I wish you would - Paul Lahote

Chapter Fourteen

The line was silent for a few moments with nothing but breathing from either party while Paul tried to understand exactly what Miles meant. He slowly felt his body tense up.

"She's OK??" Paul nearly shrieked back, tightening his grip on the phone. "You son of a bitch. Where is she? What happened?" He asked. Jared moved up beside Paul with a confused look on his face as Aliyah moved into the doorway from the kitchen. Paul held the phone for a few more seconds, listening closely. There was silence on the other end. "No. Don't get quiet now. What in the hell happened? Where is she?" He repeated again. More silence came from the other end followed by a click and a dead line. Paul let out a yell and whipped his phone across the room. Hearing the very audible crack that told him he broke it. He looked at Aliyah who already had her phone out. She slid down the hall and stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and clicking Trinity's name on her contact list. Paul groaned and stood in the center of the room for a moment before looking to the door. He tugged the keys out of his pocket and walked to the door opening it. He nudged Rosa back as she tried to escape out with him.

"Paul.. Where are you going? You don't even know where they are" He reasoned. "Let's at least see if Aliyah can get anyone on the phone first." Jared moved towards the door. Paul just shook his head.

"No, something's happened. They were going to Port Angeles. Its not that big a city. It's an hour drive. Are you coming with or not?" Paul asked, opening the screen door.

"Ok but I'm driving." Jared stated with a sigh, turning and moving towards the bathroom to let her know. Meanwhile Paul was already in the truck with it started, sitting in the passenger seat. The first half of the ride was silent, Jared kept trying to make comments to calm Paul. None of it was working. Paul just sat in the passenger seat tapping the window, unbelievably worried and not even sure where they were going. Paul tapped his fingers faster the closer they got to Port Angeles. Once they were about 20 minutes away Jared's phone began ringing. Paul grabbed it out of the seat between them quickly.

"Hello." He answered quickly. Aliyah sighed on the other end.

"Paul, I called my husband. Please put him on" She said, before Paul could argue like he was definitely planning on, Jared reached over and snatched the phone from his hand and pressed it against his ear. Paul sat very still watching his best friends facial expressions, knowing that he could normally read them quickly. But Jared's face stayed like a stone, he would break his posture every few seconds to respond an 'mhm' or an 'oh'. Paul groaned and looked away. Slamming his head back into the headrest. He kept his eyes trained on the fabric tacked to the interior of the truck and his eye caught the earring stuck in by his mirror and he couldn't help the smile that ghosted his lips when he thought back to the first time Trinity noticed it, when she had just gotten back to town and needed a ride. She was so shocked he still had it after so many years. It was his good luck charm, although as Jared hung up the phone and gave a sideways glance, Paul had the feeling that maybe Trinity needed the luck more than he did.

"So..I'm going to start this off by reminding you that you can't kill that guy..Miles" Jared started, stopping at a red light and glancing over. Paul just stared at his lifelong Friend, waiting for him to continue. Jared pulled away from the light. "Aliyah finally got the guy to answer. He was full of apologies. Trinity is ok. She's actually been asking for you." He paused, choosing his next words wisely. "There was an accident. I guess the guy thought he could drift his car around a corner up here because it looked clear. Apparently living in Florida all of his life he had never heard of black ice. The car skidded off the shoulder and into a tree. He had some kind of after market seat belts in there made for racing and either they weren't installed correctly or she wasn't buckled because she went through the windshield...ended up on the hood." He paused only a second to glance over at Paul, who was staring hard out the window. "She's fine, I guess her forehead is pretty cut up. They did a CT or whatever its called to double check her head for any swelling or anything. There was nothing. Aliyah said she was really lucky." He finished.