A F T E R D A R K | PAUL LAHOTE - 1

28

I chased after Alice through the parking lot, calling her name to get her attention. It was Jasper who turned around first and seeing me running after them he stopped, stopping Alice by their intertwined hands.

I caught up to them panting. I wasn't the fittest of people at the minute given I only got the all clear to start running again three days ago. I exhaled deeply, putting my hands on my knees and attempting to regain my breath.

I straightened after a few minutes, "Jesus."

Alice rose a brow, "You okay? You're a bit out of breath."

"Yeah." I murmured, fanning myself with my hand, "Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Alice."

She smiled, "Sorry."

"No, it's fine." I told her, "I actually wanted to talk to you about earlier."

Her facial expression changed immediately, "Sophia—"

"—Alice please!" I pleaded, "The way Edward was looking at me, I dunno, I'm just getting a bad vibe about all this."

She glanced around before looking back at me, most likely looking for Paul's brown pick-up truck, "It was nothing."

"So it wasn't of Victoria?" I questioned.

"No, I didn't say that—"

"—So it was." I challenged while raising a brow. She stayed silent and I whined, grasping on to her cold hand, "Alice please, I'm desperate." I told her, "I need to know if you've seen her."

She slid her hand out of mine and instead rubbed my upper arm comfortingly, "It's fine, Sophia." She told me, "You'll be safe as long as we're around."

I chewed on my bottom lip as a response. The sound of a horn beeping caught my attention and I turned back on myself to see where it was coming from. Across the parking lot Paul was sat inside his truck, grinning at me out of his open window. I pursed my lips and turned back to Alice, "I'll catch you guys later."

"Bye Sophia." Alice said at the same time Jasper said 'goodbye'. I turned away from them and walked to the familiar truck, forcing a smile on my face as I climbed in the passenger seat.

Paul leaned over and kissed me before pulling away skeptically, "Something wrong?"

"No." I told him, leaning my head on the window, "Yes.. I don't know."

"What's wrong?"

"It's just been a crazy day." I grumbled, running my hands over my makeup free face, "Alice had another vision."

"Did she tell you what it was about?" I shook my head and heard Paul sigh, "It's okay, Soph, for as long as I'm here you're safe."

I nodded as he drove out of the parking lot but his words didn't convince me. They didn't aid the sickening feeling in my stomach. For as long as Victoria was around I wasn't safe.

* * *

As Paul pulled into the station parking lot Edward was pulling out and I couldn't of been more relieved. The last thing I needed to deal with was the tension between the two supernatural creatures and I didn't honestly believe Paul would be able to control himself if Edward made a snide remark.

Charlie and Bella were hanging out by the entrance to the station waiting for me and Paul stopped in front of them. He leaned over the centre console to kiss my forehead as I unbuckled myself, "Call me when you're home." He said, "I might be able to stop by."

I gave him a closed mouthed smile, holding the door handle, "All right."

"See you later, Soph."