A/N - Yay! Reviews, lol. Thanks for reading and sorry for taking so long to get chapter three up. It was kinda the hardest to write so sorry if it sucks. Constructive criticism is appreciated. :)

"A PIECE OF PEACE"

"What are you doing Jake?" Leah demanded, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Something stupid," he replied.

--

Did initiating the kiss this time make me as guilty as Leah?

Her hands slid up my chest to wrap around my neck and twist into my short hair.

Did Leah not pushing me off mean that she was lost in the moment or that this was something that should happen?

She pressed her body against mine and I returned the gesture, pushing her tightly between me and the wall. I shouldn't have pushed her so hard before, I conceded. Pieces of the brick and dust were still falling quietly to the ground.

Though it wasn't something I would exactly admit, this wasn't something I knew a lot about. I'd had a grand total of three kisses: two with Bella, which I initiated and ended with a broken hand and a broken heart, then the one with Leah which ended with... well, I wasn't really sure what it had ended with. This maybe.

Point was, I had no idea what I was doing. On the positive side, it looked like Leah knew exactly what she was doing.

Her mouth opened against mine and I felt her tongue wet my lower lip. Without thinking, I followed her lead - for once - and mimicked her mouth. It was a strange feeling - warm, wet, soft, yet kinda pushy, so maybe a lot like Leah herself... if she had just gone swimming - but it wasn't a bad feeling. It was kind of intoxicating actually.

My hands went to her hips, and I found myself pulling at her as though craving more.

I was craving more.

More taste, more smell, more skin, just more. She was so warm and pliant against me, her hands raking along my scalp, barely hard enough for me to feel. Running on something that was either instinct or adrenaline, my mouth broke from hers and began a trail of kisses along her jaw and collar bone.

Now would be the time to protest, Leah, I thought.

She didn't. Instead, I was pretty sure she encouraged me, a soft breath escaping her mouth. I felt her hands moving down along my shouders and back, still a light touch. It was... odd. It seemed where I was insistent, she was relaxed. Where I was impatient, she was patient. Where I was harsh, she was soft.

I couldn't figure out why it was so important that I continue, so important why she didn't stop me. Why this no longer seemed to feel wrong in my head. And why I wasn't trying to make it all stop.

At least I knew I could blame it on being a hormonal teenage werewolf boy if it came down to it. Even if I didn't really buy it myself.

We were silent apart from breathing, and I wondered if it was that we were trying to somehow... hide from whoever might be watching, or if we were just worried about breaking this strange spell that had come over us both.

Once upon a time, I didn't place much stock in magic, but due to recent events in my life - hello, werewolf - I was willing to place a small wager on the latter of the two.

When my lips had finally detached from her skin, I looked up at her to meet her eyes.

This was okay, they told me. This was okay.

And I believed her.

...

It was just starting to get light outside. We were home - my home to be exact. Neither of us had heard from the rest of the pack and we were perfectly content with leaving it that way. They'd come get us - well, me and then just happen to find Leah here lying on top of me - if there was something really important going on.

I tried deliberately to not contemplate what that would be. I wasn't ready to think about that right now.

Not when, at this moment, I had a sort of slow sense of peace.

Even if I knew it wouldn't last.

Leah was running her hands slowly through my hair, slightly longer than most of the others', and I was surprised by the gentleness of it. It was almost... tender, and I think that scared me. I didn't want to think of Leah in terms of "tender" and "gentle" and even "sweet". And not just because that was probably the weirdest description of her my mind could conjure, but because then I would have to consider that maybe this wasn't just messing around. And that would lead to problems.

Serious problems.

Like what? I dared myself to answer. Like Sam? He'd probably be relieved that she was... preoccupied with someone else. The pack? Yeah, okay, there would probably be some good teasing there, but after a few well placed threats from both myself and Leah, I doubt there would be too much torture. Relatively speaking. Bella...?

Hm. Bella.

That was it, wasn't it? In the end it was always Bella. That was what I was really worried about; where my problems were going to stem from. I still loved Bella. Didn't that make Leah... betrayal?

"Stop." I heard her say softly to me, her fingers pausing just briefly.

I frowned as the slow pattern of her heart changed to something less sure and solid. "Stop?" I repeated as a question.

"Stop trying to rationalize this," she muttered and I thought I heard a twinge of irritation in her voice. "Stop overthinking this. Stop trying to make this fit into your perfect little world with Bella."

I wanted to be angry and be snippy with her, but I couldn't, because suddenly, the guilt hit me. And strangely enough, it had nothing to do with me thinking this quantified as betrayal to Bella. No, I felt guilty about Leah. We were lying in my bed together, not exactly post-coital, but not exactly far from, and I was thinking about another girl.

Maybe I did still love Bella. Okay, I definitely still loved Bella. But I was here with Leah right now. And bitchiness aside, she deserved my mostly undivided attention. After all, how would I feel if she were thinking of Sam?

Pissed off, a voice in the back of my head whispered. Jealous. I was both surprised and unnerved by the intensity with which the answered.

I'd taken too long to respond, it seemed, and I felt her stiffen. I was pretty sure she was going to get up, but when she tried to move off of me, my arms tightened around her reflexively. She glared at me in annoyance and opened her mouth to spit out something that I was sure would not be considered pleasant or kind.

I cut her off. "You're right," I murmured. Without thinking, I pulled her closer and nuzzled into her hair. "I'm sorry."

She still looked annoyed - Leah always looked annoyed, I decided - but was apparently at least partially mollified, because she didn't try to get up again.

"Stupid lovesick idiot." I heard her mutter.

I just smiled.

--

A/N - Thoughts?