The Program

~ Betty Pledge ~

"I'm glad you're alright.'

Jake's words brought my attention away from the bruised and swollen knuckles of my right hand. I flexed the fingers, cringing as the joints groaned and cracked.

"Nothing a little witch hazel won't fix," I mumbled, dipping my hand back into the small bowl of said concotion. I remembered my mother using this stuff. She swore by it, as did my grandmother Marie. Just felt like another layer of fire to my already throbbing hand, in my opinion. Perhaps my severe embarrassment just amplified everything.

"Bella, do you want to talk?"

Did I?

I asked Jake to come in for a reason, but just wasn't exactly sure what that was. He'd been the first person to carry me away from James and the 'almost incident.' I guessed I owed him some sort of kindness, some graditude.

"I just . . . wanted to thank you for what you did. You know, getting me out of there."

"Bella, did he hurt you?" Jake sat on the bed next to me, his heavy weight making the mattress sink, jostling the small bowl of liquid. I picked it up hoping to avoid a mess on my bed, placing it back on my lap once he'd settled.

"I think I hurt him more than he did me," I replied blandly, holding up my injured hand as evidence.

"Is that where the blood came from?"

I nodded, feeling the sting of the medicine when my hand plunged in once more.

"I'm gunna . . . If Edward hadn't . . . "

I looked up.

"If Edward hadn't what?"

A rabid growl rumbled low in Jacob's chest. "If Edward hadn't flattened his face, I would be right about now. I still might . . ."

"Why would Edward care what happened in that pool house?" I asked, ignoring the twing on glee jumping through my blood at that knowledge. Internally, I cringed, hating that I felt anything where he was concerned.

When Jacob didn't answer right away, I glanced up from my lap, meeting his eyes for the first time. His brow was furrowed, expression pensive, as if he were thinking of something he wasn't quite willing to share.

"What are you thinking about?" I couldn't stop the question from spilling through my lips. I guessed my filter had taken a vacay, along with my self-preservation.

"Can I ask you something?" Jacob asked, watching my face closely for any bad reaction.

"Sure."

"How many people have you taken an invitation from?" I glanced away from Jacob, not really wanting to start on this topic. The first night, I'd received two invitations. One from Edward, and the other from Jacob. Any conversation about why I'd rejected him would utterly drain me, and I'd been through enough emotional turmoil for one day.

Plus, I didn't want to divulge the fact that I hadn't even welcomed the invitations from Consorts the second night. I wasn't in the game. Well, not that game. I had my own challenge with Edward, one that had consumed my entire time in the wretched place.

"I think the fact that you don't want to answer that questions speaks volumes, Bella."

I looked up to Jacob, watching his flat expression.

"It's early in my stay." It was a pathetic excuse, and Jake didn't buy it. I could tell my the pointed look he gave me. "Well, it is . . ."

I shrugged, looking down into the liquid sloshing in the bowl. "I just . . . I don't know. I think I felt a connection with Edward in the beginning. He made me feel comfortable . . ."

I felt the bed move, sensing Jake coming a little closer. "If that's the truth, why am I in here, and he's pacing a hole into the hallway floor?"

Hearing that Edward stood outside my door made me feel a surge of something inside my chest. Hope perhaps? It was asinine if that were the case. What could I possibly be hopeful for? That he cared about me?

It may be the most likely explanation if what Jake said was true. Still, if he cared so much about my feelings, why had he been in that cabana with Lauren?

Again, the basic premise of the program came slamming back into my mind, negating all my emotions and thoughts into the simplist answer: he was a Consort, and I was just his weekend Betty.

"Bell, can I tell you something?" Jake had a small smile on his face, watching me with a secret behind his smirk.

"Shoot."

"This program, it's a load of shit . . ."

I choked on my own tongue, staring at him wide-eyed. "W-what do you mean?"

"Do you know why divorce is so rampid nowadays?" I shrugged in response, thinking a million reasons, but mostly thinking of the blantant sexuality being fed into every avenue of our daily lives. "Mostly because people get married for the wrong reasons. They settle."

Jake had my attention.

"A girl meets a boy. The girl likes the boy. The boy likes the girl. They get to know each other, and before you know it, they have mediocore sex and figure they'll stick around for a bit, see how things end up. And then, five years have past and biological clocks start making demands, which leads to wedding bells, and a litter of kids, and bills, and misery, and in no time, infedility. Know what I mean?"

"You make it seem so sad . . . so finate."

"It is sad, because that's not what a marriage, a partnership, should be about."

I thought for a moment, picturing a beautiful family in my mind. A wife, beautiful, but maybe a little fluffy around the edges from giving birth to her four kids. The husband, still good looking, but his expression is haggard, resentful . . . bitter. Maybe because his wife didn't end up being who he thought she'd be when they said "I do." Maybe because he feels his life is nothing but nagging, and chores, and work, and chasing kids. There's no more passion. No desire. No adventure. The wife, she notices his distance, notices his eyes straying to the bombshell neighbor girl, whose twenty-five and just got off from work at the office. Temptation broils. Seeps into the cracks. Insecurities fester. And the kids . . . they sense it all, acting out to garner the attention.

I swallowed against the heavy lump in my throat. "So, what does that have to do with this program? I mean, I know some of the Cullens are mated, but this place is about sex. There's nothing medicore about it. No long-term committment."

"Mated . . ." Jake trails off. "That's a completely different word than I can possibly express."

"What do you mean?"

"You will find out in time, but look at it this way. How much do you learn about a person while having sex?"

"Not much, I'd imagine." I scoffed, thinking that of the act itself could sometimes be the most cold and emotionless thing in the world. Just satisfaction. That's why I was here. I came to learn how to please, and how to receive it in return.

"That's what I thought you'd say . . . but how much do you know about Edward?"

I thought about it for a moment. I knew he was passionate, that he was a good man and smelled amazing. But I didn't know much else about him. Our encounters had been nothing but tense and physical. Was I missing something here?

As if Jake could read my mind, took my hand, gaining my attention.

"What if you tried to please him . . ." I grimaced a little, not liking this conversation. Or maybe who I was having it with. Jake laughed. "I meant, what if you felt what he needed, in his words, in his touches, in his moans. You can find out a lot about a person if you listen to their bodies."

"Um, I don't understand what you mean," I said, slowly trying to process his meaning.

"Open your mind, Bella. Your heart just a tad. There is a reason people find their mates here. Why they stay together for so long."

"James was mated," I retorted. "And he didn't have one second of pause when he tried to . . . do what he did."

"James is a moron," Jake growled, his fist clenching around mine. "And I don't believe he was truly mated to Victoria."

"Why?"

I knew that they had a somewhat open relationship, sleeping with other people, sometimes having orgies but using the rationale that it was for "teaching purposes" only. Yet, then I thought about Carmen and Eleazar. How dedicated and intune with each other they were. Watching them make love in their special way felt like a priveledge, like we were spying on something very personal, and incredible sensual.

"I know that you haven't watched many scenes yet, and I hope you don't leave because I want you to stay, if only to witness the true beauty of what this program can be about. But could you imagine Eleazar doing that to Carmen? Or Jasper to Alice?"

"No," I answered automatically.

"Why?"

I thought for a moment, trying to put my answer into words. A soft knock on the door broke my thoughts, and I looked up to see Edward sticking his head in with a solemn expression on his face.

"Can I come in?"

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