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Chapter 28 – Chain Reaction

Thump, thump… thump, thump…

The only sound that Embry could hear was the pounding of his paws against the ground. For once in his life, Quil was quiet.

Patrols had been monotonous lately, not that getting slashed or strangled by a vampire was fun or anything, but running for hours at a time with nothing to do was tedious. They didn't even have the treaty line to run anymore.

Oh, look, a squirrel, Quil thought.

Embry rolled his eyes.

The strangest thing happened to me last night, Quil suddenly said.

Embry immediately imagined Quil sitting on the couch with his hand… ugh, no, he did not want to think about that.

I wasn't doing that! Quil thought, annoyed. I was playing a video game.

Uh-huh.

Anyway, I was playing away, and then suddenly I felt this tingling feeling all over my body.

Ugh, I told you I don't want to hear it.

No, you idiot. Watch

Embry considered phasing out, but he still had an hour left of patrol before they could get back to the beach, and Jake would get pissed if he left early. Jake was already in a bad mood today for some unknown reason.

Quil starting think about playing the video game, and then Embry felt what Quil felt at that moment; it was a tingle that went from the top of his head all the way down to his toes. "Woah!" Quil said aloud in his memory.

Embry was shocked; Leah and I felt it too.

Really? What were you doing at the time?

Um… think about anything else. Green trees, green grass. If I show you, Leah will kill me.

…

Quil! Don't even go there.

Sorry, man, you know I've seen her naked like a hundred times before.

Embry growled at him.

They felt someone else phase-in; it was Leah. Quil quickly started singing a nursery rhyme.

Shut up, Quil, Leah said quickly. You two need to get back to the beach now. Jake probably needs you.

What?

Why?

Leah ran through the scene at the beach.

Oh, shit, Embry said.

Bella freaked out, and she wouldn't let Jake anywhere near her. She was in no state to drive, so I just dropped her off at home.

Before I left the beach, Jake was crumpled on the ground, and Paul was screaming abuse at him. Bella asked me to make sure he didn't come back to her place tonight. I need you to babysit him tonight. Make sure he doesn't do something stupid. And, I will babysit Bella to make sure she is safe.

Sure thing, Embry said.

Where is Claire?Quil asked.

Emily and Kim took her away before it got too bad.

Okay, thanks, Leah, Quil said in relief.

After a minute, Embry arrived at the beach, ahead of Quil. He phased, put his pants back on and headed towards the gathering.

He could hear the sound of fists hitting a solid object. If Embry was to guess, that solid object would be Jake's face. As he got closer, his suspicions were confirmed.

Jake was kneeling on the sand, and Paul was wailing on him.

"Sam! Stop him," Embry yelled. Jake wasn't even fighting back; his left eye was swollen shut, his lip was bleeding. "What the hell, Sam?"

Embry grabbed hold of Paul's arm when he swung back to hit Jake again. "Get off me," Paul growled at him.

"No!" Embry yelled at him.

"He royally fucked up. He fucked up Bella's future, he fucked up his own future, and he fucked up the tribe's future."

"Don't you think he knows that?" Embry screamed at him.

"It's okay, Em. I deserve it," Jake croaked.

"For fuck's sake, Sam. Why didn't you stop this?" Embry demanded.

"It seemed like he wanted it. Someone needed to beat the shit out of him, and Paul volunteered."

"You guys are idiots. You guys know damn well how hard the pull is to mark your imprint? You guys didn't last one week."

Quil finally arrived and was kneeling down in front of Jake, trying to look at his face.

"Leave me alone," Jake complained. He was so out of it, it sounded like he was drunk. The term punch-drunk came to mind. Paul had really done a number on him.

"No, you idiot. You're with us," Embry commanded.

Embry and Quil both grabbed Jake under his arms and lifted him up. He didn't help them, so they had to drag his feet across the sand. They walked past Paul, Jared and Sam, but no one stopped them.

Embry paused, "Sam, can we keep this between us? There's no need to tell the elders."

"Agreed," Sam nodded.

When they entered the forest, Jake spoke up, "I fucked up." Thankfully it wasn't too far a walk until they reached the car park.

"We know," Quil said.

"Bella hates me," Jake whispered.

Embry scoffed, "I doubt that. She loves you. She's just upset and needs some time to calm down like you do."

"She's never going to forgive me," he said in defeat.

Embry and Quil looked at each other over Jake's head. They couldn't disagree with him. It was a permanent thing he had done, and they couldn't pretend to understand the inner workings of the female mind.

"Come on. Let's get you home," Embry said as they opened the back door of Quil's car. They heaved him into the back seat, bending his legs, so they could shut the door.

"I don't wanna go home," Jake called out. "Dad's gonna kill me."

"You are staying at my place, you idiot," Embry said as he got into the passenger seat.

"Bella. Where's Bella?" Jake cried out.

"She's at home. Leah made sure she got home safe and is going to watch out for her tonight."

"I need to see her. I need to apologize."

"Nope, not today you aren't."

"You guys suck," Jake mumbled before going silent.

Tiffany Call was hardly ever home anymore. She stayed at her boyfriend's house on the Makah Reservation. Embry was happy with this arrangement, he got the house to himself most of the time, and now that he and Leah had gone public, she slept over more often than not.

The boys got Jake into the house and unceremoniously dumped him on the couch. He was just starring at the ceiling, with the one eye that could open. He wasn't crying, he wasn't angry, he was just vacant. He was eerily quiet.

As the afternoon turned into evening, the silence continued. Embry made some dinner, but Jake wouldn't move off the couch. Quil offered him a beer, but he didn't respond.

Before heading off to bed, Embry phased in the backyard to check in on Leah. She was in the forest behind Bella's house.

How's she going? Embry asked.

She won't stop fucking crying. It's getting really annoying.

Embry chuckled; his girl was not a sap. Damn right, I'm not. She replied to his thought. How's Jake?

Embry showed her the fight and the vacant Jake now lying on his couch.

Leah grimaced.

Can you call Mom for me? Let her know I'm doing the night shift or something.

Sure thing.

Night Em.

Night Lee.

Charlie woke to the sound of tears coming from Bella's bedroom. He had finished his night shift and was supposed to be sleeping it off. However, it was early afternoon, so it was probably time to get up anyway.

He shuffled out of bed and knocked on Bella's door.

"Bells, honey?" he called out. "Are you okay?" He knew that was a stupid question; she was obviously crying.

"I'm fine," she sobbed. Charlie grimaced.

"You don't sound fine. Is there anything I can do? Do you need me to get Jake for you?" He silently hoped that this wasn't Jake's doing, so he could help her through whatever this issue was.

"No, thanks, Dad," she replied. "I'm fine."

"Okay… Well, call out if you need anything," Charlie said before heading downstairs.

He made himself a sandwich. It was the only meal he could successfully make and appropriate for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Since this was his first meal of the day and almost 4 pm, it seemed like a good choice. He decided to wait an hour or two before cracking open a beer.

He watched some TV for a couple of hours before checking on Bella again. She was quiet when he got to the door. He knocked, but she didn't answer. So finally, he cracked the door open, and she was lying still on her bed, on Jake's side, facing the window. He couldn't see if she was awake or asleep, but she wasn't crying anymore, so that had to be positive.

Charlie stayed up until midnight, but Bella never emerged from her room. He checked on her once again before going to bed himself.

The following morning Charlie woke early. He was supposed to be going fishing. He decided to check on Bella. She was lying in the exact same spot on the bed as she was the day before. He walked around her bed to check on her, and she opened her eyes.

"Morning, Bells," Charlie whispered. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"I did something stupid," she replied quietly. A single tear leaked out of her eye and slid down her nose before dropping onto her pillow.

Charlie's heart broke at her confession and the sadness that was literally leaking out of her. He sat on the bed next to her. "What did you do, honey?"

Bella just shook her head as more silent tears appeared. "It doesn't matter. It can't be undone."

"You know, I can't really help you if I don't know what happened."

"I know," she whispered.

Charlie bristled. How was he supposed to fix the problem if he didn't have any of the facts? He could narrow down the suspects, get the facts another way.

"Is it something to do with Jake?" Charlie asked.

Bella nodded.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No," Bella replied. After years of interrogation, Charlie knew how to spot a lie. He noticed a slight change in her posture at this question; his eyes narrowed.

"Bella, if that boy hurt you, I need to know right this minute."

"No, Dad. He didn't hurt me."

"You can't lie to me about things like this."

"I know, Dad. I promise. This is a mistake I made."

"hhmpp," Charlie continued to think. "Is he mad at you?"

"I don't know. Maybe? He should be."

"And, you can't tell me about it."

Bella shook her head.

"Is this to do with tribal business?"

Bella froze before closing her eyes. "I'm really tired, Dad. Can we talk later? Are you going fishing?" She was trying to change the subject.

"I was going to go fishing, but I think I should hang around today."

"No! Dad, please go. Have some fun. Catch some fish for dinner. I'll cook them up when you get home."

Charlie sighed. She obviously wouldn't or couldn't say anything else. Maybe he should get out of the house for a bit.

"Okay, but I won't be too long. Maybe you should call Jake and talk to him. I'm sure you two can work it out."

"Maybe," she whispered, but she didn't believe it.

Charlie said goodbye to Bella and headed out the front door. He was going to leave her alone for a few hours, but he would not go fishing. Instead, he headed straight towards the house that was causing so much drama of late.

When Charlie arrived at the red house, he marched straight up to the front door and banged on it loudly. It was still before five in the morning, so he was not surprised when no one answered.

He waited five minutes before banging again.

"Hold your horses!" Billy yelled from somewhere in the house. "I'm coming."

Charlie should have felt a little guilty for waking his old friend and making him get up so early, but he didn't care at this moment.

When Billy finally opened the front door, Charlie glared at him. "Where's Jacob?"

Billy looked stunned for a second before composing his face. "How should I know? He's been sleeping at your place for the past three weeks."

"Cut the crap, Billy. He and Bella had a fight. He wasn't there last night. I need to speak to him."

Billy successfully kept his face void of any emotion. "I don't know where he slept last night. But it wasn't here."

"Don't you care about your son anymore? You just said that you don't know where he slept last night, and yet you don't even seem to care."

"He looks after himself pretty well."

Charlie growled. "You are so infuriating sometimes. I used to think I knew you, Billy. You were my best friend, we grew up together. But all these secretshave come between us, and I don't know how to get past it."

"Charlie…" he said, exacerbated. "You know we can't just tell anyone."

"I'm not just anyone!" Charlie yelled.

"I know, I'm sorry," Billy looked down, and he actually looked sorry. For a fleeting moment, Charlie saw a flash of vulnerability and loneliness. Then, he reverted back to the blank expression. "Why are you bring up tribal stuff today? This is just a spat between our kids."

"Bella couldn't tell me what happened, something about tribal business."

"She said that?" Billy asked.

"Well, not exactly. But she shut down when I asked her about it."

Billy looked interested at this point, but even Charlie could see that he didn't have any more answers.

"When you see Jake next, can you get him to call me or, better yet, call Bella?"

"Yes, of course," Billy replied.

Billy watched as Charlie got back into his car and drove away without a glance backwards. He sighed, he had hoped to one day rekindle his friendship with Charlie, but it was looking less and less likely.

Billy closed the front door and wheeled his chair straight over to the home phone. He dialled a familiar number.

Ring, ring… ring, ring…

"What?" the old voice called out angrily.

"It's me," Billy replied.

"What do you want? It's still dark."

"No, it's not. The sun's almost up."

"That still doesn't answer my question," he paused, waiting for Billy to get on with the point.

"Jake and Bella had a fight."

"So, why should I care?"

"Charlie came around claiming it was tribal related."

There was silence on the other end.

"Have you heard anything from Quil or Joy?" Billy asked.

"No, but I'll put the feelers out. Those kids are pretty tight-lipped these days."

"I know."

"Something is changing. I can feel it. We need to know what is going on."

"I can feel it too," Billy agreed.

As soon as Billy had hung up the phone, Old Quil picked it back up again and called the weak link.

A/N Bit of a filler chapter, sorry. Tonnes of drama in the next one. Who is the weak link?