AN: Gulp. Effusive apologies to you all for not having posted an update on this story for five months. I feel terrible. A lot of writer's block, plus getting unstuck on the other story. And pretty much the entire fall semester at work was insanely crazy this year. But I've promised to never permanently abandon a story, and so have worked this up for you. Hope it was worth the long wait. Enjoy.
And thank you to the person(s) who nominated "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Hot" for a Fandom Choice Award! It's up for Best All-Human Story. Paul and Bella would love your votes by January 3, 2014.
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Paul POV
I stood up when Bella's dad walked in, grateful that he hadn't arrived a few minutes earlier and seen me all cozy on his couch with his daughter. I hadn't been kidding to the guys that I wanted to keep my balls right where they were.
"Chief Swan. I'm Paul Lahote."
"Figured that. Bella said you were coming over for dinner."
"Glad to be here. Some folks down on the rez have raved about her food for years-and then they absolutely refused to share anything she made for them. I'll finally get to find out what all the talk is about."
"She's good," Charlie Swan agreed. "Some people said she should do it for a living, but she just told them that she wanted cooking to stay fun, and not be something that she had to do to bring in a paycheck."
"I get that. A few years back, I was rehabbing my place at night after working days at a construction site. Sometimes, the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was to pick up a tool and get something done."
He nodded. "On that note, you mind offering your opinion on something for me? House needs some work and I'm not sure what my options are."
"Sure." I started to follow him, figuring we were heading for the electrical panel or something like that. Instead, he led the way outside. "Just so you know, I'm just the electrical expert on our team. Sam's the guy for anything structural."
"Yeah, I know that. House isn't in that bad of a shape. I just wanted us somewhere that Bella can't overhear anything. What the hell is going on?"
"What did she tell you so far?" I hedged, trying to figure out what he knew already and what he didn't.
"I didn't figure you for someone who'd try to pull bullshit like that," Charlie retorted.
My denial was quick and automatic. "I'm not. If there's stuff she left out from what she told you earlier, then Bella has the right to tell you when she's ready to. I'm not going to step on her toes or cut her out on that."
I got an approving nod for what I'd just said. "Okay, I can respect that," Charlie hooked his thumbs in his belt loops. "What Bella told me was that she walked in on Cullen...having sex with someone he went to college with. She yelled at him and then drove down to La Push to think, and ended up staying the night. He followed her down there, and then came here this morning after she came home. So what can you tell me?"
"I found her up on the tall cliff on the rez, bawling her eyes out. She was pretty much a wreck, and I didn't think she needed to be back out on the road, so I took her to my place. Figured the least I could do was give her one night before she had to face everything."
"And out of the goodness of your heart, you take home a stranger just because she was upset?" he was clearly dubious.
"What can I say? I've got a soft heart," I quipped. "Okay, yeah, I did know who she was. We might not have been friends growing up, but I knew of her."
"So why not take her to Jake's place, or another of her friends down there?"
"Didn't think of it, I guess. Neither did she. Jake did stop by this morning, and was pretty pissed off on her behalf-enough so that if Cullen had shown up on Jake's porch last night, there would have been a call placed to Emergency Services, at the very least, and to the police and county coroner at the worst."
"And you didn't want to do the same?"
"Did I want to beat the shit out of him? Sure. Won't lie about that. But I stopped trying to solve problems with my fists back in high school. Now, if he'd tried to come inside my house or bother her, I might have forgotten the fact that I'm an adult and a business owner—didn't have to, as it turned out. He just stood there like an idiot when she tried to give him the ring back. I did slam the door in his face, though," I smirked at the memory.
"So you just took my daughter to your place, slammed the door in her ex's face, and gave her an empty bed to sleep in?"
"My house has a guest room that I offered to her. Bella ended up sleeping on the couch, though; guess she couldn't relax enough to fall asleep on her own and went out there to watch some TV."
"So you found her there this morning?"
"I did find her out there," I agreed, "but I'm not sure what time it was. I don't always pay much attention to the clocks. It was before Jake showed up, though." Everything I was saying was true-it just wasn't all of the truth. Chief Swan seemed to realize that, too.
"Did you have sex with my daughter, Paul? Did you take advantage of her?" His face was getting red, and his hand was flexing near his hip where his gun normally sat.
"I know I've got a reputation, Chief; and it's one I've earned-I won't bullshit you by trying to pretend otherwise. But I've never been a guy who would talk about any girl I was with-except to my two best friends. I think I'm entitled to keep my private business exactly that. I'd also say that Bella's equally deserving of privacy, especially now, when her private business will be the talk of the town. But I have never once taken advantage of a woman, and I'm sure as hell not about to start now."
"You'd better not," he warned me. "You hurt my little girl that that bastard Cullen did, and it'll take the best trackers your tribe has a very very long time to find your remains.
My reply was sober and sincere. "I don't want to hurt her. If I ever do, I'll deserve whatever you give me."
"Okay," and Charlie Swan held out his hand for us to shake on it. "We're going to need to head back inside soon, but before we do…anything you want to share about what you noticed about him yesterday, or anything?"
"Well, I think he was a complete idiot for bringing the other woman here to his parents' house while Bella was out of town. And to still have her around that close to Bella coming back? It's like he almost wanted to get caught. It's some kind of twisted, cheating on your fiancée with a girlfriend, then leaving the girlfriend to go track down the fiancée when she caught him. I didn't think about it until this morning, until Jake mentioned Bella's car having Lo-Jack on it. But that's how Jake figures Cullen tracked her down—no reason to think she would be with me since we didn't really know each other. Gonna bust him on it?"
"Can't. Wish I could, though," the frustration was clear in his tone. "But she got the house key back from him and we got the locks changed today, so he'd better not think about coming here again."
"Got an alarm system?"
"Never needed one. Who'd be stupid enough to try and rob the police chief's house?" The look on his face said that he was at least thinking about the idea now.
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We went back inside, but headed in different directions. I followed the smell of the food into the kitchen and Bella's dad went to check sports scores on TV.
"Need any help?"
"Not really-well, I guess you could help me make the salad if you want to."
"Sure."
She handed me a knife and pointed to the carrots and celery drying on a towel. I got to work chopping them up.
"Not bad," Bella judged. "I admit I wondered if I'd need to pull out the first aid kit."
"Hah. Nah, I've been in construction long enough to know how to be around sharp blades and still keep my fingers attached."
She watched me closely for a minute until satisfied that I really did know what I was doing. So Bella left me to it and returned to prepping a loaf of garlic bread to go into the oven. The radio was playing softly in the background—a country station, which surprised me—and I started listening to the words.
And he don't know
That I dug my key into the side
of his pretty little souped up 4 wheel drive,
carved my name into his leather seats,
I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights,
slashed a hole in all 4 tires...
Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats.
I might've saved a little trouble for the next girl,
'cause the next time that he cheats...
Oh, you know it won't be on me!
No... not on me
"Getting any ideas?"
"No," she snorted. "Cop's daughter, remember? Although, it is a nice thought."
"What's a nice thought?" Charlie asked, startling us both.
Bella pointed to the radio and her father listened to a verse and chorus of the song. "Make sure it's a thought, only, Bella. I don't want to have to haul you in on charges, okay?"
"Sure thing, Dad. Besides, I think it would affect the resale value if I keyed the car he bought me."
"What are you talking about?"
"I want to look into selling my car and getting something else. He gave it to me, so I can do what I want with it, but I definitely don't want to keep it now." Bella turned away to slide the bread into the oven and check the status of an amazing lasagna. Satisfied, she looked back at her father. "I'm thinking of asking Jake for some advice on how to handle this one and what some good replacement options are."
"Do you think you're maybe rushing into this a little bit, Bells?" he wondered.
"Is there really a reason to wait?" she countered. "I know I don't want to keep the car, both because of him having given it to me, and him using the GPS to track me down last night."
"Call the company," Charlie urged his daughter. "There ought to be a way to remove his access rights; change a password or something. I don't want you getting fleeced by some dealer because you're moving too fast to really think everything through."
"I won't rush a new decision, Dad. I promise. And if Jake helps me, then you know he won't steer me wrong with the next car. I'll try calling the GPS company either after dinner or in the morning, okay?"
He nodded approval. "Food almost done?"
"Just a few more minutes. Let's get things on the table and then the lasagna and bread will be ready to come out of the oven."
Bella was as good as her word on the timing, and the rez gossip was just as accurate concerning the quality of her cooking.
"This is incredible," I announced, around a mouthful of bread, and with my large helping of lasagna already half gone.
"Thanks. It's an old favorite recipe of ours," Bella replied. "It's a nice change from all the fish recipes I have to use," she teased her father, who was a well-known fishing companion of several of La Push's tribal elders.
"So what are you doing these days, Paul?" Charlie changed the subject.
"Our company-Sam's, Jared's, and mine-is building a new house over on Callawah Way. We've been making good progress, so we ought to be done by the end of this year, unless the weather goes completely south on us."
We talked for a while longer about the construction project, with Bella asking a few questions about what I was doing on it that I was more than happy to answer. Over the rest of dinner, and a fruit salad dessert, the conversation drifted to sports and then to the interview Bella had been on before everything had gone to hell in her personal life. It made my gut clench to realize that she was waiting to hear back on a job in Texas of all places.
"It will be the end of this week at the earliest before I can expect to hear back, and it could easily be next week. I know they had—and have—a lot of interviews scheduled for this opening, so I have no idea how much of a chance I really have. Guess I'll just have to wait and see."
Even though I didn't want her to face the rejection of not getting a good job that she had to be well-qualified for, I still somehow hoped that Bella wouldn't get the job. Taking things slow was one thing, having her move halfway across the country was something else.
"You did all you could, Bells," her dad's moustache twitched. "Out of your hands now."
"I know. If it's meant to be, it'll happen; if it's not in the cards for me, then it won't happen. I almost hope they won't make me an offer, though," she admitted.
"How come?" Both Charlie and I spoke at the same time.
"I just think it would be too much of a reminder of what just happened. I went to that interview thinking that it could be a good place for both me and for Edward. Then I come home from it and find…what I found. I don't want my job to be a daily jolt back to that."
It was with great reluctance that I announced my need to head home once we were done eating. "Morning will come awful early, and I've got to get enough sleep. Can't risk making electrical mistakes just because I'm sleep-deprived."
Bella walked me to the door, handing me a bag with helpings of lasagna, salad, and bread inside. "I know it probably won't work for your lunch tomorrow, but you could have it for dinner."
"Thanks. You didn't have to do that, so thanks." Knowing that her dad was close by, but not caring, I leaned down and claimed Bella's lips in a light, yet long, kiss. "Talk to you soon, okay?"
"Sure. And, Paul?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for everything."
The food went into my fridge when I got home and I made myself tackle the unwashed dishes before heading to my bedroom. It was a bit of a mess, but I didn't really want to deal with it tonight. I did at least toss the dirty clothes into the laundry hamper. That was when I noticed a scrap of torn lacy fabric on my floor. Bending down to pick it up, I realized it was the remnants of Bella's panties from last night—the ones I'd ripped off her when she hadn't removed them fast enough. Bringing them up to my nose, I inhaled deeply and caught the lingering fragrance of her arousal. I barely remembered to set my alarm before falling into bed. Perhaps not surprisingly given this discovery and the traces of Bella's scent still clinging to my sheets, I was soon jerking off to thoughts of what we'd done here, and what I wanted us to do here next time.
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AN: Looks like this chapter was all Paul. We'll see Bella again next chapter, and maybe some other people as well. Who knows?
**Song lyrics mentioned in this chapter are from Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats". The song/lyrics/music video were the inspirational prompt that got this story started.