I trudged out of school that day, my heart feeling as heavy as the bag I had slung over my shoulder. My mind swirled with possible solutions to my problem. Mr. West was playing with me, but I had to be smart. I had to be smarter than him, I had to play the game better than he could. And I needed to end this soon, because the thought of my future being jeopardized by that bastard had me constantly stressed.
I had to find a way out of this mess. I had to save Paul.
"Penny for your thoughts," I heard as I felt my cumbersome bag get lifted from my shoulder.
I glanced back to find Trey's devil smirk and flickering eyes trained on me. "I'm good," I replied dully, struggling to pull my bag from his grasp and failing miserably.
"So are you busy now?" he asked eagerly. "We could leave from here and..."
I held my hand up and effectively cut him off. "Not today."
"Why not?" he asked in a flirty way, but to me it came off creepy.
He pushed the double doors open and I shivered when the icy wind blew through me. I glanced around the parking lot, noticing Embry and Quil goofing off while waiting for their ride. "I can't today. I promised to help get the guys ready for their test on Friday."
"Tutoring on your own time? That's really admirable. I'll be sure to add that to your evaluation when the time comes," he smirked, subtly reminding me that I needed said evaluation to pass. And I still had four weeks to go.
"Well I just figured they could use the help," I explained as we wove through the parked cars on our way to my Explorer. "Your tests are known for being pretty difficult."
"I guess my reputation precedes me," he joked, revealing a simple in his cheek that I hadn't noticed before.
I turned to face him now as we stood at the back of my red SUV. "I agreed to what you wanted, but you have to keep up your end of the bargain, too...regarding Paul?" I reminded him.
"Of course," he smiled sweetly, reaching for my face and brushing his thumb over my cheek. He raised his head and furrowed his brow in concern. "What's wrong with your car?"
I swung around the corner and glanced toward the hood, noticing it was up. "What the hell?"
Jake popped his head around the corner with a tiny smudge of grease under his left eye. "Hey, Rach."
"What happened?" I groaned.
Jacob chuckled as he wiped more grease off his fingers with an old rag he produced from his back pocket. "Don't freak out. I just noticed a small leak and I wanted to check it out," Jacob replied smoothly, looking crazy with no coat and no obvious aversion to the icy temps. "We thought we would be done before you got out."
"We?"
Paul sauntered out from under the hood and I was already feeling the effects of my guilty conscience. "Hey," he replied simply, his voice leaving me sighing.
Trey obviously stiffened at Paul's presence but made no move to get away from me. I moved closer to the hood of the car, wanting to see what was going on. Now I was face to face with Paul. I shivered a little and tightened my coat around me as the wind picked up. Maybe it was the weather or maybe it was the way Paul stared at me. I thought he'd be furious about seeing me with Mr. West, but he just seemed concerned with me.
Paul lifted my hands with his, cupping his fingers around mine and blowing his warm breath on them to help keep them from freezing. "Did you leave your gloves at home?" he asked sweetly, not paying attention to how closely Trey stood behind me.
"Why don't I take you home?" Trey asked as he reached for my elbow. "No sense of sitting out here freezing while they dick around with your car."
"Dicking around with her car?" Paul echoed as he pulled me closer and continued to hold one of my hands. "Jacob is fully capable of fixing her car. That's pretty insulting for you to assume he can't."
"I wasn't trying to offend anyone," Mr. West replied defensively. "It's cold out here." I watched Trey's eyes as they ran over Paul's black beater clad body with a thin zip up hoodie only zipped halfway and Trey scoffed. "But obviously the cold doesn't bother you."
Embry and Quil joined us now as Jacob closed the hood and announced, "It should be good now. It was just a loose cap."
"Wanna turn it over?" Paul asked as he opened the door and I slid into the driver's seat.
"Seems fine," I called out as the engine started right up and Jacob shut the hood.
"Stay in here and turn the heat on," Paul said softly as he turned to face Mr. West. "I'll take that," I heard Paul say as he reached for my bag.
Trey grumbled as he passed Paul the bag. He looked past Paul and smiled at me. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Don't forget we have a staff meeting during lunch, okay?"
I shut the door and rolled the window down. "Oh yeah. I almost forgot."
"Pack your lunch? We won't have time to go to the lunch room."
I nodded at Mr. West and gave him a tight smile. "I'll see you then."
We watched as Trey made his way to his own car, got in and sped off. "That dude is acting extra creepy today," Quil commented as everyone but Paul got in and shut the doors.
Jacob leaned over me to get Paul's attention. "You know you're late for patrol, right?"
Paul gasped, glanced at his watch and grimaced. "Shit! I didn't know how late it was."
"Be careful," I told him, like I always do. "I love you."
Paul sighed and yanked my door open. "Come here, baby."
He held his arms open to me and I clutched him around his back fiercely. He pressed his lips to mine and held me just as tightly. I didn't even realize how much I needed him. I tried to keep from crying as he passed me his backpack and ran off toward the treeline.
I swiped at a few tears and drove off the lot. I felt Embry's hands on my shoulders, giving me a squeeze where he sat from behind me. "Are you okay?" he whispered.
I reached back to squeeze one of his hands and I nodded quickly. "I will be."
~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~
"You're gonna do what?"
"Keep it down!" I told Embry as I finished cutting the last few sandwiches and adding them to the plate. "You can't tell anyone."
"Can't tell anyone what?" Paul asked as he walked into my father's kitchen and reached past me for a bottled water.
I glanced at Embry and back to Paul. I picked up the plate of sandwiches and sighed, "It's nothing."
Paul and Embry followed me out to the long room where I placed the plate on the coffee table. "I figured you'd be home by now," Paul murmured as he pulled me close from behind.
I shook my head and chuckled. "No. They're not ready for that test yet." We had been studying since we got back to dad's and I knew they were sick of studying but I was nervous to be alone with Paul. I felt he would see right through me over these issues with Mr. West.
"There is such a thing as over-preparing, Rachel," Quil grumbled, slamming his book shut and reaching for a sandwich.
I reached down and grabbed a couple of sandwiches and offered them to Paul. He gave me a quick kiss and left to get washed up first.
"You should tell him what happened."
"Embry, don't."
"What happened?" Jacob scowled. "And why don't you want Paul to know?"
"What's going on?"
I scanned the room, full of questioning eyes, all but Embry's because he knew the truth. Embry stood and glared at me. "Tell him...or I will."
Paul's eyes darted between Embry and I. I could feel him getting angrier the longer I continued to avoid saying this. "Just let me handle this, Embry. I asked you not to say anything and you promised."
"I didn't promise," he huffed. "And if Rebecca was in your position then I'd want to know."
"Somebody needs to tell me what the hell happened...now," Paul grumbled, reaching for my elbow and turning me to face him. "Tell me."
"Paul..."
"I found her in the classroom with Mr. West," Embry began as Paul's expression grew tight.
"And?" Paul demanded, his voice already revealing dread.
"He had her pinned against the wall."
Silence. The tension in the room was unreal.
"I'm okay," I announced quickly.
Paul sucked in a deep breath and growled. "What else?"
"Nothing he...he just..."
"Tell me, Rachel. I'm not mad at you," he replied calmly as he reached for the back of my head, tilting it slightly and forcing my gaze to meet his.
"He knows. He knows we're together, Paul. I'm so sorry. I know I could've lied when he asked me but I'm just so tired of hiding it. I love you and I wanted him to know that," I confessed and then paused a beat before adding, "He saw the necklace."
Paul sighed deeply and nodded. "But you're okay? He didn't hurt you, force you..." he paused to squeeze his eyes shut, like the idea of me doing anything physical with Trey could actually kill him. Could it? Hopefully it won't go that far and we'll never need to find out.
"No, baby," I sighed, reaching up to smooth my palm over his worried, beautiful face. "But he does want something from me...something I have to do, even though I don't want to."
His eyes grew large. Jacob scoffed. "He's blackmailing you?"
"Yes. And since there's so much at stake...I have to do this."
Paul groaned. "I don't think I'm gonna like this."
"I agreed to go out with him. Just coffee. He thinks he can persuade me to dump you," I laughed. "Like that would ever happen."
"What an asshole," Quil grumbled.
"You should tell him to go fuck himself," Embry added angrily. "Who does he think he is?"
I glared at Embry and sighed. "He's the one who can keep me from finishing my degree. He's holding all the cards right now. So I'm gonna play his little game...my way."
"The fuck you are."
I glanced at Paul, who stopped pacing long enough to make that demand. "Let me handle this, Paul."
Paul shook his head quickly. "No way. You're not going out with him...alone. No fucking way...I'll call Sam. Maybe we can come up with a way to..."
"No!"
"Rachel..."
"This isn't even up for discussion. This is exactly why I didn't want you to know! You can't say anything to him. He can...he can make things difficult for you," I finally sputtered, stopping short of telling him Trey would surely fail him if I didn't agree.
Paul scoffed as he approached me. "You think I'm scared of him?" Paul challenged, a menacing smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth, amused at the thought.
"I know you're not scared of him...physically, but..."
"But nothing," he argued. "I forbid you from going out with him, coffee or otherwise. He can't force you to date him." Paul blew out a deep breath as his eyes changed to storm cloudy. "I won't allow it."
I chuckled. There was not one single thing funny about this entire situation, but I was amused at the thought of him trying to control me. "I say what I do, where I go, who I'm around. I wouldn't be acting like this if you told me you had to meet with Bianca to finish your project."
He sighed and smirked, entertained by my obvious jealousy. "I would never be alone with her. There's a difference."
"And we will be in a public place, so I won't be alone with him," I explained, lifting my hands to cradle his face and gasping when he yanked them down, holding them between us.
"You aren't going," he snarled.
I ripped my hands from his grasp and backed away, shaking my head. "You obviously don't know me that well if you think I'm gonna let you control me, Paul."
I turned and knelt down next to the coffee table, pulling the textbook closer and trying to calm myself down. "Where were we?" I asked, glancing up at the three underclassmen, who still look worried.
I felt Paul's breath in my ear as he leaned down, gripped my hips and whispered, "And you don't know me very well if you think I'd ever let my girl go out with another guy."
Even as angry as I was, I turned toward the sound of his voice, loving the way it warmed me from the inside. I slid my hand back, reaching for his face when he lifted me, by my waist and carried me to my old bedroom.
"Paul," I began as he lowered me to my feet and shut the door. I didn't even have a chance to turn around before I felt his hands sliding my skirt up and tugging my panties down. I gasped when he spun me around and pressed me against the same wall where he licked my breasts for the first time more than eighteen months ago.
I leaned in closer, wanting to kiss his fears away when he shoved his shorts down, bent over and lifted me up. Paul sunk into me immediately, roughly, painfully and I didn't protest. He was where he needed to be, doing what made him feel connected to me when he felt out of control. I understood it and I wanted him just as badly.
I clung to his neck, clutching on for dear life as he pounded me swiftly and desperately. I sucked in quick sharp breaths as his mouth moved to my neck, sliding up under my ear. I could feel his climax approaching, hoping he would slow down and let me join him. His lips were just as rough as his cock as they sucked and then nipped at the sensitive skin.
I braced myself as his thrusts increased in speed, causing my body to slam against his with each stroke. His mouth kept claiming my neck and when I felt him bite down, I screamed. Paul's hand clasped over my mouth as he shuddered and withdrew from me, leaving me a heaving mess on the floor.
I looked up at him, still shaking and pulling up his shorts. I felt disgusting. I fumbled with my skirt as my wobbly legs tried to stand. "Leave me alone," I cried when Paul reached for me. "I can't believe you just did that."
Paul's face fell as I pushed past him and rifled through my near empty drawers for something to wear. "I'm sorry," he murmured as his fingers connected with the bite on my neck.
I jerked away, pushing his hands off me as I did. "Just go," I ordered as I held a pair of leggings and a t-shirt in my hand. "I'm going to change my clothes and you better be gone by the time I get back."
I didn't give Paul a chance to argue as I grabbed some clean panties and ducked off to the bathroom. Once inside, I checked the mark under my ear, noticing it was bleeding and bruised. At least it was hard to see, especially if my hair was down.
I returned to the living room, avoiding eye contact with Jacob and Embry, knowing full well they heard all of that. I caught a glimpse of Paul, a worried wreck sitting on the edge of the armchair with his hands buried in his hair and his elbows on his knees. "Go home," I called over my shoulder.
I knelt down in the same spot as before and noticed the faces of the three boys on the couch across from me. Quil looked confused, Jacob looked pissed and Embry seemed to be sympathetic toward Paul. Traitor.
"I'm not leaving unless you come with me."
I shook my head and continued to scan the textbook in front of me. "Please?" he begged, even as he knelt behind me pulling on the neckline of my shirt and revealing the mark he left behind.
I suppressed a moan when he ran his tongue over it, wondering how it could hurt so bad but feel that good. "This will help it heal," he whispered as he kissed it one more time and stood up.
I gulped loudly and replied, "Okay." I was at a loss for anything else to say.
"Can we go home now?" Paul pouted like a 2-year-old. "I have a lot to make up for," he added, his hand outstretched to me.
"Go ahead, I'm staying here." I turned to glare up at him before saying, "And I don't forgive you for what you did."
"Baby, please." I swear I could hear his heart breaking as I watched his expression change.
"What did he do?" Quil mused aloud, directed more to Embry than me.
"Well, Quil. I believe that's what they refer to as premature ejac..."
Paul's fist flew up and he growled. "Drop it, Quil. She's pissed cause I marked her," Paul added sheepishly.
"You what?" Jacob scowled.
Paul turned and made his way to the door with his shoulders slumped. When his hand turned the doorknob, I called to him.
"You think that's why I'm mad? I've been waiting for you to mark me. I was beginning to think you never would."
He spun around quickly. "You knew?"
I stood and nodded my head. "Kim and Emily told me." I paused when his mouth gaped open. "What? Girls talk about sex too, ya know?"
"They do?" Embry and Quil echoed in unison.
"You wanted me to mark you?" Paul asked incredulously. I nodded as he approached me cautiously. "Why didn't you ask me about it?"
I shrugged and glanced down at the floor when he came within arm's reach. "It means I'm yours for life, right?" I sighed, cocking my head as I peered up at him.
His perfect brown eyes twinkled, showing off the golden flecks sprinkled in. "You're my girl regardless of the mark. I'm never letting you go anywhere," he mumbled as his lips hovered over mine. "Come home with me? Let me make it up to you?"
My gaze drifted back to the guys at the table as Paul pressed his hands to my lower back and pulled me close. "I don't know..."
"Just go, Rachel. Paul's like a dog with a bone right now," Embry teased.
Paul got a devilish gleam in his eye when he heard Embry's bad joke. "Please come home."
Finally I relented, laughing as he gathered my books, coat and shoes faster than humanly possible. "Keep studying," I hollered as Paul swept me into his arms and carried me out the Explorer.
Paul threw my things into the backseat and climbed into the front seat with me on his lap. Once he pushed the seat all the way back and started the engine, I laughed again. "You're driving home like this?"
"Yeah," he growled playfully. "It's not that far and I can't wait."
"Wait for what?"
Paul chuckled and then licked his lips. He parked in front of his house and looked down at me. "For this," he murmured before planting a deep, open mouth kiss on me.
I moaned into his mouth, temporarily pushing aside any worry over what our fate would be. For right now, we were together and with every touch, I felt how much Paul loved me. Was he perfect? No. There was an animal inside him that he struggled to control. He almost always kept his wolf in check with the exception of today. I couldn't hold that against him.
I felt lucky to be his girl. And right now, he had a lot to make up for. I laughed as he carried me inside, whispering into my ear all the ways he promised to make it up to me.
And I was determined to make him do each and every one.
........
A/N: just a few more chapters to put the ending on this one. Can't wait to share it with you!