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"You can't always get what you want." – Jagger & Richards – Rolling Stones

Chapter VI

Bella's POV

I hated this silence, I hated having the same dream over and over, the same one I had the last night I spent with Jacob.

More than anything, I hated that he avoided me again today. It had been three days now.

I hadn't spoken to him since the movie night. When I stopped at Billy's, Jacob was always out.

When I asked Embry or Jared, when I was at Emily's and they showed up for food, they stammered some poor laughable excuses and squirmed until I dropped it.

I tried to get something out of Sam once, but I might as well have tried to break a brick wall with my head.

I paced my room to no avail, and I turned to face the chair with his black shirt still on it. He never claimed it and I didn't mind having it resting there.

Well I usually didn't mind, but I felt the shirt judging me today.

Stupid shirt.

I toyed with my cell phone, looking at the display.

Jake – Home

I could have called him once again, but I didn't feel like listening to Billy's excuses.

I threw my phone on my bed out of frustration.

This was stupid. I needed to get out of here. I was supposed to head to Emily's after school but I forgot a book I needed for my studies.

Well I didn't really need it, but I hadn't felt like heading straight over there and facing the collective silence of the pact once again. Emily always tried to cheer me up, but all I wanted was to talk to Jacob.

So I had come home, eaten and watched some television, trying hard to not think about him.

This was childish; I grabbed my car keys and headed downstairs. I would get my answers.

***

I drove all the way to La Push as fast as I could. To be honest, as fast as my faithful vehicle allowed me to.

The sun had set less then an hour before, dusk had settled in giving the woods an eerie feel.

I worked myself into DEFCON 1.

Well, I wasn't really sure what it meant, but when I watched some military movies with Charlie, they always sounded so serious using that word during war crises.

I crossed into Quileute territory. I wasn't going to take no for an answer from any of them.

Jacob needed to be reminded that I never gave up on him, on us, and he had no right to do so.

After it happened, I understood why he stayed away from me when he learned about his mystical transformation. It nearly broke me again as I almost spiralled down once more into my abysmal apathy.

I could be honest about it now. I had been very fragile when he had brought me back to life, or the quasi state of awareness and interaction I had attained at that point.

I was a lot better now thanks to him and his friends, and this time I knew he had absolutely no good reason to withdraw from our relationship.

What our relationship was exactly was difficult to define. The line blurred somewhere between friends and something else.

I was brought out of my mental debate when something furry ran out in the middle of the road, illuminated by my headlights.

Reflexively, I swerved toward the side of the road and I felt my world shaking out of control as I fought the steering wheel to regain control of my truck as I felt the back of my truck dangerously forcing me into a spin.

I heard a loud explosion sound and my truck and I finally lost our fight against inertia and spun at least three or four times on our original axis after I kicked down with all my strength on the brakes.

When the truck finally came to a stop in the middle of the road in a shower of sparks, I was holding on the steering wheel so hard my knuckles were white.

After what felt like at least four eternities, I relaxed my grip, breathed deep and hard and started to laugh out loud nervously.

I pulled on my hazard button and looked at both sides of the road as my truck stood perpendicular to the two lanes.

I never felt so glad to live in a small community with laughable traffic.

Once my laugh died out, I started to shake like a leaf. I knew I was about 15 minutes away from Billy's place on foot, but I couldn't leave my truck there.

I dug my shaking hand in my jacket pocket fiddling for my phone and it was missing. I frantically tried my other pocket. No phone.

I needed to call Charlie. He would come pick me up and he could send out a tow truck for mine.

I tried my jeans pockets, nothing. I never left the house without it. Where the hell was it?

I felt like I jumped out of my skin when a hand slammed on the side of my truck as someone banged into my truck to stop his run. I yelped out loud, putting a hand over my mouth as my brain tried to make sense of what I was looking at.

Little Seth Clearwater was looking at me through the passenger window.

Well, not-so-little anymore Seth Clearwater I should say.

Shirtless, not-so-little Seth stared at me, I could see his lips moving but all I could hear was my heart pounding like a drummer in a punk rock concert in my ears and the deafening sound of my truck's engine roaring in the background.

I tried to make sense of it.

Why was Seth shirtless?

Why didn't I have my phone with me?

Was it a racoon that ran in front of me?

I finally turned the key of my truck to stop my engine and extended my arm to roll down the passenger window, my hand shaking even more violently.

Seth looked at me with uncertainty.

"Bella, are you alright?" he asked, visibly concerned.

Shirtless Seth started to get blurry around the edges and I literally felt the blood pump in my ears.

"Bella, stay with me. Jake is on his way," he said gently taking my hand in is.

The name seemed to send a rush of my blood past my drumming ears to my brain and I slowly steadied my breathing.

My eyes focused on Seth and the blurring slowly faded away.

His hand felt so warm in mine.

"How does Jake knows I am here?" I inquired, my shaking lips breaking my voice, and it barely passed as a murmur.

He looked back at the dark tree line.

"Jared, please give me a hand. We need to move the truck to the side of the road," he said toward the forest.

Moments later, a tall form walked out of the forest. Jared in cut off dark jeans shorts, also shirtless.

Jared muttered something under his breath that I couldn't hear, leaped on the box of my truck and jumped over the other side to land on the road beside my door.

Seth gently grabbed me by the arm and slid me toward the passenger seat as Jared opened the driver's side door.

"How can such a little girl attract so much bad luck?" Jared said looking over me at Seth, shaking his head.

Jared put my truck on the neutral gear, rolled down the window and closed the door.

I resented that. I don't attract bad luck. Well, not that much anyway.

I looked at Jared who was still smirking, proud of his little affirmation, and to the other side to Seth.

They both pushed my truck, with Jared turning the wheel to orient it toward the side of the road.

They finally stopped pushing when my truck was safely parked on the side of the road.

I knew I missed something, but my brain could barely function right, trying to hold back from breaking down.

Seth opened the door and I nearly fell down face first when I got out as my legs gave out on me.

Seth caught me and leaned me back against the side of the truck.

"Take it easy Bella," he ushered comfortingly.

My entire body was shaking as the entirety of the last 15 minutes came crashing back down onto me.

"You sure know how to pick em brother," I heard Jared say as I turned around.

Jake was running toward us, shirtless of course. The moon shone down on his russet skin, highlighting his muscular frame.

"Shut up Jared," Jake spat back, growling.

Jared snorted and headed back toward the forest.

"Come on, Seth," he said with an authoritative tone of voice.

Jake gently grabbed me by the shoulders staring into my eyes, his warm hands over my now chilly, shaking body.

Seth took a couple of steps back, looking at us.

"Thanks, Seth. I'll take it from here," Jake said his voice strained.

I was shaking worse now, looking up into Jake's eyes filled with a mix of anger and fear. I couldn't hear the other two walk away, but I felt them leave.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" he asked, slowly emphasizing each word.

I fought back tears, still shaking, and started to hit him repeatedly in the chest with my closed fists.

"You promised you wouldn't leave me again!" I yelled at him, but my voice quickly cracked as I broke down sobbing.

I was still hitting him without much force behind my blows and I knew I wasn't hurting him one bit. In fact, I felt like I was banging on a cement wall.

"You promised!" I kept repeating over and over.

He crushed me toward him in a hug and I gave up, curling into his chest sobbing as I let everything I had bottled up over the last minutes out.

Over the last days I should say.

There in the darkness beside my truck, he held me silently, protectively.

After awhile, something finally connected in my brain, like two pieces of a puzzle coming together.

I sobbed for a little while, and finally when I felt my voice would be strong enough I tried to ask him something but it came out muffled in his chest.

"What?" he replied, backing a little, looking down at me.

"Is Seth a werewolf too?" I asked, wiping the tears from my faces with the back of my jacket.