Chapter 1

"Will you be my wife, Bella?"

He proposed to her quite unexpectedly in the middle of dinner with their friends. Well, more like his friends. She'd seen Ethan, Peter and Alex only a few times since she and Ed had been dating. They'd met five years ago in her last year of college when he'd represented his father's company at a career workshop for final year students.

Taking a quick peek at the smiling faces around them, she whispered. "Yes?"

She tried to stifle the surge of nerves that bubbled in her throat as he slipped his mother's ring on her finger.

Rose, Ethan's date for this friend-get-together-turned-proposal-dinner, gave her a cool smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

Later back at her apartment, Ed gestured at her lineup of wild plants along the windowsill in her tiny apartment kitchen. "You haven't got rid of these things yet?"

"I've been collecting them since I was a child, Ed."

"Well, Bella, maybe it's time to grow up, don't you think? You're going to be my wife now." He pulled her into a brief hug. He was forever doing that, touching her so sparingly as if she was a fragile moth that would disintegrate in his embrace.

"Don't forget we have that fundraiser to attend tonight."

Ed was forever coaxing her to accompany him to some social event or the other. His parents were steady socialites themselves. And of course, he'd expect her to be donned in one of the outfits he insisted on getting her. She'd have to go to the hairdresser he recommended to tame her 'wild head of curls' as he once put it.

Her close friend Alli had warned her that Ed was too controlling but she thought it was quite the opposite. Throughout their relationship, Ed had always treated her as if she was made of glass. He was always the perfect gentleman and all he wanted was for her to be the best version of herself.

But truly, she was most comfortable with her hair in a messy bun instead of the sleek straight blow-dry Ed preferred. She harbored a secret fear of Seattle's glitzy social scene and in her free time she preferred to be outdoors exploring the woods or relaxing with a good book and a freshly baked cookie. But Ed's right, it is time for me to grow up.

Ed's stability and discipline was what had drawn her to him in the first place. He grounded her. Bella always had a deep abiding fear that she had more than a bit of her mother's flightiness. Anne was like a jubilant butterfly, restless and never willing to settle for long. Not in any one place or in her choice of men.

"I'll pick you up at nine, okay?" Ed plopped a chaste kiss on her cheek, already halfway out the door when she called back to him.

"But Ed, I thought, you know, we could spend a little time together before we leave for the fundraiser."

"I know sweetheart but I've got to finish up some stuff at the office first."

She sighed but he'd already closed the door behind him. But then a mere few seconds later, he rushed back in, breathless and she smiled thinking he'd changed his mind. He rushed towards her but instead of reaching for her as she expected, he grabbed the small leather book on her counter that he'd left there.

"Forgot this," he breathed out a heavy sigh of relief, not quite meeting her eyes. With a murmur that he'd see her soon, he rushed back out.

Bella frowned. He was always territorial about that little black book. Unable to rein her curiosity, she'd asked him about it once but he'd dismissed it as a personal business ledger.

As the months passed, the wedding planning was fully underway but thankfully it was not left in her hands. After Bella admitted she didn't know the first thing about planning a wedding, Ed's mother Helene was all too happy to take the reins as Ed was her only child.

And by all the crows in Spoons, she knew not to interrupt her mother's latest 'getaway' with her newest beau.

But though she gladly relinquished control over the wedding plans, she insisted on taking her father's wedding invitation to him herself.

"I don't see why you can't mail it, Bella." Ed frowned.

"I haven't seen my dad in months, Ed. And this would be the perfect time for you to meet him."

"I can't get time away from the office. Sorry, love but you'll have to make this trip without me. We'll meet when he's in town for the wedding, yeah?" Ed pressed a soft kiss on her head. "Besides you know I'm allergic to anything with forest."

"It's not so bad in Spoons." She grumbled.

"Yes, yes I know you love it there. It'll be a good few days of rest for you before the final stretch to our big day. Just hurry back to me, sweetheart."

Smiling up at him, she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Will do. But I do still have one night here before I leave in the morning. Wanna stay over?"

"I'm afraid I can't. Have to get the presentation together for the guys at the office."

"But Ed, you've been away for the past two weeks on a business trip. We haven't really spent much time together."

"I promise you, Bella. We'll make up for it on our honeymoon."

With its intermittent flashes of sun and bursts of rain, Spoons was as moody as she remembered from the summers she'd spent here as a child.

She loved it. The unpredictability. Loved how the sky could be bright one moment and sullenly grey the next.

Her hair whipped wildly from the brisk wind wafting through the lowered windows. She'd long since loosened her curls from its strict knot. She was glad she'd decided to drive down herself instead of hiring a taxi as Ed suggested.

When she'd called to tell him she was on her way, he had apologized again that he wasn't there with her. He really hated the whole small town scene especially this place where her father lived so close to the vast woods.

Charlie was home when she got in so she didn't have to use her spare key. He enveloped her in a huge hug before she barely made it through the door.

"Wowza kiddo! Where did my skinny Bells go? Seems like city life's agreeing with ya."

"Dad, you look great! Bet you're putting all those new recruits at the station to shame."

"Oh well, they all try to keep up." He took her bags from her, going up the stairs, which seemed even narrower than she remembered, to the room where she always stayed.

"You've never changed anything in this room since I was six, Dad."

"You don't like it?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Well, I'll let you freshen up. You hungry? We could head out to the diner or if you ain't too tired, Billy's having a grill out with his latest fresh catch."

"Mmm, Billy's grilled salmon, count me in. I haven't seen Billy in years. Or Jake or Lee or Embry or Sam...I'd love to head down there."

"Thought you'd say that, kiddo." Charlie beamed back at her before shutting the door behind him.

On the way to the Reservation in Wolf County, a pang of nostalgia rose. During her childhood summers, she'd spent even more time at the Rez than Spoons. She couldn't wait to see the guys and Lee again, the 'original crew' as they'd nicknamed their group. The last time she'd seen the crew was when she was twelve. After that, she had been too busy, always on the move with her mother Anne. Her high school years had been a rollercoaster of different places and different schools but no other place had managed to capture her heart as much as Spoons, particularly Wolf County.

Watching the trees flash by, she remembered days of dripping clouds and hunting among the rocks at Wolf Beach for crabs and sneaky explorations through the woods.

Turning to glance at Charlie as he maneuvered his off-duty car along the Wolf County's back roads, she blurted out. "Dad, I'm getting married."

He darted wide eyes to her, hands tightening on the wheel before he focused back on the road. "Darn it Bells, what a way to tell me."

"Sorry. Should have told you right away."

"S'okay. Just it's all so sudden. Is it that same Ed guy?"

"Yeah, it is."

"You happy with him?"

"Well, yeah..."

"Well, that didn't sound all too enthusiastic Bella for someone who's getting married."

"Maybe I'm just a bit tired."

Charlie glanced at her with his 'don't-miss-a-thing' cop eyes but he didn't say any more on the subject and for that she was grateful.

They soon pulled up to Billy's timeless red brick one-story home. This right here was the symbol of her childhood summers, the main gathering place of the original crew. Walking around the back with Charlie, the aromas wafting from the smoking grill made her inhale deeply.

"Bella, is that you?"

Jake was running to her and for the second time that day she was lifted off her feet in a bone crushing hug. "Jake! Is Billy's grilled salmon responsible for all this height?"

He patted her on her head. "Everyone's taller than you, pipsqueak."

"Hey, our pipsqueak's filled out some." Embry was strolling to her. He grabbed her in a hug. Lee came around from behind Embry shoving him aside.

"Bella!"

"Lee!"

The two girls spun about arms wrapped around the other.

Giggling and flushed, Bella swiped some loose curls from her face as they drew apart. "Oh my gosh, Lee, you look so beautiful!"

"And you're still short as fuck but now a lot sexier." Lee quipped.

Charlie gruffly cleared his throat. "Language."

Lee smirked at him. "You gonna handcuff me, Chief?"

It was beyond discomfiting to watch one of her childhood best friends flirt with her father. Charlie's face reddened and shaking his head, he tugged at her hand.

"C'mon, Bells let's go see Billy."

Billy was her father's best friend and the Chief of the Rez. It was a running joke that between the Rez Chief and the Spoons Chief, nothing sinister could take place in this town and for all the years it had proven to be true.

The Rez Chief was hale and hearty as ever manning the grill pit with an aplomb that came from experience. "Your girl's all grown now, Chief."

"Still a kiddo to me, Chief. Though she's getting married on me now."

Billy turned that alert gaze on her. "Who's the lucky man?"

"My boyfriend Ed." At Billy's inquisitive look, she felt the need to add, "Um, we've been dating for five years now."

"Congratulations Bella." The Chief said with a warm smile. "I think when news gets out all the boys from Wolf County to Spoons will be heartbroken. Charlie here's told everyone who would listen for the past few weeks that his daughter's visiting again."

"Dad, you always do that whenever I visit."

"Well, kiddo you always make your old man proud. You always had a good head on your shoulders."

"That she has." Billy soundly agreed. She could practically hear the unspoken words flashing in the Chief's eyes. Unlike her mother...

Though her father never said as much, Bella had gotten an inkling throughout the summers she'd spent here that his friends had never approved of Anne running off with a toddler Bella. And there'd been whispers of how wild Anne had always been, that Charlie hadn't been the only man heartbroken when she left…

Lee came to pull her away again. Sneaking away from the older set, she, Lee, Jake, and Embry headed out to one of their 'secret' spots, an old shed at the side of the house that Jake had converted into a garage.

Seated on the floor among Jake's car tools, they caught up on what they'd all been up to. She told them she was getting married. Jake jumped to his feet, dramatically planting a hand over his heart. "And I thought you came back here to be with me."

She found an old rag on the floor and threw it at him. Of course she would miss. "Shut up."

"This calls for a celebration!" Lee sang out. "Jake get out your cache. We need to toast."

"But um, I was wondering," Bella asked. "Where's Sam?'

"Working as usual," Embry said.

Jake pulled a six pack out of the mini fridge. "Yeah, he's probably running a late shift with the guys..."

"And miss our reunion with our pipsqueak? Screw work for today."

The bass tenor of a deep voice floated through Jake's garage. Twisting around to face the door from her perch on the floor, Bella's gaze widened. "Sam?"

What had seemed like so long ago, Sam had been part of their summer original crew. He was no longer that wild boy with dark solemn eyes but a grown man. His eyes remained the same.

He towered above her, even above Jake and Embry and though he'd always been sturdy now he was seriously built.

His face was almost harsh in its seriousness but she could see the smile in his eyes as he made his way further into the garage. "I thought I'd find you guys in here."

Lounging back on her elbows with one foot crossed over her knee, Lee grinned. "We were just about to bust a joint. Do you smoke, Bella?"

"Uh, not really."

Lee's grin grew. "We've got a joint virgin in the house guys."

She could still feel Sam's gaze on her. Jake tossed him a can of beer which he caught with one-handed ease.

Embry whipped out a joint.

"Uh, you guys sure you want to do that now with my dad just a few yards away who in case you didn't notice is a police chief?"

Lee's eyes drifted close as she pressed the joint to her lips. Breathing out a gust of smoke, she drawled. "Once we're not blowing smoke rings in his face, Charlie's pretty cool. He lets us be. No harm no foul."

Sam was leaning casually against Jake's makeshift counter. "So, no hug for me?"

Unable to stifle the heat in her face, Bella rose with an awkward tilt to her feet. "I can't get over how much you've all grown. What is it about this Rez air?"

He pulled her into a hug, a really warm hug, easily drowning her. There was nothing gentle about Sam's embrace but damn if he didn't feel good.

"You've grown too Bella." He whispered, dark eyes on her as she took a step back.

She gazed back up at him. "I just can't get over how...big you got."

Stretched out on her tummy now, Lee cackled. "Well if Sammy here is anything like his father, he's big indeed."

Not even a saint could have missed Lee's sexual reference.

Turning shocked eyes to the girl she used to make sand castles with on Wolf Beach, Bella gaped.

"Lee has a thing for older men, not the mere likes of us," Embry explained. "She used to date Sam's dad Joshua."

"Don't remind me," Sam said quietly. "And that man's not my 'dad'."

"I'm really out of the loop here."

Sam caught her again with his dark eyes. "You really didn't miss much."

Yet looking up at him, she felt as if she sort of did.

As they all hung out that evening in Jake's garage, she learned that he was an environmental patrol officer, a forest ranger. She was glad for him, she knew that was what Sam had always wanted to do. He was so solid and steady, he'd set his eyes on his goal and achieved it.

Some days she still felt as if she was stuck in someone else's life. A city career girl who secretly longed to say, 'Screw this!', toss the load of assignments on her desk aside and pick up the novel manuscript she'd long since abandoned, even before college. Sometimes the office felt like a cage…

Then she would remember Anne and her constant need to always change up everything in her life. Never disciplined enough to settle.

"So, our pipsqueak's getting married!" Lee sang out through an exhale of pungent smoke.

There was a flicker of something she couldn't describe in Sam's eyes but then his lips curled in a slight smile. "Congratulations, Bella. Your husband-to-be is a very lucky man."

Lee leapt to her feet, passing her joint to Embry. "We've got limited time to corrupt her before she goes all prim wifey on us. I have an idea! I'm going to throw you a bachelorette party!"

"Lee, that's not necessary…"

"Aw, c'mon Bella! It'll be fun, just wait until I tell the girls. You remember Rachel, Jake's sister of course? We're going to give you the time of your life before you head back to Seattle."

Little did Bella know how much that night would change her life.

An entire day passed without her getting into any sort of accident which was a feat in itself. No tripping down the stairs, no knife slips in the kitchen as she regularly had in her little apartment kitchen.

For once, she didn't have to get up early for the bustling commute but still woke at the crack of dawn anyway out of habit. The day was going by peacefully. She'd done some baking which she knew Charlie would appreciate since he seemed to be eating every day at the diner. She'd even managed to read a little from her stash of books she'd left behind in her old room.

And then as the rays of the setting sun peeked down through the redwoods bordering the backyard, she'd decided to go for a stroll in the woods.

She hadn't planned on going far. She just wanted to savour the fresh air and maybe find the meadow she'd discovered the last summer she'd been here. That seemed like a lifetime ago.

It was only when dusk began falling more heavily did she realize how far she'd strayed from the house. She'd forgotten how swiftly night fell here with the towering redwoods and ever present blanket of clouds.

When she passed the same redwood twice, which she recognized by the curving S and B initials carved into its thick trunk, she realized that she was hopelessly lost. Panic begun to set in and as she spun around to head back the other way, her foot caught on a thick root. She went catapulting to the merciless forest floor, her head connecting with a sickening crunch against a rock.

Warmth held her close. She tasted the metallic tang of blood and with a groan, she forced her eyes open. Above her only darkness loomed.

She could faintly hear the muted buzzing of night creatures. Despite her innate fear of the pitch-dark woods, she felt safe with this warmth around her.

The sound of loud voices and sirens intruded and then the warmth receded. She gave a tiny moan of protest. Someone murmured in a deep, soothing voice somewhere above her as impersonal cold hands, so far from that comforting warmth, strapped her into a gurney.

"Don't go…please stay closer…" she murmured, the ache in her head making her wince.

"I'm right here."

His deep quiet voice followed her into oblivion.

When she woke up at the hospital, Charlie was there, sitting by her bedside.

"Aw kiddo, you got a nasty bruise there but thankfully it's only a superficial wound."

"And I almost made it twenty four hours without seeing Spoons hospital too." She murmured, wincing as a stab of pain shot through her temple. She could see the memory playing out in her father's eyes of the last time she'd been here. When she was twelve after breaking her leg down the stairway…

"Who was it, Dad? Who found me in the woods?"

"It was Sam. You remember him, don't you? He came by Billy's the day before. Thank God he found you when he did." Charlie shuddered. "You were so damned lucky, Bells. No one knows these woods better than Sam does. He's the top forest ranger Wolf County's got."

It was his arms she'd felt around her when she'd woken up with her head splintered in pain. He must've trekked through the forest holding her until they arrived back in Spoons.

A few hours later, she'd been discharged much to her relief. She was about to leave the hospital room when they burst in. Jake, Embry and Lee made a huddle around her, enveloping her close.

"Good grief, Bella, don't fucking scare us like that again!" Lee all but shrieked.

She glimpsed a towering shadow standing by the door.

"Sam," she whispered.

She moved to him. "Thank you for finding me."

Without saying a word, he pulled her close. And she was engulfed in that warmth again.

Later that week, they ended up going out for coffee, catching up more with each other's lives as she sat opposite him by the diner's large bay window.

From what she could remember, Sam had always been the Rez's resident good boy almost to a fault, despite the fact that his mother raised him single-handedly and his father was, according to Rez rumors, not a permanent fixture. He'd always lent a helping hand to the Elders around the Rez, he always followed the rules, had been a model student and no one respected Native traditions more than Sam.

That last summer she'd been here, they'd all been sitting on Wolf Beach watching as the Elders had set up one of their bonfires. One of the Elders, she thought it was Old Quil, had patted Sam fondly on his back calling him "the son of the Rez." The Elder had sounded so proud and Sam had clasped the older man's hand respectfully.

She'd known then how much hearing that had meant to him. He'd admitted to her once that his one wish was to make the Elders proud of him. One time as they waited on Jake to join them to go meet Embry and Lee, she'd noticed how longingly Sam had watched when Billy had hugged Jake before he left, warning his son to come back home before dark.

Sam used to hero worship Billy and considered Jake like a brother.

But despite the absence of his father, she had no doubt that Sam had become a man the Rez was proud of.

Now she listened, fascinated, as Sam described how they'd been preserving the forest eco-system by re-introducing wild plants back into the woods. He'd always been interested in preserving Wolf County's natural environment.

Sadly, she thought of her cherished kitchen plants. Ed hated them.

Sam was watching her with his unfathomable dark eyes. "What made you wander so far into the woods, Bella?"

"I was looking for a meadow. One I found on my last visit here. And there's a waterfall on the way there. Must've taken a wrong turn."

"You mean the waterfall you were too chicken to jump from that summer we all hiked up there?"

"I was not too chicken! The water would've been freezing."

"It's not that cold during summer. I still go there."

"Really? I remember how high it was. And so beautiful. You could see the mountains around for miles from that cliff."

"I can take you there and help you find your meadow. If you still want to go."

Wrapping her hands around the toasty cup, she met his eyes. "I'd love to. I miss that place."

On his next day off, Sam took her for their sojourn to the waterfall and her meadow just as he promised. "Hope you brought a swimsuit. We're jumping."

"We are?"

"Or you can watch me jump." In his dark eyes lay a challenge.

With an impish grin, she rose to meet it. "Don't get your workpants in a bunch. I've got my swimsuit."

Before they headed out to the trail, they decided to grab a late breakfast. They saw Lee at the diner. She was there with an older man who resembled Sam so much that he had to be his father.

Lee waved at them cheerfully while a scowl darkened Sam's face as the older man turned to regard him.

"Hey, you wanna grab our stuff to go?"

His frown cleared as he gazed back down at her. "Yeah, the sooner we get on the trail, the better."

A comfortable silence stretched between them as Sam effortlessly drove his big black truck to the trail. He seemed to have a lot on his mind.

"So, Lee's still dating your dad?"

"My dad doesn't date. I wouldn't wish my father on an enemy and Lee's been our friend for so long. But Lee's a big girl. She knows that. Embry really liked her you know. But enough about Rez gossip. Tell me about this Ed."

Bella was surprised that she didn't really know what to say. Despite their engagement, it seemed so long since she and Ed had really done anything together besides social outings. Which she secretly hated. Give her fresh air and forest any day.

But even now the whip of the wind and the blurring trees felt like a dream and soon reality would beckon when she returned to Seattle.

"Ed's a really busy guy," she whispered. Sam turned to look at her but he didn't say anything.

And that comfortable silence stretched between them again until they got to the trail.

Where he parked, she could see the cliff jutting out across from where the roadway descended to a precipice and then ocean.

"We should try to get to the cliff before it rains. Then we can get to your meadow. That sounds good?"

"Perfect." Tearing her eyes away from the cliff, she turned to find his steady gaze on her. "Thanks Sam, for bringing me here. I didn't want to intrude on your plans today."

"It's nothing. Besides, coming with you beats you getting lost again."

She mock punched him, returning his grin. "Ouch, tough guy." She held her fist. His arm was so sturdy.

The jitters overtook her again when they arrived on the cliff. It was higher than she remembered.

"C'mon Bella. The cliff won't bite."

Wrapping her arms around herself, she shivered, "This wind is, though."

"C'mere, we got this." Sam extended his arms to her. "You can jump with me."

She'd already shucked off her tee leaving it in his truck and leaving on her shorts with her one piece. "I can jump on my own, big guy. But you're really warm so I'll hop on for the ride."

His deep laughter rang out on the isolated cliff as she ran to him. He easily caught her in his arms.

Behind him, she glanced down at the churning water far below. An involuntary shudder claimed her. He tightened his arms about her, leaning his face back to meet her eyes. "Hey, we don't have to do this. We can head back down the trail and go straight to your meadow."

Looking into his eyes now brought another memory to mind. That time she'd gotten lost from the others on one of their explorations of the woods. In the middle of one of Spoons' storms no less.

Sam had come back for her.

He had always been the one out of their original crew to be the most protective of her during their wild summer forays.

She'd just been seven, spending the summer with Charlie. That rain-drenched day in the woods bordering Wolf County, she'd lagged behind as Jake, Embry and Lee raced on ahead. She remembered screaming as lightening forked through the trees. Sam had rushed back to her, holding her hand when she would have slipped into the muddy underbrush and into a raging stream that had burst its banks.

Terror had choked her as she stared at the wild water as it rushed by in a frenzied roar.

But the grip of his hand on hers had been warm and that quiet confident look in his eyes, even as a boy, had reassured her. She would have ended up swept away by the powerful current if he hadn't returned and helped her…

Looking now into those same steady dark eyes, cliff-diving didn't seem so scary anymore as he held her close.

"What do you want to do, Bella?" he asked softly.

For a moment she was startled by his question. When was the last time anyone asked her what she wanted to do? She was accustomed to pushing back any longings she had, first with her flighty mother Anne, who insisted that she should stay in Seattle and not move back to that 'rainy God-forsaken backwoods' and then there was Ed who insisted she stay in Business Management when all she wanted to do was write and maybe teach…

Returning his gaze, she said without hesitation. "I want to jump with you."

She was surprised at the breathlessness in her voice as if she'd already jumped. And all too soon they did. He held her to him, secure in his arms and she felt the wind lashing around them.

Burying her face against his shoulder, she hardly felt the sting of the ocean. Afterwards they discovered her meadow, a picture perfect circle of pristine grass perched on a gently rolling hill amidst the wild forest.

She found herself enjoying her time with Sam. He reminded her of all the things she'd once loved.

That evening she and Lee had a girls night while watching the latest episode of GOT and drinking a bottle of wine on her sofa. She found herself growing even more curious about Sam.

"So, I know you're dating Joshua off and on," Bella left out the fact that he's Sam's father. "And Jake and Embry are the real wolves in Wolf County. But what about Sam? Is he seeing anyone?"

The more she thought about it, the more she figured that a man like Sam must have someone in his life…she couldn't figure why she'd been so shy to ask him earlier.

"Yeah, he's dating alright," Lee snorted. "His job. Work's all he really does. He almost lives in those woods."

"Really?"

Lee settled more into the sofa, reaching for her glass of wine. "Well, he practically became a monk since the whole Rebekah fiasco."

Grabbing her own glass as well, Bella forgot about the latest episode of GOT. "Wait, Rebekah? Isn't that Jake's cousin?"

Bella had seen her one time during a past summer in Spoons when she'd visited Wolf County. From what she could recall, Rebekah was a pretty girl with long dark hair and cheekbones to die for.

"What happened?"

Taking a swig from her glass, Lee began to look a bit uncomfortable. She sighed heavily. "Well…Rebekah and Sam were seeing each other four years ago, they even went graduation together. But then a few weeks after that, Sam, he, ah, he caught her in bed with someone else."

Lee glanced away. "It was Joshua."

Bella had just taken a sip of wine. It sprayed out of her mouth. "What?! He must've been so mad."

"That's the thing about Sam. He was as cool and calm as ever. He just walked out. Never did have much of a relationship with his father. That Rebekah thing sealed the deal."

As a battle loudly reverberated onscreen, they fell into a quiet. After a moment, Bella felt a flare of indignation on Sam's behalf. "How can you continue to see Joshua, Lee? Even after knowing what kind of man he is? That'd he'd sleep with his own son's girlfriend?"

"Girly, I've long since come to accept that I'm just a damned idiot for that man. Or maybe I'd rather deal with a loser I know than one I don't. I mean he's older and so bad and the bastard never apologizes for it. We Wolf County girls always take the good ones for granted. It's the ones that break our hearts that we crave the most. "

"Sam must've been devastated." Bella whispered.

"Not that he showed it. Someone with less self-control might have killed Joshua or killed them both. Sam has always been the most level headed one out of all of us."

Lee turned to her. "You know, you have that in common with Sam. You both are so together, I mean you just don't act on a whim, you both think things through. Those past summers he would always be the one to tell us if we were going too far and you would always be the one making sure that we didn't starve on our runaway trips. Between his guidance and your nurturing, we all got into way less trouble than we might have."

That Sunday when the guys were all over at Charlie's for dinner, Sam wandered into the heated kitchen just as she was taking out her molten lava cakes from the oven for dessert.

Unbidden, she remembered what Lee had told her. That Sam didn't date at all. Not after what had happened with Joshua and Rebekah.

As he came closer, a spontaneous thought engulfed her. This Rebekah girl was a fool.

Valiantly trying to ignore how sexy he looked in his Ranger work shirt and jeans, she offered him a piece of the slightly cooled cake. "You'll be my taste tester."

The sound he made when he tasted the treat, a deep hum of pure pleasure, made her face flame hotter than the oven had.

Jake and the others all piled into the kitchen then lured by the chocolate aroma. She breathed a silent sigh of relief. Because for a wild second she'd wondered how his lips would taste. She'd been mere seconds from serving disaster instead of dessert!

Kissing him won't feel like a disaster. She hastily shut down that thought.

Sam had her thinking of things she had no right to be thinking of.

As the days passed, her platonic relationship with Sam changed. Bella tried to shove back her budding attraction to him. She told herself she'd known him forever, that he was only her childhood friend. But he would tease and flirt with her whenever they saw each other and sometimes she caught him looking at her with that steady serious gaze.

Still, when he asked her to go to the cliff with him again on his next day off, she didn't say no. Soon enough, she'd be heading back to her cold office. And to dress fittings she dreaded…

But her fiancé was in Seattle waiting for her. Why wasn't she excited to return? She stifled her shudder of guilt. Shaking her head, she decided she was just anxious about the pang of homesickness she would suffer when she returned to Seattle.

I'll just enjoy this time in Spoons now, she told herself. After all, she didn't know when she'd be back here again knowing how much Ed disliked Spoons.

By the time they got to the cliff, the sky was a deep grey. The light banter and easy laughter that they'd shared when they first came here a few days ago was absent now.

Instead he looked at her with his silent, intense look. Without a word, he opened his arms for her. And heaven help her, ensnared by the heat in his eyes, she went to him. He lifted her up, up against him until she wrapped her legs around his sturdy torso.

Then they were falling together.

When they shot up to the surface, she found him with ocean wet eyes. He pulled her closer, so close that the surging water couldn't separate them, so close that they shared the same breath.

She watched as beads of water clung to his lashes. Then she felt the warmth of his mouth on hers. He tasted of salt water and mint and Sam.

When he fisted her wet hair in his hand, she moaned into his searing kiss. She was drowning here, in his arms in the midst of the ocean, and she didn't care to find solid ground.

Hot fingers strumming a tantalizing pattern on the sensitive skin of her neck, he slowly lifted his mouth from hers.

"Bella…"

Clarity struck hard. "Sam, I-we can't do this."

She swam away from him, stroking against the water as if her life depended on it.

As he drove her back to Charlie's, the tension between them only grew with each passing minute until Bella was torn between wanting to flee back to Seattle ASAP and wanting to stay longer.

As soon as he pulled up in front her father's house, she darted out of his rugged big black truck.

"Bella…wait…"

Slowly she turned. He was now standing at the side of his truck, leaning towards her as if he wanted to run after her. He heaved out a soft curse, rifling a large hand through his dark hair. "I'm sorry."

Swallowing harshly, she couldn't say a word. Only thing left to do was to get inside. Away from him…

Squeezing her eyes shut, she slid down the closed door to the floor as he drove away.

In the few days that remained to her in Spoons, she started avoiding Sam. She wouldn't return his calls. It hurt her, her chest constricting, when she saw his number and she pressed reject.

It was better this way, she told herself. She had a life waiting for her in Seattle. Her fiancé Ed and her job.

Then the bachelorette party rolled around the day before she was due to drive back. Lee and Rachel, together with their band of friends, had organized a slew of fun games at Lee's house.

After just a couple hours, everyone was pretty much drunk. The girls had been encouraging and enabling her to drink heavily for the entire evening. In the city Bella had such a rigid routine, she barely had any fun and she was enjoying herself now so much…

But then there was a knock on the door.

When Lee answered, Sam of all people was standing there.

"Hey, no guys allowed!" Rachel hooted. "Unless you're the stripper!"

"Well, uh, actually there's been a disturbance complaint."

Bella in her tipsy haze had never seen Samuel Uley appear so awkward. Normally he was so self-sure and certain. His dark eyes unerringly found hers across the room.

Lee waved her hand dismissively. "Must be Mrs. Pearson, that old lady would complain about the sun shining."

The girls giggled and she could see them checking out Sam. Inebriated and much more relaxed, she moved forward, playfully brushing Lee aside and pulling Sam into the house. The fact that she'd been avoiding him during her last few days in Spoons didn't register then.

"Dance with me." Bella grinned up at him, pulling him further into Lee's small living room.

"Um, Bella, I can't stay. Gotta get back to work but I've got to talk to you first…"

She wrapped her hands around his taut waist, swaying to the frenetic beat blasting from Lee's music box. "Nuh-uh…it's my party, Sam. No talking, just dance."

The girls were cheering them on.

She swore she could hear the thunderous beat of his heart. She pressed a hand against his chest.

"C'mon Sam," Rachel shouted above the music. "…you're already here, you might as well get this party going some more!"

The girls as one voice began rooting for Sam to do a dance for Bella. Once Lee stopped gaping, she even offered him a drink.

Not taking his dark eyes off her, he absently shook his head.

One of the girls stripped off his work shirt. It was getting pretty wild. Looking at her flushed face, he began to dance for her. It was only meant as a joke and to tease her. But then she pushed him down on the sofa and she danced on him. He'd wanted her for so long and she was grinding on him and he couldn't stop touching her. Sam Uley, the master of self-control, couldn't control his response to her. He held her close and he kissed her.

And everyone else disappeared.

The girls' drunken excited cheers faded as she kissed him back. When she rubbed her soft derriere against his cock and moaned into his mouth, he lost it.

He flipped her beneath him on the sofa. "Bella, listen to me, leave here with me, Babygirl."

She nodded, eyes large and glowing as she peered up at him. Yes.

But then she began unbuttoning his pants right there. He tried to stop her but she reached up to kiss him again, her mouth warm and soft on his.

He was lost.

Before he knew it, someone had shoved her skirt and undies off and he could see her, wet and ready for him, he could see the need in her big brown eyes as she looked up at him. Excited screams abounded around them but all he could focus on was her.

Lee, shrieking protests, had tried to pull her away from him but she shoved her away. And dammit, he'd meant to lift her in his arms and carry her out of there but then she fucking touched him with her hot dainty hands. Looked so good touching his cock...He grabbed at her hair, kissing her with all the need he'd held back from her.

He could feel her hot readiness sliding against him. And he could no longer think. He kicked off his pants all the way. He grasped her hips, thrusting into her right there on the sofa.

His eyes crossed in bliss. She gripped him so tightly. He was in heaven. He pounded her into the sofa, no longer aware of anything but the way she looked and felt beneath him. He forgot about everyone around them, couldn't care who was watching, he was deaf to the screams and cheers.

She looked fucking amazing.

She felt amazing.

Her mouth was open, gasping as he thrust frantically into her. Her slick flesh pulsed around him, grabbing at his cock. He'd never been so hard in his life, never wanted anyone so much… And when she cried out, clenching around him, the hot wet feel of her release spurred on his own.

He poured himself into her, it was instinctive and he couldn't stop.

He couldn't hold back his deep moan. She collapsed flat back on the sofa and it's then the girls' shouts and screams became loud again. Some were quiet with wide eyes, some were still cheering, some were watching him hungrily and Lee was crying, a hand over her mouth, her shocked eyes on Bella who still lay back on the sofa trying to catch her breath.

It was all he could do to separate himself from her.

Lee shoved him away from her, slapping at him. "You despicable piece of shit, get the fuck out, how could you do this to her, Sam! You of all people!"

The immensity of what they'd done hit him then. It was a 'what the fuck am I doing standing in the middle of a railway with the blinding lights of an oncoming train shining in my eyes' sort of moment.

She still lay there, spread-eagled out on the sofa, and fuck him if she didn't look good enough to eat just as she was now...

"Get the fuck out, Sam!" Lee's scream jolted him.

How could he have done this?

A flash caught him in his eye and it's then he noticed that someone was taking pictures. He reached to grab for the camera but then he heard her sobs. Turning back to the heartbreaking sound, he saw Lee helping Bella to her feet, getting her skirt that had ended up on the floor and covering her with it. He realized he was still naked.

Swearing softly, he grabbed his pants off the floor shoving them on, checking to make sure that his gun was still secure in the hidden panel.

Lee was guiding Bella to the back of the house. Blindly, he followed her. Lee turned back to hiss at him. "Keep the fuck back, Sam, stay the fuck away from her, you've done enough. You're going to hell for this, you bastard. How could you do this to her Sam, she's been our friend since we were fucking kids!"

The party of drunken giggling girls followed them to the back room.

He turned snarling at them. "The party's over!"

One look at his face and Rachel guided everyone out.

Lee drew Bella ahead of her into the bedroom and slammed the door in his face, swiftly turning the lock.

He found himself on the same sofa in the living room, head buried in his hands. There was a knock on the door. He raised his head as a young guy with long dreads came in.

"Hey, I'm here for the bachelorette party, dude. Where's the bride-to-be at?"

Sam could only coax a bitter laugh.

"Stripper, huh? You're too damned late. Show's over."

The guy frowned, beginning to protest but Sam snarled and the guy made a hasty exit.

Sam didn't know how long he sat there only that he could hear her crying in the bedroom. He moaned in despair.

The next person at the door didn't knock or enter politely.

Charlie burst the door down, Jake and Embry behind him.

"You son of a bitch!" Charlie was murderous as he fell on Sam, raining punches. Sam didn't bother to fight back. Jake and Embry had to pull Charlie off him.

Charlie fought against Jake and Embry and then he darted back away from Sam, shrugging off the guys' hold.

Sam couldn't look at him.

He couldn't look at the father of the girl he'd loved since they were kids, the girl he'd callously fucked in front of all her friends at her bachelorette party.

Word had gotten around the Rez fast. Sam remembered the flash of the camera. Maybe more than just word…

Dammit, he should've gotten that camera before they all left.

He still didn't bother to look up even as Charlie withdrew his service pistol, cocking the gun straight at him.

"Dad, please don't…"

She'd come out the bedroom, Lee hovering behind her. She moved closer to him but her eyes were on her angry father.

Staring at her, Charlie lowered his gun. "What really happened here Bells?"

He could almost feel her terror, could see how she fought to hold back her tears.

A fist of regret hit him much worse than any of Charlie's punches had.

"Dad…it's not what you think."

Swiping a hand through his hair, Charlie glanced away, eyes misting and face flushing. His hand tightened on his gun again. Turning to fully face his daughter, he asked her quietly. "Did he rape you?"

"God, Dad, no. I'm just as much to blame as he is. I-I encouraged him…"

Charlie put away his pistol. Then looking at his only child, he shook his head. "I've never been more ashamed in my entire goddamned life. You're even worse than your mother. She made her way around this town but least she had enough sense not to get caught. Get your things out of my house as soon as possible and go back to Seattle."

He walked out slamming the door behind him.

Slowly she sank down next to him on the sofa. Sam wanted to hug her, comfort her... Jake and Embry were glaring at him and Lee had her face buried in her hand.

Pacing in agitation, Jake gave him a good cursing out. It was a surreal switch of roles. Sam was usually the one who lectured them on any scrapes or unsavory situations Jake and Embry found themselves in. He even lectured Lee at times. He was the responsible one. The son of the Rez everyone looked up to.

Sam could only remain silent, not meeting any of their accusing gazes and beside him she sat, her eyes vacant.

When Jake paused for breath, Embry hesitantly muttered, confirming his worst guess. "Someone shared a video of you both um…yeah…"

She gasped, it was a sound that cut his heart and it took everything in him not to pull her close.

Lee jerked her finger at him. "You weren't nearly half as drunk as she was, Sam. You should've fucking left…"

Bella spoke up then. "Don't put this disaster on his shoulders alone. I was…I was there with him every step of the way."

Jake turned on Lee then. "And what about you huh? Couldn't you have stopped whoever was filming them?!"

"I didn't notice that! I mean we're talking about 'always follow the rules' Sam and quiet shy pipsqueak! I didn't even believe they would…" Lee trailed off glancing at Bella with sympathetic eyes.

Sam rose to his feet. "I'd like to speak to Bella alone."

Lee protested but Jake and Embry guided her out. Jake glanced back at Sam with a venomous look. "You can't possibly hurt her more than you've already had."

Silence reigned in the room after they'd left. Clearing his throat, he looked at her. "I'm so sorry, Bella."

She didn't say anything, she just sat there, crumpled up at the other end of the sofa, staring at her hands.

Swearing softly, he knelt before her, gathering her hands in his. "Bella, look at me. Please?"

But when she did, she gasped, a stuttered breath. Her tears fell on his hands, hot against his skin but it was regret burning him now. He'd carelessly taken her, unwittingly experienced the best pleasure he'd ever known but had caused her endless pain as a result. He pulled her close, hugging her as she sobbed against his chest.

"Do you want to go home?"

"I can't head back to Charlie's, not when he's there. Lee said I could stay with her until I get my stuff in the morning." Her voice was a weak muffling against his shoulder.

Something broke in him at her tears and he didn't know what took him but the words poured out of him anyway. "Come home with me."

She stared at him silently for a long moment. To his shock, she nodded. Yes.

Jake, Embry and Lee put up a loud protest when he walked out of there cradling her in his arms. Ignoring them, he bundled her in the passenger seat of his truck and sped out of there.

The silence between them was surprisingly comfortable on the drive back to his house.

He ran her a warm bath and gave her one of his shirts to wear. She helped him make grilled cheese sandwiches and hot chocolate, simple fare that would treat the massive hangover she had.

He gave her his bed. He insisted on sleeping on the sofa.

The next morning, he opened his eyes and immediately sensed something was amiss.

In his bedroom, he found his bed was neat and empty.

She'd left.

Sam was left to deal with the consequences of their wild night.

The first thing he did was call her. No answer. Next he went to Lee. "Where is she? Did she leave already?"

Lee slapped him. "She found out what you did, you lying prick!" Lee was disgusted by him. She would not give him Bella's address.

As the days crawled by, the friends he'd grown up with now shunned him. He had always been sort of a loner but now the few people he counted as close friends wanted nothing to do with him.

The video had made its rounds and though Jake and Embry tried to do damage control, most of Wolf County and even folks in Spoons had already seen it.

He tried calling her again but she wouldn't answer. When he tried to apologize to her father, Charlie threatened him.

His coworkers, the fellow Rangers who'd looked up to him once, snickered at him. Sam simply gave them a look that dared anyone to say something to him about it.

The snickers stopped with swift immediacy.

But one evening, as he wearily headed back home in a grim silence with the rest of the Rangers, one of the guys, Paul a loud mouthed brash fellow, made a lewd comment about Bella.

In a fit of uncharacteristic rage, Sam stapled him to a hefty redwood, pummelling the unfortunate Paul with his fists until his face was rougher with blood and bruises than the redwood bark. The rest of the guys had to pull him off or he might have killed him.

The guys were aghast as they hefted an unconscious Paul. Sam had never once raised his voice to any of them before...

The only way he didn't lose his job was that he was the best Ranger on the team and good Rangers were hard to come by.

Sam was a mess. He wanted to talk to her, to explain that he hadn't deliberately planned that. All he'd wanted was a chance to let her know how he felt. He knew that she'd planned to leave the morning after her girls' night so he'd arranged with Lee's old neighbour, an elderly woman who had always been fond of him to make a music noise complaint and he'd gotten the number from the stripper they'd hired to delay the guy so he'd have a chance to talk to her. He'd never planned for things to get so out of hand.

God, he wanted her so much it was almost a need. She'd let him take her like that and then she just fucking left. Sam no longer bothered to go out besides work. The beers he'd have with the guys and his friends Jake and Embry ceased. He'd just hole up at home when he was not working.

When she heard what happened, his mother came down from the bordering Rez where she worked as a nurse.

He expected a full bashing but instead, she'd hugged him and asked him why he wasn't taking care of himself. But then her concern stopped there. She proceeded to whip out her phone where she played on high volume the incriminating video. Sam demanded that she stop but she just sat there with a big grin, making the most outrageous comments, "Didn't know you were that talented, Sammy!"

He groaned into his hands and just when he thought nothing could get worse than sitting opposite his mother while she watched his inadvertent sex video, she blessedly switched the damn thing off.

"Look, Sammy, you made a mistake. So did she. This is a tough situation. But then, you're a tough person. You can't let this stop you from living your life."

"I-I can't stop thinking about her."

His mother smiled, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Then go tell her that."

Meanwhile in Seattle, Bella grappled to come to terms with her actions. She'd been quick to defend Sam, he hadn't forced her in any way but then she remembered what she found on his kitchen counter.

In the middle of the night while she slept in his bed, she had gotten up with her throat parched and seeking a glass of water had wandered in his kitchen.

It was there in the dim light she saw the notepad scribbled with the numbers. The numbers for Lee's neighbour who supposedly voiced the music complaint plus the number of the dancer.

She'd called Lee frantically, asking her if she could come get her. Lee had immediately agreed, arriving at his house silently as she'd asked. She'd dropped Bella off at Charlie's to get her things. Fortunately Charlie was working a late shift so she used the spare key to get in. She quickly packed, leaving a note for her father.

She burned with shame thinking about how Charlie had to face his squad at the station with her sex video floating around town.

Lee had hugged her fiercely before she left, bidding her to travel safe. "Don't let this get the better of you, girly. And I'll find out which one of those bitches filmed that."

She hugged Lee back, thanking her for being such a good friend. "The damage's already done…"

Had he really planned the whole thing? She couldn't come to terms with it.

And still, even knowing that, her body betrayed her.

At night, exhausted and restless, she'd lie down and she'd feel him inside her all over again…she couldn't get him out of her mind. At any random moment, day or night, her body would feel tremors of the pleasure he'd coaxed from her.

Ed was due back from his business trip any day now. And she had to face him. She could only hope that the video would stay in Spoons. But she still planned to break off the engagement. It was so unfair to Ed.

Bella had always tried to be such a good girl. She was always the proper one, the chaste lady that Ed wanted her to be. Why, oh why did she have to ruin everything?

"You're even worse than your mother." Her father's words haunted her. Worse than that was the anguish in his eyes…

And what could have possessed him to do this to her?

Before that horrifying night, she'd believed he was one of her closest friends. She'd felt so good with him, she'd felt so free just to be herself. He wasn't the friend she'd once thought he was.

Ed returned that weekend and she was a nervous wreck. She couldn't tell him about the video but she would not go ahead with the wedding. Despite what he'd done, she couldn't deny her feelings for Sam.

Ed was furious when she told him that she was calling off the wedding.

"It's too late for that Bella! What on Earth has gotten into you?!"

Despite Ed's pleas, for once she stood her ground and when he left, slamming the door behind him, she didn't feel as bad as she thought she would.

And she felt guilty for that too.

Ed continued to try to convince her to resume the wedding. He sent her lavish gifts that she returned and her guilt only increased. He was trying so hard to win her back.

Then a horrible thing happened. Three weeks after that night, her boss, Katherine called her into her office.

And right there with her co-workers just mere feet away, Katherine played the video on her computer. Un-muted.

Bella was forced to watch it. Her boss promptly fired her. As she packed her things, she could see the furtive glances that her peers cast her way.

She got back to her apartment in a daze. There waiting for her in the corridor was Sam.

Her box of office paraphernalia slipped out of her numb fingers, crashing to the floor in a flurry of papers.

In a fury, she rushed at him, slapping at him, screaming at him. "You fucking ruined my life! You're actually that cruel? Fucking me wasn't enough you had to send that video to my boss?"

Sam caught her against him, clasping onto her flailing fists with firm but gentle hands. He looked deeply into her eyes. "Bella, I didn't send that video."

Infuriatingly, she felt calm wash over her at his steady words. He dropped to his knees before her, holding her close.

"I saw the note on your kitchen counter, Sam."

"All I wanted was a chance to talk to you before you left. You were avoiding me and I couldn't let you leave without telling you how I felt about you. I never thought things would get so out of control."

She knew that she was just as much to blame and she'd let the girls pour drink after drink for her.

"Bella, leave here with me. We could go away together."

The ever dependable Sam Uley, who had always been more mature than most for his age, sounded for this moment as young as he truly was.

His dark eyes were solemn as he looked up at her from where he knelt before her. He was holding her as if he'd never let her go. How many times had Bella secretly yearned for such a strong touch?

"It's not that easy, Sam. I just can't pack up my life and run away with you. That's not going to solve this mess. I've got to find another job, build my life over…"

"Bella?"

Heart in her throat, she turned to see Ed standing there. In his hand was a huge bouquet of blue roses, the signature flowers he always bought her.

Sam went still, rising to his feet. Looking down at her, his quiet whisper resounded along the silent corridor. "You didn't tell him."

Bella was speechless; she didn't know what to say. She thought that Sam would say something more but then he stepped back, looking at her in a way that made her feel even more horrible.

"Enjoy your life, Bella."

Striding away, he muttered as he passed Ed. "Congratulations."

Ed watched him go before swerving back to face her. "Who the hell was that? Why was he all over you?"

Oh Ed, you really have no idea…Guilt and shame made a tight fist around her Ed's volatile gaze, she barely managed to choke out. "We have to talk.

After they were seated in her living room, she haltingly told him everything.

Ed was silent with shock at first. Then he made a rapid call. His phone pinged mere moments after he hung up and then she heard the incriminating sounds of the video.

How did he get that so fast? With a shudder, she realized the only way he could have accessed the video so quickly was if it had been shared online…

She wanted to run, hide even but she sat there frozen as the loud boisterous cheers in the video trailed off.

Ed's face was a stony mask of shock and fury. Slowly he got up, he got her key and he locked the door.

"I-I'm so sorry, Ed. I…" There was nothing she could say, no excuse she could offer.

He turned to face her, his knuckles white as he gripped his phone tightly. "You're going to pay for embarrassing me like that, Bella."

A lick of fear jolted her.

Ed took something out of his pocket. It was his journal, the one he always carried around, the one that he never let anyone see, not her, not anyone.

He extended it to her. "Read it."

With trembling hands she took the small black leather book he proffered. In the journal, she read account after account of Ed cheating on her throughout their relationship.

From the very beginning…

She could only sit there, numb, as she read about how he fucked her first roommate, a girl she still considered her close friend while she was at work.

Chills overtook her when she read of his encounter with her closest friend in Seattle, Alli. And there were more. He and Rose…his best friend's girlfriend…

She'd completely trusted Ed and before that devastating bachelorette party, she'd been faithful to him.

"All those trips you took…they weren't just business." She'd been so eager to settle, to be everything her mother never was that she'd ignored all the warning signs.

Ed jabbed a finger against his temple. "Now she uses her brain." His mocking tone made her flinch.

"You were so easy to fool, Bella. Easy to control. Never complained, never gave me a hard time. But you bored me. The only reason I wanted to marry you is that I knew you are so stupid and unaware, I'd still be able to live the way I wanted. No other woman was as stupid and obtuse as you were. They figured my game out sooner or later but you…so gullible, so sweet. Turns out you were the one who had me fooled all along. Nothing but a baseless slut just like the rest…"

Ed laughed. He moved toward her, tapping the top of her head with one cold finger. "If I didn't see that video myself, I would never believe that my quiet, unassuming, naïve Bella could be such a wild little whore."

He leaned down until his face was an inch from hers. "Never would have believed you could be so fucking easy. So fickle. Did you even love me? You'd lay there beneath me, still and silent…I could get more of a response from fucking a doll!"

She flinched again as he screamed the last words.

A nervous breath shuddered out of her when his raging voice lowered to a murmur again. "You were so wild for him…"

There was a brisk knock on the door and Ed stumbled away from her, moving to open it to let in two fierce looking men. They turned threatening gazes on her. The greedy, ferocious look in their eyes made a surge of nausea rise within her.

Her former fiancé smiled. "Bella, meet my friends, Demetri and Felix. Never thought you of all people would have to meet them. They are going to beat the shit out of you."

"Ed, please. Don't do this."

"No one betrays me like that and gets away with it."

"But by your own admission, you were cheating on me…"

"But at least I respected you enough to be discreet!" He stalked to her, grabbing her arm to pull her to her feet. Bella was almost sobbing with fear.

Gripping her shoulder tight in a painful vise, Ed warned her not to scream as they left her apartment.

Weak with terror, she imagined that Sam had stayed back out of some gut instinct, that he'd save her from Edward's evil plan but he wasn't there. How she regretted not leaving with him when he'd asked her to!

Ed shoved her into a waiting car, Demetri and Felix crawling in after.

Long before the unbearably long drive was over, she realized Ed was taking her back to Spoons.

Later on, in the early dawn hours in the woods bordering Spoons, Ed coldly ordered his men. "Don't touch her face. I want her to look pretty in her coffin."

He'd been suspended from work for the past day due to the incident with Paul but now Sam was working an early shift, trying not to think of her as he trekked the last few miles of his patrol in the deep woods. There'd been some poachers who had been sighted hunting in restricted areas of the forest that the guys hadn't caught up to yet.

Sam valiantly tried to focus on the trail ahead but he only kept seeing her face.

Because of his lack of control he'd lost one of his best friends. Seeing her again after all these years had felt as if he'd just seen her the day before.

So beautiful. It was the first thought he'd had when he walked into Jake's garage and saw her face, when she smiled up at him.

He'd tried to hide his disappointment when he discovered she was engaged. He'd loved her for so long…even after he knew that he had no future with her. That last summer before she left, she'd revealed that she wouldn't be returning because of school.

But after so many years she'd come back again.

Despite the distance that had separated them, they'd reclaimed their friendship so easily.

All lost now.

A painful whimper echoed through the trees just ahead. Something is wrong.

Instinct had him pressing the emergency button on his phone as dread grew deeper in him.

As he rounded a huge redwood, he saw them.

Moving stealthily, he withdrew the revolver he always kept in a secret strap on his work pants. Pure instinct shadowed his every measured step as he hunted the three men surrounding her.

He should never have left her back in Seattle…

Her ex-fiancé stood behind two strapping beefy guys as they grasped her arms, shoving her between them. Her fiancé was smiling.

They'd torn her clothes off. There was a huge dark blue bruise spotting her torso and Sam knew they'd broken something. As he drew closer, she fainted. The man she was supposed to marry grasped at her, shaking her. "Get up, you slut!"

"Let her go."

The fiancé and his creatures gasped as they saw him there. In his surprise, Ed released her.

She fell limply to the underbrush.

One of the beefy guys was moving his hand towards his pocket.

Judging that he was a fair distance from her, Sam shot him in the knee cap. His shriek of pain was music to his ears. He hit her… hurt her…

He had to keep it together, keep his rage in check and get them further away from her.

He moved closer, feet sliding silently in the brush laden forest floor. "Step away from her."

Swift as a viper, Ed dived for her, wrapping a hand around her throat even as she lay unconscious. The other guy whipped out a gun even as his comrade groaned on the ground in pain from his shattered knee cap.

"Put your gun down or I'll choke the life from her." Ed hissed. "Or Demetri here will shoot her before you can blink."

Sam watched his hands tightening on her delicate throat. Swallowing harshly, he lay down his gun at his feet.

Ed tossed him a triumphant grin. "You're the stud in the video right? We were going to pay you a little visit next but I'm so glad you joined us now. We'd only just gotten started with her but she was already screaming so much. Even louder than when you were rutting her like an animal." Ed's face twisted with hatred. "Neither of you will be leaving these woods alive again."

Sirens sounded in the distance. He could hear raised voices nearby. The one Ed had called Demetri glanced anxiously about. "We need to get out of here."

Ed violently shook his head, his hands loosening ever so slightly from her. "I'm not finished with them!"

Sam saw a small window of opportunity in their distraction and he desperately took it.

Sliding to the forest floor with swift dexterity, Sam snatched up his gun, firing at Demetri's legs as he did so. Demetri went down, a volley of shots ricocheting from the gun in his hand into the redwood tree behind Sam.

Ed stared in disbelief as Demetri passed out.

He's too close to her….can't shoot him…

Sam began stalking towards him, rage building ever higher. Whatever Ed saw on his face had him scrambling back away from Bella. She slid to the brush, the bruises on her ribs startlingly dark against her skin.

A growl he couldn't control tore loose from him as he descended on Ed with all the fury of a Spoons thunderstorm. Tossing the gun aside, he assailed the whimpering creature with his fists. Charlie and the other officers had emerged through the trees by then. They had to pull Sam off Ed but not before he'd broken and bloodied him first.

"He's not worth spending your life in jail for, Sam," Charlie murmured. Glaring back down at the creature crumpled on the floor, Charlie spat. "But I'm going to make sure he rots there."

He would never forget how he felt when he saw her lose consciousness in the grasp of those vermin.

Charlie was devastated.

When they got back to Wolf County, everyone had gathered around and talk soon spread that the police chief's daughter was found naked and bloody in the woods. Some rumors told of her being dead and some still said that it was Sam who attacked her.

At the hospital, the nurses and the doctor worked on Bella as Sam, Charlie, Lee, Jake and Embry waited. His mother was a registered nurse and she was helping out at the hospital when they brought her in.

He'd been so angry when he left her apartment, so disappointed that she hadn't returned with him. And he'd fucking left her there.

Ah gods, he had even resented her for not revealing to that creature what had happened between them. He should have stayed back to make sure she was safe…

This time, he'd found her too late.

In the woods, the one place he knew like the back of his hand. The place where he'd always saved her, first when they were children and then when she came on her last visit when she'd gotten lost.

The doctor told them that she was critically injured. They couldn't predict at this time if she would make a full recovery.

Sam sat in the hospital corridor, head buried in his trembling hands. His mother emerged and sat beside him.

He could hardly ask the question he wanted to. "Did they…rape her?"

"She wasn't sexually assaulted just beaten to within an inch of her life." His mother placed a hand on his shoulder. "She fell into a coma. We don't know if she'll wake up Sam."

Bella lay in a coma for six weeks. They were the longest weeks of his life.

When she eventually woke up, it took a little wrangling to convince the doctor to let him go in. He'd had to wait for five hours to see her after she woke and it had seemed even longer than the weeks she'd been comatose.

They looked at each other silently for a long moment after he walked in, her large brown eyes still so vibrant despite her broken, bandaged body.

"Like mother, like daughter, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree," Her voice was so low he barely heard her. "That's what they whisper. I tried so hard all my life not to be like her, like my mother. I…I didn't date in school. Until Ed…"

He clenched his fists instinctively at the mention of that creature's name. With considerable effort, he tamped down his reaction.

"Sam, we should both get thoroughly tested. For everything. Ed…he wasn't…" she swallowed harshly, wincing again as she shifted on the hospital bed.

All he wanted to do now was comfort her but when he raised his hand to place it on her shoulder, she flinched away.

He let his hand fall back at his side, hating the look of pain in her eyes.

"I take regular STD tests every six months but I'll do it again. Whatever makes you comfortable," he said, striving to keep his voice calm. "We can get our tests done right here at the hospital."

"I-I'm so sorry Sam."

She couldn't even look at him. Never in her life had she felt so low, so defeated. So stupid…

"Bella, you have nothing to be sorry for." His voice reached out to her, touching her even as he kept his distance.

Every bone and ligament in her body ached yet she experienced an unnerving sense of wonder. She forced herself to meet his gaze. "I'm pregnant."

The doctors had run a routine test after she continued to puke her guts out in the first few hours after waking up. It was a miracle that she hadn't lost it.

She thought he might not have heard her. But then she sensed him shifting to stand closer at her bedside.

"Bella." He said her name once, a hint of a question in his deep voice. Slowly she raised her gaze to his.

She stiffened when he reached his hand to her but then a sigh filtered out of her when he enclosed her hand in his. After a moment's hesitation, she returned the gentle squeeze of his warm fingers.

"I never thought I'd be in a situation like this. Dad was right. I'm even worse than my mother."

She tore her hand from his warm grip. Digging her fingers into her hair, she let out a breath on a sob. This was such a nightmare. She'd overheard Charlie and Anne fighting over the phone once. Dad had demanded a paternity test. He'd once thought that she wasn't his.

Sam sank to his knees at her bedside. "What happened that night at Lee's house…that's not you. That's not us. I always feared being like my father the same way you feared being like your mother. But we're not them."

"Would you believe me if I told you it's not his?" She hadn't slept with Ed for weeks before she'd returned to Spoons…

"Whether this baby is his or not, no matter the consequences I'm here for you. We were friends before all this happened. I wasn't a friend to you that night. I should have stopped. But I want you to know now that you don't have to go through this alone."

She looked into his eyes and she saw all over again that determined boy who had helped her navigate the storm-ridden woods when they were children. That same feeling of warmth shrouded her now as it had in the cold woods with his hot hand wrapped around hers. And she knew then that somehow everything would be alright.

Ed was charged for attempted murder and assault along with his goons. Not even his wealthy father could help him then.

She had nightmares still of his men beating her. He'd been cheating on her all along… Thank God all her tests had come back clean. So did Sam's.

A few weeks later, Bella was discharged from the hospital. She had no desire to return to Seattle. Lee had been helping her search for an apartment and she decided to enroll in teaching college to get her teacher's diploma. She'd once had a volunteer summer job teaching children and she'd loved it. She'd wanted to explore that career option but Ed had always encouraged her to stay in Management, a job she was good at but secretly hated. She'd secretly 'hated' a lot of things. It was amazing how much she'd sacrificed her own wishes to please him. She knew now she should have spoken up more instead of allowing Ed to manipulate her like he did.

She'll never forget his callous words, "So easy to control".

Not anymore.

Sam had been visiting her at the hospital every day since she'd been there. They found themselves reclaiming the easy, comforting friendship they'd once shared.

He asked her to move in with him. But Bella wasn't ready for that step. Not after the disastrous façade she'd just been through with Ed. Her body had recovered but her mind was still catching up. And Sam knew he couldn't push her no matter how much he wanted to be with her.

She moved into her new apartment, working part-time while taking part-time classes. Lee continued to be a good friend to her.

And the more time she spent with Sam, the more she fell in love with him. Being with him was like breathing in fresh air after being trapped in a dusty room for ages. Though there were a couple of rough patches like the time the same girls who had been at the bachelorette party sneered and slut shamed her and Sam had defended her. They didn't have anything to say to her after that.

Despite the savage assault in the woods, her pregnancy had flowed along without any complication.

The evening before her sixth month, Sam dropped her back at her apartment as usual after they had dinner together. But this time as he turned to go, she held his hand tight. She couldn't ignore her need for him any longer.

That night, they made love again. Just him and her.

One month before her due date, they'd just emerged from the prenatal clinic to get to his truck when he gently pulled her to him. He sank to his knees before her. "Bella will you marry me?"

She was barely aware of the curious glances flowing their way.

"Yes." This time she meant it with all her heart.

A glorious smile lit his dark eyes. "I once told you your husband-to-be is a very lucky man. I've never felt luckier in my life."

She pulled him to her, kissing him right there in the street as people cheered around them. The same people who had judged them but she didn't care, she was just so happy.

He stood, lifting her in his arms, belly and all.

She couldn't help but giggle when he rumbled against her lips, "We are not having any bachelor parties of any kind ever again."

The End