Chapter 4
Jake has had the worst week of his entire life. He continued to run patrols with Sam during the day. After being tired of hearing about Bella for so much Sam had his own form of revenge.
Sam thought about Emily, keeping his thoughts PG, but still focused on the loving relationship. They kissed passionately, and she moaned as Sam touched her intimately. Sam made sure to leave no doubt that more would be following, but always stopped short of actually giving Jake a peep show. Every day Jake saw their love for each other and it made him fill with jealousy.
Then the traitor spoke to The Council, and they all freaked out, once Sam told them that Jake had told Bella about the legends. Jake had never seen his dad angrier than when he returned from that meeting. He was sure that Billy would have grounded Jake for life if Sam had not already ordered him away from Bella. Billy had been Jake's only ally, having complete faith that Jake could be trusted around Bella, and that faith was shattered.
To say his life sucked would be putting it mildly. As a result, Jake was extremely short tempered. The only thing that kept him from turning into a huge wolf at any second was the fact that he already was a wolf 70% of the day and he didn't want it any more than he had to. It also did not help that Bella decided to call the house every half hour and drive his dad equally crazy.
It really sucked to have everyone on edge around Jake, even his own pack brothers looked at him at times like he was going to lose it. He wished they knew how much that fueled the fire that raged within him.
Once he was in the trees, it was a quick run over to Sam and Emily's house. Jake walked in the door and immediately smelled something wonderful coming from the kitchen.
"Hello, Jacob," Emily called with a soft smile on her face.
"Hi, Emily. Is Sam around?" He frowned at mentioning him.
"He should be in soon. Would you like to stay for lunch?"
"Yes, please." Jake knew that his mouth was watering, and he just hoped that he wasn't making a puddle on the floor.
She lightly laughed. Emily was familiar with the stomach of the wolves and seemed to always have something ready to eat. They were all comfortable here and considered this a second home.
For many, it was the only home where they could truly be themselves. Jake had no idea how Embry was able to keep the secret from his mom, even Jared and Paul have to keep the secret at home as well.
Jake walked over to the large worn table and took a seat. In no time, Emily brought a large bowl of wide egg noodles covered in a beefy stroganoff sauce and set it directly in front of him. She also had a small bowl for herself and sat in the chair across the table.
"So, how have you been Jacob?" Emily asked and her eyes were so kind that he could tell that she really cared. "You look really tired."
"I've been better. I have not been sleeping well."
"Worried about the red head?" She stood up and walked to the cabinets and got two glasses and filled them with water, setting one in front of Jake and the other for herself.
"Thank you," Jake said, taking a quick drink. "Not really worried." Jake paused, taking a bite of food. "What do you know about Bella?"
"Well I know that Sam found her in the woods after the Cullen's left, and that you are close to her."
"Yeah, I used to be." Jake looked down, sometimes it felt like a completely different life that was filled with Bella and a different Jacob who had taken his place in the past two weeks.
"Tell me about her."
Jake put his fork down for a moment and took a drink from his water. "Well, she is my best friend and being with her is just easy. We don't have to try to make things work; it just does. When she smiles, I feel like my heart might explode and I know that I would do anything in the world for her."
"It sounds like you love her," Emily said, and Jake could see that she wanted him to be happy.
"I do." Jake picked his fork up again and started eating. It felt good to be able to express his feelings for Bella so easily.
"Have you ever loved another girl before?" Emily paused for a moment, realizing that maybe she shouldn't have asked such a personal question. "Oh, I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that," she added, blushing in embarrassment.
"Don't worry about it. No, I have never felt like this before. I have always been interested in girls, and there has been someone here and there, but nothing serious enough to call love. I've never even kissed anyone."
Emily blinked her eyes a little and seemed to be surprised. It made Jake blush and feel embarrassed by his inexperience.
"Not even Bella?" She asked.
"No, she doesn't see me like that. I am just the trusted 'best friend'. She knows that I like her a lot and would want more. Given the time, I really think that she would realize that she loves me too, but I guess that now just isn't going to happen."
Emily looked into Jake's sad eyes and softly reached across the table, lightly patting his hand. "I'm sorry. I know what it is like to lose someone you love." Her face turned into an uncharacteristic frown. Jake paused, at first puzzled at who she would have loved and lost. "Leah, was my best friend, closer to me than even my own sister, and now she hates me."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be, I wouldn't give up Sam for the world. Obviously, he doesn't like to bring up Leah. It has been sort of nice to have someone to talk to. So thanks, Jacob."
Jake blushed at the compliment and looked down to take a couple more bites of food. "Do you think that you and Leah will ever be able to fix things?"
"Maybe. I want to ask her to be a bridesmaid, but it might be too awkward." Emily finished eating her food and walked over and set her bowl in the sink.
"Go for it Emily. I would want Embry in my wedding."
"Even if he were marrying Bella?"
"Um, well maybe not. Watching Bella get married to someone else that would suck."
Talking to Emily was really helpful, and it was the most calm and relaxed that Jake had been all week. Then Sam walked in, he was completely naked and walked to Emily gave her a kiss on the cheek, and then headed for the other room.
Jake hadn't gotten used to the nudity thing, and it caught him by surprise sometimes.
Sam turned and stuck his head back through the doorway "Oh Jacob."
"Yes?" Jake raised his head to look him in the eyes.
"Just for the record, I'm the only one who gets to walk around here naked." Then he gave a quick smirk to Emily and shut the door.
"Sure, you areā¦" Jake whispered softly and gave Emily a wink.
"Shhh, that's our secret remember."
A small chuckle escaped his lips as Emily, with bright red cheeks, walked over, took his bowl, and started filling it again. Then she got a second large bowl, filled it, and brought both back to the table. As she sat both bowls down Sam came back fully dressed and sat at the table. As they ate, they made plans for the rest of the day.
Jake stretched out his long legs under the table and accidentally stepped on Emily. He started to apologize when she giggled and stepped on his foot. Jake coughed to cover his laughter as he tried to keep listening to Sam as a silent game of footsie ensued under the table.
"Thanks for lunch, Em," Sam smiled and leaned across the table to give her a kiss.
Jake used the toe of his shoe to tickle her ankle and heard Emily giggle into her kiss. "You are welcome," she told Sam and used her other foot to slither up Jake's leg, tickling the back of his knee.
It didn't tickle, but Jake laughed and jumped up from the table.
"Let's get going, Jacob. We can meet the others at the school."
"Right behind you." Jake gave Emily another grin and then followed Sam out the door.
They arrived at school, pulled on their shorts and waited for Paul, Jared and Embry to join them. As they left the school, Jake saw Quil who looked like he was trying to follow them without being seen, but was failing.
For a moment, he made eye contact with Quil, but quickly wished that he hadn't. They picked up their pace, but Quil quickened as well. It was a tough combination of being fast enough that Quil could not catch them but not be "super human" fast. It was clear he was suspicious and they didn't want to give him any further ammunition.
Once they were out of Quil's sight they phased, but stayed close by to make sure that Quil didn't get himself lost. So they wandered around in the woods for an hour, making sure that he ended up back to the road. To say that was irritating would be an understatement. Jake hated the secrecy that was now his life.
At least while they wandered around, they were able to have their "meeting" in their mind and decided that Jake was going to have the weekend off. Everyone knew the crappy mood that he had been in lately and even though they didn't know why he wasn't sleeping, everyone could see that Jake was sleep deprived.
They decided Jake would get a full escort back to his house. Why? Jake wasn't sure, but it added to the irritation that he was already feeling.
They were still in the trees just outside Jake's house when he heard a sound that was equally bitter as it was sweet. Bella's truck pulled up into the yard, from there they could see her stop the engine, roll down her window and rest her legs on the dash of her truck. Clearly, it did not seem like she was going anywhere soon.
"Sam, I can't avoid her forever," Jake reasoned.
"Jacob, this is not a good idea."
"I can handle this, I swear. I am not going to hurt her."
"At least not on purpose."
"Sam, I am not YOU!" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Jake knew he shouldn't have said them, but it was too late. Honestly he didn't regret saying it. He was tired of being held to their standards, clearly Sam's limitations didn't apply to Jake.
Sam's hands clenched into a fist at his sides. "Jacob! You will NOT see her!" His order was emphatic and Jake felt his legs literally become glued in place.
The heavy rain clouds above chose that moment to crack open and big, fat drops fell from the sky, drenching them quickly.
"Sam! Let me go!" Jake challenged angrily.
"No," Sam said, not budging on his decision.
"How about I go?" Embry volunteered, both to defuse the situation between Jake and Sam and also to get out of the rain quicker. "Someone has to talk to her, Sam. She knows I'm Jake's best friend. Maybe she will listen."
Sam nodded to Embry. "Give it a try."
A deep growl rumble in his chest and he turned his back on Sam, watching his best friend handle a responsibility that should have been his. He should be the one talking to Bella and Jake knew it. Instead, he watched and listened carefully.
Embry approached Bella's truck and tapped on her window, causing her to jump. "What are you doing here, Bella?" he asked.
"I came to see Jake, obviously," Bella rolled her eyes at him. "Why do you care? I thought you and Jake weren't friends anymore."
"Nah, we're great." Embry gave her a smile.
"Really?" Bella said surprised. "Jake finally got you out of that stupid gang?"
"You could say that, we are together all the time now."
"Then where is he?"
"Look, Bella, I need to talk to you. Jake is my best friend and this 'best friend' thing that you have with him is cruel. The whole world knows that Jake doesn't just see you as a friend and unless you can return 'those' feelings, then you need to leave."
"I'm not leaving without seeing him." Bella crossed her arms over her chest.
Jake glared at Sam, but somehow also smirked, knowing that he was right and Bella had to talk to him.
"Forget it Jacob, it is not going to happen, and there is not a damn thing you can do about it," Sam taunted.
The worst part for Jake was that he knew Sam was right. Jake tried to lift his leg to go towards Bella, but it felt like his foot had been welded to the grass. The more he tried the angrier he became. There was one thing that the alpha could not control and that was phasing. If Sam could, he would simply order them to never phase in public or some other cleverly worded order that prevented them from accidentally phasing, but that wasn't possible.
"Jacob, no!" Sam tried to order.
Jake laughed humorously, his angry eyes glued onto Sam. He took a deep breath and could feel the delicious heat begin to permeate down to his core and an instant later a furious growl erupted from his snout.
There was no seeing Bella like this and Jake knew that, he didn't even try. He had his F-You moment to Sam, and they both knew it.
"What was that!?" Jake heard Bella say loudly. He was shrouded behind the thick trees that surrounded his garage, but he could still see her and Embry.
"We've been having a problem with wild animals," Embry reasoned.
"Yeah, I know," Bella mumbled, as she leaped back into her truck.
"Bye, Bella," Embry waved to her.
"Bye," she sighed.
Embry stayed out in front of Jake's house until her truck completely disappeared and then he walked back. Jared and Paul both looked at him with appreciation for at least trying. "Sorry Sam, I did the best I could."
"You did good, Embry." Sam said as he turned from Embry to look at Jacob. "Better than he would have done. We all know that he couldn't have pushed her away."
Jake wanted to scream and moved towards Sam, but both Jared and Paul stepped in front of their alpha. It wasn't worth attacking his brothers to get to the conceited prick. Jake would think of another way to hurt him as badly as Sam had hurt him. Jake would have done what he had to do and Sam's constant assumptions about Jake's behavior was beyond annoying.
With a frustrated huff, Jake ran towards the trees, thankful that his legs had broken free from the invisible trap that had encased them. It was still raining, and he was soaking wet, but he didn't care. Jake felt glad he was the only one as a wolf. His mind was full of rage and he wanted revenge on Sam for keeping him away from Bella.
Before Jake could stop it a memory from Sam flashed across his mind, it was about Emily. What if Jake could somehow keep Sam away from her? No, it's impossible. He reminded himself. They are imprinted, nothing could keep them apart.
Then Jake remembered the first memory that Sam had shared with him. Before Sam had hurt Emily, she was pushing him away. It was possible. If she could do it once, then she could do it again. Jake just needed to give her a reason.
Emily was one of the kindest persons Jake had ever met. All the guys respected her, but at the same time they also ignored her. She was just there, without ever really being acknowledged. That was about to change and it just so happened that Jake had the weekend to give her some much needed attention.
