"Jacob!" I yelled. "Jake wait!" I soon caught up to him, out of breath and exhausted. I watched as his body shook with rage.
"How could you?" he yelled. "How could you do that in front of me, Bella?"
"He kissed me!" I exclaimed. "Embry dared him to!"
"I saw you kissing him back. Hell, Bella, you ended up on his lap!"
"You told me to try, Jacob! You were the one who told me to give Paul a chance! I'm doing what you asked of me!"
He shook his head at me. "You know what, Bella? If I could take back every feeling I had for you, I would. If I could rewind time, and never meet you," he growled, turning back to me.
Tears welled up in my eyes. "You don't mean that," I replied shakily.
"I do. I would do it in a heartbeat."
"Jake-"
"Leave me alone. Don't ever talk to me again, and stay out of my life as much as possible, because you can't be a part of it. Ever," he continued.
The tears I had been holding behind my eyes, flooded down my face, trickled down my chin.
"We can't be friends, Bella. We can't be secret lovers. We can't be anything at all. This, whatever it is, is over. We can't take away what's already happened, so let's just leave it at that. Everything that has ever happened between us is the last and only things that will ever happen."
"Please, Jake-"
"No, Bella. There's no way in hell that I could be just friends. I love you Bella, and I have to get over you. You. Aren't. Mine. We both need to get over it. I wish we never loved each other. I wish that Charlie and Billy were never friends, because now we both have to go around with this pain, this unbearable pain of loosing each other. We can't keep doing this to each other because it leads nowhere except a life of heartache."
Even after all the hurtful, true, words he gripped my face between his hands, and brought our lips together. I kissed him back with as much passion as I could, pushing myself into the kiss, more than I thought possible. He moaned, his lips trembling as a tear fell down my face, hitting our mouths.
He pulled away, his eyes a mirror of mine. Pain and sorrow. "Even though I wish we had never met so we wouldn't have to go through this pain," he paused, his hands then holding my upper arms, pulling me closer to him, "I wouldn't trade one minute I've had with you for anything."
Without another word, he ran off. I fell to my knees, my head in my hands.
How could life become such a difficult task? How could loving someone be so hard?
My arms wrapped around my torso, holding me together. Sobs rocked my body as thunder crackled through the sky. I felt like I had been shredded to pieces once more. This time hurt even worse. Maybe it was because when Edward had left and Jacob had put me back together, I depended much more on him than I had thought. I knew he was gone this time. I knew he wouldn't fight for me. He couldn't. It was forbidden.
The rain soon started to poor down my face.
PPOV
"I don't care if it's fucking pouring out there!" I yelled at Sam. "She made her feelings clear. She doesn't want me, so why should I help her? Why should I care?"
Sam crossed his arms over his chest. "Because she's your imprint. You know deep down that you're worried sick about what she might be doing, where she might be, what's going on. So do she and yourself a favor and get off your ass and look for her. I already called Billy and he said Charlie's over there, but Bella isn't. That means she's out in that rain because her truck is still here. You have the keys. Go. Get. Her."
I shook my head angrily and stormed out of Sam's house, slamming the door behind me. "Fuck," I muttered as I made it to the shore. The sky was black, the air heavy, the temperature almost below freezing. I looked around for Bella, seeing nothing but water and sand. Where the hell was she?
I walked further along the shore, calling out her name. "Bella? Bella, where are you?"
I finally saw something a little over a hundred yards away. I jogged up to it, seeing Bella curled up in a wet ball, crying her eyes out. Her skin was paler than usual, her lips turning blue. I sighed and pulled her up in my arms. Strands of her hair were frozen with ice.
"Bella?" I asked worriedly.
She shivered, but didn't respond. Her condition frightened me as I pulled her closer to my chest, attempting to thaw her out. Her blue lips trembled as she gripped my shirt, trying to get closer to me. Her nails acted as claws against my skin, digging deep into my chest.
I ran back to Sam's, hoping Emily could help her. I held Bella closer to me as I kicked the door a couple times, hoping someone in the home would hear. Thankfully, Sam heard and opened the door in a matter of minutes.
"Paul?" he asked, then glancing down at Bella in my arms his eyes widened slightly. "Bella?"
"Can we come in?" I asked impatient.
Sam moved aside as I brought Bella into the heated house. "Who is it?" Emily's voice flowed through the nearby hall. "Oh, my," Emily murmured as she came into the room, rushing over to my side, pressing her hands against Bella's forehead and cheeks.
"Will you help me please?" I asked. "I don't know what to do."
"Of course! Let's get her in a nice warm bath," Emily said, pulling me along with her to the nearby bathroom. She went to the tub and started the water, heating it as much as possible. "I can take it from here. Why don't you go set up the guest room and call her father?"
I carefully set Bella down on her shaking legs, her hands still clutching my shirt. I pried her fingers out of the fabric as Emily pulled her closer to herself.
"You're sure I can't help?" I asked, watching as Bella's knees started to buckle, Emily catching her.
"I'm positive. I have her."
"All right. I'll go get blankets."
"Set them on the guest bed, please," Emily called after me as I left the room, with the click of the door behind me.
I made my way to the hall closet, grabbing handfuls of blankets.
"What the hell, Paul?" I heard Sam say from behind me.
"What?" I asked, turning around.
"Why the hell did you bring her back here?"
"Where else was I supposed to go, Sam?"
"Your house!"
"I didn't know what to do!" I defended myself.
"It doesn't take a genius to figure out that she needs to warm up."
"You were the one who said I had to go find her."
"Don't turn this on me?"
"What's the big deal?" I asked. "It's just one night."
"You saw Emily. She'll never get any sleep now."
"She'll be fine," I replied, closing the closet door and going to the guest room, laying the blankets on the bed.
"I hope you know you aren't going anywhere tonight," Sam said from the doorway.
"What?"
"You heard me. You're here for the night. You're going to learn, when it's your imprint, you take care of her. I have my own imprint to worry about."
"Sam-"
"And you might want to call Charlie. He'll be out in the cruiser if he doesn't hear anything soon."
I rolled my eyes and pushed past him to the kitchen to go call the chief. I snatched the phone off the console and dialed Bella's home number.
"Hello?" his gruff voice answered.
I ran a hand down my face and let out a gulp of air. "Hey, Chief Swan," I replied.
The phone went silent, minutes ticking on. "Paul," he acknowledged. "Where's Bella?"
"That's what I was calling to talk to you about," I said.
Before another word could escape my lips Charlie burst out, "What the hell happened? What'd you do?"
"Nothing! I swear! We're over at Sam Uley's!"
"I'll kill you," he roared.
I was about to defend myself when I small hand touched my arm. I turned to find Bella, her hair dripping wet, wearing a big sweatshirt and a pair of Sam's boxers. Her eyes held much sadness and exhaustion. She held out her hand for the phone.
"Hey, Dad. I'm fine. I'm with Sam, Emily, and Paul. Everything's fine. My truck wouldn't start so Sam said we could stay here and that they'd look at it in the morning," she paused, listening to Charlie. "No, Dad. I don't want you to come get me. Emily has me set up in the guest room. I'll see you tomorrow when you get home. I love you too. Goodnight, Dad."
She clicked end and hung the phone back in it's spot. "Everything good?" I asked.
She nodded, her hands going to her face, her shoulders then shaking. Bella's tears fell down her face as she started to fall to the ground. I immediately went to her rescue, picking her up. "Come on. Let's get you to bed. You've had a long day."
I went back through the living room, headed for the bedroom Emily had set up for her. I closed the door behind us before tucking Bella in, wrapping the blankets around her.
"Get some sleep Bella," I said, heading for the door.
"Wait," she sobbed, "please stay. Don't leave me."
"Bella-"
"Please Paul? Please?" she asked, tears rolling down her face.