Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Soundtrack: http:/www(.)playlist(.)com/playlist/19826824715
Suggested Listening: Boys Like Girls – Chemicals Collide; Miranda Cosgrove – Kissin U; Colbie Caillat – I Never Told You.
Jake's friends took the responsibility of welcoming me home properly. From the moment Jake had left with Jessica, they had been tossing my bags through the front door, distracting Charlie with questions about his job, and helping me decide what to cook for dinner. The pizza boxes scattered around the kitchen had verified my assumptions of Charlie's diet while I had been gone.
Charlie was definitely a bachelor. Anytime I was out of the house for more than a day, he managed to trash it with beer cans, pizza boxes, and take-out containers. His dirty socks were spread out around the couch, and there was always something spilled somewhere that hadn't been cleaned up in what looked like years.
As much as I didn't like the amount of time it took me to clean up, I liked the feeling it left me. Charlie couldn't survive a minute without me. Well, he could, but the house would be condemned and he'd probably gain thirty pounds in a week. That left me feeling needed. It warmed me.
I laughed as I stood in the doorway to the kitchen watching the Quileute boys ravage my refrigerator and cabinets. No doubtthey were looking for some type of food to fill their ever-growing appetites.
"Man, Bells, there's nothing to eat," Quil chirped, pulling out a box of oats and looking it over like it was an alien life form. "Where's the cheeseburgers, meatloaf, and lasagna Jake always talks about?"
I laughed at his culinary naivety.
"What?" He mumbled over the giant piece of cheese in his mouth.
"You have to make stuff like that."
"Well, yeah. I know that, but Jake says you always have leftovers. Where are they?" His puffy eyebrows rose at me in a look of sheer and utter ignorance.
"Quil, you idiot. She hasn't been home for three weeks. Do you really think Charlie would leave any food lying around that long?" The once lanky, long-haired Embry pounded into the room with heavy feet and a smirk on his sculpted face.
"Embry?" I asked in shock as I register that it was actually him.
"Yeah." He grinned and looked at the floor. His dark eyes looked back up at me with a sweetness I'd only ever seen in Jake's. "Hey, Bella."
"You look," I fumbled for the correct word, "different."
His hair was a shaggy short mess, but it suited him well. Embry smiled sweetly from the corner of his mouth and glanced at the overflowing trash coming from the can in the corner of the room. Without hesitation, he packed away the garbage lying on the floor into a bag, tossed it into a new trash bag, and headed out the door. That was something Jacob would do. In an odd way, Embry reminded me of Jake. They were both silent when need be, but strong and wise when the time was right.
The rest of the evening flew by rather quickly as the boys helped keep Charlie occupied while I cooked dinner. Embry was always within a wandering eye's range, and I had to admit I felt comfortable with his willingness to become Jacob's replacement as he was not here like he usually was. It made the whole the whole situation from earlier a little less painful.
"So, boys, how's football practice going?" Dad sipped on his beer and smirked.
The Quileute boys were the stars of our high school football team, which was lead by none other than the state's star quarterback, Jacob Black. Sam was Jacob's center, while Quil and Embry were the first-string running backs. Paul and Jared shared similar positions as offensive guard and offensive tackle, which left only a few positions open for the rest of the offensive line.
Being a girl surrounded by football players, you would think I would have ended up involved in something like a cheerleader or the color guard, but I was not. I was just your normal high school girl who just so happened to grow up with most of the Forks High School State Champion football team's offensive line. In fact, these guys were so good at their game that they were all being scouted by colleges. In my opinion, the only ones that had the slightest chance of making it in college were Jake and Embry. They were by far the most talented and were the most tactically prepared.
Watching those boys play football was like watching your grandma knit; it was interesting and boring at the same time. Jake usually complained about me not "appreciating the game", but I always showed my support. I was always there from kickoff to the last snap.
The guys were still talking about football practice and who they were most anxious to play during the play-offs, assuming they would make it to the play-offs. They would. They knew it. That was why it did not bother them to talk about it now.
I glanced up from my plate of spaghetti, embarrassed that I had lost myself in thought, again, only to catch the soft gaze of Embry's dark charcoal eyes staring at me. He smirked a genuinely happy smirk and slurped a giant string of spaghetti into his mouth.
"You back?" He mouthed after swallowing his food.
The feeling that little question left me with was indescribable. Jake usually noticed when I drifted off into my own world. He was usually the one sitting across from me at dinner but not tonight. No, tonight, he was with his girlfriend, Jessica, a girl with whom I could not compete.
My secret revelation that I felt more for Jacob than what a best friend should slowly spread as an embarrassed blush crossed my face. I missed him too much for this just to be a friendship. But, who was I kidding? I was awkward Bella. I had no fighting chance.
I nodded my head with a smile and let the warmth of Embry's concern spread through me.
"So, Bella, when are you and Jake gonna stop playing this lame friendship game and just hook up already?" Paul's mouth was the most noteworthy in town. He'd always been known for saying exactly what he thought when he thought it. The boy had no filter between his brain and his mouth.
"Uh," I mumbled, dropping my fork to my plate. "What?"
"Paul." Embry glared, lowering his eyes in an evil stare. "Shut up."
"What? You're all thinking it." Paul shoveled a meatball into his mouth and grinned wickedly. "Even Charlie here; he's wondering it himself."
My stomach was knotted up into a ball of nervous tension. The nagging aching feelings I'd felt earlier this evening rolled into themselves and multiplied. I could feel my body start to shake. The simple mention of Jacob and me being something more than friends made me tingle with new, unknown, sensations I had yet to figure out.
My body flushed with a heat that spread from my cheeks to my abdomen to my thighs and then to my feet. Every single inch of me was burning in utter embarrassment. All eyes were on me, waiting patiently for an answer to the million dollar question. I did not have an answer. I didn't understand the feelings I had. But, what I did immediately understand were the feelings caused warm arm brushing against my own and a set of dark fingers grabbing the empty plate in front of me. I watched the large, thick, russet fingers hold onto the plate as it left my view.
"C'mon, Paul, man. Let it go." Embry spoke softly as he bent slightly at the waist and whispered into my ear. "Ignore him. He's an ass. Help me clean up. It'll give you an excuse to get out of the spotlight."
Embry became my savior. He was the man in the shadows. My heart thudded in my chest as a quick breath left my lips.
I stood up with a snide smirk and an embarrassed blush on my face and grabbed the dishware as fast as I could, not caring who was done eating and who still had a plate full of meatballs. All I needed was to be next to someone who could understand me. Since Jacob was MIA, that left Embry – his confidante and best guy friend. So, I rushed into the kitchen with an armful of plates, forks, spoons, and serving dishes. Just as I was about five feet from the sink, I stumbled over my own two feet. My eyes shut automatically to save me from the sight of my next dismay. The clanking of the dishes in my arms caused my face to scowl when the image of them all falling to the floor in a mess of broken glass sprang into my mind.
I shuffled my feet. I tried to balance myself. I tried to lean against something with some substantial balance, but to no avail. I was left with nothing but air until I felt the strong hands and heard a warm voice trickle into my ears.
"Careful. Can't have you falling all over the place and getting hurt. Jake would have my ass for that, Bells."
The sound of the nickname my best friend had given me, spoken from the lips of someone whom I had never seen with anything but foggy eyes, lured the butterflies to flap their wings and caused my world to tilt on its axis.
Before I knew it, I was standing on my own two feet with empty arms. Sudsy water filled the sink as Embry pushed the sleeves of his sweatshirt up his forearms.
"I'll wash. You rinse."
"We'll both dry," I smiled, remembering this same scene happening with Jake all too often. Yet I quickly realized it wouldn't be happening nearly as much anymore.
Jacob used to be the leading man in my life, but now he was being replaced with his understudy, who he had unknowingly trained. I wondered how Jacob would feel about Embry and I becoming close - as close as he and Jessica were right at this moment, and I was sure I knew just exactly how close they were. My insides crawled as visions of them humping each other in Jake's truck burned into my mind.
I shook my head quickly from side to side to try to rid myself of the image. No matter if I wanted to see him that way or not, I just could not stand seeing him next to Jessica, let alone be completely unclothed and panting above her. It made me want to gag.
"Don't let it get to you," Embry said as he handed a dish to me.
I began rinsing the soap from the plate. "It's not. It doesn't…" I sat the dish in the drainer and waited for the next. "Bother me."
"Right." His lips turned into a tight line as he finished rubbing the left over spaghetti sauce off of the plate. His hands were large and thick just like Jacob's, but he had a grace to him - a softness - that sent chills down my spine. I could watch him wash dishes for days and be completely and utterly satisfied.
I was so lost in awe at the star running back of Forks High School washing dishes so elegantly that I hadn't noticed the pile of soapy silverware piled in the bottom of my side of the sink. But, there they sat, waiting on me to finish rinsing them so we both could dry the rest of the dishes. Embry left me to my own mind and bent around me – his chin brushing against my shoulder – as he grabbed a dish towel ooooout of the cabinet above my head. He heard my breath hitch. He saw the blush on my face. He realized that he was making me a ball of nerves, and all he did was stand closer.
Embry placed the towel on the counter next to me. The next few moments slowed down as his arm slid around my stomach and pulled my back against his hard abdomen. The weight of his head rested on my shoulder, and his warm breath blew softly against the hair tucked behind my ear. I could feel the wetness of his lips close to my skin.
His breathing was loud and labored against my ear as he started to speak. "You know, I'm not as dumb as Jake. I can see that I make you nervous."
My body froze as it molded itself to the outline of his body. A smirk worked its way onto my lips, and I turned my head slightly. Glancing at him out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the determination in his charcoal eyes.
Usually in this position, I would be scared, and would back away from a guy's advances. I would be afraid that I was going to upset Jacob, but Jake had Jessica. So, I breathed out and smiled cheekily at the almost artistically drawn face next to me.
"Good." My eyebrow rose, challenging him to prove to me that he wasn't like Jacob; although, I desperately needed him to be.
"Are you," he began, snaking his other arm around my waist, "flirting with me?" He squeezed me further into him.
"Maybe." I turned back to the dishes in front of me as if they held a substantially greater part of my attention.
A soft laugh escaped Embry, and for a moment, I was afraid he was only toying with me. But the gears in my brain quickly changed into overdrive as Embry tenderly kissed my neck just below my ear lobe, sending quaking tendrils of sheer ecstasy over my skin. Before the moment could go any further and before I could respond to his straightforward actions, the sound of heavy footsteps pulled my attention away from Embry's lingering lips.
"Bells." Dad pushed through the swinging door of the kitchen. "It's getting late. Time for the boys to head home and get some rest before practice in the morning."
His socked feet came to a skidding halt when I assumed he saw Embry and I as close as we were. Dad cleared his throat nervously. "I'll just… leave you two… Embry, the guys are heading out. I'll tell them you'll be a minute."
"Thanks, Chief." Embry pulled his arms from around my waist as he answered.
A cool breeze separated my body from Embry. With a shuffle of his feet, he backed away quietly as I would have expected. Embry was sweet, quiet, and soulful. He held within him strength, resilience, and loyalty. That last adjective stilled my beating heart. He was loyal – loyal to his family, his culture, and most of all to his best friend. Any chance I felt inside of me was slowly burning down. I should have been ashamed of my actions and maybe even his, but I wasn't. Shame didn't fit into the maze I'd suddenly found myself in. Hating myself, being ashamed of what happened, would get me nowhere, and I wanted to go somewhere.
I was tired of being stagnant. My life had always been the same: Jake and Bells, best friends, soul mates, but never lovers. We'd agreed on that many years ago when he was the only boy who didn't have cooties, and I was the only girl who was cool enough to hang out with the reservation boys.
"Don't over think it."
Shocked by his knowledge of my thought process, I turned with a raised eyebrow.
"Jake isn't the only one who knows you like the back of his hand." Embry's cheeks looked slightly flushed. Was he embarrassed?
"Yeah?" It was all I could think to say.
Silently, he nodded his head.
"Embry, c'mon man," Jared's shrieking voice called through the house. "My mom's gonna jerk a knot in my ass, if I'm past curfew again."
Embry turned his attention toward Jared's screaming voice. He looked lost in thought for a moment as if he were debating on staying or going. Reluctantly, his gaze dropped to me. It was time for him to go, because he had to – not because he wanted to and not because some girl was about to give him his first piece of ass in the front seat of his car.
"Listen, Bells…" He took two steps forward. His hands rested on my hips.
"Yeah?" Again, I answered with the most intelligent answer.
"We should hang out sometime – just you and me." Across his lips formed a sexy smile.
"That'd be nice." I smiled, lifting my arms to rest on his chest.
"Really?" He surprised me with his over animated expression. His eyebrows lifted, his eyes widened, and his smile tripled in size.
"Yeah. I think it'd be a good idea." My heart was doing all the talking, or maybe it was my overactive hormones. Either way, I couldn't say no to Embry. Not because I felt badly for saying no, but because I honestly wanted to hang out with him. I wanted to know what it would feel like to have my feelings reciprocated. Not that I truly knew what my real feelings were at the moment.
"Awesome." He laughed and pulled me against him, causing my hands to slide up his chest and wrap around his thick shoulders.
His charcoal eyes stared down at me almost as if he were sizing me up, making sure I was deciding for myself and not letting what happened earlier today interfere. But, I had made my decision. Maybe, it wasn't out of pure and honest likeability for Embry, but it was becoming that.
I could feel myself slowly drifting into a new exotic chapter of my life. The pull was strong, and I couldn't resist. So, I let go.
I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his. Embry quickly moved his dry, chapped lips across mine softly, leaving a cool brisk kiss on my awaiting mouth. It was sweet the way he kissed me, as if I were some gentle being that he wasn't sure he wouldn't break, but I didn't need to feel that. I needed to feel exotic and lost. I needed to answer the questions in the back of my head and the beating of my heart.
Before I could register his reluctance to kiss me the way I wanted, he pulled away, leaving me with an unanswered need. His hands left my hips and I settled back on my feet while he dug in his pocket.
"Here. Put your number in here. and I'll give you a call after practice. We'll figure out what we wanna do and when." He handed me his cell phone and waited patiently as I programmed my number. With a sweet, innocent and excited smile, I handed the phone back to him. "Alright. Great. Well, I better go."
"No." I shook my head with a sly grin.
"No?"
I grabbed my phone from my back pocket and handed it to him. "Not until I get your number too."
His long strong fingers worked expertly against the small keys of my phone. Once he was done, he flipped my phone around to hand it back to me, but as I was about to grab it, he yanked it back and slid his hand down to the front pocket of my jeans. Embry slipped the phone slowly into my jeans with a mischievous smirk. Every inch the phone was placed into my jeans, the closer Embry's lips came to mine, until we were locked in a softer, more elegant kiss than the first.
The chemicals in my body collided. My brain clouded with stars. My chest exploded with the butterflies that previously resided in my stomach. And just as quickly, our kiss started, it stopped, leaving me in an Embry induced haze.
When I came to, Embry was walking toward the door. My lips burned with passion and my cheeks with embarrassment. God, what had happened tonight?
"I'll text you later," he spoke over his shoulder with a sexy but cocky grin spread eagerly across his face, like he'd just won the Heisman trophy.
I expertly nodded my head not able to form words to speak. I couldn't even think. All I could do was reach my fingertips to my lips. I could still taste him there. He was sweet like fresh sugar cane.
With that smile still spread across his face, he left me to my thoughts, which was usually a bad idea. I'd probably over think everything that happened, and end up not allowing myself to experience the feeling of true happiness.
Could Embry offer me that? True happiness is all I really wanted out of life, and I thought I had found that with Jacob. I thought I had figured it all out while I was visiting Renee. I thought I knew my heart well, and I thought I knew Jacob's too. Distance was supposed to make the heart grow fonder, but obviously, it hadn't worked exactly the same for Jacob as it had worked for me.
I knew what I wanted from Jacob and I was going to tell him. I was going to explain to him every last drop of feeling I had, and in my mind, in my dreams, he always gave me that smirk – the one where his eyes tell of the many secrets he has but his lips tell you that it's exactly what you're thinking; that he does feel the same, that all those promises and denials when we were children were just child's play.
I never got my chance to tell him my embarrassing secret. I suppose it was a blessing in disguise. If I had told him, then what just happened would have never happened. I wouldn't be standing in my kitchen with the sweetness of Embry's kiss still ghosting on my lips. And I wouldn't be thinking I had missed out all along – that maybe the Jacob fog I'd spent the past few years in was hiding the only clearing from me.
The fog had cleared with the three week visit to Renee's and in the clearing stood Embry, who seemed to have been patiently waiting for a while now. His charcoal grey eyes stared at me with a sparkle in them that made me feel something for someone besides Jacob Black.
Maybe this was good. Maybe the whole scenario was preparing me for something bigger than myself.
"Alright, Bells." My blurry eyes focused on a half-drunk Charlie hiking his jeans up by the waist. "What do you need help with?"
Slowly, I came down from my sugar high finding that my fingers still rested on my lip. For a moment, I wanted to be embarrassed. I wanted to run out of the room and throw a temper tantrum for all that had actually happened this evening. But, I did not. Instead, I smiled softly at my wobbling father and shook my head.
"Nothing, Dad. Embry and I took care of everything."
"Embry, huh?" Dad blew a puff of air out of his lips, causing them to vibrate against themselves. A loud motorboat sound echoed through the stark white kitchen.
"Embry." I shook my head up and down, hid the slick grin wanting to spread across my cheeks.
"Well, he's a good boy, I guess. I just always thought that you and…" He stopped as if he remembered the moments following my arrival. His eyes stared intently at the cabinet behind my head. "Jacob…" Dad motioned his hand in a rolling circle so he didn't actually have to say it and bring up the unnecessary memories.
"Yeah," I breathed, realizing that I was finally going to admit to someone my honest feelings, "me too."
A soft silence fell between my father and me. He realized what I was acknowledging. He understood that for the first time in my seventeen years, I had admitted to myself what everyone else already knew. Jacob and I were made for each other. We were two matching pieces in the world's puzzle.
Dad held a somber expression. His eyes raised in concern, but fell back down as if he realized this would be the first of many let downs when it came to Jacob and me. We would forever run in this never-ending circle of chasing each other. With an understanding voice, he broke the silence.
"Embry's a good kid. Maybe hanging out with him wouldn't be a bad idea."
That was all the encouragement I needed. All I needed was someone else to sssee the fog I'd been hiding in all these years.
"Thanks, Dad." I thanked him for more than his approval of Embry. Silently, I thanked him for understanding, for seeing everything I needed him to see. "I think he'll be hanging around more often."
With an exhale, he smiled and reached his arms out to me. Hugging my father was always comforting, because I knew he'd always be there for me no matter what or who I chose. The hug was quick and tight – just as always when it came to Dad.
"You should call Marybelle." I smiled into his shoulder.
"You know, I think I will," I heard the smile in his voice and found that to be my cue to release the hug and head up to my room, leaving him to ponder over calling Marybelle and just what that call would entail.
Dad needed to get out more often. He spent way too much time alone or swamped with teenagers. I felt badly that he didn't have a chance to meet anyone new, and he never really had the chance to have an adult conversation without someone throwing in a "that's what she said" joke – which was usually pretty hilarious. Either way, Dad needed to mingle with people his own age.
As I reached the door to my bedroom, my pocket beeped and vibrated. A casual excitement seeped from the cell phone buzzing in my pocket into my skin and traveled through my veins until it reached the ever quickening beat of my heart. Quickly, I pulled the phone from my pocket and checked the message blinking on my screen.
'Thought Id say gnite. E.C. #22'
I laughed at the football number following his initials but thought it to be only fitting. Football was the only fast-paced career the Quileute boys would ever experience. Not because they weren't intelligent, but for the simple fact that not many people left this small incandescent town.
'Night. Tlk 2 u tmrrw?'
Almost as soon as I pressed send, I received his reply.
'Yea. 2mrrw. Wht time? E.C. #22'
Beep. Beep.
'Whenever is fine.'
Just as quickly as before, his reply arrived. I imagined him lying in bed with his arm resting behind his head, reading my texts and smiling just as much as I was. The image of his smile spread warmth through my skin.
'Alrght. Gnite Bells. E.C. #22'
When he said - or typed – that name it made me feel like... well, I do not know how it made me feel. It just made me feel and that excited me.
'I like it when u cll me bells. Night Em.'
An unexpected beep and vibration buzzed in my hand as I was about to open my door.
':) E.C. #22'
The only thing I could do in response was smile like a little girl who'd just got a new bike for her birthday.
';) Bells'
While shoving my phone back in my pocket, I turned the doorknob to my door, only to feel it jerk open and my arm being yanked into the room. I squealed at the forceful pull and the kind release of my arm.
"Shh. Bells. It's just me."
"Jacob." I fumed with left over anger. "Why are you here?" I angrily stared at his sweet face.
Being mad at Jacob was like trying to look at a kitten and not say "awww" Rolling my eyes was the only response I had when he gave me those sad puppy dog eyes.
"You know why I'm here." His voice was rough. His hair was a mess with leaves and twigs sparsely sticking out. His eyes were full of guilt and displeasure in himself. Knowing that Jacob would evenutally regret acting the way he did wasn't anything new to our relationship. This was how he was. He usually did what he wanted, and I felt the repercussions. Then he would say he was sorry with those dark brown puppy dog eyes, and I would forgive him.
It always worked. It was working now. I could feel the anger sliding from between my fingers. This time was different. I wanted to hold on to it. I had something else - someone else. My world was no longer revolving around the one and only, Jacob Black.
"You're right. I do." Resentment flowed thickly in my voice. "Apology not accepted."
If only that were true.
"Bells." He breathed deeply with a forsaken roll of his eyes. "What do you want me to say?"
I wanted him to say all of the things I felt. I wanted Jacob to pick me up and run away with me. We could live in the forest. I didn't care what happened or where we went. I just wanted it to be…
My phone beeped in my hand.
Before I could get too far into my own brain – before I could lose myself in the black hole that was Jacob and me – Embry cleared the way for my heart to beat erratically like the teenage girl I was. I felt giggly. I felt something besides hurt, discomfort, and insecurity. Flopping on my bed, I smiled the biggest smile I'd smiled in years.
"Who's that?" Jake sat next to me.
I had hot had a chance to check the message. I wasn't even a hundred percent sure it was Embry, when Jacob pulled the phone from my hand. "Who has you smiling like an idiot?"
And then the room fell silent as did my smile. His reaction would gauge how I would react. Jacob's onyx eyes stared at the name registering on my phone as the sender of the message. His jaw was clenched and his teeth ground together.
"Embry?" His voice rose to a questionable tone.
"Embry." I stated matter of factly.
I wanted to see Jake react. I needed to see him react, but it wasn't as rewarding as I thought it would have been. Reaching across his chest he handed my phone back to me and stared at the open window that had been his entry.
The air was thick with tension. It was so thick it became hard to breathe. Watching him in silence was the eighth wonder of the world. Even when I was angry with him, he was still the most beautiful being I'd ever encountered. Jacob would always amaze me – no matter how I felt about him.
I wanted to tell him my secret. I wanted to share with him all of the feelings I'd just discovered, but they were being overshadowed by the even newer feelings Embry had brought to the surface. I needed Jacob to know that it couldn't be just Jake and Bells anymore.
"Jake." I sighed.
"Look, Bells," he interrupted, standing to attention quickly and fiercely. "If you're doing this Embry thing to piss me off, then just stop alright?"
It was then that I noticed his attire. He was wearing a pair of basketball shorts and a pair of tennis shoes. His chest was bare and slick with sweat from the end of summer rains.
"Forget your shirt somewhere?" I choked out the sentence as it bled with resentment.
Jacob looked different. He carried himself differently.
"No. I didn't put one back on," he mumbled, stalking to my window – looking for the only exit from this conversation.
Even his walk was cockier. I hated everything about Jessica. Everything. I knew when he said he did not put one back on just exactly what he meant. It was his way of telling me exactly what happened without sharing too many details. A gag surfaced in the back of my throat as a slight jolt of pain echoed in my chest.
"Well, I hope she's worth more than just a piece of ass," I growled, stopping him in his tracks.
He turned swiftly with dark eyes and an evil stare. "Jealous?"
Jacob raised his eyebrow. A flicker of hope flashed in his eyes, but I ignored it. How dare he accuse me of such things? So what if it was true!
"Are you?" I bit back.
"Why would I be?" Jacob's soft somber voice resurfaced, and it was then I knew he didn't feel the same for me. All of the hope – all of the thinking I'd done at Renee's – was just a figment of my imagination.
I shrugged crossing my arms over my chest. My eyes dropped to the floor as the embarrassing blush crept up my neck and across my face.
"This isn't how I wanted to welcome you home, ya know?"
Within a few steps, Jacob was in front of me. His strong, muscular arms wrapped around me, warming me inside and out. The cold resentment I held inside slowly melted away as our embrace tightened. Jacob's breath hit the same side of my neck that Embry had kissed. Betrayal leaked from my heart to my brain, and I immediately rested my head on his other shoulder. The screaming betrayal wasn't so loud this way.
"You'll always be my girl, Bells." He spoke into my shoulder as his muscles loosened their grip.
"You'll always be my" - I swallowed - "Jake."
I fought back the urge to say what I really wanted to say.
"Don't ever forget it, okay? No matter what happens."
I cringed in return. Was he trying to warn me?
