Layla awoke the next morning, groggy and tired. She sat up in bed and looked around, not recognizing anything. She rubbed her eyes and reached for her phone, finding it under her pillow. She checked the time. 7 AM. Which was 10 AM her time. Layla sat up, feeling a dull, heavy ache on the side of her face. She looked around, finally recognizing her new bedroom in La Push, Washington. Her new home. The memories of yesterday came slamming back in her mind, making her wince. She slid out of bed and walked out to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and grimaced. The whole right side of her face was completely covered in bruises. She gingerly touched her cheek and nearly whimpered at how fresh the pain still was. She walked back to her bedroom and grabbed her makeup, an outfit, and her bra and panties and walked back to the bathroom to take a shower.

Thirty minutes later, Layla climbed out of the shower and back over to the mirror. Her legs were sore too, but she didn't see any bruising.

'Oh.' she remembered, with a small smile. 'I got high. With Embry. Then I had some really great sex. With Embry.'

Layla could handle being that kind of sore. She put her hair up in a towel and started working on her makeup, trying to conceal the huge bruising as best she could. Nearly an hour later, Layla was satisfied that her makeup was as good as it was going to get. She decided to style her hair to try to hide as much of her face as she could.

Layla emerged from the bathroom and saw the bedroom door to Paul's room start to open. She all but ran back to her bedroom, shutting and locking the door. Layla grabbed her phone to see if she could get signal to text Kai. She moved from spot to spot in her bedroom, trying to get even one bar of signal. Another sharp knock on her window had her throwing her phone in surprise. She peeked through the curtain and saw that it was Sam. She opened the window and he stuck his head in.

"Aren't you coming in?" Layla asked.

"Nah, just coming to see how you are. Let me see your face." Sam said.

Layla took a deep breath and moved her hair from her face. Sam gently grabbed her chin and hissed softly. "Damn. He really got you, didn't he?" he said.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Layla said.

"Emily is cooking breakfast and really wants you there. Don't worry, Paul won't even get near you." Sam promised.

"I guess Embry's pretty pissed, too." Layla said.

"Yeah, oh man, he nearly kicked Paul's ass last night." Sam said.

"Paul? You mean, not at me?" Layla asked, surprised.

"No. I'm pretty sure he feels bad about that. He blames himself for not being able to stop Paul from laying his hands on you." Sam said. "I was hoping maybe you could convince him that it's not his fault?"

"Definitely. Let me grab my phone. I kinda threw it at the window." Layla said, going to where her phone was and picking it up.

Layla climbed out the window, making sure to grab her purse and keys on the way out. She slid her phone into her purse and slung it over her shoulder and started walking with Sam to his house. They passed by Jake's garage.

"Hello, gorgeous!" Seth called out from the garage.

"Hello, handsome! Stud." Layla called to Seth and Jake. "Are you all coming to eat?" she asked.

"Of course. Food. Oh, shit." Seth said.

"What in the hell happened to your face?" Jake asked, coming up to her.

"Is it still that noticeable? I tried to conceal it with as much makeup as I could." Layla said, frowning.

"Really good eyesight." Jacob muttered, using his finger to tilt her face so he and Seth could get a better look at it. "What happened?"

Layla turned to look at Sam, not sure if he would want her telling.

"Paul got pissed off and backhanded her. And before you two go running off, it's been handled." Sam said.

Seth pulled Layla to him and hugged her protectively. He really, really wanted to hurt Paul for laying his hands on her. Jake pulled her into a hug a few moments later.

"We'll keep him away from you." Jake promised.

"Emily's going to have a fit if we're late." Sam said.

The four of them started walking to Sam and Emily's for breakfast. Embry was pacing the porch, waiting for them to show up. When he saw Sam and Layla and Jake and Seth coming across the turn, he took off running towards them. In just a few seconds, he was in front of Layla and he kneeled down to check out her face.

"Fuck. I'm so sorry, Layla. I should have been able to stop him." Embry whispered, softly touching her bruises.

Layla winced. "No one could have stopped him." she whispered, grabbing Embry's hand. "Don't be talking foolishness about stopping him. He would have done it sooner or later, come hell or high water." she added.

"But your face...he hurt you." Embry said, holding onto her hand.

"It'll heal. And uh...sorry about last night. I hope your friendship with Paul isn't ruined because of me and what we did." Layla said.

"What you all did? What did you two do?" Jake asked, grinning.

"Got high. Had sex." Layla said. "Well...mostly had sex. Until, uh...yeah, Paul."

Seth's eyes went wide as he looked at Embry. Jake grinned even bigger.

"Don't be sorry about that. I know I'm not." Embry said, smiling softly.

"Emily is REALLY going to kick our butts if we aren't at breakfast." Sam insisted.

Sam, Jake, and Seth ran to the house and inside, leaving Embry and Layla to walk and talk together. He was still holding onto her hand.

"You're really not sorry about last night?" Embry asked.

"Hell, no, I'm not." Layla said. "The high was good and you...you were fucking amazing. Literally. Fucking was amazing." she grinned.

"I really liked it, too." Embry said.

"I'm sorry we were interrupted before you got off. I hear blue balls really hurt." Layla said.

"Don't even worry about that." Embry said.

"If you want, tonight, we'll get high and it'll be your turn to get off." Layla offered.

If it was possible for Embry to blush, he would be. Right now. They walked up the couple steps at Sam and Emily's and Embry opened the door.

"Ladies first." he said.

Layla walked in and everyone jumped out at her and yelled "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Layla screamed and jumped back, right into Embry who wasn't prepared for that and fell backwards, Layla falling on top of him.

"Get it, girl!" Leah yelled.

Layla smirked. "Got it, girl!" she called out, scooting off Embry and standing up. Embry stood a few seconds later.

Leah's eyes went wide and she grinned. "I'll need details later." she whispered. Layla nodded. "I got you, boo boo." she replied.

"Were you surprised?" Seth asked, nearly bouncing off the wall.

"Yeah, but how did you all know?" Layla asked.

"Oh, you told me, remember? I couldn't let your birthday pass without a party." Seth said, grinning.

"Fair enough. Let's get this mother started!" Layla called out.

Review? Pretty please? I know, I know. Short chapter. But I'm going to be posting another one later this evening. No worries! Review?