Bella POV

I woke up in the recovery position with the sour taste of bile in my mouth and the uncomfortable burn still lingering in my throat. I was laying on my side on the soft rug, with one of the couch cushions under my head. I groaned and tried to move my arm but it was like trying to move through molasses.

"Easy, Bella." I heard Edward's warm, yet worried, voice murmur from nearby. "Take it slowly."

I could hear something else, something behind Edward's voice, in the background, it was some strange sort of static. No? Not static, I realised as my vision cleared and I got a good look at the room around me. It was hissing. It was the angry hissing of pissed off vampires accompanied with a bizarre canine growling that was coming from a trembling Jacob.

Jacob. Fucking ass-hole.

From what I could gather, the vampires seemed to be blaming Jacob for my less than stellar condition, which – fair – and they wanted him to leave. On the other hand, stubborn jackass that he was, Jacob did not want to leave and was making it everyone else's problem. I groaned again, louder this time and on purpose, and the obnoxious hissing and growling instantly ceased as everyone's attention was immediately put on me. Good, I couldn't have the vampires kicking the werewolf out before I had given him a piece of my mind.

I began the arduous task of pulling myself off the floor, starting with the first step – sitting up. I was grateful for Edward's steadying hand on my arm as I heaved myself upright.

"Bella!" Jacob exclaimed and my eyes flashed up to catch him take two steps towards me.

"Stay the fuck away from me." I snarled out as I used Edward's forearm as support to brace myself so I could pull myself up from the ground and back onto the sofa.

"Bella… what?" Jacob blurted in confusion, it looked like he was about to cry and he started to take another step towards me but this time Jasper and Emmett moved to stand in his way.

I glared at him, locking eyes over the broad shoulders of two pissed off vampires. "Was it your idea to send Sam with Billy to show me pictures of my dad, or did they come up with that themselves?" I spat at him, not being able to help the small twitch in my lips as I fought the urge to smile as he physically flinched at my acidic tone. "It was a test, wasn't it?" I continued uncaring of how my words wounded him, "To see how much I remembered."

"It's against the tribal laws to reveal the secret to outsiders, we broke it for you once, but then you forgot so…" Jacob trailed off weakly, he took a few steps back his shame forcing his shoulders to slump the Cullen brothers seemed to take this as a sign to take a step to the side.

"So you just decided to keep my entire life a secret?!" I demanded as I stumbled off the sofa to stand on unsteady legs. "It was my life! My memories! Mine!" I shrieked at him, "You had no right!"

Jacob shifted his weight again, he squared his shoulders as he schooled his features into something like stern disapproval, "Bella, you need to calm down."

The anger that had be boiling in my gut from the moment I woke up churned furiously, spewing out of me like hot lava. "Calm down?" I spat out, my voice dangerously quiet. "How dare you." I hissed, "Where the fuck do you get off telling me to calm down!?" I seethed, and despite of my deceptively calm voice, big hot tears began to stream down my face. Jacob opened his mouth, presumably to defend himself but I wasn't going to give him the chance. "I mean -" I cut myself off with a humourless chuckle that bordered on a derisive scoff, as I furiously swiped at my face in an attempt to rid myself of the tears, "did it ever even occur to you, in your pea sized little wolf brain, that you could have stuck around, regardless of your precious secret?" I asked, my voice dripped with venom as each sharp barb of my tongue lashed out and left visible marks on Jacobs soul.

I could see him beginning to deflate under the harshness of my glare and the bitterness in my words – and a part of me ached at the sight. Some part of me clearly still cared for this jackass, or at least cared for the boy this ass-hole of a man used to be. Images of rusted out dirt bikes and cold pizza with even colder cans of soda, the sound of never ending rain on a tin roof, warm hugs and light laughter, all filled my head and my heart ached. But I couldn't allow myself to feel any guilt for hurting the boy that I knew, because that carefree, loving and kind boy never would have done what Jacob did – never would have left me to hurt like that.

"You abandoned me, left me completely alone after…. After everything?" I just couldn't understand it, and as the anger inside me simmered down to be replaced with a sad sort of confusion I was glad that Edward was there by my side.

"You didn't remember that we were friends!" Jacob deflected.

"Do you think that would have mattered?" I scoffed, "If you're expecting absolution, you're not going to get it. I'll never forgive you, Jacob Black. I was alone and in pain and you could have helped me, and instead you chose to leave, you left knowing exactly what kind of suffering I was enduring. Say what you want about the Cullen's but I know for a fact they never would have abandoned me like that."

"So you're defending the leaches now!?" Jacob spat, his sad eyes turned angry so fast that it gave me whiplash – and it scared me, the spark of anger in his eyes was cold and dangerous and it scared me.

"The Cullen's are better people than you and your pack of dogs could ever hope to be." I shook my head bitterly, and turned my head to look at Emmett and Jasper, "Can one of you get rid of him before I do something that I'll regret?" I asked meekly, a strange buzzing was starting to make my head hurt, like a single angry bee was vibrating away in my skull, I was drained, and totally done with this entire thing. "Like breaking my hand trying to punch him? I do have a vague memory of something like that." I continued in a mutter as I turned my back on a now raging Jacob Black and settled myself back on the sofa.

Everything felt kinda numb. I didn't like the numbness. I clenched my scarred hand into a fist, and a phantom ache seemed to stretch through my bones and I stared at my hand in confusion, opening and closing it a few times, pleased when each movement eased the ache. I didn't even realise that I had completely tuned out to my surroundings, not until the static of noise around me slowly became clear again like slowly turning the dial on an old radio. Apparently Emmett and Jasper had taken to their task with the sort of glee that only they themselves were capable of, and I could still hear canine growling intermixed with vampiric snarls.

"Sorry." I whispered out to the remaining vampires in the room. "I… I didn't mean to start a fight."

I heard a distinctly feminine scoff and I looked up to see Rosalie standing near the doorway, her hair slightly mussed but otherwise as perfect looking as always. "You didn't start anything." she sniffed daintily, "You asked the mutt to leave, he could have left on his own, he didn't want to. That was his choice, Bella." Rosalie levelled me in a look that dared me to argue with her. I wasn't stupid enough to try that, I also wasn't stupid enough not to see that this was as close to an apology I was going to get from her. I nodded my agreement and relaxed back into Edward's side.

Esme appeared at my side with a glass of water, she held it out to me with a kind smile, "Take small sips, dear." she murmured softly.

I did as I was told, startling only slightly when an animalistic yelp sounded off from outside, and then even more growling – apparently Jacob wasn't alone anymore. I turned to look at Edward with wide, worried eyes but he just smiled fondly and urged me to take another sip of water.

"Rosalie, if I could have your help outside for a moment, please." Carlisle asked casually, as if he were asking his daughter to take an afternoon stroll in the woods.

"Sure," Rosalie shrugged, as she turned to leave with Carlisle and as our eyes met she sent me a small smile, her eyes softening for just a moment before she turned to leave.

That just baffled me further, so I just focused on drinking my water, and the way Edward's cool hand felt as it rubbed soothing circles on my back. Everything else could wait. Well, almost everything, I blinked up at Edward, "Do you think its safe to go outside yet?" I asked, "I would really like to have a smoke right about now."