Authors note: My longest chapter to date, about 800 words. enjoy, and please review )

I grew aware that I'd been staring at Edward with my mouth gaping open while he spoke, and closed it quickly.

He spoke with such raw emotion in his beautiful voice, his whole frame shaking with pain.

I could see in his eyes that he meant every word that fell from his lips.

A thousand voices were accumulating in my head, arguments blaring from every side:

Take him back! He loves you! You love him! Do it!

He lied to you! He left you! You have Jacob now!

You don't love Jacob!

I DO!

You love them both..

But Edward is your soul mate.

He had finished speaking, and his entire body seemed to slump from exhaustion, as if the words had taken away a part of him. His hands shook, his eyes pleaded, his entire body seemed to crumble with sheer misery.

My heart swelled in my chest as I whispered,

"Edward"

He stepped towards me, a joyous spring in his light step; his cool hand stroked my cheek, and I wanted to explode with happiness, to throw my arms around his neck and press my face to his icy throat, to feel his satiny lips on mine…

CRASH

My window-frame shook violently as a heavy object slammed against it, and I leapt away from Edward in shock.

A face leered at me from behind the glass, its scowl evident through the sleet and fog:

Jacob black was outside my window.

Edward snarled, moving as if to protect me, shielding me with his arms.

"No! he's okay!", I said, struggling behind his iron guard.

"He's a filthy stinking wolf, that's what he is!", he shouted.

"Bella?", came Jacobs deep voice, full of confusion and a hint of dread,

"what are you doing?"

I opened my mouth to speak.

"what are YOU doing??", interrupted Edward rudely, continuing to make protective motions towards me.

A part of me was puzzled. Id never heard Edward be rude before in all the time that I had known him.

"Me?", Jacob asked in mock surprise.

I sensed a storm that had nothing to do with the weather outside.

"Me?", he repeated, "Oh, I'm just her boyfriend"

"Boyfriend??", demanded Edward, glaring franticly from me to Jacob and back again.

"Yeah, boyfriend. Also known as Significant other? Male companion? Sugar daddy?", quipped Jacob sarcastically, and I fought the urge to laugh at the sense of humor that I loved about him.

A new wave of pain washed over Edwards face, and I felt a stab of guilt.

"You didn't think she'd wait around forever did you? After what you did to her? After you told her you didn't want her anymore?", spat Jacob menacingly, his voice soft and deadly. His eyes were glittering darkly, his mouth (which so often grinned goofily) was turned down at the corners and his lips were curled back over his gleaming teeth.

Occasional shudders ripped through his tall lean body, as his incredibly height seemed to fill my tiny room.

Edward, my past, my vampire, stood glowingly pale and perfect behind me, while Jacob, my present, my werewolf, stood before me.

The room was full of rage: the very air itself seemed to teem with something sinister, as the tension smothered us in a thick choking cloud. The sensation was not unlike a heavy blanket on a warm day.

"You don't deserve her", said Jacob quietly, his eyes were full of a burning pity.

Edward cleared his throat, and I turned around to face him. He stared over my shoulder at Jacob.

"Its not about if I deserve her, nor about if I should have her. It is about me being irrevocably in love with her, you fool.(A sigh of frustration rumbled in his chest) If she loves me, she will choose me regardless of whether or not she thinks I deserve her or not. If she no longer loves me, due to my many faults and mistakes, she will choose you (his voice trembled with rage at the word), although you, not I, are the one that does not deserve her", he said slowly. His voice was cold and sharp, as icy as his skin, but nowhere near as welcoming.

Jacob struggled to compose himself, hissing,

"I was the one that put her back together after you ripped her to shreds! My friends were the ones that found her! I was here after you left!"

I heard Edward wince. No doubt he could see me, broken on the forest floor in Jacobs mind.

I shuddered at the memory.

"instead of frightening her with your oafish accusations, dog, why not ask her? Don't you care about what SHE might actually want?", said Edward smoothly, directing his gaze at me.

"Bella?", he said softly.

"Bells?", whispered Jake.

"I..I."

Words failed to come to my tongue as a curtain of black velvet swung over my eyes.