Embry leaned against the kitchen counter and brought the phone to his ear with a sigh, ignoring the whispers from Sam's living room. He knew they were listening. The entire fucking pack had shown up at Sam's house insisting he call her.

Even Jacob.

And Jacob had ordered him to call her, so here he was, calling.

In all honesty, he had been planning to call her anyways. Over, and over, and over again, until she was forced to either pick up or block his number. She wouldn't want to know what he would do if she did that though.

Thankfully, he didn't have to, because to his surprise and delight, Lysandra answered on the first ring. He let out a sigh of relief and slid slowly against the counter until he was sitting on the ground.

After a few seconds, his heart lurched to his throat the second he heard her smooth voice drawl through the phone line.

"Hey pretty-boy, what are you wearing?"

Embry grinned to himself as he heard a loud thump and a roar of laughter from the other room. Eavesdropping asses.

"Do you always answer your phone like that?" Embry asked. He cleared his throat once he realized how much it had deepened as he'd spoken.

Lysandra snorted, and a thrill shot down his spine again. How could such a sound make him feel like a puddle of fucking gush?

"You didn't answer my question, why should I answer yours?" she said in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"I feel like I'm wearing too much clothing to warrant an answer, honestly," he explained.

Lysandra laughed on the other end, and the noise was even better than the un-lady like snort she'd made before. Embry closed his eyes and tilted his head toward the ceiling, imagining how she would look while she laughed.

"Fine, better question; why are you calling me?" Lysandra asked. Her tone was still light, but Embry could tell she was annoyed. "You already admitted to ignoring my calls. What gives?"

"Because I wanted to talk to you," Embry shrugged to himself. He earned nothing but silence. After at least half a minute, he finally spoke again.

"About what?"

"Anything," he admitted.

"Anything?" she repeated.

"Anything," he confirmed, nodding his head, knowing she couldn't see. "Everything."

"Everything?" she pondered. "Everything, seems like a lot talking to someone you haven't seen or spoken to in a million years, dontcha think?"

"I saw you last night," he said pointedly. "And spoke to you."

"THAT BETTER NOT BE THAT BOY!"

Embry's eyes snapped open when he heard the old man's voice in the background. He heard a slight rustle and assumed she was covering the microphone on her phone, not knowing it wouldn't help much. His hearing was beyond phenomenal. So was the packs, and they probably heard the old man on the other end as well.

"I heard you promise your brother this morning you wouldn't try calling him again," the old man spoke again, his voice teasing, but authoritative.

"I didn't call him," Lysandra said pointedly. "He called me."

"Hmph," he old man grunted.

"I didn't!" she hissed.

"Lysandra," Embry gulped. He couldn't let her family stop her from seeing him, not now; not after she'd answered on the first ring like she'd been expecting his call.

"Embry," she said sweetly to the phone.

"Would you like to get coffee with me later today?" he asked her, thankful his voice hadn't shaken.

"COFFEE? OF ALL THE THINGS HE COULD ASK HER TO DO, AND HE CHOOSES COFEE?" Embry heard Seth yell from the other room.

"I think it's a good idea, all things considered," Jacob chirped.

Embry growled toward the living room, and it went silent.

"Coffee, huh?" Lysandra hummed.

"Don't do it little-lady," her grandfather spoke again. Embry couldn't help but think of her father, and how similar the two of them sounded. "Your baby brother will be very upset with you."

Lysandra sighed into the phone.

Embry closed his eyes, his heart thumping in his chest so loudly he knew the others could likely hear it.

"Please?" he tried to force his voice not to sound desperate but knew he wasn't succeeding. He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry about before. I sometimes get caught up with the, um," it probably wasn't a good idea to mention the pack yet "-my friends and their lives. Probably why the pups decided to call you back for me." He joked. "It would be really nice to catch up Lys; we used to be close." He let his voice trail off as he closed his eyes again.

"Pups?" She asked interestedly. "Hmm. And Lys? Already back to that huh?"

Emrby didn't know how to respond."

"Here's a better idea pretty-boy," Lysandra drawled.

Embry's heart caught in his throat. She was about to turn him down again, he just knew it.

Her voice from the night before rang through his head.

"No one. No one important."

Her response however, surprised him.

"I'm about to start renovations on pop's house so that he doesn't have to hobble his crippled ass up the stairs now that he's on his old-man-walker."

Embry heard a chuckle from her grandfather and a thump; he opened his eyes to see that Jacob was in the kitchen now, standing across the room and leaning against the doorframe, a curious look on his face, as if he was concerned that she was about to shoot his best friend down again.

She hissed, and he heard her hand move as she covered the phone again.

"Pops cut it out-"

"Anyways," she continued after a few seconds. "I need help knocking down a wall or two, and I don't feel like paying that asshole Mickey to do it when I'm already paying his sorry ass to start the plumbing for me next week-"

"I'll do it," Embry didn't hesitate with his answer. The relief he felt at thinking about being in her house, helping her, helping her father, made him feel like he was swimming in gold. And the thought of Mickey McPherson's slimy hands in her house, near her, made his skin crawl and a deep-rooted anger make itself home in his soul. "All of it. No need for Mickey to even help with anything actually."

"Oh, so you're a plumber now? Here I thought you worked at Linda's bookstore," Lysandra teased.

"No, but I have a friend who is, and I'm sure he'd be willing to help me out," Embry explained. Jared's dad had been a contractor; surely if Jared didn't know what to do, he could convince his old man too? "Wait- how did you know I worked at Linda's bookstore?"

"Is your friend actually good with plumbing?" Lysandra ignored his question, "because I know literally nothing about it, and something tells me that you don't either."

"Yes!" Embry watched as Jared leaned past Jacob, mock-whispering. "Yes, I do!"

"Yes," Embry confirmed and shot his friend a thankful smile. "Yes, he does.

"Hmmph, alright," Lysandra said lightly.

"If he's going to bring one friend along, tell him to bring the rest of them, and I'll order pizza for lunch," Embry heard the old man say.

"Pops-" Lysandra started.

"I need someone to dig up back and front yards so we can put the ramp in on both sides for when I'm in a wheelchair Lys," her grandfather explained lightly.

Embry felt his heart sink, knowing how hard it must be to watch him go through so much. Her father's illness had been quick, but the last two months of his life had been horrid.

"And the attic and the office are a mess from when your grandmother was still here, despite you telling me otherwise. You think that just because I can't go up there and see for myself, I don't know? I can tell when you lie little girl. If that boy wants your attention, he can work for it, like a real man."

Embry could tell by her sigh that her grandfather left no room for argument. Before she could tell him just that, he decided to speak up for himself.

"Jacob put his dad's ramp in; I'm sure he'd be more than willing to help me with it." Jacob nodded to him. "And the other guys would be willing to help too. I'll even help with the painting when the remodel is done."

Embry knew without a doubt that his pack would help him. And even if they wouldn't-which they would- then he'd figure out a way to do it all himself. He wasn't about to let her pay some other man to help her with things he was perfectly capable of figuring out. Plus, if her old man thought he needed to work for it, then he would.

And if this were what it took to spend time with her, then he'd do it. He'd do anything, really. He knew that deep within his soul. No questions asked.

"Seriously?" Lysandra asked, surprise ringing in her soft voice.

"Seriously," Embry confirmed, "I can be there in an hour. And, the guys, can be there,"

"Anytime," Jacob mouthed, while Jared nodded his head. Behind him, Seth was pushing past Jared mouthing to him the same thing.

"With me," Embry explained. "At," he lifted himself up to look at the oven's clock, "Ten? I'll bring coffee."

Lysandra snorted again, and Embry had told himself up against the counter because of the shiver it gave him.

"You sure about this pretty-boy?" Lysandra asked him. "Pops is quite the handful."

"I'm sure," Embry said confidentially. "As I said, it'll be nice catching up, even if he puts us to work."

"Yeah," she said, her voice sounding unsure. "Anyways, prepare yourself for a thunderstorm of attitude and bad language my old friend. Surely Pops will be on full blast with you lot around. And no need to bring coffee, I've got the espresso maker that Lysander bought me for my birthday last year."

"With your own money!" Embry heard her grandfather tease from the background.

Embry couldn't help but laugh and her groan of annoyance. "He sounds like a riot, actually."

"Don't let him fool you. He's the devil in disguise."

"Quit quoting Elvis little girl, or I'll put on my blue suede shoes and start dancin'," the old man teased her back.

Lysandra groaned again.

"I've got to go make sure he's not serious and ends up breaking his other hip," Lysandra explained lightly. He heard movement in the background as she moved. "If you don't show up later, no hard feelings, alright? I'm not about to expect you to help me remodel my Pops hou-"

"I'll be there," Embry promised, his voice more confident than he'd ever remembered speaking before. He felt every fiber of his being promise right along with him. "I promise."

"Alright pretty-boy, don't say I didn't warn you."

..

….