Lost, Then Found

Kim’s P.O.V.

Once again I was awoken by Koda’s barking and growling, it had become an alarm clock for the past month. My morning routine had become waking up to his growling/barking at the window, to looking out and finding nothing there. That didn’t comfort Koda of course, I had to take him out on the leash where he would pull me to the woods and stop at the tree line. His hair sticking straight up, growling and showing his teeth as drool flew everywhere. Each day his behavior scared me more and, more.

I spent the majority of my time working as a cashier at the only grocery store in Forks. I thought I saw Jared a couple times in my line, but every time I looked again he was gone. I missed him so much. When I wasn’t at work I was at the beach hoping to run into him, but it never happened, I ran into everyone else.

Today was no different. I had the day off so I decided to head to First Beach hoping to find Jared there, but I didn’t.

“You miss him don’t you?” Jacob sat next to me.

“I guess I’d be lying if I said no. I just don’t know why I miss him. I barely know him, but it feels like I’ve known him for years.” I replied.

Jacob smiled a smile that looked like he was up to no good. “Go see him if you miss him.”

“For what, just so he can flip out on me again?”

“He won’t, he feels bad about that.”

“Thanks Jacob, but I rather hear that come from him.”

“I’m sorry.” I jumped at the sound of the voice I had been longing to hear. I spun around to see
Jared approach us. He had that sad puppy dog look on his face that made me want to jump into his arms and kiss him over and over again, but I couldn’t.

Jacob smiled and slowly started walking off. “I’ll let you two talk.”

“Thanks.” Jared called out as he sat next to me replacing Jacob.

I stared off into the distance at the ocean watching the shimmers on the water disappear and reappear with the sun. I could feel Jared staring at me, but I was afraid to meet his eyes. My heart was thrumming from both excitement and nervousness.

“Kim, I really am sorry for how I acted. I had no right to yell at you or talk about Jake the way I did. I’ve already cleared things up with him; I just hope you can forgive me.” There was a pause, but not long enough to allow me to get a word in. “If you don’t I understand.”

“Hello Jared! Nice meeting you, I’m Kim.” His brows furrowed in confusion.

“We’re starting over! I’m Kim, nice meeting you Jared.” I repeated as I outstretched my arm to shake his hand. He smiled and firmly gripped my hand and replied, “Nice meeting you Kim.”

“Jared I feel the need to be completely honest with you, so with that being said, I missed you.” I can’t believe I told him that. His eyes widened and I almost wished I hadn’t told him, but he surprised me when I was suddenly wrapped in those warm arms I haven’t felt since the day we met when he caught me.

“I missed you too Kim.” He replied as he placed a kiss upon the top of my head. I’ve never felt safer than that moment.

I lifted my head just enough to meet his gaze. “Did you really miss me?”
“You don’t believe me?”

“I don’t know.” I honestly replied. It had been so long since someone showed me this kind of attention; I didn’t know whether it was pretend or real. I was scared of being fooled by another pretty face.

“I missed you more than I can describe to you, but I’ll try. During the day, I thought about you, during the night, I dreamt about you. You’ve been in my thoughts ever since the day we met.”
There were no words for me to speak, for once I was speechless. I must have looked stupid getting lost looking into his eyes, but I didn’t care, I could look into them all night. Sadly Mother Nature didn’t care that I had a moment of happiness, because the moment was interrupted by a sudden down pour. Jared scooped me up into his arms and ran us to this large tree trunk that had washed up on the beach long ago. The end of it was all washed out from years of the waves smacking up against it leaving just enough room for Jared and I to escape from the rain.

“Another rainy day in La Push.” Jared chuckled as he wiped the dripping rain from his face. I watched intently as the drops rolled down his face, to his neck, than off to his exposed abs. The drops from the rain made his abs glisten only teasing me more. I couldn’t help the thought of licking them off. I blushed and that must have caught Jared’s attention.

“What?” He asked with that cocky smile I missed so much.

He knew what, and that only left me a darker shade of red. “You’re gorgeous Jared.” I looked down shyly as I said it. When I looked back up Jared was now directly in front of me pushing me up against the inside wall of the tree trunk.

His skin felt like fire against my skin, but I was too caught up in the moment to ask if he was alright. Before I had time to react his lips were colliding with mine. His lips were just as hot as the rest of his body, but they felt good against mine, a perfect match. He smelled like the salty ocean breeze, but tasted like maple. I was hungry for more!

Jared lifted me to an already big bulge in his pants that was slowly becoming bigger. His hips pressed against the spot between my legs that had went from moist to wet within seconds. My head fell back as I whispered his name in pleasure. His lips found my neck and began sucking leaving me wanting more. My nails dug deeper into his back as he continued to suck on my neck. His hips thrust into mine again making me call out his name much louder this time. If only our pants weren’t a barrier between us.

Jared gently set me down. I let out a low moan in disapproval to his actions until I noticed him fumbling with his button and zipper. He stepped close once again colliding his lips with mine while he worked on my button and zipper.

Once again Koda brought me back to reality with his barking and growling. My dreams of Jared were becoming more regular, though we have not spoken since the night at the fire. I occasionally ran into Jared’s friends around town, but they never offered any information regarding Jared and I was too afraid to ask, knowing that it would probably get back to him. The only one I knew I could open up to was Jacob. He happened to mention Jared’s name once or twice, and I could feel my face light up.

I decided to push all my thoughts of Jared aside for now and start my day. I let Koda out to the back so he would see that he was barking once again for no reason at all.

I noticed my phone I had just bought on the table. I picked it up and began playing around with it dialing the only number I could remember, just to see if it was still in service. To my surprise the phone rang and my heartbeat picked up.

“Hello.” A voice finally answered sounding half asleep.

“Shianne, is that you?” I asked nervously hoping I still remembered the right number for the only friend I had left back in New York.”

“Oh my god Kim? Is that you?” She replied sounding fully awake now.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“I miss you so much. How are you? Where have you been?”

“I’m good, much better than what I was a few months ago.”

“I’m glad Kim. I’m so proud of you.”

“Really? For what?”

“Are you serious? You’re such a strong woman. Most women in your situation don’t have the strength to leave.”

“You mean run, because that’s what I did. I waited ‘til he left and I ran as far away as I could.”

“You got away from him, and that’s all that matters.”

“Has he been.. looking for me?” Did I really want to know the answer to that? Too late now, I already asked without really thinking it through.

“I’m not going to lie to you, he has. It’s gotten to the point that I’ve had to call the police a few times in order for him to leave.” I winced at the thought of him coming after her for information on my whereabouts. Part of me, the stronger part, wanted to go back to New York and face him myself, but the other half, the coward he made me into just wanted to curl up in a ball and hide in a corner at the sound of someone saying his name.

“I’m so sorry Shianne! Now he’s coming after you.” Tears began to fall down my face.

“Don’t worry about me Kim! My new boyfriend is a police officer; I’ve got plenty of protection.”

She always knew how to lighten the mood, so I wiped the tears away and laughed it off.

“Police officer huh? I thought you didn’t like the police?” I laughed.

“I didn’t until I needed them. Eli pushed us together.” I shuttered at his name, but continued to listen to her story. “I was walking home from work one night as Eli was stumbling out of a bar. He recognized me and began screaming at me, demanding I tell him where you were. Officer Thomas happened to be driving passed and must have noticed the frightened look on my face as Eli came running towards me. Michael tackled him and arrested him. He was the officer that showed up the other times I had to call the police. We just started hanging out and now he’s my boyfriend. I have my own little secret service.” She finished with a huge smile that was so obvious even over the phone.

“I’m glad you’re happy and safe Shianne. He sounds like a keeper.”

“He is! What about you? Have you met anyone wherever you are?”
Well, there’s this one guy…” I said with a big smile taking over my face as my thoughts drifted back to Jared.

“Details! Tell me everything!”

I couldn’t help but laugh at her. “His name is Jared, and I met him as I almost fell looking at another guy.” It sounded bad when I said it out loud, no reason Jared thought I liked Jacob.
Shianne cleared her throat bringing me back from my thoughts of that day that seemed so long ago. “Continue.” She replied.

“I was looking at Jacob and didn’t know Jared was there until he caught me when I almost fell.”

“Smooth Kim!” She laughed.

“The scary part happened when we met eyes. It was like love at first sight for me. I just had this pull towards him. It feels like we’re meant to be together, and when we’re apart it only confirms it because I can’t stop thinking about him and it physically hurts not being with him.”

“Sounds intense.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

“Well at least you moved on.”

“Not exactly.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s mad at me. He thinks I like his friend Jacob. I saw a side of Jared that scared me, and we haven’t talked since.”

“Just be careful Kim, I don’t need you.. never mind.”

“I know what you’re thinking, but Jared isn’t like that. Yes, I barely know him so you’re probably thinking how do you know, but when I’m with him I can feel it. He was only mad because he was hurt, and technically he wasn’t even mad at me, he was mad at Jacob.”
“Kim, you didn’t think Eli was like that either, but he fooled you! I just want to make sure you don’t fall victim to that again.”

“He’s not like that!” I shouted. I was shocked at myself; I was defending Jared even though he was in the wrong.

Everything fell silent. I felt bad for shouting at my only friend. I knew she was only trying to protect me.

The silence made it easy for me to hear someone approaching her in the background. I couldn’t make out what the person was saying at first, but then I was frozen in place.

“Is that Kim?”

“Eli how did you get in here? Leave now, I’ll call Michael!” Shianne shouted as she sounded further and further away from the phone. I heard struggling over the phone before it went silent for a moment.

“You can run but you can’t hide from me forever. I will find you Kim.”
With that the line went dead. The tears found their way back as I threw the phone onto the kitchen table. The feeling of fear I knew all too well came flooding back to me, it was overwhelming and almost unbearable. This time I wasn’t afraid for myself and my safety, I was afraid for Shianne. I grabbed my keys and rushed out the door only to fly back from running into a hard, but warm chest.

“Kim are you ok?” His voice was frantic as he dove down to lift me back to my feet.

“I’m fine.” I replied. My blurred vision cleared just enough for me to see the man standing in front of me. He wrapped his arms around me for a quick hug, than slowly pulled me back so he could wipe the tears from my face, that only made room for new ones to take its place.

“Kim, why are you crying, what’s wrong baby girl?” His voice was soothing, and it almost made me forget why I was crying, but the memory of Eli getting on the phone snuck its way back into my head.

“I need to go home Jared. I need to go back to New York.” That’s the first time in a long time I referred to New York as my home. The tears flowed like a river now. Jared picked me up and took me back inside where he sat on the couch with me in his lap while he held me until I could cry no more. Jared drew circles on my back with his fingers, like my mother used to do for me when I was a baby. Although this soothed me to an extent, listening to his heart beat was what fully calmed me.
I finally stopped crying just to study his heartbeat. Fast at first, than slowing to a normal pace. I turned my head into his chest in an attempt to hide the few tear drops that still lingered. As I turned my head my lips accidently brushed up against his bare skin. The moment my lips came into contact with his skin a jolt shot through my body. Jared’s heartbeat picked up again, and he pushed me off of his lap, not forcefully, but it was like it just hit him and he just noticed I was there. It almost seemed like he was uncomfortable with me being that close to him. He adjusted the position he had been sitting in and looked at me with pink cheeks.

“Um… what’s wrong? Why were you crying?” He asked.

“It’s a long story.” I replied, my voice still a little shaky from crying.

“I’ve got time.”

I let out a sigh and fell back into his arms hiding my face embarrassed by what I was about to tell him. With that I told him everything starting from the first time Eli beat me, to the last day. I continued on telling him about Shianne and how he’s been harassing her. This only made me realize once again that I had to get back to New York.

I pushed off Jared in an attempt to get up, but he pulled me back to him.

“I have to go back home Jared.”

“No, you are home.” His voice seemed hard at first, but then softened as he finished his sentence.

“I have to go back and make sure he leaves Shianne alone. He’s harassing her to get to me. If it’s me he wants then it’s me he’ll get.”

“No Kim! Shianne is fine. That’s just a trick to get you back there. You said she’s dating a cop, let him take care of Eli, she’ll be fine.” It almost sounded like an order the way he said it, but I didn’t back down.

“What if she’s not, what if he hit her or beat her like he used to beat me? I need to go Jared.”
I tried leaving once again, but Jared held me tighter against his chest. Tears rolled down my face again until I finally drifted off to sleep.