Hey, dears!

I want to thank you all for your patience, you rock!

Also, the reviews you left on the last chapter were so incredibly lovely, so know that I am also thankful for that.

And I am thankful to CoppertopJ as well, for being an amazing human being and a wonderful beta.

As you might remember, the last chapter ended with Edward agreeing to keep Bella company until she falls asleep. Let's see how that goes, shall we?

At a certain level, I knew this was wrong.

Sitting on Bella's armchair, being in her home again, while Jacob was away. I was taking way more than I deserved. And even if I had no intention to let my immoral whims win, that still wasn't enough to make me an upstanding man. There was a conflict inside me that I couldn't appease. Part of me wanted to do the right thing and be there for Bella in her hour of need, but another part couldn't help listening to the sound of the shower upstairs, wondering how she looked beneath the curtain of water cascading over her body.

Beneath the noise of the shower, I also detected non-related sounds. An uncertain sigh. The slight slippage of skin against the porcelain enamel of the bathtub. An off-tune humming. Strands of hair squeaking under foam. More sighs. This disordered symphony was somewhat familiar, as this was far from the first time I waited for Bella to finish her human rituals before she headed to sleep. It made me terribly nostalgic for those long-dead times. However, these sounds weren't enough to fully distract me from the absolutely dishonourable and wickedly exciting fantasies awakened at the mere thought of her naked.

I found myself pressing down on the hardness in my pants time and time again, hoping it would go the hell away, but it never did. Not for one second.

Bella took her time in the shower, to the point in which I started to wonder if she felt unwell. So when I finally heard the bathroom door opening upstairs, it was a challenge to stay put in my spot, instead of running to her and checking if everything was all right. When I heard footsteps on the stairs, I struggled to mask my lascivious mood, so that I could seem poised and contained.

I liked to believe I managed, at least until the sight of her stepping into the living room ruined everything. Under the soft light from the lamp on the table, she looked very much like an angel who had just descended from the clouds. Her hair was a cascade of wet waves and she had on a black T-shirt and sweatpants—which shouldn't have been so damn exciting, but it was. Because even through the black fabric, the hint of her nipples poking through was undeniable and also undoubtedly sensual. And the way those sweatpants hung tightly to the plump outline of her hips… it really wasn't fair.

When she got closer, the fragrant heat of her body hit me with full force. A slave to my overstimulated senses, I simply stared at her and suffered through the abundance of venom coating my tongue.

"Sorry you had to wait so long," she said, as she grabbed the yellow throw blanket from the edge of the sofa and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Don't worry about me."

She sat down on the couch, before quickly moving into a more relaxed position, lying down on her side. "We can still go to the bedroom if you've changed your mind. I told you, there's a chair in there. And I won't bite."

My jaw clenched at the appealing proposal. It was the second time she had suggested this since we got here. The first time, I refused simply because it seemed a tad inappropriate to actually step inside the most intimate place she shared with Jacob when he wasn't home. Even without our past tainting the innocence of such an act, I would have said no, aware that Bella was giving my intentions far too much credit. Besides, the bedroom was too cramped of a space to properly contain my most savage hunger without driving me wild. At least here, in the living room, the wide space dispersed the delicious molecules of Bella's scent in corners where my nose could not reach.

"Of course you won't," I replied, "but I might."

I probably failed to sound as menacing as I had hoped, because instead of recoiling, she laughed. "No, you won't. You're all bark and no bite, Edward."

"I know your favourite pastime used to be testing my limits to hell and back, but let's not go there again."

Bella rolled her eyes at me, clearly not understanding that my self-control had not been tested in a long time. Her blood would have been all over my hands by now if I didn't love her more than life itself. "I'm not testing anything." She pulled herself deeper into the cover of her blanket until only her face was visible. "What is this really about? Someone waiting for you at home?"

"You're funny."

"I'm not kidding! I know how you get overly ethical with these things, so it would only make sense."

"There's no one waiting for me at home, Bella."

"Then… in another city?" she insisted.

I sighed, since an interrogation was the last thing I expected. "Certainly not."

"Another… country? Continent?"

"I am single, end of story."

"Oh." Her little oh sounded so indistinct, it could mean a myriad of things. It sounded like she was surprised. Sad. Relieved. Confused. All at once. "Is it… is it recent, or—"

"I have been this way ever since I left," I clarified, hoping that she wouldn't need further explanations beyond that.

Much to my disappointment, Bella didn't let up. "But… why?"

"What do you mean why?" If I sounded irritated, it was because I was. Discussing my singledom with her was the last thing I wanted, as there was no tolerable way of telling her that, even if we were no longer together, she was still my mate and there was no breaking that bond, not even if I wanted to—which I didn't. I had made my peace with that certitude, I didn't want pity. "Do I need a reason now?"

"I mean… you are kind, loving, and smart, and… I just don't see how someone like you cannot find love."

"It helps when you're not actively looking."

"But what about simply finding?"

"I didn't find anyone, clearly."

"Well, maybe you will."

"Maybe," I lied, eager to terminate the discussion altogether. Looking for a way to shift her focus, I went for the most obvious thing, not even bothering to make the transition smooth. "Do you sleep with the light on or off?"

"Off. But keep it on a little longer. Please?"

"Don't you have to wake up early tomorrow, to get to work?"

"Yes, I do, but I'm not sleepy right now."

I stuck to her wishes, as irresponsible as they were, and sunk deeper into the velvet-clad chair. The springs inside croaked, and I made a mental note to be careful with the rest of my movements—the last thing I needed was to leave actual proof of my presence here for Jacob to find when Bella hadn't had the chance to inform him on her own terms.

"So, you never told me much about the rest of your family," she began, but stopped before asking any specific questions.

"There's not much to say. They live in Juneau. I don't keep in touch with them as much as I should."

"Did you get into a fight with them or what?"

"Not really. I wanted to be alone and they offered me that—or at least they tried. Alice and Esme are rather… persistent about keeping in touch."

"Perhaps you should talk to them more often. I'm sure you know they love you." I nodded in agreement, knowing that she was right on a certain level, but fully determined to ignore the advice. "I tried talking to them as well, just so you know. Well, to Alice, at least. But she never responded. She probably thought I was a lunatic for even trying."

"It was never personal," I assured her. "My family, they… they all changed their numbers. Moving to a new place means having no strings attached."

"You also changed yours."

I ignored her accusing tone, hoping that—just like she did in the library a few days ago—she wouldn't insist. "I did."

But instead of giving up, she pushed the blanket away from her arms, reaching out to grab her phone from the coffee table in front of her. The sudden draft carried the concentrated fragrance of her blood my way, causing my lungs to tremble in agony. "You know, I think it would be useful if I had your new number too. While you're still around town, anyway."

"I can't see why," I replied, aware that I sounded unfriendly and rude—precisely the demeanor I needed if I wanted Bella to concede defeat early on and place the phone back on the table, where it belonged.

"So that I can reach you, obviously."

"I've told you before: I can always find you."

"And I haven't told you this, but I will now—you're not playing fair," she fought back. It was jarring to see her so determined to continue, despite my efforts to kill that beautiful diligence in its tracks with rudeness. "Waiting around for you to show up is more frustrating than you could possibly imagine."

She looked at me, clearly hoping I would capitulate. But much like her, I had my own arguments to bring to the table.

"Bella, I am trying really hard to be ethical about all of… this. I would appreciate it if you didn't make my job harder than it needs to be."

Messing with my expectations, she laughed. The kind of laugh that meant anything but merriment. "So it's all about ethics then, great. For God's sake, you're a smart man, Edward, so do I really need to spell it out for you? I've got a ring on my finger for a reason." While she didn't make a point out of highlighting her words with gestures, my gaze was certainly drawn to her fingers, where—sure enough—the ring was resting defiantly. "I don't want anything from you, besides friendship."

"I know that neither you, nor I, want anything else. But that doesn't erase the fact that it feels wrong to be friends behind Jacob's back. He should know that I came to visit on Wednesday. That I drove you to the graveyard tonight. That I'm here now."

Seemingly a little conflicted, Bella bit her lip. It was quite inconvenient that even in the middle of an uncomfortable conversation, that innocent act seemed so full of voluptuous promises. "That's… I will tell him if that's the problem. I've been meaning to tell him, but I was still trying to figure out how to do it in a way that he will understand."

"The truth will go a long way."

"I agree. I'd just rather do it face to face when he comes back tomorrow. It's easier to explain."

"Good."

"So now that we've got that settled, can we please be normal for a minute and exchange phone numbers?"

Subdued once again—by the deep, pleading pools of her eyes, but also by the onerous task of forcing another rebuff upon her—I accepted. She dutifully typed my number into her phone, while I wrote hers on a piece of paper—an unnecessary task, really, since her contact information had not changed and I knew it by heart, but it was better than turning my phone back on now and be bombarded with more calls and texts than I could take with a witness nearby.

With yet another small, but significant victory under her belt, Bella placed her phone back on the table and returned to her warm spot under the blanket. She hid an almost-soundless faint with the palm of her hand, her body exposing that she was ready to succumb to its need for rest, at long last.

"This must be a strange night for you," she remarked.

"The strangest in a while."

A half-suppressed laugh slid through her lips and her eyelids closed for a few seconds. "I didn't get to ask you if you read any of those books."

"Each and every one of them," I confirmed.

"You insatiable man. And?"

I tried to disregard the warm shiver that ran through my chest when she used those words to describe me; it seemed that even when I knew that there was no carnal double entendre running in the backstage of her sentences, my body could still not fathom it. Yet again, my thirst and lust were actively competing for my attention—and sadly, both of them were winning.

"I say we leave my impressions for another day, because you need to sleep at some point," I offered, letting her down as gently as I could.

"Do you promise?"

"I do need to bring those books back, correct?"

"Correct."

"Then yes, I promise."

Bella didn't fall asleep right away, but she didn't talk again either. At her request, I turned off the lamp and waited. There was familiarity in this kind of waiting, but also fear. Because with each new breath she was taking in, with each thud of her heart, I was reminded of the chances I never took—the conversations I had been too afraid to pursue, the places we never visited, the kisses I stopped too soon. It was getting tiring to ruminate about our past so obsessively, but it was unthinkable not to when my memories lurked at every corner of this town and in every new interaction she and I shared.

Thinking back on why I came here in the first place, I felt like a walking joke. Why did I ever feel I was entitled to make sure she was happy with her choices? I had given up on the right to check on her long ago, so why was I utterly unable to go through with my choice? Bella didn't need to have her life intruded upon at every milestone. One day she would go to college. One day she would have a job that brings a smile to her face. One day she would carry Jacob's child in her womb. And one day, eventually, she would have grandkids of her own—what then?

It wasn't like I deserved to be there to witness all of these moments. Besides, I wasn't nearly tough enough to endure some of them without dying even more inside. The mental image of Bella holding a kid with russet skin in her arms was as much of a blessing as it was a tragedy, since it would always remind me that I could never offer her anything remotely close. My cold, barren body wouldn't know how to bring her anything other than long-term disappointment.

With my mind falling apart, I forgot I had to leave—but then again, I was good at making excuses for myself, so perhaps forgetting was my way of prolonging the little time I had with Bella a little longer.

It was still dark outside when I left. I made sure to use the spare key to lock the door—it was hidden behind a loose brick inside the walkway, as it had always been.

I drove around in circles on the empty streets for the longest time, not knowing how else to distract myself from the whirlwind of events from the past eight hours. Driving helped, but not as much as I would have hoped. I could still see Bella's face, in the back of my mind, and I could still hear her voice ringing incessantly in my ears. I kept wondering, despite my better judgement, if she was getting the proper rest that she needed. If she was enjoying her dreams.

If I should have stayed the night.

The microcosm of Forks was starting to wake up when I decided to head to my old home. I felt on edge as I checked the clock on the dashboard, realizing that Bella was probably having breakfast by now. New questions arose along with that realization. Was she reminiscing about the time we spent together last night? And more importantly—did she regret any of it, looking back? In my case, last night was the only thing I could truly think about; and I was still not sure whether dumping the most awful truth on her—right before driving her back home and keeping her company until she fell asleep—had been a mistake or not.

While I didn't regret my confession, I was still puzzled by the fact that, instead of stirring anger and repulsion in Bella, the truth only seemed to have stirred her softer side, which in turn got her even more willing to be vulnerable in front of me—a side of her I never would have imagined seeing again. Perhaps the vulnerability shown in front of a friend was not the same as the one shown in front of a lover—it was less treacherous, more innocent—hence why I got to witness it.

Whatever her reasons were, I was grateful she seemed to trust me enough to let her guard down again. And I was set to make sure I wouldn't break that trust again.

Back at home, I felt keyed up. The books from Bella were no longer a viable distraction since I had already gone through them an unhealthy amount of times. Reading her letter was an even worse idea, considering that I was supposed to forget it even existed. I didn't know what to do with myself in the big nothingness of the house, apart from slowly going insane over every single thought of Bella in my head.

There was, of course, one thing that could actually soothe my concerning state—talking to her again.

In all fairness, our conversations so far had been unexpectedly therapeutic, mending—even if for a short while—the painful longing that had been afflicting every single atom in my body since the day I left. But I wasn't going to go to the library now. It was too soon and I didn't want her to see that I was in great need of using her every waking moment as a new chance to talk. I wanted her to believe that I didn't need any crutches to go through life, as untrue as that was.

In my journey of trying to not go insane, my phone almost started getting heavier in my pocket. It was almost like it knew that the cure to my malady could very well be conceived then and there if I just turned it on.

I thought about the consequences of turning my phone back on—because undoubtedly, I would have to face a whole new wave of missed calls and unread texts. But… maybe I would also have to face a text from Bella. It could be a great middle ground for the two of us; she wouldn't have to endure my physical presence, yet I would happily get to pick her brain again.

Simply imagining the possibility sent a rush of twisted pleasure through my frozen bones—enough to get me to take the phone out of my pocket and stare at it. The small device stared back, full of promises.

Clearly having the self-control of a five-year-old in front of a bowl of candy, I turned it back on.

The device went through the motions, slowly coming back to life. However, not even half a minute later, the screen went back to black, dying before it got the chance to power up. Unaccustomed with the triviality of using my phone on a daily basis, I had almost forgotten about the need to charge it regularly.

I cursed out loud, knowing there was no place in this house where I could find a functional electrical outlet. Not wanting to lose another second, I stalked out of the house—wallet and charger in hand—and right back into my car. I took off without a clear destination in mind—all I knew was that I had to find a place to charge my phone and I had to do it fast.

The road back to town passed quickly. The commotion of voices started getting louder and louder; and maybe I had been a little too spoiled by Bella's quiet mind—or perhaps the fact that I recognized some voices got me to panic about the possibility of running into someone from my old life here in Forks—but I instantly decided that remaining in town for my task was not an option.

So I pumped the gas pedal and I didn't slow down until the roar of Port Angeles—so much milder than that of the big cities I had been in, but notably louder than what I had been hearing for the past week—started humming in my ears. I welcomed it—after all, it was bringing me closer to the possibility of communicating with Bella again.

I eventually stopped in front of a coffee shop that appeared to be small enough to not be riddled with people, hurrying to get inside at a pace that could still pass as human. I heard the disgruntled thoughts of a young man when I closed the door behind me, and I surmised that he was not happy about having to be on both barista and waitress duty while his co-worker was on vacation.

He seemed half-relieved when my order consisted of a single bottle of water. With the bottle—which was nothing more than a prop to me—in my hand, I headed to one of the tables lining up the back wall, quickly making use of the available socket near it.

With my phone finally plugged in and charging, I dared to turn it on again. The screen lit up, much like my expectations, and I waited. When the deluge of calls and texts from the past few days hit, my heart almost came alive from the angst of it all. I dutifully ignored everything, already typing Bella's number into the device, so that I could add it to my modest contact list.

But right as I did so, the quiet notification about receiving a new text popped on my screen.

If I could have, I would have died from the shock when I realized it was from Bella. It seemed that I couldn't open it fast enough. When I did, two other messages that had been sent earlier this morning, when my phone was still off, showed up. I read them all in chronological sequence, not quite believing they were real.

'Hello, stranger!'

'I hope you're enjoying your morning. Mine started with a missed alarm and bird droppings in my hair right before work.'

'In case I got the wrong number, I'm sorry.'

I didn't know if I should have been insulted by her veiled assumption that I would give her the wrong number. All things considered, she still had every right to believe that I would act like a jerk. Wanting to prove to her that I had the potential to be more than that, I started typing.

'My apologies, Bella. My phone was off.'

Her response came back almost instantly.

'Don't worry, I figured.'

'I'm sorry about the bird droppings. How is your hair now?'

'Frizzy. I had to wash it in the sink at work. Would NOT recommend it.'

I barely refrained from informing Bella that her hair looked perfect at all times—even in the mornings from my distant memories when she woke up in my arms and her long locks were all over the place, tied up in beautiful, silky knots.

Right as I was getting ready to reply, I saw my mother's name come up on the screen. Feeling guilty as hell—but also unwilling to offer explanations—I rejected it and made a promise to myself to make it up to Esme later down the road.

While I had been busy with actively being an ass towards my mother, Bella had been busy with not letting our interaction wither. A new message from her was waiting for me, which made me feel exceedingly spoiled.

'So… how is your day so far?'

'A little inconvenient, actually. My old house no longer has electricity, so I am currently in a café in Port Angeles, charging my phone.'

'Port Angeles?! Do you really hate Forks that much?'

It was difficult to remain immune to her words. I could picture the scandalized frown on her face, and that image alone was enough to bring a smile to my face.

'Not at all. I just didn't want to risk running into anyone familiar.'

'Well, you should have come here to get it charged. Libraries have electrical outlets too, you know? ;)'

'I reckon you would have got tired of me pretty quickly if I did.'

'No chance of that happening. And speaking of the library—you do have some books to return, so maybe I'll see you later?'

Did she have to make my mission of behaving properly so damn hard? I knew it was my responsibility to not interpret her sentences to suit my dishonourable wishes, but it felt like an uphill battle when everything she was saying was a goddamn invitation.

Begrudgingly, I offered her the right answer—which didn't coincide at all with the actual answer I wanted to give, but it was my chance to prove to myself that I still had enough dignity to not go astray.

'I happen to know the penalties only start after three weeks, so how about tomorrow?'

'And I happen to know you read all of those books, so if you don't want me to die of curiosity until then, it would only be fair for you to tell me if you liked them. Deal?'

I smiled again, even if I was alone at the table, and eagerly entered her game of compromises.

I ended up sitting at that table for hours. Even if I had certainly overstayed my welcome, I couldn't fathom taking a break from Bella just to get to my car—not even during the breaks she offered me whenever a client would enter the library. We spent the longest time talking about the books she had lent me, about the hidden meanings we found between the pages, about the characters we loved and the characters we hated.

There was a strange delight whenever our opinions overlapped—something that seemed to happen often enough. But there was delight in our disagreements too, because they allowed me to peer deeper into her soul and better understand the complex layers that fused it together.

If it weren't for Bella's need to go to lunch, I would have stayed in that coffee shop forever.

Neither of us seemed to question this continuous connection we were slowly establishing, nor why the regular lines of friendship looked so blurry whenever the potential double meaning of a sentence dawned on us. We just ignored those blurred lines, all too confident that our vision was otherwise faultless.

It felt worryingly natural to keep talking and talking and talking, regardless of the world around us. I knew for a fact that I had been missing her terribly and this was my way of filling the void left by our break-up, but what was her excuse? She couldn't have missed me—not even to half of the extent that I had been missing her, since her life hadn't stagnated like mine had. Or was it pity for me, after learning I had no one?

The uncertainty kept happily swimming in my head as I left the café behind and got inside my car.

And it continued to expand, getting significantly heavier and less buoyant, as the day kept growing older, taking over me completely.

Shamefully, I didn't really leave Port Angeles until the pauses in my conversation with Bella started getting longer and more frequent—which was to be expected, since she was finally finishing her shift and getting ready to be picked up by her friend, Seth. I didn't insist, knowing that this evening was special for her; with Jacob returning to town, she must have been over the moon.

Driving back to Forks, I felt uncharacteristically content with the remains of the day. The lavender clouds above the road stretched in endless formations, in perfect harmony with the incoming night. I watched as the last particles of light abandoned the sky, wondering about what the best course of action for me was.

On one hand, I wanted to spend the night in the forest, alone with my overly-active mind—maybe even hunt again, to ensure that my incessant thirst would not taint the next time Bella and I would be face to face.

On the other hand, the devilish curiosity to check on her one more time today was strong, if only for the fact that I craved a reminder that she was truly taken, especially after the last few days.

My worse side won this battle easily.

I parked as far away as possible from her house and left my phone in the car. It felt unusual to be back in my sad tree, considering that one day ago I was a guest in Bella's home, but I had to make do. Settling between the branches, I was surprised to realize that the voices coming from somewhere in the living room were not vibrant and happy. In fact, it appeared that they were long past celebrating a reunion.

They were fighting.

Bella sounded atypically meek as she talked, but I could still tell that there was plenty of anger hidden underneath the surface. "You know I haven't even kept in touch with him."

"It's not something you can just dump on me like that though," he retorted, the frustration in his mind spilling into his tone. "Not when you cried over him on my shoulder for a fucking year!"

"Jake, I know I've said this already, but I will do it again, because I mean it. There is nothing going on between us. He is only an old friend at this point."

"Old friend my ass," he thought to himself, choosing to be far more gracious out loud. "I don't like the idea of you having him as a friend. I don't trust him."

"Well, he never made a move, if that's what you're worried about. He has moved on too, you know?"

"No one moves on after you, Bella."

He certainly got one thing right.

They stopped for a while, making me wonder for how long they had been going at it. How did it even begin? I knew that she had assured me about her intention to tell Jacob about me, but I assumed she wouldn't do it as soon as he returned home. It seemed like a safer bet to leave it for another day, but the chance for that was clearly gone.

I hated that she was facing the reproachful storm on her own, but I also didn't know how to help her without making an even bigger mess.

The fight relapsed soon after, while Bella was folding clothes and Jacob was watching. And once again, when she went to the bathroom for a shower and he waited at the door. At some point, his accusations went through a metamorphosis that turned them into shouting. On and off the fight went, as she tried to put off each new fire, only for him to reignite it again.

They hadn't really reached a resolution when they headed to bed together. As he pulled the curtains over the window, Jacob almost told her that he was going to sleep in the living room, but deep down, he knew he didn't want to be alone with his anger. A frail fragment of a memory in which Bella slept soundly while he drank his pain away in the kitchen crossed his mind in passing, strengthening his decision.

For a while, silence ruled over their bedroom, save for Jacob's clashing thoughts. He wasn't satisfied with the fact that they had not reached any sort of conclusion, but he was also tired of running in circles, bringing the same arguments to the table over and over again without really winning. More than that, he wanted to make sure that Bella's devotion was as strong as she had assured him that it was.

And with that particular wish in mind, a plan started forming.

I went rigid as I visualized the plan along with him, understanding what it entailed and realizing that I could not possibly linger there to witness it—not if I valued what little bit of sanity I had left.

Alas, I felt frozen in place, in the same way that humans were irresistibly attracted to car crashes.

"You know what would actually make this shitshow of a night better?" Jacob whispered.

Her reply came instantly, sounding genuinely hopeful. "No, but tell me."

The bed creaked under his weight when he moved—all too aware of the fact that he was now on top of her. Her heart started stammering in response to the closeness and I felt ready to throw up.

"Why don't you take your shirt off?"

"What? Jake, I…"

"Come on, baby, I'll beg if I have to."

I knew that he wanted to appear playful, but there was a sharp roughness in his voice that sent chills down my spine. I heard movement again, along with his mental discontent when he realized it was too dark in the bedroom to actually see anything. The noise then shifted—soon enough, it became apparent that they were kissing and his thoughts were slowly melting into a pool of pleasure.

Not my place, I reminded myself, hoping that my body would understand the cue and finally leave the tree behind.

But then Jacob's mind audibly exploded with delight once he got a hold of Bella's breasts and she whimpered under the attack.

Their interaction went by so quickly, so horrifically, I couldn't keep up.

"Shit, you're so hot."

"Look, it's late, I—"

"Shhh, it's fine, we're not doing anything. I promise. I only need a little something to make me forget about today."

"Jake…"

"You know I love you. Don't you love me?"

Silence. And then, the loud and harrowing answer. "Yes. Yes, I do."

If I didn't know any better, I would have been convinced that I was trapped in a nightmare. But this cruel unfolding reality was slowly teaching me a pivotal lesson—apparently, there was something a million times worse than the all too powerful jealousy triggered by the knowledge that Bella was actively being touched and kissed by another man.

As she pleaded with him to offer her space, my heart ached in a way it never did before, almost as if it could feel every single reverberation of Bella's discomfort, only amplified. Her pain was my pain and there was no cure for that. I desperately wanted to barge in and pull Jacob away from her. To give her the space she was asking for. To prove to her that she didn't have to be forced into anything she was not comfortable doing.

Hell, even to give him a chance to apologize and promise to never do it again, even if he didn't deserve it one bit.

The burning in my chest was so profound, so acute, and it had nothing to do with jealousy; it only swelled up when I realized that, at some point, she stopped protesting. In fact, she simply resumed kissing her fiancé back, as he used his hands to fondle her breasts.

And this, right here, was a grueling auditory spectacle, one that, as much as it hurt to admit, I didn't know how to stop without causing more trouble in my wake.

Because what excuse would I have to barge in? How would I ever be able to get him off of her without causing an explosive scene that would turn Bella's otherwise calm reality to shambles? And what if, in a wicked turn of events, the reason she stopped protesting wasn't because she gave up trying, but because… she was starting to like it?

No. That possibility made me sick to my stomach. Reading her mind right now was not a caprice, but a need.

I wanted to be the kind of man who would have no qualms about barging in and beating Jacob to a pulp. The type of man that would kill him and spit on his grave, no questions asked. But being that man also meant disappointing Bella beyond any hope of redemption. As twisted as it was, I knew that this was not the kind of punishment that she would ever find acceptable.

And I hated that her mind worked that way, because it left me with little to no options to intervene and teach him a lesson. But at the same time, I loved that her mind worked like that because her humanity was the only thing that kept the worst parts of me locked away.

But God, I could not let this go on. Something had to give, one way or another.

I was a raw, dense pile of anger when I grabbed the thick branch above me and tore it away with full force. For a moment, I imagined it piercing through Jacob's useless eyes, straight into his brain, crushing it to smithereens. The fantasy lingered, tempting me. But I forced it away by smacking the branch to the ground. The cracking sound reverberated in the night, deafening and clear. Though it wasn't nearly enough compared to what I should have done, it got Jacob to stop, which was exactly what I had been hoping for.

"What the hell?" he grumbled.

"Was that…"

His thoughts were a muddled mess. The loud sound seemed to have brought some of his reason back—enough to get him to lose his will to continue, but not to consciously regret what he had done. At least not yet.

"I think it's that branch that got struck by lightning last week," he whispered. "It finally caved."

"Oh."

There was silence for a while. Just the two of them, their heartbeats frantic and out of sync, as Jacob's thoughts painted a picture of him trying to get back his reason. It took him many minutes until he felt ready to talk again.

"We should… we should go to sleep, Bells."

"Yes," she replied and I could tell from the sound of her voice that she was on the verge of crying. "We should."

By the time he started snoring, the salty scent of her tears was so strong I could feel it emanating from the walls of the house.

Feeling, once again, that I had failed her—but really, what were my options?—I finally left. My eyes stung terribly, as if pierced by a million blades, yet I ignored the sharp tingle as I made my way back to my car. Not a single second of the road back home registered in my brain. I was aware of one thing and one thing only: in my attempt to be friends with Bella, I had flown too close to the sun, and she was now paying the most unfair price. Jacob forcing himself on her was nothing but a show of power and ownership—his own cursed way of telling her that she belonged to him fully.

Her whimpers were still playing on a loop in my head when I stopped the car, close to the old house. Unfortunately, it didn't take me long to notice that those were not the only sounds I was hearing. A chorus of distinct mental voices crowded my senses and rendered me speechless, as I realized I recognized each and every one of them.

Getting out of the car, I stared in disbelief at the six silhouettes lined up in front of the house. The smallest one stepped forward, and I instantly stepped backward. She didn't let up, continuing to walk until we were face to face.

It had been so long since I last saw her—or any of them, really. They might as well have been a figment of my imagination.

"Alice," I muttered. "What the hell are you doing here? What is everyone doing here?"

My sister smiled, as if my shock meant nothing to her.

"We're here for an intervention, silly."

I mean... it was about time someone intervened, right?

How do you think the intervention will go? What were your thoughts on how Edward stopped slimy Jacob's actions?

I'm really looking forward to reading your reviews!

See you next Sunday with a new chapter! Until then, stay safe and happy!