Defective - Jacob Black {1}

Chapter 45: Rightful Place

He rounded the corner of the landing, his eyes already scanning the room for me. My heart twinged when our eyes met, he stepped forward but then so did Emmett. This grasped Jacob's attention and he finally took in the rest of the room. He felt on edge due to the six pairs of golden eyes watching his every move, he shifted slightly, noticing Edward's gaze was not on him but sullenly locked on something behind me. He stepped forward again.

"Close enough." Rosalie warned from behind me. Jacob's eyes flickered between Rosalie and myself, he didn't understand why I hadn't gone to him, why I was so guarded.

"What's your problem?" Jacob said roughly, stepping forward again, trying to peek around Rosalie and I.

"Jacob-" I began and his eyes shot down to me curiously before Bella spoke up.

"Guys, it's okay." She said weakly. I turned to look at her, she nodded once before turning a sickly green again. Rosalie snatched the clean bowl from the floor and held it under Bella's chin just in time for her to throw up noisily into it. Edward fell to his knees by Bella's side - his eyes all tortured-looking - and Rosalie held out her hand, warning him to keep back. Bella didn't like to be overcrowded in moments like this.

I rushed forward, moving around the back of the couch to rub her back whilst she heaved. My warmth soothed her, it helped to relax her again. Jacob believed she really was sick as he watched our interaction with her, he was also confused by Rosalie's sudden closeness to Bella.

When she could raise her head, Bella smiled weakly at Jake, sort of embarrassed. "Sorry about that," she whispered to him as I removed my hand from her back.

Edward moaned quietly, physically in pain at seeing Bella like this. His head slumped against Bella's knees. She put one of her hands against his cheek, comforting him.

I rounded the couch to stand beside it and Jacob moved forward as well, in my direction to stand with me. Rosalie hissed at him, suddenly appearing between him and the couch.

"Rosalie I swear to god..." I snapped, looking dead at her with a warning look. Everyone was wound tightly but she knew that if it came to a fight, I would win.

"Rose, don't," Bella whispered. "It's fine." She confirmed, trying to keep the peace.

Rosalie moved out of his way, though I could tell she hated to do it. Scowling at him, she crouched by Bella's head, tensed to spring. Jacob made straight for me with purposeful steps and enveloped me in his arms as soon as I was in his reach. He held me tightly, inhaling my scent before kissing the top of my head. His own scent and warmth comforted me greatly as I gripped onto the back of his shirt. "I'm sorry." He whispered into my hair and I blinked away the tears.

"Me too." I whispered back, holding onto him as tightly as I could.

He stepped back slightly and grasped my face in his hands, smoothing his thumbs over my cheeks. I held onto his wrists and looked deep into his eyes, silently telling him he was forgiven. Now was not the time for our reunion, there were more pressing matters at hand.

I pulled his hands away from my face and proceeded to clasp one of them in my own, popping our bubble to put the attention back on Bella. She was watching us with an endearing smile on her face, she was strangely happy and that showed courage. Jacob looked down at Bella as well, his eyes almost bulging out of his head at her appearance.

"Jake, I'm glad you came." She said as cheerfully as she could.

"You look terrible." He didn't mean for it to come out so bluntly but Bella smiled at his words.

"Yeah, it's nice to see you, too." She confessed, still trying to keep that smile on her face. She was fighting to keep her eyes open.

"So, are you gonna tell me what's wrong with you?" He insisted, crouching down so they were face to face, taking one of her fragile hands in his free one. He flinched slightly at how cold she was.