A/N: And here we have chapter 9. As I said: labwork gives me time to work on this stuff. I will try to publish at a higher pace now, but I can't promise anything. I have a tendency of stacking up research projects, and as such I have two future projects to prepare for by reading articles (most of which I have fortunately already read). Anyway, without further ado, I hereby present chapter 9, and hope you find it a fun read. As always: I'd be delighted if you let me know what you think by leaving a review!

Warnings: drama and erotica.

Thanks to Lineia and dantemalfoy for providing comments!


Chapter 9: The Sheep in Wolves' Skin

Edward stood outside the diner and eyed the note with disbelief. How could he have forgotten about this? He had had the possibility to contact Jacob all the time! He didn't need Brad, Angela or Embry at all! All he needed was a telephone. Sadly his mobile phone with still with his parents, and going there was an absolute negative. Hurriedly he looked around, but saw no phone booth of any sort. Disappointed he gazed back at the note.

Jacob's handwriting was typically male: very hooky and scribbly, ugly even; not at all the wavy, lush font that the girls in his class usually had. Admittedly, his own handwriting wasn't any better than Jacob's, and his parents had tried to correct it by making him practice on Sunday afternoons when he was about nine years old. They would seat him at the dining table, and would tell him to copy one or more pages out of a book. When he'd finish, they'd check his work, and if it was readable enough, he was free to go play or something of the kind.

Edward sighed as he remembered those times. He stood outside, in front of the diner's door, the crumpled little note still in his hands as he gazed forward absent-mindedly. Suddenly he was yanked back to the present when it occurred to him that the diner might have a phone!

With a firm tug he re-opened the diner's door and rushed inside. Some of the customers looked up with a perplexed glint in their eye when they saw the boy come in that had left only a minute ago. Edward didn't notice them; he was only interested in finding the waitress. He spotted her at the other side of the restaurant, walking around with a coffeepot, offering people refills.

Pacing in her direction, Edward clenched the fist that held the note. His face was tight with tension when he patted the waitress's back. She turned around, surprised to see this boy stare her in the eyes with a look of such urgency.

"Erm, hello sir, what can I do for you?"

Edward panted a bit, but regained his breath quickly. "I need a telephone, do you have one I can use?"

The waitress nodded briefly and motioned him to come with her. Together they walked through a door into, what seemed like, a small office. A desk was fraught with all kinds of tiny papers of various colours, with scribbles on them that were hardly legible to anybody but, probably, the person that had written them. On the wall hung a board with a calendar on which several dates had been circled with red marker, and more scribbles denoted some kind of seemingly important events. Edward stared at the mess that was the office when the voice of the waitress brought him back to reality. She stood nearby a phone and held the horn in his direction.

"There you go sir, I'll leave you to it," and she exited the room hurriedly, the coffeepot still in hand. Edward had gone over to the telephone and had taken the horn of the waitress when she left.

He sat down next to the phone and briefly thought. How was he going to approach this? Would he just barge in with a proposal to meet, or would he slip a meet-up casually into the conversation? Decisions, decisions… He took the note and laid it down next to the phone. He merely looked at it for a minute before he rested his hand on the keypad of the phone, sighing. He then mustered the courage, and as his fingers danced from key to key on the music that the key presses produced, Edward felt a mix of unnerved excitement creep up from his abdominal region all the way to his head.

Finally it was going to happen: he would hear his voice again. He could already smell his musky sent; could see his glimmering hair in the light of another dusky bar. He became hard at the thought of it all while the telephone was ringing. The quiet rhythm of beeps that the phone produced felt like a mockery as they continued.

Come on then, pick the bloody phone up!

Still beeping, it seemed to continue forever. Finally the connection switched over to voicemail.

Dang it!

Edward hung up briskly by swatting the horn onto the keypad-bearing holder, and picked up again. Once again the presses were accompanied by a meagre melody, and he held the horn back at his ear. It was the quiet, beeping rhythm all over again. Edward kept waiting as the never-ending beeping went on. Finally, somebody picked up at the other end.

"Hey?" An uncertain voice answered with a questioning undertone. Edward trembled at hearing it. It sounded so close-by, but Jacob was still so far away!

"Am I talking with Jacob?" Edward inquired, his voice trembling slightly as excitement overtook him.

"Who wants to know?" The voice answered, sounding more confident this time.

"It's Edward…"

It remained silent for a short moment, after which he heard some muffled speech in the background. Edward felt how his hands started to sweat. He became warm as nervousness clenched his chest, wherein his heart pounded heavily. The prolonged silence and muffled voices didn't bode very well.

"Edward… I heard about what happened from Embry. I'm so sorry to hear what happened!"

Jacob's words sounded sincere, but Edward wasn't listening to them. One thought ringed through Edward's head: Embry is with Jacob? Is that why he left so suddenly?

Thoughts raced through Edward's mind as an avalanche of scenarios presented themselves to him. If his prior realization was true, then Embry's sudden departure to meet Jacob could mean only one thing: he was going to tell Jacob about it!

Damn, I have to get to Jacob immediately!

"Yeah, it's fine, but I could use a friend Jake. Would you mind meeting up?" Edward winced as he heard the words roll out of his mind. Since when are we friends?

"Yeah sure Ed, I can't leave right now, but we can meet soon. Where'd you wanna meet up?" Jacob's empathy-dripping voice echoed through Edward's mind, which had reached a climactic state of tense excitement. He was hugely relieved that Jacob had agreed to meet.

"I'm at that diner in the forest. I think it's called…" But Jacob interjected.

"…The Sheep in Wolves' skin, yeah, I know it. I'll be there in about 30 minutes, okay?"

"Okay Jake, I'll see you soon… and thanks." Edward answered.

"No problem Ed, it's my pleasure. See ya!" Jacob hung up. Edward did the same. He sat on the chair, and stared at the horn that he had just laid down. It was actually going to happen…. He would see Jacob again.


The next thirty minutes past by horribly slowly. Edward sat outside, on the porch of diner, waiting for Jacob's car to come rolling down the path that came down from the main road. Meanwhile Edward wondered what he was going to do or say. If Embry had indeed talked to Jacob and had professed his feelings to him, Edward might have lost already.

No, he couldn't think like that. Those thoughts were what had pushed him down to his knees previously, and it wasn't going to happen again so soon. He was given a chance; he just had to make sure not to screw it up. And besides, perhaps Jacob didn't even want Embry in the first place! He remembered Jacob's delighted though fearful grin when Edward had pounded him in his car, and then he thought of Embry's timid face. Of course Edward didn't know Embry too well, but he didn't seem like the dominant type; and the dominant type was exactly what Jacob seemed to want; nay, need.

The broken rattling of an old, rusty car disturbed Edward's thoughts. He looked up and was greeted by the sight of Jacob's car rolling down the sandy entryway. His heart flared up and a smile exposed his teeth as he stood up and lazily walked in the direction of the car hurtling down the road. He could already see Jacob sitting inside, wearing that magnificent brown leather jacket of his. He parked his car under a tree and proceeded to step out. As he turned around to greet him, Edward was already quite close. He sported a wry smile as he stepped towards the beautiful native.

"Hey Jake."

Jacob nodded as he leaned against his car, his foot placed flat against one of the tires. "Heya Ed."

Edward stopped short of Jacob, and they proceeded to just stare at each other for a moment, before Jacob pushed himself of his car, walked over to Edward and pulled him into an embrace. He then released Edward again and looked at him with a pleased smirk. "I was hoping you'd call, and frankly I was hoping you'd called already two weeks ago. Now I understand why you didn't. Are you okay?" Jacob looked Edward over slightly worriedly now. He had probably noticed that Edward had lost some weight.

Edward nodded shyly. "I think I'm doing better, but I had a rough two weeks." He drooped his head and stared at the gravel on the diner's parking lot. Jacob patted his back. "Let's go in and have a drink. I'm buying."

Jacob proceeded to turn Edward around and put an arm around his shoulders, pushing him forward gently as he started stepping in the direction of the diner. Edward felt a bit weird about it, admittedly…. For all his fantasies about dominating Jacob, the tables had turned drastically now. He felt like he was melting away in the arms of this strong native; his smell made him weak, and the look of his powerful jaws made him tremble in awe. Right now, Edward didn't want to think about domination or submission; he only wanted to think about hungrily guzzling up the warmth of his strong, muscular friend, and so he did. He leaned his head against Jacob's shoulder as they progressed towards the diner's main entrance, and he kept doing that when the little bell ringed and the door closed behind them softly. Once again he was inside the diner.

They found themselves a comfortable booth, in which they went to sit beside each other. Edward still leaned against Jacob, who looked down on Edward with a soft smile. When the waitress came by, he asked for two coffees. His voice was soft, pleasant and sympathetic. Edward revelled in its deep undertones as he felt Jacob's chest vibrate lightly as he spoke. Finally, Edward was relaxed, and his tensed-up expression curled into a dry smile. He closed his eyes, which he only re-opened when the piercing smell of coffee infused his nostrils. Two white mugs had appeared on the table.

When they both had taken a sip from their coffees, Jacob looked over at Edward. "So, tell me what happened."

Edward sighed and started his story all over again. How they had kissed – emphasizing how he had broken his one rule – and how his father had seen them. He told Jacob about the abuse and how his father had chucked him out of the house; how he nearly died later that night, but was found by Brad an Angela; how he had spent the last two weeks recuperating from the mental desolation he had been through. Throughout the story, Jacob had remained mostly silent, sometimes nodding, offering consoling words of affirmation at the events described by Edward. He stroked him on his back, listened quietly, and at the end of it all, he embraced him in a tight hug. Edward's heart melted at the strong but soft touch of the russet-coloured stud.

After a few moments, Edward pulled out of the hug, to look Jacob over. His sturdy manliness was as delicious as ever, the jaws and sternocleidomastoid muscles as expressive as the morning sun on an unclouded, summer morning. He stared into those deep, dark eyes, and then he said the words before he knew it:

"God Jacob, I want to go back to that night…."

When he realized what he had said, he immediately clamped his mouth shut and stared at Jacob as sudden bewilderment grasped him at his throat. Jacob stared back at him blankly, but after a moment, when he saw Edward's eyes widen out of embarrassment, Jacob couldn't refrain from smiling lightly. His smile soon evolved into a soft chuckle, to Edward's relief: his perplexed expression also softened up and melted down into a smirk.

"Yeah, that night was mind-blowing on so many levels," Jacob spoke, and looked at Edward mischievously. His eyes turned sad though as a frown took hold of his eyebrows. He sighed as he refocused on Edward. "I'm afraid things have gotten complicated."

Edward had been afraid of that, and even though he had prepared himself for this to happen, he couldn't do anything about the feeling of dread that crept up from his stomach and made him go slightly sick. "What's wrong, Jake?" He finally uttered.

Jacob turned to Edward to have an easier time talking to him. He loosely stared out of the window before he finally found the courage to tell Edward what happened. He could already see the first signs of angst creep into Edward's face, making it all the harder to tell him about recent events.

"Ed... You ought to know that nothing was decided yet. I'm not sure what to do, but I must be honest with you." Jacob began. Edward knew where he was headed, but he didn't break Jacob off.

"About twenty minutes before you called, Embry came by. He said that he had spoken to you just before, which, frankly, surprised me, since he used to complain about you after every night that I had spent with you at Gaya." Edward listened attentively, and wasn't surprised by the news. He let Jacob continue.

"But it didn't stay with just that, Edward…." Jacob gulped softly before he continued. "He proceeded to tell me that he is gay." At that word Jacob looked Edward straight in the eyes. Edward simply nodded in affirmation, to Jacob's surprise.

"What, you knew?"

Edward nodded again. "I guessed it the night we fucked, before we left Gaya. I asked him straight on and he was so evasive that I kind of assumed it to be true. Then he told me outright when we spoke earlier today. He seemed to be in a hell of state about it." Edward concluded, gazing at Jacob all the while. Jacob merely lifted an eyebrow at the news.

"Well, I thought he would trust me enough to talk about it with me first, but apparently… well. I guess you ought to know the full story, because it doesn't end there." Jacob contemplated his words for a while, while taking another sip of his coffee. "Embry, he…"

Edward eyed him with a feeling of dread taking hold of his stomach. "Well?"

Jacob cleared his throat. "Embry is in love with me, Edward…."

God no, it's true. Edward thought. There was only one question he could ask next: "And, do you love him back?"

Edward's voice trembled as he mumbled the words, barely finding the energy to open his mouth to pronounce them. He had guessed correctly, much to his dismay. He watched Jacob as he sighed and repositioned himself on the leather-covered bench. He seemed to be in doubt. To Edward that was a good sign, even if he felt bad for feeling that way.

"I don't really know, Ed," Jacob said. "I have known him for so long. I see him as a brother. Not once have I even considered doing anything with him, or have I thought of… loving him. It's all strange and weird to me, Ed." He had refocused his gaze on Edward's eyes briefly, before he let them go again and shifted his gaze back to the coffee mugs on the table.

Jacob still averted his eyes from Edward's face, but he tilted his head to face Edward. To him it felt like he was casually checking out his groin, though he was sure Jacob was merely glancing absent-mindedly.

"And what's more…" Jacob continued speaking, forcing Edward out of his quiet ruminations. Jacob was now piercing Edward's gaze with his eyes, which made Edward feel a little unsettled though strangely relaxed, too.

"After our night together, I'm not sure Embry is the type of guy that I'd be able to be with long-term, you know? He is very timid. I'm not sure I have the patience for that any longer." He threw Edward a knowing look, and Edward smirked in response. Yeah, he sure knew; Embry probably had no idea.

Jacob's confession came as a relief to Edward; he felt somewhat lighter now. Perhaps there was hope for him. He had constantly assumed that Jacob would go for Embry since they knew each other so well, but the tables seemed to be turning. Some of the fantasies he had had came back to mind. As he eyed Jacob, he could already smell the fresh scent of leather that came from the dog collar around Jacob's neck, the whip smacking against his ass as he held Jacob bent forward on a short leash. He felt how he grew hard at the thought, prompting him to quickly reposition himself so as to not show Jacob the unfortunate bulge in his pants. Fortunately, Jacob was staring at his coffee mug again, while fidgeting quietly with the mug's handle. It was clear he had to act; otherwise he might risk losing Jacob to Embry forever.

"So what will you do?" Edward asked timidly. Jacob didn't lift his gaze, but kept fidgeting with the coffee mug's handle.

"I don't know," Jacob answered quietly. He remained silent for a while before finally lifting his gaze and glancing back at Edward. "I mean, I like Embry, I just don't know if it can go any further than that. And then there's you…. You're looking at me with those hopeful eyes, and I just don't know what to say to you." Edward's gaze drooped down at those words.

"I'm sorry, Edward," Jacob continued. "I should probably think things through before I make any decisions."

Edward nodded and spoke a quiet "yeah" in affirmation, but the whole world could hear the disappointment in that word. His voice was shallow and he pronounced it with pain.

"I'm just confused, Ed. Don't see it as anything against you, please?" Jacob finally concluded after a brief moment of silence. Edward heard the words but barely listened. He could see his fantasies disappearing in the pit that was his past. He remained silent.

"Ed, please say something?" Jacob said, but without much confidence. Fear spoke in those words.

Edward looked over to Jacob. "What do you want me to say, Jake? I'll only make it worse for you." A swift and short rebuttal. Jacob was taken aback a bit.

"I don't know Ed, you must have an opinion on the matter? I figured you'd want to share it…."

"Oh you want my opinion?" Edward suddenly started. "Jacob, I'm exploding with feelings. Two weeks ago I was heading for you, hoping you could help me out. I was alone, tired, hungry and dirty. I stopped halfway because I didn't think you could or would want to help me, and so I gave up. I nearly died. It took me two weeks to get to a point where I could stand up without falling over again, and the first thing I did is run back to you. Now here we are, and I was delighted to see you. Now you tell me I might lose you forever. How do you think I feel, Jake? Do you really want my opinion? For so long have I fantasised about all the stuff I could do to you as your Master and owner, and now those fantasies are being communally flushed through the toilet."

Edward breathed heavily while delivering his rant. His nostrils flared and his eyes radiated a disappointed anger. Jacob listened to it closely, and was visibly saddened by what he heard. When Edward concluded his account, Jacob merely looked down at the table and sighed.

"Perhaps I shouldn't want to hear your opinion Edward, but still I ask you to spit it out."

"Well then," Edward said. "In my opinion, you'll not be happy with Embry, and the only things that you'll nurture are bitterness, disappointment and resentment. You won't feel content because Embry won't dominate you like I do, and he'll feel miserable because he can't seem to make you, his chosen god, happy."

Jacob stared at Edward blankly and silently, but Edward noticed how a glimmer of recognition adorned Jacob's youthful eyes as Edward unravelled his opinion before Jacob. "You're right," he finally spoke quietly.

They both remained silent for a few minutes. The time had flown by, and it was already past lunchtime. He stared at the clock above the counter: 2:03 PM. Fortunately the rule was not "Nothing good happens after 2:00 PM". He thought back briefly at that night. The rule had come true without a doubt, and he'd be mad if he'd ever taunt fate like that again.

They sat in the diner for another few minutes, slowly sipping their coffees until it was finished. When the waitress asked if they wanted another refill, they both declined, eyeing each other with regret as shattered dreams were strewn all over the place. Finally the damning question came, and Edward internally winced at it with pained disappointment:

"Shall we go?"

Edward nodded and got up, stumbling awkwardly out of the booth, and following Jacob as he exited the diner after having paid at the counter. The diner's doorbell ringed excitedly as the door closed behind them and the winter air brushed their faces. Soon they stood at Jacob's car in an uneasy silence. They stared at each other. As Jacob stepped a bit closer to pull Edward into a hug, Edward confusingly held out a hand to shake Jacob's. They laughed awkwardly as they misunderstood each other's signs, but Edward quickly adjusted to hug Jacob. It was an unusually tight hug, too, which surprised Edward, given the weird circumstances.

Next, Jacob pulled out of the hug, made towards his car's door, and already had it open when he suddenly stopped short, held it for a moment, and spoke a soft "damn it", his head drooped, car keys clenched in his fist. He briskly turned towards Edward, who eyed everything with a certain amount of surprise.

"Who am I kidding, Ed," Jacob started. "You're right about Embry. He is really nice, soft and timid… and that's fine, but he lacks that strong side. I never knew, until our night together, how much I craved it; how much I need to be dominated to feel fulfilled as a human being."

Jacob stopped and sighed briefly. "It weirds me out, this submissive side. I'm this muscular, manly man, and there I was completely hot and horny because of your sadistic, harsh domination. I feared you back there you know that? To my astonishment, the fear that I felt made me hornier than I'd ever been. I am a sheep in wolves' skin."

Again Jacob stopped and chuckled at the irony of having sat at a diner with that name for the past few hours. He stared briefly at the ground before he continued. "Maybe it's good that we didn't see each other for those two weeks. It gave me time to think, to do some research and thereby to understand. And now, with all I know, I'm not even sure why I'm contemplating Embry's offer. Perhaps because I didn't think you'd ever have me back again…."

A mischievous smirk appeared on Jacob's face as his eyes rolled over Edward hungrily. "All the hot stuff I've been thinking about the past few weeks…."

Edward looked at him unknowingly, which caused Jacob's to smirk widen. "Heh, you think you're the only one with fantasies? Guess what I've been thinking of since that night…."

Edward looked at Jacob with astonishment. For some stupid reason it had actually never occurred to him that Jacob might have felt the same way. He always seemed so cool, so suave. He had never realized that like any other human being, Jacob could have become infatuated by Edward, and not just vice versa. His heart sprang up as he opened and closed his mouth like a fish on dry land, attempting to speak.

"Really?" He finally managed. "You mean to say that you…."

"Yes Ed, all I think about is how you tied me up in my car, and how you pounded the stuffing out of me. And out of the car's backseat, mind you. The next day I went back to my car, not because I had to go somewhere, but out of nostalgia. Inspect the crime-scene, so to speak. The fluffy seat-filling was all over the place."

Edward's thoughts were all over the place, what with the new information that had suddenly revealed itself to him. He stared at Jacob as expectation crept up from his loins, while Jacob had cupped his chin with his hand, staring into the void, preoccupied with his thoughts. Finally he let go, turned around and smacked the car door shut. Finally he turned around again and stepped towards Edward. He stopped roughly a meter away from him and gazed at him intensely.

"Come back to the reservation with me, Edward."