CHAPTER 12: THE BIG BITE

Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns Twilight

My heart stood still, and my breath caught somewhere in my lungs. Embry swam back to shore, dragging Jacob's body along. God—his body. I didn't want to think that way, but when he hoisted him onto the beach, he began mouth to mouth, and I lost it! I bolted toward him, running and shrieking at the same time. "Jacob, noooo!"

Dropping to my knees beside him, I gazed on my best friend in all the world. His skin was grey and cold where I touched him. I struggled with the lifeguard, who kept shoving me aside. He kept yelling at me, "Let us do our job, Miss."

Leah finally grabbed my arm, drawing me away from the scene. "You can't help him, Bella. You'll only be in the way."

I couldn't think, I didn't know what I was saying. I just wanted to be by him, to see him, to make sure that he was going to be all right. I was frantic, scared, angry and in shock, simultaneously.

Jacob's chest rose a couple of times by himself, and the paramedic said, "He'll be okay now. We just have to get him to a hospital ASAP. He's lost a lot of blood. He'll need a transfusion."

The man radioed ahead to the hospital, and two stretcher bearers arrived and took him away in an ambulance. Embry and Leah led me to the car, as I was numb at this point, and we followed them to the ER.

By the time we got there, Jacob was already hooked up to a blood transfusion, and his hip, or what was left of it was covered in a pressure dressing. I tried to get to his side, but a nurse brushed me off. As she fiddled with a blood pressure cuff, I peered at Leah. She looked worried, and I overheard her say in a low voice, "Is that going to be compatible? I mean … ya know… with his blood type and all."

Embry answered, "It's type O, it should be fine."

The ER doctor gestured to the nurse, saying. "Don't worry about the dressing. I don't understand it, but the bleeding seems to have stopped."

"You're the doc," she responded.

Jacob began moaning, and I felt my heart tear in two. "I'll get him something more for pain," the nurse acknowledged.

A few minutes later, she was back with a syringe. The nurse placed the cannula into the injection site of a separate line, and pushed the drug. When she started to leave his bedside, I grabbed her sleeve.

"Why isn't he awake yet? I know he hit his head; I heard the lifeguard tell the paramedic, but shouldn't he be alert by now?"

"It's not just the head injury, sweetheart. He's in shock. Feel his skin, can't you tell how cool he seems? He's lost a lot of blood. It might take a while for him to rally, but Doc Arai says he's stable. We'll be sending him up to the floor soon."

When she left the cubicle again, Embry leaned toward me. "As soon as the transfusion's finished, we're taking Jake back to the hotel. You keep the nurse busy, and Leah and I will push the gurney out to the car."

"Is that wise?"

"You heard what the RN said. He's stable. What do you think is going to happen, when they take a blood sample later on, and start looking at his weird labs?"

"Oh."

"Yeah, he'll wind up a lab rat, and they'll be using him for a pincushion. You ready?"

Nodding, I felt my face go a couple shades lighter. Oh gosh, my heart was pounding. Could I pull this off?

The RN returned, and pulled down the empty blood bag, disposing it in a red biohazardous container. I walked toward her. She took one look at me, and asked, "Are you all right? You don't look so good."

"Can you come with me so I can get some water? I feel a little shaky."

She looked back at Leah and Embry. "I'll be right back."

# # # # #

Leah, glanced around the edge of the curtain while I yanked the IV needles from his arm. "All clear," she whispered.

We zipped out of the ER. There was a commotion down the hall, so no one noticed us. We spotted Bella laid out on the floor. Good girl, nobody would overlook someone who had fainted.

No one stopped us as we parked the gurney next to our car. Leah and I lifted Jacob from the cart, and positioned him in the back seat. Leah sat beside him, propping him up until Bella arrived, and she did—barreling out of the building like a vamp after his singer.

They exchanged seats, and Leah shifted Jacob's head so that it lay against Bella's chest. We left the gurney sitting there, and headed back to the hotel.

# # # # #

It wasn't hard to feign a fainting spell. I was hyperventilating in my panic, and was just about ready to faint for real. I walked halfway down the hall to give Leah and Embry time to escape, then leaned against the wall and slid down it. The RN was yelling for help. I opened one eye a slit, and caught a glimpse of the gurney carrying Jacob. It was moving in the opposite direction.

As soon as Leah and Embry turned the corner, I sat up, acting a little groggy. "I think I'm okay now," I announced. "Just too much excitement, I guess."

I stood, and began walking away. The RN stopped me. "Wait, I need you to fill out an incident report."

I backed away from her, mumbling, "Sorry, I don't have the time. Jacob needs me."

I hurried away from the woman who was calling after me that I should get checked out. I was—checking out. As I ran past the double doors leading to the ER, I heard her say, "You're going the wrong way, Miss."

My partners in crime were in the car, the gurney sitting beside it, empty, and the engine idling in wait for me.

Leah leaned over the seat, and lay Jacob's head on my chest, then slid out the other door, and climbed in front with Embry. I stroked his forehead lightly with my fingertips. He was still cool to the touch, but not like he was back at the shore. His color was beginning to return too. I murmured to him, "You're going to be all right, Jake. You hear? You've got to be. I won't let you leave me."

Cradling his head, I thought about what my life would be like without him in it. I couldn't accept that kind of fate. The shark attack woke me to the realization that I was in love with Jacob. If he imprinted in the future, I'd face it when and if it happened, but for now, I'd love him for whatever time we had together.

Embry had it all worked out. We drove up to the entrance and he and Leah hoisted Jacob up from the seat and with arms under his, walked-dragged him through the lobby. The she-wolf said to the receptionist, "It's a shame, isn't it? He can't hold his liquor, poor guy!"

Lifting him bodily once we got inside the elevator, Embry watched the door at each landing, to be sure no one was getting on. It was a miracle that we weren't disturbed on the ride up to the sixth floor.

The hallway was empty, so Embry continued to carry Jacob to their room. I raced ahead once the door opened to pull back the bedding so he could set him down on the mattress.

I began to be concerned again. I peered at Embry. "Do you think he's going to be all right? Be honest with me."

Embry snickered. "Will you stop worrying? Jake's strong, and he has wolf genes. His healing's already kicking in. Which reminds me …"

He drew the blanket down, and removed the dressing. I looked the other way, out of a sense for Jacob's privacy … and to prevent me from getting queasy.

After chucking the soiled dressing in the waste basket, he said, "Yup, just as I thought, his hip is being rebuilt from the inside out. It's looking good."

Scratching his head, he added, "I better get us something to eat. What do you girls want?"

"Don't get me anything, Em. I can't eat, I just can't."

"Tink … starving yourself isn't gonna make him heal any faster. Besides, Jake wouldn't want you to stop eating just because he got hurt."

Leah was right, but I didn't know if I actually could eat. I guess I'd give it a try.

# # # # #

We ate in the room, and I kept my eyeballs glued to Bella. She picked at her food and her gaze drifted to Jacob every few minutes, checking to be sure he was still breathing, I'd bet. Gawd, I was hoping he'd wake up already so Miss Worrywart could unwind. I was surprised she didn't start to spin out like a freakin' gyroscope.

"Do you think he's in any pain?"

"I don't know," Embry answered. "He's not moaning anymore. I guess the lower body temperature isn't burning off the narcotic as fast as it normally would."

I agreed. "That makes sense. But even if he was, there's not much you can do about it."

"That's not true. I can … I brought along my bottle of Percocet just in case of emergency. And this is an emergency." She pointed at a seat by the window. "It's in my purse on that chair."

"Are you nuts? You can't just pour medicine down the throat of an unconscious person. What the hell are you thinking?"

Embry urged, "Hey, Lee—take it down a notch, huh? We're all a little on edge here."

I sputtered, "A little?"

He rubbed a finger over his brow. "Okay, a lot. Let's not ruin our friendships over this. That'd be the last thing Jake would want."

Glancing quickly at our buddy, he coaxed, "Listen, while he's still out for the count, why don't you two go on down to the beach. I'll stay with Jake."

Bella piped up again. "Oh no, you won't. I can't leave him. I want to be here when he comes to. I want to be the first person he sees."

"You sure?"

"Very."

# # # # #

I read somewhere, that low lighting is more soothing when you're sick and also can help lessen the pain. I got up and closed the black-out curtains, and since Leah and Embry were at the beach, I climbed into bed, snuggled up next to Jacob.

I couldn't see him very well in the dark, but his steady breathing assured me that he was alive and here with me.

Two hours had passed according to the luminescent dial on the clock radio. Jacob began to stir. I pushed up on my arms, alert to his every movement. He was moaning again, and each sound pierced straight to my heart.

"Jake, can you hear me?"

"Bells, is that you?" he croaked.

"Yeah, it's Bells."

All at once, he shouted, "I can't see."

"What?"

He was groping around, feeling for me. "Where are you? It's so dark. Why is it so dark?"

"Oh … I pulled the drapes closed." I jumped up, ran to the window, and opening the curtains, let in the Hawaiian sunshine.

"Better?"

Jacob blinked, adjusting to the light. "Huuuuh … oh god, I thought I'd gone blind."

Attempting to sit up, Jacob let out a cry. "Goddammit! What the hell happened? Why do I hurt so bad? My head, my leg—I don't know what hurts worse? Aaaaaahhhhh!"

What? "My gosh, Jake. You don't remember what happened?"

"I remember being on my surfboard, then it's all a blank. How did I get here, anyway?"

"Never mind that now. I've got some pain medicine. Then we'll talk."

# # # # #

Jeez, the pain was unbearable, and I didn't even know what the hell caused it. A freakin' Hawaiian curse was put on me by some jealous kahuna—that's what it was.

Bella brought me three of those pain pills. You better believe I sucked them down as fast as I could. I lay back on the pillow, trying to relax, but was in such agony, it was nearly impossible.

It felt like forever for the damn drug to do its magic. When the throbbing finally eased up, Bella told me the whole horrible story.

"You gotta be kiddin' me. A shark?"

"Yes, a shark. You're lucky to be alive. If it wasn't for Em …"

"Where is Em, anyway?"

She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "He and Leah went down to the beach."

"Wait … And they left you here?"

"Em was going to stay, but I couldn't let him do that. I wanted to be present when you woke up."

"So you stayed with me, this whole time? Why?"

"What do you think? Because I love you, stupid."

"You love me?"

"Yes."

"Well then, do you think you might give me a little kiss?"

"Wow! You certainly recuperated fast."

"Love is a pretty potent medicine, Bella."

"I'll say."

Bella got into bed, and leaned over me, her lips gently brushing mine. Wouldn't you know it, my very first kiss from the girl I loved, and I was in no shape to really enjoy it, if you get my drift. Every twitch I made caused the ache in my head and leg to act up. Damn, damn, damn. But, at least she admitted her feelings for me, and she did kiss me, with her fingers in my hair, and her chest stuck to mine. Jeez, if only I wasn't in so much pain. Ugh! Better luck next time, huh?

When Bella pulled away, she burst into tears. "I thought I'd lost you, Jake."

"You didn't. So you're stuck with me, now."

She sniffled, and nodded, and settled her head back onto my shoulder. I still hurt just as bad, but the ache in my heart had gone away.