CHAPTER FIFTEEN: PEACE
(Bella's POV)

It felt like we stood there forever, every second better and worse than the last. Better because Jake's arms were around me, worse because I felt more and more stupid for listening to Lauren's lies.

"Are you ever going to turn around?" he asked. I could almost hear the smile in his voice.

"No," I said.

"Wrong answer."

My feet flew out from under me, and I was thrown backward. He had one arm under my shoulder and the other slung under my legs, and I was being carried. If I had any sense of balance, it would have been romantic, something like when Rhett carried Scarlett. But flailing arms and legs are anything but graceful. In what seemed like only a second, I was flat on my back and he was stretched out over me. On his bed.

"You've gotta face me sometime, Bells," he said softly, his breath hot against my lips as his dark eyes burned into me.

Well, I was definitely facing him now. "Shouldn't we be going?" I asked.

"In a minute," he said, right before his lips brushed over mine.

"Ah...Jacob..." I started. What was he up to? He'd carried me to his room and was lying on top of me---well, not exactly lying. He'd at least thought to hold his weight up, so I guess the only problems were the horizontal position and the fact that we were on his bed. But that was a big problem.

"Get your mind out of the gutter," he whispered, and I thought I caught a familiar smirk just before my eyes fluttered shut and he was kissing me again.

His lips left my mouth, continuing over my jaw, behind my ear. My eyelids felt heavy and my heart began to race. His lips and tongue burned a fiery trail down my neck...and back up to my mouth. He lingered there for while, his tongue slipping between my lips, and the taste of him flooded my senses. I was sure if I'd been standing, my legs would have collapsed. His warm lips were pressed gently to mine. His hands alternated between stroking my hair and cupping my face, nothing more. There was no urgency or pressure, nothing to remind me that we were alone in his room, no reason to push him away.

"Okay, now we can go," he said, rising up slightly. That familiar smug look was back on his face.

"No," I said, pulling him back to me, "We can't."


The scene at Sam and Emily's was pure chaos, so much so that only Rachel and Embry seemed to notice when we walked in. Rachel was giving me an evil look, as usual. I should introduce her to Lauren, I thought. Embry raised an eyebrow when he saw us, and Jake nodded.

"Movie night," Emily sang out, thrusting a bowl of popcorn at me as she walked by.

Jake ignored my surprise, and pulled me to a big plush chair in the corner of the room. How on earth are we all going to fit in this little room? As if to answer my question, he sat down and pulled me into his lap, spilling popcorn in the process. Well, I guess if everyone sits on top of one another... And as Jacob helped himself to the popcorn, some of them did exactly that.

Sam sat down at one end of the sofa. Leah sat on the opposite end with Seth slouched at her feet. He tried once to tickle her bare feet, but she gave him a good kick, and he gave up. Rachel took a seat between Sam and Leah, draping her legs over Paul's shoulders as he joined Seth on the floor. Jared and Embry took up the rest of the floor, Jared lying on his back and Embry leaning back against the coffee table. Emily was still running back and forth from the kitchen with drinks and more popcorn, so I hopped up to help. At least I tried to.

"Going somewhere?" asked Jake, trapping me against him.

"Yes, to help Emily," I said, trying to pry his arm from around my waist. "She's not the maid, you know."

He laughed and released his hold, and I walked over to grab some of the drinks she'd set out on the counter.

"Thanks, Bella," Emily said as she balanced three bowls and walked back past me. I followed her, passing out sodas to whoever wanted them. I even resisted the urge to dump one over Rachel's head as I walked back to the kitchen.

"Charlie doesn't mind you being out late on a school night?" Emily asked.

Crap! I'd never gone home. Charlie wouldn't have any idea where I was!

Emily saw my face and laughed. "Want to call him?" she asked, handing me the phone.

I was so flustered that I misdialed twice. When I finally got the number right, my heart raced faster with every ring that went unanswered. Had Charlie heard that I'd skipped last period? Was he angry? Who was going to feed him?

"Hello?"

"Dad?"

"Bells! Where have you been?" He didn't sound angry, but I could tell I had worried him.

"Ah, I went to Jake's after school," I explained, hoping he didn't know I'd ditched.

"Don't you mean during school?"

So much for hope. "Ah...yeah...I guess. I wasn't feeling well."

"But you felt well enough to go to Jake's?" he asked.

"It was nothing. I just didn't eat at lunch, and I was feeling faint. But then I ate and now I'm fine," I hurriedly explained. He'd never buy that. I was a horrible liar.

"You should take better care of yourself" he said. What? He was letting me get away with that?

"Yeah, I will. Will you be alright for dinner? I want to stay here---I'm at Sam and Emily's now. We're watching a movie." I was pushing my luck, I knew. I'd already gotten away with ditching class and coming to La Push without telling him, and now I asking him to fend for himself for dinner.

"Just be home by eleven. You've got a full day tomorrow."

"I will," I said, noticing his emphasis on 'full.' "Bye, Dad."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone and let out a sigh of relief. I was going to have to get my act together. I grabbed a soda for myself and headed back to the living room, trying to avoid all the curious looks. Of course, the pack had probably heard everything.

"You felt faint?" Jake asked, pulling me back to sit sideways in his lap.

"It's not funny," I pouted, staring into the popcorn bowl.

"I didn't say it was," he said gently.

I looked up to see his face and was met by soft, dark eyes, not a hint of amusement in them---at least not until we were hit with a shower of popcorn.

"You guys make me sick," said a grinning Embry, the obvious culprit.

"You're cleaning that up," Sam growled.

"Just shut up and watch the movie," Leah snapped. No one wanted to argue with her, and all eyes turned toward the TV.

Emily flipped off the lights and hopped into in Sam's lap. The opening credits were playing. I set the bowl of popcorn on the end table and curled up snugly against Jacob, unable to keep from giggling when I saw the title.

Brotherhood of the Wolf.


The room was dark except for the glow from the TV, and we were curled up in the corner, just outside everyone's line of vision. The illusion of privacy was nice. The temptation wasn't. Or maybe it was, and that was the problem.

I really was trying to watch the movie, I was cradled in Jacob's lap, and it was hard to concentrate with him so close. I could feel every breath he took, every heartbeat. And he hadn't bothered to do anything more than button up his jeans before we left his house. In the 'What would you rather pay attention to?' contest, the movie lost, and I found myself running my fingers over his bare chest.

It was so easy to be with Jacob. It felt like we'd been together for months, and I guess in a way we had. He'd seen me through everything, gladly joined me in nearly killing myself on the bikes, followed me in my fruitless search for the meadow, and saved me in more ways than one. It was moments like this that everything with Edward seemed like it had taken place in another lifetime. It was almost as if Edward had been some fairytale, a dream that I'd finally awakened from. But I knew better than to believe that. Edward was still very much in my heart, even if I couldn't hear him anymore. And as easy as things were with Jacob, a part of me wondered if I was just substituting. I knew I loved him. And he made me happy, finally happy. Could I really be over Edward so easily, or was I just deceiving myself? Maybe I was just afraid to believe in what I was feeling for Jacob. It was hard to believe in someone again.

I'd been surprised by his reaction to the whole thing about Lauren. I'd expected him to be defensive, either because he had done something with her and I had no business being upset about what happened before we were together, or because he hadn't, and I'd doubted him. Either way, I didn't expect him to be so...understanding. If the situation had been reversed, I wasn't sure I'd have been so nice about it. But he hadn't been upset with me. He'd been confused, maybe a little annoyed, but not mad. And before we left his house, he'd kissed me so sweetly, the kind of kiss that only happens in movies. It didn't matter that we were alone in his house, in his room, on his bed. Gone was the over-eager, sex-on-the-brain Jake that I'd first kissed. He'd been replaced with someone who kept his hands to himself and was content just being with me. We'd spent a good ten minutes just kissing---some really incredible kissing---before he convinced me we were going to be late.

I shifted and settled in closer to him, as if being near him would put all my thoughts to rest. I listened to the hypnotic thumping of his heart beneath my ear, my head rising and falling as his chest moved with each breath.

"What are you thinking?" Jake whispered.

"Lots of things," I said, purposefully vague. I wasn't about to bring up Lauren again, and I didn't want to have to explain any of the rest.

His hand cupped my chin and turned my face up to his. "You're not still worried about that girl, are you?" he asked.

"Not really," I said, dropping my head back down to lie against his chest. I was still worried about her...worried I might accidentally beat her to death at school tomorrow.

"We could always sic Leah on her," he playfully suggested.

"Good idea," I said, not entirely joking. Anyone could see Leah had a permanent case of PMS. She could probably topple Lauren with one look.

"I have a few other good ideas," he whispered, brushing my hair aside and trailing his tongue across the back of my neck.

We were surrounded by people, some of them werewolves. I was sure they could hear my heart stutter and my sharp intake of breath. One of them might look over at any moment, and they could probably see us clearly in spite of the darkness. I should have cared. I didn't.

"Do you?" I whispered, pressing closer to him. Well, I didn't exactly sound seductive, but Jake had fallen for my ridiculous attempts at flirting before.

"Mmmhmm," he murmured, raising my face to his.

He pressed his lips to my forehead, and then placed the lightest kisses over my eyelids and cheeks, his breath trailing fire along my skin. I twisted toward him and wound one hand behind his neck, the other still charting the muscular lines of his chest. My pulse raced as he raised my chin higher and kissed along my jaw, slowly making his way to the corner of my mouth. I had already forgotten where we were, what we were supposed to be doing, who might be watching, and I couldn't hold back. My hand on his neck pressed, pulling him closer, and I crushed my lips against his. My head was spinning, and I couldn't remember how to breathe, but when his lips parted for my tongue none of that mattered. His arm around me tightened as his free hand clutched at my hip. And when my teeth pressed into his bottom lip, he tensed up before he ground his mouth more roughly against mine.

Violent coughing snapped me back to the present, and I whipped my head around to see if we had an audience. No one was turned our way, although a few of them were staring at Embry who was pounding his fist against his chest.

"Pop-corn-" he croaked, still choking.

Jake's laughter rumbled through his chest, and I sunk back against him, hiding my face in against his neck. His fingers lightly stroked up and down my back through the rest of the movie.

When it was over, Emily turned on the lights and started collecting empty soda cans & popcorn bowls. Jake made no move to get up, and I had no desire to leave him. Rachel was sitting on the floor beside Paul, and Embry was crawling around picking popcorn out of the carpet. It seemed he'd thrown more than he'd eaten. Seth was trying to convince Leah that she should wear armor, and Sam was watching them, the corners of his mouth twitching, trying to hold back a rare smile. Jared was snoring loudly, the sounds echoing beneath the bowl someone had overturned on his face. My money was on Embry.

"If I'd known I was gonna have to sit through subtitles..." complained Jacob.

"Oh, sure, like you were even watching," Embry laughed, still crawling around on the floor.

I felt my cheeks turning pink, and as I tried to sink further against Jacob, I felt his lips brush over my hair.

"I'll bet Emily picked it out. No man in his right mind would have done that. What was that? French?" Jake asked.

Embry just laughed. "You're lucky Emily didn't pick it out. She would have made us sit through something with women talking about their feelings and crying over ice cream."

"At least I wasn't pretending to choke on popcorn!" Emily called from the kitchen.

My face went from pink to blazing red in a heartbeat.