Author's Note: Alright on to chapter 2. This is going along faster than I thought it would but hey, that's not a bad thing is it? Here we go, be sure to tell me how I'm doing. This chapter might be moving particularly fast but you'll see why in later chapters.

Disclaimer: Once again I don't own anything but Cassie and my imagination.

Dedication: air29- thank you so much for reviewing. This chapter is for you, the first reviewer(:

Playlist:

Breakeven- The Script

Dancing With Tears in my Eyes- Kesha

Lost~Beyond recovery or redemption; fallen or destroyed

I woke up to a near complete silence, which I immediately hated. I got up, turned my iPod dock on, and remembering Aunt Elaina wouldn't be here, turned it up louder than usual. I looked at the clock, it was 10:37 in the morning. The windows were on the eastern side of the house, and the sun was blinding me. I opened the screen letting the cool air and the scent of rain in. I took a shower, and put on a pretty green sundress and black leggings, pulled my hair back into a smooth pony with my stylish side bangs cutting across my forehead kissing my eyelashes. I wet the part of my hair that was in the ponytail, I let it dry naturally. It created a single pirouetted loose curl that would stay there probably all day since my hair had a natural slight wave to it. It curled very easily.

I put in silver hoops in my first holes in my ears, not small but not too big, and in the second hole, I put small diamond studs. I swiped on some gloss, and looked at myself in the mirror. I took a picture with my phone, and sent it to Kierra and Brooke. They both texted back in less than a minute telling me to get on webcam. I lowered the volume on the music and logged onto the iMac I got for last Christmas. As soon as I pulled up webcam, both of my best friends' faces popped up, smiling and happy… and in my room, wearing my clothes.

"Um, who gave you two permission to raid my closet?" I asked pretending to be mad. All of the clothes I left at home weren't anything to freak over, but they were still good clothes.

"Your Madre. Do you realize what day it is? Sabado, chica. It's our day. Oh and your outfit is a total 9.6" Kierra winked. She was fannish(fake Spanish) but loved to try and sound cute in Spanish, which she usually did. It was Saturday, and we usually spent every weekend shopping and seeing new movies and going to parties. I was going to really miss that.

"Yeah, do a spin for us," Brooke told me spinning her finger around in the air. I got up from my bed and spun around in a circle, posing for my two best friends. "Every Saturday, we are going to have WebCassie day. And we are going to keep you on top of all the gossip from the DFW(Dallas-Fort Worth. Big part of Texas) side of… the US, broadcasting from inside your room. And you can tell us how boring your life is without the two best people in the world right by your side. Legit, right?" Brooke continued and grinned her dimples flashing brighter than Mario Lopez's.

God I missed those idiots.

You don't realize how much you need stupid people in your life until you're halfway around the world and you see them in your old room wearing your knockoff clothing. What a shame.

"Well, to start off… Emily and Brendan broke up again. Apparently he's being too overprotective again… and there's another episode of the Zach, Madi, And Rebecca Love Triangle Show coming up just so you know, it's mostly just the same old same old around here. Y tu?" Kierra, brushed her dark caramel hair out of her pretty hazel eyes and looked eagerly into the cam.

"Well…" I was a little reluctant to tell them about Paul… but they caught on anyway.

"OhMaGee B, did you see the blush on C's face. I certainly did." Kierra had a knowing smile on her lips.

"Oh yea, so did I. Tell us C, does this person have a name?" Brooke asked, settling in, getting comfortable.

I could play it off as if I didn't know what they were talking about, but that never worked. "His name is Paul.¨ I said slowly, a grin creeping up on my lips.

"Tell us all." Brooke was now fully intent on getting everything that she could out of me.

"Well… he's… for lack of a better word… he's breathtaking. And there's this incredible connection between us that I can't even begin to explain. He has the russet skin of the Quileute but his skin seems to glow… and his eyes are so attentive when he looks at me. They… they really remind me of those Godiva Chocolates I love so much, they change tones depending on his mood. His jaw is strong and chiseled, his nose perfect. And OhMaGee, his body is to die for- wow. Way better than anything you could ever imagine. And normally that would be enough to lure me in, but it's the way he just seems to care about everything I have to say and how he's just so gentle with me, even though we hardly know each other, I think I could really fall in lov… guys? What are you two doing?"

I had dazed off in the image of Paul that I had seen last night, I had totally tuned out, but then I realized that they weren't even focused on me at all, but were looking at something behind me as if they'd just seen a ghost. "You guys are freaking me all the way out, what the flip is wrong with you two?" I was utterly confused.

"Yea C, we're going to need to be totally honest with you.." Kierra started off slowly, still not looking at me.

"But your boytoy is hot… if they make them all like that over there… well I'm going to have to come and spend a year with you… and Paul, you better treat our best friend here like a princess." Brooke sounded so weird to me until I heard him,

"I'll treat her nothing less than the beautiful goddess that she is." I gasped and turned around seeing Paul standing in the middle of my room, shirtless with water running off of his hair and body. His eyes were trained on me. I was utterly speechless.

"We'll talk to you later, Cass…you better call us!" Brooke gave me a death glare before they logged off and my iMac turned black, and I was totally alone, with Paul.

"Did you hear any of that?" I asked more than a bit hesitantly. If he did, that would easily the most embarrassing moment of my life.

"I didn't hear anything if you didn't want me to." Paul offered a slightly bashful look on his face, which made him look adorable… but I could feel myself reddening.

"Paul!" I pleaded with him, wanting-no needing- to know the truth.

"No… I didn't hear the whole thing." He told me, but something flickered in his eye.

"OhMaGee, you're so lying to me." I whimpered, and fell on the bed, covering my face with my hands. I could not believe it…he heard me basically declare my love to him to my friends. Then I got angered, they could have told me he was listening the whole time… Paul probably thought a was some crazy stalker chick.

"I'm so sorry, it was weird and I had no clue what I was saying and I understand if you think I'm ludicrous. I was just… well I don't know what that was supposed to be-" I was cut off from my tirade when Paul suddenly loomed up in front of me, his lips curving up into a soft smile.

"Don't apologize to me, ever. There's nothing you could ever do wrong in my eyes." His gaze was doing odd things to my insides.

"Why does everything that comes out of your mouth so..." I sighed, giving up. Paul was like the puzzle of a lifetime. I just wanted to put this incident behind us. Then I noticed my hardwood floors were wet.

¨Paul, you´re soaking, I can´t believe I didn't notice before! Why didn't you say something?" Before he could answer I was already moving towards the bathroom, "Don't move," I called out to him, returning a few seconds later with a fluffy golden towel. I toweled him off, starting with his bare chest.

I blushed and refused to look him in the eye while I ran the towel over his hard chest and ribs, and I could feel the dips of his abdominal muscles, as I smoothed the towel over him. He shied away from my touch when I dried off his side, laughing lightly, and I met his eyes, which were a dancing light mauve. He was ticklish. I ran the towel over his arms, and could feel the solid bands of muscle under my fingertips even through the towel.

I moved to his face, lightly patting it dry and when I moved over his lips, I could feel him smile. I had to reach up on my tippy toes to dry his hair, which I did slowly, and then didn't even realize that I had dropped the towel and was softly brushing my fingers through his hair, feeling for any dampness. I noticed what I was doing when I looked at Paul and saw his eyes half lidded. When he opened his eyes fully I realized how close we were and backed up a bit.

That was when I noticed the dark shadows under his eyes. I touched them softly frowning. "You look like you didn't sleep good last night. What were you doing, running through the forest?" I asked. He did look awfully sleepy.

His face lit up in amusement and then he ran his hand though his hair, "Well…" He dropped off and gave me a wink.

I sighed, "Lay down." Even I didn't recognize the sound coming from my mouth. But I quickly covered it up, "Just take a nap, you don't even look like you could make it home. It'll be fine, I wasn't going to do anything but stay around the house anyway." I gestured to my bed.

With a calculating look at me, Paul slowly made his way to the bed and laid down, his massive form easily filling up the majority of the cute girlish canopy bed. "Stay here ok? If you want to go anywhere, wake me up ok?" He said, his eyes already closing.

"Promise." I smiled watching as he fully relaxed. He was asleep in minutes. I observed him for a few minutes and then tore my gaze away from him, and then picked the towel from the floor and threw it over the white rocking chair in the corner of the room before walking out, keeping the door open and laying down in the den. I alternated between reading books that my aunt had around and watching little snippets of television, for a couple of hours. Seeing as Paul was still sleeping soundly, I cleaned up the already spotless house a bit, familiarizing myself with the pretty abode.

Then, realizing how hungry I was, decide to fix lunch for me and Paul. It was as I was wandering around the kitchen that I noticed that I had no clue what kind of foods that Paul liked to eat, and I was immediately disappointed. I settled on something simple. Spaghetti and My Uncle Cooper's special Garlic bread, delighted to find all of the ingredients most, my aunt's own variation that she grew or concocted up. It took a while and I hoped beyond hope that Paul would like it. I recalled how much him and the other boys ate at the bonfire and was sure to make lots of extra. I was almost done when I heard the doorbell ring. I made a face, hoping that it didn't wake Paul up. I peeked in on him and smiled when I found him deeply asleep and looking comfortable. I then walked back to the door, opening it up and finding Leah, glowering down at me.

Now, I'm not sure how I made her mad at the bonfire yesterday but she seemed pissed… although she didn't seem to be friendly with anyone last night. But I put on a smile and tried not to start anything. "Hey Leah, you need something?" I asked. Her scowl only grew. "Where's Paul?" She sneered, looking past me and into the house.

I had no idea how she knew Paul was over here but I wasn't going to ask and add fire to her flame. "He's sleep right now. You can come back later though." I said.

"No Little Girl, I need to see him now." She was starting to annoy me, and I was not a fun person to be around when I was annoyed.

I placed my hands on my hips and glared up at her. "Ok first of all, my name is Cassie, rhymes with Sassy." I said it slowly like I was talking to a child, and I could see the cold rage in her brown eyes, but I kept on. " And second, I already told you that you could not see him right now, so either you go home and wait or you can sit here and wait for Paul to get up, either way I'm about to close this door." But before I could do anything though, Leah's arm reached out and grabbed me with a searing grip. She had long nails that were digging painfully into my skin. I tried to pry her hand off but her grip was way too strong. I squeaked and glared at her, my eyes watering. But I was not going to cry in front of her.

"Now I'm not going to tell you again, Little Girl, I need to~" Whatever Leah was going to say was cut off as Paul shoved his way in between us, pulling Leah's arm from my forearm.. I couldn't suppress the tiny whimper of pain that escaped past my lips. Immediately Paul was standing over me, looking at me with concerned eyes. I looked out the door, Leah was standing, startled. Then I noticed Paul was shaking… badly. His eyes had turned angry and his expression was feral.

I was scared. This wasn't the Paul that I knew. I placed my hands on his face and looked him in the eye. "Paul," I could feel him shaking under my hand. "Paul, focus on me. Listen to me, Paul… Please." I pleaded with him.

"Get away from him Little Girl. He's dangerous." Leah sneered at me, trying to grab me again, though her eyes were on Paul, but his lips lifted in what looked like a snarl,

"Touch her again, Leah and I swear to God I'll tear you apart." He sounded so violent, but Leah didn't even bat an eye.

"You're going to hurt her." Leah snarled at him, her supple frame shaking slightly also but not nearly as much as Paul. She was starting to scare me though, more than Paul was and I shivered slightly.

"I'd never hurt her." Paul seemed completely outraged, and Leah wasn't helping at all.

"You're going to have to come back later." I said hurriedly and shut the door. I heard Leah sneer something from the other side of the door but I was fully ignoring her at this point.

"Paul, please. Calm down." I pleaded with him, making him face me, and looking him in the eye.

He was shaking his head and trying to pull away from me. "Cassie, get away." His voice was tight, controlled, and I put my hands on his face to make him look at me. His jaw was clenched. He was clearly fighting for control.

"No, I'm not going to leave you. Paul, calm down…for me?" I wanted it to be a statement but it came out more like a question. I had felt him calming down before, but now he was really looking at me, focusing on me.

"Breathe, Paul. Breathe with me." I told him, looking into his eyes. That connection between me and Paul was so potent, so real. I knew he could feel it too. When I was with him, I felt so in tune with all of my emotions. And with his. I was drowning in the depths of his eyes. He had calmed down, I could tell.

He sighed, and closed his eyes tightly, laying his forehead against mine. "Cassie… sweetheart. You can't be around me when I'm like that… you shouldn't be around me at all." He backed away from me, his eyes taut.

I couldn't believe it. I had no idea what was going on. He was blowing this completely out of proportion. "Paul, it's not that big of a deal." This was spiraling downward to fast. My eyes were watering again, and this time I didn't know if I could hold them back.

"Leah was right Cassie, I'm dangerous." He was coming closer, looking down at me with guarded eyes. I brought my hand up to swipe my bangs away from my face, and the movement caused pain too run up my arm. Looking down I saw the mottled purple bruise beginning to form on my arm, and the slight blood that was running out of the small puncture marks Leah had made. I grimaced, not liking the sight.

Paul saw, and his eyes widened. He took my arm and brought it up to his eye level, handling it with such care that it caused me no pain. He gently guided me to the bathroom, turning on the water and grabbing a washcloth. Wetting it slightly he cleaned my arm, being so tender and caring that I had to stop him. I took the washcloth out of his hand, and put it aside. I looked at him through the mirror.

"This doesn't mean anything." I told him, holding my injured arm up.

"It means everything. Because of me, you got hurt; I never want to hurt you." Paul was not looking at me.

I took a deep breath. "Paul, what is this?" I asked quietly, looking down.

"This is whatever you want it to be." Paul said, looking straight at me.

I couldn't meet his eyes. "We haven't even known each other for a day yet."

"Yeah, and I've already got you hurt… I'm sorry Cassie… but I can't be around you, not right now." His eyes were cold, but he was covering up something. I couldn't think straight.

"What are you saying then?" I asked, trying to get him to look at me. He seemed to be thinking really hard.

Without speaking, Paul picked up my hand and placed a burning kiss on the bruise. Then he was gone. One minute he was there, and then I blinked, and he was gone.

Something tore apart inside of me. I looked at my reflection in the mirror, and didn't recognize what I saw. The person in the mirror looked like a little girl. Not the Cassie I thought I knew. My reflection got blurry, and I could feel the wetness on my cheeks.

I was making my way back into my room when I passed the kitchen. I had forgot about the garlic bread, and it was burning, making the kitchen smell all kinds of disgusting. I wasn't really paying attention to it, when I was getting it out of the stove, and burned myself a couple of times. I didn't feel the burns though, I was numb all over. I had turned the stove off though, so the spaghetti was fine. After I threw out the garlic bread, and after I opened all of the windows, I retreated to my room. I closed the wooden shutters on my windows throwing the room into complete darkness. I curled into a ball on my bed, and just let my mind wander…

I drifted in and out of wakefulness. In between sleeping I thought about what had transpired since I got here.

My first thought was that I was crazy. I couldn't possibly be I love with a man that I had just met. The feeling that I got when he left was indescribable, the pain so tangible. Even now, I just felt so incomplete. This had all started the first time Paul and I locked eyes. They were like windows to his soul or something. Everything just made perfect sense in that moment. Like Paul was the only thing that I needed in the world. Which again, was just crazy. Plus, how did I know that Paul even felt the same way that I did?

My second was that maybe I wasn't crazy. Everything that I felt was real and Paul felt the same way. What I felt could really be love. This one made the most sense. It all felt so real, the looks that he gave me, the way my skin tingled and burned when we touched, everything. But that was when my first theory came back, this was all too good to be true.

The third was that I was making a complete fool of myself. Maybe I was misinterpreting everything that was going on between Paul and I, being naïve over something that was just a friendship.

My head was spinning, and I didn't know what to believe. Or what to do. This was the first time I had felt alone in awhile and all day i kept hearing wolves howling…

I woke up to the cheery tones of my cell phone. The kind of cheery that I really wasn't feeling. I felt groggy and there was still a pain in my chest. I reached over, grabbed my phone on the nightstand, and answered it. "Yes?" I asked, my voice thick still thick with sleep.

"Cassie I'm sorry, but I'm going to be away for a few days on business. I've called Sue though, so you should be fine. I know you came here because your parents were going to be going on many business trips, but I know you can handle yourself. If you want me to come home, I will-" Aunt Elaina was going on and on.

"No, Aunt E, I'll be fine. Trust me." I tried to make my voice sound normal, and I think she bought it. We talked for a few minutes more and then she had to go. I realized that It was Sunday morning, and I had nothing to do today. It felt weird, usually my phone was blowing up with texts on plans of what my friends wanted to do, but today I had minimal texts most saying how much everyone missed me. I didn't feel like talking to any of my friends today, I didn't really want to do anything but I didn't want to sit at home alone again. I went into the kitchen and cleaned up the dinner that I had made last night. It was around noon when I had finished the cleaning so I went to take a shower. My dress got all wrinkled and my skin felt slightly irritated but once I stepped foot into the shower I felt refreshed. Well as refreshed as I could since I still didn't feel whole.

I had turned the water too hot and it scalded my skin raw. Yet, I relished the feeling; it reminded me of Paul, and I relished anything that reminded me of Paul no matter how significant. When I finally turned off the water, my skin was hot to the touch and it had a slight red undertone. I threw on some black short shorts with a pair of sweats to go over them, rolling the tops down a few times. I threw on a white tank and threw my hair up into a really messy ponytail carelessly pinning up any stray pieces. I donned a pair of sunglasses that were not necessary at all since it was cold and cloudy outside. My eyes were red and blotchy and were not anything I wanted anyone else to see. Grabbing my keys and my black Twelfth Ft. by Cynthia Vincent handbag, I looked in the mirror. It was like looking at one of those celebrities dressing down trying not to be seen by the paparazzi. But I was not a celebrity and I was not trying to 'dress down'.

I jumped in the Ferrari and drove off towards Jacob's house. His house was about five minutes away, and I quickly pulled into the small driveway. As soon as I got out the car, I saw Jacob loping around from the back of his house.

"Whoa Cass, this little girl is beautiful." Jake cooed and stroked the hood lovingly. The little girl statement brought back memories of yesterday, which felt like forever ago. I think Jake noticed the way I cringed but chose to ignore it.

"So what do you think of taking her out then? I don't really know what goes on with these kind of cars. I'm going to need an expert to help me with thing like this." I smiled and dangled the keys in front of him. The look on his face was like he just got a gift from God. I had no choice but to giggle and toss the keys to him. I walked around to the passenger side of the car and settled in. Jacob couldn't get the stupid grin off his face as he backed out of the driveway.

"Where you want to go?" He asked cruising along the roads of La Push.

"Don't care; I just wanna get away for a few hours." I told him truthfully, looking out the window. The next thing I knew, we were on some highway and Jacob was kicking the car into high gear, speeding along easily.

"So why don't you tell me what's going on with the getup?" Jacob gestured to the oversized sunglasses.

"It's nothing." I told him, noncommittally.

"So it didn't have anything at all to do with Paul?" Jacob ventured, and it took me by such a surprise. Hearing his name was like bringing it all back to me again. And I had no idea in hell how he knew anything about it, but Jacob used to be one of my best friends, used to know everything about him… so I could let him in.

"Yea… I guess. I don't know what is going on with me, Jake. I just met him, I know virtually nothing about him and yet I feel like he's my whole life." I shook my head and looked at him. He had a knowing look on his face, and he kept taking deep breaths. "Tell me what you think of Paul, from a completely unbiased point of view." I asked him, tuning into Jake completely.

He thought it over for a while, keeping his eyes on the road the entire time, "Paul… it's complicated Cassie. Before he met you, he was a loose cannon. Any and everything pissed him off. He never really got close to anyone. And the reason why, It's not my place to tell you. But, Cassie, seeing him with you… I don't know. He's changed. He's always been more than a little protective but I think that may be a good thing with you. You always did get into a lot of trouble." He looked over at me and smiled. "No, I think Paul and you will be just fine. And I know it seems that all of this is happening to fast but trust your instincts. Paul is just overreacting right now, but he should be coming to him senses soon. Just don't worry too much about it ok?" He looked to me for confirmation.

"Yeah, I'll try." I smiled at him. He really knew how to cheer me up. "But now you have to tell me what happened to you. When we were kids, you were a stick. Now it's like the new and improved weight lifter Jacob Black." I looked him over. He swamped me and made the car look tiny.

"Well, I can't exactly tell you right now. But in the meantime, just focus on settling in." I also remembered that he didn't usually evade answers when we were kids, but I wasn't going to push it.

"We're going to Port Angeles. It's the biggest city around here. Usually it take about an hour and a half but I'm going to push for about thirty to forty-five minutes. Tell me about life down south in the mean time, cow girl." He always used to joke about me being a hillbilly red necked southern and I would continually dissuade him.

"Jacob Black I've been telling you since we were eleven, I live in Dallas. Not the country. And life is perfectly fine." We fell back into our joking routine of bantering each other mercilessly. It seemed like in no time, we were in this so called big city. Compared to Dallas, it didn't look like much. But I went along with it.

Jake took me to the mall and we window shopped and spent all day talking about nothing. I did attract stares but I only paid attention to Jacob. I didn't return home until late evening, and the last words Jake spoke to me was, "Talk to him tomorrow," When I opened my mouth to say that maybe this wouldn't be a good idea, he continued. "He will listen to you. I promise you that. Talk to him." And with that, he looked once more at the Ferrari, and said, "I'll give you my prognosis tomorrow." Then he loped into the forest, before I could say another word.

I walked into the house feeling way better than I did this morning. But not even Jacob could take away the burning in my chest. I ate some spaghetti, took a shower, read a book and went to bed, looking forward to seeing Paul tomorrow, even if he thought he was bad for me…

Alright, how am I doing so far? Come on I need to know! Just two words please. I'm begging… I'm not on my knees, but I'm begging. There is this button on the bottom saying Compose Reply. PUSH IT! Haha, I love you guys(: