Chapter 2: A Friend in Need
Bella lay in bed as she looked at the phone.
If she called him, she would be intruding on his life but if she didn't call him, this nomad would continue to come after her. And then he would be angry that she didn't call.
Realizing she was dead if she did and dead if she didn't Bella pressed his name and waited for him to answer.
It didn't even ring once before his baritone voice was filling her ears.
"Izzy" he purred.
Bella laughed as her face turned red and her body tingled. Paul's voice was comforting and sexy at the same time.
"Hi, Paul. How are you?"
"I'm OK. How are you? I miss you." He told her.
"Your just, OK? I thought you were blissfully imprinted and happy." Bella said sarcastically.
Paul snorted as she heard him moving about.
"Where are you?" she asked him.
"I was at the pack bonfire, but your phone call rescued me."
Bella rolled her eyes when she thought about the pack.
After her mother abandoned her, Bella spent the rest of her childhood down on the reservation whenever her father had to work. She grew up best friends with Jacob Black and Paul Lahote. She would spend her days with Jacob and her nights with Paul.
Flashback:
Bella groaned and tried not to cry. She was stuck! She, Jacob, embry and Quil were playing hide and seek. Embry was it and they had found everyone except for Bella. Her long pigtails had got stuck on a branch, but she couldn't untangle it.
It was getting dark, and her friends had forgotten about her! Bella hated the dark, it was her biggest fear!
As the sun set lower, Bella's fingers began to bleed from trying to untangle her hair and being poked by the bark of the tree.
It was then a low voice spoke to her in the dark.
"don't move. Your pigtail is tangled. You're making it worse."
Bella froze as she felt callused hands untangle her hair.
She was free.
"Thank you!" she told the stranger. But when she turned around, he was gone.
"Um! Hello?" she called out "im lost…"
"Walk straight ahead." A voice said to her left.
Bella did but tripped over a rock. Before she hit the ground, the calloused hands held her up.
Without turning around, Bella allowed this stranger to walk her back to the blacks front yard.
When they finally let her go, she whipped around to see their face, but she only caught the back of them as they made their way into the woods.
"Wait! What's your name?"
The boy turned around, his eyes a violet purple.
Bella gasped. Before she could stop herself, she said "your eyes! their Amazing!"
The boy looked at Bella as if that was the first time, he had heard a compliment.
"My name…is Paul."
"Well… Paul…thank you. ..for helping me.. you're a nice person."
Ans then Bella ran into the house. Too socially awkward to make more conversation.
"Hey bells? Where ya been?" Jacob asked as he and the guys ate sandwiches.
Bella glared at them as she stormed to the twins room. she didn't speak to them for weeks.
End flashback.
It was odd how different Paul and Jacob were.
Jacob grew up in a semi-happy family before his mother got into a car accident and became wheel cheer bound. And even then, that didn't take the joy the black family had away. The whole family just worked through it. His older sister Rebecca became a doctor, and his other sister Rachel became a vet. Jacob's father Billy owned a woodshop and helped make furniture for people. His father was the chief of the tribe and Rebecca was next in line to lead them. And yet, Jacob had turned out to be a entitled jerk!
Paul, on the other hand, had a dark and horrible childhood. By the time Bella met him at the age of ten, he was emancipated and a ward of the tribe. He had been abused by his drug-addicted parents since birth. Paul was two years older than her. he had endured abuse from birth until the age of twelve. And yet, Paul was always willing to help. At least to people who didn't get on his bad side.
Bella witnessed the man help little old ladies across the street and place food on the lower parts of the shelf so other people could reach them. He even changed the tire of a women with a van full of children.
So, years later when Jacob began to avoid her, she went to Paul for answers. The same thing that had happened to Paul had happened to Jacob. They had transformed into wolves.
But why couldn't Jacob tell her that? Why did he slam the door in her face? That's why she had been at his house in the first place. She wanted to tell him she knew what he was, and she understood but he refuse to speak to her.
So why had Paul been able to talk to her? Paul explained that they had a pack hierarchy. Rebecca was their leader, their alpha. Rachel was second in command, their beta. Jacob was the third in command. The rest of the pack followed them.
"Izzy? Izzy?" Paul called.
"Yeah? Sorry, I spaced out. What did you say?"
"I was asking about leech land. How is it living with the leeches? "
Bella sighed.
"You know I don't live with them; I am living next to them. They are just across my tree line."
"I don't know Izzy. Living with them, near them, it's all the same right? And you're not allowed to come home in any shape or form? Just for a visit?" he asked.
"no. I'm not allowed near forks for any reason. "
Paul sighed. When she didn't come home that night after her confrontation with Jacob, Paul called her non-stop. Paul had stopped by a few hours after she left and had smelled Alice all over the house. Her father had done his best to explain what was going but Paul needed to hear it from Bella.
And when he finally did reach her, Bella burst into tears, explaining why she couldn't come home. Paul was ready to rescue her at the drop of a hat. However, she told him to stay away for his safety. Paul agreed but if she ever needed him, he'd be a phone call away.
"Well alright then, I'll just come visit you. I'm about due a couple of hugs anyway. Besides, this is more than just a social call. Is that true?"
"Yes," Bella said weakly.
"Are you in trouble?" He asked seriously.
"Yes."
"I'll be there in a few hours."
"Wait, Paul-"
He hung up. Relief and terror suddenly filled her.
Paul was coming and he was coming for her.
…...