Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews!! I was so pleased to see such support on the first chapter, that I decided to give you chapter 2 early. Next update will be Wednesday. Here is the next installment of the story and we get to meet Sam!
DISCLAIMER: Stephenie Meyer owns all rights to the Twilight saga and its characters. I sadly do not own Sam or anyone or anything else.
So, the rest of the week was silent. I didn't call Edward or go over to the Cullen residence and Edward didn't call or try to come through my window. Though if he had, he would have found it still locked. I think Charlie inwardly wanted to throw a party himself now that Edward and I were hitting a rough patch. And in my eyes, that was all this was, was a rough patch. This was something that we would be over soon enough. Edward just needed to recognize that I was allowed to make my own decisions and I could take care of myself. I wanted him to make me like him, so that he wouldn't have to worry about things being so dangerous for me, but he was the one that insisted that I stay a fragile human. Well, this fragile human was tired of being babied.
The ride down to La Push was pretty quiet. Neither Charlie nor I were big with words. He did mention he was glad I decided to come. Also, he knew Jacob would be excited to see me. I was sort of happy at the thought of seeing Jacob again. He seemed like a boy that I could be good friends with, I always remembered him being so happy and light. Maybe that's what I need, a friend outside of the Cullen family that I cansimply have fun with. I didn't know what I needed, but that sounded like it could be a step in the right direction. As much as I had grown to need the Cullen's, maybe I needed something besides them as well. There was a spot that they didn't fill, and this babying me thing was only increasing that whole.
Once we arrived I took out the cupcakes I had prepared. When Charlie saw them earlier, I think he would have preferred I fixed something less dainty. But I loved to bake, and cupcakes were my favorite. Plus, I had found that cupcakes tended to last longer than a cake, where people can cut as large of a slice as they wish. I iced different ones with chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. I set down the cupcakes to be grabbed up in a hug from behind. I couldn't tell who it was, but I really hoping it was Jacob, as I didn't know anyone else here.
"Bells! I am so happy you're here." Yep, that's Jacob.
"Jacob." I croaked out, running out of air. He let me down and I turned to see Jacob standing in front of me with a wide grin and light in his eyes. I could see that our little reunion had caused several people's attention to drift to us.
"Hello, Jacob. It's nice to see you again."
"You, too, Bells. I didn't believe it when Dad told me you were coming. I thought for sure you'd be doing something with your boyfriend."
"Nope, not today." Or any day until he learns to treat me as an adult and an equal.
"Great!" He continued talking, as I looked to see everyone had returned to their own conversations except for one. He was dangerously handsome. He wasn't wearing a shirt and I could see every muscle move as he breathed in each breath. His skin was dark, darker than Jacob's, but he seemed to radiate in the sunlight, not like diamonds like Edward, but like bronze. That's what he was, a bronze god. His eyes were almost black as night and held my own with an intense stare that I could get lost in. That I was lost in. "So do you want to check it out?"
"Huh?" I was pulled out of my thoughts. I still kept my eyes on the god.
"My rabbit, do you want to see it?" He turned around to see what I was looking at. He huffed a little and narrowed his eyes. "It's in the garage, come on, Bells," Jacob said as he grabbed my hand.
"Okay." And so I let Jacob pull me away from the stare of the mysterious, dark stranger. The farther I get away from him, the more I was wondering why he affected me so much. I was practically drooling over the guy. I've never looked at a guy that way except Edward. But Edward sort of dazzled me; it feels as if this guy altered my very core of being.
We came to a stop in Jacob's garage and I looked for a rabbit cage and all I saw was a tiny, weird looking car. I leaned against the car and took another look around. Still nothing. Jacob was looking at me expectantly. I didn't really know what to say.
"Where's you rabbit?"
"Bells, you're leaning against it." I pulled my eyebrows together confused.
"It's the car, Bella." He sighed. "You really didn't hear anything I said out there did you?" He ran his hands through his long, dark hair.
"Not really, I'm sorry. I got… distracted."
"Yeah, by Sam Uley, I saw." Sam Uley. So that's the bronze god's name. Bella you have got to stop referring to him as that, you have a boyfriend. Not just a boyfriend, a soul mate.
"It's just he looked at me with such intensity that I couldn't look away."
"Intense, I guess that's one word for him. I could think of quite a few different ones." He spoke of Sam with distaste.
"You don't like him. Why?" Jacob shakes his head a little.
"He just walks around like he runs the whole res and the worst part is the Elders and the Council let him. They all look at him like the sun shines out of his ass or something. My dad says Sam is a great figure in the tribe, but I don't see it and neither does anyone not on the council."
"I don't understand. What's so bad about him? You don't like him because the council does."
"No, it's not that, Bella. The guy is just weird. He got like a full scholarship to WSU, and then the summer before he leaves, he vanished for like a month. His girlfriend at the time, Leah, and some others put together a search team and everything. They found nothing. Not a trace of the guy. A month passes with no word from him and poof, Sam shows back up and is in real good with the council. The whole thing was just strange. And then he recruits two more guys into his little gang and then he breaks up with Leah. They'd been dating for four years and he just drops her with no warning. Everyone assumed they'd get married after he got back from the university. Now, he just keeps to himself, his little gang, and the council."
"And he never explained where he was for a month?"
"Nope, not a word."
"Okay, that is a little strange."
"Yeah, and when I tried asking questions, my dad told me to leave it alone. I needed to respect Sam. Why would I respect a guy that's like five years older than me and that dropped out of college before he even started?"
"Hmm." All this information only fueled my interest in him. I didn't know why, but I wanted to know more about Sam Uley.
Soon it was time to eat, and Jacob and I headed back out to the party. We sat on a log together eating. We carried on simple chit chat. How the school year ended, what we'd been doing so far that summer, how much we were dreading the school year arriving once again. After I finished, I found myself searching the crowd. It was only when I found him did I realize it was him that I was searching for. Sam was standing next to my father and Billy, talking. He must have felt my gaze on him, because he turned to look at me. I found myself lost in those dark eyes once again. His lips curled up and I couldn't help but smile myself. Charlie noticed that Sam's attention had transferred elsewhere and followed his gaze to me. He waved me over and called out for me.
"Bella, come on over here for a minute." I turned to Jacob, who was still stuffing his face with food.
"I'm going to go talk to my dad for a minute. I'll be back in a bit," I told him.
"Sure, sure," he said without looking up from his food. I got up from the log and threw my plate in the trash can as I passed it. As I approached Billy, Charlie and Sam, I saw that Sam never took his eyes off of me. The closer I got, the more beautiful he became. Stop thinking like that. Think about Edward, your boyfriend, the guy you plan to spend forever with. I got onto myself about my thoughts as I stopped in front of the group. I had to concentrate on looking at Charlie, because my body desperately wanted to stare up at the bronze god.
"Bella, this is Sam Uley. Sam, this is my daughter, Bella." I looked over at Sam and saw that he had his hand reached out.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Bella." He said in a deep and rough voice. I reached my hand out to meet his.
"You, too, Sam," I said as our hands connects. "Oh!" I jumped slightly at the connection due to an electric shock. After the initial surprise of the shock wore off, I noticed how warm his hand felt against mine. Is he really that warm or am I just used to Edward being cool to the touch? I wondered.
"The reason I wanted you to meet Sam, was that he is going to be around the house this week a good little bit." I turned to look at Charlie slightly confused. Why would Sam be at our house? "There are some things that need fixing and I either don't have the time or the know how to do them, so Sam is going to help me out."
"Oh, that's nice of you," I stated looking back at Sam.
"Well, I am getting paid, so it's not that nice of me," he said with a warm smile and a little chuckle.
"I still think it is."
"Will you be at your house tomorrow?" Sam asked me.
"Um, I guess so, why?"
"Well, I didn't want to get there too early and wake you up with the racket I'll be making."
"Oh, you don't have to worry; I'm usually a pretty early riser. If you come around eight I'll be fixing breakfast." Wait did I just offer to fix him breakfast? What possessed me to do that? It was just a nice, friendly gesture, that's all. It was not because I want to spend time with him. Nope, definitely not that. His smile got wide and his eyes lit up.
"I wouldn't want to intrude." Charlie answered before I could.
"No, Sam, Bella here is a great cook. You should take her up on her offer. You want to start the work day off right, don't you?" He said to Sam and then looked over at me. "That was a great idea, Bella. You should fix that casserole thing you make real well," Charlie told me. I nodded. Thinking of what ingredients I would need.
"I could do that. We'll have to stop at the store on the way home."
"Really, I don't want to be bother, Bella. You don't have to stop at the store and go through all that trouble for me," Sam replied.
"Bella loves to cook, Sam. You should let her do this for you," Billy said staring at Sam intently. Sam looked back him and nodded. "Oh and Bella, just so you know, Sam has quite the appetite, you may want to fix enough for six, if you plan on eating any of it." My eyes widened. I looked Sam over. He was tall, probably six foot six, maybe seven. He appeared to be all muscle. I guess it would take enough for an army to feed someone of his size. I thought.
"It's fine, really, Sam. I need to make a grocery run anyway. So I expect to see you bright and early at eight tomorrow. Especially if I'll be cooking for an army, I better get some help eating it."
"I'll be there," he said looking straight into my soul. I had a feeling I was getting myself into trouble, but I really didn't care. Soon, Sam had to leave, taking two other guys with him. I figured they were the guys that Jacob had mention earlier. Another hour, and Charlie and I were heading to the store, and then back home. That night I felt jittery and excited to see what would happen the following day. I hadn't felt this excited about something in awhile.
Author's Note: So, we got to meet Jacob and Sam. Bella interest is peaked, what will happen when Sam comes to the house? Let me know what you thought!