Chapter 7

Devilish Manners


My love, leave yourself behind.

Beat inside me, leave you blind.

My love, you have found peace.

You were searching for release.

Sia - My Love


He was my first sunrise in the morning. My softest sunset in the evening. My brightest constellation at night. He was the universe that breathed life into me. Everything revolved around him or the idea of him.

My love.

There was nothing more selfless. Nothing in the whole of this universe compared to the rest of my life with him. He was so heartbreakingly beautiful. His actions screamed a thousand different things, and his words made my love that much clearer. No break in time or space could force me to see otherwise. The life I knew was with him.

In all seriousness, I was avoiding this uber dramatic realization to myself for a while now. There were so many signs but I ignored all of them because I thought differently. I figured I was rebounding and didn't want him to get hurt because I was too selfish to cope alone. But the months have passed and time doesn't lie. I still feel the same circling butterflies in my stomach every time I see him approach me, and it still feels like the air around me gets sucked into a vacuum when he's standing too close. These recurring emotions should be sign enough that something extraordinary is happening to me.

"Bella?"

I pictured a field of scarlet pimpernels around me just as the daydream vanished at the call of my name. "Hmm?" I replied in a daze.

"Are you okay?"

I turned around to face him and as soon as my eyes met his, those butterflies began to flutter incessantly for the millionth time. Stupid butterflies, I thought annoyingly. "I-I'm alright," I said as I physically shook the thoughts out of my head like some crazy person. I smiled halfheartedly as I starred at him and committed everything to memory. This is what I saw at that very moment...

He wore a charcoal v-neck that fitted him just right - it was neither too tight nor too loose. So much so that I couldn't tear my eyes away from how this simple shirt was hugging his 6"2 frame so wonderfully. Now, while I know that this hormonal imbalance of mine was getting out of hand and slightly ridiculous, what else is a girl to do? Anyway, my eyes trailed the seamless lines of his upper body and the way this v-neck seemed to emphasize all of the right areas, from his chest to his biceps to his forearms to his hands to his fingers. His skin was the most beguiling shade of chamoisee I had ever seen, as smooth as silk without any imperfections. Ever since he was forced to cut his hair, he's been a little more self conscious and has been styling it whenever he can, especially when he sees me (I've noticed this more times that I would like to). So he's got this effortlessly structured mess of hair cropped close and it highlights his boyishness in the midst of all of his masculine features. Of course, I could never forget his eyes, a deep and alluring shade of chestnut that whenever he looks at me and asks for a favor, I would absentmindedly accept without resistance (a mildly dangerous effect to experience at certain times). And for the hundredth time, I came to the irrevocable conclusion that Jacob Black was effortlessly gorgeous. He wasn't the Jacob I remember meeting a year and a half ago, a lanky and immature teenager who couldn't stop mumbling or get himself into trouble. The Jacob that sat across from me right now was tall, chiseled, dark, gentlemanly and handsome, and he knew all of the right words to say because he never panicked or let his temper get out of control. He was a man's man and despite whatever selfishness others might have seen in him in the past, I inherently knew that his heart was always in the right place.

"Bella?" Jacob said a second time as I snapped out of my reverie and looked at him for real this time. He was laughing. "You're looking at me like I'm your favorite Italian meal."

A blush worked its way up to my cheeks. "Sorry," I said, defeated, "I was just thinking about something."

"Right," he said, his brow arched upward, skeptical. He grinned as he kept his eyes on me. Despite my lack of brain activity at the moment, I still had enough thought to figure that he was amused by all of this.

"You're," I began, pausing abruptly as I looked at him, my words tangled and lost inside my head.

"I'm what, Bella?" He egged on, his handsome grin getting wider and wider.

"I'm not going to say it," I sighed, shaking my head in disapproval.

"Why not?" He asked in his husky voice as he scooted in closer until our knees were touching. I felt his fingers trace the length of my arms as he then worked his way down to my hands where he tangled our fingers together. His elbows rested on his knees and he bent lower so that his eyes were level with mine and as I looked at him, I was gone. He did that thing where he arched his beautiful eyebrows up into a pleading grin and at that point, whatever self control I had was lost. Rather than answering him, I leaned in for a kiss.

I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him in. When our lips touched, I could feel an electric current run through my body as our kiss deepened with rising intensity. I moved closer up until I had the opportunity to wrap my legs around him and he complimented the move by pulling me in. The world fell away as I closed my eyes and locked myself in this moment when I was closest with Jacob, where his long arms wrapped around me so secure and protective. He smelled like a mix of his aftershave and the woody forest, and the intoxication became even stronger as the seconds ticked by. My arms untangled themselves from his neck and found their way down to his torso where I tugged on the cotton of his shirt as my lips were still entwined with his. I continued to tug, beckoning for him to cooperate and remove his shirt but he refused. As I tugged even harder this time, one stitch away from ripping his shirt off altogether, I heard people laughing close by. I jolted and tore myself away from Jacob in a matter of seconds, horrified as I looked around for the source of the sound.

"Don't let us stop you," I heard a familiar voice say. I looked to my right and saw Paul and Leah standing on Jacob's porch. A grin was plastered across Paul's face while Leah had a hand over her mouth, giggling. I felt the most extreme heat work its way to my cheeks and despite how cold it was outside, I'm sure my reaction was noticeable from a mile away. I looked at Jacob and he was smiling, more at my reaction than what just happened. I was apparently alone in my shame.

"I should go," I said, more to myself than to everyone else that was watching me at the moment. I shook my head, smiled, and then sighed in regards to my pathetic sense of judgment when it came to making out with Jacob at all the wrong times and in all the wrong places.

"You should stay," Jacob said. "We're having dinner at Sam's and Emily wanted to see you."

"Stay, Bella," Leah insisted, "and don't let us interrupt your makeout session the next time around." A smile had spread wide across her lovely face. Paul laughed mockingly as he stood there in silence.

I nodded with a smile. "Can we grab dessert for Emily and Sam?" I asked as I looked over at Jacob. He nodded and stood up, holding a hand out to me. I took it and raised myself up and we headed for his car.

"You guys coming?" Jacob hollered at the two that were still standing on the porch. Seconds later, the four of us piled into his car and headed for a nearby bakery.


It was twilight outside, a couple of hours after the sunset. The sky was beginning to turn into a bluish purple, draping everything in darkness. About five miles out, there was a bakery that was owned by a woman named Marci who belonged to the Quileute tribe. Her bakery was a homely place with all of the right lighting and all of the best pastries for any occasion. She was a woman of many talents, both in baking and in business. People from all parts of town made a point to drive the distance to come down here and pick up their pastries. Her treats were that good. Naturally, I was not immune to Marci's delicious works of art.

We spent roughly 15 minutes in the bakery, Marci chatting with Paul and Jacob, giving them tidbits of useful gossip about the town and the reservation. Nothing could get past Marci, she was always the first person to know whenever something was happening in town. Leah and I stood back and waited for our order, since Marci insisted that she had a new batch of cream puffs coming out of the oven in a few minutes. The shop was empty, save the elderly couple that sat by the window, sipping their coffee and talking quietly. I looked around the place and out into the darkness where our car was parked. I saw a flash of something I couldn't make out from where I was standing, so I took a step forward until I stood in front of the entrance. I peered outside and saw that same flickering flash of light again. It was dim at first but when I concentrated and stared at that spot, I could see that something was there.

"Leah," I said as I waved my arm and beckoned for her to come stand beside me. "Do you see that?"

"What am I looking at?" Leah said as she peered out into the darkness.

"You don't see that flickering light? It's a reddish brown light and it keeps flickering in and out."

"I don't see anything," she said, "but Marci should really consider putting a lamp post out there, it gets to be pretty dark at this time of day." Before she could finish that thought, I opened the door and ran outside. "Bella!" I heard her call after me.

"Give me one second!" I yelled as I turned around to see if she had stepped out. As I turned back toward the darkness, I ran straight into what I could've sworn to be a huge rock and I felt my arm give way to a bruise. "Ouch!" I cried as the pain hit me. A second later, the realization that some thing had taken hold of both of my arms had set in and I fell silent. I looked up and saw the same flickering light I had seen from back in the bakery and realized that it belonged to the eyes of the figure that I had just run into. I didn't have the heart to scream because I was panicking and shock began to set in.

"Shhhhhh," the figure said. "Make a sound and I'll break your other arm." I felt cold fingers trail the length of my arms as they made their way down my backside and pulled me in close. "That's a good girl," the voice said.

Why did this voice sound so familiar? I couldn't see a single thing in this darkness, except for those eyes, their color a more concentrated reddish brown as I stood inches away from them. "W-who are you?" I said in a shaky whisper, fear creeping in from all sides.

"You know who I am," the voice said as it drew closer to my face and whispered into my ear. All I heard was the sound of his breath getting steeper as his hands continued to explore the length of my body. I somehow knew that if I tried to fight back or resist, I would've been paralyzed in some way. I closed my eyes as tears made their way down my face and I tried to concentrate on anything else but what was happening now. There were too many things happening at once that my thoughts had flatlined and I blanked out. After what seemed like a lifetime, I heard the distant voice of Leah.

"BELLA?" She yelled. "BELLA, WHERE ARE YOU?"

I could hear her footsteps getting closer and I let out a gasp before he threw a hand over my mouth and prevented me from saying anything. "I will hurt you if you let out a sound," he said. "Not a word." I felt his fingers burn into the bruise that was already forming on my injured arm as he made his statement clear.

"BELLA!" I heard Jacob yell a few feet away. "BELLA, DO YOU HEAR ME?"

They were all so close. The only person who's voice I didn't hear was Paul's and just as this thought ran through my mind, I felt the pressure release from my arm. Within the blur of a few seconds in this biting darkness, I was released and everything seemed to be happening simultaneously at the same moment. First, I heard the menacing growl of a wolf standing beside me. I then heard some sort of scuffle and the person that was holding onto me a moment earlier had now vanished, there was no trace of him anywhere. Then I heard myself fall to the ground with a thud and the pain of my arm becoming more acute as I landed right on it. I screamed in pain and then everyone seemed to tower over me as I was dragged out of the darkness and into the clearing of the parking lot.

"Bella!" Jacob yelled as he carried me in his arms and looked me over to see the damage. "Are you hurt? Let me see your arm."

"I-I don't know," I said, shaking. There was still so much going on that I didn't know where to begin.

"Bella, you need to tell us what happened," Leah said as she opened the door to Marci's bakery and we all went inside. Jacob lowered me into a chair and kneeled down beside me to look at my arm more closely.

"Paul," I said wearily as I looked around, "where's Paul?"

"He's coming in right now," Jacob said, his face laced with anger and worry and a thousand other things. Just as I looked at him, I heard the door bell ring as Paul walked in with nothing but his cut-offs on. He kneeled down beside Jacob to check out my arm.

"It was one of them," he said quietly as his eyes darted from Jacob to Leah. "He took off before I could get a bite in." There was an ominous silence that followed his words. I noticed that Jacob looked around the shop to make sure it was completely empty. Marci was busy putting on a pot of tea in the back and making sure she had all of the doors to the shop locked since it was closing hour.

"They're not even supposed to be on this side of town," Leah said. "Bella, what happened?"

"He threatened me," I said as I took a deep breath to cease the pain momentarily. "He said that if I made a sound, he would hurt me." I paused, took another breath, and continued. "He had his hands all over me and I could hear his breathing getting steeper, I'm not sure what he would've done if Paul hadn't gotten there when he did."

"That son of a bitch," Jacob said. "Do you remember what he looked like?" He wrapped his hands around my fingers and held them tight, hoping to squeeze the pain out and get me as close to comfort as possible. He was so angry and worried that he didn't know what to do with himself.

Just as I was about to tell Jacob to relax, a horrific realization had dawned on me. Everything was coming back to me now. Every syllable, every movement, every scent. My attacker was someone I knew well. And there was a very subtle Southern twang to that menacing voice that made him all the more alluring and controlling. My giving up on resisting him wasn't exactly a coincidence either, there had to have been something controlling my emotions.

"Bella?" Paul said, "Bella, what's wrong?"

"I know who it is," I said in a whisper as my gaze fell to the ground. "The person who attacked me was Jasper Hale."


Author's Note:

Jacob Black is gorgeous and I figured I'd clarify that. Of course, we all have our own versions of Jacob and mine happens to fall in line with a certain actor who, in my opinion, would've been wonderful as Jacob. Anyway, all the skeeving aside, I hope you liked this chapter. And Jasper Hale? WHAT? We'll just have to see what happens in the upcoming chapters!

Again, thank you for all of your support, whether it is through reviews and/or messages. This story continues onward because of its readers. Your response is always welcome and appreciated. Also, I'm sorry for having these chapters written/published so slowly. I've got a lot going on both personally and professionally but I'll try to make it more consistent. Just stay with me!