Here With Me

Disclaimer; all characters and copyright belong to SM.

A/N-as I don't get much engagement with my stories on this site anymore I will probably not be posting any updates here in the future. Let me know.

Chapter Three-Caught Out

Bella's confession had completely blindsided Jacob. He was shocked that Edward Cullen had the audacity to even dare to say such a thing considering his coven's need for secrecy. Anger shot through his veins and he fought for composure.

"Why would he say that about you, Jacob?" Bella asked suspiciously.

"Because he's an asshole." Jacob retorted.

"Does that make you one, too?" Bella persisted. "You accused him of the exact same thing."

Jacob stared at her earnestly. He tried to hide his irritation behind a fake smile. "Don't let the guy fool you, Bells. He isn't what he seems."

"What does that even mean?" Bella exclaimed in frustration. "You need to give me more than that."

"He's dangerous. He may look civilised but he's not. He's nothing but a creepy stalker." Jacob said bitingly. "He's probably been in your room at night watching you sleep this whole time."

Bella glared in his direction before staring out at the rough surf. "You are not who I thought you were." Her tone dripped with disappointment. "See you around, Jacob." She stood up and shrugged off his jacket and gave it back to him. "Thanks for the loan."

"Bells, don't." Jacob said in alarm as he reached for her hand. "I'm just trying to look out for you. You have to believe me when I tell you that Edward Cullen is bad news. "

"You must think I'm really stupid." Bella said tearfully as she pushed his hand away.

"I don't. I'm being serious, Bella." Jacob was getting desperate. He stood up and made a grab for her when she turned away. "Don't leave like this. I need to explain-"

"I don't care what you have to say. Leave me alone." Bella snapped viciously. "You proved that you are nothing but an immature little boy."

Jacob opened his mouth to defend himself when the sound of beach rocks clattering against each other warned him that someone was approaching. He turned around at the same time as Bella to see Mike and Jessica about fifty yards away, walking toward them.

"Damn, Newton." Jacob cussed.

"There you are, Bella." Mike called out in relief, waving his arm over his head. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes." Bella cast a last glare in Jacob's direction before jogging over the rocks to join her friends.

Jacob hadn't expected everything to blow up in his face so badly. This dream or hallucination or whatever it was had turned into a nightmare. On the walk back home, he kept pinching his arm to try and force himself to wake up. But all he got for his pains was bruised skin. Frustration continued to build up inside him the more he thought about Bella and the way he had handled things. He had screwed up royally. She must think he was some kind of freak throwing accusations around when he didn't have any proof.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Billy demanded when Jacob nearly took the front door off its hinges when he came inside.

"What do you care?" Jacob responded angrily.

Billy put down his woodworking tools. He was a skilled carpenter and he still indulged in his craft, though it was more a hobby now. He looked Jacob up and down anxiously when he noticed how riled up his son was. "Are you feeling well?" He asked cautiously.

Bitter laughter welled in Jacob's throat. Billy's question struck a chord. It was the exact same question his father had asked him which set off his first phase. "Are you worried I'm running a fever?" He challenged.

Billy became as still as a statue. His breathing escalated as a deep frown marred his forehead. "And are you?"

"Not right now. I guess that's lucky for you." Jacob knew he was being a dick, but he couldn't help it, his resentment was boiling over. Billy was just an easy target.

"Son, I'm here if you need to talk." Billy offered as relief eased the worry lines on his face.

Jacob took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Okay. I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Dad."

"Night, Jake." With a heavy heart Billy picked up his tools and went back to his carving.

Jacob lay on his bed lost in memories. He was replaying the day's events in his mind, but the details were getting mixed up with the last time he had encountered Bella on First beach. He remembered her inept attempts to flirt with him and how he had naively lapped up the attention, not realising that Bella had an ulterior motive behind her eagerness to hear his 'scary stories.' He was finding it hard to separate truth from reality. He couldn't understand why he wasn't waking up and the enormity of his situation ended up giving him a migraine.

Jacob eventually fell asleep to a world full of pain. His rest wasn't peaceful. He tossed and turned in his too small bed all night. And when the new day dawned it brought with it a quiet sorrow. When he opened his eyes the first flutters of panic set in. He felt the urge to run, escape and hide. He had screwed up royally with Bella and he didn't know how to fix it. He was surprised he had managed to even sleep at all-but that thought just fried his brain as he was supposed to be suffering some weird hallucination, so why would he need to sleep in the first place.

He was beginning to think that nothing was as it seemed. If it was just some bizarre hallucination brought on by the strong drugs that the vamp doctor was feeding him to ease the pain of his injuries, then surely, he would have regained consciousness by now. But he was still here, stuck in his fifteen-year-old body, and the one person who he could open up to wanted nothing to do with him.

The panic began to grow inside Jacob until it became this terrifying thing. He felt out of his depth and suddenly much like a child again. He wanted to jump right out of his skin and into the ether. His constricted feelings grew, as if he was being strangled by the very air he was trying to breathe.

"Jake, phone." Billy called on the other side of the bedroom door.

In the grip of his silent panic, with wild eyes, dilated with fear, and his heart racing in his chest, Jacob crawled off his bed. He was surprised that his body was continuing to function when his brain was on fire.

"Jake, did you hear me?" Billy called again, impatiently.

"Who is it?" Jacob found it difficult to form words.

"It's Bella."

Hearing her name was like the sun shining after the rain. Suddenly he could breathe again.

"I'm coming."

"Well hurry up." Billy urged him.

Jacob raced out of his room and down the narrow hallway. He pushed past Billy and ignored his father's torrent of complaints as he grabbed the phone.

"Bells? It's me. It's Jake." His words tumbled one over the other in his haste to speak. "I am so sorry about yesterday. I-"

"I need to see you." Bella cut in swiftly. She sounded upset.

"What's wrong?" Jacob could feel the panic building like an unstoppable snowball in the pit of his stomach. He tried to concentrate as his heart started to beat harder and faster. Something awful must have happened to put the fear of God in her voice.

"I can't tell you over the phone. You need to see it for yourself." Bella whispered. "Can you come to Forks?"

Jacob nodded his head before he realised, she couldn't see him. "Yes, I'll come."

"Now." Bella pleaded.

"I'm on my way." Jacob promised. "I'll see you soon."

"Thanks." Bella said in a small voice before she hung up.

Cycling to Forks gave Jacob too much time to think. His head was buzzing painfully with what ifs. The negative thoughts kept coming like waves on rocks. The arguments in his head got so fast and so disturbing that he lost concentration and nearly veered straight in front of a car. His heart was threatening to explode. Jacob couldn't recall ever feeling like this-not even in his darkest moments. Being inside his mortal body again, with all the frailties that came with it, was hard getting used to. For the first time in his life, he missed his wolf.

Charlie's cruiser was missing from the driveway which meant the police chief had already gone to work. Jacob breathed a sigh of relief. In the state he was in the last thing he could have dealt with was an interrogation by the older man about why he was there. He dumped his bike outside the house and ran up the porch steps.

"Take it easy, Jake. You've screwed up enough already." He mumbled under his breath before knocking on the door.

Bella opened the door really quickly. It was like she had been waiting on the other side for him to come. Jacob noted how peaky she looked. Her pale skin highlighted the dark circles under her pretty brown eyes. He wondered if she had slept as badly as he had.

"Come in." She waved him in with her hand, not bothering with a casual greeting.

Jacob followed Bella into the kitchen. She was like a bundle of nerves. She nearly jumped out of her skin when he pulled out one of the chairs and it scraped along the floor.

"I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter." Bella dismissed his apology. She paced back and forth, wringing her hands. "What you said yesterday about Edward Cullen watching me sleep...it kept playing on my mind."

"Bells, I-"

"Let me finish." Bella interrupted him. Jacob fell silent and mimed zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key. He caught a glimmer of a smile on Bella's face before it just as quickly disappeared. "I thought you were crazy but then I got to thinking-what would you gain from making up such a bullshit story? So, I set up an experiment."

Experiment? Jacob was confused. He remained quiet as Bella picked up her laptop from the kitchen counter. After placing it on the table she flipped it open and brought up a video stream.

"I set up a wireless webcam in my room. It's only one of those cheap ones but it did the job. I put it on the little cabinet by my bed." Bella explained in hushed tones. Her eyes were overly bright and wary. Occasionally she would dart a nervous glance around the room as if expecting a monster to jump out at her from the shadows. "I kept my bedside lamp on just to throw enough light to see-"

Jacob leaned forward to get a closer look as she pushed the laptop toward him. She pressed play and a grainy image began to unfurl on the screen. "I saw nothing at first, but at one ten in the morning there was this." She whispered anxiously.

At first all Jacob could see was the far wall in Bella's bedroom. There was the faint outline of her window in one corner. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but then he noticed the net curtains on the window fluttering slightly. At first it looked like they were being ruffled by a gentle breeze, but on closer inspection he saw a flicker of a shadow. He tensed; his eyes glued to the screen as he saw the same shadow merge into a bigger shape until it morphed into the form of a person. The figure was by Bella's bed faster than the speed of light which made its outline fuzzy at first. But then it stopped, revealing the interloper in all his glory.

Bella paused the video and enhanced the image so it nearly filled the screen. "It's Edward. He was in my room watching me sleep and I didn't even know." She said fearfully. "So, tell me, Jacob. If I didn't know what he was doing, then how did you?"

A/N-oops! How will Jake get out of this one. Tell the truth or not?

Thanks for reading!