Page 9 (1/2)

WE ENDED UP ON THE BEACH AGAIN, WANDERING AIMlessly Jacob was still full of hifor you?" he asked, sounding hopeful

"No" I was certain about that "They’re going to be furious with h"

He picked up a rock and chucked it into the waves "Don’t go back, then," he suggested again

"Charlie would love that," I said sarcastically

"I bet he wouldn’t ht, and that ether Charlie’s blatant preference for my Quileute friends was so unfair I wondered if he would feel the same if he knew the choice was really between vampires and olves

"So what’s the latest pack scandal?" I asked lightly

Jacob skidded to a halt, and he stared down at me with shocked eyes

"What? That was a joke"

"Oh" He looked away

I waited for hiht

"Is there a scandal?" I wondered

Jacob chuckled once "I forget what it’s like, not having everyone know everything all the ti a quiet, private place insidethe stony beach quietly for a few minutes

"So what is it?" I finally asked "That everyone in your head already knows?"

He hesitated for ato tell hed and said, "Quil i to get worried Maybe it’s more common than the stories say" He frowned, and then turned to stare at , his eyebrows furrowed in concentration

"What are you staring at?" I asked, feeling self-conscious

He sighed "Nothing"

Jacob started walking again Without see to think about it, he reached out and took ht of hoehand and hand down the beach - like a couple, certainly - and wondered if I should object But this was the way it had always been with JacobNo reason to get worked up about it now

"Why is Quil’s i such a scandal?" I asked when it didn’t look like he was going to go on "Is it because he’s the newest one?"

"That doesn’t have anything to do with it"

"Then what’s the probles I wonder e’re going to stop being surprised that they’re all true?" heto tell ht See, Quil hasn’t been hanging out with us, you know, until just recently So he

hadn’t been around Easped

"No! I told you not to guess Emily had her two nieces down for a visitand Quil ht about that for a moment

"Emily doesn’t want her niece with a olf? That’s a little hypocritical," I said

But I could understand why she of all peoplescars that ht ar too close to her Once was all it tookI’d seen the pain in Sam’s eyes when he looked at what he’d done to Eht want to protect her niece fro? You’re way off Emily doesn’t mind that part, it’s just, well, a little early"

"What do you mean early?"

Jacob appraised mental, okay?"

I nodded cautiously

"Claire is two," Jacob told me

Rain started to fall I blinked furiously as the drops pelted my face

Jacob waited in silence He wore no jacket, as usual; the rain left a spatter of dark spots on his black T-shirt, and dripped through his shaggy hair His face was expressionless as he watched mine

"Quilimprintedwith a two-year-old?" I was finally able to ask

"It happens" Jacob shrugged He bent to grab another rock and sent it flying out into the bay "Or so the stories say"

"But she’s a baby," I protested

He looked atany older," he reminded me, a bit of acid in his tone "He’ll just have to be patient for a few decades"

"Idon’t knohat to say"

I was trying my hardest not to be critical, but, in truth, I was horrified Until now, nothing about the olves had botheredthe ments," he accused "I can see it on your face"

"Sorry," I muttered "But it sounds really creepy"

"It’s not like that; you’ve got it all wrong," Jacob defended his friend, suddenly veheh his eyes There’s nothing romantic about it at all, not for Quil, not now" He took a deep breath, frustrated "It’s so hard to describe It’s not like love at first sight, really It’s ravity moves When you see her, suddenly it’s not the earth holding you here anyfor her, be anything for herYou become whatever she needs you to be, whether that’s a protector, or a lover, or a friend, or a brother

"Quil will be the best, kindest big brother any kid ever had There isn’t a toddler on the planet that will be irl will be And then, when she’s older and needs a friend, he’ll be , trustworthy, and reliable than anyone else she knows And then, when she’s grown up, they’ll be as happy as Ee sharpened his tone at the very end, when he spoke of Saet a choice here?"

"Of course But ouldn’t she choose him, in the end? He’ll be her perfect ned for her alone"

We walked in silence for a moment, till I paused to toss a rock toward the ocean It fell to the beach several hed at ," I hed

"When do you think it will happen for you?" I asked quietly

His ansas flat and i you can control, is it?"

He was silent for a fewat all

"It’s not supposed to be," he admitted "But you have to see her - the one that’s supposedly meant for you"

"And you think that if you haven’t seen her yet, then she’s not out there?" I asked skeptically "Jacob, you haven’t really seen much of the world - less than me, even"

"No, I haven’t," he said in a low voice He looked ateyes "But I’ll never see anyone else, Bella I only see you Even when I closeelse Ask Quil or Embry It drives them all crazy"

I droppedanyainst the shore I couldn’t hear the rain over their roar

"Maybe I’d better go home," I whispered

"No!" he protested, surprised by this conclusion

I looked up at hiain, and his eyes were anxious now

"You have the whole day off, right? The bloodsucker won’t be holared at him

"No offense intended," he said quickly

"Yes, I have the whole day But, Jake"

He held up his hands "Sorry," he apologized "I won’t be like that anyhed "But if that’s what you’re thinking"

"Don’t worry about htly "I knohat I’ you"

"I don’t know"

"C’et our bikes You’ve got to ride a ularly to keep it in tune"

"I really don’t think I’m allowed"

"By who? Charlie or the blood - or hirin, and he was suddenly the Jacob I rinning back

The rain softened, turned to mist

"I won’t tell anyone," he promised

"Except every one of your friends"

He shook his head soberly and raised his right hand "I proet hurt, it was because I tripped"

"Whatever you say"

We rode our motorcycles on the back roads around La Push until the rainto pass out if he didn’t eat soon Billy greeted ot to the house, as ifmore complicated than that I’d wanted to spend the day with my friend After we ate the sandwiches Jacob e and I helped him clean up the bikes I hadn’t been here in months - since Edward had returned - but there was no sense of ie

"This is nice," I co "I’vearound at the plastic sheds bolted together over our heads "Yeah, I can understand that All the splendor of the Taj Mahal, without the inconvenience and expense of traveling to India"

"To Washington’s little Taj Mahal," I toasted, holding up my can

He touched his can to mine

"Do you remember last Valentine’s Day? I think that was the last tis were stillnorhed "Of course I remember I traded a lifetime of servitude for a box of conversation hearts That’s not sohed with ht Hood" Then he sighed "It feels like it was years ago Another era A happier one"

I couldn’t agree with him This was my happy era now But I was surprised to realize how es I stared through the opening at the ain, but it arood as a furnace His fingers brushed ed"

"Yeah," I said, and then I reached out and patted the back tire of my bike "Charlie used to likeabout today" I bit et worked up about things the way Charlie does Hey, I never did apologize officially for that stupidyou out to Charlie I wish I hadn’t"

I rolled my eyes "Me, too"

"I’m really, really sorry"

He looked atup in every direction around his pleading face

"Oh, fine! You’re forgiven"

"Thanks, Bells!"

We grinned at each other for a second, and then his face clouded over

"You know that day, when I brought the bike overI’ve been wanting to ask you so to"

I held very still - a reaction to stress It was a habit I’d picked up fro stubborn because you were mad at me, or were you really serious?" he whispered

"About what?" I whispered back, though I was sure I knehat he lared at me "You know When you said it was none of ed visibly at the end

"Jake" My throat felt swollen I couldn’t finish

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath "Were you serious?"

He was trehtly His eyes stayed closed

"Yes," I whispered

Jacob inhaled, slow and deep "I guess I knew that"

I stared at his face, waiting for his eyes to open

"You knohat this will mean?" He demanded suddenly "You do understand that, don’t you? What will happen if they break the treaty?"

"We’ll leave first," I said in a small voice

His eyes flashed open, their black depths full of anger and pain "There wasn’t a geographic lireed to keep the peace because the Cullens swore that they were different, that huer froe anyone ever again If they go back on their word, the treaty is less, and they are no different than any other vaain -"

"But, Jake, didn’t you break the treaty already?" I asked, grasping at straws "Wasn’t part of it that you not tell people about the vampires? And you told me So isn’t the treaty sort of moot, anyhow?"

Jacob didn’t like the reminder; the pain in his eyes hardened into animosity "Yeah, I broke the treaty - back before I believed any of it And I’lared sourly at aze "But it’s not like that gives the There’s no fault for a fault They have only one option if they object to what I did The same option we’ll have when they break the treaty: to attack To start the war"

He made it sound so inevitable I shuddered

"Jake, it doesn’t have to be that way"

His teeth ground together "It is that way"

The silence after his declaration felt very loud

"Will you never forgive me, Jacob?" I whispered As soon as I said the words, I wished I hadn’t I didn’t want to hear his answer

"You won’t be Bella anymore," he told ive"

"That sounds like a no," I whispered

We faced each other for an endless oodbye then, Jake?"

He blinked rapidly, his fierce expressionin surprise "Why? We still have a few years Can’t we be friends until we’re out of tihed once without hu his reaction

He was suddenly on his feet, and there was a loud pop as the soda can exploded in his hand Soda flew everywhere, soakingfrom a hose

"Jake!" I started to complain, but I fell silent when I realized that his whole body was quivering with anger He glared atin his chest

I froze in place, too shocked to re faster, until it looked like he was vibrating His shape blurred

And then Jacob gritted his teeth together, and the growling stopped He squeezed his eyes tight in concentration; the quivering slowed until only his hands were shaking

"Weeks," Jacob said in a flat monotone

I couldn’t respond; I was still frozen

He opened his eyes They were beyond fury now

"He’s going to change you into a filthy bloodsucker in just a feeeks!" Jacob hissed through his teeth

Too stunned to take offense at his words, I just nodded reen under the russet skin

"Of course, Jake," I whispered after a long et closer to nineteen every day Besides, what’s the point in waiting? He’s all I want What else can I do?"

I’d meant that as a rhetorical question

His words cracked like snaps of a whip "Anything Anything else You’d be better off dead I’d rather you were"

I recoiled like he’d slapped me It hurt worse than if he had

And then, as the pain shot through et lucky," I said bleakly, lurching to et hit by a truck on rabbed my motorcycle and pushed it out into the rain He didn’t move as I passed him As soon as I was on the small, muddy path, I climbed on and kicked the bike to life The rear tire spit a fountain of ot absolutely soaked as I sped across the slick highway toward the Cullens’ house The wind felt like it was freezing the rain againstbefore I was halfway there

Motorcycles were too i first chance I got

I walked the bike into the Cullens’ cavernous garage and was unsurprised to find Alice waiting for htly on the hood of her Porsche Alice stroked the glossy yellow paint

"I haven’t even had a chance to drive it" She sighed

"Sorry," I spit throughteeth

"You look like you could use a hot shower," she said, offhand, as she sprang lightly to her feet