Jacob, Quil, Embry, Bina and I used to play practical jokes on Seth when he was in primary and we were in grade two. Nothing at school to embarass him, but at his house we couldn't get enough of the elementary school jokes. We'd wait for him to fall asleep, put shaving cream in his hand and tickle his nose, we'd draw on his face with permanant marker, tie him/duct tape him to trees, pants him constantly or take all of his clothes so that he'd had to run around in his underwear. We were ruthless, and Seth hated us at that stage in his life. Leah wanted us to stop as well; she was really protective of him, and that's probably the reason she is still today.
I staggered out of the truck, walking down the road, yelling Jake's name. I was scared, and I couldn't think straight and the cold rain was pouring down, soaking me. I walked for a century before I came upon the little red house, the bleak yard light illuminating it. I was still screaming Jake's name, my throat hoarse from all the yelling. Answering my calls, the beautiful figure of Jacob suddenly appeared, bursting out the door and jogging over to me.
"Bella?" Jake asked. He sounded scared, terrified even, as he broke into a sprint across the yard to where I was on my knees on the middle of the road. "What the hell?" His warm arms surrounded me like a good feeling, as he hoisted me onto his lap. I sank into his warm, muscled chest and tried to slow my crying and stop my hiccoughing.
"Bella, what happened to you?" Jake asked soothingly, keeping me in a tight embrace and smoothing my hair back. I could smell the rust and salt that I associated with blood as he wiped something off of my forehead. "What did you do? What happened? Are you drunk?" His voice stayed soothing the whole time, a low rumble, as he looked me over for anything else. "We have to get you to a hospital, you're probably going to need stitches."
I couldn't answer him, I couldn't bring myself to actually speak. I just kept crying into his chest, trying to get as close as possible to him. He kept both arms firmly wrapped around me, all the while trying to figure out what happened. Finally, he just stood up and carried me out down the road. A couple minutes later, he stopped.
"Holy- Oh shit." He said, then set me down again, trying to see my face "Bells, baby. You have to tell me what happened." I looked over to where he was had looked and saw my truck in a ditch, rear end up and front end against a tree.
"Jacob, what's going on." Came a calm voice out of the dark, not a question, but an authoritative statement compelling Jacob to talk. Sam came into view, his eyes watchful and careful, Jared not two seconds after.
"I dont know." Jake answered, hugging me tighter into him. stroking my head. "I just heard her screaming in front of my house and found her pretty much like this.
"Alright, well you need to call her father and tell him where she is. Then you need to take her to the hospital, she may have internal injuries." Sam said with authority. I felt Jake nod, but I caught myself glaring at Sam, thinking about how he'd hurt Leah. I didn't want to listen to him at all, but my mouth wouldn't open and form any words. "Jared and I will take care of this." Same turned to the truck.
"Alright." Jake answered, then lifted me up again. The rhythm of his breathing didn't change as he walked home and brought me inside, sitting down at the chair. I clutched him as if my life depended on it, for some reason needing to be near Jake. I heard him on the phone, explaining to Charlie the situation.
"What's going on Bella?" Billy asked, wheeling out to where we were, his black eyes staring straight into mine. I could only look back at him
"It's okay, Dad." Jake broke in his explaining to Charlie, then started up again. Billy looked at me pitifully, and I probably was a horrible sight at the moment, hanging off of Jake, a deathgrip around his middle.
Jake hung up the phone and kissed the top of my head. He wrapped both arms tight around me and rubbed my back consolingly.
"Bella, it's going to be fine. You'll be okay," He suddenly looked up and I heard the engine of the truck pulling into the driveway.
"Jake, get her to the hospital." Billy said firmly. Jake stood up, and grabbed my hand. He led me out the door and over to where Sam and Jared were standing, patiently waiting next to the truck.
"How'd you get it out of there?" Jake asked, walking around to the front of the truck. I noticed that it only had a small bump from its dive into the ditch
"Hospital." Sam said, and Jake put me into the truck first, through the driver's side door, then slid in himself, thanking Sam and waving goodbye. He pulled out of the driveway and headed to the hospital in Forks.
When we got there, Charlie was waiting, pacing outside the hospital doors. Jake and I stepped out of the truck and he rushed over to us, his eyes frantic and his hair wild from, it looked, running his hands through it. His shirt was wrinkled and his jeans looked like he'd pulled them off the floor, which he probably did. He looked worriedly at me, and I felt bad, but I couldn't tell him I was fine. I looked away
"I had to call Dr. Cullen and ask him to come in specially, because the hospital is closed at nighttime for now because of the doctor shortage, even the ER." He said brusquely. I could feel his eyes on me, but didn't look up to meet them.
"Hello, how is our patient?" A man walked up to the doors and unlocked them, turning on lights, making a path to one of the rooms. We followed him in as he rushed around, setting his medical bag down and readying things.
"Put her on the table please." He said pleasantly.
"Hi Bella, I'm Dr. Cullen." He said to me. Only a squeak escaped my lips in response. He had light blonde hair, and golden eyes- curiously like Edward- and he was pale with dark circles around his eyes, like he'd not slept in a long time. He also had a very calm demeanour, which made me feel more at ease.
"Well, that's more than I've got her to say so far." Jake said. I kept my hand woven through his and I could feel the temperature difference between his warm hand and my ice cold one, as he sat close, rubbing my back.
"She's going to need four or five stitches in her forehead." Dr. Cullen said.
"Sam said she might have internal injuries as well." Jake said worriedly.
After about fifteen minutes of checking my vitals and checking me over, he set down his stethoscope and leaned back in his chair.
"She has no internal injuries, but now I'm going to sew you up." He smiled grimly at me.
"Thank you so much for coming in, doctor." Charlie said gratefully. "We probably woke you up."
"It was no problem." Dr. Cullen waved it off as he prepared the suture needle. This wasn't anything new to me, I was clumsy and had acquired about eighty-seven stitches in my short life. He put in the four stitches in clean, swift motions after freezing the cut and cleaning it out, then covered it with a bandage. My mind was pretty clear by this time and I had calmed down enough that tears had stopped spilling out of my eyes, but what I really wanted was to be alone with Jake. Charlie thanked the doctor one last time, and we left Carlisle in the hospital, to shut it down again and we found ourselves in the parking lot.
"If you don't mind, Charlie, I'd really like to be with Bella right now." Jake said, something pleading in his voice, almost like he sensed my need for him right now.
"No, Jake. I think you should go home and get some sleep." Charlie protested, but it wasn't very convincing, and when Jake asked one more time, Charlie gave in, stating that we had to come to his house, and for Jake to call Billy and let him know.
Jake drove the truck, and Charlie his cruiser. I went with Jake, still keeping an iron grip on his hand. He helped me out of the truck and led me up to my room, after assuring Charlie that I was okay and that Billy already knew. He sat me down on the floor in the far corner of my room, on a pile of blankets, and pulled me into him again.
"Bells, I'm here, and I know you don't want to talk right now, but you have to tell me." Jake's voice was husky and compelling as he put his hands on either side of my face. "Please tell me." His dark eyes, illuminated by the moonlight, were pleading and worried, begging me to tell him. I felt the tears starting to spill over in my eyes, and all of a sudden my brain thought that this was a good time to allow my mouth to move again.
"Today, Jess invited me to a thing a M-Mike's." I whispered, my voice hoarse from the screaming. My mind felt completely clear now, and I felt awful, thinking over what happened tonight.
"Did something happen?" Jake's eyes flickered with anger.
"Trent. Trent, he just, he.. me on the wall, dirty words." I had lowered my eyes and couldn't bring myself to look at him.
"Fuck." Jake whispered, his voice breaking. I saw his Adam's apple bob up and down violently and it was a few minutes before he did anything else. His hand was shaking as he gently lifted my chin. His eyes were dark with badly concealed anger. "Did he do anything to you? Did he hurt you in any way?"
"He didn't, didn't rape me. He didn't get that far. Mike pulled him off and punched him. Then I ran and wanted to go to your house." I murmured. His whole body was shaking beside me, as I felt the rage coursing through him.
"Let me get this straight. Jessica invited you to Mike's house for a gathering, which turned into a party." He stopped and took a deep breath. "A guy took you into the bathroom, after you drank too much, and tried to rape you. Mike pulled him off and you ran into your truck and tried to drive to my house, but crashed and wandered over yelling my name?" Jake's voice was shaking as well, and his breath was loud through his nose.
"I was using the bathroom. He came in and closed the door." I dropped my head to his shoulder. "Mike tried to stop me from driving."
Jake was silent for a long time, and I could hear his heart pounding in his chest as he tried to take even, though shaky breaths to calm himself down. I stroked the side of his face with my thumb, placing kisses on his collarbone every so often. I probably shouldn't have even told him, if I'd known that it would have these results. His body tensed and relaxed, almost like he wanted to get up and run.
"Bella, I need you to understand that I'm not mad at you." Jake said firmly.
"I know, Jake." I replied. "It's okay though, nothing happened. Nothing that hurts me a lot. I was just scared, and confused."
"It obviously happened enough that what happened to you tonight made you do what you did." Jake whispered, almost not making any sense.
"Thanks." I said to Jake, leaning up and pressing my lips against his.
"I wish that I was there, or that I wasn't out with Quil and Embry." Jake lowered his head.
"It will be fine." I tried to make him feel better about it. "There's no way that you could have anticipated that."
"I'm still worried about your injuries." Jake said. "What if something happens during the night?"
"I feel great, Dr. Cullen checked me over and said I was fine. He's the best doctor out here." I said, now reassuring him.
"I know..." He said, unconvincingly. "Bella, you were drinking and driving. You're lucky that you didn't hurt anyone."
"I know, I'm lucky Dr. Cullen didn't mention it to Charlie." I looked away from Jake's face.
"I'm just glad you're alright." His voice was suddenly soft, his hand cupped my face and I leaned into it, realizing how exhausted I was.
"Okay, you have to promise not to move." I said, scooting away from him. His body was giving off a lot of heat as well. I was cold the moment our bodies weren't touching anymore.
"I promise." Jake replied. "Not an inch." I ran to the bathroom and threw on some pajama shorts and an old shirt. I gathered my hair into a ponytail, and ran back to Jake, not even checking my reflection in the mirror. Jake was as still as a statue.
"You didn't move." I said, grateful.
"I promised." Jake tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
"You're so great to me." I said, hugging him, wrapping my arms around his broad back.
"I think you're much greater." Jake murmured.
"You sound tired." I said, slipping my hands under his shirt. He raised his arms as I pulled it over his head.
"I'm not that tired." He argued, trying to hide a yawn.
I stood up, grabbing both of his hands and pulling him over to my bed. I tossed back the covers and let him crawl into the bed before laying down and curling up in his arms. His breathing became regular within the minute and listening to it helped me fall asleep.
I heard Charlie come into the room and draw the blinds.
"Wake up children." He said, and I opened my eyes. He was looking at me worriedly.
"Morning Dad." I said, and relief flooded his face.
"I'm still almost opposed to you and Jake sleeping in the same bed together." He smiled. Jake rolled over and rubbed his eyes.
"Morning Chief." He said sleepily.
"Are you heading to school today? You don't have to, but I've been bombarded with calls since five." He sat down on the edge of the bed.
"I've got a test today." Jake said, sitting up. "If you want to go to school, I'll drive you there and take the truck."
"Alright.' I agreed, then sat up, and fell back down. "Whoa."
"What is it?" Jake asked, immediately worried.
"My head." I groaned. Charlie was running down the stairs and back with a glass of water and some pills in a few minutes. I took them gratefully and waited for it to kick in before getting up. Jake took a quick shower and threw on some clothes. I just changed, and washed off the caked-on ruined makeup and I was ready. I didn't feel like showering or eating breakfast, I felt too sick to eat.
"Are you ready?" Jake asked me as I stood in the foyer. His forehead was wrinkled. "Maybe I should stay with you..."
"I don't want you to worry about me." I said, cutting him off.
"It's not nothing." He protested.
"Jacob, thank you for taking care of me last night. I love you so much." His eyes softened, and I pressed my lips against his, and was about to deepen the kiss, when I heard Charlie clear his throat.
"Sorry Dad," I said, looking at the floor, embarassed.
"Come on, let's get you to school." Jake said, leading me out the door.
"See you later Dad!" I called out at the same time Jake did.
Jake went over to the passenger side door, opening it and holding it open, smiling.
"Jake, can't I drive?" I said, stopping at the front of the truck.
"Who would I be to let you drive when you just had a trauma?" Jake stuck out his lower lip at me, looking pathetic. I sighed and hopped into the passenger seat. He jumped in the driver's seat, and started it up. He reached over and squeezed my knee before backing out of the driveway, letting his hand glide across my lap and entwine with my hand.
