothing happened. I turned to face Jeremiah and crossed my arms.

Jeremiah sighed. "Look I'm really sorry about last night..I just lost my temper after seeing the vision and seeing you with him. Then he acts like he has some claim to you and be there whenever—"

I cut him off. "Whenever I need him to be? What's so wrong with that?"

Jeremiah's eyes flicked to mine. "He doesn't need to be there for you. That's what I'm here for."

I raised my eyebrows. "Seems to me you walked out on me last night." Jeremiah groaned and ran his hands through his hair. "And he was there for me in an instant, not leaving til I asked him to."

"I was upset, I figured it was best to leave before I could do something bad." Jeremiah paced the fence line. I watched him warily.

"Well there's something you have to understand. Paul imprinted on me, he's never going away. That's not saying we're going to be together." I added when he looked like he was going to protest. "But we're bonded for the rest of our lives. It's an unbreakable bond, a strong one. So regardless of what kind of "intimate" relationship we have, Paul is going to be my friend. I'm not going to shove him away. It'll hurt him just as much as it'll hurt me. I want that for neither of us, but Paul understands that you and I together. He knows that me and him aren't getting together and he's okay with it. So now you have to decide that too."

Jeremiah glared at me. "And what if I asked you to push him away or I would leave?" I glared back at him, knowing that Paul or anyone else here wouldn't let me get hurt.

"Then I'd tell you to leave." I snapped. I threw my arms up exasperated. "No. You know what? I'm not leaving that decision to you. We're done." Jeremiah's jaw dropped open in shock and then he tried to talk. "No! I'm not listening to you rant at me anymore. If you grow up and realize I'm not someone you can tell what to do, then maybe we can talk, but until then leave me alone." I stormed off towards the barn, intent on working with Secret.

I could feel the shocked stares from everyone as I passed them. I stopped, remembering the phone in my pocket. Jeremiah was only a few feet away. "Here, take this!" I tossed the phone at him. He caught it easily. "I'll pay for my own phone!"

I heard a laugh from somewhere in the small crowd of people but I ignored it. Nessie frowned at my face but I just shook my head. "Everything is okay, Ness." I walked into the stall with Secret and Princess. I slid down into the shavings and put my head in my hands. I felt a tiny but persistent nudge at my side and looked to see Secret nudging me. "Hey little girl, have you missed me spending all my time here? I'm sorry, I'll try to spend more time with you." Secret laid down next to me, her little black tail flopping as I rubbed her little neck and shoulders. A shadow cast over both of us and I looked up to see a worried looking Bella standing there.

"Are you okay?" Bella asked sitting down with me. "You know we can hear everything." I nodded, I knew.

"I'm okay. I just..Bella...Did Edward tell you about last night?" Bella shook her head.

"Alice told me about a vision involving you and Jeremiah arguing. That's why she sent Edward and Emmett."

"Well here's what happened.." I told her everything and then she lifted my shirt sleeves delicately, gasping at the bruises.

"EDWARD!" Bella almost screamed out his name. Everyone came running except Jeremiah. Bella pulled me up gently.

"Bella, love, what is it?" Edward opened the stall door, concerned. He caught sight of my arms and his breath caught. I yanked my arm back, embarrassed.

"Did he do this to you?" There was no mistaking who "he" was. I nodded slowly.

"Before you and Emmett came. He wouldn't let go." I said softly. Paul's eyes met mine and I saw the anger blazing in them. I hoped it sure wasn't directed towards me. I hadn't been able to warn him before I told Bella. Paul left the barn and I shoved through the crowd of people. "Paul! Wait!"

I could see him looking around outside and figured he was looking for Jeremiah. "Paul, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you." I grabbed onto his arm. "I couldn't handle this type of reaction before the races so I figured I'd get a chance after them but I didn't..I'm sorry."

His whole body frame was shaking. "I'm not angry with you Annabelle. I'm angry with him. Am I a bit upset with you for not telling me right away? Yes...but I'm not angry at you." His shaking subsided and he looked at me. "Are you hurt?"

I shook my head. "They're not so painful anymore. Just bruises." Paul pulled me into his arms and sighed in relief. I hugged him back after a minute of surprise. Paul pulled back as people came out after us.

"He's gone?" Emmett asked Paul. Paul nodded.

"Looks like he took off. Probably heard Annabelle talking to us and knew he should leave." Paul's eyes combed the trees. Unease swept through me. Where did he go? And where was Jeremiah going?

"I think Annabelle should stay here tonight." Jasper spoke up from where he stood. "Until we can figure out if Jeremiah is coming back or not." So it was decided that I would stay at the Cullen's for the rest of the weekend until someone located Jeremiah.

…...

Later on, Paul and I sat in the opening of the indoor arena in chairs, watching the mares and foals play. Flash was on the other end eating some hay. It was storming outside so I didn't want them to go outside but wanted the horses to have exercise.

"So Clover is your first horse?" Paul clarified. I nodded.

"She's the one that started all this." I made a sweeping motion to include the babies. "Secret and Twilight are her babies. It's rare for mares to birth twins and it's also bad. Usually one foal, like Secret, is rejected. It's usually the weaker of the two and since Secret is the runt, that's her. We got lucky with Princess, who accepted Secret right away. Sometimes you're able to use mares like Princess, who've lost their babies, that become a nurse mare. If we hadn't found a nurse mare, I would have had to feed Secret by bottle which isn't bad but it doesn't give the same nutrients and effect of a mare's milk."

Paul smiled. "I'll try to remember everything you tell me about horses but honestly you'll probably be reminding me a lot."

I smiled back. "It's okay. I've been around horses since I was about Nessie's age and I'm still learning. You'll catch on." After grabbing two lead ropes, I walked towards Clover. "Watch this." I hooked them to both sides of her halter and hopped onto her back. Clover tossed her head as if to say "Finally! It's been too long!". She stepped out immediately and walked fast as we passed Paul.

"She lets you ride her without a saddle or the metal bit thing?" I chuckled at Paul's description of a bridle.

"Yeah, Clover and I have been riding together for over two years. I rarely ride bareback unless it's just around the field but if I wanted to on a trail or anything like that, she'd let me." Twilight watched his mother closely as I trotted her around the arena, but stayed with Princess and Secret. I asked her for a canter and we rode around the arena, going over a few jumps. I slid off of her and took off the lead ropes, patting her hindquarters as she trotted back to Twilight.

"Wow, that was amazing. How do you not fall off going over those jumps?"

I shrugged. "It's a learned thing. It took me awhile to learn that but mainly it's just about learning to balance and keep your seat, moving with the horse." I looked him over. "Maybe one day you can come over and ride Flash or Clover."

Paul looked a bit skeptical but I just smiled. "I promise nothing will happen to you. I'm teaching Alice to ride and soon enough I'll be teaching Nessie." There was that sadness again and a bit of hope in his eyes. What was it?

…...

Paul POV

I watched Annabelle as she got off her horse and walked towards me. She was beautiful on a horse and you could tell she belonged on one. It was a part of her.

When she talked about me riding, I was a bit skeptical. She just smiled at me. "I promise nothing will happen to you. I'm teaching Alice to ride and soon enough I'll be teaching Nessie." I felt that flash of sadness run through me again like earlier today when I saw Annabelle with Nessie. She would make such a good mother the way she was with Nessie. I wanted to be around her to see that day when she became one, to be the father of her children. Earlier I had been thinking it would never happen because she was with the leech but now..it could possibly happen if I played my cards right. If I could show her I was different from him, if I could prove I would always be there for her and never hurt her, I could be with her.

"Hey...um..so I know you're busy with school and work but do you think you'd want to hang out sometime this week?" I asked nervously. Her smile widened.

"I'd like that. It'll give us a chance to get to know each other better." I smiled back at her.

"Great, just let me know when you're free and I'll work it out with Sam." This was the first step towards my plan. Get her to hang out with me, get to know her better.

…...

Annabelle POV Wednesday May 26th

I most of the week with Katie and was relieved that I hadn't seen Jeremiah yet. "So he still hasn't shown up?" Katie asked as we got into my Jeep. I shook my head.

"No and I'm glad." I admitted. I started the Jeep and backed out, heading towards our homes.

"I don't blame you." Katie said to me. "He left because he knew he was wrong to hurt you and he knew if he stuck around, not only would Paul go after him but Emmett too. Emmett thinks of you like a little sister." Katie was right. Emmett always talked about how I was like a sister to him and how he loved teasing the "human girl".

"Yeah but I just feel like he's going to come back sooner or later." I told her worriedly. I pulled up in front on Katie's house. "I'll text you after I feed the horses and maybe we could work on our French homework together?"

Katie smiled. "That'd be great. Seth should be gone by then." My eyebrows lifted at her statement.

"Yeah okayyyy." I laughed. "He can watch us talk in French." I knew Seth would still be there and I didn't mind because I knew how happy they were around each other. Now that I had been imprinted on, I understood a bit better. Paul and I had seen each other twice yesterday and yet I still felt like texting wasn't enough.

"See ya!" Katie ran up the walk to her house and I drove towards the Cullen's place. When I got there Bella, Edward, Alice and Esme stood in the barn doorway.

"Hey!" I greeted them as I walked up. I was happy until I saw their upset faces. "What's wrong?" At that moment, I heard Secret's distressed neigh. I looked past them into the barn and then looked back at them.

"Jeremiah came.." Esme started and I stared at her. "He got his stuff and left. We told him he wasn't welcome back unless he got his anger under control."

"That's good...but why do you still look worried?" I frowned. Bella came forward and laid her hand gently on my arm.

"He took Princess with him." Bella told me. With a gasp, I took off for Secret's stall. She neighed and paced the stall, looking lost. Poor Secret, her birth mother abandoned her and her adoptive mother got taken away. I opened the stall door and went to her.

"Hey baby, it's okay." I gently put my arms around Secret. She let out a ear piercing neigh. "How long has she been gone?" I asked Bella.

"About two hours." So Secret could go another two hours before she'd need to feed again, if she fed before Princess left.

"Alice, can you put Flash into the indoor arena? Bella could you grab Clover?" They both nodded and put the horses where I requested. I got Secret into the arena with the other horses so she'd be comforted a bit. "I need to go into Port Angeles to the feed store and get milk replacer. I also will have to get a bottle to see if I can bottle feed her." I wiped the shavings off of me. "Can you guys supervise them while I go get the stuff? I need you to make sure she doesn't try to nurse from Clover or Flash."

Alice and Bella nodded. "Thank you! I will be as quick as I can." I ran towards my Jeep. Paul was jogging towards me with a frown.

"Dr. Cullen just told me what happened. Where are you going?" He asked as I pulled open the door.

"I have to go get a bottle and milk replacer in Port Angeles. You wanna come?" He nodded and got into the car. I drove out of the driveway as fast as I could without being unsafe. "I can't believe he did this. I mean I know Princess was his horse but to endanger an innocent foal because of our differences!"

"How bad is it that Princess is gone?" Paul asked hesitantly. I sighed.

"It really depends on Secret. If she will accept the milk replacer then we'll be okay. Feed her like this for another two months then wean her off onto regular feed. A little early but by four months she'll be okay. You typically wait until six months to wean a foal or at least that's how I've always been taught." I explained to Paul. He nodded, listening. "I mean I could try to find another nurse mare, I'm sure Andrew has one or someone around here does but Secret would lose another mother after she was weaned when the mare goes back. And I don't really want another horse, I mean after September I'll only have two, but still this will be time consuming enough for me with school and racing."

"What do you mean after September you'll only have two? Are you selling one of the horses?" I smiled at Paul and shook my head.

"I'm giving Twilight to Nessie for her birthday." I told him. "She loves him so much and I can already see them developing a bond together. I wasn't expecting three horses anyways."

"That's awful nice of you." Paul said a bit amazed.

"It's nothing. Nessie has been helping so much with all the horses and I see the same look in her eyes that I had when I was around her age. Loving horses and wanting to do anything to be around them. Sure, Edward and Bella could buy her a horse but there is nothing like raising a horse up from birth. You develop such a great bond together and get to go through everything together. She'll teach him everything and learn a lot along the way."

"Are you an only child?" Paul asked suddenly. I looked over at him briefly.

"Yes, why?"

"You just seem so good with kids." Paul shrugged.

"Well my parents knew they had perfection with me so why have anymore kids?" I joked and he laughed. "What about you?"

"Nah, just my pack brothers." I loved how Paul referred the to guys in the pack as his brothers. "Speaking of them...this weekend they're having a cookout for Memorial Day at Emily and Sam's. Everyone from both packs and their imprints will be there, I was thinking maybe you could come."

I felt shocked but accepted. "I think that'd be fun. I think Charlie said something about going with Sue." Paul nodded.

"Sue took her husband Harry's place on the tribal council after he died a few years ago."

"Leah and Seth's dad right?" I knew Seth's father had died, he had told me.

"Yeah, heart attack and a bloo—vampire." I raised my eyebrows at his abrupt change of words.

"Were you about to say bloodsucker?" I asked. Paul's face turned slightly red.

"Yes—look I'm sorry, I know Bella is your cousin and all so I mean no offense to her..just the other ones who aren't like the Cullens." I shrugged.

"As long as you don't say it about Bella or the Cullen's. They're like my second family." We arrived at the feed store and I walked inside with Paul. I hoped this wouldn't take too long, I wanted to get back to Secret soon.

…...

We had ran into Andrew, who was there getting some new feeders for the stalls, and I had told him about Secret's situation. He had told me to try feeding her milk out of a bucket instead of a bottle so I could hang it up in the stall and she could feed whenever she wanted. He instructed me to make sure I changed it every few hours so the milk was fresh.

Once Paul and I got back to the Cullen's we started immediately on trying to get Secret to drink the milk replacer. It was working! She was iffy about it at first but then started to drink it. We put the bucket up where Princess's feed usually went and I cleaned the stall as Secret nosed Paul curiously.

When I was done with Secret's stall, I released the horses back into the arena since it was raining and I started on Flash's stall. Nessie was working on Clover's stall with Paul's help, it was pretty cute watching them both. Paul was good with kids too, he talked to Nessie as they worked and talked to her about Twilight, her favorite thing in the world right now.

I finished cleaning out the stall and watched the horses in the arena as I waited for Paul and Nessie to be done. Secret followed Twilight around and they played together, chasing each other around the jumps, nipping at each other, playing like every other foal did. I sighed and thought to myself, Secret would be okay, everything would be okay. Things will work themselves out. I had Seth and Katie as my best friends, Paul becoming a third one, I had my Washington "family" with Charlie and the Cullen's and from the way Paul talked about the pack and their imprints, I was about to gain a third family. So what Jeremiah left? It was for the best and if he got his anger under control, then he could come back, we could take a try at being friends. In a few weeks, I'd have the whole summer to ride and race, to work with the foals and to hang out with my friends. Life was looking good.

…...

AN: Hey readers! Here's a new chapter for you and I hope you like it! I know it's not as long as they usually are but I'm probably going to be doing shorter chapters but more frequent updates. I'll be updating my stories every few days(max of 7 days). I have a new Phantom Stallion story if any of you read that series, it's actually Phantom Stallion: Wild Horse Island series Fanfic but it's on my profile if you'd like to see.

My next story update will be Life Without You and then I'll just be going along with stories that need updating/have the most reviews/interest. I'd love to see some reviews!

Answer to reviewers from my last chapter:

volleyball2312: Well you kind of got your wish! She broke up with Jeremiah ;) lol let's see if Paul can win her heart!

guest: I'm sorry I couldn't get another chapter up before it was time for school but I will be updating frequently now! Thanks for reading!

Thanks everyone for reading!- Quinnandsethsgirl15