Thank you if you have added my story as a favourite! Much appreciated. I had a bit of a giggle writing this chapter; it's a bit more light hearted in places. Hope you enjoy it x

CHAPTER 15

"Don't you ever, ever do that to me again!" Jacob's voice was so angry that I held the phone away from my ear, relieved we were not face-to-face. Edward glanced across at me and I turned away from his concerned face.

"I'm sorry, Jake..."

"You could have been a hell of a lot sorrier," he growled. "I did not say that you were completely safe! Why did you think I was putting bodies outside the venues you told me you were going to? Surely it crossed your mind that if I was still putting a guard around you it was not safe for you to be alone!"

"I know, I know," I started to say.

"That's just it though, you don't know, do you? Shit, Bella! I lost you once; I couldn't face losing you again."

"I'm sorry," I sobbed. Edward crossed the room and placed a hand on my shoulder. Jacob took a deep breath on the end of the phone, obviously trying to calm himself. When he spoke again, his voice was more or less back to normal.

"Oh don't cry, Bells, you know I love you. That's why I'm mad, sweetheart. He is still in Forks and we still have him heavily guarded. But there is always a chance with him..."

"Jake, you know he's a vampire, right?" I said, wiping the tears from my eyes. There was a long silence and when he spoke again, Jacob's voice was tight with suppressed anger.

"I know he's a blood sucker, yes," he said, eventually. "I just wondered how long it would take for you to remember that part."

"Remember? You could have reminded me..." I was astounded that he knew and hadn't told me.

"No, Bella, I couldn't. I tried once and you looked at me like I'd lost the plot. I don't know what the freak did to you, but you were adamant he was just a psycho, not a vampire psycho."

"How can you take him on? Jake, I'm worried for you. For all of you..."

"Bella, I want you to think about yourself, not us. We are perfectly safe. Trust me, their sort are well aware that they cannot attack us and live so easily."

"I don't understand..."

"This is not something for us to talk about now, Bella. Maybe next time I see you properly, when I'm a bit calmer..."

"You're still mad with me?" I gulped. Jacob laughed; a small bitter sound and I pictured him glaring at his phone.

"It will take me a while, Bella," he said.

"Oh."

"Look, I've got to go now. I'm glad you're safe, but don't do that again, or I won't be speaking to you on the phone; it will be face to face and trust me, you don't want that, ok?" His voice was severe, but I had a sudden memory of Charlie using that same tone of voice when I stayed out way past curfew one night when I was fifteen. It made me smile a little at the bitter-sweet memory; I knew Jake cared.

"Ok," I murmured.

"Love you, Bells," he said. I smiled.

"Love you too."

I hung up and turned back to Edward, whose face was like a mask, carefully blank. Nervously, I chewed my lip for a moment and then met his gaze.

"Edward, you know I love him. But it's different. He's the closest I have to a brother. I love you in a whole different way."

I smiled and saw his lips twitch into a sort of half smile, but his eyes were still so sad. I crossed the room quickly and threw myself into his arms. He caught me and I leaned up to kiss him, wanting to show him how I felt about him. He responded, but when he withdrew from our embrace, the sadness was still in his eyes.

"All this new-found honesty is refreshing, Edward," said Alice, in a lightly teasing voice. I looked up from the book I was reading, curled up in an armchair in the corner of Edward's office while he took care of some paperwork. He glanced up and gave her an irritated scowl.

"Alice, I am very busy," he said.

"Did you tell her that you read minds?" she asked, and then clapped a hand over her mouth, when I dropped my book with a clatter. Edward glared at Alice and then turned to face me directly.

"Bella," he started to say.

"You read minds and you didn't think to tell me? You didn't think I might want to know you are reading my mind all the time?" I said, incredulously. Edward looked from Alice and then back to me again and for a moment he looked perplexed.

"That's just the thing though, Bella" he said. "I can read everyone's mind, except for yours. That was what made me so interested in you to start off with. I've never known anyone who could keep their thoughts from me, let alone be completely unaware that they are doing it. I said you fascinate me, my love."

Alice cleared her throat when he moved across the room with that impossible speed to take my chin between his finger and thumb, hovering his lips so close to mine I could feel his sweet breath on my skin.

"Excuse me, I am still in the room," she said. Edward laughed, his lips tickling mine and then kissed me slowly, giving his sister a huge grin as he straightened up.

"Edward, why can't you read my mind?" I asked; when he moved back enough that I could think about something other than his lips so close to mine. "Is there something wrong with me?"

Edward laughed out loud and dropped a gentle kiss on my brow.

"Ah, my love, there is the reason I love you so much. I tell you I can read minds and you ask if there is something wrong with you!" He laughed again, shaking his head, as he moved back to his desk.

"Most vampires have a skill of some sort," said Alice. "Jazz is exceptionally good at reading emotions and projecting them. He's also very good at... oh I nearly forgot you were in the room, Edward." I swallowed a giggle at the expression on her brother's face; his lip had curled back into a snarl that looked so animalistic that for a brief moment I caught sight of the vampire he was. The expression left his face so swiftly though that I didn't have time to dwell on it.

"Alice, I do not need images like that in my head. Could you at least try to control your thoughts?" he bit out.

"What did you show him?" I asked. Alice looked at me, her eyes gleaming with laughter.

"Just a particularly lovely image I keep in my head of Jazz getting up in a morning, his beautiful peachy bottom heading across the bedroom..."

"Oh my God, Alice, too much!" I cried, knowing I would never be able to look at Mr Hale in the same way again. Alice giggled loudly.

"At least you didn't get inundated with images of said peach," grumbled Edward. He glared at Alice. "Bear in mind that if Jasper knows you are discussing his anatomy with us he will not be best pleased."

"Jazz knows me well enough to know I would never reveal anything too personal," she replied, waving a nonchalant hand in Edward's direction. "Anyway, back to vampire skills... Emmett as you have seen is strong as an ox. He was always strong, even before he changed, but since then he has become incredibly powerful. He has to hold back quite a bit when we get any trouble in the club, but he is able to read people pretty well and knows how much is just enough to get the message across, if that makes sense. That's why he is the enforcer around here. He knows when to stop at a quiet word and when he needs to be a bit more... forceful."

"The only time Emmett has ever had to be 'forceful' is with his darling girlfriend," retorted Edward.

"As if he ever lays a hand on Rosalie," scoffed Alice.

"He's tried," I commented. "But she usually hits back twice as hard. And he feels so bad when she hurts her fists on him."

Alice giggled.

"It's always good to know that Emmett has met his match," she said.

"And you see the future," I murmured, remembering her conversation with Edward over the phone months before, when she had thought me asleep. Edward chuckled darkly at the shocked expression on Alice's face.

"Didn't see that coming did you, sister," he said, smugly. "My Bella is very astute." I felt my skin flush at him calling me his, but it was a warmth in my heart that caused it; his Bella. And I knew all I wanted to be, for the rest of my days, was Edward's Bella.