Hells Angel

“Does the whole sleepover thing still stand?” Avery asked as Linley opened the front door.

Linley looked down at her watch—it was barely after eight and she nodded. “What happened?”

Avery groaned, shaking her head. “Just. I just. God.”

“Come on, let's go to my room,” she said, leading Avery downstairs and into her bedroom, shutting the door. “What happened?”

“He just left!” Avery yelled, setting her purse down on her friend's bed. “God, I just want to punch him.”

“Calm down, Aves,” Linley said, grabbing her friend's shoulders. “Start from the beginning.”

Avery sighed, sitting at the foot of the bed. “I went over there and he made dinner. I thought I was supposed to but he just...made me orichette with Alfredo sauce. Which means nothing to you but it means a lot to me because he remembered it was my favorite. And he said the dinner was an apology for being a dick. So we were eating, and it was really good, and we were talking and then he almost kissed me and left!”

“He almost kissed you?! I told you he liked you!”

Avery glared at her friend. “Almost. He just...left. Said Sam was there before he even knocked, by the way, and then just left,” she ranted. “If I see him again, I'm going to kick his ass. I'm not even kidding. Who does that?!”

“Jacob does,” Linley said, looking down. “Look, I'm not excusing his behavior but...he and his friends have some weird shit going on in their lives. Stuff you and I aren't supposed to know. Seth told me but,” she shook her head, “Jacob will have to tell you if he wants you to know.”

“What, is he in some sort of cult?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

“I mean, in a sense, maybe. It's not like the KKK or some biker gang or—“ she stopped. “Oh, shit, I didn't mean to imply anything about your father, Aves.”

Avery shook her head. “No, it's fine. I mean, he was in it and now he's not. I just want to hit Jacob. Secret gang shit or not, you don't treat me like that. God, and here I was, thinking he might be a little different than all of the shitty guys out there because he remembered some stupid little shit I told him. But no, he's just like everyone else. God, I'm an idiot! Letting myself feel all...stupid and different and alive. I hate him. I'm going to kick his ass. I swear it,” she threatened.

Linley hugged her friend. “Just forget about it for tonight, okay? We'll stay up late, watch girlie movies, eat cupcakes until we fall into a sugar coma, then you can kick his ass tomorrow, okay?”

She sighed. “Fine. Fine, but I'm still doing it.”

“I believe you,” Linley said, smiling. “So, what movie do you want to watch first?”

“How about He's Just Not That Into You?” Avery offered sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“I love that movie! Alex and Gigi forever, am I right?”

Avery smiled softly. “Yeah. Forever.”

+

Avery barely slept that night, lying awake in Linley's queen size bed and staring at the ceiling, the credits rolling on a movie that Linley had fallen asleep during. Near four in the morning, she quietly got up and pulled on a sweat shirt that was lying next to the bed—borrowing from Linley, the same with the shorts and tank top she was wearing to bed. She zipped up the sweat shirt and walked up the stairs to the kitchen, intending to get a glass of water. She frowned when she saw Seth sitting at the table, Sam, Jacob, Quil, and Embry with him. They all stopped talking the minute she appeared in the doorway. She swore she saw regret in Jacob's eyes, but who knew?

“Don't stop on my account,” she said, shuffling her feet across the floor to the refrigerator.

“What are you doing up?” Seth asked, curious.

Avery shrugged. “We've been watching movies for hours,” she said. “Lin fell asleep, I didn't, I wanted some water. Problem?”

“We were having a private conversation,” Sam said.

“Well, hang a sock on the door next time,” she replied sarcastically, pulling a water bottle out and taking a drink. She turned around, leaning against the door. All five boys just stared at her. “Is it really that crucial to where no one else can hear?”

“Not an outsider, no,” Sam said, crossing his arms. “Can you leave?”

“Can you learn some manners?” Avery asked.

“Avery...” Jacob began, his voice soft, struggling.

“Don't even, Jacob,” she said, shaking her head. “I'll leave, only because I'm going to punch you in the face if I don't.” She took another drink of her water as she walked out of the kitchen and to the stairs.

“Avery, I'm sorry,” Jacob said, running to catch up with her.

She turned around. “Good for you.”

“I had to go. Sam—He needed me,” he told him.

“For what?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I...can't tell you.”

She nodded. “Cult shit,” she muttered, turning around.

Jacob reached for her arm. “Cult shit? That's what you think this is?”

“Well, since you can't explain it to me, I'll just have to use my imagination,” she said. “And I have a very vivid one, by the way. In my imagination, you're not such a jerk but, hey, reality won out again.”

“Avery, we had such a good night—are you going to let this ruin it? We were fine hours ago,” he said, his voice dropping, even though he knew the others could still hear them.

“You're lying to me,” she told him. “And that's fine, I'm sure people lie to me all the time. But the difference is, I don't know when, or if, they are. And I know you're lying to me right now. And it's sloppy as fuck, Jacob, with these piss poor excuses. If you're not going to tell me everything, tell me nothing. You don't owe me anything anyway, remember? I'm the outsider,” she said, slightly proud of herself as she seemed to render him speechless. “Goodnight, Jacob.” She turned away and walked down the stairs. She knew he wasn't stupid enough to come down after her.

Jacob didn't follow. He turned around and walked back into the kitchen, his friends staring at him, and he sat back down.

“Jacob—“ Sam started.

“Don't,” Jacob said, shaking his head.

“She's not Nessie. And she's not going to replace her,” Sam told him quietly.

“Maybe she's not supposed to replace her,” Seth offered. “Maybe Avery is here to show Jacob that he can move on and find someone else to—“

“She's not my imprint,” Jacob said, his gut twisting. “She can't be.”

“Why not?” Seth asked.

“Because Nessie was.”

“Was,” Seth said, softly. “Things change, Jacob, and you of all people know that.”

Jacob shook his head. He refused to believe it. He refused to even consider that Seth could be right. It was not happening. There had to be some other reason why she was always on his mind. There had to be some other reason why he made her dinner. There had to be some other reason why he almost kissed her. It couldn't have been that she could possibly be his new imprint... It wasn't even supposed to work that way, for God's sake. It was supposed to... Jacob wasn't even sure how it was supposed to work, but he knew it couldn't work like that—just finding a new imprint after one died. That was ridiculous.

There had to be some other reason. There just had to be...

+

Linley woke up the next morning near eleven, surprised to see Avery sitting in the corner reading a book. “How long have you been up?” she asked, still half asleep.

Avery shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe since four. I didn't really sleep.”

“Oh,” she said. “Were you uncomfortable?”

She shook her head. “No, just...thinking. Went up to get a glass of water. Seth had all of his friends over.”

“Jacob?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you kick his ass?” she asked, a small smile on her face.

Avery laughed lightly. “No. I really wanted to, though.”

“I'll go see if they're still here. If they are, we'll go out to get brunch, okay?” Linley said, getting out of bed and pulling on her robe over her shorts and tank top.

Avery nodded. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” she said. “Be right back.” She walked out of her room, skipping up the stairs. She peered into the living room to see Seth watching television, eating some cereal, the rest of the guys were asleep on the floor. She leaned against the door frame, arms crossed.

“Morning, Lin.”

“How'd you know it was me?” she asked.

Seth looked over at her. “He didn't mean to, Lin. I know you want to yell but you know he can't tell her.”

“Just like you couldn't tell me?”

“That's different, Lin. You're my sister. I couldn't hide this from you,” Seth said quietly.

“Do they know I know?”

Seth set his cereal down and stood up, walking over to her. “I think Sam has an inkling.”

Linley sighed. “Seth, she has no idea what's going on with him. I think he should tell her.”

“It's not that simple. She's not from around here—we can't risk it,” he told her.

“So he's just going to keep running off and never telling her why? What about when they get together?” she asked.

Seth crossed his arms, “when they get together? You mean if.”

“If he doesn't tell her, he has no chance. What if she's his—you know, whatever your kind calls it. What if that's the case? Doesn't he have to tell her then?” Linley asked. She wasn't sure how the whole shape-shifting, werewolf thing was set up or their rules, guidelines, and so on. Seth did a good job of explaining it to her but she was still confused half of the time.

“If she is...he doesn't want to admit it. He doesn't even want to talk about it because of what happened to Nessie.”

“Yeah, but there are no vampires after Avery,” Linley said.

“As far as we know,” Seth said sarcastically.

Linley sighed. “Look, I'm used to you guys having to leave and run out if we have plans. Avery isn't. And something tells me that she's not going to settle for lame excuses. She's smart—you know it. She can see right through all of this. Her father was in a biker gang, Seth, I think she knows how to keep secrets,” she explained to her brother.

“I know. I think he should tell her, too, but I doubt he will. I'll talk to Sam about it, because if she is his imprint then she'll understand,” Seth said.

Linley nodded. “Thanks, Seth. I'm going to take her out for breakfast. Keep your friends at bay while we leave, okay? She really doesn't want to see Jacob.”

“God, girls like to avoid people they're mad at, don't they?” he asked, a smile in his voice.

“No. I just think she'd rip his face off if she saw him. She doesn't like people lying to her and he is. Big time,” Linley said. “So don't expect me to be nice either. She's my best friend—and it's been a long time since I had one so I don't really want to hurt our friendship because your little friends are stupid.”

Seth nodded. “Understood.”

“Thanks, Seth.”

He nodded. “No problem.”