Quiet Rage: Busted

Edward's POV –

I positioned myself so that I would go unnoticed in the shadows as I waited for the endless school day to come to a close finally. I was restless and found myself pacing when normally being still would have been easier. I was pulled back to the time when I first met Bella and had to fight my thirsty urges and then my ultimate defeat in not being able to stay away from her. All those memories surfaced again thinking, wishing that I had been stronger then, wishing I had not been so selfish and had just left Forks and Bella to have a life that I wasn't a part of.

My eyes rested on her old red Chevy truck pretty much parked where she always did. I smiled at the familiarity of it all and longing for those days that had since passed. The days between rescuing her in Port Angeles and when James and the others arrived shattering the life I allowed myself to believe that Bella and I could have together.

Off in the distance I heard the final bell ring ending the day and watched from my hidden perch as the school emptied quickly. I searched the crowds for Bella and the thoughts of those around for any sign of her. All were silent except of course for those of Mike Newton and Jessica Stanley. Not that that surprised me all that much.

'i can't believe he just left. i'd bet he's around here somewhere. i still think she should get an annulment.' I heard Jessica's mind ramble.

Annulment? I thought. Had that been on Bella's mind? Did she want or was she even thinking of such a thing. Again I felt a growl grow in my throat frustrated that I couldn't read her mind.

'i thought for sure Jacob would be here. i can't believe he's not keeping a closer eye on his wife. i know i would be if Cullen was back,'

Mike's emphasis on the word wife cut through my stone facade. I didn't want to think of Bella as anyone's wife but mine. It was then that I caught sight of the object of my affection walking from the building completely alone. It wasn't hard to miss her deliberate glance to where my family's cars once used to sit. I almost thought I saw a sad frown cross her lips when she found them vacant. Did I dare hope that she missed me?

I watched Bella make her way across the parking lot trying to hold myself steady when she momentarily stumbled while she dug through her bag. I could have been to her in a fraction of a second yet my warring emotions held me fixed in place. Suddenly my mind was filled with visions of such a similar moment in time. There Bella stood again as she had that icy afternoon when she was nearly crushed by Tyler's van; the day that everything including my resolve changed. But there were no icy conditions today, no van screeching across the lot out of control, no reason for me to rush to her side, no reason except that I wanted to feel her warm body and the way it fit so perfectly against my own.

All of the sudden I was even more torn than I ever thought possible. A week ago I should have gotten in my car and driven away from Forks, the minute that I heard the pronouncement "Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Black", maybe I shouldn't have ever returned in the first place. But now that I was here the idea of leaving, leaving without Bella wasn't fathomable.

The parking lot congestion began to thin and I still stood in the shadows like a peeping tom watching Bella as she sat in the cab of her truck as if she was contemplating something. Oh how I wished I could hear her thoughts. Was she thinking about me as much as I was about her or was she thinking about Jacob and the life she now had with him? I wouldn't allow myself to even consider the second option. I couldn't, wouldn't permit that notion to seep into my head.

I heard the loud rumble of the old truck's engine when Bella turned the key in the ignition. I looked on as she began backing out into the line of traffic exiting the school lot. Again I was inundated with memories of another line of traffic months and months ago. Bella's distraught face as Tyler approached her asking her if she would ask him to the girl's choice dance. I could see her angry expression so clearly as she glared at me through her windshield for blocking her escape…even if at the time she hadn't known that's what I was doing.

As I was letting myself get lost in my precious memories, Bella's truck was inching farther way from me. Quickly, I sprinted to where I had parked my Volvo and then started my discreet pursuit of her. It was odd to feel the apprehension that filled me at the thought of actually stopping her and talking to her. It was more of a human emotion, more like those thoughts that I had heard in the mind's of all the high school boys over the years – does she like me, doesn't she like me, will she go out with me – I had thought I was passed such mundane thoughts. Apparently when it came to Bella I was not.

I easily kept several car lengths between myself and Bella's old Chevy as it chugged through the streets of Forks. At one point I almost thought she caught on to my chase so I slowed my pace allowing a few more cars to insert themselves between us. It was when she rounded the corner that I saw the red and blue flashing lights behind me and Charlie's smug sneer in my rearview mirror. I pulled over to the side of the street and waited.

"Chief Swan," I said as the glass separating Charlie and I disappeared. "What seems to be the problem?" 'you're the problem,' I heard him think.

"License and registration," I was still baffled as I handed over the required small pieces of plastic. "Your registration is expired, Mr. Cullen. Get out of the car." Charlie's voice was professional but the thoughts I could read were anything but.

'if he thinks i am going to let you waltz back into town and mess with my daughter again…she's finally in a good place and Jacob loves her…' That last thought made me desperately wish that I could tune Charlie out. 'he's never going to get close enough to hurt her again…not if i have anything to do with it'

I clenched my fists to my sides clearly being able to read the images in Charlie's mind. I saw the first months of my departure and how Bella laid on her bed in a ball barely eating and rarely speaking. The picture of Bella just going through the motions of her life for months on end tore me to pieces yet those reflections were a mirror image of me during that same time.

"I need a tow truck," I watched Charlie say into the two-way radio clipped to his shoulder strap.

'Tow truck,' I thought.

"Yeah, it looks like we have ourselves a stolen vehicle."

'Stolen vehicle!' The thoughts in my head raced. Charlie Swan was planning on arresting me. He was going to make good on his threat from a week before.

"Turn around," Charlie instructed me. "Hands behind your back."

"You have got to be kidding right?" I spat back at him. "You know damn well this isn't a stolen car!" I heard the growl in my voice and had a difficult time holding my lips from curling to bare my white teeth.

"I know no such thing. Would you like to add resisting arrest to the charges?" Charlie smiled as if hoping that I would.

"Fine," I returned through clenched teeth.

The metal door to the cell slammed shut behind me and I heard Charlie's soft chuckle, a sound that any human would have never heard. I paced around the four by four cell the ire growing inside of me. The racing of Charlie's thoughts were understandable, he thought that he was doing what was best for his daughter. Not to mention he wanted to prove to me that he had power over me. In the back recesses of my mind I again understood his reasoning but at the moment I cared very little about any of it.

I pressed my stone back into the cold cement block wall and watched Charlie watching me with his feet propped up on his desk self-satisfied grim consuming his lips.

'i should have done this all along. the minute Bella even mentioned him, i should have tossed his butt in jail. it would have saved us all, especially my daughter, so much heartache.'

I quickly grew tired of Charlie's thoughts. I didn't want or need a reminder of how much I had hurt Bella. "Don't I get a phone call?" I asked.

It looked like he was contemplating that thought before speaking. "Don't you even think of calling my daughter!" he ordered before springing me from my prison. I didn't relish calling Carlisle.

Bella's POV –

I glanced in my rearview mirror all of the sudden feeling like I was being followed; but nothing out of the ordinary jumped out at me. I reasoned with myself that Edward was gone; the he had left me just like before. So why was it that I felt the same familiar shiver run down my spine whenever he was close?

I thought about Jessica's comment from earlier that afternoon. She doubted that Edward had really up and left again. I wasn't as sure. There hadn't been a single sign of him since the day I Jacob and I were married. That thought, my marriage, made my stomach twist into a tight knot.

I let my truck idle while I mulled over an idea, one that I shouldn't have considered but couldn't stop myself just the same. I took the twists and turns of the road leading to the Cullen home carefully. Finally the drive opened up revealing the large expansive house. My breath hitched in my throat and my mind raced with so many memories.

The driver's door squeaked as it closed; the forest was silent around me. I stared wide-eyed at the large white house hoping beyond hope that when I walked inside I would find Edward waiting for me.

I took deliberate steps making sure that I placed my feet in such a way that I didn't find myself laying face down on the moss covered ground. I took each step that lead to the front door hesitantly almost ready to bolt in the other direction at any moment. Tentatively I rested my hand on the doorknob my brain giving my fingers the instructions they needed to know what to do next.

Inside the house was as silent as the forest it sat in. The house I remembered once as being bright, light and airy was now dark and barren. Sheets were draped over the furniture that still sat in exactly the same spots as I remembered. The only piece of furniture that stood uncovered was the piano. I was immediately drawn to it. Running my fingers over the lacquered surface, I imagined Edward sitting at the keys. I sat down on the bench closing my eyes recalling the first time he ever played my lullaby for me. Any time I was anxious or stressed Edward would hum the melody of that song, the song he wrote for me in my ear. How I longed to hear that right now. But alone I sat in the Cullen's empty house missing what I was sure I could never have again and trying to wrap my mind around what was my life now.

Jacob's POV -

I was relieved to see the space where Bella usually parked was still empty. I needed a little time to pull my thoughts together. I needed to apologize for my words that morning. I shouldn't have been surprised by her strong reaction to my telling her what to do. She was a stubborn one and I knew it. I shouldn't have said what I did or pushed so hard for what I wanted. It was just hard for me to be away from her, especially now that he was back.

I had to remember that she had her chance to run to him but she hadn't. Bella stayed with me even when he walked out of the church, out of her life once more. I closed the door to our little cottage behind me and settled in to wait for her to return home. As the hours ticked away I got antsy. It was well passed the time Bella should have arrived home.

"Charlie," I said into the receiver when the call I made finally connected. "Bella stop by to see you this afternoon?"

"No. Is something wrong?" His fatherly concern was evident in his tone.

"I don't think so. She just probably with Emily," I said trying not to further worry Charlie. "Okay thanks anyway."

I slammed down the phone with enough force that I almost thought I had crushed it. Thoughts of Bella with him bombarded me. My muscles grew rigid and trembled below my red-brown skin. I paced the small cottage trying to control the fire that grew in the pit of my stomach.

'Jake, Jake, you have to calm down man,' Sam's serene voice filtered through my head.

'she's with him!' I was sure my silent thoughts sounded like thunder in Sam's mind.

'you don't know that.'

'then why isn't she home yet? why hasn't Charlie heard from her? I continued to bellow silently still pacing the tiny space that was our home.

'could be any reason. it doesn't have to mean she's with Cullen.'

'don't say his name!' I ordered. Just then I heard the familiar sound of my father's old truck and was instantly relieved. 'she's home.'

'see i told you....'

I left Sam's thoughts in midstream throwing the door open to greet my wife. "Bella," I shouted. "I was worried about you. I am so sorry about this…" It was then that the stench burned my nose and I felt my breathing become ragged. "Where were you?" My tone was accusatory as I pulled away from her the scent of vampire was overwhelming.

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Bella walked passed me the stink stinging my nostrils again. "Bella," I shouted following her inside. "Where were you?" I slammed the door with a thundering crash.

"At school," she told me innocently. "Why?"

The fact that she stood there lying to me caused my body to shake. "Where were you Bella or better yet who were you with?" I almost didn't want to know the answer to that question.

"Jessica, Mike Newton, Angela, Tyler, Lauren…." As she continued running down the names of her classmates all but one, I paced the four corners of the room. "Is that a satisfactory enough list for you?" There was a bite to her pitch.

"Not quite!"

"I don't know what else you want me to say. Do you want me to cook or are we having dinner with Sam and Emily?"

I stood back staring at her as she spoke as though she hadn't just spent probably the day in the arms of that bloodsucker. I felt the familiar ripple crescendo through my frame. I gripped the counter leaving indentations where my long fingers were. "I want to know why you smell like him…why you STINK like that LEECH!"

I watched her freeze at my words. That was all the confirmation I needed. "Jacob, I don't know…" Bella stuttered as she did when she was nervous.

"YES YOU DO! ADMIT IT – You were with him today. ADMIT IT!" Before I could stop myself I had my hands wrapped tightly around Bella's arms. She winced in agony and if I had been thinking clearly, not thinking about him holding her, I might have seen the pain flash through her chocolate eyes. "WHY!?!" I roared pushing her hard into the wall.

"Jacob," she whispered her voice mixed with disbelief and even fear. I felt my fingers digging into her soft skin again. "You're hurting me," she cried. Part of me didn't even care what she was saying. I just wanted to erase the smell of him from her. I wanted to shake it off or her.

Suddenly a soft knock on the window broke the tension in the room. I turned my head to see Emily Uley starring through the pane of glass horror filling her features. As if my skin had been branded, I dropped my hands from Bella's arms and shot out the door without looking back.