A/N: I want to thank everyone who has been reading and who has added me to favorite authors and favorite stories lists! Those are just as great as reviews and they make me so happy! I hope you guys are enjoying. If you guys do have any issues or if you have any reactions to anything, please don't be afraid to review or get a hold of me some other way! Jacob may bite, I don't though! =] I hope you guys continue to read and I have to thank you guys again for the alerts!

Jacob's POV

I hated that she knew me so well. That damn stubborn brunette could read me like an open book and I hated it. I hated how she could make me feel all extremes of emotion and everywhere in between. But more so, I hated how she could do that and then would always go back to that bloodsucker afterward.

But the thing I hated more than ever was that I knew, and she knew, that we both felt the same way about each other. I knew she was falling for me, but the more she kept denying it and going back to Edward the angrier I would get. I was better for her on so many levels, but still she couldn't see it.

As I sat on my bed, sort of propped up just so I could see out of the bedroom window next to me, I watched the red lights fade into the distance. I was hoping they would get brighter and the one placed in the middle of the rear window would light up, signaling that she was breaking. Maybe she could get the reverse lights to come on and she would come back and tell me how she really felt. But that seemed almost impossible.

Once the lights were completely gone from my vision, I sank slowly back into the comfort of my bed, ignoring the slight pain I felt in my injuries. My eyelids closed a little but shot right back open when I heard the words in my head that she said right before she left. It was bad enough to threaten that she wasn't coming back, although that was typical for her when she wasn't getting her way. I expected that sort of five-year-old tantrum from her. But to actually call that leech her fiancé? That killed me.

I didn't show it. At least I don't think I did, but like I said, Bella could read me like a book.

I just had to get over her. And I was trying, believe me. Every time she would walk into my room and try to mend me up, I would try to seem ungrateful and uncaring. It worked, apparently, because she was gone. But did it make me feel any better? Not a chance. It only made me feel worse to hurt her like that. Sure, she threw the 'fiancé' card at me, knowing it would get to me, which it did of course. I know Bella better than that, though. She didn't just leave the house, get in her car, and go. No, I know tears were escaping from those warm brown hues of hers.

Why was I always breaking my promises to her? I wanted to hurt her, and yet I promised her that I never would. I was no Edward. But maybe that was my problem. She wanted him, not me. Why settle for the mortal werewolf when she could live forever?

I rolled my eyes at the thought and folded my good arm over my stomach lightly. I couldn't wait to get better so I could beat the living hell out of that vampire. Edward didn't know it, but I got the pleasure of knowing that she didn't entirely love him. If she did, why would she have kissed me? Exactly, she wouldn't have. She punched me once, a lot of good that did her, and she should have done it again. Well, she was smarter than that, maybe she would have just tried really hard to get away from me and hit me with some verbal abuse shortly after. No need for anymore broken hands.

I closed my eyes once more, just listening to the loud voices of the rest of the pack in the next room. Maybe one of them would say something stupid and I could concentrate on mentally slapping them to put my mind into a different place.

However, when the screen door opened and then slammed shut carelessly, my eyes popped open and I immediately lifted my head to see if Bella's truck was outside again. My guess was shot down when my bedroom door flung open and Seth all but charged into the room. I lifted an eyebrow at his slightly confused expression. "What's your deal? Did you finally see a certain body part you don't know what to do with?"

Seth closed the door behind him and let out a mock-laugh. "You're hilarious, Jake." He paused then and looked around the room for a second before his eyes settled back on me. "Wait, what body part is that?"

I hit my head lightly against my headboard and closed my eyes before taking in a deep breath. "Forget it, kid. What do you want?"

"Shouldn't you be answering that question?"

My eyes opened and I let out that breath I had been holding. See, Seth wasn't usually a serious person. He was a kid. And while I was still only a teenager, he was a younger one. He was still exploring his youth while mine was almost over and I would be an adult. But now that he had a tone of seriousness and his words weren't naïve, I was slightly stunned. "What are you talking about?"

He took a seat on the floor next to my bed and looked up at me. "I mean Bella. I caught her outside and she looked upset. Did you two fight again?"

"What do you think?"

Seth played with a loose strand on my blanket and he shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, you two kissed, it's obvious she has feelings for you, why can't you two just give up the fighting and admit the truth?"

I wanted him to shut up. As much as I loved the kid, I wanted him to just shut his mouth and leave. "You know why," was all I said, and my eyes moved back to the window above my bed.

"Oh, Edward."

"Don't say his name," I growled, my head snapping back in Seth's direction. At that moment, I wanted to take that back when I saw Seth cower in his skin. I didn't mean to snap at the kid, but the bloodsucker's name was a sore subject for me. I didn't need any more salt on that wound.

"I'm sorry, Jacob," Seth said, his eyes still focused on the ground in front of him.

I bit down on my lip to keep myself from calling out how much of an ass I was being. "No, iI'm/i sorry, Seth. You didn't deserve that. No one does." I took in another deep breath and pushed myself up to a sitting position that I hadn't tried since I had gotten hurt and Carlisle took care of me. Surprisingly, there was very little pain in my body and I was able to actually swing my legs, slowly of course, over the edge of the bed and face Seth. "I'm just bitter."

"It's understandable, Jacob. It's okay." He finally looked up at me, his attitude a little like a child who just got scolded for doing something bad.

"No, it's not okay. You don't deserve me snapping at you when you already are trying to play Cupid."

"I'm not play-"

"Yeah, you are," I said with a smile, an actual smile. That was a first. "I just don't want you to get too caught up in it, because it probably won't work out, kid. She's with him now and I don't want to see you upset too if it doesn't work out."

"Jake, I like Edward, I do. He's a nice guy if you aren't in love with his fi—girl—Bella." I laughed at this a little. The kid was definitely cheering me up slightly, but nothing could fix that burning hole in my chest. "But I like Bella when she's around you. I like you two together, and I want to see that again."

I frowned a little. This was even hurting him? If I were a prick, I would tell Bella just what she was doing to not only me, but to Seth as well. But I wasn't going to hurt her anymore than I already had.

Seth was making me see things, slowly but surely. But it wasn't going to change instantly how Bella and I reacted toward each other. She wanted to hurt me, I wanted to hurt her. At least that was what I got out of it.

"Me too, kid," was all I could let out. "Is she okay?"

The boy looked up from his spot on the floor and shrugged. "She was upset, sort of crying." He pushed himself up off of the floor and stretched. "Do you want anything from the kitchen?"

I shrugged a little and thought about it for a solid moment before I shook my head. "I'll get it eventually. I'm not really hungry right now."

"That's a first," Seth said with an amused tone of voice. He walked to the bedroom door and was about to pull it open before he turned back to me. "Oh, and she wanted me to tell you something."

My eyes were already fixed on him as he was leaving, so I lifted up an eyebrow to show that I was still listening. "Hmm?"

"She wanted me to give you her love." Seth gave me a reassuring smile and left my room, closing the door lightly behind him.

My heart tightened a little and I just sunk my head. Maybe I was too hard on her. After all, if she did have feelings for me it must have been hard to choose which guy she wanted to be with. But that didn't make any sense. She was supposed to be with me. I was better for her on so many levels. I could give her things he couldn't, like a family. He couldn't touch her like I could; he couldn't warm her up on those cold and lonely nights when she needed it most. I could do all of that, she just needed to give me the proper chance. Kissing on a mountain to prevent me from practically killing myself didn't cut it.

I wanted more and I was selfish. I wanted her to sacrifice her relationship with the other guy to see what it would be like to be with me.

But I knew that would never happen.

I was just Jake, the best friend who happened to be a mutt. And he was a god-like statue that held her heart in his icy hands.

Bella's POV

A long string of medium-loud knocks followed by my name being called woke me out of a dream, well nightmare really. I probably would have jolted awake, but the lack of sleep that night made me so tired it wouldn't surprise me if Washington fell off into the ocean and I didn't wake up. It wouldn't happen of course, but still, that's how horrible I slept.

Pushing my purple comforter away from my body, I reluctantly got out of bed and moved to the door, opening it quickly to get rid of the knocking sound. "What?" I asked groggily, rubbing my eyes.

"It's already eleven. I thought you wanted to do some applications today before we went over to the reservation?"

Crap. I thought to myself, looking back into my room at my alarm clock to see if my father was being serious. He was. Turning back to him, I groaned a little. "I forgot I was supposed to be at Edward's family for lunch," I said, hiding back the giggle that should have followed considering the fact that they didn't eat.

"Oh," Charlie said, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets. "Well, we can do them another day. We have a while before you really have to think about that. You better get ready then."

"What are you going to do then?" I asked. I really wasn't looking forward to seeing Edward or Jacob that day. Seeing Edward just made me miss Jacob, and seeing Jacob just made me furious. Maybe my dad would ground me for some crazy reason. Was it too late to buy a ticket for another across-sea country for three days and just leave a note for him to come home to?

Maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

"I'll probably go to Billy's a little earlier. Did you want me to come back for you when you get in?"

I shook my head . "No, I'll just drive there after I'm done. No use in you making another trip. I'll see you later." Kissing his cheek lightly, I walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind me. I could hear him descend the stairs and that's when I started the hot water. I adjusted it to the perfect temperature and began to shed the clothes I wore to bed. I tossed them in the corner and took out the hair tie, throwing it onto the sink counter.

As I began showering, I allowed myself plenty of time to think. The shower was the one place I could think without being interrupted by anyone, at least I shouldn't have been. As I massaged in the strawberry-scented shampoo, I thought about how tonight would go at the Black residence. There was no way I could go there and not check in on Jacob. On top of that, there was not a chance either of us would start a fight where Charlie could hear us. The rest of the family knew about the engagement, I wasn't about to tell Charlie. And if Jacob did, I would find some insane way of ending him that didn't involve hurting me in the process.

I didn't even realize how long I had actually been showering until the water began to run cold. I immediately rinsed off any trace of soapy substance that was still on me, and I shut off the water. Grabbing the first clean and dry towel I could reach, I wrapped it around my small frame and tucked it in so it wouldn't fall down on my way to my room. Squeezing out the access water from my hair, I grabbed my clothes and made my way back to my room.

I tossed the pajamas on the bed and began to rummage through my drawers for something to wear. I pulled out the appropriate underwear and slipped both garments on before slipping on a pair of jeans and a plain t-shirt. I began to towel dry my hair when my dad poked his head into my room.

"Bells?"

I stopped what I was doing and looked through the mess of hair at him. "Yeah?"

"Edward's on the phone."

I groaned silently so my dad didn't pick up on it and I tossed the towel onto the floor. "Alright, I'll be right there." He left instantly. I grabbed my brush from my dresser and dragged it through my long brown hair. I already knew what the news was and why he was calling. A bad hunt, a family friend needed help, something only vampires would have excuses for. So I figured I'd better hurry and get the news so I could find something else to fill my time before the dreaded dinner.

Walking down the stairs, I grabbed the phone and put the receiver to my ear. "Edward, hi."

"Hello, love," no matter how much I missed Jacob, Edward's voice still got to me. "I would normally have came to you if I had to cancel, but Carlisle got wind that a few of our friends up north need us and we need to leave immediately. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but it won't be long, I know that much. Think you can keep from hurting yourself for a few days?"

I laughed softly into the phone, nodding a little. "I think I can manage. Come see me when you get back? And please, be careful."

I heard his silky laugh and it made my stomach tighten. "We'll see how many pieces you are in when I get back. I love you, Bella."

"I love you too," I said sincerely before hanging up the phone and sighing softly, just staring at the plastic back of it.

I heard my father's footsteps coming toward the kitchen and I shoved my hands into my back pockets. "Everything okay?"

Nodding slowly, I quickly thought of some excuse I could give him that he could easily buy. "Carlisle had an emergency at the hospital. He didn't want the lunch to go on if he wasn't there so we're just going to reschedule it for some other time." There, that should have bought me the day before I could figure out another excuse to give him for why Edward wasn't around for a few days. Maybe a hiking trip or something that I didn't want to go on.

"Still want to skip those applications? We have time."

I nodded again and began to walk past him. "Let me finish getting ready and I'll come back down with them." I heard him agree and I made my way upstairs. Maybe it would take so long that we couldn't get to dinner that night.

What was I saying? Of course I wanted to go to dinner. No matter how mad Jacob made me, I knew I couldn't go a day without trying to talk to him. I would just have to suck it up and ignore all the hurtful words he would throw at me.

It was going to be a long night.