The rest of the week passed much as Monday had, slowly becoming routine. Bella and Edward would visit Jacob together in La Push. Together, yet the distance between them grew with each passing day. Then each night, once Bella was asleep, Edward would sneak out to visit Jacob in private. Minutes after he left, Alice and Jasper would make their entrance—Alice lying with Bella and Jasper keeping a watchful eye from his seat in the rocking chair.
When Alice could see Edward coming, she and Jasper would quickly and efficiently cover their scent before sneaking out, leaving in the opposite direction that Edward was coming from. Then Edward would silently climb back into Bella's window and lie with her until she woke up.
All parties involved felt both a thrill of excitement and a wave of shame from all the sneaking around. Edward told himself every night that he wasn't going to go to La Push this time, that he would resist the call of the Imprint. And every night he would fail in his fight and make his way back to Jacob.
Eventually, Jacob got suspicious on Bella's behalf. He remembered what Edward's "sister" Rosalie had said the night she had found them in such close quarters. "Isn't this usually the time you go sneak in through her window to watch her sleep?"
He confronted Edward as the vampire was silently crawling through his window on Saturday night.
"Bella doesn't know you keep coming here." It wasn't a question. Edward had the grace to look somewhat embarrassed.
"She wouldn't understand," he replied, sounding a little exasperated. Edward let out a heavy sigh before dropping down to sit on Jacob's bed. He had abandoned his spot in the chair on Thursday night in favor of sitting on the corner of the bed. Jacob didn't mind at all but the increased proximity was starting to drive him mental.
Edward shyly reached out to lightly touch the back of Jacob's hand, smirking slightly when he heard Jacob's sharp intake of breath at the contact. Oh no, he wasn't playing fair. Slowly, Edward's fingers started fucking caressing his hand. Edward sighed contentedly at the contact and Jacob had to hold in the whine that tried to work its way out of his throat at the sound. He almost gave in when Edward's fingers started working their way up his arm to grasp at his bicep. Almost.
"E-Edward, I enjoy spending time with you but I won't be your dirty secret. Especially a secret you're keeping from Bella. She's still my best friend." He shook off Edward's hand and crossed his arms, leveling his Imprint with a hard stare. Jacob wanted nothing more than to spend every waking moment with Edward, but he wasn't going to get caught up in a web of lies and deceit.
"I don't know what to do, Jake." Oh, that was another thing. Another totally unfair change. Edward had started calling him Jake regularly and it did ridiculous things to his heart and even more ridiculous things to the inside of his pants.
"It's simple, Edward. You either tell her that you're coming here at night, or you stop coming completely. And trust me when I say that it is no small task for me to say that. But I have to look out for her best interests as well. I can't be selfish."
Edward let out another sigh. "Alright, I'll tell her," he said, though he didn't look happy about it at all.
Back in Forks, Bella was having a mini-crisis. She wasn't sure where all these new feelings were coming from, but they were making her crazy and confused.
Spending the night in Alice's arms had been comforting at first—sisterly, as it should be. However, Bella was quickly discovering that such proximity was starting to cause feelings that were anything but sisterly.
Her nights with Alice and Jasper in her room were beginning to feel borderline erotic. Jasper stayed in the rocking chair as Alice held her but his detached observation as he watched his wife lying in bed with her only increased the somewhat voyeuristic feel of it all. Despite the coolness of Alice's skin, her arms around Bella made her feel feverish, needy almost. To her extreme embarrassment, she had been found out pretty early on. The first time it happened, the arousal pooling between Bella's legs caused Alice and Jasper to freeze, sniffing at the air. Of course they can smell it, Bella thought miserably, her face fire engine red from humiliation. She had tried to pull away, but Alice's grip held strong, not allowing her to move an inch. Bella didn't know what to make of that. Nor did she know what to make of the look on Jasper's face when she locked eyes with him. If he hadn't been feeding so regularly, she would have said that he looked almost hungry. Hungry for what, she wasn't sure.
So it was with a staggering sense of depravity that Bella would spend every night lying in Alice's arms, feeling herself getting aroused and worked up from the closeness while Jasper looked on intently.
Bella wasn't sure what it was all leading up to, but she got her answer on Saturday night shortly after Jasper and Alice had arrived and took their usual seats. Trying to ignore the clenching in her lower stomach, Bella attempted to fall asleep.
It wasn't until she awoke a few hours later, gasping and drenched in sweat from the wildly inappropriate dream about her two silent companions, that Bella attempted to shoo them away.
"I-I think I'm fine, guys. You don't have to stay here," she stammered, trying to squirm out of Alice's arms.
"Bella," Jasper's voice was deep, almost a growl. Rather than scaring her, it just sent another jolt of arousal through her. She had to get them out of here.
"Please. You two can't stay here," she said frantically, pushing against the impossible strength of Alice's arms. Suddenly she was hit with a wave a calm. Bella tried her best to glare at Jasper.
"You're getting yourself worked up over nothing," he defended.
"I don't care," she mumbled, unable to get free from the hold he had on her emotions.
"Just go to sleep, Bella," Jasper soothed, and Bella felt her eyelids droop. Soon she dropped off to sleep again.
Alice and Jasper looked at each other from across the room.
"I don't think I can take much more of this, Alice," he said through gritted teeth. "It's driving me crazy."
"I know," she said, voice sounding slightly strangled.
"What do we do?" he asked, getting up from the rocking chair and striding over to sit by Alice.
"There's still not much we can do," Alice responded. "She needs to make these kinds of decisions by herself."
Jasper growled lowly at that. Alice giggled.
"Bella likes it when you growl," she said quietly. Jasper smirked.
"Oh I know," he chuckled, looking over at the girl in question.
"Just be patient, love," Alice said, reaching up to cup his cheek. "Everything will fall into place soon enough."
When Bella woke up on Sunday morning, it was to the sight of Edward standing by her window. She never woke up in his arms anymore these days.
"We need to talk, Bella," he said bluntly, not moving from his spot by the window. Bella's heart stuttered. Did he know about Alice and Jasper?
"O-okay," she said, sitting up. Edward looked at her intently for a few moments before speaking.
"I've been visiting Jacob over at La Push most nights while you've been asleep," he said quickly.
Oh. Well Bella already knew that. But Edward didn't know that she knew. She opened her mouth to reply but Edward help up a hand to silence her.
"Before you say anything, I need you to know why," Bella nodded, indicating for him to continue. Edward turned and faced the window. "Jacob's Imprint affects me similarly to how it affects him, though it's not as strong. When we are apart for a prolonged period of time, things become uncomfortable…I know you don't like how much time I've been spending with him but I can see no other alternative." After he finished, he turned back around to look at her.
Bella wasn't sure how to respond. Should she pretend to act surprised? Should she confess to her own nightly visitors?
"Oh," was her intelligent response. Edward smiled slightly.
"I wish I knew what you were thinking," he said fondly.
"So…are you going to be spending the night regularly with him now?" she asked. Edward looked uncomfortable. "It's okay Edward. I understand."
Bella wanted to giggle at the way Edward's jaw dropped at that. In a flash Edward was sitting on her bed, gripping her hands to his chest.
"You're okay with this?" he asked, disbelieving. His eyes seemed to be searching hers for any hint of dishonesty. Bella chose her next words carefully.
"I don't want you to be in pain, Edward," she said softly. "If it's what you need to do, I won't stop you."
Needless to say, considering all that had been going on in the past week, Bella was very shocked when Edward pulled her into his arms and hugged her closely. Stunned, she slowly brought her own arms up to wind around his neck. Bella was suddenly reminded of her first encounters with Edward when they had met only a few years ago. The mood swings, the closeness and distance all jumbled together. And just as it had then, it was giving her whiplash. She had been so sure that Edward was slowly but surely getting away from her and running into Jacob's arms. As much as the idea still hurt, she had begun to accept it on some level. Seen it as the inevitable. But now, sitting here wrapped in Edward's arms, Bella felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe her relationship wasn't completely doomed. Maybe she would get to keep Edward after all.
The following week was almost comical in its stark contrast from the week before. Things were so different, while other things were exactly the same.
During the afternoons, Jacob would watch with warring feelings of approval and jealousy as Bella and Edward appeared more at ease with each other, more open. There was more physical affection, and there were more privately shared looks of devotion. Assured that Bella knew where Edward was spending his nights, Jacob felt somewhat at peace, glad that there were no more secrets.
At nighttime however, the world turned itself inside out to accommodate this alternate universe where boyfriends ran off to their Imprinted werewolf while girlfriends spent the night in the arms of their lover's siblings.
It was as if everyone wore masks during the day, masks that depicted the person each individual believed he or she should be. Jacob kept his distance from Edward, Alice and Jasper kept their distance from Bella, and Bella and Edward closed the distance between themselves. Everyone played their part beautifully, all under the impression that it was for the best.
But at nighttime, the masks came off. Edward hurried off to La Push to seek the sweet relief of his werewolf's presence, while Bella snuggled into the arms of her boyfriend's sister, under the intense stare of his brother.
The whole situation was so completely backwards that all involved knew that they were heading towards some big event that would change everything. Because this odd balance between easiness and deception could only go on for so long before something gave, and it was sure to be a doozy when it did.
