Are You Happy Now?
Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.
Chapter Seven
Bella could feel a panic attack setting in. Her thoughts became so scattered that normal functioning was impossible. Her felt brain felt overloaded. It was painful. It was scary. She cringed away from Quil as he became more and more irate.
"Why won't you answer me, Bella?" His fists clenched harder in his lap; his brow furrowed dangerously as he glared in her direction.
"Quil, please, you need to calm down." Bella pleaded.
"You're not the one being made a fool of." Quil snapped. "Why do you have that frightened look on your face. What are you scared of?"
"You're acting irrational." Bella fumbled with the door handle, desperate to escape the confines of her truck. It was usually a place of safety, but Quil's angry presence filled the cab, making it impossible for her to breathe.
"I'm asking a simple question. Why can't you just answer it?" Quil's temper was boiling over. He ripped his baseball cap off his head, revealing his sweaty hair underneath. The heat was pouring off him.
"I don't have the answer." Bella frantically pushed on the doorhandle again, but it refused to budge. "Maybe you should ask your parents."
Quil scowled. "Right. My grandfather's on the council with Jacob's dad. Sam Uley and his little cult are the best thing that happened to the place, as far as he's concerned."
"I didn't know." Bella's breathing had escalated so much she was barely coherent.
Quil was becoming more paranoid, speaking to himself now, like he had forgotten that Bella was even there. She took advantage of his temporary distraction to finally pry the truck's door open. It swung wide and she fell out, hitting the ground hard. She emitted a startled groan and tried to right herself before Quil reacted.
As usual her clumsiness worked against her. Quil was out of the truck and standing over her before she got her limbs to obey her commands. She scrambled away from him, using her feet for leverage. Quil looked confused for a minute, blinking his eyes a few times as if he was trying to focus. The tremors in his body were getting more violent. He put his hand to his head, fear shooting through him as he stilled, realization finally piercing the red mist of his anger that he was frightening Bella.
"Are you scared? Why? I'm not going to hurt you."
Bella didn't answer, just watched warily as he began to back off.
"I'm going to go. My house is just over there." Quil gestured toward the small wooden rectangular building behind the store. He took off at fast run, his form seeming to shimmer in the weak light breaking through the constant cloud cover.
Quil's face haunted Bella as she finally managed to get her limbs to co-operate and clambered back inside the cab. She had scrapes and bruises from where she had tumbled out of the old Chevy. She paid them no mind, grabbing the wheel and quickly doing a U-turn and heading straight to the Blacks.' She was terrified, wondering what was happening to him and for his safety.
Bella stopped in front of Jacob's house, killing the motor, and rolling down the windows. A cool breeze immediately filled the cab and she shivered. "Oh, Jake, where are you?" She whispered shakily.
Her initial plan had been to wait for Jacob to show up, but after what had happened with Quil, she ditched that plan. She needed him. Now. She also had to warn him and the others about what Charlie had told her. It was all such a mess. She looked toward the house, knowing she was going to have to find the courage to go and knock on the door. Billy would not be pleased to see her but he was just going to have to deal.
The house was dark, no lights in the windows, she wondered if Billy was out for once. She tried anyway, thudding her fist against the front door.
After a few seconds, she heard Billy call out and a light flickered on. "Come in."
Bella twisted the knob, it was unlocked. Billy was leaning around an open doorway just off the little kitchen, a bathrobe around his shoulders, not in his chair yet. When he saw Bella, his eyes went dark and he face turned stoic.
"Well, good morning, Bella. What are you doing here?"
"Looking for Jacob. I need to talk to him urgently." Bella cut straight to the chase. "Where is he?"
"Um…didn't we already have this discussion on the phone." Billy said curtly.
Bella felt her frustration building again. She moved further into the house and looked Billy straight in the eye. "Do you know what Charlie is doing this morning? You remember him, your best friend?" She demanded.
The fine lines around Billy's eyes tightened. "I'm not Charlie's keeper."
"He and half the other men in town are probably out in the woods with guns right now, hunting giant wolves."
Finally, something like worry flickered in Billy's expression, but just as quickly went blank.
"So, as you can see, it's really important that I talk to Jacob."
Billy pursed his thick lips, considering. "He's not here."
"Billy, stop playing games. Tell me where he is!" Bella demanded.
They stared at each other for a minute. Bella was dying to ask him his part in all this. What did he think of what his son had become? He must suspect that she knew more than she was saying. She hadn't come out and outright said she knew that his son was a werewolf. It wasn't her place, that was up to Jacob.
As she continued to stand her ground, she saw the many questions in Billy's dark eyes, but he didn't voice them either.
"Go to the beach." Billy said, breaking the loud silence. "I'll get someone to track him down and I'll send him down, okay?"
"Fine." Bella agreed. She wondered if he really would. Well, if he didn't, she would only be back.
Bella drove down to First Beach and parked in the empty parking lot. It was still gloomy-and when she cut the headlights it just made the gloominess worse. It was a while before her eyes adjusted to the poor light enough so that she could see the path that led through the tall hedges of weeds. It was colder here, with the wind whipping off the black water. She shoved her hands deep in the pockets of her winter jacket. At least the rain had stopped. Now all she had to do was wait.
As Bella paced along the beach deep in thought, she happened upon a long bone white driftwood tree stranded deep in the rocks. The roots twisted up at the seaward end, like a hundred brittle tentacles. She recognized it as the same tree where she and Jacob had spent many pivotal moments of their friendship. She sat down and stared out across the invisible sea.
As it turned out she didn't have long to wait. Barely five minutes went by before she found herself scooped off the driftwood tree and pressed against a heated chest. She felt Jacob's arms flex around her, as if he was fighting with himself not to squeeze too hard. Bella relaxed against him, absorbing his warmth, grateful just to wallow in his comforting presence for a minute. The pieces of her heart that had been struggling to fit became so quiet when cuddling with him; it was as if they had found peace, as if they needed his glue to bridge their gaps and connect. She felt much calmer now.
Jacob stroked her hair gently, staying silent as he pressed a soft kiss into her hair. He had been patrolling with Embry when Jared tracked him down to tell him that Billy needed him at home. Jared would stay and take his place. Jacob was worried that his father's health had taken a turn for the worse, but in the end, it turned out to be something else altogether.
Apparently, Bella had turned up at the house early demanding to see him. Billy had been blindsided by her sudden appearance. The hints that she had been dropping that she knew about the pack unnerved him. As soon as Jacob entered the house, he began to question him. Jacob was in no mood for an interrogation however. As soon as he learned that Bella was looking for him, he cut Billy off and told him they would talk later. Then he had immediately left for the beach.
Bella pulled back a little and gazed up at him. In his dark brown eyes was the warmth of an everlasting hearth, as if they were the wood that could burn with golden flame yet be forever perfectly entire. He made her feel so safe. The separation had been so hard to deal with, she was grateful that they had managed to come together again with everything set on keeping them apart.
"Jake, I need to warn you-"She began.
"About Charlie. Dad already filled me in. You don't need to worry, honey." Jacob assured her with a soft smile.
"Oh." Bella let out a relieved breath. Then immediately tensed up as she thought about Quil. "There's something else."
"What?" Jacob's expression immediately turned serious.
"It's Quil."
"Ah, Quil, I saw him earlier." Jacob sighed, feeling sad as he thought about his friend. "He was trying to follow me and Embry – "
"I know." Bella interrupted him. "He told me."
"He told you?"
"Yes. I came across him on the drive down here. He was very upset, Jake. And very angry. In fact, he kind of freaked me out." Bella shuddered at the memory of Quil's temperamental outburst.
"I thought I could smell him." Jacob's demeanor changed dramatically. He put his hands on Bella's shoulders, his body full of tension. "Tell me what happened in detail, Bells."
Bella relayed everything she could remember, leaving out the part about how panicked she had been. She didn't want to make things sound any worse than they were. She knew that Jacob would rush to her defense and didn't want him having a go at Quil when he was already so unhappy.
"Then he left to go home. Hopefully he's calmed down a bit now." Bella reached the end of her tale. She looked up at Jacob to find he appeared stricken. "Jake, what is it? Are you okay?"
Jacob instinctively pulled her into a bear hug, pressing her against his chest tightly in his distress. He knew it had been a close call. She could have been seriously hurt if Quil had completely lost control. They knew he would join them one day, but that day was sooner than they had thought. Being rejected by him and Embry earlier must have set off the change, and in doing so, Bella had been placed in danger. It was a stroke of luck that she had come out unscathed.
"Jake, can't breathe!" Bella gasped.
Jacob immediately loosened his hold, his guilt eating away at him. It was all his fault. He should be protecting her, but had placed her in danger. Bella had no idea the thoughts running through his head, but he looked so anguished that it made her heart hurt. His pain was her pain.
"Jake, whatever it is, we can sort it out."
"You could have been hurt." Jacob lamented.
"Hurt? You mean by Quil?" Bella shook her head. "I admit I was bit freaked out but I know he wouldn't do anything. He needs to control his temper a bit, that's all."
"Bells, you don't understand how close you were to becoming another Emily. The way Quil was acting was out of his control."
"What do you mean?"
"He's on the verge of phasing. And its only by sheer luck that nothing bad happened to you other than a scare. This is all my fault. I'm to blame. I am so sorry." Jacob let go of her and hung his head as shame washed over him.
A/N-thanks for reading!