Chapter 37 Busted
Embry's POV
It took me no less than four days to work up the courage to ask Cathryn about Ethan. Sad, right? Wait. In my defence, I wanted to give her time to actually go on the date, decide what she thought about it, give Ethan a chance to get in touch with her, ectcetera. And then, you know, I needed time alone with her, as I had a feeling this would be no quick small talk on the way to her art lesson or wherever she had me drive her. I finally ended up bringing it up in my back yard while teaching her to punch. She had gotten better at it. Now, sometimes, I actually felt the blows. Even then though, it felt more like a toddler's tap. But then, I wasn't exactly the best judge of her force, what with my superhuman strength and indestructability and all that.
"Cat?" I asked hesitantly.
"Yeah?" Cat panted as she whacked my ribs.
"Are you dating someone?" I had decided beforehand that the best way to bring it up would be to just come right out with it. It usually the best tactic when dealing with Cat.
Cathryn didn't bother pretending that she didn't know what I was talking about, or that she thought that I would be okay with it. "All right, who told you?" She demanded, her already clenched fists going to her hips. But I tried not to pay attention to that. This wasn't the time for fantasizing.
"Not important," I wouldn't release Cat's wrath on a leach, let alone Jacob. "Who is he?"
"Not important." She mimicked.
"Very imortant. Have I seen him before?"
Cat sighed dramatically, and stomped over to my porch, where she sat down and stared fixedly at her pink converse. "No. His name is Ethan. And he's in my grade, so don't worry. He's harmless." She said quickly, trying to ward me off. However, telling me not to worry about her-especially when she was dating somebody who wasn't me-was like telling fire not to burn.
"Do you really think that you should be dating right now?" I pressed. "I mean, after what happened with Hart?"
"Yes!" She snapped. "Its been like three months-"
"Two and a half." I inturruped.
Cat shot me a withering look. "My point," She continued, "Is that I am over him."
"The fact that you had to get over a guy who hit you in itself is a big red flag, Cathryn."
Cathryn rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. The bruises have long since faded. I barely even think about him anymore. I'm fine. And," She added as an afterthought, "Ready to date again."
I hadn't, of course, planned on convincing her to stop dating Ethan. But it was still kind of a sucker punch to have it confirmed. It hurt, hearing her defend him like this. This, couped with my lack of sleep, did not put me in a good mood. "And what exactly do you plan on doing when he wants sex? Or starts getting jealous? Or needy? Or when whatever eother issues the little worm has start coming out? You're thirteen years old, Cat! You dated a guy who hit you.A lot. And kept you from your friends. It makes a whole lot of sense for a kid to jump right back into the dating scene after a train wreck like that."
"Oh, yeah,. thats right." Cathryn siad sarcastically. "All guys are demons except you. You don't even know him!"
"Oh, and you do? After what, one date?"
"Actually, its been two." Cathryn informed me acidically. "We went out again on Tuesday. And we've talked on the phone every night. And we've kissed."
I absorbed this, feeling more pain than any of her punny slaps had ever caused. This meant, in short, that they were moving fast. And that they were getting along. Well. Which made for a longer relationship. Not something I could very well handle, especially if it got her angry with me again, and I had to go another four months without hearing her voice. I inhaled deeply through my nose. "Fine," I said gustily, backing down. "I think we should at least be able to meet him, though."
Cathryn's eyes widened. "We?" She inquired.
"Yeah," I gave her a half-hearted smile. "Quil and Seth-and probably the rest of the packs-would have embolisms if they found out you were dating another dickhead."
"Is that a theory you're willing to test?" Catthryn asked me, grinning. "Because I don't know about you, but I don't think I would mind too much if Brady-"
I barked out a lough, unable to stay mad at her for long. "Yeah, I'll definetely look into that."
Chapter 38 Hostages
Cathryn's POV
'So," Etahn asked me, slinging an arm carelessly around my shoulder as we walked down the street. We had just come out of the movie theatere-the local one, the dirty one, you get it-and Ethan was walkng me home. "What did you think?"
"I think," I said, turning my head to grin at him. "That next time, I'm choosing the movie."
Ethan laughed. "Yeah, it was pretty bad, wasn't it?"
"Pretty bad?" I asked him, shocked. "Pretty Bad? It sucked! With a capital s! I could have made it!"
Ethan smiled. "But you're more talented than most." He told me.
I ignored the cheesy compliment, just walked with him in comfortable silence for a few minutes. That was the way it always was with Ethan. Comfortable. Between hm and Hart, I was seriously beginning to doubt the existance of passion. Except with Embry. I'd probably see the fireworks if I made out with Embry. Too bad it would never happen. Which reminded me.... "Ethan?" I asked hesitantly.
"Mmm?"
"My friends want to meet you." I told him.
"Do they?" He sounded casual, but I heard a tence under current in his voice. "And who are your friends, exactly?"
"Leslie, Keilly, Renesmee, Emily..." I tacked the names off absent mindedly.
"But the guys?" Ethan pressed.
"Oh, right. Seth, Collin, Embry, Sam, Quil, Jacob..."I wondered why he wanted to know about the guys.
Ethan was quiet for a moment. Then, "The La Push Gang." He said flatly.
"The what?" I was confused. They weren't part of any gang....
"I've just heard stuff." Ethan told me, sounding uncomfortable.
"Like what? I pressed, interested.
"Stuff like...well, I don't know if its true or not," He added quickly, "But bad stuff. Like, they are real into drugs. Steroids, but the heavy stuff, too. Like cokain. Meth. And their girlfriends," Eathn was speaking quickly now, letting the words flow. "Its like, they never even had a choice. Like they're their hostages, or something. Like they own them. And the younger girls...I've heard rumors of child molestation. I mean, nobody's ever caught them, or anything, but have you ever noticed the way they act around people? So serious, so guarded. Like they've got something to hide."
That was when I'd had enough. Part of me wanted to turn to him and laugh. Steroids?Maybe they were just inhuman. And they acted like they had something to hide, because they did, obviously. Like they were going to go around being like, "Hey! We're Werewolves!" Yeah. Right. But a bigger part of me got mad. Really mad. How dare he make assuptions like that about people he didn't even know! And assuptions that were so throughly untrue. I knew for a fact that they didn't even drink much, and definetely didn't do meth. Or sell it, or whatever he was thinking. And Leslie had definetely had a choice when it came to dating Collin. "You're not seriously telling me this." I said, trying to keep my voice neutral.
"Well...you've gotta admit, they-"
"They what?" I inturrupted, my voice getting louder. "Love the the girls in their lives? Me being one of them, in case you've forgotten! Are tall and strong and good looking? Are really, really close friends? Babysit their neices?Because thats all it is, Ethan. In case you hadn't noticed, they all have jobs. A lot of them have gone to college. The council elders respect them. And if they're doing all that you accuse tham of, why haven't the police found out about it yet? Because if any of that stuff had even a grain of truth in it, the police wuld call for backup. They'da have been caught on some sort of count, eventually. But they haven't. Because all the stuff you just accused them of is complete crap. All of it."
Ethan was silent.
"This is my street." I said quietly as we turned a corner. "You can go your own way from here."
Ethan stopped walking, and caught my arm. "Cat..." He said softly. "I'm...really sorry."
"Yeah. You should be." I told him.
"I want to meet them." He told me.
"Saturday." I said curtly. "First beach. One o'clock. Be there."
Chapter 39 Game
Embry's POV
"Ahhh-Ooooommm....Ahhh-Ooooommm...." Quil Ateara was sitting cross legged n the sand, his thumb and pointer fingers on either hand connected in a circular motion. His eyes were closed.
I rolled my eyes. "What," I asked hiim, "Are you doing?"
"I am finding my inner Zen." Quil replied, keeping his eyes closed. His voice and breathing were even.
"Why?" Jacob demanded, coming up from behind me.
This time, Quil opened an eye. It looked up at us, annoyed. "Well, some one is going to need to be even tempered today." He said. "And it certainly won't be him." He nodded towards me.
I didn't respond. He was right, of course. Had hit it right on the head. My nerves were frayed beyond recognisation. I was frayed beyond recognition. It was Sarurday, the day we were all supposed to meet Ethan. Jacob, Renesmee, Quil, Claire, Sam, Emily, Nate, Leah, Seth, Keilly, Brady, Drew, Collin, and Leslie had all come to see him. Had been unable to see the insides of most of their heads, I would have wondered why they all cared so much. Biut I could. And I wished I couldn't. Their motives were not reassuring. They were more or less what I had been thinking: one werewolf lover, one abusive lover, the third was bound to be just as bad. Well, that was one of the things I had been thinking. Really though, it felt like my mind had been split into three equal horrifying worries. That was only one of them. The second was this: what if he wasn't just as bad? What if he was sweet? And treated her well, and did everything right, and really loved her, and, with the exception of myself, was her perfect man? What if they didn't break up? And that was more horrifying than the first. But the third was more about me than Cathryn's boyfriend. Because I was in a very precarious position. Playing the parts of both the supportive best friend and the jealous secret valetnine would be a hard line to walk. It would be all too easy for Cathryn to get mad at me. And there was absolutely no way I was going through that again. I refused to sit back and wait in the wings as she completely ignored me and threw herselves at guys who...well, who weren't me.
It was right about the time that I was brooding over this-for the millionth time-that the wind blew from the north, and I caught Cathryn's scent about a mile away, mingleing with someone else's. But for a split second, I pretended it was just her, and eveything was perfect. And all the stress didn't matter.
But then, of course, I actually saw them, and any remotely calm emotin I might have been feeling went out the window. For one thing, Cathryn looked way hot. She was whearing this red lace tank top that showed planty of cleavage and plenty of her midsection. Ditto with the short denim shorts about her legs. Over this, sahe was whearing an unzipped black hoodie that was about four sizes too large for her. the tips of her fingers peeked out of the sleaves, and the hood draped over one shoulder. it made her look even more delicate than usual. And, to top it all off, she was walking next to this guy who looked-no, who was- a complete dunderhead and did not and would not ever deserve her.
Needless to say, I forgot how to breathe for about five seconds until Brady finally noticed and thumped me on the back.
Thankfully, as soon as they got close to us Emily and Keilly took over, being their usual bubbly friendly selves, therefore excuseing me and any one else from speaking. Thank God. I seemed to have misplaced my voicebox for the time being. Which was odd, because I hadn't gotten all shy like that since I'd been human. But today, for some reason...I just lost it. Especially when we all sat down on the little ring of driftwood logs that people usually hung out on, and Ethan draped his arm across her shoulders all carelessly, like he owned her. And she didn't even seem to like it. Her expression was bored and slightly depressed, as it always was. But I had always been able to tell what was really going on behind those unreadable green eyes. And I thought I saw a flash of irritation in them before she turned her head away. Some hope.
"-so much about you!" Emily was gushing.
Ethan laughed. "All good things, I hope." He joked. I rolled my eyes. What I cliche responce.. That had to have irritated Cathryn. I looked at her for reassurance. But all I saw was a shy smile directed towards him that hit me like a slap in the face. And the score currently stands: Ethan-one, Embry-zero. "So, how old are you, like seven?" I asked him coldly, glaring at him and enjoying his heart stuttering slightly as he took in mty nurderous expression.
All became silent. Except Quil and Brady, who were both laughing under their breaths. "Fourteen." Ethan replied finally, looking a little unerved.
"Wow," I said, smirking. "So you can't drive yet. How does that work, your mama takes you?" Ethan stared at me wordlessly. Cathryn glared at me wordlessly. Quil and Brady turned away to hide their laughter. But wait! Embry quickly ties it up, scoring a goal for himself. One-one.
Emily looked shocked for a moment. But she quickly recovered, and striked up a conversation with Keilly, who was sitting next to Cathryn. Pretty soon, every one was chattering away. All except Cathryn and Ethan, who were in their own little world. Oh. And me, who was spying on them. Too mad there wasn't too much to hear. Mostly just stuff for me to look at. It involvs Ethan wrapping his other arm around her, pulling her so close that her lgs are in his lap, and kissing her, first on the cheek, and then slower, on the lips. Ethan-two, Embry-one I turn away and look around in a panick, searching for some onwe to help. However, there was only Leah who wasn't occupied in some sorty of sonversation. She was just holding Nate, and staring into space. I kicked a few pebbles at her. She started, and looked around for the culprit. I waved at her. She glared, and kicked a few back. Which I ignored, like an adult. Help Me. I mouthed.
She smirked. You owe me. She mouthed back. Then she yawned hugely. "Whew!" She said, in a very un-Leah like voice. "I'm going to go or a walk. Anyone want to come with me?"
"I'll go." Cathryn volenteered almost immediately. She wans't one for sitting still for more than three seconds at a time. "You coming, Ethan?" She turned to him.
"No." Ethan responded, keeping his gaze on me. Good. He knew what was coming. "I think I'll just hang out here."
Cathryn shrugged.
As soon as it was made apparant that Cathryn would be going somwhere without Ethan, all of the girls stood up, eager to give her their imputs. Except for Keilly and Emily, who knew that they would be needed here, to use their creepily advanced people skills to smoothe over whatver scene that I was about to cause.
The rest of us whatched as they stood and slowly disapaered among the sand dunes. As soon as they were gone, Ethan turned to me. "You got a problem?" He demanded.
"Yeah, we do." I stood up and motion for him to come over a litte ways, away from the others. Not that I cared whether or not they heard. I just neede him to stand up. There was no point in me thretening his life if I couldn't get right up in his face when I did so.
Which I promptly did. "Listen, you don't know Cathryn half as well as any of the rest of us do." I growled, loving the way he leaned away from me as I spoke. "So you'll just half to trust me when I say that if you do a goddamned thing to her," I took his shirt colar when I said this, slamming him up against one of the nearby rocks. "I won't have to do a thing. She will have you for breakfast and pick her teeth with your bones. But that doesn't mean I won't." I pressed harder. It was getting harder for him to breathe now. His eyes bugged wide open, either from fear or supirse. "I f you put one toe out of line, believe me, I will know. And I will find you, and I will cause you pain. Got it?"
Ethan didn't move. He appeared to be suffering from some sort of heart attack. Not that I cared. "Got it?" I repeated, pushing arder and lfting him off the ground. This time, he nodded jerkily, lobviously scared out of his wits. I let him go. He scrambled over to the others, where every oe was either stariong at me loomking horrified, or staring at me and looking pleased. Embry, wins the game, with a final score of two to three hundred and seven.
Chapter 40 New Friends
Cathryn's POV
It was June. June, okay? Like, summertime. And yet it was cold. Well, all right,. maybe not cold, exactly, but chilly. To the point where I would have to where my stepbrother's hoodie and then zip it up over my clothes. When school was out, at the beach, in the summer. You understand its wrong, don't you? It just isn't right. Or fair. I mean, I had this totally adorable outfit on. An outfit that, I admit, may have been used for attracting the eyes of Embry Call rather than my boyfriend. Don't judge me, people.
It was these thoughts that were occupying my thoughts when Renesmee fell into step next to me. She was almost as tall as I was now, and way faster, so it was an effortless pace. "So...what did you think?" I asked softly. Normally, I discussed boys with Leslie, but she was deep in conversation with Rachel up ahead, and I didn't want to bother her. Also, Rensemee seemed so much morew grounded than Leslie...her opinion would be a bit more well thought out.
Renesmee was quiet for a second. I was used to this. She was not a ta;lkative person. Then, in one quick, fluid motion, she put her hand to my cheek. I stiffened for a second in suprise. And not just because her hand was so boiling in contrast to the wind, either. I still wasn't used to that pisture thing she did to people's heads. The scene changed abruptly. I was no longer lookingh at my friends. I was looking at Ethan. But...not Ethan, somehow. For one thing, the tiny zit on his jaw had become a full on breakout, with scabs and discoloration and the whole bit. And his hair was longer, greasier. And his nose was the tiniest bit hooked. There was nothing cute about him now. In addition to that, he was glaring blatantly at Embry, who was looking sweetly and innocently back. Suddenly, a halo appeared over his head. I laughed as the image disappeared and Renesmee took her hand off my cheek, grinning. "Embry is hardly an angel, Nes," I told her.
Renesmee laughed, and touched my cheek again. This time, I saw just Embry. Sitting on a cloud. With itty-bitty wings sticking out of his back. He wasn't whearing a white robe, though. He was shirtless, and for a few moments I admired his abs in Nessie's mind's eye. All too quockly, the image faded, and Renesmee removed her hand. "Seriously." I told her. "That little...spat, whatever was going on between them was Embry's fault. He started it."
Renesmee pursed her lips, but still said nothing.
"You don't like him." I guessed.
Renesmee sighed. "Its not that I don't like him, but...he's not for you, Cat. I just don't see the point."
"Its not like I'm looking for a husband. I don't want anything serious." I grinned, trying to relax her a little. It didn't work. She walked away, up to Rachel and Leslie. She inclined her head, and whispered something to them. They both stiffened. I rolled my eyes. It seemed llike even though I knrew about werewolves, there was still somthing I didn't know. But then, considering how well it had worked out last time, maybe I didn't want to know.