A/N: Hello everyone! I hope that this chapter funds everyone well as can be. Please forgive the delay between chapters. Real life has unfortunately gotten in the way of creativity. Nevertheless, please let me know what you think of this chapter. Happy reading!
Chapter 3
Bella was having a difficult time trying to get through the sand in her heels and dress. Tears were still streaming down her face. Her soul was mourning the loss of her best friend and the lover of her heart. Grief like nothing she's ever felt crashed upon her like the waves in the ocean. The sky was dark and grey just like her life at the moment. After falling for the twentieth time, Bella took off her heels and tossed them as far as she could. That one rebellion lead to Bella ripping off her veil and letting the wind carry it away. Bella wanted out of the confining dress, but she would need assistance with all of the buttons to get out of it. So with a huff of resignation, Bella lifts up the hem of her dress and continues her trek to the one place that was always hers and Jacob's: the white washed and sand blasted smooth driftwood tree.
Bella reaches the tree. Instead of climbing up to sit, Bella just plops down right in front of it into the sand and let the tree hold her upright. Bella just stares out into the ocean and wonders when her life had taken such an unlucky turn. Before now, Bella would never admit it to anyone, even herself, that the Cullens had changed her life for the worse. However, now that she lost the man she truly loves and has severely disappointed her father, Bella couldn't figure out how to fix things.
Some time passes and she hears people, but can tell that they were giving her a wide berth. Still watching the ocean Bella was lost in thought. 'Who wants to come near a sad and depressed bride? I hope the tribe doesn't have any weird stories about one.'
"What the fuck are you doing here Swan? Don't you have an animated corpse to marry? Why are you dirtying up my beach?"
"Hello, Paul. It's always a pleasure to be in your company. How are you today?" Bella sarcastically replies.
"I was just fine, until I found you here."
"Well this is the public section of First Beach, so you can doggy paddle yourself to the other side so that you don't have to deal with me," Bella said sullenly.
"First of all bitch, every grain of sand belongs to the Quileutes and no matter where I go it's all my beach and you're still unwanted. Go take your whiny crybaby ass somewhere else. You're scaring off the people we actually want to visit here," Paul retorted nastily. Paul was enjoying getting easy verbal punches in on Bella since both Sam and Jacob ordered him to never physically harm her. For the life of him, Paul just couldn't understand why she gained protection and affection from some of the most badass supernatural beings.
"Fine! We wouldn't want your precious beach to get sullied anymore by my despicable presence."
"Yes! Finally, you get it bitch! Damn, for all of your book smarts, you sure are stupid when it comes to common sense. Man, I am so glad that Jacob ran off and left you the hell alone. Now maybe his balls have finally grown and he can do the job he turned down for you."
"What, wait. What do you mean?"
"What? What do you mean? Don't act stupid, little girl. Jacob not only turned down his rightful place as Alpha for you, but he also gave up on all of the free ass that's been thrown at him. He is the chief's son you know. What better prize and honor for a Quileute woman than to score him? Now, that you're out of the way maybe he can actually do his duty to the tribe and leave your pale faced ass alone," Paul tells Bella gleefully. Almost nothing is better for Paul than seeing the despair and hopelessness on Bella's face. He couldn't stop the grin on his face nor the hackling laughter as he watched Bella run and trip over her ridiculous wedding dress.
Bella ran as fast as she could to get away from Paul's cruelty. His words ran repeatedly through her mind as she got into the Monster and drove off. Tears blurred her vision as she drove. The only thing keeping her from getting into an accident was the honking of car horns as people drove to the beach. Bella finally noticed how much different the weather was in La Push than Forks.
In La Push, the weather was very warm and sunny. A day at the beach would be the perfect way to spend time today. However, if one were to look over Forks, it looked all dark and gloomy. As if a torrential downpour was imminent. No wonder people, including herself were fleeing to La Push. Bella continued driving and recognized the wooded area as Jacob's woods. Her heart began to hammer in her chest with the desire to run to the little red house. Unfortunately, Paul's cruel words breaks her out of her thoughts. Bella hurriedly pulls off only to break quickly. A blur of grey and black jutted out in front of her car stopping her from going any further. Bella jumped out of her car and ran in the direction she saw Embry go in.
"Embry! Embry!" Bella calls out the deeper into the woods she went. Bella was starting to feel foolish running after a wolf. As if she could catch up to it in her get up. So Bella stops and her tired legs give out and she crumbles to the leafy ground. Bella's tears began to fall again.
"Where did I go wrong?" Bella lamented to herself.
"Well you dated and agreed to marry a vampire for starters." Bella heard Embry say in front of her. Bella was startled by his sudden presence.
"Yup, still got it. The ability to make girls hearts beat aflutter just with my presence alone," Embry jokes.
"Oh, shut up, jerk," Bella says as she giggles. "You know very well that you startled me by your silent approach."
"Be that as it may," Embry began with a smile that slowly left as he contemplated his next words. "Bella, why are you here chasing after me when you should be at your wedding?"
Shame once again fills Bella's heart and mind. She drops her eyes so that Embry couldn't see her face anymore. Embry sat down in front of her and took Bella's hands into his own. Embry rubbed his thumbs over Bella's knuckles hoping to soothe her into talking.
"I... I ran from my wedding," Bella stutters.
"I can see that, but what I don't know is why?" Embry asks.
"Because Jacob gave up on me and I just couldn't go through with marrying Edward…" Bella began to explain when Embry drops her hands.
" You cannot be serious! Are you out of your mind? You've strung Jake around for so long that now that he's stopped chasing you, you start chasing him? What's going on in that fucked up head of yours?" Embry rants as he springs away from Bella. He just looks at her and knows that she's telling him the truth.
"Bella, we may be cool and sorta friends, but Jake is more than my best friend and pack brother, he's my brother and I refuse to have him continually hurt by you! What is wrong with you, girl?!" Embry asks exasperated with Bella and her flip flopping ways.
"I never wanted to string Jake along. I tried to let him go, but I just couldn't. HE couldn't. It was like he became such a part of me that when he left, I was only partially myself. Like part of my soul was missing."
"Okay Bella, but that still doesn't explain why you are here and not there."
Bella sighed trying to gather her scattered thoughts. "Jake came back and was at the wedding. As I was walking out, I caught a glimpse of him and my heart felt alive again. It was as if I could breathe again. I was already having doubts before Jacob came back. I was just being stubborn and I felt guilty," Bella began to explain.
"But, that's no excuse! Why didn't you say something? Anything?!"
"To WHO? None of you would talk to me. Edward and Alice watched my every move like prison wardens. When was I supposed to be able to do something? Anything? Huh? For all of you all's self-righteous attitudes, no one and I mean No One talked to me. Everyone just gave up on me… and I did too. Edward was there. Always there and I needed to feel like I hadn't fucked everything up. So no matter how much I bugged Seth about Jacob, I reluctantly went along with Edward and Alice for the wedding," Bella said stopping to see if Embry was even listening.
Unfortunately, Embry heard everything she said but believed none of it. Her past choices and actions blinded Embry from the change that Bella truly made. Embry just looked at Bella for a long time. It seemed as if he was thinking deeply about something.
"Bella, everything that you just said is a bunch of bull. I honestly think that you should leave. Leave the res and most importantly leave Jacob alone. Don't come back, for everyone involved," Embry finally says.
Shocked to her core, the only thing Bella could do is sit there with her mouth hanging open in disbelief. All Bella could think was that she has completely lost Jacob now. What would she do now? Embry in all seriousness stepped forward and closes Bella's mouth.
"I'll walk you back to your car. I'm not trying to be mean, but someone has to look out for Jacob and say what everyone else thinks. You may not see it now, but this is for the best," Embry said trying to soften the blow of his last statement.
Bella could feel herself shutdown. She stopped thinking and feeling. All she could do was go through the motions of walking and getting to her car so that she could leave. Surprisingly, Bella only stumbles a few times, but manages to get back to the road where she left her car.
"Look, I think that you have a lot of things that you need to get together first. I'm not sure if you and Jake will ever be or are even good for each other. Be safe, Bella. Good bye," Embry tells Bella as he helps her into the car. He steps back, closes the driver side door, pats the frame a few times and Bella takes off.
Both Embry and Bella think about Jacob and how he's better off now. Maybe Jacob will finally become Alpha and find his real match. It's true that Jacob is his own man, but maybe, just maybe this is what Jacob needs to be what he should be. Neither one of them knows that Jacob is closer than they think.
Jacob makes it to La Push just in time for Paul to phase back in as Embry phases out. Paul starts to think about his encounter with Bella. He can't control the glee he feels now that he was able to tell Bella off. Getting her to cry was just a bonus, Paul snickers.
As Paul continues his patrol a sudden wind comes his way taking his breath away. Paul stops and looks around hoping to find something he could tear apart. Nothing jumps out at Paul until something hits him from behind and roughly shoves Paul down. Disoriented, Paul tries to come to grips with whatever is going on. Paul's vision clears and he sees Jacob standing over him snarling.
"What did you do?" Jacob mentally asks. If there ever was a time that Jacob was glad to have the mind link with his Pack, this is certainly one of them.
"I don't know what you are talking about!" Paul yells back.
"Don't play with me. Don't you dare fucking play with me Lahote! I got a glimpse of your little stunt concerning Bella. I also heard your thoughts and the happiness you had for making her cry and run away. What is wrong with you? Are you that unhappy that you want everyone else miserable too?" Jacob states.
"So what! Yeah, I did it and I enjoyed every minute of it, too! Seeing her cry and crumble without Sam and especially you, always saving her sorry lily white ass, just made my day! I won't apologize for telling that broad the truth!"
"Lahote, you know nothing about the truth!"
"You're one to talk, Baby Alpha! You're head is so far up her ass that you can't smell the shit all around you!"
"I'm so far up her ass, you say? Look at this and you tell me how far my head is up her ass again," Jacob told Paul as he remembered everything from that day.
"To say that Paul was shocked is an understatement. Remorse flooded Paul. He didn't believe Bella could change, let alone be honest with anyone, especially herself. Nevertheless, Jacob showed Paul everything, including how his wolf came to its final decision about Bella and what they were going to do about it.
"I am so sorry, man. I... I didn't know. I just saw her and heard her excuses and just couldn't take it anymore. But, that's no excuse. I hope you find her and convince her about how you and your wolf feels about her," Paul said after watching everything from Jacob's point of view.
Jacob moved off of Paul. While he accepted Paul's apology, he wasn't ready to forgive and forget, especially if he didn't find Bella before she did something without thinking. Jacob just looked at Paul. Jacob understood his Pack brother's protectiveness and his need to cause pain. However, that was never an excuse to go to the extremes that Paul did.
"Have you tried going back home? She always seems to find herself there," Paul says to Jacob tentatively.
Jacob was shocked at Paul's incredible observation of Bella. It was a great idea since Bella almost always found her way to his door. Jacob's anger towards Paul started to dissipate more and more. Jacob knew that Paul could be a tool, but his loyalty was unbreakable.
"Thanks man. I didn't think of that," Jacob said honestly, even a bit bashfully.
"That's why I'm the brains of this operation. Tsk. I mean seriously, you hang around with the Joker and the bookworm waaay to much…" says Paul.
Jacob just chuckled at Paul's, unsurprisingly accurate, observation.
" Yeah, you're right, but at least I am not the one in a bromance with Sam and Jared," Jacob teased.
"Hey, at least my bromance is with some manly men and not dorks like those other two...Wait a minute what did you say? Hell, what did I just say?" Paul says while struggling to admit what he really thought.
Jacob just grinned at Paul. "Well the womanizer does have deeper feelings. I'm really proud of you, Paul."
"Shut it, Black. I don't need your smartass comments right now. By the way, don't you have a girl to find?"
"You're right, I do," replies Jacob with a smile. With a two finger salute Jacob runs off and phases into his wolf to travel faster. After some time Jacob comes upon his house and sees Charlie's cruiser, but not Bella's car.
Jacob was beginning to become frustrated because it seems as if he keeps just missing Bella. Out if the corner of his eye, Jacob spots Embry in the woods by his house. He decides that talking to Embry wouldn't hurt and may help him find where Bella went. Jacob never noticed the track marks on the road that leads to his house, nor the footprints in the loose dirt. He loped along until he met up with Embry.
"Hey, bro. Has Bella come this way?" Jacob asks Embry. Jacob anticipated meet his love so much that he almost missed the nervous thought Embry had until he too shut down his thoughts. Jacob began to have a sinking feeling in his stomach as he started piecing together everything.
"Not you too! Embry how could you?! You of all people know how I feel about Bella!" Jacob mentally yells at Embry.
"Look, man. I did what I did for you! You need to move on! That girl isn't worth all of this pain that you went through!" Embry exclaims. Jacob knew that Embry felt that he was doing the right thing, but like Paul until recently, neither knew what happened or why he was so adamant about finding Bella.
"I am only going to explain this once Embry. I'm going to talk to you and not kick your ass like I just did Lahote…"
"What do you mean?" Embry says startled by the vehemence of Jacob's tone.
"I mean that I just kicked Paul's ass for his actions against Bella. I know that you did something too, but I do know that your actions wouldn't be malicious, but more calculating. So before I force you, tell me what happened when you saw Bella."
Embry really took notice of his brother for the first time. The old Jacob wasn't standing in front of him. Here is a new man who accepted and embraced himself and his responsibilities. The drastic change in his brother was startling, but not nearly unwelcome as he originally feared.
"Fine. I saw Bella. Okay?! I crossed in front of her car before she could go any further. I ran into the woods and she followed. We talked. Sort of…"
"What do you mean "sort of"?"
"I mean that I had to try and get her to make sense because what she was babbling about was confusing. She finally started talking and I made the decision to send her away."
"Send her away? What do you mean?"
Embry could feel the tight coils of restraint starting to loosen as he spoke about Bella and his confrontation. Embry couldn't help but wonder where all of this was coming from. It seems that something more happened than even Bella knew about. Things have certainly changed since Jacob went away.
"We talked. She explained how she felt about you and Cullen, why she looked a hot mess in a ripped and dirty wedding dress, and why she was trying not to find you."
"Embry, that doesn't make sense."
"Look, just let me show you everything. I was a bit confused too. At least you will understand why I acted the way I did."
Embry began to remember his conversation with Bella. He hoped that this will put Jacob's mind to rest. What he was really curious about was Jacob's drastic changes. Sure, Jacob looked the same, but his entire demeanor is different, especially his wolf.
Jacob watched Embry's interaction with Bella. He had to admit that he was beginning to get frustrated with both Embry and Bella thinking that they knew what was best for him. Jacob started to pay more attention when Embry remembered walk her to her car. Seeing everything from Embry's viewpoint made Jacob wish for a simpler time. A time before everything and everyone started going to shit. At this thought Jacob's wolf grumbled.
Jacob's wolf needed to find Bella before it was too late. Both man and wolf knew that Bella was fragile right now and and more pushing and pulling could break her worse than what Cullen did by leaving her in the forest alone. Jacob's wolf became impatient. He felt that they had gathered all the information they needed and should move again to intercept Bella. Neither knew or believed that Edward would leave Bella alone just like that.
"Alright, Embry. I've seen enough. I'm going after Bella, but you better believe that we are going to talk about this when I get back."
"You got it boss. If you don't mind me asking, what gives? How and when did things change, Jacob?"
Jacob showed Embry everything he showed Paul. Embry's mind stuttered to a stop once he realized the entirety of the matter and just how deep things went between Jacob and Bella. Embry was ashamed of his actions, but he held faith that Jacob and Bella could work everything out in the end. Now Embry began to understand the difference in his brother. Jacob's wolf also matured and decided to act as it should. Embry decided to ponder this a bit more after Jacob leaves.
Jacob finish showing Embry everything. Twice he's had to prove and validate not only his feelings, but Bella's as well. This didn't sit right with Jacob. He knew what needed to be done. However, first things first, get the girl then step into Alpha role, retract the treaty his great-grandfather made with the Cullens, and personally kick them out of the state of Washington. With this in mind Jacob nods at Embry and begins to make his way back to the Swan's house. Hopefully, Bella was there, alone, so that he could talk some sense into the girl.