A/N: I'm currently in the process of doing some mild editing to past chapters. Certain plot points (like Bella contemplating killing Billy and the whole 'Bella walking home from her talk in the woods' scene) have been taken out and certain discrepancies such as characters ages and the Rez have been clarified. Nothing drastic has been altered, and the main plot is still in tact. Also, I have been removing my previous Author's Notes just to get a more accurate word count.

Chapter 14

BPOV

I woke up in the morning much better rested than I had been in a long time. There was just something about having the upper hand that made my morning so much brighter that it normally would be. The night before, watching Charlie dazed and confused, hanging on my words was intoxicating. For once, I had the power in a relationship. For once, I was in control.

I could've skipped down the stairs for breakfast I was so happy. It was even a rare sunny day in Forks, Washington, as if the sun was smiling down on me. Everything was at peace for once, and I was content to revel in it for as long as possible.

The house was strangely quiet, even for the early morning. I didn't think that Charlie had to go into the station today, but maybe he was called in spur of the moment. Being the Chief would do that to a man. I was just glad that I had nothing more to worry about…that was if things had all gone to plan.

I was humming to myself as I made myself an extravagant breakfast: a ham and cheese omelet. Because why not? Everything was going my way, was it not? The eggs went in easily, and the pan sizzled as the yolk hit the metal. Perfect.

As I went to get the spices down from the cabinet, I finally noticed that someone had left the TV on. It had been muted – most likely by Charlie who liked the TV on for visual purposes and not really for the noise, unlike most people who were the opposite. It was no big deal, and I went to turn it off, but paused midway in my action as I processed what station he had been looking at.

It was the news. More importantly, the local news, and the topic of the day seemed to be a fairly nasty car wreck. But not just any car wreck, the wreck of a Bentley Continental convertible, the only one in Forks, Washington.

I dropped the remote like it was on fire, my entire body reacting to the news. How fast my mood changed, from on top of the world to hurt in a second. Only Charlie could make me feel this way, and currently he was breaking my heart.

Charlie had turned the TV on and seen what had happened. Charlie knew that Evie had wrecked, and worse, Evie hadn't been taken out as cleanly as I had expected. Charlie knew where Evie was at this moment, and he wasn't here. All things added up to one inevitable outcome.

He had gone to see that slut.

My mind was running rampant with anger, and I fought back the urge to scream. But I couldn't stop myself from throwing my glass against the wall, my rage igniting as the cup shattered into a million little pieces.

This was entirely my fault. I should've been more careful! I should've anticipated this! Surely something as big as a car wreck would be big news in Forks. I should have unplugged the TV, should have kept him away from the news as long as possible, burned the daily paper. So many regrets…

I was seething, irrationally so, and nearly doubling over with the effort of staying so mad.

How could he do this to me? Couldn't he see that I was doing him a favor? Evie was a distraction, a thorn in our perfect little world. Charlie was supposed to thank me for making him see the error of his ways. He was supposed to thank me for enlightening him. But instead he wasted no time in running after the little tramp like some sort of starstruck puppy dog! Why couldn't she just go down like she was supposed to? Why did she have to make it out of the wreck alive, to further ruin my perfect world? Now she would never leave us alone!

This betrayal, it was unacceptable. Charlie was being belligerently hurtful, and I didn't know why. Had I done something to upset him? Was it because I refused him last night? No, I was right to deny him; he had hurt me then too with his infidelity. But then again, maybe I was being too harsh. After all, he was so lovely when he came in…

But his actions after I had left the room spoke volumes. Obviously I was just second best to his precious secretary. The thought made me want to break down in tears. But no, I was stronger than that now. No man would make me cry again; that was the vow I made to myself after Jake and I ended. Now, I was the one in power…or at least I had to keep pretending that.

For hours and hours I paced around the house, nearly pulling out my hair conjuring up scenarios of Charlie by Evie's bedside. Was he holding her hand? Smoothing her hair? Whispering words of encouragement to her broken body? All of those were things he should've reserved only for me should I need them. All of those things he had done for me when I needed them. When I fell off my bike when I was first learning how, he kissed the wound better and picked me up in his strong arms, so safe. Was he kissing Evie's knuckles where her IV was placed, willing that kiss to make everything better like it had with me so many years ago? I was going mad with fantasies.

How could I have been so blind to this deception? How could I possibly think that Evie would go away so quickly? I should've been more thorough. I should've left well enough alone, but no. I had to go and make her even more appealing to him! Even in a coma, that bitch was luring my father away from me. She was like a disease, and proving to be more and more meddlesome by the minute.

The clock on the wall ticked away at the seconds that passed, making me even madder than I thought possible. Everyone said that love would drive a girl insane, but I didn't really know what that meant until now. Charlie drove me to want to do awful things.

As if on cue, I heard the gravel crunching outside the house, and my heart leapt in my chest. Charlie was back. He hadn't left me. He wasn't going to leave me. I could've jumped for joy at the sound of his car pulling into the driveway, those headlights blinding me from the window. Maybe I was just overreacting before. Maybe everything was all right after all.

The front door opened with a creak and a bang, the heavy sound of footsteps echoing throughout the foyer and into the kitchen where I was seated at the table. I was full of pent up, nervous energy. I didn't know what to anticipate, but I was sure not going to let Charlie bat me around. I wasn't dumb. Even if nothing explicit had happened at that hospital, he had clearly left to go see his secretary; he had chosen her over me, and that was not acceptable in any means.

"Where have you been?" I asked Charlie as he rounded the corner. He looked bewildered, as if he were shocked to see me. I'm sure I was a sight. I hadn't bothered to change out of my robe from the morning, and my hair was sure to be in tangles, but he had seen me at my worst.

"I uh…out. I've been out," he rumbled, turning away from me and placing his things on the counter, trudging about as if he were a zombie. He looked like he hadn't slept well, if at all.

I furrowed my brow, my eyes narrowing. "Really? Out where?"

"Out doing police work," he replied, sounding put out, almost annoyed at me. That was not the reaction I was expecting, not only because I knew it was a lie since he wasn't dressed in uniform, but also because he was being so obviously standoffish. I didn't do well with being on the outs. So I snapped.

"So that's what you're calling it now?"

I regretted jumping the gun with that one almost immediately. I was waiting to build up to that confrontation, but there was no taking it back now. I had to prepare for anything, and by the manner that Charlie turned to glare at me, I knew I was in for a rough one.

"Excuse me?"

"Drop it Charlie, you don't have to pretend around me, remember?"

I was being crueler than I needed to be, my venom sincere, and no one could miss it. The tension was piling high, and Charlie smacked his hands against the counter, fed up.

"Bella what the hell are you going on about?"

"Do you think I'm dumb?! I know you've been to the hospital to see Evie!"

That was obviously the wrong thing to bring up, her name like a trigger, because the whole mood of the room shifted in a split second. I felt the balance of power change, and I suddenly had the feeling that the ball was no longer in my court.

"How the hell do you know about that?"

Charlie spun on me, getting closer to the table, his voice carefully controlled, but the anger that was bubbling underneath was unmistakable.

"I can turn on a TV Charlie," I practically hissed in response, edging back my chair to get a better look at him, staring him straight in the eye. It was almost as if we were in a glaring contest. "Now, tell me, did you go and see Evie?"

"Yes, okay, yes!" He finally exploded, and I couldn't hide the flinch that came from the inflection in his voice, as if serrated knives were being thrown my way, mingled in with his angry spittle. "I saw Evie. Are you happy now?"

"No, I am not happy," I seethed, practically seeing red, blinded by my need to have Charlie all to myself. Just the thought of him anywhere near that whore made my skin crawl and all my nightmares flare up. "Why would you go and visit her?"

"She is my secretary Bella! A valuable member of my work force, and as the Chief I needed to go and see if she was alright, which she isn't, thank you for asking!"

He turned away from me, his face beet red, and I could tell that he was done with the conversation. His back was to me, his hands furiously rummaging through the drawers looking for God knows what. But I just couldn't let things be. I had to poke the bear, because this was the only way I was going to get answers from him.

"Your secretary my ass," I hissed under my breath, but not low enough for Charlie to miss it.

He spun on me, full of hell and fire, and for a moment, I was genuinely afraid of what he would do next. The last time I had seen him this mad, he was drunk and my mother had left in a car that never came back in one piece.

"What was that?"

"You heard me," I dared to continue, my voice low and dangerous. "I know what she is to you. I know that you're fucking her don't you dare deny it."

Charlie stumbled back like I had slapped him, his eyes wide, but in the next moment, he was back to being red in the face and puffed his chest up. He looked genuinely intimidating, ready for a fight. But instead of punching a hole into something, he slammed the drawer shut with a loud crash, making me jump in my seat. He clenched his fists, obviously trying not to lash out.

"Jesus Christ, Bella! Why the fuck do you care so much?"

A whole display of strength and anger, in all the words he could've chosen, he didn't even try to deny what I had said. He was diverting the topic, and had I been half his size, I would've killed him. I would've engaged in that fight, made him lash out just so I could rip out his lying, cheating heart.

Because he didn't deny it.

He was fucking Evie and he didn't deny it. Might as well have been a confession.

I bit back all the bitter tears and ground my teeth together to keep from screaming or sobbing…or both. This was not the time to show weakness.

"I care because I love you!" I shouted at him, throwing my arms around, as if that would make my point clearer.

"Well I don't love you!"

His word shattered the tension around us and nearly everything else. My ears were ringing with his words, and Charlie looked just as shocked and shattered that he had shouted them. Those incriminating words, they had ruined everything, and he just had to go and say them again.

"I don't love you Bella. Not in the way you claim to love me. I should've ended this when it started."

I swore that ripping out my heart would've been less painful than hearing those words fall from his lips for a second time. I was close to breaking, and I had to chant my mantra about remaining strong repeatedly to keep myself from falling to pieces on the kitchen floor. A stray tear slipped from my eye and I cursed my weakness, for letting Charlie see that cursed weakness. Now he knew that he had won, and I had lost.

"You don't mean that," I whispered, my voice cracking with disbelief and a horrible case of shock. My world was collapsing, and I could barely wheeze out those words as I was practically hyperventilating. How could he just say such awful things with such a calm face?

"Yes Bella, I do. I mean every single word."

And there it was again, that slap to the face. That shock to the system. His words were like poison, like a million volts to my brain, short-circuiting it and I just wanted everything to be clear again. He wasn't making sense. Charlie was speaking gibberish, because just a few days ago he was saying that he loved me. He told me that he loved me and he meant it. He said that he meant it. He couldn't just take it back and mean it too.

But he was still going on, speaking over my obvious distress.

"You're my daughter and I'll always love you but, not as anything more. Never in the way you want me to," he paused, swallowing down a lump in his throat. "I love Evie, and I'm going back to the hospital to see her. I only came back for my files."

I had to sit down for that one.

He loved Evie? Of all people he could possible love, he picked Evie? That just made my shock so much worse, so much more devastating. Because it was one thing to have my words fears confirmed, but it was another thing completely to be blindsided by yet another betrayal. Yes I suspected sex, but love? That was something else, something more… something unforgivable.

Charlie was the first to move, reaching down across the island to take his manila folders full of files that were apparently more important than I was. Everything was so backwards, so out of my control that it made my skin crawl. I needed to have Charlie back, needed him like I needed oxygen. He was mine, not hers. She had no claim to him, no right to call him hers. She didn't know how much I had done for him, how much I sacrificed for him. She would never do that for him! She didn't deserve him!

I was seething, frothing from the mouth probably. Charlie would barely glance in my direction, so he could not see how absolutely wrecked I looked. I figured that if he did look, he would not have left a moment later, grabbing all his things up under his arm and storming out of the kitchen. I heard the front door open up, and soon enough the telltale signs of his car sounded, growing fainter and fainter by the second, leaving me in deafening silence. He was so quick to leave behind the damage he created, so quick to drop the very thing he claimed to cherish. That made me even more mad, a slow boil of anger roiling around in my stomach. I was hurt and wronged and Charlie, the one person who was supposed to keep me from both of those things, had been the one to inflict the damage.

Why was I so pathetic, so weak? Why did I let him get under my skin and break me time after time? I gave him everything and he constantly left me to the wolves. I was tired of his abuse, of not being good enough. I was tired of chasing him down only to have him slip from my fingers. Enough was enough. It was time to take my power back once and for all.

My fists clenched and unclenched, my knuckles tense with restrained rage. Finally, I stood up and let the anger out, smacking the vase of flowers up against the wall, the ceramic shattering across the floor. My breath was uneven and threaded, as if I were winded. I was sure that I was in the midst of a panic attack, my emotions drowning me in air. I forced myself to inhale and exhale slowly, all the while focused on Charlie and how I was going to get him back to me.

Because I had to have him. Charlie was mine. Evie would have to pry him from my cold dead fingers if she wanted him, otherwise I would take him from hers.

Jake POV

It was times like these when I would've called Edward. Edward would know exactly what to say to make me feel better. He would know how to soothe me and calm me down when I needed it. And I needed to be soothed now. I needed someone to stop me from making absolutely stupid and self-destructive choices. Like right now for example.

I was going to jump off a cliff. Yep. I was gonna do it: jump straight down into the churning, angry ocean hundreds of feet below me.

That one stretch of La Push that overlooked the First Beach had always granted me some sort of peace and solitude, or at least the idea of it did. When I was younger, I would drive near the Rez borders and just stare at the wide expanse of beaches. My father never let me near the tribal lands, and I never understood why, not until now. I always thought it was something wrong with me, but it was my father who was banished from the territory. I wasn't technically welcome being his son and all, but they weren't going to send the guard dogs in and tear me limb from limb if they caught me staring out at sea.

But even though that was true, the real La Push, looking down into that rocky abyss, gave me a much bigger sense of dread than it did peace.

I knew some guys from the Rez; I rode bikes with them whenever I got the chance. Quil and Embry were perhaps the most mysterious guys I had ever met, with their long hair and blank stares. I didn't think that they knew exactly who I was, but I figured that they were so impassive that they just didn't care very much. I was supposed to be meeting them later on today, but part of me just wanted to take that final step off of the cliff and fall. Falling seemed so much simpler than the nightmare that surrounded me now.

The hum of engines pulled me out of my macabre thoughts. Looking up, I saw the men in question pulling up to where I was standing. They didn't even bother to stop their bikes or take off their helmets as they watched me, no doubt having come across the same scene a hundred times before. These kids must have seen so much shit…

Wow, I really needed to lay off the melodrama.

I shook off the haunted feelings and mounted my own bike, letting myself get lost in the hum of my engine and the feeling of the road flying underneath my tires. I followed Quil and Embry down the roads for a while, not really sure where they were taking my but not really caring at the same time. It was strange, this 'fuck the universe' mentality that was growing on me.

Eventually we exited off to the left and followed a few rougher paths down the mountains until we reached a thin expanse of rocky beach. I had never been there before, but I had seen it previously. First Beach looked much different from the ground than it did from the top of the cliffs.

I put my kickstand down on my bike, leaning my baby up against a pine tree, shaded from public view. Quil and Embry did the same, but a few yards away from mine. We might have been casual buddies, but I was clear that there would never be a close friendship between any of us. Quilette tribe exclusivity and all. I wasn't really included in that group, even though I had their blood in my veins. I was actually confused as to why we had taken a detour so early on in the ride. Usually we stopped for a bite to eat down at the port, but that was as far as our interactions lasted off our bikes. A beach trip was something totally new.

Still, I followed them onto the sand as they lead me a good mile down the beach. We stopped at a group of menacing-looking obsidian rocks, all weathered down from the tides. They were smooth to the touch. I thought that we were just looking at the sights, but no. Quil wasted no time jumping up on the nearest one, pulling himself upright to gain footing on the one beside it. A couple of moves and one slip later, he was situated on top of the highest jetty, peering down at the two of us still on the sand. He gestured for us to follow. I thought he was just joking, but then Embry was smirking and following right after his partner in crime.

I swallowed the fear of cracking my skull wide open on these sharp rocks and got a footing on the smallest jetty. I climbed little by little until I wobbled on top of the rock below Quil's. The both of them were smirking at me, and I glared back. It wasn't like everyone was taught rock climbing skills in school.

It took me a long time to feel comfortable in such a precarious position, but when I calmed down enough to look around, I found that the view from the jetties was breathtaking. The sun was gleaming over the forests above and across the foaming waves, nearly blinding me. It was something raw and powerful, having the ocean so close and your life so dangerously close to the edge. One slip and nature would take you. It made me shiver.

"What's on your mind Jacob?" came the low rumble of Quil's voice. Everything echoed across the faces of the rocks, and he barely had to project his voice to make it reach every corner of the beach.

"Nothing…everything…" I replied, not really up to sharing my whole life story to these practical strangers.

"A mix of both?" Embry piped up, picking at the brine that lined the rock he was crouching on. I hadn't felt safe enough to sit, so I was content with standing, but Embry was at complete ease. I was slightly awed.

"Yeah, I guess. Too much has happened to me in the past few days and I have only been managing to make it worse for myself every turn I get."

"Anything you'd want to tell us about?"

I turned to face Quil, who wasn't even looking at me. Instead he was staring over the horizon line, as if the sun was the most captivating thing he had ever seen.

"Wow, you really do care," I laughed mirthlessly.

There were rocks at my feet, and picked one up, flicking my wrist to watch it skip over the waves. It didn't go very far; the water was too restless and choppy to allow a clean shot. But still, it went further than I thought it would. I threw another that went a little further, but sunk almost as soon as it hit the last wave.

"Your negativity is more powerful than you think Jacob. You practically radiate it. We don't even have to telepathic to read the gist your thoughts," Quil mused, his head tipped back to welcome the sun.

"Am I really that easy?" I asked, sincere in my wondering.

"As an open book I'm afraid," Embry entertained me, smiling up at my frown.

I threw another rock in frustration.

"Still not going to tell us then?" Quil continued, cracking an eye to gauge my response.

I sighed and gave up. Apparently they were not going to let this rest.

"It's about this girl, my ex girlfriend, Bella. I think I've ruined any chance of having a civil relationship with her. And then there's my father, who hates me for reasons…" I trailed, not really sure how the Quilettes reacted to things such as homosexuality. As far as I knew, they were fairly conservative. I didn't want to risk losing the only two people I was currently friendly with just because I was dumb enough to spill the beans that I was gay and had been in a relationship with my cousin. So I let them fill in the blanks however they saw fit.

"But it's mostly the girl isn't it?" Embry goaded me,

"Yeah," I sighed. It was so much more than that, but it's not like he was wrong. "I know the whole 'being friends with your ex' thing doesn't work, but I've ruined even saying 'hello' to her. It's like I've lost a huge part of myself, and I don't know how to cope…"

I sounded like I was something straight out of a soap opera, but I didn't care. It was how I felt. I was self-destructing with no way to stop it as of yet. I knew that I would combust at any second; I was just waiting for it, for the one thing that would make me jump off the cliffs for real.

"Everyone enters and exits our lives for a reason Jacob. Perhaps it was her time," Embry reasoned, looking at me expectantly.

"I can't accept that. I can't just let her waltz out of my life," I replied with fervor. There was no way I was going to let Bella go without clearing the air. I couldn't leave our relationship soaked in bad blood, but I also knew that she would probably never take anything I said seriously again, especially if it were an apology. I would try though. I would try with all my might. I couldn't handle her rejection for the remainder of my life. She was my best friend.

"It sounds to us like all she's done is make your life harder."

I spun rapidly around, forgetting the slipperiness of the jetty, to face Quil. He was looking at me now, brown eyes so serious and deep they appeared to be onyx. I felt like he was trying to impress something upon me, but I was losing it. It was terrified of his intensity.

"That's not true," I rebutted, taken aback at his insinuations. "I'm the one who made her life harder when I broke up with her, and I was the one that wrecked it again when I…when I told her something that I shouldn't have."

I had to bite my tongue at that one. I was too close at telling them about my fight with Bella. I needed to calm myself down and not let Quil under my skin as much as he was.

"If that's true, then why do you still doubt her purpose?"

This time it was Embry who spoke. His eyes were as open and awaiting as the skies above.

"What?"

I was flabbergasted. It was bizarre. They had never been this vocal with me, nor had they ever provoked me this much…or maybe that was just me. Maybe I never had a reason for them to provoke me before.

"She may not be the one making your life harder, these positions you find yourself if to make horrible decisions, she is the common denominator. Perhaps, to save you both heartache, you should sever the tie," Embry mused, taking the time to practically stare me down in an ominous manner. "Sometimes people can drag you down Jacob. Maybe you're better off without her."

Embry spoke with a startling clarity, his words and eyes boring into my heart when I turned to look at him. I couldn't fathom the weight of what he was telling me to do, as if he were speaking ancient Greek or whatever language they learned on the Rez. But he seemed as passive and serious as usual, which almost made his message eerier than I was willing to admit.

I didn't reply to him, just because I couldn't come up with anything to say in response. Embry didn't mind, and neither did Quil. I think that was their point, to get me to shut up. They were used to the quiet and ease of the forest and the ocean. I was almost jealous of their ability to be so wise. I could use that in my daily life. Maybe then I wouldn't be such a mess.

I was content to stare off into the waves when Quil got up from his spot on the jetties and stood above the two of us.

"There is a storm coming in. Best get you back to the mainland."

I looked out over the horizon and saw that he was right; there were black storm clouds building up in the distance, a deep foreboding washing over my senses. I didn't protest when Embry nudged me up, the three of us then heading towards where we parked our bikes. There were no goodbyes said, back to business as usual when we were all situated on our rides. Quil and Embry simply rode off as a pair, their hairs flying behind their exhaust fumes. They turned the around the bend and out of sight, into the mountains.

Quil and Embry's words rang in my ears the entire drive back to my house. Sometime during the drive, rain started to pour down from the sky, soaking me down to the bone. My bike skid dangerously around the sharp turns and narrow roads. It was dangerous, to be driving as fast as I was down these slicked roads, but I didn't really pay attention, my body on autopilot, my mind the only thing in control.

Was I better off without Bella in my life? I didn't agree with Embry when he said it was Bella's fault that I was forced to learn that she was my cousin. It wasn't Bella's fault that we broke up, even if she thought that. Those were both on me. But Embry did have a point that she was the common factor in every shitty thing that had happened to me recently, and every bad decision afterward spawned from those bombshells. I couldn't blame her for all my shortcomings, but I could say that, had Bella not been a factor in my life, then my life would be so much simpler and so much less fucked up.

I was so conflicted. I loved Bella, and even thought we have both caused each other a fair amount of hell, I wasn't willing to give up on her so easily. My life without her in it seemed grey and dreary, like the weather. She wasn't a person that I could just leave at the drop of a hat, even if she could. I didn't blame her for that either.

Before I knew it, I was pulling up into my driveway, parking my bike in the shed that served as our garage. I was lucky to have made it home in one piece. My bike looked a little roughed up, but I could fix her later. For now, all I wanted was some time to process today's events.

But it seemed that the universe was not going to be so kind to me.

For as I was walking around the house to enter through my side door, there was someone sitting on the steps of the wrap-around porch. Someone very familiar and currently very distraught. I was rooted to the spot.

"Jake," Bella called, looking up at me with pathetic doe eyes, "I didn't know who else I could call…can I stay here for a little while?"

She had a small bag at her side, and her purse clutched in her hands. She looked like she had been crying, and for a few moments, I didn't know how to react to her, nor could I understand what she was asking from me. But could I deny her what she so clearly needed? I'd never been able to before…

I just stared at her, letting myself get drenched in the rain and dissolving into my fate as I let her inside my home like nothing had changed.