Can't Help but Love You *Paul Lahote Story*

Chapter Seven

   - Jacob -

I hated seeing Patricia like this! She was my best friend and all these guys were screwing up her life and I couldn't do anything about it unless I murdered one when I was a werewolf and plus, I couldn't kill Paul since he was like my brother. I sighed as I out my face into my hands and I knew everyone was staring at me since we were sitting at Sam's kitchen table and everyone was here except for Brady and Collin. Paul sat next to me on my left and Jared on my right and Quil and Embry across from me with Sam and Emily at the sink, making breakfast. 

"You okay, Jake?" Embry said as he took a sip of his orange juice and I smiled because I couldn't take him seriously when he was drinking orange juice. 

"Yeah, Em. I'm good." Emily came over to us and set down a plate piled high with all kinds of muffins. Banana, blueberry, chocolate chip, and raisin. I grabbed a banana one which made me think of Patricia because she loved these. Ugh! 

"Patricia!" Sam yelled and I heard a thump from upstairs which meant she fell off her bed and I chuckled, so did Jared and Quil. "Breakfast!" Sam yelled again and there was stomping feet signaling that Tricia wanted Sam to shut up now and that just made me burst out laughing and for some reason, I looked over at Paul and he wasn't laughing or smiling. He was frowning and staring at his blueberry muffin with an intense glare. 

Patricia clambered down the stairs and rounded the corner and I couldn't help but notice how cute she looked in her sweats and a loose but appropriate purple tank top since she was around a lot of guys and her beautiful dark brown hair was up on the top of her head in a messy bun. It was kind of a turn on -

What the hell?! This is my best friend I'm talking about! Why am I saying these things at all when I've seen her naked before when she was about twelve and I was thirteen. She's been my best friend ever since I was a little boy and she was a little girl and I couldn't behave like this when she already was dating Jesse and Paul had imprinted on her but she sure as hell didn't know the last one, right? 

I cleared my throat and looked down at my lap so I'd stop staring at Patricia. She was my best friend and if I didn't get these sort of thoughts out of my head, I'd ruin our relationship. 

"Hey Jakie." Patricia said as she grabbed a banana muffin and then moved my arms out of the way as she sat down on my lap which made everything worse. I sighed and wrapped my arms around her so she wouldn't fall off of my lap and she smiled, kissing my cheek. 

"Hey beautiful." I said and she grinned at me. No hint of a blush or anything so she must not feel the same way as me right now. 

Patricia ate her muffin in silence and so did everyone else and I couldn't stand it so I pressed my mouth against Tricia's ear and whispered, "Awkward silence." she erupted into giggles and wrapped her right arm around my neck as she finished off her muffin and reached for another one but she couldn't reach it so Paul was about to grab her one but she looked over at Jared and I knew what she was going to say. 

"Jared? Mind getting me another muffin?" she asked and I kind of felt bad for Paul. That was really mean of Patricia to do that to him even after what he did. Jared raised his eyebrows, but still grabbed a muffin for her and handed it to her and she have him a smile as she took it out of his hand. I glanced at Paul out of the corner of my eye and his eyes were watering a little. Man, I felt bad for him. 

Patricia leaned back into my arms as she continued to eat her muffin and I couldn't help but remember how I was turned on when she had come down here which made me start to freak out. She looked over at me and smiled with that special twinkle in her eye and I couldn't stand it anymore. 

"Tricia, I have to go." I said and she opened her mouth to speak but then just shut up and stood up and then took my hands and helped me up. She pressed her lips against my cheek yet again and my hair stood up as I felt the prickle of electricity through us, she probably didn't feel it though. 

"Bye Jake." 

She let go of me and I headed towards the front door and mumbled low enough so no one would hear me, "Bye Beautiful."

- Patricia - 

I watched Jake leave and I was pretty said because I didn't think he had anything to do at nine in the morning, but he wouldn't pretend to have something to do to ignore me, right? I signed and turned back to the table but then I noticed that Paul was staring at me and I just couldn't take it. I groaned as I turned around and jogged to the front door as I flung it open and ran outside, barefoot. I knew Paul would follow after me but I just couldn't handle him right now, so I ran into the woods. I ran faster and faster wanting to phase but I stayed human as I jumped over logs and dodged trees and when I smelled the ocean I knew I had reached the beach and I slowed down to a walk. 

Paul was a mile behind me and I could hear him taking deep breaths as he picked up his speed and the next thing I knew, he was right behind me and that kind of pissed me off even more. 

"Patricia?" 

I slowly turned around and laid my hand on my hip trying to show him that I was sassy but it wasn't working out for me so I just crossed my arms over my chest and raised my eyebrows. Paul fell to the sandy ground and then patted the spot next to him, indicating that he wanted me to sit down next to him. I sighed as I sank down in front of him and crossed my legs Indian style. 

"I'm so sorry, Patricia, and I want you to know that, no, I need you to know that. Patricia, I want us to be like brother and sister again. I want us to spend all the time together like we used to after Jesse left and things were normal. I want everything to go back to normal." he said and when he was down he reached over and grabbed my hands in his and he rubbed the top of my hand with his thumbs. 

"Paul don't." I whispered and Paul's face literally fell and he quickly released my hands as he cleared his throat, running his fingers through his hair. 

"Oh okay."

"Paul its not you." I said but Paul waved me away and I wouldn't take that right now, my heart was already spit in half as it was. I got up on to my knees and took Paul's hands in mine and I said his name again. He looked up at me and I gave him a small smile. 

"Paul, its just that things aren't going to go back to normal. I'm dating Jesse now and he's not leaving this time. We've already talked about this and Jesse's thinking of getting his own place and us living together." 

That was the wrong thing to say apparently because he looked up at me and gaped as he ripped his hands away from me and he scooted back so he wasn't so close to me. 

"Your kidding right?" 

"No, Paul. I'm serious." 

Paul shook his head and stood up, not believing what I had told him and I felt so bad for hurting him like this but it had to be done. I helped myself up since asking Paul was out of the question and I tried to grab his elbow but he shook me off and paced back and forth in front of me with his forehead wrinkled up as he kept on thinking about something. 

Then he finally talked to me. 

"Your insane, Patricia." he said and I don't believe I heard him right. "Jesse raped you. Do you not understand what that means? He forced you to have sex with him against your own will and now your just going to let him back into your life! Your fucking insane." he snapped at me and I couldn't believe for even a second, I was going to try and make things better between us. I gaped at him and when he tried speaking again, I slapped him. Yup, my hand connected with his face and he let out a yelp as his head moved to the side and when I my hand went back down to my side, he had a hand print. 

I couldn't take any more of nonsense, so I glared at him one more time and then stormed down the beach, farther and farther away from Paul but then he shouted something at me and I don't think I heard him correctly. 

"Patricia, I imprinted on you!"