Embry's POV
"Do you want to keep talking or do you want to just hang out for a little while and relax?" Quil asked her. I knew she definitely needed it and he must've known too.
"Relaxing would be nice. I should call Charlie and see what time I need to be home first though." She muttered before taking her cell out of her pocket and walking to the front door.
As soon as she was outside on the phone, Quil looked at me.
"Dude, how is this not freaking weird as hell? It should be, right? Like am I going crazy because I don't feel like anything is wrong or what?" Quil asked me.
"Trust me, I get it. It's not weird for me either when I know it should be. You're my best friend, bro. I think we can handle having the same imprint.
Trina seemed okay with it too." I replied.
"But what if it goes further—"
"Then we cross that bridge when we come to it. Everything is at her pace." I continued.
"What about Cullen?" He asked me quietly.
"I'll show you the conversation I had with Trina earlier in the woods about it. I feel like there's more to it, but we can't push her." I told him.
Before he could respond, Trina was walking back in.
"Charlie is staying over at Billy's tonight. He said I could stay over at Jake's with them—" both of us growled, "—but I told him that I'd see if I could stay with Emily instead."
"So you're staying on the res?" Quil asked her excitedly. My wolf was jumping up and down. I hadn't had a full night actually on the res since I'd imprinted on Trina.
"Of course. Now that I actually know it's hard on the both of you for me to live so far away, I told you I'd try to be down here as much as I can." She told us. "Now do either of you know Emily's number?"
"Oh thank the gods." Quil said, releasing a breath.
I gave her Emily's number and she called. I knew Emily would be more than happy to say yes, and she did.
We legit just hung out for a while, talking and joking like nothing had changed. It was nice, seeing Bella happy like that, especially when it was us that were the source of her happiness.
Quil eventually put a movie in at Trina's insistence and she sat curled up in between us as we watched it. About half-way through the movie, she fell asleep resting her head on my shoulder.
"Should we wake her up?" Quil asked me, too low for it to wake Trina up.
"She's had a long day, bro. Let her rest until your mom gets home, then we can take her over to Emily's." I replied to him and he nodded.
Quil's mom, Joy, got home a few minutes after 10pm. When she walked in, she immediately noticed Trina asleep with us on the couch and Quil got up to go talk with her in the kitchen while I listened in.
"I didn't know you were having friends over." Joy said to him quietly. "Who is that in there with Embry?"
"It's Trina Swan, mom." Quil told her happily. "I imprinted on her."
"Oh honey, that's wonderful!" She replied excitedly. "But if you imprinted on her then why is she lying on Embry?" I chuckled.
"Uh, because he kind of imprinted on her too?" Quil replied to her.
"He imprinted on your imprint?" Joy asked, confused.
"More like I imprinted on his imprint. He imprinted on Trina about a month back, before I even phased. I just imprinted on her today." Quil told her nervously.
"Oh. How is that –"
"We don't know, mom, but it happened and all three of us are okay with it. We're just going with the flow. Whatever Trina decides." He told her honestly.
"Well if you three are okay with things... And with Embry?" She questioned. I knew what she was asking him.
"Embry is and will only ever be my best friend, mom. We didn't imprint on each other, just Trina." He clarified.
"Okay, I think I understand now. Well I'm happy for you, son." Joy said to him.
"There's something else I need to ask you, mom." He told her. "Would you be willing to hire Trina to work at the store? I know you've been needing the help and if she had a job down here, she'd be on the res more and Embry and I kind of need—"
"Quil, honey, I'll hire Trina. I know that you boys need her close by and you're right, I do need the help." She told him and I felt such a relief.
"Thanks mom!" He told her. "I guess we need to go wake her up to take her to Emily's for the night."
"Nonsense, she can stay here. In the guest bedroom." I raised my eyebrows at Joy's response. "Embry can have the couch."
She was letting us both stay?
"Can't thank you enough, mom." Quil told her before coming back to the living room.
"So we're staying?" I asked him, surprised.
"Guess so. I won't lie, I wasn't expecting that but I'll damn sure take it." Quil told me.
"Language, Quil Ateara!" Joy yelled from the kitchen. I laughed. If only she'd heard him in the pack mind...
"Sorry, mom!" He replied, laughing as well.
"Should I just carry her up to the guest bedroom? I don't want to wake her up." I asked him and he nodded.
I gently lifted her head from my shoulder and slid my arms under her to lift her. She didn't even flinch when I picked her up. She must've been in a really deep sleep.
I carried her up to the guest bedroom and Quil followed me. Once we were there, he took her shoes off and pulled the covers back on the bed so that I could lay her down.
We covered her back up and I took one last look at her before closing the door and walking with Quil back downstairs.
"So today really happened, huh?" He asked me.
"Yeah, bro, it did." I replied.
We stayed up talking for a little while longer before he went up to his room and I laid down to sleep on the couch.
Trina's POV-
When I woke up, I was disoriented. It took me a moment, but I eventually remembered everything that happened and how I got back here. I sat up and looked around, seeing an unfamiliar room. I rubbed my eyes and looked around again.
The last thing I remembered before I fell asleep was watching a movie with Embry and Quil. Had one of them moved me? Was I at Emily's?
I stood up and hesitantly walked out the door and down the stairs. It definitely wasn't Emily's. I was still at Quil's.
"Good morning, Trina!" I heard a voice say from the kitchen. I walked in to see who I presumed to be Quil's mom making breakfast.
"Uh, good morning?" I responded.
"Oh, sorry honey, where are my manners? I'm Joy Ateara, Quil's mom." She told me, walking over to give me a hug.
"Nice to meet you." I told her as I returned the hug. "I guess Quil told you?"
"He did. He told me about Embry too, honey." She told me, returning back to making breakfast.
"I know it's kind of a strange situation—"
"I have all the confidence in the world that if anyone could figure it out, it'd be you three. Those boys have been best friends since they were in diapers and they've both been talking about you since the moment they met you." She said with a smile. I blushed at her comment. "Oh, and Quil asked me about taking you on at the store. I'd love the help so you can consider yourself hired."
"Thank you, Mrs. Ateara." I replied.
"Oh honey, just call me Joy." I smiled at her.
"Do you need any help with breakfast?" I asked.
"If you could just go wake up the boys, that would be wonderful. They could sleep 'til noon if you let them. Embry's on the couch and Quil is up in his room. It's the one right across from the room you stayed in." She told me.
I walked into the living room and saw Embry dead asleep on the couch with his arm hanging off the side, touching the floor. He looked so peaceful... in a teenage boy kind of way. It still made me smile though. I leaned down and ran my fingers down his arm.
He took in a deep breath before opening his eyes, looking directly at me.
"Now that's a nice way to wake up." He said sleepily.
"Joy has breakfast going." I told him.
That woke him right up. He sat up on the couch and stretched while I laughed, walking away to go wake up Quil.
I walked upstairs and knocked on the door across from the one I'd slept in but no answer. I carefully opened the door and looked inside. Quil was draped on top of his bed, laying on his stomach with his hands under his head.
His room had various pairs of shorts laying around and I shook my head. Typical teenage boy.
I walked over and sat on the edge of his bed.
"Quil." I said, trying to get him to wake up. No luck.
I decided I would try the same approach I had with Embry. I lifted my hand and ran my finger down his spine with a feather light touch and I knew it worked when he shivered from the feeling.
He lifted his head up and looked at me sleepily, blinking his eyes a few times before he focused on me.
"Am I dreaming?" He asked before yawning.
"Nope." I replied with a laugh.
"Waking up with my imprint in my bed? Best wake up ever. I could get used to this." He said, still looking at me with a smirk as I blushed. "I like it when you blush." He winked at me.
That made me blush even harder. I cleared my throat.
"Your mom's probably finished with breakfast, so let's get downstairs to eat." I told him, standing back up. He didn't move. "Are you coming?"
It was his turn to turn pink. "Uh, yeah. You go ahead, I'll be down in a minute." He replied nervously.
Oh. I knew why now. I'd heard Lauren and Jessica talk about the problems boys usually woke up with. I blushed again and walked out of his room, closing the door again on my way out. That had never happened with Edward.
Composing myself, I walked back down to the kitchen where Embry was chuckling. I knew he'd heard the conversation. I blushed again at the thought.
A minute later, Quil joined us at the table while Joy handed out plates of food. Joy and I had normal sized portions while Quil and Embry had wolf-sized portions.
They practically inhaled their food and were done before I'd even gotten three bites in. Joy just laughed and shook her head at the boys before taking their plates to the sink.
"Alright kids, I'm off to work. Trina you can start at the store tomorrow after school. Quil, do up the dishes for me?" Joy said and Quil nodded.
She walked out the door and the boys both looked at me.
"I remember how I got back to this time." I told them immediately. Both of their eyes widened.
"Well don't make us wait." Quil said jokingly.
"The night before my wedding, I was—I was having a lot of doubts and I felt like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place." I started.
I told them the entire story and they both sat there, speechless.
"So you chose to come back yourself. You wanted out." Embry finally stated.
"Yeah I did. You two must've been the 'others' Jasper was talking about." I replied.
"There's something else, too, isn't there?" Embry asked me cautiously, as if hoping he wasn't pushing too far. I breathed in and nodded.
"Edward knew... he knew about the imprints because he can read minds. Jasper must've picked up on your emotions, but Edward could get the information right out of your heads. That's—that's why he kept me from coming to La Push." I explained to them. Both growled lowly in their throats but kept it together.
"He kept you from coming to La Push?" Embry asked me, on edge.
"I only got to come down here one time between now and August, and that was when Jake took me to a bonfire where I listened to the legends and learned about imprints." I told them honestly. "I didn't realize it until the night before my wedding how much of my life he actually controlled. It's like I wasn't even able to make decisions for myself anymore. I've never been so subservient in my life. That's not who I am. I mean, I'm quiet, but I make my own decisions. He practically guilted me into staying with him because he tried to kill himself when he thought I'd died which made me feel like he'd try it again if I left. I can't help but wonder if I was somehow manipulated, like supernaturally drugged into staying. You guys saw me after they left, it was like I was going through withdrawals."
Quil had gotten up from the table and was pacing back and forth chanting 'you need to calm down' to himself.
"Take it outside, Quil. You're not going to stop the phase." Embry told him. Quil looked over at him for a split second and ran out the door.
I looked at Embry. He was definitely angry but he was controlling himself.
"How did you know that he—" I pointed to where Quil had run out the door.
"He's only been phased for a week and a half. He's going to lose it every time he gets mad for a while. I'm surprised that he went as long as he did without phasing." Embry explained to me.
"But you didn't have to phase." I said to him.
"I've been a wolf almost three months now. I can control myself, he can't yet. Give him a month or two and he'll be fine. I've had to control myself a lot in the last month, especially around Jake." He told me honestly.
"Speaking of Jake... I feel like we all are going to have to do damage control today." I muttered.
"Not changing the subject, Trina. You basically just told us that you were in an abusive relationship." He told me with his arms crossed, leaning back in the seat.
"I- I wouldn't exactly say it was ab—"
"That's exactly what it was. Trust me, I've seen it. Just because it wasn't physical abuse, doesn't make it okay. He was controlling you, manipulating you, keeping you from people who care about you, making you not yourself. That's never okay, Trina. Never." Embry told me. I could feel his words sink into me because I knew as soon as he said it that he was right.
"You've seen it?" I asked him quietly after a minute of silence.
"My mom... she's had some questionable boyfriends. Some were mentally abusive, some physically. The most recent one is really controlling... he turned her against me. Convinced her that I was off doing drugs in a gang somewhere, ditching school to get high. She hasn't spoken to me in at least two months. I haven't even lived at home in a month." He told me in confidence. I stood up and walked right over to him, pulling him to a standing position so that I could hug him tightly.
I held onto him for a good long while and when I finally pulled back, his eyes were filled with moisture.
"Where have you been living?" I asked him as I leaned back into him again.
"Here, Sam's, Jared's, Paul's... Most of the time lately I've been sleeping as a wolf in the woods near your house." He nearly whispered to me as he held me to his chest, breathing in deeply.
"Embry Call! Seriously, sleeping as a wolf in the woods outside my house?" I questioned him, pulling back to look him in the eyes.
"... It got harder to stay away after the first couple weeks." He mumbled.
"Okay that is not going to happen anymore. We're going to figure out a situation where neither of you have to sleep in the woods at all. I don't care if that means climbing in my bedroom window at night. You're not sleeping outside. Got it?" I told him adamantly. His eyes widened at my statement.
"I feel like I missed something here... I came in at 'climbing in my window at night'." Quil said, walking back inside wearing a new pair of shorts.
"I told Trina about my mom and my various sleeping arrangements." Embry told him, letting go of me. Quil nodded in understanding.
"So I told him that we were going to figure out these sleeping arrangements. We're going to find a solution where all of us have a warm, dry place to sleep at night as humans." I reiterated.
"You're going to have to go home tonight, aren't you?" Quil asked me nervously.
"I have school tomorrow. Last night was a lucky draw." I told him. "I'm going to leave my window open tonight. I don't think my room will fit both of you, but if you need to then climb up the tree."
Both of them exchanged a look of surprise before nodding in my direction.
"Anything else I missed?" Quil asked and I diverted that question to Embry.
"I explained why we both got so mad and why you couldn't help phasing." Embry told him.
"I swear I'll get it under control soon." He huffed. "So that Trina, besides the fact that he was a filthy bloodsucker, you do realize that was a completely toxic relationship, right? Like that kind of shit is not okay." Quil wanted to verify.
"I do now that Embry explained it out for me." I told him truthfully.
"Please tell me that you know neither of us would ever try to control you. We might've imprinted on you but that doesn't mean that we own you. Hell, if anything it's like you've got our balls on a leash." Quil said and I turned bright red.
"Gave her a great image there, bro." Embry said laughing and shaking his head.
"Oh come on, she's so innocent and that blush is adorable! You can't tell me you don't love seeing her blush." Quil told Embry.
"Of course I do but I at least have more subtle ways of making her blush than just throwing out crude humor." Embry replied to him, swinging his arm back around my waist and pulling me closer to him.
"You guys do know I'm right here." I told them both.
Embry leaned in and whispered in my ear. "Exactly where I want you to be."
I couldn't help it. I felt the heat rush to my face as he spoke. I knew he did it to provoke that very reaction and it definitely worked.
"Touché." Quil said, raising his hands.
I pulled away from Embry and looked at them both.
"So now that we've covered abusive relationships, places to sleep, and making me blush, we need to figure out what to do about Jake and help Quil do the dishes for his mom." I told them, pointing to the sink.
Quil grimaced then pouted. "Do I have to?" I gave him a pointed look. "Alright, alright. Note to self: don't make Trina give me the death glare again."