I slipped my arms into his sleeves and then buttoned it swiftly over my ragged bodice. Of course, that left him without a shirt, and it was impossible not to find that distracting.
'Til race you," I said, and then cautioned, "no throwing the game this time!"
He dropped my hand and grinned. "On your mark ..."
Finding my way to my new home was simpler than walking down Charlie's street to my old one. Our scent left a clear and easy trail to follow, even running as fast as I could.
Edward had me beat till we hit the river. I took a chance and made my leap early, trying to use my extra strength to win.
"Ha!" I exulted when I heard my feet touch the grass first.
Listening for his landing, I heard something I did not expect. Something loud and much too close. A thudding heart.
Edward was beside me in the same second, his hands clamped down hard on the tops of my arms.
"Don't breathe," he cautioned me urgently.
I tried not to panic as I froze mid-breath. My eyes were the only things that moved, wheeling instinctively to find the source of the sound.
Jacob stood at the line where the forest touched the Cullens' lawn, his arms folded across his body, his jaw clenched tight. Invisible in the woods behind him, I heard now two larger hearts, and the faint crush of bracken under huge, pacing paws.
"Carefully, Jacob," Edward said. A snarl from the forest echoed the concern in his voice. "Maybe this isn't the best way - "
"You think it would be better to let her near the baby first?" Jacob interrupted. "It's safer to see how Bella does with me. I heal fast."
This was a test? To see if I could not kill Jacob before I tried to not kill Renesmee? I felt sick in the strangest way - it had nothing to do with my stomach, only my mind. Was this Edward's idea?
I glanced at his face anxiously; Edward seemed to deliberate for a moment, and then his expression twisted from concern into something else. He shrugged, and there was an undercurrent of hostility in his voice when he said, "It's your neck, I guess."
The growl from the forest was furious this time; Leah, I had no doubt.
What was with Edward? After all that we'd been through, shouldn't he have been able to feel some kindness for my best friend? I'd thought - maybe foolishly - that Edward was sort of Jacob's friend now, too. I must have misread them.
But what was Jacob doing? Why would he offer himself as a test to protect Renesmee?
It didn't make any sense to me. Even if our friendship had survived...
And as my eyes met Jacob's now, I thought that maybe it had. He still looked like my best friend. But he wasn't the one who had changed. What did I look like to him?
Then he smiled his familiar smile, the smile of a kindred spirit, and I was sure our friendship was intact. It was just like before, when we were hanging out in his homemade garage, just two friends killing time. Easy and normal.
Again, I noticed that the strange need I'd felt for him before I'd changed was completely gone. He was just my friend, the way it was supposed to be.
It still made no sense what he was doing now, though. Was he really so selfless that he would try to protect me - with his own life - from doing something in an uncontrolled split second that I would regret in agony forever? That went way beyond simply tolerating what I had become, or miraculously managing to stay my friend. Jacob was one of the best people I knew, but this seemed like too much to accept from anyone.
His grin widened, and he shuddered slightly. "I gotta say it, Bells. You're a freak show."
I grinned back, falling easily into the old pattern. This was a side of him I understood.
Edward growled. "Watch yourself, mongrel."
The wind blew from behind me and I quickly filled my lungs with the safe air so I could speak. "No, he's right. The eyes are really something, aren't they?"
"Super-creepy. But it's not as bad as I thought it would be."
"Gee - thanks for the amazing compliment!"
He rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. You still look like you - sort of. Maybe it's not the look so much as... you are Bella. I didn't think it would feel like you were still here." He