The last chapter I posted did not show up in the story lineup. Hopefully this one will. Again I do not own the Twilight series.

Cliff Diving

Jacob rode home with me. It was his turn to run the circuit through the woods around my house and back to La Push searching for a fresh scent of Victoria. I hoped she would just forget about me, but I knew that would probably not happen. The threat of her coming back was always just behind my consciousness.

The house was dark when we pulled up leaving Jacob free to walk me to the door. We wouldn't want to have to try to come up with an excuse for Charlie as to why he rode back from La Push with me or how he planned to get home. "Be careful," I said softly into Jacob's neck as I hugged him tightly at the door.

"Bells," he said taking my face in both of his hands and looking into my eyes. "Paul is already in wolf form back at La Push. If I smell anything, he will know and the rest of them will come running before the bloodsucker even realizes we're here."

"You're so confident Jake, but I've seen how deadly they can be. I just worry about you and your friends risking your lives to protect me."

"I've told you that becoming a werewolf didn't exactly thrill me, but I am a werewolf. I've accepted that. And I am a werewolf for one reason and that is to protect people from leeches. We'll protect you," he insisted and then leaned in to kiss me to punctuate his declaration.

I allowed myself to get swallowed up in the passion of our embrace. Our kisses were becoming more and more intimate. I had always had to be so timid when I kissed Edward. With Jacob, I was free to explore. My tongue explored his mouth. My hands explored the ripples of his muscular back and chest. Jacob did his fair share of exploring as well. His hands caressed my back. His lips traced a hot line from my ear to my collar bone. I gasped and clutched at his shoulders.

"Did you like that?" he whispered, the look on his face revealing that he knew full well that I did.

"Um hmm," I purred and lay my head against his massive chest.

"Hey Bells," Jacob said abruptly after a few moments of silence. "The weather is supposed to be great tomorrow. Why don't you bring a bathing suit with you, and we can finally go cliff diving."

I was hit with a sudden wave of panic. "Um, I don't kn…"

"You're not going to chicken out are you?" he asked tilting my chin upward so we could see eye to eye. "What happened to the brave girl who attacked me by the fire tonight?"

"I don't think that can be considered an attack considering your over exuberant participation."

"Come on, you know you'll like it," he pleaded. "It will be just like riding the bikes. Only you shouldn't have to make any trips to the ER." He smiled his broad, Jacob smile.

"Cliff diving it is then," I said reaching up on my tip toes to kiss him again. "I work until noon. I'll be over afterward."

"It's a date." Jacob took a step back and removed his shirt.

"Um…What's with the strip tease?"

"I forgot to leave my shirt at home," he said rolling his eyes at me. "Do you mind hanging on to this for me. I can put my shorts on the strap on my ankle."

I looked down at the black cord around his left lower leg. "I wondered why you were wearing that." I took the shirt from him and held it to my face, breathing in his scent from it. It made me smile. "I'll miss you," I called to him in a whisper as he strolled toward the woods.

Faster than should have been possible, I was back in his arms. We shared one last kiss. He sat me back down gently. I leaned forward and made a little circle with my tongue on his bare chest and then placed a soft kiss over the spot. He shuddered and closed his eyes. "See ya tomorrow, Bells," he said in his low husky voice, and then he ran into the woods.

I quietly went into the house. I could hear Charlie snoring as soon as I walked into the kitchen. I sniffed Jacob's shirt again and got the same goofy smile across my face. I was becoming such a sap.

I got ready for bed quickly and climbed under the covers. It was well past midnight and I had to work at 9:00 am. My head hit the pillow and I began to relax, then the panic hit. I was going cliff diving. I thought back to my original reason for wanting to go, but I had since sworn off my hallucinations. I had quit them cold turkey, and I had been successful. I didn't want to have one now, or did I? I had been so happy over the past two weeks; I hadn't taken much time to think of Edward at all. Several of the times I had thought about him, it was out of frustration. I was angry that he had left me to deal with the not-so-nice vampires on my own. If he was going to leave me, the least he could have done was let the others of his kind know that we were no longer an item. I really don't know how I had expected him to accomplish this. I highly doubted there were any web-sites devoted to such proclamations, and Victoria and Laurent didn't seem like the type that would check their voice mail too often. But still, I was irritated just the same.

I made myself think about him now. I thought about how he used to climb in my bedroom window and lie next to me while I slept. Those times together had been the most intimate we shared. And now, I chuckled a little to myself as a thought occurred to me: Jacob and my last study session lying on our stomachs on the living room floor: our hips touching, our feet intertwined. Yes, doing my Calculus homework last night had been more intimate than all of the times Edward had shared my bed.

I got up and walked over to my desk chair where I had deposited Jacob's shirt when I came in. I picked it up and sniffed it again. I removed my own thread bare T-shirt, put Jake's on in its place, and crawled back in bed. I wasn't sure if I would be able to get to sleep with the silly grin on my face that the smell of the shirt put there, but I was going to enjoy myself while I tried. I took another deep breath, appreciating the tingles that the scent induced. I was going cliff diving with my Jacob, because it was something fun that we wanted to do together. I was not going for the purpose of hearing Edward's voice. I decided that I really didn't care if I heard him or not, and I drifted off to sleep, silly grin and all.

Jacob was right. By the time my shift at Newton's was over, it was nearly eighty degrees. I changed into my lilac tankini bathing suit and put a pair of denim shorts and a purple tank top over it. My apprehension returned when I rounded the last corner to La Push, but this time, it was the actual jump that had me worried. Until recently, when I had started seeking my hallucinations, I had never been into anything more extreme than going to the pool for the afternoon without sun block. Maybe Jacob will forget, I thought, but as I pulled into his drive less than a minute later, I saw he was sitting on his front step with a towel over his shoulder. He most definitely had not forgotten.

"You can do this Bella," I whispered and then opened my door.

I was greeted by my favorite warm set of arms wrapped around me seemingly before my feet hit the ground outside of my truck. We kissed as though we hadn't seen each other in days rather than hours, but that's how it usually was with us. Once we had started kissing, it was like we always wanted more.

"Are you ready?" he finally asked breaking his lips away from mine.

"As ready as I'm gonna get."

We chatted about my shift at Newton's and his patrols on our way to First Beach. We left our towels and clothes there, so they would be where we needed them after we jumped. I was a little self conscious about Jacob seeing me in only my bathing suit, they are not conducive to hiding flaws. I nervously pulled the top down so it completely covered my mid drift and adjusted the bottoms. I glanced over at Jacob's perfectly sculpted torso and felt a sudden urge to put my clothes back on and just jump in those. I blushed bright red when I noticed that not only had Jacob noticed that I was checking him out, again, but Jake was doing a little checking out of his own. I turned to face him and stood with my arms held out to the sides as if to display the suit. Jacob made a horizontal circular motion with his finger. I spun around to let him get the 360 view.

He slowly stepped to me, stopping just inches away. "You look beautiful."

The look on his face let me know the sincerity in his statement. I felt more beautiful in that moment than I ever had before in my life. I reached up and put my arms around his neck. He lifted me off the ground and we shared yet another kiss. I wondered if someday I would get tired of kissing Jacob so much. I hoped not.

Jacob led the way up the path to the lower cliff. I listened to the sound of the waves gently caressing the shoreline. The sun felt wondrous on my shoulders, and I was proud of the fact that I did not fall down once on our ascent. I was grateful that I had thought to bring an old pair of tennis shoes, because I didn't think I would have been so pleased with the hike if I had been barefoot. It didn't seem to bother Jacob. I guess that must be another wolf thing.

We soon reached the cliff. Jacob took my hand and we slowly walked toward the edge. We stopped with our toes hanging just beyond the rim. I looked at him and saw the confidence in his face. I knew that I would be safe. "I'm going to go first, so I'll be in the water already if you have trouble. I'll swim over that way." Jacob pointed off to the left. "There is a sandbar that reaches out that way, and we'll be able to walk the rest of the way in." He dropped my hand and took a few steps back. "See ya in the water," he said and then he took a running leap off of the edge doing a flip and a half before gracefully entering the water head first.

"Show off," I muttered under my breath when he resurfaced.

I took five steps back just to be sure I would clear the cliff on the way down. I took a deep breath in and blew it out slowly. My heart raced with anticipation. I thought of Jacob waiting for me in the ocean below. I sprinted forward.