Chapter Fourteen
This chapter just proves I was in a soppy writing mood.
Disclaimer – I do not own Twilight but I do own Hetani.
Saturday rolled around and I spent the day on lockdown with Emily, Claire and Kim at Emily's house. I baked. And baked. And baked. Between the three of us (and Claire 'helping'), we made at least fifty each of muffins, cookies and brownies. I even made two loaves of bread (something that was simple enough for even me to not mess up). Tired, covered in flour but somewhat more relaxed than I had been waking up that morning with a stomach full of nervous bile, I was given a ride home by Emily. My father was on the phone to someone I assumed to be Charlie when I walked in the door and we exchanged greeting smiles before my completely knackered body trailed through the house to the shower. I took longer than usual, paying extra attention to washing and conditioning and buffering my body the way that Rachel and Rebecca had often done (using most of the hot water in the process) as I attempted not to think of my brother, my boyfriend and my friends chasing after Victoria. I hadn't seen any of them except Jake this morning when he'd given me a lift to Emily's and even that had been brief. When I couldn't stay in the shower any longer, I clambered out and dried myself meticulously. I left my hair damp after towel drying it and brushed it before changing into my pyjamas and climbing into bed, dozing off.
The supposedly accidental slamming of the front door roused me from my slumber and, as soon as I realised it was Jake returning from the chase, I grabbed my dressing gown and shoved it on over my red pyjamas. I ran from the room into the hall and down to the lounge where dad was sitting in his wheelchair, talking to a pissed yet knackered looking Jacob. I sighed in relief as I saw absolutely no marks on him and hugged him fiercely. He relaxed and gave a soft chuckle before he hugged me back.
"Get your butt back to bed, Hetani. I'll tell you in the morning," he ordered but I pulled back from him and pouted, begging for even a little slice of information before I returned to bed. He sighed but placed me on the couch and started giving me a play by play of every move of the pursuit. His eyes reawakened and he gestured excitedly as he described the rush of the chase and the annoyance that she'd slipped away. I simply listened intently with a small smile as the story continued quickly.
XXX
20th May
As I knew I would, I found Paul on the beach. I had awoken the next morning with a feeling of needing to talk to him and got out of bed with determination. After dressing quickly in jeans, a black long sleeved shirt and my zebra print wellies, I grabbed a breakfast bar and slipped out of the house. Both Jake and dad were taking some well deserved sleep as I knew both had been up to the early hours of the morning discussing things that weren't for my 'innocent' ears (Jake's words, not mine). I munched on the summer berry bar as I made my way to the beach, my eyes instantly resting on Paul. He was up early for someone who should have been sleeping but I didn't mention it. His figure was sitting on an abandoned tree trunk about twenty feet from where I stood and I slowly made my way over, shoving my empty wrapper into my pocket as I approached.
"Hey," I said softly when I finally reached him. I knew that he'd heard me come over, probably before I'd even hit the beach but I decided to announce my presence anyway. He didn't acknowledge me, didn't even move a little bit and I knew he was still angry. Huffing, I sat down on his left side and followed his gaze to the gentle waters lapping up the shore. His bare feet were planted firmly on the sand and his elbows rested on his knees, chin sitting on top of his linked hands. Of course, he was shirtless but I had learned to not let that bother me and I brought my eyes back up to his face. A frown was indenting his forehead and his cheeks were tight as though he was scowling. I had heard somewhere that you weren't meant to go to bed angry – had he actually gone to bed at all? He did look pretty worn out but none of the pack had been getting much sleep at all, so that wasn't case proven. I didn't believe he'd been sitting outside all night just watching the water but it was a possibility. I didn't press any of the issues, instead just sitting in silence, watching him and waiting for him to say anything at all.
"He shouldn't have crossed onto our lands." There it was. That was what was grating at Paul's nerves, what made him silently angry and what meant that he had probably sat on a tree trunk for the better part of the previous few hours. Jake had told me the story of Paul and the Cullen that had crossed over – hence the reason I had tracked down the angriest wolf of them all. I didn't really know why but I felt I had to.
"No," I agreed simply, eyeing him carefully. I knew none of the wolves would intentionally harm me but lectures from Sam, Jake, Embry and even Paul made sure that I was cautious. Paul was sensitive (Jared would snort at that one) and I knew to tread extra carefully around him.
"They said he was in No Man's Land," he scoffed and I nodded.
"I know." I wasn't really being helpful but maybe he just needed to get it off his chest.
"But he wasn't! He was on OUR land, OUR territory and I had the right to defend it. I wasn't in the wrong here! I know that." It sounded very like he was trying to assure himself as well as me but I knew he thought he was right. I didn't like the leeches, that much was obvious, but I hadn't been there so I couldn't tell if the Cullen had been on Quileute lands or not. If he had, Paul did have every right to defend them. But if he wasn't, then Paul was technically in the wrong. It seemed like both of them were the rebellious ones of their respective groups, so it really wasn't provable.
"We'll never know." Paul whipped around from where he had begun pacing erratically and glared harshly at me. Drawing on some well-used experience that made Jacob laugh whenever I used it, I simply looked at him with a small, hesitant smile until he growled lowly and began pacing again.
"Well, I was right," he said defensively and I just nodded, not really caring anymore. My eyes followed the volatile wolf easily as he walked the same path across the sand, little grains flicking up with each movement. "What are you doing here?" he asked suddenly and my eyes snapped up to his harshly inquisitive, almost black orbs. I shrugged in answer.
"I thought you'd want to talk," I supplied shyly, not really sure what he'd think of my seeking him out to talk. He gave a resigned sigh and plopped down on the sand in front of me, eyes studying the dark grains with another frown. He seldom smiled and it drove me crazy. Then he looked up at me and it took all of my self control to keep my jaw closed. He had a soft expression on his face, the frown was gone and he was just looking. It wasn't a blank or expressionless look and it was far from angry but it still took me by surprise because it was gentle and very unlike Paul.
"You came out here this early because you thought I'd need to talk?" There was a slight hint of confusion in his tone, but it was otherwise controlled. I nodded sheepishly, still unsure of how he would react to me finding him. He nodded slowly as though taking the information in. Then he moved and was suddenly sitting next to me, watching me with a curious gaze. He opened and closed his mouth several times like he was struggling for words before pausing for a few moments. "Thanks," he muttered finally and a beaming smile lit up my face. Obviously Paul didn't say thank you very often and it felt great to have him say it to me.
"No problem." He nudged my arm playfully before we sat in further silence, content with just watching the landscape.
XXX
I returned home a couple of hours later to find Jake pressing the phone to his ear with a sharp scowl on his face and his free hand clenched into a fist. Meandering into the kitchen, I just looked at dad and he shrugged helplessly.
"He's been calling Bella for the past hour trying to get a hold of her. I think Charlie's going to kill him," he replied to my silent question. I grimaced at the sound of Bella's name before taking some orange juice from the fridge, drinking it quickly. "Where were you?"
"With Paul. He's upset about the leech thing," I answered, washing my glass under the faucet. When I turned around, dad looked shocked.
"You went to talk to Paul by yourself?"
"He's not an axe murderer," I pointed out snippily, drying the glass and putting it away. Dad just raised his eyebrows at me.
"How is he?" he asked eventually and I rolled my eyes at the obvious change in tone but smiled nonetheless.
"Better," I stated before patting his shoulder and going to my room. After half an hour, I decided that there was no way I was hanging around Jacob constantly on the phone all day until Bella got back from wherever she was. So I put my hair up in a ponytail before grabbing my little bag of essentials and leaving after telling my dad I was going for another walk. Embry, naturally, found me within five minutes and I eagerly linked my fingers through his.
"So, Paul came to Emily's and told us about an interesting conversation he had with a certain girl. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" he asked teasingly, swinging our hands between us. I smiled up at him innocently, feeling no need to defend myself and he placed a brief kiss to my forehead.
"What happened?" I asked curiously, wondering what Paul had said.
"Apparently the girl, crazy as she may seem for approaching an angry Paul, just let him talk about what was bothering him. He claimed she was nuts but appreciated the friendly gesture." I rolled my eyes at his continuation of the third person reference. "You've really grown on him. You better look out though or you'll have another big brother on your hands," he teased and I grinned, shrugging in response.
"I'll have you to even them out," I replied, brushing my lips briefly against his. He got that adorable goofy smile on his face as he led us aimlessly around La Push and I just looked affectionately at him.
"Are you ever going to tell me what happened with Leah?" he asked after several minutes of comfortable silence. I inhaled deeply at the question, expecting it to arise sooner or later but hoping for later.
"I promised." He gave me a pleading look but I knew that he knew that I loathed breaking promises. It took all of my control not to cave under the puppy dog eyes and I succeeded when he huffed in acceptance a little while later.
"Alright, alright, I won't make you tell," he conceded and I beamed thankfully, pecking his cheek once more before he lifted me onto his back. I giggled as he walked us towards our spot and we settled down for a couple of hours, just talking about whatever we thought of, forgetting for a small while that Victoria, Bella and the Cullens even existed.
Right, I will see you Saturday morning (British time) for an update. Love Bianca :) x