"Ssh," Bella whispered, finally taking her hand away from his mouth. "No, okay … so calm down," Bella said looking around them．
Luckily Jacob's little outburst hadn't attracted any attention．
"Well, good," Jacob said, his tone harder than it had been all afternoon. Ｈis body was still tense, and he was squeezing and releasing one of his hands compulsively at his side．
Bella looked over at him curiously. She didn't understand why he was so angry. Before, she would have assumed it was because he was jealous of her relationship with Edward, but he had handled the news about Alice so well. She didn't understand how the possibility of her sleeping with Edward bothered Jacob so much, when she actually was sleeping with Alice．
"Jake," Bella said reaching out for him, stroking his arm lightly．
"Sorry," Jacob said breathing in and out deeply, trying to control his temper. "I just … I don't like that guy," he continued, his body relaxing a bit. "I really don't like that guy," he went on shaking his head. "Are you still seeing him?" he asked, glowering at Bella．
"Kind of," Bella responded, her conversation with Rosalie from the night before coming back to her．
Jacob growled softly, but took a few deep breaths and calmed down again. "You should just … stick with the girl," he said looking over at Bella. "I'd prefer you dated someone with a pulse. I mean, I don't understand what's wrong with humans," he continued emphasizing the last word. "But Alice is a much, much better choice than … Edward," he said, the name falling hatefully from his lips once more．
"I don't … disagree," Bella said softly．
She had been up all night thinking about what Rosalie had said to her in the car, and the more she thought about the more she realized how right the blonde had been. She did still care about Edward, he had been her first love, and her feelings for him were still very deep. But she was positive now that she was no longer in love with him．
"I mean just think about it," Jacob continued, Bella's words not fully registering with him. "Ｈe … wait," Jacob said pausing mid-sentence, "what?”
"I said I don't disagree with you," Bella said knowing that she had his attention now. "Obviously, I like Edward far more than you do, and I think that you've been unnecessarily harsh on him," she continued ignoring Jacob's offended look. "But … I don't think that I'm in love with him," she continued sighing. "What I feel for Alice is just so much … more.”
Jacob's shoulders slumped and when he looked over at her, he was much calmer than he had been before．
"You feel badly about it," he said watching her carefully, "about not being in love with him anymore.”
"Yes," Bella breathed out. She felt like the worst person in the world．
"Well, you shouldn't feel too bad," Jacob said, and Bella could tell that he was trying to keep his voice gentle. "You can't control who you love," he went on softly, his eyes darting over to her quickly before they skittered away again. "And … even though you'll probably slap me for saying this … she treats you better than he did.”
"That's not … Edward never …" Bella began, but she remembered complaining to Alice not twenty-fours before about how controlling Edward was, and how he didn't respect her opinions and her ability to make decisions for herself. Alice worried about her too, and she certainly had her own feelings about issues that affected Bella, but Alice didn't try to micromanage her. She let her feelings be known, but when Bella made a decision she accepted it and tried to be as supportive as possible．
"Right," Jacob drawled rolling his eyes. "Very convincing," he continued. "If Edward had his way we'd never see each other or talk to each other again. You'd never get to see Sam, or Emily, or Dad or Quil or anyone from around here," he went on. "Shortie may not like it, but she accepts it.”
"Shortie?" Bella asked smiling a little．
"I was thinking of trying that one out next time I see her across town," Jacob said smirking．
"You know you're in for some Lassie and Rin Tin Tin jokes if you do, right?" Bella asked．
"Rin Tin Tin?" Jacob asked completely confused．
Bella smiled. "Alice is kind of old school sometimes," she explained. "She's still genuinely surprised when people don't get her Tallulah Bankhead references," Bella continued laughing．
"Who?" Jacob asked smiling a little, Bella's amusement lifting his mood．
"She's an actress from the 50s," Bella said obviously not having a much better idea who the woman was. "Alice has sworn that one weekend she's going to sit me down and give me a crash course on why Tallulah Bankhead is awesome and always will be.”
"If I were you, I'd say I'm busy that weekend," Jacob responded smirking．
"Can I come and hide out here?" Bella asked grinning at him as well．
"Always," Jacob said smiling. "I've still got your bike, you know!”
"Really?" Bella asked, a shiver of excitement running through her as she thought of the motorcycle Jacob had fixed up for her. She had been riding it for the wrong reasons back then, but that didn't mean the bike itself was a bad thing, and she was kind of excited about the idea of riding it just to feel the wind against her, instead of to induce hallucinogenic voices in her head．
"Sure. If you don't think your girlfriend will mind," he said. Ｈis voice was still playful, but there was a challenging edge to it, and Bella knew that how Alice responded to the motorcycle would be a big factor in whether Jacob continued to think she was 'not so bad, for a bloodsucker' or whether he began to think of her like the rest of the Cullen's．
"She'd probably want to ride it," Bella said, a soft smile coming to her face as she pictured riding on the back of the bike, her arms wrapped around Alice's waist as she buried her head in her neck. Or better yet, Alice riding with her arms wrapped around her waist. "She likes things that go fast.”
Jacob smiled, clearly impressed．
"We might actually have to try and hang out then," Jacob said, and Bella grinned widely at him．
"You'll get along great," Bella said excitedly, the possibility of Jacob and Alice actually being friendly with each other excitingly her greatly．
She didn't expect them to have sleepover parties or anything, but it would be so great if they could have like movie nights, or go out riding together or something. Not to mention that Jacob would be in heaven if he got to take a look under the hood of Alice's Porsche．
"Speaking of which," Bella said, forcing herself to calm down and focus on the reason that she come to see Jacob in the first place. "I kind of need to ask you for a favor," she began looking over at him hopefully．
"Oh, yeah?" Jacob asked, knowing that whatever it was Bella didn't think that he was going to like it．
"So, you know how Victoria is back," Bella began. "Well, last night she kind of …" Bella continued explaining to him what happened the night before, and what her idea was for making sure that it wouldn't happen again．
Later That DayBella's eyes widened and she sucked in a sharp breath．
"Ｈe's behind you!" Bella yelled pointing her finger in the direction of the enemy. "Ｈe's behind you, Emmett!”
"I know," Emmett growled, shooting her an irritated look before he focused on the enemy once more．
"Ｈe's getting closer," Bella said jittering nervously beside Emmett. "There's something in his hand, Emmett! Ｈe's gonna hit you with it! Or shoot you! Or hit you and then shoot you!" she rambled, her eyes getting bigger．
"No way," Emmett responded. "This fuckers going down," he growled．
Bella gasped, her hand shooting up to cover her mouth as Emmett's blow connected spraying blood in their direction．
Bella wanted to look away, but her eyes wouldn't cooperate. She stared in front of her wide-eyed, watching as Emmett delivered blow after blow, until the enemy fell to the ground, nothing but a red, bloody, pulpy mass where their face used to be．
"Over there!" Bella said pointing the side. "Ｈe's close!”
"Yeah, close to being dead," Emmett declared, his lips curving up slightly as he directed his attention to the threat rushing towards him．
Bella pressed her hand against her heart, her eyes still glued in front of her．
Emmett's thumb flew over the X, square, circle and triangle buttons of his controller, his hands turning it from side to side as he manipulated the character on screen．
"Ｈe's got a chainsaw, Emmett," Bella pointed out, wringing her hands together. "Ｈe's gonna cut your head off.”
