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Chapter 3

Bella

I decided that the least I could do was to help Paul clean up. I sent Sam on his way after Paul promised to let me go after I agreed to talk to him. It was surreal to see him that way. Paul had always been the epitome of self-assured. He had never been even remotely clingy in our time together, so I was thrown for a loop by the way he watched me like one would watch a wild animal. It was like he was terrified I would simply disappear. To be honest, I had no idea what to do with Paul when he was like that. All I really wanted to do was hold him and tell him that it would all be all right, but too many memories of how I felt when he slept with Rachel and the pain that it caused were till floating around in my mind.

As well as my mother's words. "Honey, men never change. Once a cheater, always a cheater. It's best to count your losses and move on."

"What are you thinking about?" Paul asked, his eyes sweeping my face for any signs of what I was thinking.

"Um, nothing. Just about something my mom said." Paul snorted. He had never been a fan of my flighty mother. He thought she should have spent more time taking care of me instead of roaming the range.

"And what, pray-tell, were her words of wisdom?" Sarcasm was evident in his tone.

"Once a cheater always a cheater," I spoke, making the smirk immediately fall from his face.

"Baby, I really want to tell you everything. There aren't any excuses, but I don't feel like we can move on from this and be together until it's out there." I immediately began shaking my head no. I didn't want to hear why he chose to be with her that way. To risk everything we had together. My love. My heart.

"I had never broken up with her. I think you probably already know that by now, but we had been together for years. I liked her, but not enough to remain faithful. I cheated on her… a lot. You know what kind of person I was before you."

And apparently were while we were together too. I spat in my mind, but remained silent.

"Anyway, she knew what I was and what I did. I wanted to end things with her, but believed that the least she deserved was for me to tell her in person. To be honest, we rarely ever talked at all by the time I met you. We were over, just not officially. Honestly, I forgot all about her when I was with you. I forgot about everyone and everything. Then she came home. She showed up on my doorstep telling me how much she missed me. That she loved me. So I told her that it was over. That I had been cheating on her for most of our relationship. I didn't tell her about you because I didn't want to throw it in her face." He took a few deep breaths before continuing.

"Then she cried and asked me for one more time together. I felt so awful for hurting her that I gave in. It's no excuse, but you had made me see how awful I was. You were so damn good and kind and for the first time in my life I felt guilty. So I slept with her. It wasn't pleasant and I'm sure she could tell you about my lack of performance. I couldn't even finish because all I could do was think about you."

Paul took a few deep breaths, concentrating very hard on his calloused hands.

"I don't know what you want me to say," I finally began. "I mean, you're right, it's no excuse. You broke my heart, Paul. Everyone had warned me about you, but I saw something in you that was worthy of a chance. It doesn't matter to me that you thought of me while you had sex with another woman! It doesn't make it better because you didn't finish. You. Still. Had. Sex. With. Someone. Else." I couldn't help the anger and hurt that bubbled up inside of me like some sort of volcano ready to erupt.

"I know! You think I don't know that! I lost the only person that ever mattered to me! I loved you! Hell, I still do! I know I don't deserve another chance, but dammit if I'm going to let that stop me!" In two determined strides he had me in his arms. I hadn't even realized that I was crying until a loud sob broke free from my chest.

"Shh, baby. I'm going to make it better, I swear." I should have been ashamed the way I fell apart wrapped around him like that, but I didn't have it in me to care. It felt so good to feel his strong arms.

"I can't go down that road again, Paul. I just can't," I cried, my voice muffled by where I had buried my face in his chest.

I felt Paul stiffen but then he just tightened his grip on me.

"Well, I can't let you go again, so it seems we're at an impasse." I took a deep breath and let it out before extracting myself from his hold.

"Can we just be friends?" I pleaded, not wanting to have the same conversation that resulted in him destroying part of his house.

"For now, but not forever. Patience has never been something that I was blessed with, but I suppose I can wait a little longer. But the fiancé has to go, Angel. I may be giving you time, but don't think for one second that I'm letting some other man marry you. So, you do whatever you need to in order to get rid of him." He spoke so closely to my ear that it send shivers down my spine. I fought not to react, but my traitorous body had always been affected by him. I could practically feel his smirk.

"What the hell happened in here?" Jake's voice broke through our haze and Paul turned to glare at him. The door had been left wide open and Jake took it upon himself to just walk in.

"I was redecorating," Paul deadpanned.

"Sure, sure. Bells, Charlie called looking for you. I told him you'd be on your way shortly." Jake's eyes seemed to be trying to convey something, but I had no idea what and my head was beginning to ache from all the thinking I had been doing already.

"All right, I'll catch a ride with you to your house and head home." Paul grabbed me, forcing me to look up at him.

"You come back or I'll come to you. Either way, you're not getting rid of me, little girl." I did the only thing I could and nodded. I could feel his stare burning into the back of my body as I made my way to Jake's truck.

Jake never said a word, only cast worried glances in my direction. I wanted to reassure him that I would be fine, but I just didn't know if that was the truth. To be honest, the entire situation was surreal when I actually had time to think about it. The man that had cheated on me and broken my heart had looked for me, then when he couldn't find me, he built my dream house just incase he found me and was able to get me back. One half of my brain swooned at how much time he had spent devoted to me with no guarantees that he would ever even see me again, and the other half thought he was maybe a little crazy.

"You look like you're thinking pretty hard over there, Bells," Jake's voice was calm, but I could see how worried he was about how everything was affecting me.

"It's just a lot to process. The tattoos, the fact that he searched for me… and how no one happened to mention that to me I'll never know." I raised an eyebrow at Jake who just shrugged in response. "And the house… He built me a house."

Jake nodded as we pulled into his driveway. I could see Katie practically bouncing on the porch and I readied myself for an inquisition. She was relentless and I knew she was going to want a full play-by-play. Thankfully Jake saved my ass.

"Katie-bear, I know you want to give Bells the third degree, but Charlie is expecting her home. I expect he has some questions of his own." My shoulders sank just knowing what I would have to endure from my dad.

Katie huffed and warned me that I would be sharing everything the first chance I had available and after several hugs I was on my way. Charlie wasn't too bad with the interrogation. He said I was grown and had to make my own choices, but if "that boy" ever hurt me again Paul would be changing his name to Pauline. Thankful that the day was finally coming to an end, I made my way up to my room, not even caring that I hadn't eaten all day. I was almost asleep when my cell phone rang.

"Hello?" I asked without even glancing at the caller ID.

"Bella!" Two very different voices yelled at the same time.

"Hi, Em. Hi, Rose," I sighed.

"Oh, hell no! We haven't seen you in forever and you haven't called in two weeks! Now you sound like someone killed your puppy! Spill, girl!" Rose… I loved her but she was so damn bossy.

"I don't have a puppy, Rose," I quipped making Emmett burst into laughter.

"Oh, I've missed you Bella-Boo!" He boomed.

"Yeah, yeah, we miss you! But now I can definitely tell something's wrong. Did you see him?" I could hear the worry in her voice.

So I told them. Everything. The other end of the line was silent for what felt like forever when I was finished. In reality it was probably only a few seconds. Emmett was, of course, the one to break the silence.

"So, you chose me as your fake luvah? Sweeeeeeeet!" I could hear the sound of Rose smacking him in the back of the head.

"Ow, babe. Keep that shit up and I won't do that thing you like with my…"

"TMI! TMI! TMI!" I yelled. I had been privy to exactly what happens when those two entered into that sort of discussion.

"Okay, okay. So let me get this straight. You want my husband… the father of my unborn baby, to come down there and face off with your hotheaded ex?" When Rose said it, it just sounded stupid.

"Um, well, I sort of spoke without thinking. I didn't actually mean for him to come here. I just wanted Paul to think I was with someone else… and Jake told him I was engaged… and I thought if he believed I was taken then he would give up and leave me to wallow in peace."

"But of all the people you knew, you chose me as your fake fiancé? I'm flattered, Belly!" Emmett had always been good at cheering me up, and as the laughter bubbled out of my mouth I couldn't have been happier that him and Rose were my friends.

"But seriously, Bella, we're coming there to see you and I have a plan!" Rose was excited. I could hear it in her voice and she knew that meant trouble for someone. Probably me.

"Oh, Lord help me," I teased.

"Emmett and I will be there Friday morning. No arguing! We can only stay for the weekend, but this shit is getting cleared up while we're there." Rose's tone left no room for argument, so I just sat in stunned silence, thinking of what would go down with those two in Forks. Thankfully, Emmett brought me out of my worry.

"So, since we're engaged, does that mean I'll be getting' some Bella booty?" I snickered again and waited for the sound of the smack.

"Well, I did tell you we could have a threesome if Bella was into it." My mouth dropped open at Rose's words.

"Rose!" I squeaked.

"What, you're hot, Bella! You have no idea how jealous I was when you and Em were hanging out. When I was trying to get him back I told him I'd be willing to share." I wanted to crawl in a hole and hide. You would think I would have been used to Rose's mouth by then, but she always surprised me.

"Holy. Shit. Rose, just stop talking!"

"Aw, Rosie, what do you want to bet her face is red as a beet right now?" Emmett's chuckles were joined with Rose's.

"Yeah, you two are just a barrel of laughs. Why did I say Emmett's name?" I smacked my forehead with my palm as they laughed even harder.

"All right, well, we'll call you with the flight details," Rose told me after they calmed down.

"I'll see you soon…. Lover," Emmett whispered the last word and I hung up before they could say anything else to embarrass me. They were still laughing when I ended the call.

The next morning I awoke with a pounding headache. I wasn't sure whether it was from the lack of food the day before, or all the crying I had done. Either way it made me want to stay in bed with my pillow over my face to block out the light streaming through the window. I had never been more thankful that the dentist I worked for didn't believe in working on Mondays because I would not have wanted to be my patient right then. Either way I knew I would need copious amounts of coffee and ibuprofen. Unfortunately for me, Charlie seemed to be out of both. I grumbled my way out the front door, still clad in my flannel pajamas, my hair in a messy bun on the top of my head, intent on going to the grocery store.

"Morning, baby."

"Ahhhhhh!" I screamed. "What the… Paul? You scared the shit out of me!" He chuckled and held up a thermos.

"Peace offering?" He asked holding it out for me to take.

"Is that Sue's coffee?" I asked giddily.

"Sure is. I know how much you like it, and I figured you could use it this morning." I hated how well he knew me. I was not a morning person and coffee was a must. Sue's coffee was even better. Unfortunately I didn't make it out to LaPush as often as I would have liked first thing in the morning so it was a rare treat.

"Thanks, Paul. You wanna' come in for a bit?" I asked as it was the only polite thing to do after the man brought me Sue's fuckawesome coffee.

"I was countin' on it, baby." He winked and the voice of my hoo-ha spoke up. That particular voice had been silent for years and she may have even coughed a few times before giddily clapping her hands.

Stupid vagina voice.

"Friends remember, Paul?" I asked and he just rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say, Bella." We walked into the house and sat at the kitchen table. Paul stared at me, waiting for me to be the one to break the silence. The longer I was quiet, the wider his smirk grew.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" I blurted out. It was the best I could come up with when he was looking at me like that. Like he wanted to throw me on the table and do nasty, nasty things to me.

"Well," he licked his lips, "I have to go in soon, but I could be persuaded to call in sick." He waggled his eyebrows and let out a horribly fake cough.

"Uh," my eyes were still trained on his lips and he laughed loudly, knowing exactly where my mind was.

"I don't think you're fiancé would approve of the way you're looking at me, Bella."

That was enough to slap me out of my lusty daze. Stupid good-looking, sexy bastard. If only I couldn't remember what he could do with that mouth. Or his…

"Yep! I think it's time for you to go to work! So, thanks for the coffee and I'll see you around!" He laughed as he allowed himself to be dragged out of my dad's house. I could still hear him after I had slammed the door and stomped to the living room.

Smug bastard. Emmett and Rose couldn't get there soon enough.

A/N: So, not as long as the last one and took longer than I expected but my toddler is teething… stupid molars, and it is making him very clingy. A lot of this was typed one handed, as were most of the review replies. See how much I love you guys! Anywho, be sure to let me know what you think! I'm sure the grammatical mistakes are much worse this go 'round as I am posting this as soon as I finish it. I should probably get a beta at some point, huh? LOL! Anywho, you guys have blown me away with the response to this story! I mean, I got like 40 reviews for just the second chapter! You are all so awesome, have I told you that?