Blood Moon (Paul Lahote)

Twenty One: The Punch

"Are you sure?" He boomed. I nodded my head, before realizing that he can't see me through the phone. I shook myself off before answering.

"Positive. Dr.Cullen and his wife visited me just now." I affirmed, trying to hide the fear inside my throat that was crawling up to my mouth. It was silent for a second before he continued.

"I'll have someone come watch your house tonight. Rather be safe than sorry." He insisted, knowing I would probably decline. "Be careful." Then he hung up. I hear another knock on the door and head down the stairs to answer it. Cam stood at the door with his hands in his pockets. I sighed and let him in, still startled by my account with the Cullens. He's the only one of my friends who still knocks before they walk into my house.

"You okay?" He asked as he stepped into the house. "You look a little pale." I shook my head.

"I'm fine." I answer plainly. He dives onto the couch and turns on the game while I go to the kitchen to get us some snacks. I walk back to the couch and he's found the right channel when I get there. Just his presence being there was making me feel better. I thought about inviting the boys over, but Victoria is still in town to they're probably on patrol.

It was halftime and we were watching commercials when I remembered what Sunny had said about Paul and how everyone thought we were a thing. I don't want Paul getting the wrong idea and I know exactly how to clear things up.

"Hey, Cam?" I ask and he hums at me, watching the commercials. Will you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?" He agreed. I hesitated for a second before explaining.

"There's this rumor that's going around," I began. "about me being with this guy Paul, and I was wondering.... If you would give me a hickey?" He snapped his head towards me.

"The fuck? I'm not doing that shit." He objected while giving me a look.

"Pussy." I sighed and leaned back on the couch, knowing that would convince him.

"Alright I'll do it." He groaned and scooted closer to me. The halftime commercials were still on. "Where at?" He asked and I pointed to the side of my neck, a little above my shirt line so that I could hide it with a hoodie when I needed to. He leaned closer to me, to were I could feel his breath on my neck. He let out a chuckle and I flinched away from him. "Sorry." He laughed. "It's just awkward!"

"I know!" I agreed. I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest and closed my eyes and steadied my breathing. I felt his breath on my neck before his lips pressed up against my neck and he began sucking. Butterflies grew in my stomach even though I don't have feelings for Cam, it felt good. I hopped away from him. "That's good." I hadn't noticed that my breathing grew faster. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." He says as he leans back and throws a chip into his mouth. Luckily the game came back on just in time. So we didn't have to awkwardly watch commercials.

Third quarter ended and I went upstairs to use the bathroom. While I was washing my hands I hear knocking on the door. I hurried downstairs to answer it but Cam was already in the doorway talking to whoever was on the other side. He turned around to look at me.

"Some dude is at the door for you, Cay." Cam says, leaning on the wall. I covered my hickey with my hair and pushed him out of the way. I assumed he was talking about Em or Ateara, but my enthusiasm quickly faded into annoyance when I realized it was Paul.

"Who is that?" Paul asks, nodding to Cam.

"A friend. What do you want?" I snarled. His eyebrow flinched and he stiffened. He looked taken aback, almost hurt, by my tone of voice. Then he stood straighter and cleared his voice, sticking his chest out and revealing his toned muscles through his shirt.

"Sam sent us to check on you." He answered. He was the only one on the porch, I looked around and saw Jake's rabbit, halfway hidden by Bella's rust bucket. I think they might have done that on purpose, I don't doubt that they're listening in on us right now.

"I already told Sam that I'm fine." I assure him and start to close the door. He stops me and takes a step inside the house.

"Are you sure?" He worries. "Sam said you sounded pretty startled on the phone." Something about his tone of voice made me calm down a little, he sounded like he truly cared.

"Positive." I say and give him a small grin. "We were just watching the game. You guys can stay if you want." As soon as I say that I hear doors opening and shutting and I smile. I open the door for Paul to step in, the wind kicks up a little and my hair loses it resting place on my shoulder and flies behind neck. I thought it would be a good thing at first, to clear things up between Paul and I, but the pure anger on his face couldn't disagree with me more.

"What is that?" Paul demanded. I quickly covered my head with my hood and Cam and I exchanged a look of concern. Before I knew what had happened Paul had Cam up against the wall and threw a single punch before the boys ran me over to hold him back. Cam was bent over, holding his mouth with his hand.

"Stupid fucking injun." Cam curses through his hand and stops my whole world.

My heart sunk to the ground.

The word hit me like a boulder, I can't believe what I just heard. My best friend, someone who knew the things that angry fans would spew at me from the stands, would ever say that.

I just stood there for a second for him to look up at me. My body stiff and my eyes holding back tears. He finally looked up after what felt like a billion seconds, his eyes wide with realization at what he just said. He tried to open his mouth to say something but I stopped him.

"Get out!" I yell at Cam, and he stumbles through the open door. As soon as he leaves and I close the door Paul's snarling starts to quiet down. I look over to him and he has a look of remorse on his face. The wall where Paul punched him has blood splattered all over it, luckily missing the coat rack. The trail of blood goes all the way to the floor and out the door.

"Shall we finish the game?" Em asks and I nod my head. While they settle in I wet a washcloth from the kitchen and grab an ice pack for Paul's hand. I walk to the living room and throw the wet wash cloth at Paul, whose sitting on the couch in between Jake and Ateara, Em on the other side of him. I threw it hard and fast enough so that it would hit Paul in the face but he caught it midair, his knuckles already forming bruises. I sit down in the recliner before saying,

"Go clean up his blood." I order and he groans before standing up and heading back to the door. As Paul cleans up Cam's blood I sit back in the chair with my hood still up and try to watch the game while suppressing my tears so that I look normal. When Paul comes back from cleaning up I hand him the ice pack. Soon the game ends and they turn on another show. It grows quiet before I speak up.

"I wanna smoke." I say out loud. And all eyes flash towards me, Em with a huge grin on his face and Jake nods his head.

"How much time do we have before your Dad gets home?" Em asks. I check the time.

"About two hours, give or take." I answer. "He said he's going to stay late and catch up on paperwork."

"I know a guy in town." He grins. "You got money?"

"Of course you do." I joke as I stand up and stretch. "And yeah let me go grab it." I rush to my room and grab the money by my night stand. He let me keep the extra money from my homecoming dress. I head downstairs and the boys are ready to head out and I realize that I don't even have shoes on. Em comes up to me and holds his hand out for my money. "Buy me a half. And some papers." I add and hand him the money. "Let me go get my shoes on real quick." I head upstairs but by the time I get back down they've already left and Paul is the only one in the living room. I've tried not to think about him that much since it'll just confuse me. I'm glad that Paul punched him now, but that's only because of what he said afterwards. I just need to know why Paul punched him in the first place, and why everyone thinks that we're together.

"We need to talk." He says and sits on the couch.

"Yeah, we do." I say and take a seat next to him.

Been a fat min since I've posted, 10 votes for this chapter then I'll post the next one ❤️