chapter 7

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and pre-reading.

Seth was worried. Leah had come home and stayed the night on the couch. Her bed had been moved from her room out to her and Bella's new place so it was the couch or the floor.

She was really agitated and nervous about something. He thought maybe they had a fight, but Leah wasn't saying anything. And he wasn't asking. This was Leah; bite your head off was not a metaphor for her.

Quil was on patrol. He swung past Bella and Leah's place just in case they were having sex with the curtains open. A guy could dream, right? He knew it was the middle of the night and Bella would not be doing any laundry. Worst luck!

He was hopeful when he saw the lights on, but the curtains were closed, dammit. And then he was sure that he heard Paul's voice. That was weird. What was he doing there?

Jake had bitten the bullet and had finally agreed to go on a double date with Embry.

Bella Swan hadn't wanted his heart or his body. He had finally realized that. He wasn't the type to be bitter about it. He had tried; literally with his whole heart.

Embry said he had the right girl for Jake all lined up. Jake was half aware that he was so hopeless with women that he needed his friends to get dates for him. It was embarrassing. He was waiting In the diner. Embry had gone to collect the girls.

Lily, her name was.

Sounded old fashioned.

He heard Embry coming and tried not to react until he could have humanly heard him. He glanced towards the door when it opened.

The first person through was a very tall girl. She must have been five ten, maybe more. She had short dark cropped hair, one side of which was dyed bright purple. Her exposed ear was pierced multiple times. His eyes traveled lower. She was what his father would have called statuesque. She was no skinny Minnie. She looked annoyed and a little fatigued; sullen, she looked sullen. Jake got the impression that her coming on this date was something she was not pleased about. He couldn't blame her, he felt the same. Embry had told him that he had to do some fast talking to get her to agree to come. Their last double date had been a disaster.

Embry pointed him out and then he rose to his feet slowly.

He watched her as he did it.

Jake thought that he would never forget the look on her face as he stood up. She had been prepared to be further annoyed, but it was as if the sun had risen. Her face changed from annoyed to frank admiration. Big boost for his ego.

He was a good four inches taller than Embry these days at six feet seven, so a girl who was under six feet looked short next to him.

She strode across the room to him. Kaity, Embry's girl followed him in.

"Hi," Jake said nervously.

"Ohmygawd, Embry, why didn't you suggest this guy, last time?"

"Not my fault, Lily," Embry argued. "Jake here, wasn't dating." Embry waved at him with one hand.

"Whoa! Really? Why not?" she asked Embry.

"Hey? Standing right here," Jake said.

"Yes, you are," she purred at him. "So why didn't you date?" she asked him.

Jake had no idea what to say or how much information to give a girl in the first five seconds of the first date (if this is what this was).

"Unrequited love," said Embry when Jake didn't answer.

"NO!" Lily grabbed his arm. "Who'd be dumb enough to turn you down?"

Jake and Embry exchanged a look. Embry's said 'na na na, I told you so.'

They finally took their places in the booth. Lily slid in next to Jake. "This has to be better than the last one," she said quietly.

"What happened at the last date?" Jake asked her.

She rolled her eyes. "Ugh," she grunted.

"He called her a giraffe," Kaity said.

"Let me guess," chuckled Jake, "He was short."

"You got it," Lily said. "And he was ugly about it. I mean, I didn't have an issue with his height, but he did. You know?"

"You called him a hyena," Kaity said from inside the menu.

"I did not. I merely suggested that giraffes trampled hyenas sometimes. With their wicked giraffe skills."

"I hear," said Jake conversationally, "That they have really long flexible tongues, too."

He realized what he had implied the second after it had come out of his mouth.

Lily burst into laughter.

Jake blushed. "I'm sorry, I can't believe I said that."

"I forgive you," she told him and patted his arm.

Lily wasn't anything like Bella Swan. She pretty much wasn't like any girl Jake had ever met. She was tall, busty, confident and funny. And Jake already liked her.

She kissed him that night and assured him that she didn't give out on the first date but that he could be certain of it on the second date. As a special treat for him. So Jake made a date with her, right then and there.

Collin and Brady were in trouble. Paul was off with his father. Sam had cut him some slack and let him off baby wolf sitting duty. With no family commitments, it was usually Paul who filled in for others; he had earned a rostered day off, or two.

Collin knew that Brady was going to blow it, some how. Brady had the biggest crush on Leah Clearwater and she was training them today.

She was beautiful, had an impressive rack, and long, shapely legs as a woman. As a wolf, she was slim, sleek and fast. And she was having sex with another girl. It was the stuff of teen boy dreams.

Collin punched him when he caught Brady staring at Leah's ass. She was lecturing them on the finer points of the pincer movement. She leaned over and drew it in the dirt for them, to demonstrate.

The only pincers Brady was imagining, were Leah's legs wrapped around his body. His pants started to tent. He let out a small whimper and that was a very bad idea, because it drew attention to it.

Getting a stiffy was an issue for the pack. It was standard behavior to just ignore it. They almost tried to pretend that others weren't naked half the time.

But today Leah was being a bitch. She seemed to know it was her influence; only girl in the pack and all.

"What did I just say, Brady?" she asked him with a wicked look on her face.

"Legs?" he guessed.

Collin winced. Wrong. And clearly a dead giveaway as to what Brady was thinking of.

Leah smacked Brady upside the head. Hard.

"Arms," she corrected.

Charlie and Sue chatted over the phone. Sue was worried that Leah had stayed the night at her place. Charlie had noted Bella's odd reaction at the store, but he didn't say anything to Sue. He was a cop; he needed all the evidence before he laid any charges.

Leah stomped home. She knew she was angry; she knew she had lost it with Brady. Paul had delayed their assignation until his dad was gone again. He wanted to do it at his place, he said, when she argued they could do it anywhere.

She just wanted it done. It was all starting to feel like the worst idea ever.

The longer he delayed, the more she thought about it; the bigger issue it became. Bella seemed okay about Leah and Paul having sex in the forest. But Leah knew she should have told her that day that Bella got upset about it, that sleeping with Bella was Paul's price for letting her peg him and had nothing to do with Bella. Bella still thought that she had forced Leah into this and the longer Leah left it, the harder it was to tell her the truth.

She just kept imagining that once it was done, it would all go back the way it was. And then she wouldn't need to tell Bella any of it. She didn't want Bella to think that Leah was unsatisfied by her, either. That she needed more sexual experiences, that Bella couldn't provide.

Bella kept thinking of Paul. She kept remembering the night they had spent together. It was now becoming tinged with the smudged camera view of memory. It looked even better in hindsight. She kept getting almost memory flashes of it. She'd be day dreaming and her thoughts would return to there.

She also kept imagining Paul and Leah together. How would they look having sex together? She thought they were both utterly gorgeous and would look amazing both naked. God, just the thought of it made her feel hot and bothered.

Then the ugly specter of her self esteem would rise. What on earth were two such gorgeous beings doing with her in the first place?