Breathe

My whole body hurt. It hurt in places I didn't even know was possible. My eyes refused to open, and everything sounded fuzzy, but I could make out Jacob and Embry's voices.

"I don't mean to be mean, Jake," Embry said.

They were probably only one or two feet away. Someone took my hand, rubbing their thumbs across the back. Jacob. "Yeah, well, you've been a huge dick lately and I really want to punch you in the face sometimes."

"She screwed you up. Of course I'm not going to like her."

"Sarah doesn't need any resentment from you. We're already broken, and you're not helping."

"If you hadn't imprinted on her, would you still be with her? If she was just a girlfriend?"

Jacob was silent for a long time. I could hear the faint ticking of a clock, Paul and Quil's excited shouting from another room, and someone shuffling around. Probably Embry. "I don't see what that has to do with anything, Embry. I love her."

"Of course, you do."

"Shut up. God, I can't talk to you anymore, Embry! We used to be friends."

"We are friends. It's her that makes me angry, and how stupid this whole thing is. I know you, Jake. If you hadn't imprinted on her than she wouldn't be here right now. You wouldn't be with her."

"You don't know anything about me."

"Oh please, don't give me that crap."

Jacob squeezed my hand. "If you knew anything about me, Embry, then you'd know that even I'm still trying to get over it. Don't punish her for me, because she knows what she did is wrong and the worst punishment she can have is to feel as guilty as she does. You're just being a fucking dick about it and making her feel even worse about it. Now go away. I don't want to fucking talk to you right now."

I don't know when I'd opened my eyes. I was focused on trying to find Jacob in the blinding light. He didn't even notice until I tightened my hold on his hand. He just stared at me, his lips curling into a small smile. "Hi," he whispered.

I took a deep breath. "Hi." My mouth was dry and I was parched. I pushed myself into a sitting position. "Where are we?"

"Sam and Emily's. This is their room." He sighed and crawled onto the bed next to me.

"Are the others ok?" The only thing I could remember were the three vampires, and being grabbed by two of them. "My arms hurt."

"They're fine. Alice brought you here after the two were killed."

"What happened after that?"

Jacob sighed, and I lifted my cold hand to his cheek. He closed his eyes. "About twenty more showed up. They'd been hiding the whole time."

"And you -"

"Yeah. It took us a while though."

I sighed softly, and kissed his forehead. "I heard your argument with Embry," I whispered. He frowned, and fell onto his elbow so that he lied on his side. "Thank you, Jake."

"I love you, Sarah. I really do."

"You don't have to tell me."

He sat up again, and moved himself in front of me. "I want to, though." Jacob looked me in the eyes. "I love you more than anything, and would do anything for you. I just want you to be safe, and to be happy." He cupped my face. "You mean more to me than anything else in the whole world."

My heart skipped a beat. I threw my arms around his neck and tried not to cry, but that was proving to be pretty much impossible. Jacob wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly, like I was going to float away.

My stomach growled loudly, ruining the moment. Jacob laughed against my shoulder, and then pushed me away, despite my efforts of trying to keep my hold on him. "You should eat something."

"How long was I out?"

"Two days."

"Shit."

I followed him through the door, down the hallway I hadn't even realized was there, and into the kitchen, where the whole troupe was eating quietly. Bella, Edward, and Alice were in the living room talking quietly to themselves.

"Jeez, Sarah," Jared said, looking at me over his shoulder. "Don't look so terrified."

"Can't help it," I chirped. "I mean after all, I am surrounded by a bunch of werewolves and vampires. I'd say that's pretty terrifying."

Jacob wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to the breakfast bar, where Emily had laid out a whole assortment of different muffins. "I put all of this aside for you," she said, smiling generously. "I knew if I didn't they'd eat it all."

"Thank you."

I picked up a banana nut muffin off of the tray and pulled the paper cup off of it. Jacob stood behind me, his hand on the small of my back. "I should probably take you home after this. Your dad wasn't too happy when Bella lied to him and said you were staying 'at her house' all weekend."

I sighed, and picked at the muffin. "I'm surprised he's home already."

"He had a business trip, didn't he?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Your dad doesn't like me."

"Sure he does."

"No, Sare."

I look at him over my shoulder, and sighed. I still felt weak, and knew that it was probably better for me to get back to sleep, or at least stay in bed, but if I did that, Jacob would leave, and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with him.