Chapter Twenty Five: What You Need to Know
Jared and I lounged in the back of the truck the whole way back to Emily's. Leah wouldn't be happy that I was taking so long, but she'd survive. When we pulled into Emily's Embry helped me out of the back of the truck, while Jared jumped out and headed for the house only to be stopped by Embry's hand on his chest. When Jared stopped Embry held out his hand expectantly, looking pointedly at Bella who was looking better than before.
"I don't have my wallet on me." Jared defended tapping his pockets like it would prove they were empty.
"That's okay. I won't forget." I followed the boys up the steps before realizing that Bella wasn't following us. Looking back toward the truck it looked like she hadn't moved.
"Come on, Bella, they won't bite." Bella finally moved from the truck. I stopped when I reached the door.
"Oh, and don't stare, it bugs Sam." I warned, looking at Bella seriously before letting myself inside. Emily was pulling yet another pan of muffins out of the oven when we stepped inside.
"You guys hungry?" Emily asked as she turned around at the sound of the door. Realizing it wasn't the rest of the guys, she looked surprised.
"Oh. Who's this?" Emily asked as I walked to the table, taking a seat in the chair next to Embry. I saw Bella focus on Emily's scars for a moment before quickly looking away.
"Bella Swan, Who else?" Jared said with a shrug and took a big bite out of a muffin. Emily's face was no longer cheerful as her eyes flickered between Bella and I, almost cautious about the situation that had just walked through her front door.
"So you're the vampire girl." Emily said and Bella stiffened.
"I guess. Are you the wolf girl?" Bella asked slowly. The title made the guys laugh and Emily smiled. It was fitting in a way and I knew Emily would carry the title with pride.
"I guess I am, well, at least one of them." Emily said with a smile, her eyes flickering to me again as Embry threw his arm around me before settling on Jared.
"Where's Sam?" She asked.
"Bella surprised Paul this morning. Jake and Paul ended up fighting. Sam had to break it up. Their looking for clothes." I explained rolling my eyes fondly.
"Oh, Paul. Do you think they'll be long? I was just about to start another batch of eggs." Emily sighed.
"Don't worry, Em. If they're late, we won't let anything go to waste." Jared joked.
"No doubt." Emily laughed.
"Bella, are you hungry? Go ahead and help yourself to a muffin." Emily offered and Bella slowly took one with a mumbled 'thanks'. Embry and Jared both reached for muffins too, Jared managing to eat one whole and was reaching for his third before Emily smack him on the top of the head with her spoon.
"Save some for your brothers." She scolded.
"Pig." Embry commented around a mouthful of muffin making me smack him on the back of the head with an open hand. It left my hand stinging, but Embry at least acted like it hurt and rubbed the spot while looking sheepish. It didn't take long for Sam to show up and walked directly to Emil, laying kisses on her face and making her smile.
"Hey, none of that. I'm eating." Embry whined.
"Then shut up and eat. Not like you and Anna aren't just as bad." Sam said and kissed Emily on the lips.
"Ugh." Jared groaned. Jake and Paul walked in laughing and jokingly shoving each other a few moments later. Jake broke away and walked straight for Bella when he spotted her while Paul joined us at the table. Both Jared and Embry were looking Paul over for marks and I smirked as I noticed the healing mark on his forearm. Only a moment later Embry cheered as he too noticed the mark.
"Fifteen dollars!" Embry crowed, pumping his fists in the air. Quickly looking over Jake I didn't see any marks on him and neither did Jared and he sulked.
"Oh man!" Jared said disappointed.
"Hey guys." Sam spoke loudly to gain our attention over the commotion the girls were making, keeping a hand on Emily as she scrapped scrambling eggs out of a pan.
"Jacob has some information for us." Sam nodded to Jake and all but Paul turned to look at Jake. Paul just shrugged and went back to his muffin, having already heard whatever it was in Jake's thoughts.
"Yesterday we learned what the vampires wanted, but the details were a little fuzzy. Turns out the Cullens killed the red head's mate last year. Now she wants Bella for revenge." Jake stated.
"That's pretty much what we got last night. But it still doesn't make sense. She's just a human girl, where's the revenge in killing someone that can't fight them?" Embry argued sounding frustrated.
"Well it still works. We have bait!" Jared stated. Suddenly a can opener was flying through the air, launched at Jared for his comment. Luckily for Jared, he saw it and caught it before it could hit him in the face, but that didn't stop Embry from reaching over and smacking him over the head.
"Bella is not bait." Jake said angrily, both he and Embry glaring at Jared.
"And let's not forget that she and Anna live together. They would both be in danger, jack ass." Embry said and wrapped his arm around me to pull me into his lap. Jared looked at me apologetically, but I just smiled, he didn't mean any harm, he was just thinking out loud.
"So we're changing our patterns like we talked about last night." Sam continued while ignoring the squabbling going on around him.
"We'll try leaving a few holes and see if she falls for it. We'll have to split up, and I don't like that. But if she's really after Bella, she probably won't try to take advantage of out divided numbers." Sam spoke like a general talking to his troops and it made it all the more believable that he was the alpha.
"Quil's got to be getting close to joining us. Then we will be able to divide evenly." Embry murmured sullenly. There was moment of silence among the group as the thought settles over us.
"Well, we won't count on that." Sam said to break the silence. Sam went on to talk about the plans and how they were going to split the group. Jake and Sam were going to be the group of two. When Sam said that I could see the shared look of discontent that Emily and Bella shared at the idea and I honestly couldn't blame them since I was thankfully Embry was going to be in the largely group, though it made since that Sam and Jake would be taking on more of the risk. What Sam and Jake lacked in numbers they made up for in experience and skill; even though Jake was still new to all this the others had mentioned several times that he seemed to be a natural when it came to being a wolf, something Embry thought was due to Jake's intended role. Jake was always meant to be the alpha and sooner or later he would be, just as soon as he was ready.
All battle strategy was abandoned when Emily announced that the food was ready and set the heaping bowl of eggs on the table. After finishing off my muffin I slipped outside to call Leah. The phone rang several times before someone finally picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hi Sue, it's Anna. Is Leah there?" I asked.
"Yep, she's here." She said and I hear her say something muffled to someone else.
"How are you doing, huh? Harry told me you and Bella saw the bears." She asked sounding concerned.
"I'm doing okay, just a little shaken. I was going to ask Leah if she wanted to have a sleep over and have a girls' day tomorrow. I just don't feel safe in Forks at the moment." I confided.
"You're more than welcome here, Anna. I just sent Seth upstairs to grab her." Sue said.
"Thanks, Sue."
"No problem." I heard the phone get set on the counter and only had to wait a moment before Leah was picking it up.
"Anna, where the hell are you? I told you to come as soon as you could." Leah said and I rolled my eyes.
"I know you did, but I had Bella drama and I'm willing to make it up to you." I bargained.
"I'm listening." She said.
"How 'bout I spend the night, tell you all about yesterday and today and tomorrow we have a girls' day?"
"Fine by me. When are you coming?"
"I have to pack and finish and talk to Uncle Charlie so, an hour or two."
"Alright, see you in a bit." Leah said and hung up. I was headed back inside when Jake and Bella walked out of the house and toward the path that led to the beach, Jake leading Bella by her hand like they were some sort of happy couple. Walking back inside I walked straight to Embry, returning to my seat on his lap.
"Did he imprint on her?" I asked seriously looking around the table for my answer. I held my breath as I waited for the verdict though it seemed like no one wanted to talk about this as they all looked to Sam.
"Jake may be in love with Bella, but he didn't imprint on her." Sam said sagely and I released the breath I had been holding, relieved that Jake still had a chance. Embry gave me a tight hug as everyone returned to their food.
Everything was a little awkward after my question, but I couldn't help the relief. Jake didn't agree but I knew he deserves so much better than to be Bella's rebound. She was still stuck on Edward and I didn't see that ending any time soon with the results of her time with him still hunting her. I didn't want Jake to get hurt, but I wished she would admit it to Jake that she didn't love him instead of stringing him along like she was.
Though Bella and I both knew Jake couldn't just be her friend once she denied having any feelings for him. Knowing she didn't return his feelings would crush him. He had been so certain since the beginning that the longer she was around him the more she would start to have feelings for him like he did for her, but everyone else knew that Bella wasn't going to see him as anything more than a friend as long as she was still hung up on Edward and was only using him because he was so willing to do anything for her. I honestly don't think she could have been more than friends with Jake even without Edward in the picture. Bella had been brushing off Jake's attention since we were little and she had done the same when she'd first moved back without a second thought about his feelings.
Jake was living in denial and none of us had the heart to tell him as much. Even if we did, we all knew that he wouldn't truly believe it till it came out of Bella's mouth. There just didn't seem like a way for Jake to get out of this without getting hurt, so the endless game of cat and mouse would continue until Bella told Jake the truth or till Jake found his imprint. I personally hoped for the second option.