The Last Summer


8. Truth

Bella sat on a wooden stool at Jacob's kitchen island drinking hot coffee, her hands still trembling. He had been gone for almost two hours and the bundle of nerves in her stomach was beginning to make her nauseous. She looked around, taking in his apartment.

It was decorated with simple furnishings but had a certain charm to it. Most of everything looked old and worn but was cozy none the less. A Scruffy grey couch, a wooden dining room set with the legs of the chairs and table chewed from the previous owners dog, two lamps that lit the living room up in a soft glow, and a faded dusty rose rug with the frayed ends.

The kitchen had lights that hung down from the ceiling by black cords, giving it a more modern look. The sandy brown wooden counters and island looked handcrafted, and the refrigerator was a metallic silver with a greasy hand print on the door handle.

She pressed her fingers to her lips and wondered just how different her life would have been if she never left Forks. Never met James. Never married James. She wondered if Jacob had found him...

Of course Bella knew he was going after him, she wasn't stupid. She also knew that no amount of pleading with him would have changed his mind. She may have stopped him from doing something reckless when they were arguing in her living room almost two weeks ago, but she realized her showing up broken and bruised in the middle of night had changed everything when he spun the Rabbit's tires and flew out of the parking lot.

She had tried to go after him until she realized her had confiscated her keys, leaving her completely trapped in his apartment. James was in no condition to cause any real damage after the blow he took to his head and whatever injuries he might have gotten after putting his cruiser in the ditch. But still, the panic set in so she had prayed for the first time in five years that he would come back in one piece.

When she heard the sound of multiple cars pulling into the driveway, she nervously peeked her head through the worn curtains in the front window and saw Jacob, Sam, Leah, Quil, Embry, and Sue get out of three different cars. Bella's stomach lurched and she jumped back, looking around for an easy escape. The crash of a door echoed below her feet and she heard faint screaming between Leah and Jacob.

"Where is she?" Leah's voice was frantic and she sounded still drunk.

"You're going to send her into a panic if you go up there freaking out!" Jacob yelled back. "She's already fucked up enough. Leah- I said- don't!"

Before Bella could find a place to hide the heavy pounding of footsteps coming up the stairs froze her where she stood and her step sister came charging through the door first, Jacob right behind her.

"Fuck!" Leah cried out as she grabbed Bella into a bone crushing embrace, her body shaking as she sobbed. She was wearing a plaid shirt that was damp from the rain. "Why didn't you tell me that prick was hitting you?"

Bella wrapped her arms around her - ignoring the pain - and tried her best not to cry. She was so tired of crying. "I'm sorry, Leah. I was- I was afraid."

She looked up from Leah's shoulder to see Jacob leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed against his rain soaked hoodie. He looked back at her, but she couldn't read his face. He was too good at masking his expression. Sue gracefully stepped past him and into the living room, she looked haggard from crying and wrapped her arms around Bella from behind, sandwiching her between herself and Leah.

"Oh, my girls." Sue said as she cried silent tears. "Bella, honey. We've got you."

Sam came up next, followed by Quil and Embry. He stood next to Jacob - a concerned look on his face - while Embry immediately joined in on the hug, causing Leah to snort. Quil went to the refrigerator and pulled out some bottles of beer, snapping the tops off and handing them out. Bella took hers graciously after everybody let go of her and took a big gulp.

"What happened?" She finally asked, after Leah had stopped crying and Sue had wiped her face.

"He's gone." Jacob's brow was furrowed. "We looked everywhere."

"What do you mean, gone?" Bella asked incredulously.

"We went to your house," Jacob took a swig of beer when his voice broke. "It was trashed."

"He wasn't there so we drove all through Forks." Sam finished for him. "We found no trace of him."

"Cock sucker." Leah seethed.

Sue frowned at her and turned to face Bella. "Sweetie, I know this is hard for you, but you have to report this to the police."

"I can't," Bella said hopelessly. "He is the police."

Quil tossed a bottle cap into the sink, causing Bella to jump. He looked sheepishly at her. "True, but you can't let that dick get away with this."

Embry put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "He's gone for now, Bella, but he could come back. If you don't report him he could do it again."

"I wont let that happen." Jacob growled. "He won't ever touch her again."

His vow to protect her filled Bella's stomach with butterflies and she inhaled sharply. "I just want him to be gone." She said, not meeting his eyes.

"Then we'll call Cullen and get him down here." Leah said standing up. "I still have his number in my cell."

"No!" Bella yelled, clutching her chest. "I can't."

"Yes. You can and you will." Leah looked down at her darkly, wiping her eyes before the tears ran again. "You have no choice here. Not anymore."

Bella looked up at Jacob for his opinion. He stared back at her for a few seconds, his face twisted in a mixture anger and pain. He nodded his head at her. "How do you think Charlie would feel, knowing his daughter's husband who beat the shit out of her works at his police station?"

She balled her hands into fists and stood up quickly, the pain in her stomach and leg pulsing. "Don't you dare bring Charlie into this, Jake." She glared.

"Too late." He said simply, the mask back in place.

Sue sighed and took Bella's hand in hers and stood in front of her. "Your dad would have been destroyed by this, Bella. Jacob is right."

Bella sunk down on the couch and stared at the wall for what seemed like forever, choosing not to look at anybody. Instead she sadly looked at a framed picture she hadn't noticed before, under the tv stand. It was her, Jacob, and Charlie at a baseball game in Port Angeles. She took a deep breath and nodded her head. "Alright." She said softly. "Call Edward Cullen."


Edward Cullen had been a detective for a little over a year - a promotion he gratefully accepted from Chief Charlie Swan - but he had been a police officer for four years prior to that, and so when he got the call from Leah Clearwater that Bella Witherdale was ready to talk about her husband, the golden boy from Seattle, he was prepared for what he was about to walk into when he pulled his cruiser into the driveway of the house her late father left her.

A house that had been ransacked: pictures ripped off the walls, shards of glass scattered on the floor, a bloody lamp in the doorway, furniture toppled over and broken, and the remains of a steak dinner that had been thrown across the kitchen.

A young woman with injuries: the left side of her face was turning purple, her eye was completely swollen shut, she had a scrape on her arm from something sharp, and she kept a hand clutched against her stomach as she sat with a lean, keeping the weight off her left leg.

But what Detective Cullen was not prepared for was the swarm of people that were crowded inside and outside Bella's house.

Outside there were three men, one sat on the step drinking a bottle of beer. The other two stood in the driveway, watching Edward with cautious expressions until he got out of the cruiser and they nodded their approval to him. Inside, an older woman was sweeping glass into a dust pan that was behind held by an older man in a wheelchair. Two other younger men sat in the living room - one on the rocking chair and one on the couch - next to Bella, who sat with a woman he guessed was Leah Clearwater. When Edward ducked his head into the living room another man came from the kitchen and offered him a beer. The man on the couch next to Bella snorted.

"No, thank you." He politely shook his head.

"He's on duty, Quil." The man in the wheelchair said, turning around. "Billy Black. That's my son, Jacob." He pointed to the man on the couch, who nodded at him.

"You're here to help?" Jacob Black asked, narrowing his eyes as cautious as his friends outside.

Edward nodded to him and then to Bella. "Yes, I am. His brow furrowed quizzically at the entourage of people surrounded by her. "You've got quite a support system here, Bella."

Bella nodded. "I do, yes. This is my family."

Edward smiled and pulled out a notepad. "With a lot of domestic violence cases, the victim is usually isolated and feels they have nobody on their side. I'm glad so many people are here for you." He looked to Leah. "You did a good thing calling me the first time. You could have saved your sisters life, had she not felt the support she needed she may not have reached out this time."

He let that sink in while he dug out a pen from his pocket. Then turned back to face Bella. "Are you ready to begin?"

Jacob and Leah took each of her hands in theirs until she relaxed and nodded, taking a deep breath.

"Alright," Edward said, his long fingers holding the pen steady in his hand. "Let's start from the beginning."