Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any characters etc.; everything belongs to Stephanie Meyers (lucky woman, eh?)
The muttering ceased when Jacob walked back into his house. Sam looked at Jacob. He looked terrible, as if someone had just run over his puppy. Jacob glanced carefully out the window. Bella hadn't moved an inch since he had walked into the house. She simply stood there, too shocked to move. Jacob saw her face from inside his house, and he felt his heart shatter. The expression on her face that told him she felt like she had just been slapped had been because of him, and that thought tore him up inside. Sam scooted over on the sofa and patted the spot next to him. Jacob walked to the sofa and sat down, burying his head in his hands. He heard the phone ring, and then Billy's muffled voice when he answered it.
"God . . . I don't know what I'm supposed to do about this," he muttered.
"You know you can't tell her," Sam said. He sympathized with Jacob entirely; he and his fiancée had gone through the exact same thing, and it was only because he accidentally attacked her that she knew what he was. He couldn't run the risk of endangering the rest of the pack.
"I know it's hard, Jake," Embry said, looking at his best friend with pity written all over his face. "But she'd get hurt if you let her know." He liked Bella, but he knew that letting her know about the fact that they weren't exactly human would only get them in trouble.
"She'd hate you," Jared added.
Jacob laughed at that. "Because she likes me so much right now."
"I dunno," Embry said thoughtfully. "If what Jake says is true . . . she hangs around vampires. She might not freak out as much as we think." He looked at Sam. "Isn't there some way we could tell her?" Jacob looked up hopefully.
Sam shook his head solemnly. "I wish I could, Jacob. But it would put her in danger . . . and I hate to say it, but I can't take any chances. Not even if she is your friend."
Jacob nodded. He understood. And he certainly didn't want Bella to be hurt because of him; that would destroy him. He cared about her so much, and everyone here knew that. But the way he had just treated her . . . he had seen her and it reminded him that she could never know. Maybe it was better that she hated him. There was no danger that way.
He felt like a whole had been punched through his chest. He couldn't imagine never speaking to Bella again. They had grown so close over the last few weeks. And he knew that she would never care about him the way he wanted her to, not like she still cared about . . . him. But none of that mattered at the moment. What mattered was that he had just destroyed his friendship with his best friend. He suddenly had trouble breathing. How was he going to survive without seeing her?
Billy rolled his chair through the room, moving slowly towards the door. Jacob didn't look up, but he heard his dad shout out the door.
"Charlie just called, Bella. I told him you were on your way home." Jacob heard the pity in his father's voice. Billy turned around carefully, shutting the door behind him.
"She leave, Sam?" Billy asked.
Sam turned around carefully and peeked out the window. Jacob didn't need to look; he heard Bella's truck start up and pull out of the driveway.
"Yeah, she's gone," Sam confirmed.
Billy shook his head. "Poor girl. But you have to admit, sweet as she is, she's a bit of a meddler."
That got Jacob's attention. "She didn't meddle. She was worried about me," he snapped.
Billy raised his eyebrows. He honestly couldn't remember the last time Jake had raised his voice to him. But then, Jacob had never become a werewolf before. It was bound to cause some confusion in the boys' head. And even he knew how he felt about Bella. Bella's attitude about their relationship, on the other hand, bothered him. The phone rang suddenly, sounding abnormally loud in the silent house. Billy wheeled out of the living room, towards the phone just outside the kitchen.
Jacob hung his head, feeling guilty. He shouldn't have taken his frustrations out on his dad. But really, Bella hadn't done anything wrong. He was the one who was acting like an ass.
"So," Sam said, clearly ready to get back to business, "what are we going to do about the female vampire?"
"She keeps running away, like she doesn't even want to fight us," Embry said, shaking his head. "It makes no sense."
"She could be trying to confuse us-" Sam broke off, listening intently to the conversation that was taking place in the kitchen.
"Jake's just upset about his relationship- or lack thereof- with Bella," he heard Billy saying. Jacob's face darkened when he realized who his father was talking to. The entire pack looked at him, wondering how he was going to take this. Jacob simply pressed a finger to his lips. His friends looked pleased; they clearly wanted to see how this was going to play out. Chief Swan, according to Bella, had a bit of a temper when it came to her well-being. Billy had just lowered himself into the snake pit.
"Bella has been leading him on, and you know Jake. He really likes her, and the way she's been treating him—"Billy was abruptly cut off, and Jacob had the distinct impression that Charlie was throwing a fit over the comment Billy had just made.
"He's hanging around with new friends, trying to find his place, that's all. Sam's a good kid, like the rest of them. . . well, maybe you don't know your daughter as well ass you think-"
Jacob's eyes widened. That was enough to piss anyone off.
"She's been pretty emotionally beat up ever since that Cullen kid took off. Maybe you should get her some real help." Billy listened for a few more seconds.
"So, in other words, you're going to watch these boys like a hawk, looking for trouble," Billy said. Jacob could hear the snarl in his father's voice. "You go right ahead and do that. These boys have done nothing wrong," Billy said after a moment. The boys heard that phone clatter as Billy hung up. They quickly looked away from the door, trying to look busy. When Billy got back into the living room and saw them, he smirked.
"You guys aren't very good at that, you know," he said. Sam looked sheepish.
"Sorry about that,' he apologized. Billy shrugged.
"Well, I guess you know what's going on then," he sighed. "Charlie, as expected, is backing Bella up all the way. I tried to get you off the hook, Jake, I really did." He looked at his heartbroken son.
"It's my own fault," Jacob sighed. "I knew how sensitive she was, and I shouldn't have been so cruel to her, even if she hadn't been going through this . . . thing that she's dealing with." He looked down, burning a hole in the floor.
"I wish I had never become a wolf."
Sam patted him on the back. "Been there, man. We all have." The rest of the pack nodded in agreement.
"I'm really sorry about Bella," Sam continued. "She seems like a nice girl. But you know the consequences of her knowing about us."
Jacob knew. He also knew full well that Sam would probably keep an eye on him, just in case he tried to tell Bella their little secret and endanger the entire pack.
"Well, we had better figure out what we're doing about this vampire," Sam said. Back to business.
As they were discussing, however, Jacob's mind was elsewhere. Even if he couldn't tell Bella about the pack, he could certainly apologize to her. Sam wouldn't like it very much, but he wasn't technically breaking any promises. He had to keep his promise to Bella, no matter what it took. He loved her too much to lose her over something like this. He felt awful about the way he was now; his physical appearance had changed, his personality had changed, and he got angry much more easily now. The only thing that hadn't changed were his feelings for Bella. He had promised her he was going to be there for her. And come hell or high water, he was going to make sure he held to that.
A/N: Just something that was stuck in my head all day. Please review!!