The Only Exception
Chapter 7: Bella's POV
(Two weeks later)
Things have been running rather smoothly and I must admit it feels great. My house comes more together every day and while I do have people over often, I still get plenty of alone time. No surprise, my most frequent visitor is Paul although I'm convinced he just comes for the food. I stir the pot of potatoes boiling and move my hips to the music playing. I can sense Paul is close so I decide to kick it up a notch and give him a show. I sway my hips from side to side, touching myself while singing along with the song. I turn around to face him watching his eyes darken as he stares at me intently.
I continue my movements because I love teasing him even if it's only for a few minutes. He starts to move towards me and I feel myself literally being drawn to him as if by an invisible rope. We meet halfway but I turn around and press my back into his chest grinding on him a little. He grabs my hips before bending down and biting my neck making my movements falter. I turn around and look up into his eyes smirking a bit. "How was your day?" I ask him sweetly.
He simply grabs my hair tilting my head back and kisses me roughly. I pull back after a moment and look at him questioningly. "It was alright I suppose," he finally answers.
I can tell something is actually bothering him but he'll tell me when he is ready. I'm not going to force it out of him. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him down for another kiss. Paul isn't one for talking when he's upset, he's definitely a more physical being and I'm completely fine with that. He lifts me by my hips and automatically I wrap my legs around him deepening our kiss. I feel him set me on the counter and I immediately work on removing the stupid shirt he
is wearing. Okay, the shirt isn't stupid but it's definitely hindering me from getting my hands on his bare chest. We separate our lips so that I can get his shirt off. He smiles at me while I gently rub my fingers down his stomach while biting my lip. All of a sudden Paul growls and takes a step back. I look at him with confusion all over my face.
"Your dad is here," he tells me as he pulls his shirt back on.
"Seriously?!" I huff hopping off of the counter. "Will you stir those potatoes for me really quick?" I ask him not waiting for an answer.
I walk towards the front door and take a deep breath waiting for Charlie to knock. Once he does I open the door and just stare at him.
"Hello Bella. May I come in?" he shifts uncomfortably.
I nod and move to the side letting him in. I watch him look around taking in his surroundings before looking at me expectedly. "How can I help you?" I ask.
"I was actually hoping that we could talk. I owe you an apology and I don't know how to even begin," he admits.
"Yeah, let's sit at the table," I say. We both look up as Paul walks out of the kitchen.
"Hello Chief Swan," he says politely.
"Hey Paul, how are you doing, son?" Charlie asks shaking his hand.
A weird look comes across Paul's face before he smiles. "I'm doing pretty good. How are you?" he responds.
"I've been better," Charlie answers quietly.
"Bell, I'm gonna go clean up before we eat, give you guys some privacy," he tells me.
"You're not leaving right?" I ask desperately.
"Nope, just going upstairs," he tells me before disappearing.
"That kid has done a total turn around. Is that your doing?" Charlie asks.
I shake my head. "No, it wasn't me," I answer smiling.
"Well I'm a little confused. See I thought you were with Embry. Not Paul," he explains.
I quickly tell him a cliff notes version of what happened with Embry and I. He's not pleased at all and has an "I told you so" look on his face. Surprisingly he doesn't say that but asks if I'm alright. I tell him I am and apologize to him for how I acted back then. He apologizes as well before telling me a bit about what's been going on with him. He's been dating a woman named Tammy from Port Angeles who's been on his case about making things right with me. I can tell her really cares about her and that makes me happy for him. I tell him as such and he blushes. We chat a little bit more and I begin to feel more at peace than I have in 2 months.
I wander into the kitchen to pull the meatloaf out of the oven and finish the mashed potatoes. I ask Charlie if he'd like to stay for dinner and he happily says yes. Paul comes into the kitchen a minute later, dressed very comfortably making me extremely jealous. He kisses my forehead and tells me that dinner looks great before grabbing plates to set the table. Once we begin eating, all conversations are cut to a minimum but it's a comfortable silence. Charlie asks if we would like to have dinner at his house this upcoming weekend so he could introduce me to Tammy. I look at Paul and he gives a slight nod so I tell Charlie that it sounds good. I ask if there's anything he'd like me to bring and he asks about a dessert, anything I'd like to make. Charlie stays and talks a little while longer before he heads home.
Paul cleans up while I run up and shower quickly. I pull on some comfortable clothes and entice him to watch a movie with me. We haven't had the movie on for 15 minutes before Paul has me completely naked and moaning on the floor. He makes me cum by his mouth and hands a few times before taking me upstairs to fuck me to sleep.
The next few days pass in a similar manner. I wake up feeling oddly cool and frown when I notice Paul isn't in bed with me. I lay still and try to listen for him but hear nothing. No surprise, I can't hear anything downstairs from my room. I get up to use the bathroom before heading downstairs to see if Paul's around. Once I get to the top of the stairs, I hear laughing and I can't help but smile. Most days, members of the pack float around my house. It's fine by me, that's part of the reason why I have a spare room and so much space here. I decide to run back into my room and throw some pants on just to be safe.
Venturing downstairs, I peek into the living room to find Paul and Jared playing on the Xbox. "Morning boys," I say with a little wave.
"Morning Bella!" Jared yells back.
Paul simply winks at me with a slight nod making me shake my head. I walk into the kitchen and pull out a bunch of food to make some breakfast. I start whipping up some pancake batter and just as I'm about to cook them my fucking phone rings. I sigh angrily as I march towards my phone. Looking at the screen I see it's Charlie.
"Hello?" I answer.
"Hey Bell, I didn't wake you, did I?" he asks.
"No, I was awake. Just about to make some breakfast. What's up?" I reply.
"Well, I was just calling to make sure you and Paul were still coming to dinner tonight?" he asks slowly.
Fuck. I forgot about that. "Yeah Dad, we'll be there. What time would you like us to arrive?" I sigh.
"Come over around 5:30. Dinner is at 6. It'll give us some time to talk beforehand," Charlie says.
"Alright, we'll see you then," I tell him before hanging up.
I shake my head again and start making breakfast. I ask the boys if they'd prefer omelets or scrambled eggs and they tell me they'd like ham and cheese omelets. I'm actually thankful, it's an easier mess to clean up. I cooked some sausages for Jared and bacon for Paul and I. Once everything was done I brought it out to the table and made the boys quit their game to come eat. Of course they tell me how much they love when I cook and then clean up the dishes before heading to patrol. I remind Paul about needing to be at Charlie's by 5:30 and he tells me he'd meet me here so we can ride together. Not too long after that they leave and I head into the living room to take a nap.
I wake up about an hour and a half later a little shocked from the dream I just had. In the dream, Sam and Paul were talking heatedly about the possibility of Paul also imprinting on me. Paul was convinced he didn't, though he would have been okay with it, and Sam was positive he had based on how everything has played out. I shake my head to clear it from the weird dream and head into the kitchen to start cooking the dessert for tonight. I decided on a chocolate on chocolate super moist cake, since it is Paul's favorite and he's doing this as a favor to me. Once it's all mixed up and set in the oven, I run upstairs to take a quick shower.
I do want to look nice to meet the new woman in Charlie's life so I bring down all of my hair stuff so I can do my hair downstairs and not mess up the cake. I'm just finished blow drying my hair when the timer goes off. I take the cake out of the oven and then venture upstairs to do my makeup. Once I'm happy with it, I start straightening my hair. I sigh unhappily and decide to put some big spiral curls in it. I pout at my reflection; I can't help but feel like it's somehow boring. I open the drawer and pull out some scissors. I cut myself some straight across long bangs and smile at myself. I already like the difference. I can't wait to show Paul! I quickly give them a slight curl and then search for something to wear.
I'm still standing in my bra and underwear when Paul walks in my room. "Damn B, you wearing that?!" he growls.
I turn around and put on a sexy smirk. "Only for you," I wink at him.
"I like your bangs. Makes you look naughty. Especially when you have so little clothes on," he stalks towards me.
"I knew you'd love it. Now, go shower. If you're quick enough, I'll let you fuck me before we leave," I say backing towards the bed.
Before I can blink twice he's in the bathroom with the shower running. I crawl on the bed and lay with my hair dangling over the side so it doesn't get too messed up with this quickie. I look over my head at the bathroom door just in time to see him standing there toweling off. He watches me for a moment before coming over and climbing on the bed. He rolls me onto my left side and lifts my right leg in the air. He comes closer and straddles my left leg letting the right one rest on his shoulder. I moan in anticipation because I know this is about to be great. Paul grabs his dick and rubs it on my clit through my panties and smiles down at me.
Paul moves my panties to the side and immediately slips right inside of me. I let out a low moan as I feel him going deeper inside of me. "Remember this has to be fast," I tell him looking up at him.
He nods and enters me roughly. I grip the blanket as he picks up speed and gets rougher with me. With one hand he starts rubbing my clit and the other he brings a hand up to choke me. "Fuck Paul, more!" I pant.
Paul starts fucking me impossibly harder and I can feel myself about to cum. I start shouting random ass phrases and he growls approvingly. "I'm gonna cum inside of you so you can feel me all through dinner," he tells me.
For a second I can't believe he just said that but after the shock wears off it actually turns me on a bit making me cum without warning. He cums with me and I can feel it deep inside of me. "Find me a different pair of panties, will ya? I'm gonna have to wear a panty liner because your cum is not gonna ruin my panties, sir," I point at the dresser.
He hops up laughing but grabs a pair of panties for me. He walks into the bathroom and comes out with a panty liner for me as well. I smile at him and flip over so I can set it all up and put them on. "Thank you!" I tell him kissing him sweetly.
I go over to my closet and pull up some super tight, dark blue skinny jeans with a fitting, long sleeved, black shirt. Paul tells me to put on my knee high black boots before he helps me put on my favorite necklace. I thank him and he quickly dresses to match me, though his clothes are nowhere near as tight as mine. We rush downstairs and I throw a lid on the cake opting to frosting it at Charlie's because we're close to being late. I look at my phone for the first time in forever and I have a text from Charlie stating that Tammy's daughter and her boyfriend would be joining them for dinner as well.
I tell Paul and he shrugs his shoulders before we head out to the vehicle. He drives and I hold the cake and we chat idly. As we get close to Charlie's, Paul tenses up. "What?" I ask him worriedly.
He turns onto Charlie's street and glances at me. "I can smell Embry," he says looking at me.
I look around cautiously and frown as we pull up to Charlie's. I recognize the car in the driveway immediately and get instantly annoyed. "Tammy is Kelsey's mom," I whisper to Paul.
"What do you want to do?" he grabs my hand.
"We're gonna go in there and have some fucking dinner. We're gonna be friendly and have a good time. I'm here for my dad. Fuck Embry," I declare.
"Good thing we have a little surprise for Embry, huh?" he snickers.
I let out a laugh and kiss him quickly before getting out of the truck. Paul takes the cake from me and we walk up the stairs into the house. "Dad! We're here!" I holler out.
"Come on in honey. We're in the living room," he shouts back.
Paul and I walk to the living room to greet everyone. Charlie stands up helping the woman I assume to be Tammy up. She's a little thicker but in a good way. She's got on a red blouse with a black high top skirt but no shoes. "Bella, Paul, this is Tammy. Tammy, this is Bella and her boyfriend Paul," Charlie introduces us. We all shake hands and neither Paul nor I correct Charlie on his slip. We haven't discussed anything like that yet.
"This is my daughter Kelsey and her boyfriend Embry," Tammy says kindly.
"Yes, we already all know each other," I respond with a smile.
"It's good to see you Bella!" Kelsey smiles.
"Yes, you too!" I tell her.
Embry is looking at me in equal measures of hurt and anger, unnerving me. Paul says something so low only Embry can hear it. He finally stops staring at me to look at Paul face unreadable as he stands up. Everyone else is oblivious to the tension as they chat excitedly about how ready for dinner they are. "Paul, let get that in the kitchen and finish setting it up. We'll be right back everyone," I say touching his waist to get his attention.
As we walk away, I heard a growl making me roll my eyes. He's got a lot of fucking nerve. Coming to my dad's house for dinner with his girlfriend when I'm supposedly his imprint. Maybe she is his imprint and he just wanted to fuck me and got it all confused. No, he wouldn't lie about that. Oh of course not, just everything else. Paul sets the cake pan on the counter and then grabs my arm to pull me close to him. "Don't over think it, babe," He whispers.
I wrap my arms around his waist and look up at him and give a small smile. "How do you always know?" I ask quietly.
"I can sense your emotions, Bella. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with him but you don't need to worry about it because you've got me. Always have. And he knows exactly what he is missing. His loss for sure babe," he tells me kissing me gently.
"You're right. I'm so thankful for you," I say honestly.
"I'm glad for the reason we were a little late even more now, if I'm being honest," he jokes.
I laugh at him and take a step back before agreeing. I start spreading the frosting on the cake while Paul tries to distract me by touching me. "We wondered what was taking so long in here," Charlie says walking in the kitchen.
"I had to frosting the cake, Dad," I answer without looking at him.
"Listen, I didn't know that her daughter was dating Embry. I wouldn't have put you in this situation," Charlie says uncomfortably.
"No Dad, it's okay. I know. It's a small town. I'm bound to run into them somewhere and besides I'm happy right where I am," I say quietly looking over at Paul who smiles back at me.
"Good honey, glad to hear it. I'm really glad you both came," Charlie says looks between us both.
"Wouldn't miss it," Paul tells him with a smile.
After another minute of idle chatter, everyone comes into the kitchen and we start serving plates. Charlie and Tammy take each end of the table, Paul sits next to me to my right while Embry sits across from me and Kelsey across from Paul. Apparently us girls wanted to sit close to our parents. I can feel both Charlie and Embry's eyes on me making me feel completely awkward.
I glance over at Paul and he places a hand on my eye to calm me down. I smile at him and blow him a kiss. "I really like your bangs baby," he says touching my face.
"Thank you," I tell him blushing.
"Yeah Bella, you look amazing!" Kelsey chimes in smiling.
"Thanks, you look pretty too," I say honestly.
We share a smile and it's bittersweet because I do like her. And she honestly has no idea about Embry and I. Thankfully, Tammy starts talking and asking Paul and I about our lives taking the attention. She asks if we are living together and Embry's head snaps up as if he didn't have super hearing and wouldn't hear the answer. Paul tells her we aren't officially living together and Embry's shoulders relax. I look at him in confusion. As if he has any say about what I do in my life.
"Are things serious between you two?" Charlie asks with a sly smile.
"We're taking it slow," I start interrupted by a snort from Embry. "I haven't been too long out of a relationship so we're taking things slowly," I state firmly.
"Yeah, you wouldn't want it seem like a rebound relationship, would you?" Embry says.
"No, of course not. She's been upfront with me from the being. It's never a good thing to start a relationship with lies," Paul says pointedly.
"I agree one hundred percent," Charlie speaks up.
Kelsey and Tammy share a look of confusion while Embry and Paul have a silent stare down. I look at Charlie in shock. He shrugs his shoulders. Typical policeman, stirring up the pot. Kelsey reaches out to Embry and pats his shoulder. "I'm glad this one he tells me everything," she smiles happily at him. Embry looks at her but there is nothing but guilt all over his face.
The look is not lost on Tammy as she asks Charlie to help her take the dishes into the kitchen to get ready for dessert. They get up and make quick work of everything on the table.
"That got almost awkward for a minute there. Sorry about that," Kelsey says.
"It was my dad, don't apologize," I tell her.
"Well Embry's comment didn't help any," Kelsey defends.
"You're right, it didn't," I say looking at him knowingly.
"I'm sorry, it's just that when you end things with someone, and start things quickly with someone else it could be viewed as a rebound," Embry states again.
"Yeah, but when you start something with someone new when you're already with someone that's called cheating," Paul says. I look over at him in warning.
"What are you getting at?" Embry asks getting upset.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Paul responds.
"Guys, let's calm down," I say looking between them.
"I'm confused," Kelsey states.
"Yeah so am I. Would someone care to elaborate?" Charlie asks coming back to the table.
"Now isn't the time," I whisper.
"I think it's a pretty good time because it seems like there's something that I am missing," Kelsey states angrily.
"Listen, the boys have been friends forever. I'm sure it's nothing," I try to placate her. Embry looks extremely nervous and pissed off. I'm trying to keep Paul in line but I can almost see the actual words coming out of his mouth.
"Well, let's just say that Embry isn't as honest as everything thinks he is," Paul spits out.
I can see the hurt on Kelsey's face but there's nothing I can do to stop it. I look up to where my dad is standing and he's staring directly at me. Tammy calls for him to help her bring out the cake and he reluctantly backs away. Embry is breathing so hard shooting daggers at Paul who is looking at him with a challenge written all over his face. I look down and sigh.
"Someone better start talking now, and it needs to be you Embry," Kelsey snaps.
"Can we talk about it in private?" He says to her quietly.
"It seems like a lot has been going on in private since apparently I'm the last to know. So no, you talk about it now and fast before my mother comes out here," she demands.
"It's a long story," Embry admits.
"Give her a cliff notes version. Or I will," Paul challenges.
Embry opens his mouth but nothing comes out. I take this time to say my piece. "The relationship I got out of not too long ago was with Embry. I had no idea he was already seeing someone until the day you came to his house," I admit quietly.
"What?" Kelsey says in disbelief looking at Embry who is looking down. "That month, you only came to my house. Was that because of Bella?" Kelsey asks him.
"Yes, she was staying with me. I wanted to tell you both. It just never seemed to be the right time," he says quietly.
"The right time for me was before you even started talking to me, Embry. You were with her first," I hiss at Embry. I look at Kelsey. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner. I had already decided to leave that day before I found out about you. I figured I didn't need to upset you too because I was already done," I admit. She nods at me.
"We're gonna talk about this all later Embry. Right now, I wanna finish this dinner with my mom," Kelsey says strongly. Embry nods sadly looking between us.
I look at Paul who I'm slightly annoyed with but secretly proud of. I'm glad I got a bit of that off of my chest but I'm still going to have to deal with Embry at some point. Now I know it's going to be sooner than later. The tension is still thick when our parents come back out with chocolate cake for everyone. They shoot each other worriedly glances but say nothing. We eat the dessert quickly and with very little talking. Embry and Kelsey leave first with quick goodbyes and then Tammy heads off to do the dishes.
We quickly fill Charlie in on what happened when they were in the kitchen. Charlie is glad it came out but not looking forward to when Tammy finds out. Paul and I venture into the kitchen to tell her goodbye and then we head back to my place. Unfortunately, Kelsey's car is in the driveway with only her in it. No sign of Embry anywhere. Here we go, I think to myself.
AN: Sorry for the cliffy! But I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Definitely review and let me know what you thought and also what you'd like to see happen in the next chapter. How do you think this confrontation is going to go? How will Embry deal with Paul? What about Embry and Bella's conversation? Also, Merry Early Christmas!