Chapter 22

"I motherfucker kill you if you touch her again," Paul spat and pushed a terrified-looking man up to the wall. He was just about to punch the fucker when he heard Bella shouting: "Paul, stop!"

He stopped. But he couldn't control himself, so he left the bookshop and punched the tree behind the building instead. Fuck, that hurt.

With Bella, he was on edge all the time. Men were all over her wherever she went. Like this little shit just now. He had asked Bella about some book, and when Bella had shown him the book, he had made a pass on her, leaning over her shoulder and sniffing her hair and touching her waist. Fucking wanker.

He tried to control himself; he really did. But it was fucking hard.

After nearly getting into a fight with that Young prick, the situation that had scared Bella, Bella, and Paul had had a long discussion about his anger issues and his inability to control them. He told her that he had, in fact, been working on his anger for over a decade, and most of the time, he was able to control it if he wanted to.

But these feelings he had now were so new to him, like being in love and wanting to protect something he loved, were damn overwhelming. It was against his instincts not to react when someone touched her. And if he was perfectly honest, he wanted to hurt anybody who touched her. Yep, he was a very possessive fucker.

So yes, they've talked, Bella had understood, and Paul had promised to try his best. But it was the first fucker who had grabbed Bella's ass in front of him and got himself knocked to the ground. When it came to Bella, instincts kicked in quickly and probably too easily.

That fucking prick had hugged Bella and slid his hand over Bella's ass. That shit had happened under his eyes. He had lost it and punched him. It was a very light punch and not meant to hurt necessarily, just to give that asshole a little wake-up call where to keep his hands.

But the sloppy fucker went down. And Bella had gotten mad.

She had said to him that he shouldn't hit people and how she could take care of herself. Like the fuck he cared. No one touched his woman like that. She had made sure the guy he had hit was ok, which made him mad. It had been their first fight.

He had left her with her friend and that fucking prick and driven off feeling like the fucking asshole he was, but his pride, stupid macho ego stopped him from turning around and going back to her. He had felt ashamed too. He was a fucking prick.

She hadn't come after him, which he hadn't expected her to do either, and he had to swallow his pride and shame to go to her. Not that he fucking cared about his fucking pride; he had been unable to stay away from her after their fight. He had driven to her house and texted her he was sitting on her front porch, hoping to talk with her. Bella had come out, and they had sat on the stairs for a long time and talked. That had been a week ago. And now he was in this same shit again.

He had worked with his anger issues constantly when he was younger. Mommy Holly had put him with a martial arts teacher called Kai, who helped him control his anger. Kai had taught him that anger was a normal and healthy emotion. It just had to be channeled in the right way. And punching some fucker for touching Bella probably wasn't the right way, but goddamn like he could help it. No one fucking touched his woman.

He could feel his anger rising again. His hand hurt, and he was so pissed. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing like Kai had taught him to do when he was close to losing his shit. Just breath slowly in, slowly out, just breath!

Inhaling deeply, he squatted against the wall and closed his eyes.

A few minutes passed, and then he heard Bella coming after him.

"Paul, where are you?" She came around the corner.

"Oh, baby, what did you do to yourself?" She came to him, kneeling facing him. She took a tissue from her bag, patted the cuts on his knuckles, and talked. He knew what was coming.

"Now, Paul Jerome Lahote, you listen to me, and you listen to me good. You can't go lashing out and hitting every guy that as much as peeks at me or even when they try to make a pass on me or touch me. You can get into serious trouble if you hurt someone badly. You are very strong, baby, and you can do some serious damage if you can't control yourself."

She took another tissue and pressed it against his knuckles, and the bleeding stopped.

He felt like a child whose mother was scolding him for fucking up. Not that he would know, mum abandoning and shit. But yeah, she sounded like mommy Holly using his second name and all. He felt his throat tightening. Would he never get over her death?

"What if we make a deal that I'll tell you when I feel threatened, and then you can do your thing. Hmm? Would that suit you?"

Paul nodded. He bowed his head and rubbed his face. He didn't know how to control his instincts. When it came to Bella, he just couldn't reason at all; it was all a big emotional jumble that led him into these fucked up situations.

Bella took his both hands into hers.

"You have to trust me. I'm not interested in anybody other than you. I don't want to be with anybody other than you. You are all I want." She tried to catch his eyes, leaning towards him. Paul felt ashamed and didn't look at her.

She continued: "And you have to trust yourself. Trust that you are a great guy, trust that you are worth all the love you are getting, and trust that you are enough. You ARE enough and so much more." Bella cupped her hands around his head and kissed him lightly with a lingering kiss. Paul turned his eyes to meet Bella's worried eyes.

"And more than anything, you have to trust us, and oh boy, we need all the trust we can muster. It will be hard when I leave for college, and I can't control how other people behave around me. You have my word that I won't let anybody treat me badly. If someone does, I'll call you, and then you can come and kick some ass.

Paul bowed his head again.

"Hey honey, look at me. I (kiss) love (kiss) you (kiss) Paul (kiss) Jerome (kiss) Lahote."

"Oh yeah?" Paul breathed into Bella's lips.

"Oh yeah," Bella answered.

"You are cute, you are a cuddler, you have a big heart, you are smart, you are interested in the things that are important to me, you are the sexiest guy I've ever met, you make kick-ass food, you are an amazing lover, my pussy loves your dick. God, I love your dick," Bella whispered and sucked his earring into her mouth. He shivered all over.

"Damn woman, you can't say and do things like that and not get fucked by Paul Jerome Lahote," Paul groaned and got up, dragging Bella with him. He pushed her against the wall as his lisp crushed on Bella's, and he pulled Bella's shorts and panties away with one jerk.

Bella shrieked in surprise, "oh, Paul, we can't do this here!"

Paul didn't listen. He knelt and kissed her mound and lifted Bella's other leg over his shoulder.

"Paul, I'm serious..."

Bella held his head for balance, and she swayed a bit, scraping his scalp. He saw stars, and he thrust his tongue inside her pussy.

"Oh God, baby. Oh, God. We can't do this here… oh god… what if…" Bella never finished but moaned loudly as Paul thrust two fingers inside her and started pumping.

"Yes, we can, and we will," he said. He licked her wet folds and pumped his fingers into her until he was sure Bella would be ready for him and got up.

"Shit Paul this is so hot," Bella whispered huskily and trashed his mouth with hers tasting herself on his lips.

"My girl has a kinky side," Paul panted, and he lifted her against the wall, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Paul entered her in one firm thrust, balls deep.

"Ahhh ..." They both moaned.

Paul moved his unharmed hand behind Bella's back to cushion it against the hard wall and his bruised one on her waist. Bella clung onto him when Paul began to thrust powerfully into her wet, tight heat. His balls were slapping against her ass, and he bit his lip to keep himself quiet.

"Fuck I love you!" Paul grunted and thrust harder and harder. Bella bit his shoulder to keep her from screaming. He knew she loved it rough. She would be pretty vocal if they'd been at his place by now.

Paul slowed his pace a little and lowered his head, and he whispered into her ear.

"And (thrust) I. (thrust) Love.(thrust) To. (thrust) Fuck.(thrust) You," he panted, twisting his hips and latching his mouth to Bella's neck. Then he pushed his hand between their bodies, feeling his length sliding in and out, and then he pinched Bella's slick bud and sped up again, slamming into her.

"Come for me, baby! Come with me!"

Bella's pussy started to suck him, and she clenched around him.

"oh God, Paul …" Bella arched her back, her eyes squeezed closed tightly, and bit her lip. Jesus, that sight was so sexy.

His release wasn't far away, he swiveled his hips and pounded into her a few more times, and he came deep inside of her, shaking, grunting, and sweating. They kissed hard to muffle the sounds that would have otherwise escaped their mouths.

Then they rested their foreheads against one another, panting heavily.

"Jesus, woman I love you!"

"I love you too, so very much."

He slid out of her feeling the loss he always did when leaving her sweet warmth, and helped Bella steady her feet. He felt her legs trembling like he were. He zipped his shorts and grabbed Bella's panties and shorts from the ground.

"Thanks, baby," she thanked him and kissed his cheek.

Bella cleaned herself with the napkins she had in her bag and put on her shorts.

She looked around, looking a bit worried.

"What's wrong, baby?" He pressed her against the wall and nuzzled her neck.

"Do you feel that someone was watching us?" she asked.

"Sorry baby, I was otherwise occupied," he snorted and kissed her neck.

"Yeah, yeah, me too, but I mean after. I'm sure I heard someone moving in the forest just there," Bella said and pointed towards the forest behind the bookshop.

"Well, if there was someone, we gave them a good show," Paul replied and kissed her. He wasn't worried. He felt so good. If there had been someone, it was too late to worry about that now.

"Come on. I need to feed you."

"Yes, and I need to finish my reviews. Peter told me to leave when I rushed after you. You can cook while I write."

"Ok, let's go," Paul said and grabbed Bella's hand. Bella kissed his injured knuckles tenderly.

"What book is it this time? Any good?"

"Another one that is waiting to be finished is called The Farm. The Farm is a place where women, mainly immigrant women, go to serve as surrogates for wealthy couples. It is like a spa in luxurious surroundings, and these women are paid handsomely to give birth to the babies they give away. It is a really interesting concept, and there were some thought-provoking questions and discussions, but I felt that it didn't quite fill the storyline's potential," Bella talked about the book.

"That sounds so fucked up. But there are a lot of women in the world who are used like that, maybe not in luxury spas. Although I, if anybody should know, there are also women who don't give a fuck about their kids. But I really can't understand how anybody can sell their baby."

He enjoyed discussing the books Bella read. He had never been much of a reader himself, but he had read a couple of books Bella had recommended, and he had liked them a lot. Who the fuck would've ever thought Paul Lahote was reading books and enjoying them?

They went to Paul's, and Paul made them quick lentil soup with garlic bread. It was a bit early for dinner, but they were both famished. He had started to make more vegetarian dishes after meeting Bella, and he was getting better at making them so that they tasted good. Bella ate meat a bit more now too, which was great because there were so many good dishes, he wanted to make her. He used local and organic products whenever possible to keep her happy.

After eating, they cleaned the kitchen together, and Bella continued with her writing. Paul gave her a cup of fresh coffee and sighed. He fucking sighed like a girl. It all was pretty domesticated, and Paul fucking loved it.

He heard Bella's phone buzz on the kitchen counter, and he glanced at it. He froze.

"Who's Edward?"