Erin walked out the back door of the small, red house, following Billy's direction that Jake was in the garage. It had been a few weeks since they had reconciled and they were slowly but surely building a friendship of sorts. Not to mention Erin's fear of completely letting Jake in was barely keeping her growing crush on him at bay.
A loud crash made Erin jump slightly, pausing mid-step before picking up her pace. She hurried around the corner of the open doorway of the small, red garage before she stopped, taking in the sight before her.
All she could see of Jake was his back, but even under the tight, black T-shirt she could see his muscles tensing as he ran his hands roughly through his short, black hair, practically ripping the strands from his scalp. A constant, low growling was coming from him as he paced around the small space. Finally, he came to a rest, leaning over with his hands braced on the front of his Rabbit, which had it's hood up.
Erin bit her lip nervously, unsure if she should make her presence known or come back another time. Surely he knew she was there already, though, right? What with his heightened senses and everything. After a few more moments of silence, she quietly cleared her throat.
Jake snapped his head around, staring at her with wide eyes.
"Erin! Uh, I, uh,…didn't know you were there." he ended with a mumble, grabbing an oil-stained rag and ringing it in his hands.
"Yeah, um, I was just stopping by to see what you were up to, and your dad directed me out here." she answered back, her own voice a low mutter that Jake probably wouldn't have been able to hear had he been a normal human.
Jake swallowed thickly, nodding as he turned and placed the old rag back on his workbench.
"So, were you working on your Rabbit or trying to break holes in the walls?" she asked quietly, glancing at the wrench lying on the ground by the wall, just below a small dent in the wooden wall, before she looked back at him. Jake followed her eyes to the wrench, sighing as he moved to pick it up.
"I'm just giving it a couple tune ups." he mumbled, bending over to pick the tool up from the ground.
Erin bit her lip, debating if she wanted to ask. She didn't want to piss him off, but obviously something was bothering him. Finally, she sighed, "Jake, what's wrong?" she asked quietly, taking a step into the garage.
Jake tensed for a moment, a single ripple running through his muscles, showing just how close his wolf was to the surface. "Nothing." he answered stiffly, his voice a low snarl that sounded inhuman.
Erin stuffed her hands into the pockets of the denim jacket she was wearing, shuffling her shoes against the cement floor. "It's obviously not nothing that would cause you to chuck a wrench against the wall in your 'Taj Mahal', risking denting your precious Rabbit." she whispered pointedly, tilting her head a bit.
Jake sighed, placing a hand carefully on the roof of the car, as if silently assuring it he wouldn't hurt it, but his muscles remained tense. "I don't want to talk about it, Erin. Not with you."
A stab of pain in her chest caused Erin to flinch back. Jake must've noticed how he sounded, because he spun around almost as soon as the words left his mouth, his face one of panicked remorse as he took in the pain in her expression.
"I didn't mean it like that." he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear. He closed his eyes, sighing in frustration. "I just meant…I can't talk about it with you, because it'll hurt you and I don't want that." he explained in his normal voice.
"How would it hurt me?" Erin asked in confusion, causing Jake to turn away from her, "Jake, please? We're friends, right? You can talk to me about anything. You're upset, and I want to help you."
Jake turned back to her, his eyes searching her face. After several moments of silence, he spoke. "She's been calling the house relentlessly for the past couple of days. It's like when I phased all over again. She keeps calling and I keep asking my dad to get rid of her, but she just keeps calling and it's pissing me off."
Erin's heart sunk when she realized who Jake was talking about.
"She made her choice. She chose the leech, and I want nothing to do with her. I promised you I would try, for us, and I really do want to cut all ties with Bella, but she won't leave me alone. And I'm making my dad play defense, because I'm too much of a coward to answer the phone and tell her myself. Because just the thought of talking to her hurts because whether I want to cut her off or not, it still hurts. The fact that she chose him, and left me without so much as a look back or a second thought, the fact that I'm not good enough for her."
Erin closed her eyes as she listened to him rant about her. Bella, Bella, Bella. It would always be about her. Even though he said he didn't want anything to do with her, she still finds a way to worm herself back into their lives. Erin registered Jake had cut off his rant, and before she knew it, huge, tree-trunk arms had wrapped around her, crushing her into a cushioned wall as comforting heat surrounded her, the now-familiar scent of musk, rain, and oil filling her senses as a nose buried itself into her hair.
"I'm sorry." he mumbled into her hair, his warm breath washing over her as he tightened his grip on her. "I'm sorry, Erin. I didn't want to talk about it because I didn't want to hurt you. I choose you, Erin, I swear. I don't want Bella anymore, I want you. I'm sorry I hurt you."
His words were like a soothing balm, cooling the sting of his earlier rant. In response, she lifted her limp arms and wrapped them around his back, squeezing as tightly as her little arms would allow.
"Don't be sorry." she whispered, her cheek on his chest, "I told you to talk to me and you did. It's my own problem if I didn't like what I heard." Jake squeezed her once more before he loosened his grip, slowly pulling back to look down at her.
"I'm still really sorry. I just…I'm trying to get over her, but it's hard. I've spent most of my life imagining my future with her in it. And now, trying to accept that that's not how it's going to be, it's hard."
Erin stared at his chest in front of her, biting her lip thoughtfully. "I guess I can understand that. I mean, I've spent most of my life alone, without anyone who cared about me. And now all of a sudden, I've got an entire pack of older brother figures, friends, sisters…Sometimes I'm afraid I'll just wake up and everything will have been a dream."
Jake tightened his grip on her, making her look up into his eyes. "Well, I can tell you right now, this isn't a dream. You're a part of this pack just as much as the rest of us. You're family."
Erin smiled. "Thanks. But my point, I can see where you're coming from. It took a while to get used to all you guys coming and going when I first started hanging out with you, but now I wouldn't have it any other way."
Jake nodded thoughtfully before sighing. "Yeah. It'll take some time for me to get over everything, the pain Bella caused, and basically losing the future I'd had planned my whole life. But you know what, I think I can come up with a better future." he thought out loud, looking down at Erin with a smile. Erin blushed and looked down, chewing her bottom lip in embarrassment.
Jake suppressed a smirk at seeing her cheeks gain a hint of red. Pressing a brief kiss to her hair, he pulled back and went back to his workbench. Erin followed and took a seat on the beat up old couch he had placed near his car.
"So, were you really giving the Rabbit a tune-up, or was that just an excuse to be out here?" Erin asked teasingly. Jake smirked over at her from where he was messing with his tools.
"Psh, please." he scoffed. "I keep this baby in perfect condition, it doesn't need any tune-ups."
Erin eyed the rust coated at the bottom edges of the car's doors and raised her brows, nodding, "Hm, I can see that." she stated sarcastically.
Jake chucked the greasy rag at her, making her shriek as she raised her hands to protect her face, "Very funny, Erin." Jake smirked when she laughed, chuckling to himself.
They talked for a while before Jake looked over at the dirty, old digital clock sitting on a crate near the couch. "Crap, I gotta get to patrol." he grumbled, glaring at the clock for reminding him.
Erin shrugged. "That's okay. I can meet you at Emily's when you're done, if you want. Hey, maybe I'll even go over there a little earlier and help her cook something."
Jake's eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. "Can you make those peanut butter cookies you made last week? Please?" he begged excitedly.
Erin laughed, thinking he was adorable when he pleaded like that. It made him look closer to his age, well, younger than his age, but that's beside the point.
"If she has the right ingredients, absolutely." Erin answered. Before she knew it, she was airborne and being swung around in circles. She shrieked and laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck to keep from falling.
When Jake put her down they left the garage, pausing at the entrance. This was where they'd go their own ways.
Jake sighed, grimacing. "Now I have to endure patrol with Jared." he grumbled.
"What's so bad about Jared?" Erin asked curiously.
Jake rolled his eyes at her. "Just having to hear some of the things he thinks about Kim. She's all he thinks about, it's sickening. Don't get me wrong, it's nowhere near as bad as what Paul thinks about. But seriously? I do not want to hear, in detail, what Kim's tongue feels like when it touches his!" he whined, his shoulders slouching. Erin covered her mouth to keep from laughing at him. Jared had told Kim about the legends only about a week after he imprinted, and they were probably making the fastest progress of any of the imprinted pairs. Erin would admit, it could get a bit sickening.
"Oh, man up, Jake. You'll be fine for a few hours." Erin reassured him, patting his shoulder, as high as she could reach. Jake glared mockingly down at her. "Just think about peanut butter cookies." she suggested, which made the glare disappear instantly, a childlike smile spreading over his face.
"I think I can do that." he answered simply, "What are you going to do until then?"
Erin thought for a moment before answering, "I think I'm going to go for a walk. I haven't done that for a while and I need to stretch my legs."
Jake eyed her worriedly. "Where are you going to go?"
Erin gave him a look. "Relax, Jacob. I'm not going to cut or commit suicide. There are no harmful thoughts in my head. The meds are working fine." she added reassuringly. A couple days after her and Jake had reconciled in the woods, Emily and Erin had a heart-to-heart of sorts while the pack was out, and Emily convinced her it wouldn't be a bad idea to look into taking antidepressants. So, now she took a couple pills a day and so far she hadn't had a single fleeting thought of anything self-harm related, and she hadn't been in her 'dark pit' for a few weeks.
Jake relaxed slightly, but she could tell he was still worried. "Okay, just…do you have your phone on you?"
Erin pulled her phone from her pocket and showed it to him. "Relax. I'll only go for maybe an hour or two, just to chill for a bit before I enter the war zone that is Emily's kitchen."
Jake smirked slightly despite himself before giving her a brief hug.
After that, they went their separate ways, and after wandering for a while, Erin found herself up at the cliffs. But this was different than last time. This was the cliffs the guys jumped from, and she didn't come with the intent to jump. She liked the peace it offered. The cool breeze, and sounds of the leaves rustling behind her combined with the sound of the waves crashing against the cliff face far below.
She sat in the cool grass a few feet away from the cliff's edge. She pulled out her I-pod and decided to listen to some music, putting her ear buds in. She texted Emily fast to make sure she had the ingredients for the peanut butter cookies, in case she needed to make a stop to the store to pick stuff up, but Emily assured her she had everything.
So, Erin simply sat there, enjoying the peace and the quiet music.
After a while, when her I-pod switched songs, there was a brief silence where she heard the faint sound of footsteps behind her. She didn't turn around, but she subtly muted her I-pod, making it look like she was still listening to her music. The person came to a stop about a foot behind her, just off to the side.
"It's a beautiful view." a familiar voice stated conversationally, and Erin fought to keep her face neutral, trying not to grimace or roll her eyes.
Bella.
After several moments of silence, she heard Bella huff, probably annoyed at being ignored. After a moment, she stepped closer, purposely stepping to the side so Erin could barely see her out of the corner of her eyes.
She looked up at Bella, turning off her I-pod and pulled out her ear buds.
"Can I help you?" she asked tiredly.
Bella glared at her for a moment. "Do you know where Jake is?" she asked, getting straight to the point.
Erin made a big show of looking around her before looking back up at the pale brunette. "Not here."
Bella glared harshly at her before trying to appear calm, her face clearing. "I can see that."
"Why don't you check Billy's? He does live there, you know." Erin pointed out.
"I did." Bella answered through gritted teeth, "And I checked Emily's. They both said he's on patrol."
Erin looked at her like she was stupid. "Well, it sure sounds like you got the answer you're looking for."
Bella huffed and gave Erin a similar look. "There's no way he's still on patrol. That was an hour ago."
Erin's mouth fell open, a single huff of a laugh escaping her. "Wow. Do you remember nothing from when you hung out with the pack? The patrols are about five hours long."
"Doesn't he need a lunch break or something?" Bella demanded.
Erin looked down at her phone, seeing that it was about 10:30. She looked back up at Bella to answer, "He started at 8 this morning. He'll get off around one, he'll be fine until then. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to enjoy the peace and quiet. Why don't you go back to your vampire? I'm pretty sure he doesn't want you to be here."
There was silence for a couple minutes, but Erin could tell Bella was still standing there. She simply ignored her.
"You know, Jake doesn't really like you."
Erin tensed before she could stop herself, slowly turning to fix Bella with a deadly expression, while the leech lover looked smug.
"He told me so himself." she continued arrogantly, "In fact, he hates your guts-"
"When did he tell you this?" Erin asked in a bored tone.
"A couple months ago, a couple days after I found out about the pack." Bella answered like it was the most painful thing she could've said to Erin.
However, the painful twinge in Erin's chest vanished as she announced when Jake said this.
"Well, I have no doubt in my mind that Jake said that back then," Erin started watching Bella's smug smirk grow, "however, that was a long time ago. A lot has changed since you left to save your leech."
Bella's smirk transformed into a scowl. "They're not leeches, and what do you mean a lot has changed?"
"I mean Jake and I talked about it. We're friends and he wants nothing to do with you. Which reminds me, you should really stop calling his house. He feels bad about making his dad answer the phone, but he really doesn't want to talk to you."
"That's ridiculous!" Bella exclaimed, "He's my best friend! He would never say anything like that. I bet it's Sam! Sam's forbidding him from talking to me again." she ranted to herself.
"Actually, it's not Sam. Jake just got sick of you always stabbing him in the heart. Face it, Bella, you chose the vampire. You can't live with a foot in both worlds, it just doesn't work like that. The wolves and vampires are enemies, they're built to destroy each other. You made your choice, and I think I speak for the whole pack when I say that no one wants you here. We barely tolerated you before, but now you've sided with the leeches. So suck it up and deal with it."
Bella glared silently down at Erin for several moments. Erin looked away and sighed. "I can see I'm not getting any peace up here anymore." she mumbled, standing up. "I'm out of here." she announced as she brushed past Bella.
"Jake doesn't really like you!" Erin rolled her eyes as she continued walking.
"You really need some new material if you want to hurt me."
"It's the imprint forcing him to care!" At that, Erin stopped, slowly turning around to look at Bella over her shoulder. She didn't know Jake had told Bella about imprinting. "He hated you the moment he met you, and he told me he hated imprinting because it took away his choice. He never wanted anything to do with you." Bella continued, "The only reason he's hanging around you now is because the imprint is forcing him to."
"You don't even understand imprinting enough to be able to say that. You're simply lashing out at what you think is the thing that took Jake away from you, but in reality, you drove Jake away. You hurt him one too many times, and he's staying away from you in order to protect his own heart. Like I said, Jake and I have been talking, and we've come to the agreement that he imprinted on me because we both needed each other. We both have similar problems, and we need someone we can lean on. He imprinted on me because you hurt him, and he needs me to help him get over the pain you caused, just like I need him, and the pack, to help with my pain. However, it looks like you're too selfish to simply accept that you're with Cullen, and you can't have both of them."
Bella scoffed, her hands on her hips. "How am I selfish? Jacob is my own personal sun! He helped me when I was in a depression, and he's my best friend!"
"Oh, yeah, he's your best friend after actually hanging out with him for, what, four months?" Erin responded sarcastically, "No, his best friends are Embry and Quil. And you want to know how you're selfish? Let's see, you used Jake to get over the pain of Edward leaving you," Bella flinched at the reminder, "you jumped off a cliff when the pack was busy dealing with a hundred other things, and you ran away from Jake to save your vampire without even a second thought after everything he's done for you! So, yes, I'd say you're very selfish!"
"How are you any different?" Bella demanded. "After all, from what I hear, you jumped off a cliff, too. Except I was doing it for sport, you tried to kill yourself." Erin's mouth fell open, but no words came out. She had no idea how Bella had heard about that, she'd been gone when Erin jumped. Bella looked at her smugly. "If you're wondering how I heard about it, Edward heard one of the wolves thinking about it on patrol."
Erin's shocked expression turned into a glare. "You want to know how I'm different? Yeah, I jumped off a cliff, yeah my reasoning's were probably selfish, but I wanted to die. I don't know why you jumped, you claim it's sport, but you may as well have been trying to kill yourself with the stupid conditions you chose. The waves that day, and the fact that the redhead was near the same cliff, not to mention Jake promised he'd take you cliff diving, but he had more important things to worry about at the moment. You put yourself at risk when the pack had a hundred other things they needed to worry about, I snuck away when they weren't around because I couldn't handle living anymore, and I wanted to kill myself. I didn't come to this cliff to jump in the water, at risk of injuring myself and living, I went to the cliff with the rocks at the bottom, because there was no way I was going to fail.
"The difference between you and me is that you went through a petty "depression" because your sparkly boyfriend dumped you, not once taking into consideration your friends and family who were worried about you. Me? I'm medically depressed because my mom hates me, the reservation shuns me, and for the first sixteen years of my life I didn't have a single friend, I was alone. I didn't have a reason to stay alive. Yeah, I'll admit, I was selfish, because I know the pack would've been hurt if I had succeeded, but because of the imprint, I couldn't handle Jake hurting me anymore."
Bella stared at her silently for several moments, as if registering her words.
"I still don't see how it's any different."
Erin growled under her breath, throwing her hands up. "Fine, whatever. That's your problem. I'm leaving."
As she turned to leave, a pale hand shot out and grabbed her elbow, nails digging into the tender flesh in the crook of Erin's elbow.
"Tell me where Jake is." Bella demanded.
"Oh my God! I already told you, he's on PATROL!" Erin shouted, throwing Bella's hand off her. "Go back to your damn leeches and leave the rest of us in peace." she demanded, turning to walk away.
A sharp pain erupted through her scalp as her hair was practically ripped out at the roots. A strangled shout tore from Erin's throat as she threw her arm back to shove Bella off her. She got Bella to release, only ripping a few strands of blonde hair from Erin's head, but Bella rushed forward and shoved Erin to the ground.
Erin's back hit the hard ground, knocking the air from her lungs. She laid there for a moment, panting, before she tried to sit up. She glared at Bella, who was glaring right back with a proud gleam in her eyes.
Erin managed to stand up without stumbling too much, not wanting to give Bella the satisfaction. When she was standing straight and tall, she met Bella's eyes sternly.
"I'm not going to fight you, Bella. You'd think you'd be above that, but you just showed your immaturity. I won't tell Jake about this, because I don't want to cause problems, but I suggest you go home now."
With that, Erin turned to leave, but was once again shoved to the ground. She turned over just as Bella landed over her, throwing a punch into Erin's cheek. Erin tried to fight down panic as she grabbed Bella's wrist, trying to stop her from hitting her again.
Of course, when Bella yanked at Erin's hair with her free hand, Erin's panic erupted into pure anger. Clenching her free hand into a fist, she threw her whole arm into landing a punch straight up into Bella's jaw. Pain sliced through Erin's knuckles, but it was worth it to hear Bella's pained yelp. While the brunette was distracted, Erin released Bella's wrist and shoved both hands against Bella's shoulders, knocking her off of her body.
A niggling voice in the back of her mind told her to walk away, that she'd taught the other girl a lesson. But the second Erin met Bella's cold, enraged eyes, she knew she wouldn't be able to simply walk away from this fight. Bella would continue pursuing her until one of them won.
So, Erin lurched her body forward, throwing another punch into Bella's nose as she knocked the pale girl back onto the ground.
The fight was a blur as the two threw punches and rolled multiple times, trying to get the upper hand. Erin wasn't even thinking as she fought, simply following some primal instinct.
However, her mind blurred for a different reason as Bella managed to flip back on top again, lifting Erin up by the shoulder's on her jacket and slamming her back down on the ground. Erin felt her head connect with something hard and sharp, her eyesight blurring with black spots dotting her vision. She didn't really notice some warm liquid gathering beneath her head.
She laid stunned for a while, having just enough conscious thought to bring her arms up to shield her face as Bella continued to throw punches at her.
She tried to gather her jumbled thoughts, and finally managed to come up with an idea. She lifted her knee up and jabbed it into Bella's ribs. This knocked Bella off balance enough that a good shove into her shoulder was enough for Erin to roll back on top and start throwing sloppy punches into Bella's 'perfect' little face.
Bella managed to fight one arm through Erin's flying fists and shove her palm against Erin's face, making Erin lean too far to the side.
In the span of about three seconds, Erin felt a cold burst of salty wind blast up from the ocean, making her eyes sting as the ground under her left knee crumbled and the crashing waves below entered her line of sight. Her body felt airborne for half a second before two huge arms wrapped around her stomach, the heat seeping through her clothes as she was yanked away from the edge of the cliff.
"What the hell are you two doing?!" a harsh voice demanded near her ear, making her whole body freeze as reality crashed down on her. The voice was filled with anger, but below that she could hear fear. She blinked the blurriness from her eyes as her feet touched the ground, though the arms didn't leave her body, instead sliding up to cross over her shoulders and collarbone. She saw Jared lifting Bella up by the armpits, but she struggled in his grip and shoved him off once she was on her own two feet.
"Get off me!" she shouted, glaring at him as Erin took her in. Her clothes were scuffed and stained from the grass and mud, and her long, brown hair looked like a rat's nest, but her face is what caught Erin's eye. Bruising was beginning to form on her jaw line, across the bridge of her nose, on her left eyebrow, near the corner of her right eye, and on her right cheek. Her bottom lip was busted with blood pooling at the wound and there were three long red lines across her neck, starting from just under her chin, and the one in the middle must've just broke the skin because the dark red near the center of the scratch hinted at the tiniest bit of blood reaching the surface.
Erin suddenly tensed, realizing what she'd just done. No matter what Jake felt, he had admitted he still had feelings for Bella, would he be angry for what Erin did to her? And while she knew most of the pack would offer her high fives, Sam wouldn't be happy, and the Cullens certainly wouldn't be happy. Could this count as breaking the Treaty? And didn't Jake mention Bella's father was the Chief of Police?
She was brought out of her thoughts by Jake's arms leaving her body, making her feel cold and scared. She immediately lowered her eyes to the ground and crossed her arms over her stomach as her imprint stepped around her, his eyes burning her as he scanned her body.
"Jake! I'm so glad you got here when you did! All I did was ask her where you were and she attacked me!" Bella exclaimed pitifully, making Erin grit her teeth against denying it. If it came down to Jake having to choose between believing her and Bella, she had no doubt who he'd believe, and it wouldn't be Erin.
So, she was slightly surprised when she felt his work-calloused hand under her chin, his pointer finger under one side of her jaw and his thumb on the other. Her wide eyes met his, searching the dark brown pools for anything to tell her what he was thinking. But he was wearing his mask that the guys frequently wore around anyone out of the loop. She couldn't see anything to give her a hint, so she simply stood there, watching his eyes scan over her face. His other hand came up, his thumb brushing over her tender cheekbone, where no doubt a bruise was forming.
When he was done taking in every detail of her face, his hand that wasn't holding her chin moved to the back of her head, brushing through her messy, dirty blonde hair until a single finger touched a raw, tender, slick spot that made Erin wince at the stinging pain. He pulled his hand back and looked down at the blood on his fingertip, and for one second Erin saw his mask break. His nostrils flared, his jaw clenched, and his eyes flash in anger before he steeled his emotions.
"What happened?" his voice was barely a whisper, but Erin heard him perfectly and she looked at him with shock, her lips parted. "Erin, tell me what happened." he demanded softly, his voice gentle as his eyes softened.
Erin swallowed and stumbled through her side of the story, her injured head making her thoughts jumbled. Bella tried interrupting and claiming that she was lying, but Jake silenced her every time with a vicious snarl and a glare before turning his gentle eyes back to Erin and telling her to continue.
By the time she was done, Jake's shaking hands were rested on her hips, his whole body barely containing trembles.
"I believe you." he finally whispered, his grip tightening on her hips and bringing her closer to him. Her mouth fell open again, the corners of her lips tugging up into a smile.
"What?!" Bella's annoying shriek interrupted their moment, however. Jake turned to glare at her as Erin looked at her from around him. "Jake, how could you believe her over me? I'm your best friend!" Bella insisted pathetically.
"Simple. One: you suck at lying, and two: because of the imprint I can tell when Erin's lying or telling the truth. Also, you're not my best friend." with that, Jake scooped Erin up into his arms bridle style, looking over his shoulder at Bella. "Oh, and consider this an order from the rightful Alpha of the pack and future Chief of the tribe. Get the hell off my land and don't come back." he ordered. His hard voice rang out with an authority that even Sam couldn't achieve, sending a chill down Erin's spine. She snuggled further into his chest, closing her eyes as he began walking down the trail. Jared reached Jake's shoulder as they walked through the woods, ignoring Bella's calls.
The entire walk was silent. They stopped at Jared's house only long enough to grab his truck and drive to Forks General, while Jake called Sam and gave him a brief rundown of what happened at the cliffs.
While sitting in the waiting room to the ER with Jake holding a wet rag to the back of her head, Erin tried to ignore all the looks she got; no doubt a combination of the injuries on her face and the two giants acting as her personal body guards.
Despite Jake's numerous protests, Dr. Cullen was the only doctor available to examine Erin. She wasn't happy either, but she managed to convince Jake to behave. However, there was no way he was letting her be alone in a room with a vampire, so he came with her while Jared waited in the waiting room.
Dr. Cullen respected Jake's wishes and allowed the wolf to remain by Erin's side while he examined her head and other injuries. Erin had to keep a tight grip on his hand when the Doctor had to stitch up the back of her head. The Doctor kept up a rather friendly conversation, so Erin had the sneaking suspicion he had no clue who Erin had gotten into a fight with.
Finally, after what felt like forever, which it was considering it was about 3 hours of making small talk with a vampire without mentioning Erin beat up his future daughter-in-law, getting an X-ray to see if she broke any bones, getting stitches, and keeping a tense werewolf from snapping; they were able to leave to pick up prescription pain meds.
Walking out of the doctor's office into the chilly hallway, Jake was still growling under his breath, his whole body tense and ready for a fight.
"Jake, would you just chill? He didn't hurt me and he didn't show any signs of losing control. Calm down." she ordered firmly, trying and failing not to squint when the bright hallway lights made her head throb.
Jake sighed, his muscles relaxing instantly as he reached his hand out for hers, gripping it tightly. The corners of Erin's lips tugged at the gesture and she scooted a bit closer to lean the side of her head on his arm, closing her eyes and trusting him to lead while she rested her eyes.
"Jacob Black." only Jake heard the cold, angry voice spoken among dozens of others walking by, and he immediately tensed and stopped walking, accidentally jerking Erin to a stop beside him. Erin looked up at him in confusion, but he simply turned to look back down the hallway as two familiar, equally despised scents burned his nose. Sickly sweet bleach, and strawberries.
Edward Cullen was marching smoothly down the hall, his face twisted into a pissed off scowl as Bella Swan stumbled to keep up with him.
At the sight of the angry vampire, Erin scooted to hide behind Jacob's towering frame. She didn't regret what she did, after all she didn't really do anything wrong, Bella attacked her. But Bella's over-protective, vampire boyfriend may not see it that way. And honestly, while the Doctor had made her slightly nervous, this angry Cullen scared her.
"I would like a word with you about your imprint, Jacob." Edward demanded quietly when he reached them, sneering the word 'imprint' like it was the very dirt beneath his feet.
"I'd rather not, leech, we need to pick up her pain meds." Jake answered with a snarl.
Edward hissed quietly under his breath, his golden eyes darkening to almost black in anger. "She attacked Bella! You're just going to side with her?! Even if she's your 'soul mate' you can't really be that blind to her faults, can you?"
Jacob remained silent for a moment, his wolf and human at war with each other at a particular thought on his mind. Finally, he tightened his grip on Erin's hand, gently tugging her closer to him as he stepped to the side, slowly and hesitantly revealing her to his enemy as he looked down at her.
Erin clutched Jake's hand with all her might as she spared a glance at the bloodsucking creature glaring her down. Her instincts were screaming at her to hide behind her wolf again, but she also knew that as long as Jake was standing next to her, no one was going to touch her.
"Hey, Erin," Jake gently nudged her with his elbow, his hand still holding hers. When she looked up at him and met his eyes, he continued, "why don't you think back on everything that happened on the cliff from when Bella showed up to when me and Jared showed up? Show as many details as you can remember." he suggested gently, releasing her hand to gently run his hand over the back of her head, being careful of her stitches.
Taking a deep breath, Erin's eyes were cloudy as she thought back on everything as much as she could. Every detail she could remember, everything Bella said and how Erin responded, every punch and hit that was thrown, all the way up to when Jake and Jared pulled the two girls away from the cliff's edge. When she finished her sight cleared up and she risked a glance up at the bronze-haired vampire, holding her breath. Anger was still in his eyes, but it seemed different. And Erin's whole body relaxed in a whoosh when his black eyes snapped to Bella, who was looking up at him worriedly.
"Whatever she showed you was a lie, Edward. I swear. I told you what happened, and I would never lie to you!" Bella insisted, both hands clinging to his arm.
"You saw the truth, bloodsucker." Jake cut in, keeping his eyes fixed firmly on the vampire, who looked back from the corner of his eye. "You want to try causing problems over a lie, the pack will retaliate in any way necessary to protect an imprint." his eyes switched to glare down at the petite paleface, his irises flashing from dark brown to yellow for a brief second, "And Bella, I trust Charlie will be hearing the true story about this as opposed to whatever story you fed your boyfriend, correct?" at her silence he turned back to Edward, "Now, if you'll excuse us, Erin needs to pick up her meds, and then I need to set up a meeting with the council to discuss Bella's permanent banishment from Quileute lands."
"What?!" Bella screeched, making passerby's send the group odd looks. "Jake, you can't do that, what about Charlie?"
"Your dad has been and will always be welcomed on the reservation. However, you are a very different story. You're lucky. I'm barely reasoning with my wolf, who would have no qualms with killing you at this very moment for what you did to my imprint." Bella flinched. "Besides, you rarely joined Charlie on the rez anyway. This'll be no different. Someone will contact you to inform you of the council's decision."
With that, Jake returned his hand to Erin's, gripping it tightly and leading her down the hall, where they met a tense Jared at the desk to receive her prescription.
Afterwards, the trio returned to Jared's truck, driving back home to the reservation.
"Now that all the tenseness is over…I can't believe you fought Bella!" Jared laughed as he drove. Erin bit her lip to fight back a grin because she was worried Jake was still upset about it. But she relaxed when Jake joined in on her opposite side, his arm shaking against hers as he laughed. She joined in after a moment.
"Hey! She attacked me!" Erin argued through their laughter, relieved that Jake didn't seem angry.
"Either way, did you see what you did to her face? I didn't think someone as tiny as you could pack that much of a punch."
"Yeah well…neither did I." she finished thoughtfully, making the two wolves laugh that much harder. "Is my face as bad as hers?" she asked after a moment. She figured it was, since Bella had more fight in her than Erin expected, but she was curious. She hadn't had the chance to see the damage yet. And she didn't want the whole pack to be able to see before her. They would probably start either giving her props or laughing and joking about her face as soon as she entered Emily's house, and she wanted to know what she looked like before that happened.
Jared silently turned his rearview mirror just above Erin's head, making it much easier for her to see her reflection if she stretched up a bit in her seat.
She had a nice dark shiner around her left eye, a small scratch near her right eye, a slightly swollen, dark bruise across her right cheekbone, and a swollen, red bruise lower on her left cheek, near the corner of her mouth. Other than that, she already knew about the back of her head, the concussion, her knuckles were bruised and scratched from throwing punches, and both her forearms had several bruises from guarding her face.
"Dang. Leech lover did more damage than I thought." Erin mumbled under her breath, tilting her head back and forth to get a better look at the damage.
"More damage than a concussion?" Jared asked lightly as they turned into Sam and Emily's driveway. The three climbed out of the truck, Erin following Jake out of the passenger side. As they approached the front door, Jake wordlessly threw his arm around Erin's shoulders, the warm, heavy weight reassuring in a strange, protective kind of way, as if he were staking a claim.
Jared lead the way through the front door, and as the pair followed after him, they were suddenly surrounded by warm, loud, towering figures.
"Hey, the triumphant return!"
"Erin!"
"Please tell me the leech lover got as bad as you!"
"Why do you smell so much like the bloodsuckers?"
Erin was overcome by bear hugs and high fives by Quil, Seth, Paul, and Embry as they talked over each other, before Jake let out a possessive growl, warning them off as he pulled her back under his arm. A couple of the guys smirked at him before they were practically shoved out of the way by Emily, who had no problems yanking Erin out of Jake's hold and into a hug.
"I'm so glad you're alright! When Jared called and told us, I was so worried!" she exclaimed, pulling back to look Erin over in a motherly fashion.
"I wasn't." Paul denied, "I knew Erin gave as good as she got."
"The only reason Erin got a concussion was cause Bella fought dirty." Jared pointed out from where he had Kim wrapped in his arms near the stove.
"What concussion?" Emily asked worriedly, her eyes scanning Erin's forehead and hairline, as if expecting to see a line of stitches or a huge bruise.
"Um, she, uh, managed to lift me off the ground and bash the back of my head on a rock." Erin mumbled, knowing everyone in the kitchen could hear her, and was proven right when several growls filled the room.
Jake cleared his throat loudly as he subtly pulled Erin back into his arms, wrapping his arms around her front to hold her back to his chest. "Also, she smells like leeches because, first, the Dr. Leech was the one to treat her, despite my objections. Second, Bella and her Cullen confronted us in the hall, and the Cullen wasn't very happy when he found out Bella had told him some crackpot lie. Which brings me to my next announcement; Sam, I'd like to call a council meeting to discuss having Bella permanently banished from our lands."
A few of the guys hooted and hollered, throwing a fist or two in the air. Sam fought a smirk as he nodded at Jacob.
"No problem. Just give your dad a quick call and set up a time."
Erin sat at the kitchen table, at Emily's persistence, as the three girls went back to making the supper they'd been working on. Apparently, Erin had been at the hospital longer than she'd thought. It was just past four.
After eating dinner, Jake, Sam, and Jared left to have the council meeting with the Elders. Sam went because he was Alpha, and also an official member of the Council, and Jared went because he was the Beta and he was the closest thing they had to a witness of the fight.
While waiting for them to return, Emily and Kim gossiped while Erin made peanut butter cookies, just like she promised Jake she would, and she even let Seth lick the bowl and spoon after she put the cookies in the oven. When Jake, Sam, and Jared returned they were pleased to announce that the Council agreed to officially banish Bella from Quileute lands, now the pack had to set up a meeting with her and probably the Cullens to announce it. And they were extra pleased to find Erin had made cookies. Jake thanked her with a kiss on the cheek before taking three cookies from the plate on the table.
When nighttime rolled around, Jake drove Erin home and walked her to the door. She turned to face him and he opened his mouth to speak when the door swung open, spilling bright, blinding light over the pair.
When their vision returned to normal, they found Erin's mother, Deborah, standing in the doorway. Her shoulder-length black hair fell in thin wisps, she had eyeliner around her dark brown eyes, red lipstick, and she was wearing very short denim skirt, a low-cut, red T-shirt, and black pumps.
Deborah looked her daughter over with disdain, taking in her bruised face and scuffed clothing.
"What did you do, now? Get caught screwing another girl's boy toy?" she asked scornfully, causing Jake to clench his fists. He'd never officially met Erin's mother, and he'd never wanted to because of all the things she'd done to Erin.
Seeming to notice the extra presence, Deborah looked over at Jake before doing a double-take, giving him a once over.
"Jacob Black?" she questioned in surprise. She looked between her daughter and the Chief's son. "What on earth are you two doing around each other? Are you escorting her home out of pity or something?" she asked with a laugh, making Erin look down at her feet.
Jake glared down at the woman. He took Erin's hand in his as he spoke clearly, "No, actually. I was just about to ask Erin out on a date this weekend when you interrupted."
Erin looked up at him in shock while Deborah's mouth fell open. Then, realization seeped into the woman's eyes and she laughed a few times.
"Oh, I get it. It's a pity date, right? Since she couldn't get with anyone if her life depended on it, and that'll probably make her an easy lay for you."
"It's not a pity date." Jake growled, standing up to his full height and squaring his shoulders. "Erin and I have been friends for a few months now, and I care about her. She's helped me out of a bad place, and she's an amazing person. I don't know how you can't see it, but Erin is smart, funny, talented, kind, and the most beautiful girl I've ever met. The only thing about her that I pity is the fact that she had to be raised by someone as bitter and pathetic as you."
Deborah gaped at him for a long moment, anger filling her eyes. She looked ready to retort when a sharp honk made them look toward the street in front of the house. A car with a greasy-looking man in the driver's side was parked there.
Deborah huffed before grabbing her purse and stomping past them. "Have fun with the little slut, Black. I'm sure your father will be most proud of the company you keep!" she called over her shoulder, flouncing down the sidewalk to the car waiting for her.
Jake snarled under his breath and would've taken off after the bitch if it weren't for a hand tightly gripping his with another hand tucked into his elbow. He looked down at Erin, who was looking pleadingly up at him.
"Jake, don't. It's fine, just ignore her, please." she pleaded. Jake took in her face and sighed, the anger leaving him in a swoosh. He couldn't stay mad when her bruised face was looking so desperately up at him.
"Ok. I'm fine." he promised, wrapping his free arm around her waist to hug her. They stayed like that for several moments before Erin spoke into Jake's chest, her voice slightly muffled.
"Did you really mean all those things you said about me?"
Jake smiled, pulling back to looked down at her. "Every word of it." he answered.
Erin blushed and looked down at the space between their toes, but Jake tilted her face up with his knuckle under her chin.
"So, now that the whole element of surprise is kinda ruined…Are you busy this weekend?" Jake asked, giving her that charming grin of his.
Erin bit her lip, preparing to tease him a little. "Well, I was planning on spending it with this really nice guy I know. You may know him, tall, handsome, 100-watt smile, gets a little furry on occasion. You heard of him?"
Jake grinned as he played along, "Kinda rings a bell. I hear he's pretty good with cars, and has his own motorcycle, oh yeah, and he's a great kisser."
"Hm, well I've never kissed him, so I wouldn't know about that last one." Erin joked, hoping it would lead to where she thought it was.
"Well, how about we find out?" and with a grin, Jake leaned in and pressed a short, sweet kiss to Erin's lips. He pulled back and winked at her. "So, what's the verdict?"
"I think I'm looking forward to this weekend."
XXX
Wow, I am very sorry for how long it took me to finish this, but I got a bad case of writers block near the end and just couldn't figure out how to end the story, and then I forgot about it for a while. But, I hope everyone liked it. Sorry if there are any Bella fans out there, I probably went a little over board with the bashing, but that's kind of how I see her.
Let me know what you all thought of the ending! : )