? DISCONTINUED ? Between the Perennial Blooms || Paul Lahote

"It's so strange how life works: You want something and you wait and wait and feel like it's taking forever to come. Then it happens and it's over and all you want to do is curl back up in that moment before things changed."
—Lauren Oliver | 'Delirium'

• • •

Paul left the next morning only seconds after Bella had arrived. They passed each other in the living room foyer and just as the Quileute shifter swooped down to capture his pretty little Imprint's mouth in a sweet, wet, loving kiss, Bella coughed from in front of the kitchen doorway.

"Paul," she greeted, gaze darting back and forth suspiciously between her blushing baby sister and the boy the Quileute ancestors had destined her to be with.

Rolling his eyes in annoyance — though only Bailey saw if the pleading look she gave him proved any indication — Paul drew back just far enough to peer over his shoulder at the pale, brown-eyed girl that looked so little like her sibling. "Swan," he acknowledged simply.

Meanwhile, Bailey let loose a quiet sigh.

"You stay the night?" Bella inquired, voice laced with something heavy that implied she was anything other than pleased.

Mumbling a string of incoherent words under his breath, Paul grunted and diverted his full attention from Bailey with so much reluctance it appeared as if it proved one of the hardest things the nineteen year old had ever had to do. "Yes," he eventually sniped, dark eyes narrowed and handsome face sharpened by a shameless glare. "I did stay the night. Slept in Bailey's bed, too," he added, unable to help but poke the bear despite Bailey's sharp elbow digging into his side. Paul grunted, but otherwise spared the warning no acknowledgment. "Got a problem with that, Bella?"

Said sibling's gaze was icy when she answered: "As a matter of fact, I do."

"Guys," Bailey interrupted. She looked between her sister and Imprint and fixed them with the grumpiest glare she could muster. "Please don't argue."

"I don't like leechlovers," Paul grumbled like a petulant five year old under his breath. "So excuse me if I find it a little hard to play nice with one."

"Oh yeah?" Bella made quick to argue. "And you think I like my little sister hanging around a dog like you all the time?"

"Beats hanging around a bunch of dead fucking bottom feeders, that's for damn sure-"

"Paul!" Bailey scolded, slapping his chest with all the force she could conjure — though, admittedly, it wasn't much — while he growled like the animal he could so easily shift to be. "Please stop being so- so rude! And you!" She turned to Bella and pointed a stern finger at the older girl. "Paul's allowed to spend the night here! Papa said he could whenever he wants to."

"Yeah," Bella scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and leveling Bailey with a pointed look in return. "So long as he sleeps on the couch."

Flushing, Bailey scrambled for an excuse while Paul simply opted to ignore her older sister in favor of holding Bailey from behind and twirling her golden curls around his finger. "I-I-" She huffed and pursed her still swollen lips. "The couch was uncomfortable."

"Oh, I'm sure." Bella mocked, disbelieving.

Undeterred, Bailey continued with the lie anyway. "He- he's been running patrols like crazy lately," she tried to excuse. "And I didn't want him to hurt his back so I- I let him sleep in my bed instead." Then she smiled innocently and shrugged her shoulders as if to prove her words' validity and Bella saw right through it. "You know, for- for comfort purposes, of course."