Loca

There was dead silence in the room. Everyone was awaiting my reaction, but the thing was, I couldn’t react. I couldn’t breath because my lungs were gone. I couldn’t blink because I couldn’t feel my eyes. I could speak because my tongue was tied.

Charlie’s wasn’t though.

“CHILDREN!?!” he growled, lurching forward so my brothers, backed away. I stared blankly out at the men, not seeing anything.

“Yes,” Shawn said, cringing before his eyes focused on me. Alejandro’s never left but Christopher was staring at the lawyer for help.

“How is that possible,” I said, pushing past a fuming and utterly confused Charlie. My eyes raked across the three who now that I thought about it, really did remind of her. It was the lawyer who answered my question.

“Marisol was married to a man named Armando Madison; they had three children before they divorced eighteen years ago.

Eighteen years. Two years before I was born and the same year Bella was…The guys here would have to be in their early twenties at least.

“How old are you?” Charlie asked, reading my mind.

“Twenty three,” Alejandro said, and the twins nodded, before Christopher volunteered “Twenty one,” and Shawn nodded in agreement. Charlie calmed a bit and the lawyer seemed to relax as he did.

It wasn’t fair for Charlie to be mad after all; he and my mom were never a…thing, and his only claim over her either way, was me, who didn’t even consider him a real dad.

Or maybe this was something different altogether; maybe he just didn’t want to be accused of breaking up a marriage.

“Please,” the lawyer; Jack from his business card, which I could see with my new vision, pleaded, “Perhaps we can get back to the matter at hand.”

I nodded and folded my arms across my chest.

He shuffled some papers awkwardly as my brothers took seats and Charlie awkwardly did the same. I didn’t have the patience.

“Yes well, Im sure all this sibling nonsense will be put in order in a moment, but first we were meant to discuss the matter of Marisol’s inheritance,” Jack’s voice touched softly at my mom’s name and I felt bad for the position he was in; left to deal with two feuding families; one of which hadn’t known about the other.

“Hit us with it,” I said irritated, hoping to skip past this and get to the interrogation of the three guys here just like they were hoping to do.

“Well, Marisol left everything she owned to her daughter…” Jack started, seeming regrettable.

Shawn ushered him on, “Yeah, yeah but there isn’t anything left; the house burned down and the lot isn’t worth much now anyways.”

I wanted to punch him for cutting in; I was gonna say that. But I also wanted to punch him for another reason; he wasn’t supposed to know that.

What they guys had said earlier suddenly made sense.

They knew me before. They remembered me. I just didn’t do the same.

“Well yes, that is halfway correct,” the lawyer said, before I could come back from my realization. “However, Marisol…did have some money saved in the bank from her divorce, which was transferred into Trinity’s bank account on the night of the death.”

Charlie spoke now, seeming curious but wary. “How much?” he said, hoarsely.

Jack turned to me.

“Nine million dollars,” he said, and shock spread through the room like wildfire.

“WHAT?” Charlie shouted, launching out of his chair. Shawn, Christopher and Alejandro did the same, but they were protesting and not about to start a fight.

“How is that possible?” Christopher asked, choking on his shock.

“There’s no way it could be that much…dad always said that mom went broke when they divorced, that it was her choice…” Alejandro said, staring at me without any jealousy in his eyes, but concern everywhere. Concern for me.

I felt distant. My head was spinning. Nothing was adding up.

How many lies had my mom told me? Enough that everyone was just hitting me now; three impossible to ignore and one bigger than all of them.

I was suddenly extremely claustrophobic. I could breathe with the way the room constricted around me. The amount of people in here cut off my oxygen, and I had to run because I couldn’t stay in that room a second longer.

XxX

I didn’t know where I was supposed to go. Every place that had once seemed like a haven was closed off to me.

Hector was on patrol. I couldn’t see him and I couldn’t deal with the drama anyone else in the pack would start up about the news. Bella was with Edward, and I wasn’t having him in my head for this…

And then there was my last option.

Immediately after thinking the name, a tug began to form, sort of like a knot in my stomach but the kind that drags you, that was trying to pull me to Jacob.

He would be home, I knew. I don’t know why but I felt it in my bones. I wanted to see him badly, and I already had to apologize…

It was too bad the circumstances were like this though; would it seem like I was only coming to Jacob when I needed someone to comfort me?

That wasn’t true, but it felt like that was what I was doing. I was literally about to die.

There was so much conflict in me right now, and I was close to a panic attack. I needed to let it out.

I was running like crazy.

I hadn’t seen La Push with my new eyes yet, seeing as after my fight with Jacob I felt a sort of imaginary ban there, but I didn’t have time or patience to stop and ogle now. I needed Jake like a cure.

My sprint slowed into a walk as I approached the small red house that I had spent so much time at as a human. I felt nervousness settle in my stomach, but it was minor compared to the chaos inside my head, as well as the pain starting to collect itself into tears behind my eyes.

Jacob’s POV

The doorbell rang and I stayed limp on the couch, where I have been acquainted quite a lot recently. Whoever it was could just leave me the hell alone.

The ring came again, ringing out for longer this time and I groaned out loud, heaving myself up off the sofa and dragging myself to the door.

I opened it, about ready to cuss whoever it was out for interrupting my sulking but I didn’t get the chance too because the second I opened the door and the scent hit, I lost my reasoning.

Trinity was standing there looking helpless with tears brimming in her eyes and the most heartbreaking expression on her face and rain falling on her so she was completely soaked to the bone.

All my anger at her, myself and everything disappeared. My heart broke for her, and that was all that matter. She was all I cared about. As usual, my imprint came before myself.

Troy’s eyes were filled with regret and hopelessness, an infinite sorrow I couldn’t understand lingering in them while I felt my heart reach out to her.

They were the old eyes that I loved, warm chocolate brown eyes that would make any man lay his life on the line for her, as Im sure I’ve said before in similar words.

There was no trace of anything rabid in them, no hint of the wolf she had become; there was nothing but her. Nothing but her and her pain.

“Troy…” I started, catching her as she broke down. Her body fit well into my arms; the familiarity I missed was there. Her tears streamed down her face and I felt so horrible for having to watch her be reduced to this yet again, the first time being when she confessed about hurting that girl.

I halfway dragged her to the couch, seeing as her whole form was shaking with hysterics. I held her in my arms while her head was buried in my shoulder. I was at a loss while her pain ripped at my heartstrings, unable to do anything but stroke her hair and rub her back.

After an eternity, her sobs quieted down to sniffles and she seemed genuinely embarrassed.

“Sorry,” she mumbled after a few minutes of silence. I stroked the tears stains that stood out from the rain on her face to stop myself from kissing her. “You don’t have to be,” I muttered back.

She frowned, curling closer to me so my body molded to her new position automatically. She was still sopping wet from the rain but I didn’t mind.

“I should’ve told you…” she started, her voice breaking. I knew it wasn’t why she had broken down, but I knew she was sad about it all the same.

I pressed my thumb gently against her soft lips to cut her off and she glared at me playfully before the tears reappeared and she attempted not to blink to keep them from spilling.

“Hey,” I cooed, “Hey Troy baby what’s wrong?” I asked, moving my thumb and rubbing her cheek. That was the millionth time with the pet names…I needed to stop it with those before she caught on.

“I-I” she tried to string a sentence together.

Again, the urge to kiss her came over me at her helplessness and I don’t know why I resisted, but I did.

Eventually, she managed to get out a confession, and god it was the last thing I was expecting. “Your mom kept nine million dollars from you?” I whispered, trying to figure out what was going through Trinity’s head right now. She said nothing, but nodded and stared out the front window without seeing anything.

I couldn’t even imagine how it felt to have someone you love keep that big a secret from you, and then I winced, thinking of the girl in my arms, who was also a wolf.

She let her head fall against me, she looked whipped, and her eyes were red, from crying and exhaustion. The girl was a mess.

I opened my mouth to speak, but suddenly her phone vibrated, and I could feel it because she was in my lap and her thigh was pressed against mine so that I jumped when it went off.

She pulled it out, about ready to turn it off but her eyebrows furrowed with the number.

“Who is it?” I asked, and she looked at me with confused and adorable look on her face, “Edward.” She said, and furrowed her brows.

Before I could tell her anything else, she flipped open the phone and pressed it to her ear. I heard a few muffled sentences before my finely tuned ears heard a very distinct sentence.

“Bella’s gone.”