Between (Paul Lahote)

Part 14

After Jake had called the Pack, he led us to the Swan's house down in Forks. We all shifted back into our human forms but stayed in the forest as Jake went into the house to inspect it. Even from this distance, I could smell the stink of the blood sucker that had entered into the house and subconsciously found myself inching closer to Paul.

The new scent was different from the sickly sweet of the Red Head, it was shaper and more like bleach. It was disgusting. It also seemed to be headed South, opposite the Red Head's normal northern path. Paul eventually noticed how close I was standing to him and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me flush against his chest, with a satisfied smirk.

"Whoever it was, he left his stink behind," Jake said, exiting Bella's house. "It'll be hard to miss when we cross it again. We'll handle it from here."

"We don't need you to handle anything," Edward said, glancing at the trees to where we were standing for a moment. "Or anyone."

"I could care less what you need."

"Alright, we're done here," Edward snarled.

"No, you're done here."

"Stop, I'm tired of this. From now on, I'm Switzerland, okay?" Bella cried. I rolled my eyes. Of course, my brother would call us together for Bella. She had already come up with a protection detail, that involved us swapping places in the middle of the night for the Cullen's to hunt. Much to everyone's displeasure, Jake had already agreed to the plan for all of us. We had already been running extra patrol shifts, but adding an additional night to watch his precious Bella... I could almost feel the anger radiating off of Paul when Sam announced the first shift would be him and Jake.

***

"If we didn't have to protect your precious Leech Lover, we could be at home right now," Paul repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time. He growled in his head and I could feel the tension growing between the two. Paul had been on edge since last night, especially when it came to my brother.

"So, you could be at home with my sister? Yeah, I don't think so," Jake grumbled back.

"What did you say??" Paul roared. "The only reason we are here is because you have a little crush. You didn't even imprint on her."

"Paul, c'mon," I sighed. While he and Jake were watching over Bella's house, Embry and I were running patrol on the reservation. Paul whined, his thoughts growing silent for a moment, until memories of our last night together flashed into the mind link.

"Woah, Paul," Embry exclaimed. "I don't think we should be seeing that..." Paul's thoughts immediately stopped. I didn't hear what happened afterwards, because I shifted back into my human form, changed into my spare set of clothes, and ran back home. I was so embarrassed. I couldn't believe Paul would think about our private moments in front of the others. I nearly screamed in frustration before opening the front door and slamming it behind me. I ran into my room and wrapped myself in my blankets

I must have fallen asleep. When I woke up, I rolled over and found my phone on the edge of my bed. 7:48 AM. It also displayed that I had 34 missed calls, all from Paul. I rolled my eyes, ignoring the voicemails and messages he had left, and walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning," I muttered to my father. He had a large cup of coffee in front of him and the news was on the television. As usual, they were reporting about the increase of missing people down in Seattle.

"Morning," Dad greeted with a smile. "Paul came by last night, but your brother wouldn't let him into the house. Last I checked, he fell asleep out on the porch." He pointed towards the front door before turning his attention back to the news. I sighed, knowing I would have to deal with it sooner or later and the imprint pull was becoming too strong to ignore.

I creaked open the front door slowly, and sure enough, Paul was lying there on the floor. His back was against the wall and his neck was craned awkwardly against his left shoulder. His arms were folded across his chest, that gently rose and fell every few moments.

"Jace..... cey" Paul mumbled in his sleep, adjusting his head. He looked so peaceful, I just wanted to cuddle with him in bed until I remembered what happened last night.

"Paul," I murmured, shaking Paul's arm. He grunted but didn't wake up. "Paul," I said louder. Still, no response. "This is impossible," I groaned out loud. Maybe I should get a bucket of water?

"A kiss might work," Paul said suddenly. I looked over to see his eyes were opened and looking straight at me with a smug grin across his face.

"No way. I'm still mad at you."

"Jacey, I'm sorry," Paul said quietly, grabbing my hand. As angry as I felt, I didn't let go and sat down beside him. I looked down silently at our entwined hands for a few moments before breaking the silence.

"You know, calling 34 times is pretty excessive..."

"If your stupid brother let me in-"

"Hey, only I can call my brother stupid." Paul rolled his eyes at me.

"I slept outside last night. I think it was well deserved," he sighed, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "Baby, I'm sorry. I was mad at your brother and shouldn't have brought you into it. Our moments are private, and I promise I will never do it again." Paul gave my hand a tight squeeze, which caused me to look up at him. His face slowly inched closer to mine, until our lips crashed together. I felt his lips turn up into a smile before we pulled slightly away. "Does this mean you forgive me?"

"Yes, I forgive you," I replied. I couldn't help but smile as Paul grinned back at me.

"Great. By the way, Sam and Emily wants us to buy groceries for tonight's bonfire since we left patrol early last night. Your brother is babysitting the Leech Lover. They're coming together."