Chapter 44 – Hidden Truth
Bella's POV
I woke up alone again the next morning, but with a much heavier heart. I knew Jake would be out patrolling. I had the loss of the Cullens weighing heavily in my mind. And my actions the previous night had not been something I wanted to remember.
I sat up in bed, pulling my hair back. I can't believe I had acted like that... I never would have chosen the Cullens over Jake...
I tried to put it out of my mind as I got out of bed. I went to my bag and dug out my clothes, rummaging through to the bottom to see if there was anything else interesting.
Twenty minutes later, I emerged from the bathroom, showered, shaved and dressed and made my way to the living room. I didn't see Billy's wheel chair, but I smelled Emily's food. It put a bright smile on my face.
"Mmmm, I love it when you're here, Em," I said, coming around the corner. She turned and smiled at me.
"That's what they all say," she said. I laughed and walked over to give her a hand but she already had most of the food ready. A glance at the clock told me I had slept til noon. I really needed to break this nasty habit.
"Voila, eat up," she said, sitting down across from me with a plate of her own.
"What are you doing here?" I asked around a bite of food. Unlady like, I know, but it was just Emily. We were family now.
"Well, I knew Jacob would be out patrolling. So is Sam, so I had nothing to do. Then I heard Billy was going fishing with your dad," she said, forking her own bite of food. "So, here I am, keeping you company because I'm dreadfully lonely."
I smiled, very glad for her loneliness because it would now ease mine. I don't know if I could have handled being alone all day today. The hours went by extremely quickly. We watched tv, played cards, talked about everything and nothing at all.
"Want to help me cook?" she asked, glancing at the clock. It was only four. I got to my feet anyways, following her.
"Cook for what?" I asked.
"There's a bonfire tonight," she said. She put her shoes on, I followed suit.
"A bonfire?" I asked. She laughed. We headed out of the house and she explained as we got into her car.
"Yeah, we get together all the time to just relax, have fun, talk about plans. You know, all the good stuff," she said. I laughed. All the wolves together, hanging out and eating? I hoped Emily was cooking for a palace.
We ended up picking up the food and taking it back to Jacob's house. Apparently, it would be closer to the bon fire. This way, we wouldn't have to carry it as far.
For the next hour, we cooked, cut, chopped, sliced, diced and created all kinds of food. Sandwiches, watermelon, grapes, pasta, pizzas, melons, salads, bread, garlic bread and a bunch of deserts. I knew cooking for werewolves was tough, but honestly!
The phone started ringing and I dusted my hands off on my pants and ran for it.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Bella! Hi, I hope you don't mind, I had the number you called me on yesterday on caller id," Angela's voice floated over the phone. I smiled.
"Of course I don't mind, what's up? Is something wrong?" I asked, looking back to the kitchen. Emily put down a knife and wiped her hands, walking towards me.
"Oh, no, everything's fine! I was just... Um, I guess I was wondering if you'd like some company today?" she asked, timidly. It suddenly dawned on me. Paul hadn't just imprinted on Angela. She had fallen for him the moment she'd seen him too. It was a two way street. I couldn't help a small laugh.
"I would love it if you could come over, Angela," I said, looking up at Emily. She grinned and I smiled back. She had to already know about Paul's imprint.
Something still dug in my side about him imprinting on her, but who was I to judge? I would welcome Angela with open arms into our family when she was ready. And I couldn't wait til that day...
To have someone from my Forks world know everything about my actual world? The real world? The world that I would spend the rest of my life in. I smiled for a moment. Once Paul told Angela, there would be no separating us. We would actually be like real sisters.
Some part of me remembered Ben and their romance, but I didn't think about that too long. Ben was a nice guy. Imprinting was too strong though.
"Great!" Angela said, bringing me back to reality and out of my day dreams.
"Oh, tell her about the bonfire! I'm sure Paul would love to see her there," Emily said.
"Hey, Ang, you up for a bonfire with the boys tonight?" I asked.
"... Will Paul be there?" she asked. I almost laughed out loud. Imprinting was REALLY strong.
"I'm positive he will be. There will be a lot of food, too, and just sitting back and having a good time," I said.
"Sounds amazing, I'll be there in a half hour," she said. I grinned. She must have been dressed and talking herself out of calling me.
"I'll see you then," I said. I hung up the phone and followed Emily back into the kitchen.
"Lord have mercy, I never thought I'd see the day when that boy imprinted. If you ask me, it couldn't have come soon enough," Emily said, going back to chopping tomatoes for the salad. I started in on the cabbage.
"He couldn't have chosen a better person himself. Angela's real sweet. She'll do him some good. I just hope he doesn't corrupt her," I said.
"Bella, you above all should know we all need a little corruption," she said. I laughed.
"I don't think I want to know what you're thinking about, Em," I said. We both laughed and then there was a short lull in the conversation. It didn't last long. Emily came over with the biggest bowl I'd ever seen and started cracking up the lettuce.
"I really am glad you're taking this all so well, Bella. I was worried," she said. I stopped chopping as I reached the end of the cabbage and turned to face her a little. She kept at work, only glancing at me for a minute. I shrugged.
"As well as I usually do, I guess," I said, turning back to the cabbage. I started chopping them into smaller pieces. Emily let out a light hearted laugh.
"You handle human draining vampires all too well for my taste," she said. My hand slipped and clipped my finger.
"Shit!" I cried out a little, putting the knife down and grabbing my thumb.
"It's ok, Bella, it's just a little scrape," she said, pulling my hand towards her.
"What did you just say?" I asked.
"The scrape?" she asked, looking up at me as she brought a towel up to my thumb. I shook my head.
"No, before that. You said... human draining? What did you mean by that?" I asked, watching her put pressure on my thumb. She walked me over to the sink and started running warm water over my finger.
"I meant Edwar-" she stopped mid word and looked up at me, as if she just realized what she'd said. Something formed in my throat that I couldn't swallow. "You don't know..."
"Edward's drinking from humans?" I croaked out. Suddenly, the pain in my thumb didn't compare to the pain in my chest.
"I'm so sorry, Bella! Sam said Jake talked to you last night, I'm such an idiot," she said, turning off the water. The cut had already subsided its oozing. My anger had taken its place.
"I can't believe he didn't tell me... He didn't tell me!" I said, grabbing the towel and squeezing my thumb again. I turned away from Emily and started walking to the living room.
"Bella, I'm sorry! I never thought for a second Sam would lie to me about Jake telling you! I should have just kept my mouth shut," she said.
"No, I'm glad you said something. I deserve to know. Who knows when he would have decided to tell me," I said. I growled a little.
"I'm sure he didn't mean any harm-"
"That lying fucker!" I cried, tossing the towel onto the counter. I could have driven a car off a cliff, I was so angry. But moreover, I felt betrayed. I felt lied to, hidden. Things I never would have associated with Jake. It made tears prick my eyes.
There was silence for nearly ten minutes while I stood there and steamed. Emily was smart to stay quiet. Anything she would have said wouldn't have helped and I didn't need to take all my frustration out on her. She hadn't done anything wrong...
Last night, when I had been in the clearing with Jake... I had asked him what was going on with the disappearances. He had been about to say something when the Cullens has interrupted. I let out a frustrated sigh and slammed my hand onto the counter.
"... Well... At least you're acting now how I had been expecting you to act this morning," Emily said softly, behind me. She was testing the waters. I could hear it in her voice. She didn't know whether she was supposed to talk or not. I laughed a little as I turned to face her.
"I'm surprised you didn't think I was some psychotic wacko for not freaking out when you first saw me," I said. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me.
"Oh honey... I've always thought you were a little crazy for ever dating a vampire. And then worse, moving on to a werewolf," she said. I laughed, feeling a tear trickle from my eye. I wiped it away quickly as she pulled away.
"I don't know what the hell Jacob was thinking, not telling you. You have every right to know..." she said, brushing my hair back. I let out a little breath, feeling my anger subsiding, somewhere in the pit of my stomach. I would save it for later. For the people who deserved it.
"Come on, we're almost done with the food," I said, going back to the cutting board. She grabbed the knife as I reached for it.
"Maybe I should handle the knife? Don't want you slipping it into your pants for later. Jacob would kill me," she said. I laughed, picturing Jake lying on the ground. I would have only hurt him a little. Plus with his super werewolf healing powers, he would have been fine in no time.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. Toss the salad," she said. I nodded.
Ten minutes later, Angela arrived. I was still seething. I wasn't surprised when she pulled back from hugging me.
"Bella, what's eating you?" she asked. I gave a small shrug and went to the closet down the hallway. Angela followed. I pulled out several blankets and handed them to her.
"Jake's just hiding things from me that he shouldn't," I said, hoping I sounded final enough that she wouldn't push further. I really didn't want to get ridiculously angry all over again.
"Alright, we're going to need to make about three trips, so we might as well start now," Emily said. We all loaded up with as much as we could and stumbled our way out to the fire pit, which was a good number of feet away. Angela dropped the blankets and we started spreading them out while Emily went back for the next batch of food. We had all the blankets surrounding the pit as she came back.
Three trips later, and I yelled at Emily for her under estimation, everything was spread out and ready. We all went to the corner of the forest and brought in as much fire wood as we could carry. There was always some cut up under the black tarp.
"Hey, hey, look what the ladies brought!" a voice called from the direction of Jake's house. It was Paul. He came walking over to Emily and took in me before he spotted Angela. Immediately, he became quiet and timid. It was awkward. I'd never seen him like that.
"Hey, Paul," Angela said. I could hear a hint of breathlessness in her voice. He stepped away from Emily and walked over to her. I turned and went back for more firewood, not willing to intrude on the beginning of their relationship.
All the thoughts that I had been suppressing suddenly floated to mind. With Emily keeping me busy, I hadn't even really had time to think. Now that I did, my heart kick started.
Edward was drinking from humans... He'd be stronger than ever. I had pushed him to this... He was drinking from humans because of me. Everything that he used to stand for was now gone. Was he even the same person?
I shuddered at the thought. How crazy had I driven him? I carried the few extra pieces of firewood back and saw that Jared and Quil had joined us.
"Aww, Bella, you should have let me help with that," Quil said, walking over. I gave him a small hug and then shrugged.
"You guys do everything else for me, what's a little firewood," I said.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, grabbing onto my elbow when I went to turn away. I looked up at him and he caught my eyes. He immediately let go.
"Shit, you found out, huh?" he asked. I felt my eyes burning from the flames they shot out. Quil actually flinched.
"So was it a game? Keep the secret from poor, incapable Bella?" I raged, picking up a piece of firewood and throwing it at him. He caught it and dropped it, holding his hands up in surrender.
"It wasn't my fault, Bella, honest! I would have told you!" he said, backing away from me. I stood with my feet braced in the sand, feeling my body shuddering. Was this what it felt like to be a werewolf? To want to rip someone to pieces so badly, you'd rip out of your own skin?
"Bella, Bella, easy. What's going on?" Jake's voice came from behind me. It was then I realized he had his hands on my arms. My shudders were rolling through my body and running into him. I whipped around to face him, ignoring Quil's hints to Jacob to get the hell away.
I reached forward and pushed him a little, knowing he wouldn't really budge. But it made me feel better.
"I deserved to know! I had the right to prepare for this!" I cried. He was stepping backwards from me, his eyes confused until I finished. I pushed him again as comprehension dawned on him. He stumbled a little and looked up to what I figured was Emily.
"Bella, please, let me explain-"
"You could have explained last night!" I cried, my body still shaking. I shoved him again, feeling stronger than I ever had. He stumbled again, changing direction to get back to the fire and away from the forest.
I was so angry. So incredibly furious. But more than anger, I felt fear. So much fear that I started wondering if I was shaking from it or the anger. Edward was like James. Like Laurent, like the Volturi... Like Victoria. I let out a small sob, my heart wanted to stop from beating like a hummingbird's.
"Please, just listen!" Jacob cried, reaching for me. I shoved his hands off of me. He tried to grab my arm but I pushed him off and brought my hand back.
A loud smack rang through the air.
A/N: Don't forget to check out "Inevitable Evening" and review! We're at nearly 100,000 hits and 865 reviews! You guys are incredible!