~A/N My other two chapters were way too small. This one's way too long, but it just didn't fit to break it up.

I might have been listening to Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" a bit too much.

Chapter 3: Set Free

Jacob was surprised he survived the day. He hadn't slept a wink all night. How could he after that revelation? Bella was alive. Deep down, somewhere hidden inside him, he always knew. He wished he could have gotten all the answers immediately, but he was almost there according to the driver. His company paid for a service, so he was able to come and go when he was at the annual conference. Most employees took advantage of the free afternoons and evenings for sightseeing, but Jacob never cared for it. He actually hated LA... too big, too many people, not enough real trees and the traffic was pure insanity. Why would anyone choose to live here? Why in the world would she?

It made no sense her vampire clan would reside in this type of climate. So many questions rushed through his mind all night long. Why the lie? There was so much information he was missing, obviously. None of it made sense. One thing was certain, she was still human. He carried over several acute senses and he knew the difference. Bella was not a vampire, but he had no idea whether she was with Cullen or not. If she wasn't, it made absolutely no sense that she hadn't contacted someone. For crying out loud, her parents thought she was dead. They even erected a stone at the cemetery so they could place flowers there on her birthday and holidays. It was odd that she made no attempt to deny the world thought Bella Swan was deceased. She never answered all of his questions, nor had she admitted it directly that they all thought she died, but something about her admitting, 'not the kind of ghost you mean.' She knew what they were led to believe.

He couldn't imagine what they'd done to her to convince her, the horrendous lie was the best method. The first thing that came to mind was bloodthirsty vampires still pursued her. His muscles twitched and ached under his skin. Jacob turned his head side to side, easily making his neck crack and pop. He'd actually stayed on the bed all night for a change, since he barely slept. The comfortable mattress didn't help much. He still felt like he'd been run over by a dump truck. He took a power nap on his lunch break and a long hot shower before leaving. Nothing seemed to shake his aches and pains. The car turned the corner and he recognized the name of Bella's workplace. He thanked the driver and told him he'd call when he was ready to return to the hotel.

Jacob opened the mostly glass door by the handle. It had one of those jingly bells to alert the people behind the counter, a customer had arrived. He quickly did a scan of the room, no Bella. A few pairs of eyes assessed him. A woman at the register greeted him and asked what she could get him? He hadn't planned on ordering anything, but he had to admit the aroma from the coffee brewing was pretty damn enticing. Before he could speak, a shiny stainless swinging door flew open. At that very moment, another scent blew through and he was filled with Bella. He wasn't technically supernatural any longer, but that fresh, fruity scent mixed with vanilla would never be forgotten. Their eyes were drawn together, he stilled and she froze. Jacob was seeing Bella, alive and in the flesh for the first time since he danced in private with her at her wedding. She broke him again that night, worse than when he was injured by the newborn, as she babbled on about having a proper honeymoon. The Cullens shattered him when they said she didn't make it, but at this moment, seeing her breathing, still existing... secretly knitted pieces of him back together.

The hostess must have seen the trance Jacob and Bella were in because he had some recollection of her speaking, "Oh you're Bella's friend. Well, I'll let her take you over then."

Bella walked towards him. She came from behind the counter and walked straight into his arms. She looked exactly like his memory of her, only slightly more mature. She actually had a little more meat on her bones. He felt like she'd caught up finally to her actual age and transitioned into a woman's body. He had no trouble feeling every supple portion of her in the hug. Her new curves suited her nicely. He couldn't believe their first hug actually felt stiff and impersonal at first. Those weren't the types of embraces they were accustomed to but after she sighed against his chest and whispered his name into his shirt, he relaxed and hugged her like old times.

Jacob took those few seconds to properly breathe her in. This was real. He had Bella back in his arms. She was alive and he didn't know what she'd been through. He also had a fiance waiting back home for him, but for that one moment, nothing else in all the universe mattered. She was all that mattered.

Bella broke the spell by loosening her hold and backing up a bit. He watched her take a good look. She slowly shook her head side to side. "Still beautiful."

He arched a brow, "I thought it was it was sorta?"

She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards a corner booth. "Yeah, about that. My vocabulary at the time was grossly understated. Come on, this is the most private spot here. We can talk."

He regretted the second she let go of his fingers, so she could scoot into the opposite side of the booth. He knew he was staring with his mouth gaping wide open, but he couldn't help it. She was a vision. She'd just gotten off work. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and if she'd worn makeup earlier, the heat of working in a kitchen had erased all traces of it, but she looked amazing in black slacks and a plain white oxford complete with coffee stains. She tossed an apron on the seat next to her when they sat down.

"Coffee?"

"Um, yeah, sure."

Bella yelled to her co-worker to bring it over. She smiled sweetly when she bragged about their coffee. "I just put on a Kona blend to brew. It's fresh and amazing. You won't be disappointed. We sell the best coffee in all the city. Those schmucks over at the big commercial chain don't know what they're missing."

The woman, Ariana put the mugs in front of them along with a vast assortment of sweeteners and fresh cream. "Anything else I can get you two?"

"Jake?"

"No, coffee's all. Thanks."

They sat there not saying much else. Bella doctored her mug with a few additives, but if she was insisting it was a great coffee, Jacob didn't need anything else. He'd take it black.

"So..."

"So..." she mimicked.

"You work here?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Care to elaborate. Last time I saw you, you were marrying into an insanely rich family of bloodsuckers. What happened? Did they invest poorly? Did Carlisle lose his ability to practice medicine? Is everyone working menial jobs now? Let me guess, Edward is a gardener or something?"

She rolled her eyes and took a long sip from her mug, perhaps avoiding his questions as long as she could. "No, as far as I know they all live the same way as they used to. They're still richer than God and I'm certain Edward has never gotten his hands dirty. However, I don't live with them anymore. I haven't in a long time."

He sat there, trying to keep a lid on what was brewing. Did she honestly think this nonchalant attitude was going to fly? He thought she was fucking dead? Everyone else that she knew, still did because he kept his word and hadn't uttered a word even though he'd gotten a call from Kay early that morning.

His fiance chatted away like everything was normal until she realized he wasn't talking back.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

He lied and said sure it was, he just needed to get a move on and get downstairs so he'd be on time to the first meeting. She accepted that excuse and let him go, not before saying her usual, "I love you, I love you, I love you," to which he seriously had the nerve to only acknowledge with a hmph sound.

He also got a text from his father and two from Quil. He had a checklist of places he wanted him to visit and document with photographs plus several souvenirs he wanted. Jacob didn't even reply to let him down easy and all he told Billy was that he was busy, but the temptation to call Charlie was overwhelming. He still kept mum. He needed to hear her story first.

This outing at Bella's work was the only place he'd ventured away from the hotel other than a sandwich shop across the street. Quil would have to make his own trip to California. He said he promised Claire at trip to Disneyland if she made straight A's this year. That was finally a not-so peculiar relationship. They'd settled into a regular big brother/little sister relationship. Quil dated women, a lot actually and Claire routinely told him he was smelly and annoying. Jacob honestly thought those two would be alright in the end, never mates, but lifelong friends.

Bella stopped slurping down her coffee. "I still know your expressions, Jake. You're waiting for the rest. I get that. I promised the truth and I'll give it, no matter how painful it might be to hear, but I've been on my feet since 5 AM. I need this cup of coffee like I need oxygen to breath, so let me finish and then I'll spill. Why don't you tell me a little about your life in the meantime."

To hell with small talk, she walked right into his aggressive line of questioning. "Funny, you should mention breathing, because how is it that you are? You should be the roaming dead now, feeding off critters of the forest or scattered ashes in a lovely meadow according to Alice. You knew what they told us, why didn't you find a way to tell us the truth? In the grand scheme of things, California is pretty damn close to Washington. It's been eight years, you could've walked it by now and this little phone trick. You seriously have the same damn number? I thought for a second maybe it only receives calls, but you called my hotel so that's not the case, is it?"

He quickly was losing the warm tingly feeling she gave him by being near. The longer he sat there looking at her, the madder he got. Bella clearly was living a life of her own free will. That said volumes about her intentions as far as he was concerned.

She clanged the cup on the table. He had her shaken, like literally. He could see her hands trembling. She gnawed her lip in between her teeth. "I... I'm so sorry. It was unavoidable."

"Unavoidable, you say?" He dug in pocket and retrieved his phone. He produced the picture that haunted him and shoved it in front of her. He wanted her to read her epitaph. He wanted her to see the words: Precious daughter, that her mother insisted be included. Jacob suspected the Cullens concocted this story. Bella always wimped out and never stood up for herself around them. However, she was an accomplice in this deception, she had to be. That was the only reasonable conclusion he had time to draw. "Look at it. That's only one of the results of your cruel, unavoidable lie. There's so much more. This only begins to scratch the surface."

She shielded her eyes and pushed his phone away. "Are you saying, something's wrong with my parents, because I just can't..." her voice trailed off with emotion.

Jacob explained to her that Renee's marriage to Phil crumbled, and she was back in Phoenix with an old friend working some job she hated. She didn't keep much contact with Charlie. He was pretty much the same old Charlie, not quite as social. He worked, fished and drank, but did most of those things alone. It was a rarity their dads got together any longer.

"I hate that, for both of them. I'm really sorry. It honestly breaks my heart."

"Call them. Tell them."

"I can't."

"Why the fuck not?" he banged on the table for added emphasis.

Bella looked up and noticed a few prying eyes glancing in their direction. "Can we keep it down to a low roar? I still have to work with these people?"

That really infuriated him. She's the one that invited him to her job in the first place. "Fine, let's go somewhere else, so I can yell as loud as I need to and you won't be shamed or embarrassed." There it was, the ever present need to protect her even when she was in the wrong. He never could escape it as long as he lived. Suddenly, the booth felt more cramped and a few degrees hotter.

Bella started what he knew was going to be a piss poor excuse, because nothing would be good enough to justify tricking all those that loved her this way. "I know you're so angry and hurt and confused right now. I get it. I deserve everything you say to me, but please, can I just explain it all and then you can say whatever you want?"

"Fine, Bells. You have my full attention." He thought this better be good. He almost missed being a wolf because the only thing that might make this better was being able to destroy that leech for convincing her to agree to this horrible deception.

Bella looked at him in such a way, her essence brushed against his soul. She saw him, all the way into the deep core of his existence. No one ever looked at him that way. He felt the energy pass between the two of them, just before she reached in and ripped his heart out of his chest. "It was me. I made up the lie. I forced the Cullens to tell it. I was there listening all those times you called, when they broke the news to Charlie, I heard every word."

Her fingers slid across the table and touched his. He jerked both his hands back and secured them in his lap so he didn't punch anything, not that he'd hit her, but breaking the booth or the wall was a possibility. "Don't you dare touch me. Why would you do that?"

"To protect all of you."

"Bullshit. I didn't need protection. I was a spirit wolf and I was on my way to being the strongest of them all. You know I was meant to be alpha."

"Was?"

"I quit. All of us did. There's no pack, just us... brothers and sister for life. We don't need to still phase to be a family."

"Oh, even more reason not to bring my troubles back around."

"You're speaking in riddles. I assume you mean bloodsuckers. Is that why you live in sunny LA? I still have trouble believing he let you go so easily."

Bella went back to the beginning. She started talking about being swept away to a private island on her honeymoon. It honestly was the last story he desired to hear, but when she started to turn a few shades of pink and admitted they never consummated the relationship, his ears perked up. "We couldn't. I mean, you were right, he would've killed me. I saw it in his eyes. Something happened when we got so close and it took all my strength and pleading to snap him out of the strange frenzy he was in. I was a wreck. I literally looked like an abuse victim and we never even got completely naked."

Jacob didn't hold back a growl. He swore he hadn't made that noise in years, but it came easily thinking about that leech pawing all over and her pleading for him to stop. She must have been petrified. She continued. It was a wake up call. She and Edward would never be completely compatible as human and vampire. "But something changed. After seeing him that way, I just remember thinking, I didn't want anyone to ever see me act out of control. I never wanted to be overcome by bloodlust. I didn't want to be a monster. Hell, I still faint if I see a drop of blood. How did I seriously think I could be one of them? There was just no way."

She said the family all met back at one of the Cullen's other residences far away from Forks. She had lots to discuss and Aro had already been in contact. She'd briefly given the pack the head's up about the creepy Italian rulers and their little ultimatum about her right after the newborn fight. Jacob had all the others in agreement. She couldn't be forced. If push came to shove and they actually followed through with their threats, the pack would push back to protect her. She had that promised to her all those years ago. He still wouldn't accept that as her excuse for lying about being dead.

Bella went on to explain that Carlisle thought he could appease Aro for the time being. The actual struggle was how she fit in with their family. She thought she already did, but as tedious days ticked by, she reconsidered. "I thought we could go with plan B, and that we'd attend Dartmouth together. I could still be Edward's wife. I loved him but we both could see the writing on the wall. It wasn't like it had been before. Something changed, I knew it. He knew it too, but both of us had kept silent about it since Italy."

Jacob shifted in his seat. He was so damn uncomfortable, he almost felt like he needed to take a run. He didn't run around on four legs any longer, but he might go back to the hotel and take advantage of the gym on the lower level. He might have something to do with the change Bella spoke of. He knew what happened before Italy, before the damn tick ruined everything from being how it was meant to be.

He kept quiet. She kept talking.

She said she started to get sick, really sick. "It was weird, I'd been around them so much but actually being cooped up with them and never having human interaction was doing something to me. I got my own place near them. It was the only way and it alleviated a lot of my symptoms. By that time, I had to do something more decisive. Dad was calling all the time and then Aro called again. The first lie to him started everything. Carlisle told him the change didn't go as planned. He was going to tell him I perished, but then he worried Aro would check the validity of that story out. Instead, he said, I had some sort of unexplained immunity. He actually bought that one because he knew I'd been bitten by James."

"Well, then case closed, problem solved... you can't be a vampire or so he thought. The bloodsuckers gave you a sickness or whatever it was. All of them were hazardous to your health like I always said. Why didn't you come home then?"

"Because Jake, Aro was even more fascinated with me after that. He called, wrote, we actually Google chatted. He thinks I'm the damn missing link between our two worlds. He keeps tabs on me. He won't let it go. If I went back to Forks, he'd know and then everyone I care about would be at risk. Now that I know you all moved on and have normal lives, I know my decision was the right one. I feel horrible about my parents, but you don't know how many times I've dreamed about them having their throats ripped out or worse, them with blood red eyes. I don't want whatever cursed me long ago to touch their lives. I have no idea why the supernatural seeks me out or how I'm connected. Maybe Aro's right and I'm a freak of nature. I told Edward to make you all believe I was dead, because that's what would keep you out of harm's way. I regret the pain I caused, but I don't regret that you're safe. Look at you. You look amazing and you're here on business. I can tell you're successful. What is it that you do?"

"I'm an architect."

"Wow, I never knew you wanted to do that. That's great. I'm proud of you."

Ariana ended up at their table again and asked if they wanted a refill but they both declined. Jacob was still trying to digest all that she'd admitted to him. It was a fucked up bunch of mess. He wasn't sure what to even say. She was wrong but he knew in her twisted mind, she thought she was right.

He wanted to know why LA and if she ever talked to the Cullens. "Well, Aro seems pleased the vampire population is quite low here and he thinks as little contact I have with their kind, the better. He knows my family thinks I'm dead even though I never bothered to change my name, he's confident I won't go blabbing what I know at this point."

"What the fuck, Bells? Is this guy like an old, pervy uncle or something? Are you pen pals?" It seemed to him like she had a weird sort of relationship with the vampire leader.

"It's complicated. I don't trust him and he doesn't trust me. I'm a threat in his twisted mind and yet we regard each other with a certain reverence. Alice still insists he's a loose canon. He might demand to see me again one day. Of course, he could test Carlisle's lie if he really wanted to, so who knows. I need to be careful who I associate with."

"And who do you associate with?"

"Well, to answer your question about the Cullens, Edward annulled the marriage. I talk to them but not often, mainly by email. It's less personal. I take care of myself. I've grown up a lot. I only stayed near them the first couple of years. I work here, I go to night school and take online classes when I can and I live with two great roommates. I keep my circle of friends very small. That's the way I like it."

"So this suits you... a coffee shop, and living with a couple of chicks? You probably keep late hours, and you're completely unprotected? I'm glad you saw the light with the tick, but I can't believe you're so exposed when your creepy Uncle Leech could send someone after you at any time."

"No, I'm careful. I take precautions. I have a taser and pepper spray and I never said I live with two women." He knew damn well those weapons would do nothing to a vampire and so did she, but he was more concerned about this roommate business all of the sudden.

"What, two dudes?"

"No, one man, one woman... Barry and Monica. They're great. Barry hovers and he takes really good care of me. He's all about safety too. Monica is a nurturer. In a way, I think I've let them fill the void after being estranged from Charlie and Renee."

"Is it one of those freaky relationships and you call this guy Barry, Daddy only you mean something else when she say it?"

She crinkled her nose trying to figure out what he meant. He was mentally kicking himself under that table for hinting at being jealous but he was seething, actually. Bella lived with a fucking man that she said protected her. It was wrong on so many levels to him.

"Eww, gross. No, it's not like that at all. We're only friends."

"Yeah, well apparently you're still very naive about how the male mind functions. If he lives with you, he thinks about banging you."

She laughed in his face. "You, so have the wrong idea. Trust me, I am not Barry's type and he's never fantasized about banging me as you so delicately put it. I'm a little too feminine for him, if you know what I mean."

Jacob let all her words seep into his conscious thoughts before the light bulb went off. "Oh, so Barry's gay?"

"Yes, totally."

"So, totally gay. Is that a real thing, different from just gay?"

She kicked him for real under the table. "I thought you needed the extra reassurance for some reason. He's actually very decent and I bet you two would like each other if you ever met."

The lightened up atmosphere quickly disappeared again. Jacob scowled. Had he heard everything he needed to hear? He kinda thought he had. He couldn't say he felt better or worse, he felt numb. "I need to go." He said abruptly. He picked up his phone again to call the service, but she stopped him.

"I can give you a ride." He didn't think that was wise. She pressed. "I mean, it's not far. I'm pretty sure I know exactly where it is. It's practically on my way."

"Fine." Jacob stood up, dug in his pocket and tossed a twenty on the table. Bella told him that wasn't necessary, she got coffee for free. "For Ariana, she did a hell of a job pretending she wasn't listening to every bit of our conversation. I'm afraid you'll be the center of workplace gossip for weeks."

Bella huffed and blew her stray hairs out of her face. "Ugh. She certainly doesn't deserve that kind of tip." They walked past the register. She paused and added, "Because she sucks."

"Bye Bella, bye Bella's friend," a few people chimed together.

Jacob looked to her to lead them. He had no idea what she was driving. She eventually stopped in front of a God awful, dull blue car. He frowned without thinking. "Don't be hater. It's the first car I ever bought all on my own."

She unlocked the doors, but his actually was hard to open even for him. She apologized that passenger door had issues. It moaned and creaked when he shut it soundly. "It's not going to fall off, is it?"

She rolled her eyes again. Jacob looked around at the interior which was littered with generic coffee cups from her job and crumpled papers. Bella turned the key and the car eventually came to life after a couple of false starts. "Jesus, Bells. This is literally a piece of shit. Who the hell is your mechanic?"

"Ha ha, you're a car snob. I don't have a mechanic, just an oil and lube place I go when I think about it. The car's fine for what I need it for, getting from point A to point B."

He didn't stop there. "Couldn't the Cullens at least leave you something that came off the assembly line this decade?"

"Of course, they offered, but Edward would have been completely outrageous. I wanted to blend in. I also didn't want anymore handouts. I had to learn to survive all by myself."

"So, you mean to tell me, they let you go off without a penny to your name."

She heaved out a frustrated sigh. She was holding back one more secret. "Fine, Carlisle pays for my tuition. That's it though. I don't have a special credit card or stacks of money under my bed. It's really pricey to earn a degree, especially now that I'm finishing up my master's."

"Wow, a master's. In what?"

"Cultural anthropology, with an emphasis on the cultural variations among humans."

He shook his head. Did he hear her correctly? "Huh? That's an actual field of study?"

"Of course, silly. You're an educated man yourself. I'm sure you've heard of anthropology."

"Yeah, but not all that extra stuff you added on. Does that actually pay decent?"

"Well, maybe someday when I find the right position, plus I minored in journalism. I can write abstracts, do case studies, etc."

For the life of him, he couldn't understand why she went down that path, but he knew the trip to the hotel was a little ways and the traffic was heavier so he asked a few more questions. "And what was the draw that pulled you into the exciting world of anthropology?" To him, it sounded boring as hell and nothing like the Bella he remembered, but after their earlier conversation, did he actually know her at all?

She said it was brought to her attention her first semester in a Native American studies course. He was briefly moved that her desire to study these sort of human relations across various cultures had something to do with him. She went onto explain her branch of anthropology tried to make sense of how people react to their surroundings and that's where some of life's basic questions were asked. "Why are we here? How did we get like this? Why does this way of life sustain us? How does our station in life relate to our ancestors?"

"Right, a study in human behavior. Maybe you should be your first case study, because you make absolutely make no sense and are probably the poster child for how not to behave."

She was getting pissed after he'd dogged her car and her career path. He could tell by how tight she held the steering wheel and the way she cursed so much at the other driver's, even imaginary ones he didn't see near them. Bella knew she had no business mouthing off to him for anything after the torture she put him through. He pretty much had a free pass for life if he wanted. Not that he planned on them still being friends, but if they were, he thought it would be funny to push her until she neared a cataclysmic eruption. He imagined wiggling his long finger in her face, "Uh, uh, uuhhh, remember when you made me think you were dead for eight damn years. You can't get pissed at me."

Damn, he missed fighting with her. He'd actually reached a point in his frustration where he couldn't show her that sort of emotion. He was being very calm and reserved. She, surely expected more out of him, but he had very little to give back to her.

Again, she apologized.

He didn't accept it. However, he did give her a hint of what bothered him the most. He stared out the window, because he didn't want her to see the pain in his eyes. "You should've trusted me. I don't know why I'm surprised. You never had enough faith that I could protect you as good as he could."

"That's not true. Why can't you understand, it had nothing to do with trust or faith? I needed to be able to protect you the only way I could."

Jacob needed to change the subject or else he'd lose his shit over her trying to justify her betrayal for his own good. He was engaged, he kept trying to picture Kaleigh's face throughout the conversation. A few times he really struggled with it. Bella was a liar and a sadist, but before he walked away for good, he needed know if she had someone too. "So school, work, roommates... got much time for anything else?"

"Is that your way of asking if I date?"

"No, anything means just that? It means more, less or nothing."

"No, I don't actually date much." He felt some type of relief swirl through his system. Why, was beyond him. The feeling didn't last when she elaborated. "I mean, I've seen some guys. I was determined to have some experiences: new city, new life, new me. I'm just very focused and busy right now, so I'm happily single."

He tried to hide how it made him feel. He didn't need her to spell out what experiences meant. She shoved him in the arm. "Get real, Jake. I wasn't going to be a virgin forever. I'm 26 years old. So, what about you? How many hearts did you break sowing your wild oats in college?"

He shifted in the seat to face her. She glanced at him but tried to focus solely on the road. "I didn't break a single damn heart because I knew firsthand how shitty that felt. Instead, I fell in love with the perfect girl."

"Oh, I see. Well, I'm happy for you. Truly, I am."

"Our wedding's next month."

Her fingers gripped the steering wheel tighter until he saw the veins bulging on the tops of her hands.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting that. Congratulations then."

"Thanks. Her name's Kaleigh." He wanted the news to really sink in and for Bella to be hit soundly with the fact she was a real person. He'd moved on from her and was living his life.

"Is she a... um, you know?"

"No, she's not. I told you that was not an issue for me and it never would be. We didn't need any of that supernatural bullshit. We found each other the normal way. She doesn't even know what I used to be."

She pulled into the front entrance of the hotel about then. He was relieved because he probably couldn't spend another second in that crappy car of hers. The air in there was stifling and intoxicating all at once. Bella reached over and squeezed over his hand. "I'm really sorry, but I'm happy for you. I mean it Jake. You deserve a good life. It's all I ever wanted. Take care and I..." she seemed to be having trouble with the rest.

"I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon."

"Sure, I figured, it's the end of the week. Well, have a nice trip back. Please, don't complicate any other lives. I need to know you'll keep my secret." A loud horn blared in the background. The valet was trying to get her attention. She was in a no parking zone. He didn't respond to her request. He just stepped out and slammed the creaky door. Jacob started walking towards the hotel entrance. He never even said goodbye. He turned back around to catch her pulling away. It was for the best. He should let her go just like that. It was fitting not to say goodbye. She told him goodbye the night she got married. That should've been the end of them.

All he knew, he was beat and that he had to get some sleep before dinner. The restless night and her betrayal took every last bit of his energy. He felt like shit. Jacob fell face down on the bed and passed out for almost two hours. He wished parts of it had been a terrible nightmare, but he remembered everything clearly as soon as he opened his eyes to the dark room.

He pulled out his phone prepared to check on Kay. Instead, the screen blinked with a text message.

It was nice seeing you again. Goodbye Jake.

He wasn't going to tell her goodbye, that's what he decided, but something hijacked his brain. If he didn't know better, he swore it was an alter ego.

His fingers quickly tapped out words. Wanna meet me for a drink?

Um. I don't think that's wise.

Since when have you ever been wise? Bring your friends. I want to meet them.

Oh, okay. I guess that might work.

The hotel bar was nice, very public. That's the only way the final meeting would be acceptable. He told her to give him an hour and she responded they would all be there.

Another text came in from Kaleigh. She wanted to know what he was up to. He sent out a reply that was a blatant lie.

Nothing much. Really tired. Going to catch up on my rest tonight.

Jacob pulled himself off the bed and stumbled into the bathroom. He flipped on the bright light. Maybe it would wake him up properly, so he could visualize the dangerous mistake he was toying with making. Kaleigh was a good person. She loved him. He was happy with her. They were about to start their lives together. She basically only had one flaw-she wasn't Bella.

~Thanks for reading.

I swear this chapter had so much to absorb. It's a bit overwhelming, but you know how much I love your predictions. I want to know what you think of Bella's excuses? What's going on with Jacob? How many secrets does this story potentially hold?

Who thinks they shouldn't have that drink?