Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. India.Arie (and Don Henley) own the song "The Heart of the Matter."

The Heart of the Matter

I've been learning to live without you now

But I miss you sometimes

The more I know, the less I understand

All the things I thought I knew, I'm learning them again

I've been tryin' to get down to the Heart of the Matter

But my will gets weak

And my thoughts seem to scatter

But I think it's about forgiveness

Forgiveness

Even if, even if you don't love me anymore…

Chapter 1: Jacob/Bella

A/N: Never in my life did I think I would be writing a fanfic about Jacob! Haha, oh well. I'm still Team Edward all the way!

JPOV

The pack was starting to get pretty annoyed with the fact that all I thought about these days was Bella's impending doom with that bloodsucker. Bella this, Bella that. Do you ever stop thinking about Bella? They would ask. I just shook comments like these off, but the truth was that until Bella was truly mine, not a day would go by that I would not think about her.

The nerve that he had to send me an invitation to their wedding…filthy bloodsucker. The thought of Bella, my Bella, being turned into one of them was unbearable. This made the pack even angrier with me. We are werewolves, and it bugged them to death that the only thing I thought about was our natural enemy, the vampires.

I know I had already lost my chance with her after the whole kiss thing, and I was feeling ready to just give up on her. No matter what I did to apologize, she kept giving me the cold shoulder. I was unsure if this was the bloodsucker's doing, not allowing Bella and I to be in contact with each other now that the two of them were engaged and all. Ugh, engaged. It made me gag just to think that Bella kissed the leech, and now they were engaged. That was until I got the call from Bella saying that we needed to talk, and that it was urgent.

"Did your bloodsuck—I mean Edward—give you permission this time?" I asked when she jumped out of her truck, the truck that I had fixed up for her nonetheless.

"This has nothing to do with Edward," Bella responded coldly.

We went inside, and Bella took a seat on the couch. She started looking around the room and then out the window.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, noticing her odd behavior.

"Yes. Perfectly fine," She responded in the same curt tone she had used on me just minutes before.

"Seriously Bella, tell me what's wrong. I know something is up," I prodded.

Bella sat still on the couch for a few minutes, and then slowly started to speak.

"I don't think I can see you anymore Jake. I'm sorry but I have to go," Bella responded and then stood up to leave.

"Aw, come on Bells! Did the bloodsucker put you up to this?"

"No, Jacob, Edward did not put me up to this," Bella responded icily. "Edward would never even think of making me do something against my will. You on the other hand, apparently would." With that, she was out the door.

"Bells come on! Seriously let's just talk, we can figure this out. I promise," I yelled after her, but it was already too late. Her truck had come to life faster than I had expected, and she was driving away from my house as fast as her truck would go. Going back to her leech, I guessed.

She's still freaking out about that kiss, I bet. Girls…They have so many problems, I thought to myself.

BPOV

I'm doing the right thing. If I can stay away from Jake, I won't hurt Edward. I'm doing the right thing, I tried to tell myself, but it failed. I had already turned my truck around.

I'm just going to go in there and tell him how I really feel. I can do this. I know I can. I hesitated as I pulled my hand up into a fist to knock at the door.

"Jake?" I called, but no one answered. I figured he was probably out in the woods or something. The door was open, and I let myself in. "Jake?" I called out again. Oh well, I thought to myself. I'll just wait then, maybe catch up on some cooking shows or something.

"Bells?" I smiled when I heard my name.

"Jake! Hey!" I called back.

"I thought you left…What's going on?" He asked with a hint of sincerity in his voice.

"I really just don't know to tell you the truth. It's just that the last name I saw you, after you had been attacked by the newborn…I just feel like I never got to really say a proper goodbye," I had to force the words out.

"Bells, both you and I know that nothing will ever be the same between us. Just because Edward won this time doesn't mean that I won't stop fighting for you. I promise that I will never go a day without thinking about you. I will always love you."

I had no idea how to respond to this. I had so many emotions going through my mind right now; how I wished Jasper could be here to calm me down. Without thinking, I started kissing Jacob Black, and trust me, it was not a very innocent kiss. I was making out with Jacob even though my wedding to Edward, the love of my existence (hopefully) was less than three weeks away. Even though I was supposed to be with Alice for my wedding dress fitting in ten minutes. Even though this could screw up absolutely everything.