I am so proud of myself right now:: I am churning out these chapters like butter. I'm getting back into my mode of updating quickly!

Although, I think the only reason I got the chance to get this chapter done so quickly, is because I didn't have work yesterday. But I have work today (I'm actaully posting this right before I leave for work) so I don't know what time I'll have to write some more. But I will write quickly and efficiently as I can!!

Disclaimer: Twilight is not mine, none of the characters, nor any of the components


Chapter Eight, Anger From The Other Side

Bella

Two months can fly by fast when you're in a state of perpetual happiness. And that's what I was – perpetually happy. All thanks to Edward Cullen. The more time we spent together, the happier I got. We spent a majority of our time together in the meadow – the one place where Edward wasn't bothered with other people's thoughts, and spent most of the time trying to pick at mine. But we also stayed at his house a good number of times. Rosalie still didn't like me much, but she didn't vocalize it – giving only dirty looks to show her deep displeasure with Edward and me's relationship. But that was a step up from being plain insulted, so I appreciated her silence, and the rest of the Cullen was more than friendly with me, so it was easy to forget that she was looming in the background.

Esme was wonderful – sweet, kind and very motherly, just as Edward had said – and had made it a point to keep food in the house in case I visited, and was quick to whip something up in an instant. Carlisle, though very busy at the hospital where he worked, was always a calming presence when he stepped into the room, and engaged me in thoughtful and stimulating conversations and debates, ones I started to look forward to once I had enough knowledge for ammo to back my points up. Emmett was all fun and games – cards, board games, and even once, an intense game of hide-and-seek. I thought fondly of that particular game, because while Esme looked around for all of us, Edward and I hid together in a closet and promptly got involved with other activities that had nothing to do with hide-and-seek.

And Jasper…well, he was the quietest of them all, following Rosalie of course, who simply refuse to speak to me. But I didn't think he did it out of dislike for me. When he was up for conversation and games, he was just as fun as everyone else, but most times, he was doing his own thing in his room.

"He doesn't mean to be antisocial," Edward told me in confidence. "He's just trying to adjust to having your presence around. I'm not the only one who thinks your scent is tempting. And he's messed up before…"

I nodded understandingly. Alice ended up telling me the same thing a couple days later, when Jasper had declined to coming to the movies with the rest of us. "He'll warm up to you soon enough though," Alice said with a knowing smile. "Just give him time."

And he did: by the time the first snow came in early December, Jasper was out with the rest of us during one of our many snowball fights.

Everything was just going so well. I did have a few sad days, mainly because of Jacob - since our fight the night of Halloween, I hadn't heard from him, and he wouldn't return any of my calls. But now, it was winter vacation, which only meant more time to spend with my favorite person and his wonderful family.

But of course, with more time dedicated to my favorite person.

It was Sunday morning, and I was waiting for Edward in an oversize black v-neck shirt and no bottoms. Underneath, I was wearing a new set of red lacy panties and a matching bra – courtesy of Alice's foreign catalogs. And this time, I paid for this particular set, despite Alice's need to buy me thousands and thousands of things.

Sunday mornings had become a regular thing for Edward and I. It was the one time of day we both knew we could always have to ourselves, since Charlie went out in the mornings. And since our first time together two months ago, I could always count on Edward to come to my bedroom every Sunday at this time. Each time didn't necessarily mean there was a sexual encounter – though if I could have it my way, there would be – but there had been some wonderful Sundays that were clothing optional. And even though I hoped for today to be one of those Sundays, it was still wonderful to have a couple of hours with Edward to myself.

As I laid in bed, absently flipping through a magazine while I waited, I heard a knock on the front door. Which was odd, because Edward never bothered with the front door and came only to my window.

Maybe Charlie is still here, and he's trying to be polite?

One thing with him was whenever Charlie was here, he acted the role of 'good boyfriend' and came to the front door whenever he came to get me, and endured a few minute of interrogation from Charlie, before promising to have in me back home at whatever hour Charlie posed for that particular night. Even if Edward ended up sneaking into my room only a few minutes later after having me home, where Charlie was concerned, Edward wanted him to have the trust that most father's lacked for their daughter's boyfriend.

I smiled to myself: Edward Cullen is my boyfriend.

I could hardly believe it when the words left Edward's lips – "Will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend, Bella Swan?" – but I know I said 'yes' repeatedly to ensure that he got my point. And two perfect months later…

The knock came again, taking me from my mental journey. I got out of bed and went downstairs. The shirt was long enough to cover my underwear – and possibly a pair of short shorts, had I been wearing any – so I wasn't worried if it turned out to be someone besides Edward.

And it was – when I opened the door, Jacob was standing there.

And he didn't look happy to see me.

I, on the other hand, was ecstatic. I basically missed his sour expression as I threw my arms around him and pulled him in for a close hug. I hadn't seen Jacob since our disagreement in the forest, and seeing him now made me realize just how much I had missed him. I had tried calling him – to apologize, to talk, to hear his voice – but I never heard a word from him. Edward, at one point, told me to forget about him. But he was one of my closest friends after all: I couldn't forget about him just like that.

"Jake, wow," I gushed. "I can't believe you're here. I haven't heard from you in forever. Whenever I called, you never picked up. I thought you were ignoring me."

"I was," he said simply, stepping out of my hug.

Ouch."But you aren't anymore?" I asked tentatively.

"I realized that ignoring you wasn't the most mature route I could take to handle this situation," he replied. His dark eyes took in my attire, and then he said in a tight voice, "I'm guessing you weren't expecting any company today?"

I begun with, "Well I was…" but the stopped immediately, realizing that Jacob did not want to hear about my planned intimacies with Edward. He rose an eyebrow, waiting for me to continue the sentence, but I just shook my head, feeling color coming to my cheeks.

He cleared his throat. "Can I come inside?" he asked.

"Yes, of course," I said quickly, stepping aside to let him in.

He walked slowly, and I closed the door behind him. But he had only taken two or three steps inside, then turned around to face me again. We stood awkwardly like that for what felt like an eternity. There was so much I had wanted to say to Jacob in the weeks of our silence, but now that he was actually in front of me, I found myself tongue-tied. Jacob looked just as nervous and uncomfortable as I felt, but he ended up speaking first.

"I'm sorry," he started. "For what I said that night. I let my anger get the best of me, and I shouldn't have done that." He stopped, his dark eyes finding a spot on the floor. "I'm also sorry," he added in a whisper, "for not telling you the truth. About who I really am."

I was confused at that for a moment, but then I recalled Edward's voice clearly: Jacob is a werewolf.

"It's okay," I said honestly. "I suppose it's not an easy thing to tell anyone."

"But I shouldn't have kept that from you," he said, his eyes finding mine and his expression earnest. "I should have known that you would have understood, and wouldn't have judged me. You're just so nice to everyone Bella. Even to the bloodsucker's family–"

"Don't start with that Jacob," I said dangerously.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "I just wanted to apologize for not telling you sooner, and for the way you had to hear the truth."

I nodded, calmed by his quick switch back to the more important topic. "It's fine. I had had an idea of everything from before. I did research on the Quileute, and got a good idea of everything even before that night."

Jacob cracked a smile. "Bella, researching, why am I not surprised?"

I smiled back. "Well you know me: Google is my best friend."

"I thought I was your best friend?" Jacob whined playfully.

"You can come after Google," I teased back.

Jacob laughed so easily, that I found myself joining in. When we finally settled down, I offered him a drink, momentarily forgetting that I had been expecting Edward. We sat down in the living room with our drinks, and shared a few more moments of playful banter.

Then Jacob set his glass down on the coffee table in front of him, "Apologizing wasn't the only reason I came over, Bells," he said in a serious tone.

I was lying back on the recliner to the left of Jacob, who was on the sofa, but I sat up at the shift in his tone of voice. He gave me a serious but apprehensive look, as if he knew what he wanted to talk about, but was afraid to do so.

Which instantly led me to what he was trying to say.

"I'm fine," I said quickly.

"You're fine right now," Jacob said. "But who knows when that guy could snap–"

"Edward is not going to 'snap'," I said in a sure voice. "He cares about me."

"But you're spending time at their house, with all those other blo–" he stopped himself quickly, "–ones, and you don't know what they're capable of."

"Of course I do," I said. "They don't drink human blood. We've been over this before. You don't have anything to worry about."

"I have everything to worry about," Jacob insisted. "One of theirs in the coven, the last time they were here, killed people. Thankfully it wasn't anyone close to me or my family, but a life is a life. This time around, it is someone close to me, and someone I care about – you. I'm not about to let the same thing happen again."

My mind flashed to Jasper, and why he was avoiding me so heavily. Was this why? Then I shook it off – Jasper wasn't avoiding me anymore. And Edward never brought me around unless every family member's eyes were a shimmering gold. "You're overreacting," I said. "That was a long time ago, and it's not like that anymore."

"You weren't here Bella."

"Well you couldn't have been much older than five or six when they were here last anyway," I said snappishly.

Jacob was quiet, conceding to my point. But then he said, "You never forget. And I'm the Alpha around here now, so the responsibility is on me."

"Alpha?"

Jacob blushed slightly. "It's just the term we use for leader. It's what my pack members call me." The he shook his head. "That's another story."

"Well why don't we talk about that instead?" I said, in part curious about Jacob's story. The online information said they weren't quite werewolves, because they could shift to their wolf forms at any given time, as opposed to only when there was a full moon. But another part of me just wanted to get off the topic of the Cullens.

"It's for another day," Jacob said, sticking to his current point. "I know I can't dictate what you do Bella – you made that blatantly clear before. But I can't sit around quietly while you continuously put yourself at risk. You can understand that, can't you?"

"I could, if I was actually at risk."

"You aren't thinking clearly!" he roared. "You have no idea what 'Edward' is capable of." He said his name in a sneer. "He could easily restrain you, and drain you dry, then dispose of what's left of you any-old-where. Do you want that for yourself?"

"Edward would never do that."

"Your blind trust is starting to irk me Bella."

"First off, it isn't blind trust," I said sternly. "I have been with Edward, even when he hasn't fed yet, and nothing has happened to me. So I know for a fact, that he would never attack me. Second of all," and I knew it would hurt Jacob for me to say this, but I had to make my point, "you are just as capable of hurting me as he is. Why shouldn't I be afraid of you?"

Jacob looked horrified. "Because I would never, ever hurt you, Bells."

"But Edward would, is that right?"

Jacob looked caught, an expression of frustration on his face. "It's different," he said quietly.

"How so?"

"Because I don't drink blood to survive for god's sake!"

Suddenly I thought about Emily Young. She was one of Sam Uley's – Jacob's friend – girlfriend. And she had the most violent slashes on her face.

"Sam Uley is a werewolf too, isn't he?" I asked Jacob suddenly.

Jacob looked surprised at my question, but then drew connections quickly. "Sam did that by mistake," he said quickly as an explanation. "He loves Emily. That was an accident."

"Who's to say you wouldn't have an 'accident' next to me as well?" I countered.

Jacob growled. "I would never hurt you!" he roared at me.

There was another knock at my door, and Jacob's growling increased. As I got up to get the door, Jacob followed behind me, his anger rising.

Edward was standing there, his eyes just as dark as Jacob's. He wasn't looking at me, his eyes narrowed and focused on Jacob. Easily, without taking his eyes away from him, Edward stepped inside, closed the door and came between Jacob and I, in an almost protective way.

"You need to control that temper of yours," he seethed.

"You need to get the fuck out of my face," Jacob growled back.

"I've never had a problem with you before," Edward said quietly, but fury was laced in his tone, "so I don't want there to have to be one now. So why don't you leave quietly like the little puppy dog you are."

"Edward!" I exclaimed. "Don't say that about–"

"No one asked you to come here, you fucking bloodsucker," Jacob replied. "So why don't you get the fuck out of here?"

"Jacob, you–"

"You expect me to leave Bella here, while you go into this uncontrollable rage? Who knows what you'll be capable of?"

"I would never hurt Bella!" Jacob howled. "It's not like I'm the one clearly in need for a drink of blood right now!"

"That's enough!" I yelled. I could see an angry vein throbbing in Jacob's neck, and Edward was clenching his fist so tightly that I was certain he was going to throw a punch any minute now. "I don't understand why you both have to behave this way."

"Sorry that I can't love this bloodsucker like you do," Jacob said. He turned to me with a hard expression and said, "I guess there is no getting through to you, and there will never be any getting through to you. You're just choosing him over me."

"What?" I said quickly, but Jacob was already heading out the door. I ran after him. "Jake, what are you talking about?"

Jacob spun around quickly and grabbed me roughly by the shoulders, pulling me closer to him. "You better be careful, mutt," I heard Edward say warningly.

Jacob glanced up behind me momentarily, before looking down at my face again. "You just don't get it do you," he said to me quietly. "You just don't understand. I would never hurt you. You would never have to worry about me harming you in any way. Every moment you spend with that guy could be your last one alive."

"I told you–"

"–and trust me, I don't want to hear it again," Jacob said quickly. He sighed. "Bells, I can't…I can't be friends with you if you're going to continue to see him. I don't know how you expect me to just sit by idly as if nothing is wrong while that bloodsucker puts his hands on you."

"Jake, nothing is wrong, I promise,"

"But you can't promise that!" Jacob yelled, shaking me.

Suddenly I was out of Jacob's grasp and behind Edward again. "You better get the fuck out of here before my patience wears out," he growled.

"Try me, asshole," Jacob said challengingly.

"Stop it!" I screamed.

Jacob looked at me, and there was a hint of sorrow in his eyes. "I'm sorry Bella, but if this is your choice, then I hope you can handle these consequences."

"It doesn't have to be this way," I said, stepping out from behind Edward and grabbing Jacob's hand. I didn't realize it until the moment, but there were tears in my eyes. "Stop it Jake, you're being so silly. It doesn't have to be this way at all."

"Yeah," Jacob replied, shrugging me off easily. "It does."

And he turned away from me, and walked off. I called after him, and even ran to catch up with him, but then he shifted – turning into a large slender wolf with russet-colored fur. And when he took off running then, there was no way to catch up to him.

I stood there, frozen, motionless, and pained. After a while, I felt hands laying gently on my shoulders, but I couldn't even turn around. Instead, I brought my own hands up to my face and cried.

Edward

So much for a happy two months, with no turmoil and trouble at all.

Fucking mutt.

Every since that terrible Sunday, Bella had been walking around in an ugly rut. She seemed only half of her usual self, if even that much. She sighed for every other breath, and was extremely unfocused – during conversations, whenever we were together, or with others. I wasn't the only who noticed – Alice asked me repeatedly if there was 'trouble in paradise', and even Jasper told me that he felt something severely troubling her.

I didn't have the heart to admit that Bella was upset of the damn puppy dog, so I told them both that everything was under control.

But it really wasn't – I had no idea what to do. It had been two weeks since the blowup - holidays were over and we were back at school - and Bella still showed no signs of cheering up any time soon.

"Bella, sweetheart," I said gently. "You haven't touched your food."

We were eating dinner at one of the local restaurants. I ended up having to order for Bella, since she was so caught up in her own world, and now her fettuccini chicken alfredo was probably getting cold as she turned it absently with her fork.

Bella looked up at the sound of my voice, her eyes reflecting sadness. "What?" she said softly. "What did you say?"

I gave her a comforting smile. "I said that you haven't touched your food."

She gave me half-smile. "You haven't touched yours either."

"Ha, ha," I replied with a smirk.

Her half-smile became a full one for only a moment, before her eyes dropped back to her plate, and she resumed her sad food-pushing activity.

"Bella," I said softly, reaching my hand across the table to hold her free one. "Talk to me."

"I'm fine," she whispered.

"No you aren't."

She sighed before looking up at me. "I don't want to bother you with all of this…"

She said that each and every time I tried to have this conversation with her. Anytime I tried to ask her what was going on, she told me that she didn't want to 'bother' me with her issues.

I gave her my most honest expression. "When I asked to be your boyfriend, Bella, I asked to be the one to be bothered with your issues. I want to be there for you, Bella, but you have to let me be there."

Bella sighed again, and put her fork down. "It's Jacob," she said quietly.

"I know that it's Jacob," I said.

"I just can't wrap my head around all of this," she said. "I just don't understand why Jacob is acting this way, cutting me out of his life like this and–" her voice broke "–not wanting to be friends anymore."

"He still wants to be friends, I'm sure," I told her. "He just doesn't know how to do that with me in the picture."

"But he says that he's the Alpha of his pack!" she said in frustration. "And he said that being the Alpha makes him the leader, and if he's the leader, can't he just do whatever he wants? Or handle things the way he wants to?" She brought her hands up to her eyes, and it hurt me to see her wiping away tears. "He's choosing for things to be this way. He wants them this way."

"He doesn't want them to be this way. But you can't expect him to go back on years and years worth of culture, history and tradition. He's doing what he thinks is right."

"But it's not right," Bella insisted. "He's so convinced that you're going to hurt me, and I know you wouldn't, and he refuses to believe me. And now he won't even talk to me. I call and call, and he won't pick up. And I know if we could just talk like level-headed people–"

"But how many times have you talked to him about all of this Bella?" I asked her. "And how understanding has he been about all of this in the past?"

"It's because he doesn't understand everything yet," Bella said quickly, and her face looked like she wanted that to be the truth. "I could work to get him to understand things. I could get him to understand…."

Bella's broken expression was breaking me. Fucking dirty mutt. If I knew that it wouldn't make things worse, I would rip the fucking asshole to shreds. Instead, I tried to look sympathetic as Bella tried to compose herself.

"I know, you probably don't want to hear all of this," Bella said, wiping her eyes again. "I know you don't really like him or anything. It's just hard to deal with: Jacob was my first friend when I arrived in Forks. And now…"

"Maybe you and I shouldn't see each other anymore," I suggested, but it pained me to do so. "That way you could work things out with Jacob."

Bella looked at me with wide eyes. "Never," she said quickly, taking my hands in hers. "Edward, you make me happier than anyone else in my life right now. The last thing I want to do is lose you. I can't imagine anyone else who would put up with my mood right now like you are, and I'm so happy to have you here for that." She blushed slightly as she added, "Among other things of course."

Inside, I skipped, but I kept my expression neutral for Bella: I knew it wasn't the time yet to smile gleefully. "I just wish," she sighed, "that I could have you both, that's all." Then she glanced back down at her dinner. "I'm not hungry anymore," she said softly. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I said. "I'll drop you home."

"Thanks."

I got and paid the check quickly before ushering Bella out the restaurant. We drove home quietly, Bella pouting out the window while I concentrated on getting her home. When we finally pulled up to her place, I turned to her.

"I can't ask you not to be sad," I said. "But you know I'm going to try all I can to make you feel better, don't you?"

She turned to me, her face apologetic. "I know I've been a downer lately. Thanks for putting up with all of this."

"I don't ever 'put up' when it comes to you, Bella. I'm here because I want to be."

I leaned over, and thankfully, she met me halfway for a soft, delicate kiss. I touched the side of her face gently as we kissed, enjoying the feel of her lips against mine. When she finally pulled away, I instantly missed her touch.

"Goodnight Edward," she said softly.

I pulled my hand away from her face slowly. "Goodnight Bella."

She got out of the car and I waited until she was inside before I pulled off. I wasn't heading home, but to the city limit between La Push and Forks. I couldn't go on the reservation lands, but I knew one of the mutt's pack would see me getting close and give him the heads up that I was coming.

Operation: "Try All I Can To Make Bella Better" was in effect.

True to form, I was only parked at the limit for ten minutes before I could I picked up the stink of Jacob approaching. When I finally saw his form, he was glaring down at me with a hard expression. I tried not to get heated myself – one of us had to stay calm.

"Hello again, Jacob," I said pleasantly.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jacob growled.

"Look, let's make this easy and painless," I said. "I don't like you, and you don't like me."

"Correction, I fucking hate you."

A half-laugh left my throat: feeling is mutual. "There is one thing that we both have in common though, and that's Bella. And the way you're acting is tearing her up inside."

"I can't be that bad," Jacob grumbled. "Not when she has you around to make things perfect for her again."

"Unfortunately, I am not enough," I said quietly, upset to have to admit it in the first place.

Jacob looked smug, which made me want to punch him. "So you're asking for my help, is that it?"

"I'm asking for you to be nice to Bella," I replied. "If you care about Bella as much as you say you do, you would be able to put aside the fact that she and I have a relationship to build your relationship with her."

"You can't expect me to sit back and–"

"I don't expect to you do anything but be a friend to Bella," I said quickly. "If you feel that that includes reminding her how dangerous I am every other second and keeping your eye on me, then so be it."

"Oh trust me bloodsucker, my whole pack has had our eyes on you and your coven. So you don't have to worry about that part."

I sighed in irritation. "Could you just call Bella, please? She misses you like crazy, and she's upset that things have to be this way. And both of us know that it doesn't have to be." I put on my own smug expression. "You're just upset that Bella isn't in love with you like you are with her."

Jacob growled. "That has nothing–"

"It has everything to do with your behavior," I said, interrupting him. "Please don't try to convince me otherwise, I can hear your thoughts loud and clear. Now, I don't know how exactly you're going to fix things, but you better fix them, or things will get fucking ugly between us."

"You don't tell me what to do," Jacob said harshly.

"I know I don't. You, ultimately, make your own decision. But if you can live with the knowledge that Bella is tormented, then I guess you don't care about her as much as you say you do."

I decided to leave him marinating on that note, and hopefully that would get through to him. I got back into my car and sped off, leaving Jacob standing alone on the city limits to ponder things.


Hope you all loved this:: review for me please! It would make me so happy!

Will update as soon as I can!

--Brin--