Chapter Twenty Four
Sure enough, my father was at the door yelling my name in a robe with his gun and Maddie madly barking at the door while I ran barefoot straight into the snow to Sam. None of this made sense, but I knew Sam couldn't be a danger to me, and I needed to get him out of the cold. When my hand touched his arm it burned beneath my touch. "DAD IT'S SAM!" I yelled over Maddie's barking. I left a bloody handprint smack on Sam's surprisingly ripped bicep. Was he this buff last time I saw him? He's only 16, nearly 17! I would say 'roids but this man definitely has something else going on. You would never believe this man was a sophomore. Not anymore.
"What the hell?" I heard my dad's voice, then the sharp German command to get Maddie to stand down. He was out into the snow, wearing rubber galoshes, and a large blanket from the living room over his arm. "Is he naked!?"
"Yeah! Help me lift him!" I snagged the blanket and threw it over Sam, giving him some form of privacy, I had been doing my best to avoid looking anywhere but his face, but I did scan his chest and arms for injuries. Both my dad and I hooked Sam's limp arms over our shoulders, I couldn't help much considering I was shoulder height to both of them, but I opened the door regardless. Once inside we got him down on the couch, I threw another blanket overtop of him, and my Dad snagged my hand to look at the blood and its source. "Slipped on the steps. I also lost the flashlight when I fell." I winced against his touch on the wound.
"You don't need stitches but you are going to have gauze for a while." He left me to grab the med kit, as well as put away his gun. I walked over to Sam, looking closely at his face, and his eyes fluttered open.
"I'm sorry Ara…" His voice sounded so broken, and he stared directly at me.
"It's okay. I won't tell anyone. Our secret?" I held out my pinky on the hand that wasn't bleeding.
"Our secret." He whispered back, hooking his finger on mine. His eyes drifted shut again, that's when my dad re-entered the room.
I stood up, turning around to grab the medical bag from his hand, but he swiped it away from me. "Let me do this." He had changed into his pajamas, it seemed he had only made it halfway through a shower before my scream happened. He pulled me over to the formal dining room, which we only used for birthdays and holidays, and started taking a look at my hand. About ten minutes later I had a thick bandage and a lot of medical tape wrapped around my hand.
"Do you think I'll get a cool scar?"
"Arabella."
"I hope it looks like something."
"Please."
"Like Harry Potter has his lightning bolt, I get a sword shape?"
"I… what?"
"Admit it. Sword scar sounds cool." I raised my brow.
"What am I going to do with you child?"
"Good question." I jumped up and grabbed my phone. "I'll call Billy and let him know we found Sam, you call Charlie and call off the search parties?"
"I just wanna know why the boy was naked."
"I don't know, maybe something happened to his clothes and it was better none then the tatters." I shrugged, pulling my phone up.
"Well we are going to have to take him to the hospital and then to the sheriffs station to get the story straight. He was missing for two days. We called in the FBI task force." My dad was shaking his head, he already had his phone out, but I started to panic. Sam can't go to the hospital, what if they realize he is a little more than human? I tried to calm myself but it wasn't working, my fear was ramping up, I felt it like a fire in me, burning in my mouth like silver. I crashed back in the chair next to him and grabbed his arm instinctively.
"No dad. He's fine."
"Ara?" My dad looked up into my eyes, and I felt a hold form, not a physical one, but one I had felt before.
"Just say he turned up fine and admitted to blowing off steam in the woods after that fight with Leah. He's okay and didn't realize how long he had been gone. He's so sorry." The words tumbled from my mouth, and my dad's eyes glazed over as he nodded. "He's crashing on our couch tonight and we are taking him home in the morning. Tell the FBI it was a false alarm. Not a kidnapping." I couldn't stop the tone in my voice, I just kept giving him commands. "Just do that and go to bed." When I broke my hold finally I jumped up from the chair. I wasn't sure what broke my heart more, that I couldn't control this strange power, or watching my dad do everything I just said.
I left the room, walking back into the living room in a daze, and I saw Sam's eyes watching me curiously. "Our little secret." He said with a half hearted smile.
"Thank you." I whispered back, finally hitting Billy's number on my phone, three rings and he answered. "We found Sam. He's safe. He's going to sleep on our couch tonight, I'll get him-"
"We can pick him up in the morning, Ara, don't worry." Billy interrupted me.
"Okay… anyways… bring a change of clothes for him will you?" As I spoke my father walked to his room, still in a daze, he must have been done on the phone with Charlie.
"I will. It will be Harry and I showing up in the truck. Should be there around noon." Billy said gruffly.
"Sounds good."
"See you then." And the call went dead. I looked at Sam to relay the information, but he nodded, already knowing. I heard my fathers bedroom door shut, and I knew he must already be asleep in there.
"You're pretty good with weird then… huh." Sam said, sitting up slightly before remembering he was completely naked.
"Hang on, I'll grab you some pajamas." I dashed up the stairs and into my room, I grabbed my own pajamas and changed into them. It was just shorts and a hoodie, but it was the most comfortable thing in the world to me. I began to scour my room for something that would fit him. Oversized sweatpants, that also happened to say Juicy on the butt, seemed to be the only thing that would fit him that weren't my dads, and something felt wrong about offering up my dad's clothes without his permission. I searched for a shirt, and landed on a large billowy kimono designed for summer, it would at least give him a little sense of privacy. I went back down the stairs, texting Edward that my window was open but I wouldn't be going up to my room until later in the night. "Okay. This is the best I can offer you." I held the combo out to him, fully aware of how ridiculous it looked. He raised his eyebrow and took the folded clothes hesitantly. "I'm going to go into the kitchen. Do you want any food?"
His eyes seemed to glisten as he heard my question. "I'm starving. Anything you got, I'll eat it." He smiled at me, seemingly grateful for the offer.
"Okay. I will see what I can whip up." I left him to get dressed, and began pulling things from the fridge. We had leftovers for days, seeing as I was cooking for only myself for the past two. I pulled out burgers, buns, and all the fixings. I grabbed a cookie sheet as well and threw some fries from the bag in the freezer onto it, then snagged up a couple plates. Just as I turned to check on Sam, I saw him poke his head through the door.
"This smells amazing." He looked ravenously around the kitchen at the spread of food.
"Fries are cooking, and I was just about to pull out the soda." My stomach threw a large growl. "I was in the mood for some more burgers, Jake cooked some today." I began to heat the burgers on the stove, smiling as Sam jumped to sit on the counter next to me. "Does… Leah…?"
"Know?" He asked as he plucked a cookie out of the jar on the top of the fridge next to him. "No. Nobody does. This is the longest I've been gone for." He sounded sad, almost regretful.
"Wait… how long have you…?"
"Been able to change into a huge scary wolf thing? Since about September. Why?"
"And you haven't told anyone!"
"No?" He laughed and watched me flip the burgers, if I wasn't mistaken I'm sure he would eat them raw and lick the pan too.
"I mean. I sort of get it though. How do you tell people the amazing things you can do or know about without sounding crazy?" As I spoke my phone gave a hard ping and Sam glanced down.
"Edward Cullen?" His eyes flashed back up to mine.
"Yeah. He's my… boyfriend."
"Oh…"
"What?"
"Well… I guess it doesn't hurt to tell you. Have you noticed the Cullen's don't come to the reservation?" He said hesitantly as I slid the burgers onto the bottom buns and tossed the cheese onto them. I handed him his plate, letting him have free reign to dress it how he pleased.
"I guess I've noticed… yeah?"
"Well there is this old story. They told us right before school started back up. It's about the cold ones." He laughed and slid off the counter. Meanwhile I froze, my hand on the oven handle. "I didn't believe it then, but now? Who knows." He launched into the story of the Cold Ones and the treaty they created with the tribe.
"Oh…" I finally said, mustering the courage to pull the oven door open to let the fries out so they didn't burn.
"Yeah. I thought it was crazy and the Elders just really hated them… now? I don't know." Sam shrugged and started picking hot fries off the pan and dipping them in his ketchup he had made a pile of on the side of his plate.
"Oh my god! You're gonna burn your tongue!"
"Nope." He said triumphantly as he threw the fries back.
"Show off." I grumbled and grabbed a few scoops of fries, throwing them onto my plate and making a huge glob of Mayo to dip them in. He slid off the counter and walked over to the fridge to grab the drinks while I put the plates on the table. That's when the clothes he was wearing actually hit me, and I found myself uncontrollably laughing. The sweats that I had to tie the drawstring on looked like they were about to burst at the seam on him, and they ended three inches above the ankle in a flare. The kimono fit him like a normal shirt, and sat open at the front, the colors clashing against each other in a carnival level spectacle. Even worse, the word "Juicy" in its vinyl lettering looked misshapen and sad.
"Oh shut up." He laughed, fully aware of how ridiculous he looked, and set the cans on the table before sitting in the chair himself.
"Okay. So." I cleared my throat and regained my composure. "Why haven't you told anyone about this yet?" We had begun to eat, but I was going to take this opportunity to figure out the secrecy.
"I don't really know… I was actually going to tell Leah, but then she started arguing with me about the fact that I was keeping secrets… I don't know I just kinda snapped?" He looked uncomfortable with the idea. "I mean I really couldn't get out of there fast enough, and I really don't want to hurt Leah. After that first change… everything changed the moment I laid eyes on her the next morning." His breath seemed taken away. "Like the only thing I could think about, the only person I ever want to be around… is Leah." He pushed his long hair behind his ear, the length of his which was significant in comparison to Jake's. Sam's hair nearly reached the small of his back now, where Jake's had only just reached his past pits.
"I get it… kinda? I don't know. Maybe I'm still too young to understand that. You do have two years on me." I pointed out.
"Year and a half… but yeah." He laughed and shook his head. "So. This Cullen boy." He smirked at me, and suddenly I remembered I had gotten a text from him.
"Oh yeah!" I grabbed my phone by tipping my chair backwards until I could reach the counter, snagging it up and tipping back to the table. "Anyways, go on."
"Is he treating you well?"
"My my! Sam Uley! Being an older brother, are we?"
"My my!" Sam repeated in a mocking tone. "Arabella Jacks! Avoiding the question, are we!?"
"He treats me well enough, it's a new relationship and Edward is… different." I was hesitant to say the word, unsure of what I could reveal.
"Oh?" He froze, his eyes shifting from the burger hovering before his face, trapped in his massive hands, to my nervous eyes.
"Uh…" I ignored his gaze and instead flipped my attention to my phone screen.
"Wait." He dropped the burger and grabbed my wrist.
"No." I chuckled and opened Edward's text, he was confused and wanted to know why my house smelled like blood.
"Ara?" He shook my hand to break my gaze on my phone.
"Yes…?" I pulled my eyes away from the screen. Edward must be outside… shit.
"It isn't true is it?" His words had more conviction than I had left even in my pinky.
"What's not true?" I tried to use my wit to get out of this, knowing I couldn't use my mysterious abilities so soon after using them on my father. Surely I would pass out from the exhaustion after it made me this hungry.
"The story." Sam seemed like he was getting aggravated that I was avoiding the questions.
"What story?" I played it off again, locking and dropping my phone.
"The cold ones story!" If Edward didn't know I had a werewolf in my kitchen before, he absolutely had the proof now.
"I don't know what you are talking about!" I lied.
"It is true!" He concluded, jumping up from the chair and sending it toppling to its back.
"Sam!" I jumped from my chair, I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I didn't want him to leave.
"No Ara if it's true you're in danger!" He seemed angry, like I had personally disappointed him.
"I'm really not!"
"Ara! Why are you so careless with your life!"
"Careless with my life!?"
"You didn't even try to run from me when you saw me like… like that!"
"So! That doesn't make me careless! I knew it was you!"
"Ara you can't be serious!"
"I'm deadly serious Sam!"
"Is it all true then? Even the part where they won't hurt humans?" His words felt so angry yet so concerned at the same time.
"Yes! I swear!" At that moment my hand shot up to my mouth and I bit hard on my tongue.
What had I just done?