I am such a sucker

And I'm always the last to know

My insides are copper

I'd kill to make them gold

Conversation got me here

Another night alone in the city

So make my bed the grave and shovel dirt onto my sheets

Being around the Cullens was like being in another world. They lived in this ridiculous house not far from the center of town that they had custom-built before they came to Forks. Everything was sleek and white, made of marble or glass or steel, with modern art perched on tables and pedestals around their angular furniture. I was afraid to touch anything or even sit on the sofa in the main living room, lest I trip and knock over ten grand worth of ceramic sculptures. It was beautiful, but cold and sparse; more like being in a museum than someone's home.

Mr. Cullen had his own study, which was lined with dark wood paneling and built in shelves holding hundreds of novels and medical texts. He wasn't one for knick-knacks, but the top shelves were populated with oni masks, fossils, and archeological artifacts from their travels abroad. The house had been built that the perfect angle to view the sunset over the lake from his window. The kitchen was massive for a family that never cooked, with glittering granite countertops and a gas stove that went largely untouched. I would have given my right arm for a kitchen like that. The basement was for billiards and playing cards, with a wine cellar that was bigger than my bedroom at Charlie's house.

Each of the three Cullen children had their own suites, complete with master-sized bathrooms with a shower and a jacuzzi. There was a home theater too, with red leather recliners arranged like stadium seating in front of a giant screen. I'm sure there was much more to that house, but I never saw it. You had to call someone on their cell just to see if they were even in the house. I had never seen so many beautiful things in my life, things they didn't seem to care all that much about. With time, I started to get the impression that they cared much more about having nice things than using them, like they collected whatever was beautiful and valuable wherever they were because they liked the way it made them look.

Mrs. Cullen was gorgeous, like a lady in a renaissance painting. He long brown locks always fell effortlessly around her face, with sapphire eyes that sparkled in the light. She was so enthusiastic about meeting me. Alice was clearly the organizer in the family, putting anything from a weekend trip to an outfit together in record time, all while exuding a ceaselessly chipper demeanor. She quickly became my self-appointed life coach, buying me clothes, doing my hair and makeup, giving me an itinerary of every gala and dinner party they took me to. For the first time in my life, I felt beautiful. I felt glamorous, like someone who was actually important enough to get invited to events like this.

Rosalie was not so interested in me. I met her for the first time when she came home from Dartmouth for winter break, bringing her boyfriend Emmett with her. She was as flawlessly beautiful as the rest of them, but all her smiles looked choreographed as if from years of practice, and few of them were ever intended for me. I was disappointed that she didn't like me, given that she was attending my top choice of colleges. I wanted to ask her about it, about the classes she was in, the professors, the dorms, but she only gave me a few words before changing the subject. Emmett was pre-med, and I could tell that the Cullens were absolutely chomping at the bit for him to propose. He was the perfect addition to their perfect family.

They were making real estate investments all over the area, which proved pretty divisive in such a small community. People had enjoyed the quiet for decades, and they weren't ready for their shabby bars and hardware store to be replaced with vacation homes. I never thought that the city would grant them the permits, but they somehow never encountered any problems getting approval.

The Cullens began to roll out the welcome wagon not long after we met. My truck broke down and was going to cost a fortune to fix, so they insisted that I borrow the "fun" car that they almost never drove: a tricked-out silver Volvo. That was too much for me and definitely to Charlie, who seemed to get increasingly fidgety as the Cullen's gifts and invitations piled up. Wither way, it wouldn't be long before Edwards appointed himself my chauffeur as well. Edward insisted on buying me jewelry for Valentine's day and Christmas, and every event they took me to included a new dress with impossible shoes. Every time I started to feel less uncomfortable with whatever they were doing for me that week, they piled on something new, ensuring that I was constantly overwhelmed. I never had enough bandwidth to think about what was going on, and by the time I did, I realized all of my spare time was spent with Edward and his family.

When they learned about the schools I was looking at over on the west coast, their eyes lit up like Christmas lights. It was a pipedream, given that out of state tuition cost a fortune and I wasn't expecting to get a scholarship. I had been trying to save my earnings to help pay for it, but I was nowhere close. They told me to just worry about getting in. The rest would sort itself out.

Edward was like some kind of prince, in like an old-school Disney kind of way. He showed up out of the blue and completely swept me off my feet. He was excessively charming and handsome, and he was more intensely interested in me than anyone I had ever met. He took me out to dinner most weekends, wrote songs for me on the grand piano in the formal living room, and constantly told me how beautiful I was. I couldn't believe someone like him existed, let alone would want me so badly. Even when he saw how clumsy I was, he didn't laugh. He just insisted on carrying me instead. How could anyone resist that kind of adoration?

I was used to Charlie's particular brand of over-protectiveness. As the chief of police, he had pounded stranger-danger and other terrors facing the youth into my head since I could spell my name. When I was eleven, a teenage girl was abducted in Port Angeles, and Charlie was called in when they found her body in the woods not far from the Quileute reservation. He didn't want to talk about it, but I knew those images had seared themselves into his brain beyond any hope of recovery. When I moved back to Forks, he never wanted me left alone, but as long as I was with someone he trusted, I had some freedom.

They were pretty keen on getting on good terms with my dad as well, which wasn't hard. They were well-versed in the many hazards of the world, like gang violence and abductions, and he looked relieved to have someone else watching over me when he couldn't. I didn't need my job at Mike's family store. Minimum wage jobs apparently rife with sexual harassment, and they were delighted to take care of anything I needed. Before I knew it, I was being supervised everywhere I went.

But then there was Jake. I kept trying to spend time with him in the weeks after Edward and I became official, but we didn't have any classes in common this year, and the Cullens were demanding more and more of my time, to the point that I was only able to catch him on the phone. I could tell he was hurt, but I didn't know how to explain the situation to him. I was certain that he wouldn't understand, that everything only looked weird to people at school because they didn't know the Cullens that well. They were such decent people, so kind and generous, but that wouldn't win him over. Jake was visibly uncomfortable just hearing their name. The overwhelming level of attention and affection had everyone fooled, and it nearly had me fooled as well, almost enough to make me forget the real reason I was doing this.

As the saying goes, the longer you wait to do something, the harder it becomes. What I didn't know was that the longer I waited, the more likely it was that he would hear it from someone else, and that's exactly what happened.

Things became dead silent on his end. Our game of voicemail tag stopped, and I started to see him eyeing me coldly in the parking lot after school. Now it felt like he was actively avoiding me. The weather was terrible, with rain falling heavily on the town from morning to night. I managed to wrestle the afternoon away from Edward, telling him that I was swamped with applications and an English paper and I would just go straight home to work. Instead, I braved the downpour to find Jacob, who I knew would be home by now. I pulled into his driveway, and I could see him standing behind the threshold of the open garage door, staring intently at the Volvo.

I was completely unprepared for rain like this, and the best I could do was pull my second hoodie over my head and make a mad dash through the puddles. He was right: the duct tape did nothing to keep water out of the bottom of my shoes.

"Wow, look who finally found the time," he scoffed, turning away from me and sauntering back to where he'd been working.

"Jake, I'm sorry," I stammered, having no excuse handy that wouldn't sound like complete bullshit. "There's just been so much lately with school and college applications-"

"-And Cullen?," he snapped. "Don't worry about it, Princess."

"Come on, don't be like that."

"Like what, Bella? Get real."

He crouched down and started picking up the tools that were scattered on the dusty floor. I couldn't see his face, but his knuckles were white around the fistful he'd already gathered. I could feel my heart slowly sinking into my stomach. Seeing him so upset, and knowing that I had caused it, was making me sick.

"I mean, really? Edward Cullen, of all people? And you didn't even bother to tell me."

"I didn't know you would take it so well," I replied more sharply than I'd intended. "My mistake."

"How the hell would I take it any other way? The whole fucking family is a nightmare. I never thought you could be stupid enough to buy into their charade."

That felt like a punch to the gut. Jacob never talked like this, especially not to me. I wanted to know who this person was and what he did with Jake.

"I can't believe you!" I snapped, my hurt quickly turning to anger. "The Cullens are good people! They've been nothing but kind and welcoming to me. You don't know them like I do."

He shot up and threw his wrench to the ground with a clatter.

"The Cullens are stuck-up racist assholes who have been trying to keep the tribe from having any say in what goes on. His little brat sister has already started running her mouth to everyone. She's telling people Sam and the guys are selling drugs."

Alice was a sweetheart. I'd never heard her say anything like that about someone. It could have been anyone, even other Quileute kids. He couldn't actually know who was spreading it.

"Alice would never do that!"

"Oh yeah?" he spat. "Why don't you go ask your new bestie about it then?"

He shook his head in disgust.

"Do you honestly believe them? They aren't doing any of this because they like you. They want something out of you, just like Cullen. He doesn't love you; he thinks you'll help him get elected prom king and his dad thinks cozying up to the police chief's daughter will help him get away with shit."

Of course Edward loved me. He'd never been anything but thoughtful and romantic. Maybe it was a little too much, but he seemed so devoted.

"And what the hell would you know about that, Jake?"

"He's fake, Bella! How can you not see that? It's all an act. There's nothing real about him. He's using you and you're too busy enjoying the perks of being some rich asshole's girlfriend to see it."

"Oh, so he couldn't possibly love me that much, is that it? Why would anyone ever pay that much attention to plain Bella Swan? They must be up to something!"

"That's not what I said!" he growled. He was shaking, his eyes blazing with anger.

"You might as well have! You're acting like me having a boyfriend is some kind of grand conspiracy to destroy Forks."

"It's not about you having a boyf-" He stopped, almost wincing at the word. "It's about who!"

"Well, we're past the point where I'd give you any say in the matter." Oops.

He cocked his head. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Nothing," I replied, sensing unwelcome thoughts trying to claw their way to the surface again. I thought I'd gotten rid of those. Better change the subject.

"And what's wrong with having money, anyways? They've been helping me and Charlie out a lot. I'm getting to do all these things I never thought I could in a million years. They want to help me get into Dartmouth, for Christ's sake! "

He stalked towards me, and for the first time in my life, I was almost scared of him.

"Are you hearing yourself right now? You sound like my sister! So that's your price, huh? All it took for you to sell your soul? You know, for someone who's getting so much money thrown at you, you're pretty fucking cheap."

I could feel tears stinging my eyes as he spat it all out. I was furious, but so desperately sad. I never wanted any of this. In the beginning I had hoped he would be happy for me. I never thought he would try to make me feel guilty for letting someone love me. I couldn't deal with this anymore. I had been rendered completely speechless. I could feel myself crumbling under the weight of his insults and accusations, as if my heart was going to cave in and kill me right then and there.

"I don't need you to jerk me around anymore, Bella. Go find your prince and leave me alone."

That's when I turned tail and ran out of his garage, letting the rain soak me through completely. I didn't care anymore. At least nobody would be able to see my tears. I cranked up the heat in the car to stave off the shivering. It was bad enough that I was driving with impaired vision and clouded judgement; I didn't need to add unsteady hands to the mix. I completely spaced out, to the point that my body took over driving while my mind was asleep. Every part of me had started shutting down.

I pulled into my driveway to find Edward pacing back and forth on my porch. I didn't know what he was doing here, and I wasn't entirely sure if he should go or if I never wanted him to leave. The car door slammed, and I drug myself through the mud to meet him, no longer able to feel the icy rain on my skin. He looked upset, and I couldn't tell if he was angry or just worried.

"Bella, where have you been?"

"It doesn't matter," I said flatly, looking up at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I knew you weren't really going to do homework. You're a bad liar, so I came to check on you, and it's a good thing I did."

I didn't answer. He looked over at the car, which had mud splattered all over the bottom half.

"Bella, you shouldn't be driving in this weather. It's not safe, and neither is staying in these wet clothes. Come inside."

He ushered me through the front door, grabbing a throw blanket from off the couch and wrapping me up like the victim of a car crash. I dropped onto the couch like a rock. Edward sat beside me, reaching his arm around my shoulder and searching my face for clues.

"My love, please, you're scaring me. Tell me what happened. I can't bear to see you like this."

I had no words, just the hole that Jake had punched through my chest. I never understood just how much he held me up until he let go.

My face began to contort into a wretched grimace of anguish, and I let out a breathy wail that bounced off the walls of the house. If my dad were here, this was the point where he would have burst into the room brandishing his shotgun. Tears came pouring out as heavy as the rain as I howled into my hands.

"Was it Jacob?"

I sucked in a heavy breath, trying to calm myself for even just a moment to respond. I simply nodded.

"Oh, darling," he sighed, wrapping both arms around me.

"It's all my fault," I gasped.

"No, love, no. I knew something wasn't right."

"I can't.."

"Bella," he cooed, brushing a lock of my soaked hair out of my face. "None of this is your fault. There's something going on with those kids from the reservation. Your father passed me on the porch when he left for work. He told me that he'd been there a lot lately."

I finally looked into his eyes, scared to hear what he might say next.

"There's been a lot of activity down there, a lot of fights. A kid ended up with a concussion and two broken ribs, but he wouldn't give up who did it do him. None of them will."

"He wouldn't," I choked.

He paused, letting me soak it all in.

"My heart breaks for you, but the reservation isn't safe for you, my love," he said softly, stroking my face. "There's something going on there. Those kids aren't who who you think they are."

I wept, so confused and exhausted by what had transpired in the last hour. I had lost the best friend I'd ever had.

"Shhh," he whispered. "It's all going to be alright. You will always have me, no matter what."

A/N: Thanks for reading! I didn't like writing this chapter because hate seeing Jake so unhappy, but he's going to be okay :)

Please leave a review and let me know what you think!