A Different Dawn
Chapter Three
It was an eye opening experience for Bella. It had been so long since she felt comfortable being herself with other people. Jacob didn't roll his eyes or huff at her stupid jokes. He got them, laughed, and hit her back with his own.
He made her feel right. He made her feel normal and accepted.
It was okay to be herself around him instead of pretending to be who others wanted her to be.
They had talked about different subjects, their friends, school, etc.
"You still hang out with that same crowd?" Jacob asked as he used a dirty rag to clean each individual piece of the Honda XL. He had pulled it apart and the floor of the garage was covered with a black tarp with all of the cleaned parts.
"Yeah, the most mixed up group at Forks High." He chuckled at this before grabbing another part to clean.
"Why you say that?"
"Have you seen the people I associate myself with?" He gazed over his shoulder at her and he smirked.
"I don't remember much about them. I mostly just remember Babyface following you around everywhere." Her eyes bugged out at the nickname.
"Babyface?" He chuckled before going back to cleaning the part he was working on.
"Yeah, guy with blonde hair, whatever his name was." He wondered if that guy was still bothering her. If he was, he planned to make sure he left her alone.
"Mike? Where the hell did the Babyface thing come from?" He snickered at this before he turned to her.
"Sorry, my boys came up with that. They like to come up with names for people when they don't really care about their real names." She nodded at this then heard a loud, man-made howl rip through the air.
"Is Billy going to be okay with these bikes?" She asked, suddenly realizing it might be his father heading that way.
"Yeah, he'll be fine with it, but that's not him. Just my boys." She relaxed back in her seat as the garage door opened and two tall Quileute men walked in bearing a strong resemblance to Jacob with their short hair and they both had matching tattoos on their arms, showed through their tank tops. What was with these reservation boys? Were they sneaking steroids into the water supply? They were so built that it made her flush.
She had been around men who were muscular before, but it was so much more than she expected from Jake and his friends.
"Hey, Jake." One of the intruders spoke before ignoring Jacob and flashing Bella a smile that was meant to be charming. It really only looked awkward upon his face. Jacob let out a growl that was too low for Bella's ears, but Quil and Embry caught it immediately, their eyes snapping to their Alpha.
"Bella, this is Quil and Embry." She sent an awkward yet shy wave to them. Quil gave Jake an untrusting glance while Embry waved back.
"Hi, Bella," Embry seemed nice enough. At least he gave her a smile instead of the weird look Jake's friend was giving her. "What's this whole bit?" Embry nodded towards the bikes and Bella offered an answer when Jake didn't.
"My friend had to get rid of his dad's bikes so I offered them up to Jake." She said and Embry flashed a big smile.
"Really?" Jake nodded.
"Yeah, they need a bit of work, but I should have them running soon." Embry strolled over to examine the Harley which hadn't been taken apart yet.
"A Harley Sprint? These things are awesome. Did you know they were only made for seven years then production stopped? People who are into motorcycles go crazy over these." Bella wasn't really sure what the big deal was. Maybe she had to be a guy to get the hype over motorcycles?
"Embry has a dirt bike. He goes nuts over bikes." Jake spoke up and she nodded before she noticed the sun was starting to set.
"Oh, wow, it's getting late." She looked at her watch and realized it was almost seven. Charlie would be getting home and it was past dinner time. She was surprised that he hadn't called her yet.
"It is?" Jake asked as she grabbed her phone off the couch beside her and stood up.
"Yeah." She snickered as he dropped his rag and approached her.
"You going to head out?" He asked. A little saddened by this. He didn't want her to go. He wanted them to hang out some more. His damn pack brothers had to ruin that for him. If they hadn't come, him and Bella could have spent all night in that garage just chatting.
"Yeah, Charlie is probably getting worried." She shrugged it off, but she was just as disappointed as him. She really didn't want to go yet but duty called.
"I'll walk you out." That was so sweet of him. He was still the same Jacob, sweet, funny, and such a bright spirit.
"Thanks." She blushed from the kind gesture. Jake walked with her out of the garage as Embry waved politely.
"Later, Bella!" Jake was annoyed by this.
Mine! His wolf snarled on the inside and both Embry and Quil felt the tension within their friend. Something was definitely up.
"Bye, Quil. Bye, Embry!" Bella waved politely then Jake closed his brothers in the garage to give him and Bella the facade of privacy.
"Sorry about that. They tend to show up unannounced like this is their house." She flushed as she avoided his gaze like some giddy teenager.
"I don't mind. It's cool that you have friends like that. It's kind of hard to have friends any way that are that comfortable in your home when your dad is the chief of police and threatens to arrest everyone that comes around." He laughed at this.
"Well, he has never threatened to arrest me so I have a hard time believing that." He teased her and she flushed.
"There lies the difference. My dad actually likes you. He doesn't like many people. Feel grateful for that." He was glad to hear this. He knew Charlie liked him, he always had, but there was a much different reason than most would have for liking that he had the chief of police on his side. He was glad because it was her, his imprint. One day, they would be together, get married, have kids, live happily ever after. It was good that Charlie wouldn't be a problem for them. He would have Charlie's approval. That was a given.
Whoa, whoa! What was he thinking?! This imprint was fucking with his head. Why would he automatically assume that they would end up dating? It wasn't a necessary thing for an imprint and a wolf. Jared and Kim weren't dating and Jared imprinted on her.
Plus, this was Bella. She had dated a vampire! What would make him think for even a second that he was her type? He was the polar opposite of her ex!
"It was good to see you. It's been too long." She smiled as he said this, the most sincere he had been their whole time together. He seemed very guarded, but not closed off. To her, it seemed like he wasn't sure if she was going to disappear or not. It was strange. She didn't know why he would think she would just go away.
"Yeah, it has been. I don't think we've seen each other since you dropped by my school on my birthday. You still had all your hair then." She teased him, but really it was strange to see him without his beautiful long hair. "Why did you cut it off anyways?" She asked and he chuckled, a little nervous to answer this. Would it be too soon to tell her the truth? He wasn't sure.
"This seemed more practical." For running around as a wolf all damn day! He added in thought, but didn't say it aloud. "Why? Is it that bad to see more of my ugly mug?" He joked with her and she snickered as she blushed.
"No, I like it. It's very you…" She reached up and ran her fingers through the side of his hair which earned her a contented pur from him. His hair was so soft, like silk, almost like a newborn baby's hair. She noticed his guard come down for a moment and she saw the jubilation in his eyes which sent butterflies straight to her stomach.
It was too much too soon. She didn't know him very well and she felt a crush developing, a fondness of Jake growing. He didn't seem like he was in the right place for something to blossom between them and she didn't think she was either, but something inside of her was saying that it was right, that nothing was more true than him and her.
It was illogical, but her heart was screaming at her that Jake was it, the one, all of those things hopeless romantics dream about.
She retracted her hand almost like he had burned her, but he hadn't. His eyes looked to her in wonder and he could feel that the imprint was affecting her. She was feeling the connection and she had let herself bathe in it for a moment.
"...it's just a different you." She finished her statement from before and he smirked gratefully.
"Thanks." He pushed the thought of the imprint to the back of his mind for then. He would dwell on it later.
"For the record, I really liked your long hair. This is nice too, but still…." She wasn't sure what to add so she just left it at that.
She struggled to leave, thinking she might go another four months without seeing him. It was suffocating, thinking she would have to wait that long. She couldn't move to her truck with her mind on that, like something was stopping her. She couldn't leave without knowing she would see him again soon.
"Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?" She blurted out, immediately wishing she had some verbal filter. Tomorrow was Saturday and she always did a lot of stuff on Saturday, but her thought had pushed the sentence out long before she thought to stop it.
He chuckled at this and flashed her a smile. "Um, I don't know." She was tongue-tied for a minute. Though he didn't ask, she knew he was curious for a reason why she was asking.
"Sorry, I know that was a little strange." Now, she was embarrassed, bordering on mortified. "We just haven't seen each other in a while and I was hoping we could hang out some more." She hoped she hadn't made herself look like a complete fool. He smiled at her, doing a bit of an internal victory dance. He didn't want to be the weird one for asking and she saved him the embarrassment.
"You're welcome to come and hang out anytime. Just call first, okay?" If she called first, she wouldn't put his dad in the awkward position of having to make up a lie for where he was just to cover up him patrolling.
"Cool. I'll call you tomorrow then?" She asked and he chuckled with a nod.
"It's a date." He felt like an idiot for saying that when she flushed like a tomato. That was really stupid to say. It was just his thing he always said when someone was trying to make plans with him. "Uh, I mean, I'll talk to you then." She gave him a quick hug which took him by surprise before she climbed into the truck. He waved to her as she started up the beast and backed out of his driveway.
As soon as she was out of sight, the garage door opened and out walked Quil and Embry.
"Dude, you are so damn obvious." Quil spit out and Jake scowled at his pack brother.
"Obvious about what exactly?" Jacob sneered in response. His wolf was irritable and didn't like others talking about his imprint.
"Come on, Jake! You're trying to get into the leech lover's pants, aren't you?" Jacob growled at his friend in warning. "Don't get defensive. I don't blame you. She does have a nice ass." With that, Jake lost control of himself and punched Quil square in the nose, sending him to the ground.
"Whoa, Jake! Calm down!" Embry tried to intervene, but Jake just saw red.
"Don't you ever talk about Bella like that again! Don't fucking look at her!" He was vibrating with rage as Quil pushed his nose back in place before moving to his feet.
"What is your problem!" Embry shoved Quil to shut him up before placing himself between the two.
"Quil, just shut your mouth for a minute and listen! If you thought with more than your dick, you would see that Jake imprinted on Bella." Quil's jaw slacked as he looked at his alpha who was slowly calming down.
"You imprinted on her?" Jake took a deep breath which got rid of the rest of his anger.
"Yeah, I did," he confessed and Quil shook his head in disbelief.
"That is just...wow. I thought an imprint had to be Quileute?"
"Emily isn't Quileute. She's Makkah." Jake retorted and Quil rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, but she ain't a-" Jake growled, knowing full well what Quil was about to call Bella. He never liked the derogatory term, but now it upset him even more.
"Don't you even think-"
"-paleface." Jake went to charge at Quil for that, but Embry stood in his way.
"Seriously, dude? Stop!" Embry spoke to Quil while holding Jake back.
"No, it makes absolutely no sense. I'm not trying to be an asshole-"
"Could've fooled me." Jake sneered as Embry finally released him.
"The point is you imprinting on her goes against all logic. Not because of what she looks like, but because of who she is. She dated our enemy for crying out loud. I honestly don't think that she is someone that can accept what we are. She might like you and everything as human Jake, but when she finds out you are a wolf, she's going to go running for the hills. If she doesn't, I'll apologize then, but I highly doubt it will come to that. She isn't like Emily or Kim. Bella Swan is not one of us and she never will be." Jacob was raging at the things he was saying about his imprint. Part of him saw the logic in his words, but a big part of him didn't want to believe it. How much bad luck would he have to have for his soulmate, his imprint, to be someone who couldn't accept him as the wolf he was? He would have to have massacred an entire town in a past life to have that bad of karma.
He slowly calmed himself down and took a deep breath.
"Neither of you are to phase until I give you the go ahead. I don't want either of you talking to anyone about this until I've had the chance." Jake spoke with a true alpha command and both of them stiffened.
"What are you going to do?" Embry asked and Jake let out a defeated breath.
"I need some advice with this. I'm going to talk to my dad." Quil rolled his eyes and ran home as Jake strolled towards the house. Embry didn't leave, but he stayed a step behind Jake.
"Hold on a sec, Jake." The alpha halted and turned towards his brother.
"What?" Jake sneered with irritation. After Quil spout off, he didn't need someone else telling him how Bella was no good for him as an imprint.
"Don't listen to Quil. You know how narrow minded he is. Plus, he's had to run patrols with Paul so you know the shit he has been whispering to Quil." Jake was still suspicious of whatever Embry was going to say.
"I don't want to hear about how you think Bella isn't a good imprint for me." Embry shook his head.
"I wasn't going to say that."
"Okay?" Jake was confused, uncertain.
"The Spirits don't make fuck ups, Jake. You imprinted on Bella for a reason, not because she dated a vampire, but because she will be someone who will compliment you the best. That is the way imprinting works. We all know this. Don't let Quil or Paul make you feel like it's wrong because whoever a wolf imprints on is the right person for them and Bella is no exception to the rule." Jake stood there for a moment as he took in his words.
"You don't have a problem with it?" Embry shook his head with a smirk.
"No, the exact opposite. I saw how you are together. Like magnets, you move, she moves. It's intense, but a good intense. I've got your back all the way, Jake." He was glad for his pack brothers encouragement. At least he had one person in his corner. He knew the rest of the pack would be a lot harder to sway.
"Thanks, man. I appreciate it." They hugged before Embry pulled away and nodded.
"Everyone else will see things the same way. They just will need some time. Plus, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, but you." Jake groaned at this. He knew it was true, but he was so conflicted.
"Yeah, that's why I've got to talk to my dad." With that, Embry said his goodbyes and made his leave.
Jake was a little hesitant to have this conversation with his father. Billy was in a similar position as him concerning Bella Swan. He had known the girl since she was born. He had been one of the first people to hold her after she came into the world, but she had chosen the side of the vampires instead of heeding Billy's warning to stay away from them. He assumed she knew what the Cullen's were. She had been with the youngest for so long that it seemed inconceivable that she couldn't know the truth.
Some would see it as she had turned her back on her own kind, on humans.
Grudgingly, Jake strolled through the front door and found his father whittling in his wheelchair in the corner, whistling a little tune to himself as he did so.
"Dad?" Billy didn't stop, but nodded as he moved his chisel skillfully across the wood.
"You done in the garage? You were out there for a while?" Jake knew his father well enough to know he wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying to him.
"Can we talk for a minute?" He nodded yet still did not put down his chisel.
"Sure." Jake hated it when his father got like this. His tunnel vision was so bad sometimes that it could take a bomb to take his mind off what he was doing.
Still, Jake strolled over to the couch and took a seat next to his father.
"I imprinted." He blurted out and Billy nodded nonchalantly like he didn't hear a word he said.
"Uh huh." Jake just scowled at the side of his father's head and a growl slipped through his lips.
"Dad!" Billy's eyes snapped to him and he sat his chisel in his lap while giving his son his full attention.
"Sorry, son. What did you say?"
"I said I imprinted." Billy's eyes widened as he shook his head.
"I think my mind is playing tricks on me. I could have sworn you just said you imprinted." Jake nodded his confirmation and Billy smiled big at his son. "That's great, wow. Who's the lucky girl?"
"Bella." The excited expression slipped from Billy's face which Jake expected. He never thought his father would be happy about it. He wasn't stupid, but his reaction still didn't irritate him any less.
"Bella as in Bella Swan, Charlie's daughter?" Jake bit his lip nervously as he nodded.
"I don't know any other Bella's around this area."
"Wha-How-Did you go to Forks today or something?" Billy struggled to form a sentence from his shock.
"No, she was here. She came here to deliver some broken down bikes a friend was getting rid of." Billy was still in utter shock.
"Oh, wow." He was at a loss for words.
"Wow? That's it?" Jake couldn't believe the lack of reaction. He was expecting this to be his father's worst nightmare come to life.
"What's it?"
"I just told you I imprinted on the only girl in a thousand miles that has dated my mortal enemy and all you can say is 'wow'?" He pressed and Billy quickly shook off his shock to address the matter at hand.
"Jacob, it is a shock, trust me. As far back as our records go, all the way to the first spirit wolf, no one has ever imprinted on anyone outside of our tribe, even Emily is Quileute even though she was brought up on the Makkah Reservation. Bella is the first imprint to not be Quileute. I'm not shocked because of her history." Jacob was surprised to hear this.
"Wha-Why not?"
"An imprint isn't chosen for what they have done, but who they are and who they can be."
"I know that, Dad, but-"
"But, What?"
"I don't know. Shouldn't there be some like unspoken rule for something like this? She dated a Cullen!" Billy nodded, but he seemed unfazed by this.
"Son, I know it's strange, but she is your imprint and that overrides whatever she has done or been involved in. Did you tell her about the imprint and the pack?" Jake stood up and started pacing the room anxiously.
"No, I have no idea how I would especially with her having dated my enemy! It makes no sense! I'm the exact opposite of that leech!" Billy did not flinch or even show in his face that he agreed with his son.
"Jacob, stop pacing before you burn a hole in the floor." He stopped and turned to his father who looked to him with understanding eyes. "Tell me this. What all do you know about Bella other than she is Charlie's daughter and dated Edward Cullen?" Jacob was instantly stumped and Billy hummed in understanding. "Exactly." Jacob wasn't sure about what his father meant.
"Exactly what?"
"You don't know anything about her. We all have judged her under the assumption that she knows the Cullen's secret and that she stayed around willing. We don't know anything for sure. She has never confirmed or denied anything yet we all look at her like a pariah and like she is one of those vampires. None of us know anything and that includes you, Jacob. She is your imprint and even you judge her before you even know her. You have spent less than a days time around her total in your whole life.
"Bella has always been like family and it was disappointing that she dated a Cullen, but that wasn't enough to exclude her from being like family, even with what happened to your mother." Jacob was stumped.
"So what am I supposed to do?" He asked, desperate for some guidance.
"Get to know her, spend time with her, find out her likes and dislikes. Discover who your imprint actually is. You will realize she isn't the monster you and your pack like to imagine her being." Billy scowled after the last bit of his statement. He knew Bella Swan was anything but a monster. He knew exactly how selfless and caring she really was.
Jake was tongue tied. Yeah, the pack categorized her along with the vampires, but he never saw her as a monster. Frustrating, yes, but not that.
"What?" Billy groaned before grabbing his whittle and started carving again.
"Did you know she volunteers at the homeless shelter on Saturdays?" Jake's jaw slacked when Billy told him this, still not looking at him. "And that she volunteers at the library to read to little kids who can't read themselves?" That was so sweet that his heart tightened. "Or maybe even that she quit working at that hiking store to work as a waitress and still brings practically no money home because she pays the meals of those who need the food more than she needs the money?" Billy finally looked up to his son who had shock written across his face. "Should have figured." Billy huffed.
"How did I not know about this?"
"You never asked. You never asked about Charlie or Bella because as soon as you phased, she was no longer an interest to you. You judged her as soon as you found out the truth about your mother's death. I wasn't going to force you to see what you wanted to remain blind to. People who want to remain in a false world will not see the grass below their feet or the sun in the sky until they are ready.
"So, why are you ready to hear it? Is it just because you imprinted on her? Or because she made the initiative to bring you those bikes?" With that, Billy wheeled himself away to his room and Jake was left with a million questions and a ton of guilt.
Thanks for reading. Let me know your thoughts.