Everything Twilight belongs to Stephanie.
BELLA'S POV.
Its been six weeks! Six weeks since Alice saw a vision of James. I've talked to her a few times since that night, but she still hasn't seen anything of importance. Sam, made patrolling hours longer for the guys, and there were always at least three of them phased at a time. I told him that I didn't think it was necessary to push the guys like that, but he said he wasn't taking any chances, and until he was found, everything would stay as it is.
Unfortunately though, with all the stress, and worry for what was bound to happen sooner or later, I became a nervous wreck. One of the guys was always with me, trying to keep me 'sane', as I like to call it. But because there was always some one there, I began growing more and more attached to my brothers, and to Leah, my new sister.
When Collin was sitting at my house last week on official Bella babysitting duty, he told me his girlfriend Erica, broke up with him. She told him that she couldn't be with him if he continued to hang out in Sam's 'gang'. He was upset for about an hour, until my dad came in with a new video game that he was asking for. Erica was forgotten almost immediately.
Brady was acting a little weird when he first came over by himself. When I asked him what was wrong, he said he was a little scared of what was going to happen. I felt bad for him. Yeah on the outside he was a strong protector of the tribe, but inside he was still only fourteen years old. I told him that there was really nothing to worry about. That the other guys would make sure everything would be okay.
Jared… well Jared was just Jared. He reminded me a lot of Paul, and I saw that they shared a lot of the same personality. When he came over a couple of weeks ago, he had a guitar case with him. I asked him what he was doing with it and when he told me he liked to play and write his own music my jaw hit the floor. He played a few of his pieces for me, and I was surprised at how deep some of it was. So now when he comes over, he brings his case, and he'll sit and play for a few hours. Its relaxing. But in a way I connected with Jared a little more than the other guys… Because of Paul... I thanked him for what he did for him, for being there for him, and for standing beside him when his step father was alive. He told me that he would do it all over again if he had to. My respect for him skyrocketed.
Leah came over the most. Even when she wasn't 'watching me'. We'd do simple 'girl' things, like go to the movies, or shopping. Most of the time dragging Emily, and Kim with us. I found out a lot about Leah. She told me about how she was dating Sam for a while, and they were engaged to be married. A few days before there marriage, Sam came to her and told her that he couldn't be with her anymore, and then he started seeing Emily. She was devastated. And she held a grudge against her cousin and her ex for a long time. But when she turned into a wolf, she learned about imprinting, and slowly began to forgive and forget. Her and Emily are close again, in fact maybe even closer, because they share one common love. Sam. Even if Leah can only be there as a sister to him. She accepted it. Which makes me love her even more.
Seth. Well Seth is a little funny to read. Most of the time when he came over he seemed to be a little shy around me. It would take me about an hour to get him to open up, and start talking, but then by the time he would come over the next time, he would be shut off again. Working around his shyness, I asked him one day to help me out with some cookies I was baking. After that, it was easy. Whenever he came over we baked. He opened up. And we had a good time.
Jake was the easiest one though. Whenever he came over he would tell me stories from the pack to get me laughing. He said he didn't want to see anything on my face, besides a smile. He told me one time, about how when Quil phased for the first time, he was running around in a circle for the first fifteen minutes because he was excited he had a tail and was trying to prove to everyone he could catch it. Jake and I would take walks down to first beach most of the time, and build sand castles and things like that. Catching up on the years we spent apart. It was fun. Carefree.
Quil… well If I didn't kill Quil myself the next time I saw him, then it would be a miracle. Don't get me wrong. I love him to death, but he is sometimes the hardest to deal with. One night after Quil left I went up to take a shower, and when I grabbed my conditioner for my hair and opened it, I noticed it didn't smell right. Leave it to Quil to dump it out and replace it with watered down mayonnaise. He's lucky dad held me back from going down to his house that night. That's all we did when we were together. Played pranks. I'm starting to think that if we were to join forces we'd be a force to be reckoned with. If of course, I didn't kill him first.
Most of the time Embry was over it was quiet. We'd lay on the couch together, and watch movies. That's how it always was with Embry though. We kind of spoke a secret language. I didn't need to say anything to him, and he didn't need to say anything to me. But it was never awkward.
Sam was a bit harder. After picking on him, a few times, he began to soften up. At least towards me. We sat around and talked, sometimes for hours. It was never forced. He told me how he still felt immense guilt for what he did to Leah, and that he really did love her, but the love he had for her changed. I told him that he didn't have to explain it to me. But to stop wallowing in your own pity, because the only thing it would do was drown you eventually. After that night everything lightened up , and he started laughing a lot more.
And then theirs Paul. What can I say about Paul. Hmm.
Flashback.
When he caught me after I made a mad dash across the hall upstairs, he picked me up and threw me on the bed, and came down on top of me tickling my sides again.
"I'm sorry." I said catching my breath from laughing so hard.
"Alright apology accepted." he said rolling off of me to his side facing me.
"I don't think it's fair Paul." I said looking into his eyes.
"What's that Bella?"
"You know my weaknesses, and you run a lot faster than me. You should have given me at least a twenty second head start." I said chuckling.
"What fun would that be Bella." he said laughing.
"So what's yours?" I asked.
"My what?"
"Your weakness." I replied.
He leaned over me and placed a feather light kiss on the side of my neck, right under my ear.
"You." He whispered.
I pulled back a little to look in his eyes.
He lowered himself down to me, and I closed my eyes in anticipation. His breathe was warm against my lips as he hovered there, sending a tingling wave down my spine.
Then he closed the distance completely. Pressing his lips fully against mine. It wasn't urgent, it didn't need to be. I ran my hands up his back, his neck, to the back of his head, to gently run my fingers through his hair.
Then his mouth parted slowly, and I felt the tip of his smooth tongue graze my bottom lip, begging for entrance. So I opened for him. Meeting his tongue with mine. Both dancing back and forth, I heard him moan, causing me to shutter in pleasure.
His hands slowly descended down the sides of my body, stopping at my waist. He grabbed the bottom of my shirt, and slowly began to lift if.
And I froze. Fuck
"Paul we cant do this right now. I'm sorry" I whispered pulling back.
"It's okay Bella. It's just hard to control myself around you." He said dropping his head down to meet mine. Our foreheads pressed together.
We gazed at each other for a minute longer, I was internally cussing myself out. Just get the fuck over it Swan.
He rolled off of me a few seconds later and pulled me to his chest. He fell asleep almost immediately. Listening to his even breathing, and shifting a little I laid my head on his chest, just over his heart. Its peaceful drumming putting me to sleep.
End flashback.
Paul came over every night after that first night. It was easy, but we never went anywhere farther than harmless kissing. Although sometimes I wish we would. He was my rock, these last few weeks. He kept me grounded. We went out to our cliffs a lot, just to get away. When I was upset, he would make me laugh. When I was nervous or scared he would reassure me and tell me that everything would be okay.
"What's got you thinking so hard?" I heard coming from beside me. I didn't even hear him come in.
"Just thinking about the last few weeks." I said.
"Was I in there anywhere?" He said smiling.
"I don't think so. But there was this one really cute guy, about 6 ft 7, which short spiked black hair, and a rock hard torso, I cant seem to get him out of my head." I said teasingly.
"Damn…I guess I'm just going to have to work harder." He said lowering himself to kiss me.
The kiss was quick, but still just as nice.
"How was patrol?" I asked as he pulled away.
"Patrol was patrol. It was boring. I could find much better ways to spend my time." he said winking.
"I'm sure you could." I said standing.
He grabbed my arm quickly before I got to far away.
"Did Charlie end up getting called in tonight?" He asked
"No, he said that he found someone to cover it, but he was going to be home a little late because he's stopping at the pizza place to grab pizza for dinner. He invited everyone over." I said.
"Can I cook you dinner tonight?" he asked me.
"Yeah. But what about the rest of the guys?" I asked
"Come over to my place." He said.
I nodded, and Paul wrapped his large hand around my little hand and started walking for the door.
"Now?" I asked.
"Yeah."
We walked out of my house hand in hand. When we got to his house, we quickly made our way to the kitchen, and I sat at one of the bar stools watching him maneuver around the kitchen. I watched as the muscles in his arms flexed when he was cutting up peppers. And when his muscle in his back flexed when he lifted the pot of water onto the stove top. Man….what was he doing to me? I couldn't take my eyes off of him.
"See something you like.?" He said, and I started laughing… remembering the first time he said that to me.
"Your laughing. Shit I didn't think I looked that bad." He said with a fake pout.
"Well compared to the man I was thinking about earlier….." I said.
"Ah…I see. I've got my work cut out for me." He said with a smirk.
"Yeah… you do." And I laughed again.
He continued making dinner, and about an hour later we were sitting side by side at the kitchen island, both perched on bar stools, eating.
After the food was gone, I started washing the dishes while he dried.
"Stay the night with me." He said, while I was washing a plate.
"Huh." I said looking at him.
"Here….stay the night here tonight…..with me."
He must have noticed my hesitation.
"We don't have to do anything Bella. I just want you to stay with me tonight." He said quickly.
I thought about it for a few minutes…..
"Yeah… sure."
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