Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content contained in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and may contain graphic language, violent content, mild to moderate drug use, descriptions of domestic violence, and sexual situations.
**Paul POV about 9:00pm**
We got to Seattle at about 11 o'clock in the morning, Dad paid for an early check in at the Best Western motel, and I spent the majority of the day catching up on my sleep. Dad still woke me up every hour or 2, but I was able to get a good 6 hours or so.
Around 7:30 we got a couple of pizzas delivered from Dominos, and had a quiet dinner before laying back down on our respective beds and watching some TV in uncomfortable silence. Sighing, I break the silence, "Are you disappointed in me, Dad?"
He looks over at me, "Don't be a fool, Son. I have never been disappointed in you. I just figured, maybe you wanted some space."
I shrug, "I appreciate that. Do you think he won it? Or did I lose it?"
Dad shrugs, "Honestly Pauly, I don't know. It was a weird one. I have never seen anyone take a punch from you the way he did. If I didn't know better I'd say he was on steroids, but we had the testing done, he was clean as a whistle. It doesn't make sense."
I sigh, "It doesn't make sense to me either. I trained, I trained hard, and he still beat me. He couldn't even make it three rounds with me the last time, now all of a sudden he's knocking me out?"
Dad sits up, cutting me off harshly, "Look, I don't know how it happened, but it did. So what do you want to do? You wanna give up? Or you wanna keep going? You gunna let a loss derail you? Or are you going to work harder to get him next time? Don't wallow in the loss, Son. Don't let it consume you."
Sighing, I know he's right, I don't want to end up a bitter, angry shell of myself treating my friends and family like shit. Finally looking up at him, I answer, "Thanks Dad. You're right, I can't let one loss derail me. I'm Paul 'Dire' Dixon, I'm not going to let it change me, I'm going right back to training once we get home."
He smiles at me, "Good to hear. Although I think under the circumstances training can wait a few weeks until you're back at 100 percent."
I'm about to answer when my phone rings. Looking over I see that it's Bella, and I grab it, and answer, "Hey, hold on a second."
I grab one of the key cards, and say to my dad, "I'll be back in a bit, I'm gunna go sit by the pool."
He nods, "Alright. I'm sure that's a pretty girl, and you don't want your old man listening in. I'm probably gunna hit the sack soon so just be quiet when you come back in."
I nod, heading out the door, "Give me a second to get where I'm going."
She replies, "okay."
The gate to the pool area has a key card entry and I let myself in. I know it's closed, and hopefully I don't get any shit for being out here. I close the gate behind me, and go over and settle into one of the lounge chairs, "Okay. I'm back. So what's up girl?"
Her voice is kind of strange, as she answers, "Nothing much. I'm sitting in a motel room in Portland, Oregon. I've never been here before. It's actually really beautiful. Reminds me of home."
I reply, "Well you'll be home by tomorrow night probably right?"
She answers, "Should be. It took about 2 hours less to get here than it should have. I don't know where I'm going once I get there, but we'll figure it out."
Confused now, I ask, "What's going on? Wouldn't you just go to your dads?"
Her voice gets clouded with tears, as she chokes out, "I would, but I don't want him to see me right now."
Worry in my voice now, I respond, "What do you mean you don't want him to see you? Did something happen to you, Bella? Did Cullen hurt you?"
I can hear her crying, soft little snuffles that have my heart twisted up. Then I hear a guy's voice, in the background, "Shh, it's okay Bella. I know you're upset, but you should tell him the truth."
Her crying ramps up, and the guy comes on the line, "Sorry, she's upset."
I cut him off, "Who the hell is this?"
He answers, "My name's Jasper Hale. I used to work for the Cullen's."
Worried now, I ask, "Alright, I'm sure I'm not going to like the answer to this, but is she okay?"
He sighs, "It's not my place to tell you. She's back. Here."
Bella comes back on the line, "Paul?"
I reply, "I'm here, Girl. What's going on?"
She sighs, getting choked up again, but she keeps herself in control as she answers, "He, he caught me by the pool. When I was texting with you this morning. He…He hit me."
I can't help the "Oh God.", that slips out of my mouth.
Anger flows through me, along with sick shame, and an overwhelming sense of guilt, "Shit, Bella, I'm so sorry. I should have done what you asked and left you alone. This is all my fault. Did you go to the hospital…"
She cuts me off, "It is not your fault! You're not the one who punched me in the face, are you? You're not the one who bruised my arms and hips, are you? You're not the reason I lost twenty pounds in the span of a month, and I look like a hot mess. Don't you dare blame yourself for trying to be my friend. I didn't go to the hospital. Jasper's been giving me some pain killers he took from Carlisle, nothing crazy, just Tylenol 3. It's been helping with the pain. My face looks like hell though, that's why I can't go to my dad's. I don't want him to see me like this."
I can't blame her for that one, her dad needs to know what happened, but he doesn't need to have her probably bruised and battered face etched into his memory for the rest of his life. Still I want to know that she IS going to tell him, "You know he needs to know, right?"
She sighs, "Yes, I know. I'm not going to hide from him. I just. I don't want him to see it when it's at it's worst. Maybe a week, once the swelling goes down, they start to fade a little, and I can do what I can with makeup. It's been a long day. Hell, it's been a long couple of months. I still have the ring. I'll have to send it back certified mail."
I cut her off, "Bella stop."
She stops, and I continue, "I want you to come to La Push. I can put you up until you can go home."
She sounds conflicted, "I don't know Paul. I don't want to put you out, Jasper is with me as well. I had thought about going to a hotel, but I don't have any money on me, and I need to pay Jasper back for the expenses he's put out."
The guy in the background cuts her off, "No, Bella. You don't owe me anything."
I cut in again, "Bella, put Jasper on the phone again."
He comes back on the line, "Yeah?"
Wanting a straight answer I say, "Do me a favor and move somewhere she can't hear you."
He tells her he'll be right back, and I hear the door open and close behind him, before he says, "Alright."
Getting serious, I demand, "Don't bullshit me, how badly is she hurt?"
He sighs, "Her face looks like hell, she has bad bruises on her arms and hips, but she'll live with no permanent damage, and honestly she's lucky it isn't worse. As bad as it sounds, and I don't mean it the way it sounds, but he fuckin love tapped her, he didn't hit her full out. If he had hit her with all his strength…"
He trails off, and I can't even help but shudder, my aching head and body are a testament to how hard Cullen can hit. He had bruised my ribs, cracked one of them, battered my face till it was black and blue, and put me in the hospital with a level 2 concussion, and I'm just about his same size and condition. Bella weighs all of probably 90 lbs tops with her weight loss, she's only 5'3, and she's been malnourished for the last month. He's lucky he didn't kill her.
The anger is back now, and I ask him accusatorily, "So why did you get involved? You probably had a good thing going with the Cullen's."
He snorts derisively, "Yeah, I guess. If you think being used as a human punching bag, not even allowed to use your full skill set, and knowing that you're never going to be anything more than an overpaid sparring partner is having a good thing. I mean don't get me wrong, the money was great, but I'm a good fighter. I'm better than Cullen in a fair fight, and I want to be MORE. I want a shot at going pro."
The way he says fair fight has me confused, "What do you mean in a fair fight?"
The scowl is clear in his voice, as he answers, "You didn't really think he put 30 pounds of muscle on in less than 2 months on his own did you?"
My head reels, I feel nauseous, but I manage to choke out, "But, we had blood tests done."
Jasper laughs, "Yeah, I know. Look, I have proof that he was roiding. I'm guessing from what Bella was saying before she gave me the phone that you offered her a place to stay. If you don't mind putting me up as well I'll give you all the proof you'll need to have him stripped of the belt, and possibly banned from the sport."
I answer, "I have enough room for both of you. That's not a problem. I'll text her my address, do you need directions?"
He replies, "I have a GPS. I'm going to go back inside."
I exclaim, "Wait. Just one more thing. You didn't really answer my question."
He sighs, "I never really knew Bella that well. She was Em's girl, and he didn't like for her to talk to the guys he sparred with. I was with Alice, and she and Alice never got along, but I could tell from the few interactions that I had with her that she's a good person. So when I heard her screaming by the pool I ran out to see what was going on, I thought maybe someone had broken in. When I saw him standing over her body on the ground I thought the worst. I hit him with everything I had, pushing him back. I told him I was going to call the cops and the news. She talked then so I knew she was at least alive. I picked her up, it was like picking up a child. Emmett started to come towards me with her in my arms, I told him to stay the fuck away or I would go to the police and then the association. He told us we had 30 minutes to clear out of the property. The only things she had there of her own were the clothes on her back. I put her in my car and gave her my phone. I told her if any of them came near the car to call the cops. I got involved simply because I knew that that pretty little girl with the sweet smile would be dead if I didn't."
My eyes closed in horror, my voice is small as I tell him, "Thank you. I've been trying to talk her into leaving him for weeks. She always told me that she didn't have a real reason to. That he hadn't technically done anything to hurt her, he was just having a bad time."
Jasper snorts, "That was just the roids. Honestly, before the roids, Em was a good guy. I actually always kind of wished that my sister Rose had chosen him instead of his brother, Edward, but by the time we met them he was already practically engaged to Bella. So she got with Edward because she wanted the money and the cushy lifestyle. Too bad there's such a high price that comes with it."
I hear him open the door, and before he hands me off to her, I ask, "Hey Jasper. Do me a favor?"
He asks, "What's that?"
I reply quickly, "Get her to eat, will you?"
He answers, "Sure thing."
Bella comes back on the line, "Paul?"
Trying to smile so that it comes through in my voice, I answer, "Hey Girl. Look, Jasper and I talked about it, and I want both of you to come stay with me until your face gets better. He told me he has proof that Cullen was using steroids. I need to see it for myself."
She sighs, "Okay, I guess that would be the best idea."
Nodding though I know she can't see me, I answer, "Yeah, it would be. I'm going to text you my address as soon as we get off of here. Give it to Jasper so he can put it in his GPS tomorrow."
She replies, "Okay. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."
Smiling at the thought of seeing her, yet apprehensive too, I answer, "Yup. Go get some dinner honey. I'll see you tomorrow."
She says goodnight, and we hang up. Rubbing my hands gingerly over my bruised and swollen face, and into my hair, I let out a sigh. Damn, this is going to be a long strange week.
I'm not stupid, I had heard Sam cursing Bella under his breath as he came into my hospital room, that shit had to stop. She was not responsible for Cullen beating me, hell, she tried to warn me to call the fight off. He and I were gonna have to have a talk.
Shit, I have to call my grandma too… Sighing again, I can't help feeling a little trapped, I know that my grandmother, Kim, and even Leah are going to start playing yenta the minute they know that Bella is at my place. She doesn't need that now, hell, if I'm being honest I don't either. We both need time to heal, myself just physically, her both physically and mentally.
