Preventive • Paul Lahote •

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter 15

Maddison sat quietly in Bella's rusty old truck as they drove the short distance from the Ellison house to the Black house. While Maddison was curious to see if Bella could force Jacob into giving them both answers about what has been going on, she was also nervous; Beyond nervous, actually. The fear that Jacob or Billy would yell at her, and just add insult to injury, was a big fear running through her mind as the truck continued to get closer to their destination.

"So," Bella's voice cut through her thoughts as she tried to break the silence in the small car. Turning her head slightly to look at Bella, Maddison waited for whatever she was going to say. " Jacob says you and Paul are a thing. How's that going?"

Maddison couldn't help but release a bitter laugh at Bella's question. Her anger from earlier slowly edging towards the surface again as she rolled her eyes and looked back out of the window. "There is no thing, Jacob is an idiot. None of them want anything to do with me."

Bella spared a glance at the sulking girl in the passenger seat as she worried her lip between her teeth. "Oh um... Sorry."

The rest of the drive was filled with awkward silence, and the tension had Maddison's skin crawling. As soon as the duo pulled onto the dirt driveway for the Black household, Maddison was out of the car before Bella could even put it into park. She didn't rush to the porch, however, as she waited for Bella to come around and take the lead.

Bella marched towards the Black household, shouting at Jacob who, no-doubt was inside. When no one answered, Bella quickly made her way up the porch and knocked on the front door. Maddison stood behind Bella, with a worried expression on her face as Billy opened the door to the Black household. His eyes briefly flicked to Maddison before they settled back on Bella.

"Is Jake here?"

Billy threw a look at Maddison that had her casting her gaze to her own feet, shuffling awkwardly on the front porch.

"No, he isn't here."

Bella tossed a glance at Maddison over her shoulder and saw how nervous the girl looked before looking at Billy's stoic face. She knew that he was lying.

"I'm sorry I just really need to talk to Jake."

Before Maddison or Billy could react, Bella had pushed herself through the door and past Billy and was rushing to Jacob's bedroom. Both Maddison and Billy followed the girl, but stopped short when they saw Bella paused in the doorway to Jacob's room, where Jacob was sound asleep on his little twin bed.

Bella turned and looked at Billy, about to say an apology, but before she could her eyes caught the sight of Sam's gang approaching the Black household out of Jacob's bedroom window.

"I think you girls should leave now." Billy's words were for both of the girls but his eyes were locked on Maddison's as he said them.

He knew that the boys were out tracking her, at the moment, and when they found she was not at home, they would return to the Black household until their next patrols. He glanced at his nervous niece, and noticed the way that she clenched her jaw at his polite, but obvious, dismissal of them.

Maddison's angry blue eyes shot up from her shoes to glare at her uncle, her jaw clenching to keep the callous comments that she wanted to throw his way trapped inside her mouth. She was losing her sanity and self-restraint, though, and just as her mouth opened to lash-out at her uncle, Bella was grabbing her wrist and pulling her from the house without so much as a word. Maddison would have protested, said exactly what was on her mind, but the determined strides Bella was taking told Maddison that something was about to happen, and that Bella was just as angry as she was. While she did not know where they were going, she followed Bella's lead and angrily made her way to the yard. Maddison quickly realized why Bella was fuming and on a war-path, as her eyes landed on the shirtless and laughing group of boys that were approaching the Black household.