Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Holiday Road

By Mama4Dukes

Chapter 13:

“Where the hell were you yesterday?” Emily screamed at Bella in the morning. Lauren, Jake, Embry, and she were glaring daggers at her.

“Oh, my head.” Bella clutched her skull in agony and searched for the ibuprofen she’d purchased at the gift shop yesterday.

“Do you realize that everyone was looking for you? We were so worried! And you forgot your phone, too.”

“I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to worry you.” She truly didn’t mean to worry them. She was usually the responsible one.

Charlie rushed into the room a moment later. “Where the hell were you, young lady? Do you know how worried I was? I could have had a fucking heart attack.”

“Dad, you just passed your yearly required physical with flying colors. You are nowhere near having a heart attack.”

“Watch your mouth! Now, where were you?”

“Um… Reno.”

“Reno?” everyone gasped.

“With whom?”

“Uh…” Bella had promised Jared, Paul, and Quil not to say anything. She hated to lie though. “Strippers.” It was a half-truth, which should suffice.

“You were in Reno with strippers?” an appalled Charlie questioned.

“And you didn’t invite us?” Emily blurted. Embry’s head turned to his imprint. Shouldn’t her mind be on him and him alone? Maybe Makah imprints were different from Quileute ones?

“Yeah! What kind of best friend are you?” an incensed Lauren asked. Maybe Hok’wat ones were different too?

“It was a spur of the moment decision.”

“Grounded. You are grounded!”

“Dad, you can’t ground me. I work for a living, pay my own rent, pay taxes… you can’t ground me.”

“You… you… you… well, I never asked you to be so responsible!”

“Well, I wasn’t so responsible last night. I really am sorry that I worried all of you.”

“Charlie, don’t we have that little fishing trip to go on?” Jake asked. “You should get some breakfast in you first.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He turned to Bella and hugged her. “Don’t scare me like that again?”

“I won’t. I’m sorry.”

“I love you, kiddo.”

“I love you, too, Daddy.”

He left the room. The rest of them were still glaring at her. “I need to talk to you,” Jake declared.

“Now? Honestly, Jake, I don’t feel like talking. I’m sticky from all the Cool Whip last night.”

“Well, I want to apologize to you. Can we please go and talk?”

“Sure.” Bella sighed.

“We’ll be back in a few minutes,” Jake told everyone. “Then we can grab breakfast.”

Jake took Bella out of the resort and into the woods. “Jake, can’t we just talk in the lobby? I’m really hungover, and any sort of motion makes me ill.”

“Here, I’ll carry you.” He took her deep into the woods and put her down. “What were you doing getting drunk anyway? You’re too sweet to get drunk.”

“Oh, trust me. I needed to get drunk last night. It was a necessity.”

He started peeling his clothes off, piece by piece. “I’m not a pervert, I swear.”

Bella wanted to tell him to move a little slower, maybe gyrate his hips, and add a bit more flair to his routine. He should probably rub baby oil over his body, too. Hang on. He wasn’t actually stripping for her.

Bella knew what was coming next. She’d been through this twice yesterday already. She watched as Jacob transformed into a humongous brown wolf then back to his human form again.

“I need to tell you a story. It’s an old story. It…”

“Jake, are the legends you told me by the beach true?”

“You remember?”

“Of course I remember.”

“Bella, it was the Cullens. They were in town and I turned into a wolf only I didn’t know that I was going to when I told you the story. I had no idea. I really didn’t mean to hurt you when I sent you away, but I had to because I didn’t want to hurt you. When we first became wolves, we were dangerous. We could have phased-that’s what we call the process of changing into a wolf-at any moment. I really didn’t want to hurt you.”

“It’s okay, Jake.”

“You were my best friend ever, Bells. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“It’s okay. I understand.”

“I have to tell you about what happened between Lauren and me.”

“Go ahead.” Bella knew this was going to be about imprinting.

“As wolves we have soul mates called imprints. All we have to do is look in her eyes once and that’s it. Boom. We’ve met our forever. It’s a weird feeling. It’s like your whole life become entwined with hers.”

“I see. I take it that’s what happened between Lauren and you?”

“Yeah, and Embry and Emily, too.”

“Well, congratulations.”

“Aren’t you upset Bella?”

“I’m happy for all of you. One day, I hope to meet a guy who can even come close to being my soul mate.”

“Well, maybe you should start by not hanging out with male strippers.”

“You’re probably right.” Bella was tired. She didn’t want to argue anymore. She didn’t want to be angry anymore. She just wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep off her hangover. She also didn’t want to tell him that the male strippers were Jared, Paul, and Quil.

“Um, you can’t tell anyone I told you.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

“Thanks, Bells.” Jacob flashed her his signature smile, pulled her in for a hug, and carried her back down the mountain.

As they walked into the lobby, they ran into Seth and Leah. “Oh good, you’re here. We want to talk to you.”

“ Not again,” Bella thought before sighing. “Sure.” She turned to Jake. “You go ahead and have breakfast with the others. I’m going to see what Seth and Leah want.”

“Sure, sure.”

Seth and Leah took Bella along with them into a different part of the woods. “Now, we don’t want you to be scared. Seth has to take his clothes off in order to show you.”

“Go ahead.” Seth turned into an adorable sandy colored wolf. “Oh, he’s so precious. Bella stroked him under the chin.”

“You’re not afraid?” Leah questioned.

“No, why should I be? I’m aware that supernatural creatures exist. So, what is he?”

Leah was a bit surprised by her reaction. She thought that Bella would scream her head off. Then again, she did date a Cullen. “He’s a wolf. Some of us have a gene, which transforms us into wolves when vampires are in the area.”

“The Cullens?” Bella offered.

“Yeah, you dated one of them.”

“Right, big mistake.” Bella smiled and asked, “Anything else?” At this point, she simply wanted to return to her hotel room and sleep.

Seth phased back at this point. “Imprinting, tell her about imprinting.”

Leah nodded and explained, hoping that Bella might gain a better understanding of what happened between Taylor, Emily, and her.

“Wow, that’s pretty intense. I bet you’re relieved that Embry has now imprinted on Emily.”

“Yes, it helps, but I don’t want there to be any tension between us Bella. I’ve always wanted a sister and… Well, you’re really nice. You’re nicer than Emily.”

“Yeah, I am.” Bella giggled, fully aware of Emily’s bitchy side-the side she loved so much.

“So, can we be friends?”

“Absolutely, we’ll start there.”

“What about Taylor?”

“Um, he’s still a prick. He could have broken up with Emily in a nicer way.”

“You’re right about that. Thanks, Bella.”

“You’re welcome.” She hugged Leah.

“Don’t I get a hug?” Seth asked with a sweet smile on his face.

“Yes, and thank you for clearing up my confusion. I’ll keep this between us. I promise.”

“That would be nice. I think Leah and I just broke about a hundred pack rules by telling you.”

When they returned to the resort, Sue Clearwater was waiting for them along with a tall, beautiful Native American woman whom she’d never met.

“Bella, this is Allison Black-Sam Uley’s mother. The three of us, along with Leah, are going to have a spa day before I get married. The men are going off to do their own thing.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary, I…” Bella really wanted to go back to sleep.

“Oh, it’s necessary. I want to hear about the underwear model and the male strippers,” Allison told her.

“And that’s my cue to leave. Have fun ladies.” Seth took off for the elevators.

“Have you had breakfast yet, dear?”

“No, she hasn’t. I heard her stomach growling,” Leah offered.

“Good, we’ll grab a light breakfast and head to the spa.”

“ Help me, God!” Bella mentally prayed as she was cocooned in between Leah and Sue and dragged with them to do their every bidding. She supposed this was punishment for worrying everyone the previous night.