Cliff Diver || Paul Lahote•Jacob Black/Twilight Fanfiction

Chapter 46

In January 25th, Jared suggested Embry passes the "rite of initiation", as he called it. In truth, they'd only go cliff diving. It was normal for kids to dive from a small cliff, but they did it from the highest one. Renata had only gone cliff diving once before. She had initially been terrified, but Paul had held her hand and they jumped together. It was a fun experience and was excited to do it again.

"I gotta admit it, guys, the tattoo looks badass" Embry said excitedly, flexing his arm to show off his tattoo.

"Yeah, Renata, you really came through with it" Sam praised from the passenger side. Renata laughed and held out one of her hands, receiving four high fives from the others in the truck while keeping one hand on the steering wheel.

"She makes us all look lame, though, with her badass Akbal tattoo on her bicep and the Quileute tattoo on her ribs.

"What? You have two tattoos? I never noticed" Embry asked excitedly.

"Well, I don't exactly go around flashing everyone" Renata laughed, "I'll show it to you when we arrive"

After some minutes, they arrived to a point in the road where they had to park.

"Leave behind anything you don't want ruined by the water" Sam told them.

Renata took out her phone from her back pocket and saw she had about twelve new messages from Jacob. She quickly opened them and saw it was more of the same, him apologising and begging her to talk to him. Renata sighed and shook her head before putting it away. She felt guilty for giving Jacob a cold shoulder, and she knew he apologised already and that he hadn't really meant hurting her, but she just needed some time. She took off the sweatshirt she had been wearing over her short black tank top. After she made sure she had nothing that could be ruined by water, she got off the truck. Paul got down almost at the same time. He quickly took notice of some fading bruises in her arms and pulled her aside.

"What happened to you?" He asked her worriedly. Renata avoided his eye and hid her arms behind her back.

"It's nothing" Renata lied. She had made the impossible and managed to successfully hide her thoughts and memories of what happened with Jacob in the supply room.

"It's not nothing, Renata" Paul said sternly. He sighed, and breathed deeply, trying to keep himself under control, "you have bruises on your arms and thighs, what happened?"

"I appreciate the concern, Paul, but it's nothing" She lied again. Paul heard her heart beat faster, her breath became shallow and short, he wanted to press her on the subject but he knew that if he tried, she'd just close off.

"Renata, believe it or not, I worry about you," he sighed and took one of her hands, he stroked her skin over her bruises, and noticed they looked like hand marks, "and I am not trying to put you down or tell you how to live your life, but if there is something going on with Jacob, you need to tell me, so I can protect you" he said softly.

"I- I-" Renata couldn't bring herself to say what happened out loud, so she lied again, "look, I had sex with Jacob the other day and... you know, things got a little rough and he's getting stronger" Paul didn't exactly believe her but nodded either way.

"I just want you to promise me that if he ever steps over the line, you'll walk away" Paul told her softly. He knew first hand how dangerous abusive relationships were, he had seen his mother be mistreated by his father his whole childhood, and he would hate to see Renata waste away like his mother had.

"I... promise" Renata whispered.

"Are you guys ready?" Embry called. Renata nodded and walked towards the others. Paul subtly told Sam and Jared they had to keep an eye on Jacob and Renata, he had a bad feeling.

They got out of the truck and started walking towards the cliff through the forest. Leah had not been able to come, her father had not been feeling well lately and she decided to stay home and help her mother, so it was just the four boys and Renata for the day.

Exactly two weeks after his first transformation, Embry is cleared out by Sam to go to school but not before he lectured the young boy about the secret. Renata told him that he could still see Jacob and Quil but that he should be extra careful around them, however, Embry decided to keep his distance from them. Embry arrived at school with the rest of the pack, hiding his brand new tattoo under his shirt and jacket. Everyone turned to look at him, and while he felt self conscious, he knew he was not alone, he had his pack around him and that gave him confidence and strength. Jacob and Quil tried to walk up to him but Embry barely acknowledged them while he kept talking with Jared.

"What was that about?" Jacob asked Renata, who had been avoiding him for the past week.

"He's still feeling a little bit under the weather" she said quickly before catching up with the rest.

Jacob noticed she was still avoiding him and it angred him, he knew it was his fault, but he still didn't like that Renata was pushing him away. He hit the lockers in anger, receiving strange looks by everyone around him. Jacob and Quil looked at Jacob's fist, which had deformed the lockers he had hit. Jacob shook his hand with pain before telling Quil they should go to class. Quil had noticed Renata's evasive behaviour as well, and he knew that something bad must have happened for her to be acting that way, she used to smile beamingly when she saw Jacob, but now it was like she was afraid of him. And honestly, Quil couldn't blame Renata, in the past month or so, Jacob's temper had changed drastically, he was angry most of the time, he became violent when angry, his patience was short and became very impulsive.

By the next Friday, Renata decided she had enough, she couldn't keep avoiding Jacob forever. She decided to go to his house after school, and that when she left, they would have either broken up, or talked things through and everything would be back to normal.

Renata wanted to give Jacob a heads up about her going to his house, but he was nowhere to be found when the last bell rang, so she decided she would call him after eating.

She walked towards Paul truck, Embry nodded at her in inquiry, and Renata just shook her head and dismissed it with her hand. Embry opened his arms towards her and she accepted his embrace. He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back affectively.

"I know you didn't ask, Ren, but being in a relationship is supposed to make you happy" Embry told her softly, she nodded and straightened herself.

Paul looked at Embry hugging Renata and kissing her head, and he felt a growl form inside his chest. Jared patted his back to catch his attention.

"Come on, man, let's get inside the truck" Jared told him with a sad smile. He looked at his friend, understanding what he felt.

The ride to Emily's was silent. Once there, Paul opened Renata's door, she had fallen asleep on the short way home. He carefully undid her seat belt and carefully picked her up. Embry offered him help, but one look from Paul was enough to make him lower his head and take a step back. Paul took Renata to her room and placed her softly in her bed. He looked at her sleeping form and brushed her dark curls away from her face before going out and closing the door behind him.

Hours later, Renata's rumbling stomach woke her up from her slumber. She didn't remember getting to her bed, so she assumed Jared or Sam had carried her to her room. She straightened her clothes and went out of her room, to find the guys and Emily each doing their own stuff.

"Hey, Paul" Renata said while yawning, he took his eyes briefly off the videogame he was playing with Embry, "can I use your truck?"

"Sure, just fill her up if it's under half a tank"

Before getting on Paul's truck to go to Jacob's house, Renata dialled his phone number. It was the first time she called him since that day, so she kind of expected him to pick up immediately, yet, he didn't. It rung several times before going to voicemail, so she hung up and called again. This time, it rung three times before he picked up.

"Hello," he said dryly.

"Hey, Jake, I- uhm, I wanted to talk so I was wondering if you were home" Renata told him nervously.

"Yeah, we need to talk. But, uh- I'm not currently at home. If you come in around an hour, I should be there by then" he sounded distracted.

"Sure, I'll see you in an hour, then"