AN: thanks for the reviews, someone asked me why Paul left without getting all the answers… well, he is curious but at the same time he is upset because Bella is making him feel something and he doesn't like it. I hope you'll be patient with this story because without imprinting before Bella and Paul go somewhere they need to sort out a lot of things (Jacob and Edward included). Another reviewer was complaining because Paul hadn't asked too many questions, but I want to point out that they met out of nowhere and before this time both didn't really bother with each other, so Bella is still wary of Paul too and you don't just spill your secrets to a perfect stranger... besides I'm building the base of the story...

Have a nice weekend :)

Chapter 3

Paul didn't know why he wanted to take her out with him, but at this point he had stopped asking himself questions about his behavior with Bella Swan. Probably being in Jacob's mind for a long while had fucked him up more than he thought. It was obsessive how the little Alpha had thought about her, how he was analyzing every single nuance of her behavior. Paul felt that he knew Bella more than he knew most people, he could read her like an open book and at the same time she pissed him off a lot.

It was her 'victim complex' that annoyed him most, it was obvious to anyone who looked at her with Jacob that she loved him, but then when she was with Edward she switched personality and she became a submissive little thing. Her behavior with the two men in her life couldn't have been more different, she had broken a hand punching Jake, but she had never even raised her voice at Edward.

Paul knew deep down that her relationship with the leech had been more about obsession than love, and he couldn't understand why after all the effort she had put into being with the leech she had finally left him. But did he know for sure? Shaking his head he knocked at her door, she opened and she was wearing a dark blue jeans and a low-cut top. For a moment he was taken aback, her hair had grown longer and they were cascading in brown waves down her back until her waist. She looked beautiful and he hated that he had noticed it. "We'll take your car leech-lover." He spat and then put up his hand expecting for her to give him her keys.

"Why should you be the one to drive?" She asked looking too confident for her own good. "I think I should drive my own car."

"I haven't got the time for your feminist shit, you either hand me your keys or I'm gonna take them and you ain't going to like the way I'll do it." He snarled.

For a moment her eyes sparkled with something akin to challenge, and then the light went out and she handed him her keys. "Here, take them." She said and then walked quickly to her car.

Paul sighed; they had already started with the wrong foot. While they were in the car he didn't know what to say, it was scary for him even to be three nights in a row with the same woman, and he hadn't even fucked her. The thought of sleeping with Bella Swan was disturbing on so many levels that Paul steered clear from his mind concentrating on the road. "Yesterday you told me that the honeymoon was great, what went wrong then?" He asked abruptly, reminding himself that he was with her because he wanted some answers.

Bella started to wring her hands and Paul in a movement that caught him by surprise stopped her. "Start talking." He growled and then took away his hand, which was tingling in a weird way. His mind scanned his memories about Bella, and he realized that he had never touched her before.

She cleared her throat and bit her lip nervously. "The honeymoon was amazing." She said.

Paul glared at her. "You've already said that yesterday, now give me some details."

"I... what kind of details do you want to have?" She stuttered.

"Listen Bella, I'm not here because I enjoy your company. And you know perfectly well what I want to know. I know you're lying about the honeymoon being amazing so cut the bullshit and start telling me what the fuck happened." He told her with the tougher tone he could master.

She sighed and looked out of the window. "The honeymoon was a disaster." She finally admitted. "I went there expecting for me and Edward to finally make love and to unleash the passion that I thought we had for each other... I couldn't be more wrong than that... probably, if Jacob hadn't kissed me on that mountain's top it would have taken me more time to understand that there wasn't the same kind of sparkle between me and Edward..."

Paul took in her revelation. "So you found out that after all… you loved Jacob more. Well I'm sure that your dear leech would have signed the divorce's papers and given you back to Jacob if you asked nicely. And Jacob would have taken you back happily."

"I wish it were that easy... Edward enjoyed our... union. He thought that everything had been perfect and it broke my heart to admit to myself that it hadn't been. I couldn't really tell him that I didn't... want him physically. Besides the first time we made love he left some bruises on my body, and he freaked out on me. He felt like a monster and I had to reassure him that it was okay... that I was okay..." Bella was still looking out of the window and her sadness and despair was getting to him too.

"Fuck! I need a drink." Paul said, and luckily they had arrived to the bar that he had picked to talk with Bella in a more neutral environment.

They got out of the car and into the bar. When they settled Paul ordered a bottle of tequila and then started pouring a shot for her and two for him. He needed more alcohol to get drunk. "So he liked to fuck you and you didn't."

She winced at his words and then took her first shot and then coughed. He smirked and took his two, one behind the other. She glared at him and he winked. She smiled and then got serious again. "Edward had decided that we had to stay there for a month, we… made love other times but it never got better for me. I realized too late that what we had was an illusion. I've been blinded by him, but at the end he wasn't… he wasn't what I wanted anymore."

Paul poured other three shots and then they drank again. She looked flustered, but she still went on. "When I met Edward I was still young and foolishly I thought that our love would be forever… now looking back I know that I wanted more to become a vampire than be with him. I was envious of their grace and that they were indestructible. I was such a fool… but by the time I married Edward I was in too deep to take a step back. Do you know who the Volturi are?"

"The vamp royalty?" Paul said.

She nodded. "Well, when I went to save Edward in Italy… we have been given an ultimatum either the Cullens turned me or I would die and they would pay for revealing their secret to a human. During the honeymoon I was thinking about a way out without compromising the Cullens or being killed, because I realized I wanted to live, to grow old, to see my family and… Jacob."

They then drank other three shots. "There was no way out." Bella slurred and Paul realized that she was almost drunk, after all the girl was a light weight. "So at the end of the longest month of my life… we went back to the Cullens. Apparently during the honeymoon I trained myself so much on not showing any deep emotion that both Jasper and Alice couldn't feel and see me anymore. They always thought that I was a shield, because Edward couldn't read my mind and in that month I basically honed that skill."

Paul was watching her carefully; the girl had really fucked her life badly. He was really starting to pity her, because when a person makes a mistake most of the time he can rectify it, but she had made the wrong mistake. How the hell was she supposed to get out of that?

Bella was looking down, and he could see the despair and pain she was feeling. His mind shouted a warning, but his body reacted before he could stop it and he put his arm around her shoulders. "You fucked up your life pretty badly."

Bella laughed bitterly. "I didn't fuck up just my life... what I did to Edward and Jacob..." She stopped, closed her eyes and passed out. Paul looked at the girl half lying on his body and felt a spark of protectiveness flaring in his heart. She had been naïve and innocent; shoved into a game bigger than her.

Paul had studied the Cullens and he had his own ideas about them, they were a powerful coven and if it was true that Bella was a shield she would have made a nice addition to the lot.

How much of Edward pursuing Bella had been love and how much had it been a deliberate move to acquire a powerful asset?

Paul shook his head; slowly he picked Bella up and took her back to his house. He placed her in his bed and then he went to sleep on the couch, the girl was really a danger to anyone's life but now he was feeling a bit sorry for her. He knew he couldn't walk away from her, not now and probably not later on.

With a sigh Paul settled as best as he could on the small couch and fell asleep.

AN2: more about Bella's secret in the next chapter.