Caught in the Crossfire
By Lady of Spain
Chapter 1: The Gauntlet Is Thrown
Disclaimer: These characters came straight from the imagination of Stephenie Meyer. I just put new words in their mouths.
JPOV:
She was actually in that ridiculously expensive car with that damn pixie. This was a nightmare. He left her half dead in the forest and yet she was going to Italy to save his undead hide. Bella had made up her mind; she was going into that bloodthirsty den of vampires. Why couldn't she see reason?
I leaned my arms on the rim of the rolled-down window, and put my head inside the opening, pleading with her one more time. "Bells—listen to me. This is insane. These aren't vegetarians you'll be dealing with. Don't you get it? You are on the menu. You won't get out of there alive."
She stubbornly answered, "I have to go, Jacob. I'll never be able to live with myself if he gets killed on my account. Take care of Charlie for me."
My voice raised a couple of decibels. "What am I supposed to tell him? That his daughter lost her mind, and went to save a guy that threw her away like a used Kleenex?"
"You don't need to tell him anything. I left him that note."
"Great—a note. That'll be some comfort, when you never return."
The fortune teller was getting a little peeved with me. She revved up the engine, signaling that it was time to go. "C'mon, Bella. We have to go now!"
I was panic-stricken by this time. Tears started to well in my eyes. "Bells—please … I'm begging."
The car began to move, and I was forced to step back. "Goodbye, Jake," she murmured.
My heart cracked, and I ran as fast as I could into the forest, phasing once I was out of view of any passerbys. A sickening thought shouted in my head: Will I ever see her again?
I was a basket case for the next three days, worrying that she was lying on a cold marble floor in Vampireville, totally sucked dry. I couldn't eat; I couldn't sleep. What would I do if she didn't come back? I could never love another girl—ever. The pain in my chest was excruciating, and the sadness infused every cell of my body.
On the fourth day, everything changed. My dad got a call from Charlie. Bella was back home safely, with a heart that was still beating, thank god, but guess who brought her home?
My sadness was washed away, but unfortunately it wasn't replaced with joy. Pissed—majorly pissed—that's how I felt. Bella was back with that miserable leech. It was a slap in my face. I put her back together when she was an empty shell, and she just blew it off.
She phoned me constantly for three weeks, but I refused to pick up. I was afraid of what I might say to her.
Then one day, I decided she needed to hear what I was feeling. Calling her after school, I told her, "I can't understand you, Bells. How can you forgive that bloodsucking jerk?"
"You know I don't like you calling him that, Jake. You don't have to be so rude. Anyway, the whole thing was just a total misunderstanding."
The sarcasm was dripping off my tongue. "So, he's not really a vampire? And leaving you in the woods was a hallucination? Give me a break.
"Look, it just hurts too much to be around you. I don't think we can be friends anymore. This is it—goodbye, Bella. I hope you're happy with the tick."
I heard her sputter, "Jacob … Jacob …"
Jeez, what a sap I was. The very next week, I was missing her like crazy. It seemed like a good idea to go to Forks High School and harass the lousy bloodsucker. I had to come up with some kind of plan though. C'mon, Jake— think, man, think!
BPOV:
He stood there in all his glory, blocking pedestrian traffic in the middle of the sidewalk. His long legs were nonchalantly leaning against a shiny black motorcycle. His rippling biceps peeked out from under the sleeves of his tight dark T-shirt, arms folded across his chest. He absolutely towered over the students of Forks High, and they all gave him a wide berth. Funny, they thought him dangerous.
I wondered what he was doing here, but whatever it was, it couldn't have been good, because Edward was bristling with irritation. We walked up to him then, so I could find out what the mystery was.
"What do you want, Jacob?" Edward asked menacingly.
My wolf boy's face wore a scowl. "I'm just here to deliver a message and a warning. Stay off of our land if you value the treaty."
It was obvious he was still full of hurt and anger. He had told me that we could no longer be friends. This new bitter Jacob—not my Jacob—made my heart ache and incidentally, annoyed the hell out of me all at the same time. But what spewed from his mouth in the next moment totally caught me off guard.
He looked at me and said: "I was wrong, Bells, I thought we couldn't be friends anymore. But if you want to put some fun back in your life, come see me. You do remember what fun is, don't you?"
Edward got within spitting distance from him. "Are you insinuating that my time with Bella is less than quality time," he snarled.
Jacob straightened to his full height, and shot back, "No, I'm saying that she'd have a better time with ME."
"Would you be willing to place a wager on that loathsome remark," Edward hissed through his teeth.
Leaning toward Edward, aggressively, Jacob blurted, "Put your money where your mouth is, leech. You're on!"
"All right you insolent little pup, let's both take Bella out for one glorious evening, and see who exceeds her expectations."
"What the hell did he just say," muttered Jacob. He shook his head in disbelief, and barked out:
"Three stipulations first, bloodsucker. One: you can't throw money on this or the deal's off."
Edward rolled his beautiful golden eyes, and spit out, "Like I would need money to show you up!"
"Two: No funny stuff, no taking advantage of Bella's hormones."
Edward retorted, "That won't be a problem with me. I would never take advantage of Bella in that fashion, although she would love for that to happen." He turned and winked at me. "However, I do have some serious reservations about your behavior though. So you better watch yourself, mongrel"
"I can't believe it. You're usually such a polite blood sucking leech. I'm glad to see that you're just as green with jealousy as I am. Anyhow, that's beside the point. If Bella jumps my bones, it won't be this guy's fault. I can't help it if I'm utterly irresistible."
"Don't you mean utterly delusional? Never mind … just get to the last point, mutt."
"Three: the winner gets a second date the following Friday."
"Agreed."
Edward glared at Jacob. My wolf boy glared back.
Finally, Jacob broke the battle of the gazes, and spoke up.
"Okay then, that's settled. May the best man win." Jacob stepped back and swung one long leg over the seat and slammed his heel down on the gas pedal.
The motorcycle thundered loudly, and Jacob was off in a cloud of gravel and dust. The boys in the crowd looked relieved, but the girls seemed almost wistful. Some were fanning themselves, others looked disappointed.
I was speechless. They bantered back and forth like I wasn't even present. Maybe I should stand them both up. It would serve them right, arrogant little testosterone fueled cretins!
Finally I found my voice. "Well that was ... interesting."
Edward looked over at me and huffed," He is so uncouth. Honestly, I don't know what you see in him."
A girl nearby raised an eyebrow, and smiled knowingly at me.
He muttered, "Okay, so some girls would appreciate that."
"Some?" I whispered.
Resigned, he growled, "Let's get to calculus."
. . . . .
I was impatiently twisting and turning in my seat all through my last class. I wanted to see Edward, badly. I flew out of my chair almost knocking it over, as soon as the bell rang.
Mike Newton of course would notice. He commented, "Whoa, who set her tail feathers on fire?"
One of the girls snickered, "Maybe she's hightailing it to meet that hot biker we saw this morning," and added, "Wow, go Bella!" Then as an afterthought, remarked, "How did she get so lucky?"
Another girl quipped, "You know, Edward is a cool customer, but man, that guy is like, on fire.
"Boy, Eddie better watch it. His competition is hot, hot, hot!"
Mike threw her a disgusted look, and kicked his chair back as he got up. He grunted, "Girls!" as he aimed for the door.
. . . . .
Edward was waiting as usual standing beside the Volvo, beaming at me with his angelic face.
Instinctively, I could feel the heat rushing to my head, betraying my feelings, not that Edward didn't already know ... but still ...
His smile spread wider, making my heart flutter erratically.
As I got closer to Edward, I tripped, sailing right into him. Edward caught me before we collided, which did nothing to help eradicate the blush that was getting redder by the minute.
He tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't hold back a strangled laugh.
"That's my Bella," he chortled.
My curiosity was getting the best of me. "Never mind that," I stammered, "Where are you taking me? On our date, I mean?" I was searching his eyes for a clue.
"Not a chance … top secret … need to know basis," he remarked.
"What are you, 007 or something? It's a date, not a mission impossible! Can't I have even a little hint?"
"No, definitely not."
"S'okay, I'll go ask Alice."
Edward looked at me sternly, and said, "I think you'll find that Alice has strict instructions to withhold any and all information regarding my plans."
"This is a matter of pride, Bella, I'm trying to protect you from that Big Bad Wolf. I don't trust him as far as I could throw a dog bone, and that's some considerable distance. He's completely on his own for this. Let him plan out his own engineering feat, or defeat if you will."
"Why are guys so competitive?" I grumbled to myself as we got in the car.
On the way home, Edward kept quizzing me about my favorite things. I told him, "I can keep a secret better than you can, as you well know. So, you're on your own, as you so recently put it. And no fair picking Charlie's brain either. That gives you an unfair advantage over Jacob." I felt kind of smug, and I liked the feeling.
When I got in the door, the phone rang. Jacob's voice was on the other end. "So, Bells, where's he taking you? Please tell me it's in this state. He's not taking you piggyback again, is he? Will I know the place? He's not spending any dough though, right?"
"Slow down, Jake ... I don't know anything. He won't tell me."
"Well damn, how am I supposed to best his plans?"
"Improvise, Jake."
"Okay, so what do you absolutely love to do, besides hanging around with me, I mean, and riding our bikes, and cooking? You still like to cook, don't you?"
I swear he was talking at Vampire speed. "Jacob, stop, you're giving me a headache trying to keep up with you," I groaned.
"Aw, c'mon Bells, I could use some help here. Just throw me a couple of crumbs!"
I leaned against the wall, and switched the phone to my other ear. "Oh no, I'm not going there again. Edward asked me the same things!"
"Crap, okay; I'll just leave it to my imagination then."
"Jake, it's only a date. You don't need to stress over it."
"What … and let that bloodsucker gloat over my failure? No thanks. Oh, one more thing, you gotta let me kiss you. You know what a great kisser I am. And ... you have to kiss me back. Ah, ah, ah, I'm not taking no for an answer. Oh, gotta go, Quil and Embry just showed up. Bye, Bells." I could hear kissing noises, hoots and hollers in the background, and a loud sound like a slap, followed by a groan, and more laughter.
Friday couldn't come soon enough for me. I didn't want to hear another minute of these two little boys fretting over their date night. Standing them both up kept sounding better and better, but I was also getting curious as to what each of them could miraculously conjure up in the allotted time frame.