Falling To The Sun | B. Swan + E. Cullen

dix-sept

It's hot, far too hot, and Roman felt like she was suffocating under that heat. Sweat tickled a path down her neck, moving through her hair. She groaned, pulling her cheek from the burning stone it was resting on.

But it wasn't a stone. It was smooth skin that gave a little under the push of her fingers as she struggled to right herself into a seat position. Each movement made her body scream in protest. She kept at it until she was squinting at Seth's concerned puppy-eyed expression.

Then her mind caught up and she was jerking away, throwing herself to the cold floor as she drew in harsh, shuddery breaths.

She had ditched Marnie in Alaska, somehow found a way home, then showed up at Jacob fucking Black's house a crying mess because she had no clue what else she was supposed to do.

Because of course, she was her own brand of stupid that didn't know how to screw her head on straight after one little thing goes wrong. 

How utterly mortifying!

"Roman! It's okay, you're okay!" Seth kneeling in front of her quicker than she could see. "Just breathe! Deep breath!"

Mimicking his inhales and exhales, she doesn't take her eyes away from her hands as they work open and closed around thin air. He was such a calming presence like solid earth and support.

"What happened?" Embry asks gently. She had forgotten he was there.

Picking at her bottom lip, she tests the words on her tongue, speaking them aloud more for her own benefit than anyone else. "My dad's a vampire."

It breaks them into a controlled sort of chaos that gravitates around her, repelled only by Seth's strong stance at her side.

"Tell us happened, Ro," he prompts and she finally turns to face him. He really did look so much older.

Her thoughts finally catch up to what she must have unintentionally realized and horror washes through her. She couldn't believe that she had missed Seth changing into a werewolf. What sort of person was she to just inconvenience everyone by running off all the time? The must hate her.

"Ro..."

"Marnie took me to Alaska. That's where he's been stationed all this time," she says mechanically. "He was standing casually in the airport with bright red eyes. I left a few hours later. They wanted to play pretend."

"Maybe he just wanted to get to know you!" Seth offers with false optimism. She smiles bitterly at the attempt.

Shaking her head, she bites down bitterly on her lip. "They wanted to turn me into a vampire so that we can all be together as a happy family forever."

Seth trembles, heat around him rising. Uncertainly, she presses a hand on his arm, nervous as he slowly gains control again.

"You didn't stay to be with your family," he whispers, sounding so small and fragile, that Roman throws caution to the wind as she grabs at him, hugging his now much bigger frame tight.

"My family is here. All my important people are here. I wasn't going to be stupid enough to throw all that away for a man that never wanted me," she comforts, carding her fingers through his hair.

He wraps her up in arms too long to match her memories but it's better somehow, an embrace that holds her together.

There's a noise outside and then Jacob is gone, the other two boys bouncing off after him.

Curiously, Roman looked to the open garage door, not quite understanding the way Jacob vaulted to the entrance and his friends lingered not too far behind him by the opening.