Jake's POV
"My head." Embry was laying across the rug in the middle of the lounge, face down I might add. The Vegas heat and sunlight was too much for our hangovers so we were hiding — and being miserable — inside where there was access to air conditioning.
"We all feel the same Em, you don't have to remind us every five minutes." Paul groaned from his slumped position in one of the leather armchairs.
"Must suck being human." Emmett taunted from behind the couch I was laying on. I grabbed the cushion that I had settled over my eyes and threw it in the general direction where Emmett's voice came from. "You missed me." He teased as I heard the pillow hit the floor with a light thump.
The adults of the group; my dad, Rob and Charlie, were sensible and didn't drink as much as us on our first night, they were out by the pool enjoying the sun. To be honest it was mostly a blur to me, we had only spent about four hours out as we had only just arrived, but I must've drunk so much to hardly remember anything. All I could remember was that I was playing blackjack and then I won, celebrated and after that everything was fuzzy until I woke up two hours ago.
"Jake, can I talk to you for a minute." Jesse's voice called from the hall, his voice was clipped, kind of angry.
I rolled my eyes and fought the urge to throw up as the room began to spin as I tried to sit up. Why did he always have to be so angry? His temper was as bad as when we first phased, Scarlett needed to up her game and help ease his built up tension. Literally, the only guy left that had imprinted that still had anger management issues.
"Jacob." He seethed, though I admit this time the urgency in his voice had me walking towards him a little faster.
"What? What is it?" I asked once he was in sight. He was standing on the last step of the staircase, his hands clutching his phone so tightly that I thought the screen would crack.
"Tori just text me, it's about my mom." He took a breath but I could see the air around him quivering. This definitely wasn't good.
"Jesse, tell me." I tried to keep my voice down, from the way Jesse was acting it seemed he wanted it to be kept quiet for now but it was something serious for sure.
"That's asshole." He spat, his lips curling into a snarl. Before I could ask him what he meant, he continued. I was becoming anxious, my palms were sweating and my heart was beginning to beat a little faster. What had got him acting this way? "He laid a hand on my mother!"
Then it clicked. Scott. That filthy son of a bitch who had unfortunately got with Aria's mother. I didn't like him from the get go, he set me on edge, but now I knew why. How could he possibly think he could get away with this?
"What did Tori say?" I demanded through gritted teeth. I was now at the same level as Jesse. How could Aria and Tori possibly be handling this knowing some sick bastard had laid his hands on their mother?
"The girls noticed bruises, they haven't talked to Mom about it yet." He explained whilst furiously typing on his phone.
"I'm calling Aria." I announced, feeling my blood boil as I fished my phone out of my shorts and hastily dialed Aria's number.
I held the phone to my ear as I tried to control my breathing. I needed to be calm for Aria, god knows what she was going through. Her weekend that was meant to be for celebrating was now ruined but this vile assholes actions.
"Pick up, pick up." I muttered to myself as the phone rang out and the voicemail answered. I tried again twice before giving up and calling Tori seeing as she was texting Jesse. Within two rings she answered.
"Hello?" Her voice was shaking with what I could guess was due to crying. I clenched my teeth so tightly I feared I was going to break my jaw.
"Hey, are you okay? Is everything okay? How's Ari?" My words tumbled out of my mouth so fast I cursed when my outburst caught some of the guys' attention.
"No, not really." She whimpered as I heard a crash and a violent growl in the background, then a chorus of girls shouts.
"What's going on?" I demanded, I tried to be calm for her but I couldn't help but be worried by the noise in the background.
"Jake, Jesse, what's happening?" Embry and Paul appeared at the end of the hall, confused looks on their faces as more crashing and hissing came from Tori's end of the phone.
"Aria's not taking it too well, well neither of us are, but you know what her temper is like..." Tori drawled our, her voice a broken whisper as the screams in the background turned into hysterical sobs.
My heart broke in two then, through everything Aria and I had been through I had never heard her sound like that. Never heard her cry like that, and there was nothing I could do about it. I wanted to hold her in my arms and take all the pain away, make everything better. She'd gone through so much already and now she had this to deal with too.
"Let me talk to her." I asked, trying to keep my voice even.
"You can't." Tori said a little to quickly, she sounded almost scared.
"Why not!" I couldn't help the growl that caught at the end of my sentence. I ignored the glares I received from those listening in as well.
"Bella, Rose and Alice are pinning her to the floor. She wants to go after him Jake, she wants to kill him." Tori explained, her voice breaking again causing me to wince at her voice, along with Embry. I could tell he was holding back from snatching the phone from me to comfort his imprint.
"Well she needs to get in line." Jesse hissed from beside me, I could feel the heat radiating off of him and I glanced over Embry and Paul's heads to Edward, silently telling him to get Jesse out of here before he went too far.
One look from myself and Jesse knew he needed to go a cool off, he stalked past me and towards Edward who followed him out towards the back of the house and away from Charlie.
"Let me talk to her." I said again, a little louder, hoping Aria could hear me from the other end of the phone. I felt so helpless.
"It's not a good idea Jake, she's not herself. I have to go, I'll get her to call you later." And then she hung up and the line went dead.
I took the phone away from my ear and stared at the blank screen. I couldn't imagine what they were going through, I hated that I could help Aria, it was so frustrating. I locked my phone and shoved it back into my pocket.
"Jake, man, what's going on?" Embry asked, his face scrunched with confusion and anxiety.
"I think you should give Tori a call, Em. It's not good, it about her mom... and Scott." I patted him on the shoulder before moving past him towards where the Cullens and the rest of the pack were waiting.
Edward and Jesse had disappeared and the older humans were still in their own bubble outside by the pool. My headache had gotten a lot worse in the last few minutes that had passed but I felt like a had a duty to tell everyone what was going on.
As I explained expressions grew grim and awkward glances were exchanged. No one wished this on their parents, and without Jesse or the girls here we all felt kind of helpless.
Were we now meant to cut the bachelor party weekend short? Fly out to the girls to make sure they were okay? Meet them, then fly home together? I didn't know what to do and I felt useless. Did I tell Rob what was going on or should I leave that to Jesse? The situation was so delicate yet so taboo... did we talk about it, did we not talk about it?
Once things had settled down I tried Ari's phone again but it just rang out to voicemail again. Jesse hadn't returned and I felt a little lost as to what I should do. All I knew was that it was his call as it was his mom, I was willing to do whatever he wanted to do.
Growing up, especially after my own mom died, Lily had somehow filled a hole that I needed filling. She took care of me, helped out when my dad began to find looking after three kids even more of a struggle than what an able single parent can expect. Lily was always there. Now that I knew that someone was treating her like this I didn't feel the anger, I didn't have the murderous thoughts like I was expecting... well I had them a little, but instead I felt scared.
I didn't want her going back to this guy on Monday morning. I didn't even want him at my wedding. What if something happened to Lily before we got the chance to help her, what if she didn't want help? All these thoughts and feeling came crashing down onto me, I didn't know what to do with myself anymore. How could I feel so useless?
Jesse and Edward didn't return until nightfall. Upon their arrival back they told Rob, Charlie and my dad what was happening. Rob flew into a fit of rage himself, he may not be in love with Lily anymore but she was still the mother of his children, a woman he had cared for and looked after for several years.
We all turned to Charlie, hoping he could do something, but from his expression it didn't seem promising. He explained to us that there was a number of reasons he couldn't do anything, 1) Lily hadn't even pressed charges yet so it was unlikely Scott would even be arrested, 2) Charlie was only the police chief of a fairly small town on the other side of the country compared to where Lily lived, he didn't have jurisdiction, and 3) unfortunately Lily hadn't even confessed to this really happening and being the cause of her bruises. We couldn't do anything until we knew for sure.
As we sat unsure about how we would proceed with the weekend I tried to call Ari again and this time I got through. "Hey." Her voice was quiet and tired sounding, she sounded so delicate and small. My heart ached to hold her and make her feel happy again.
"Hey baby, how are you?" I just felt so purposeless, I wanted to do something that actually helped.
"Tired." She sighed as her voice wavered slightly. "Angry. Sad. I've been hiding in my room all day with Tori pretending to be hungover. My mom only arrived this afternoon Jake, and it hadn't even been and hour before Tori and I saw..." She trailed off, her voice was becoming louder and angrier.
"Have you spoken to her?" I asked carefully, I didn't know if she knew that everyone here knew what was going on.
"No, Tori and I agreed to wait until the weekend was over, before we all leave. I want her to be safe and happy Jake, and if this weekend can give her that I want to make it last for as long as possible." She explained and I couldn't argue with that, though I supposed Jesse would. He wanted answers now. "How's Jesse doing? And you and my dad?" She asked as if she was reading my thoughts like she was right next to me.
"Not good, Edward had to take him out of the villa for the day. He wants him dead Ari, before he even gets any answers from your mother. Your dad is in shock, he doesn't really know what to do or say, none of us do. We aren't even sure if we should stay here." I admitted as I heard her take in a sharp breath.
"I know its hard but we need this time, and knowing that my mom is here safe with me is so much better than sending her home early before we even got to ask those questions." Ari explained and she made total sense. I guess it was the best way and she was right, her mother was in no harm being with Aria, she was miles away from Scott and that was all that really mattered.
"You're so right, baby. I wish I was there to help you, comfort you even. I heard you earlier whilst I was on the phone with Tori." I said cautiously, she just sounded like she was in so much pain. I had never felt so helpless.
"I want nothing more than to be with you too but being able to hear you voice right now is enough. I love you so much Jacob, just enjoy your time there and we'll see each other soon." She professed, her voice becoming emotional again.
"I love you too, Ari. If you need to talk to me, no matter what time it is, do it. I'll be there. Have fun, too, honey." I didn't want the call to end but I'm sure she had plans to get ready for and we would too once I told the guys what was happening.
"I will, goodbye Jake." She breathed softly.
"Goodbye Ari."
* * *
That night was rough.
After explaining to the guys Ari and Tori's decision we got on with what was originally planned: an all you can eat buffet at Bacchanal Buffet in Caesar's Palace before moving onto the casino inside the same hotel.
There, and I was quite impressed with myself about this, I won $5000 and quit whilst I was ahead. I was already planning to use the money to treat Aria in some way... I hadn't decided how to yet. Amazingly, Quil had managed to make his $200 turn into $2000, but then he got slightly too cocky and lost it all. Now that was what you called entertainment.
Then, after most of us made some money we moved onto a club where we got even more wasted. Again I couldn't remember making my way home, I just remembered taking shots... that's about it from the club. I couldn't believe how useless my memory was when I was that drunk. It was embarrassing really, I was meant to have heightened senses for god sake, but they just went to shit when I had a little too much to drink.
Our last full day was again spent acting like the Cullens and hiding from the sunshine and bright lights. I felt a little pathetic but I knew I'd be over it by tonight, if not it was tough shit.
The day trudged on and with a little effort we made it outside to enjoy the pool and last few hours of daylight for us humans. When the sun set over the desert and it's mountains we cleaned up for a delicious meal fit for at least double of the amount guys we had here, cooked by a full team of chefs and served by a handful of waiters.
When it got late enough, and the three 'adults' of the group retired for the night after having too much to drink it was time for us to let loose and have some real fun. The packs had a tradition for bachelor parties, and the Cullens had a version similar to ours funnily enough.
We left the house quietly so we wouldn't disturb Charlie, my dad or Rob, and then as the villa was on the outskirts of the city it was only a short walk until we were out of the city limits and out into the deserts that led up to the mountain ranges that surrounded the city. The fresh air seemed to sober us all up which seemed to disappoint the four Cullen boys that were out with us.
Finally, when we believed we were out far enough to not be spotted, we gathered at the bottom of Mount Wilson with Edward taking the lead to explain this evening's events. "Right so," he rubbed his hands together excitedly. "There will be three teams playing against each other in the race to win three games. These games will be playing all at once so everyone has to be alert." He explained with a wide grin on his face.
I knew it was going to be some sort of hunting challenge, the blackness of the Cullens' eyes told me that much. They hadn't fed since our arrival so I guessed it was only fair.
"The three teams are the vampires versus the Black Pack and then the Uley Pack. I thought that would be the only way to make it fair." Edward continued a little smugly, though I thought that everyone mostly had a fair chance... ish. "The three games are kind of like scavenger hunts, the three things you have to find are: a mountain lion, an American black bear and just because its fun, a golden flag and it has to be completed in this order. I had Nessie and Esme run here last night to hide the flag somewhere on these mountains for us to find.
"Each time a team finds one of the items, that team will give the signal; in your case a howl or in our case we'll just shout. Whenever a team finds one of the items they must give the signal and the rest of the players will meet you there. This gives everyone an equal chance in finding the next item and a chance for us to feed on either the lion or the bear." Edward finished with a smirk that only the Cullens responded too. I may have eaten animals in wolf form but hearing that was still a little grim. "So does everyone understand?"
I thought about my packs advantages and disadvantages. The main issue was that Edward could hear everything, there would be no hiding our thoughts from him unless we got far away enough. The other pack wouldn't be able to hear us as I wouldn't be sharing any information with Sam and I highly doubted he would share anything with me. Another disadvantage was that Edward was really fast, the only people I knew that could catch him were Aria, Leah and Victoria — the last two were irrelevant and Aria wasn't here. Sam was also quite fast and Jared had superior eyesight, the Uley Pack also stood at even numbers with us.
Our advantages were decent enough though. Now that Leah, was gone I was the fastest out of all the wolves with Embry and Sam at a close second. This meant that speed was on our side along with my superior strength, Seth also had superior hearing which was going to be a big help during the hunts for the other animals and tracking the other teams. The Black Pack also worked well together, we gelled better and I wasn't sure if that was because we were closer or if me being the true alpha helped in that department. Either way, we were about to see how this would all play out.
"Yes!" We all agreed in chorus as cheers and howls of excitement filled the air as the adrenaline kicked in.
"We'll give you a few minutes to get ready and phase, and then the challenges will begin!" Edward exclaimed before turning towards his family as they began their whisperings of a plan whilst the rest of us gathered into our packs.
My boys huddled together a good ten metres away from everyone else, we would mostly still all hear each other but it was enough for now until we all took off. "So what's the plan, Jake?" Seth asked, the excitement in his voice reminded me of when he was just a kid and we had broken away from Sam's pack all those years ago.
"Well I say we head straight up into the mountains." I said quietly before I pulled my T-shirt up and over my head. "Head towards a water source, we could possibly pick trails up from there." I dropped my T-shirt to the floor where a small pile of clothes were growing.
Our shoes, socks, pants and underwear followed and then we spaced out and let the heat roll over our bodies. The air began to quiver around me as I let the growl rip through my chest as my body lurched forward as I changed from standing on two feet to four paws.
"Is everyone ready?" Edward called out, standing to my right.
"I'll take point." I stated, feeling the sand under my paws, wondering how much grip I'd have. Jesse and Seth took my flanks as Embry and Quil placed themselves on either side of them. "Ready, Edward." The adrenaline and excitement was getting to me, the words in my head accidentally came out at a growl.
"Ready."I heard Sam's eager voice say. He had his pack set up in a similar stance to mine, and after I heard him say that one word I shut my mind off to him completely. I didn't want to spill any secrets... Edward already had that advantage. I just wished Aria or Bella were here to make it fair for all of us with their shields.
"Then on the count of three we go." I took one more glance around me, everyone was stood facing the desert that stretched out before us and then climbed its way up to the rocky mountain peaks that surrounded the city. "One... Two... Three... Go!"
* * *
Aria's POV
"Jake!" Just seeing his face brought a smile back to my own. I longed to just hold him and forget all the bad things that had happened over this weekend.
I ran to him, dropping my bags as I went and jumped up into his arms, wrapping myself around him as he held onto me so tightly it felt like he would never let me go. "Baby, I missed you so—" I didn't let him finish his sentence. I pressed my lips against him in fast, hungry kiss, trying to gather everything I missed about him in these first few seconds together.
Our planes had landed within minutes of each other, Jake and all the rest of his bachelor party were waiting for us in the terminal ready to all go back home together. My mother and Aunt Renee flew home from LA, our goodbyes were brief, we'd be seeing them next week for the wedding. With everything that happened last night, Tori and I never got the chance to talk with our mother before we left. Tori had withdrew into herself and didn't feel like talking to anyone about anything, though all of the girls now knew about my mother and the issue that had occurred at the club last night.
"Baby, hold up, what happened to you?" Jake asked, worry and fear lacing his tone as he placed me back on the floor to get a better look at me.
"What do you mean?" I asked, knowing he could already see it.
"Ari, your face." He smoothed his thumb over the yellowing mark under my eye and across my cheekbone. I was hoping they would've faded before we got home but I wasn't that lucky.
"It's nothing to worry about." I took his hand away from my face and held it in both my own smaller ones. "I'll tell you about it later."
"Ari did someone hurt—" he began but was cut off by Jesse's booming voice.
"You got strippers!" He glared down at Scar with a face like thunder, jealousy never did look good on him.
"Oh relax you big baby." Scarlett rolled her eyes and slapped him on the chest. "Nothing happened, it was just some fun!"
"Strippers, huh?" I jumped as Jake leaned down to whisper into my ear. I was slightly thankful he had forgotten about the bruises.
"I'll tell you about that later as well?" I asked meekly, pressing myself against him, placing my hands on his chest as a way to distract him.
"Nope, that's not gonna work." He raised an eyebrow as he looked down at me unimpressed... at least he wasn't angry and acting like Jesse. "Did they touch you?" He asked, his face turning into a half grimace.
"Please!" Rachel protested with a smirk... she was still a little tipsy. I don't think she wanted the weekend to end. "They did more than touch her! She untied some hot guy's g-string with her teeth." She admitted as my cheeks burned red with embarrassment as I shot a glare at her.
"Rachel!" I complained as Jake moved around me to get into my eyeline again.
"You what?!" He exclaimed, his semi angry face now full blown rage. He was breathing so heavily his nostrils were flaring.
"Jake, please." I began, taking his hands back into my own. "It wasn't my idea, it was just a little fun... and after some drinks I may have gotten a little carried away." I admitted a little sheepishly. I leaned up on my tiptoes to whisper into his ear. "If you want, I could do a little show for you later. You can rip off my g-string with your teeth." I tried to be seductive, finishing my suggestion with a kiss on his neck just below his ear.
His expression faltered and he swallowed hard. I had been successful. A teasing smirk played on my lips as I heard his heartbeat accelerate. I had a feeling this weekend was actually going to end on a high... not going to lie, I really did need a happy ending.
Jake looked over my face for a second, his eyes darting around before he looked away and his gaze fell on the rest of the group. "I guess I can forgive you." He said quietly to me. "Right, we're getting our own cab, see you guys later." He announced before taking my hand to pull me towards the front of the airport were the line of taxis were waiting to take us home.