? DISCONTINUED ? Between the Perennial Blooms || Paul Lahote

"this was not how i wanted to love. this was not how i wanted to break."
—aavillainess | i wanted you to shatter me soft, shatter me blue

• • •

It was Jacob's explicit shout of disbelief that had Paul's head snapping up so quickly Bailey feared it might send a permanent fissure cracking through the stem of his spine. They were still sitting in Bella's truck -Jacob and the eldest Swan continuing their heavy conversation, and Paul and the youngest Swan cuddling each other close. But it was when Bella made a move to exit the vehicle that the comforting silence befalling the cab became disrupted, and it was when Bella pushed her door open to take a step out onto the pavement that Jacob caught a whiff of the air outside. He reacted instantaneously, abruptly hauling Bella back into the truck by a fistful of her jacket before slamming the door shut behind her. The key turned in the ignition, the entire truck shuddering in Jacob's haste to throw the gearshift into reverse, and an expression of equal parts worry and anger twisted the normally inviting features of his face.

"There's a bloodsucker out there," he growled, sharing a knowing, hard look with Paul through the rearview mirror as his fellow pack brother snarled lowly in the back of his throat.

Paul tightened his arms around Bailey, pulling her body flush against his chest and angling his torso to huddle over hers slightly as if in position to protect her from whatever force might come their way. Her eyes met his from below, bright cerulean dulled dark with fear and exhaustion. She wanted to be brave for him, wanted to -for once- not feel so small and slight and helpless. However, sitting there with her petite frame dwarfed by his infinitely larger one, she couldn't help but feel smaller than she had ever been before. Bailey was cold -still so cold- and all she truly wanted in that moment was a warm bath and a change of clothes and a chance to take a deep breath and simply think, because her mind was still lagging from her near-drowning only moments before, and if she was being completely honest with herself, she still hadn't come to terms with the fact that her older sister had been so distraught that she would actually attempt to kill herself, and Bailey had been so willing to follow her that she had held her hand all the way through it.

"How do you know?" Bella gasped, turning her body almost frantically in her seat to stare out the window.

"I can smell the stink," Jacob spat, nose wrinkled and hands wrapped so tightly around the steering wheel that his knuckles turned a ghostly shade of white. "I'm getting you out of here." His eyes flickered to Bailey's trembling form in the backseat and his heart clenched at the sight that met him. "I'm getting both of you out of here."

In confirmation of his words, Jacob whipped the truck out of the driveway. The headlights flashed blindingly as they illuminated the paved concrete before it, and as they did so, the four occupants of the vehicle caught sight of the sleek black Mercedes parked in front of the Swan household. Bella sat up like a spring at the sight, her eyes following the car with vague recognition as her body spun to stare at it through the rearview mirror. Jacob had almost maneuvered the truck to the end of the road by the time realization finally sprang on Bella with a metaphorical lightbulb.

"Stop!" She exclaimed, already beginning to undo the buckle of her seatbelt. "It's not Victoria-"

Jacob interrupted her with a scoff. "Forget it-"

"It's Carlisle's car! They're here." Bella cried. "Go back!"

Paul's sudden snarl echoed loudly throughout the cab of the truck, the sound so deafening Bailey flinched back against his chest. "It's a trick-"

However, before he could even finish his sentence, Bella had already opened her door. The once speeding truck slammed to an abrupt halt that nearly sent Bailey flying out of Paul's lap had he not been granted the reflexes to catch her beforehand, and as soon as the tires stopped screeching against the asphalt below them, Bella jumped from her seat and sprinted toward the front porch.