The Movement of the Earth

Chapter 5: Plans

out in the hornet rain / the swarming stingers pumping poison through my veins
Laura Veirs, "Wide-Eyed, Legless"

5: Plans

The truck was relatively quiet as we drove. Embry concentrated on not damaging the poorly synced transmission; I concentrated on not having a panic attack.

"Are you sure Jacob's going to be all right?" I asked fretfully.

Embry rolled his eyes. "For the hundredth time, yes. Jeez, you've got to learn to have a little trust. We're werewolves, Bella, we can take a hit. Rapid healing and everything. Even if Jake breaks a few bones, he'll be all right by sundown." He frowned. "He better not, though, I've got ten bucks riding on this."

"Sorry." Sarcasm. "I've only had this information for an hour. I apologize for not understanding all the little ins and outs of werewolfhood yet."

"I guess that's true." He glanced at me sideways, a little smirk on his face. "Well, at least you didn't collapse or anything. Sam said that when he told Emily she passed out cold."

"And who's Emily, exactly?" I figured I had a right to know at least that much, since I was about to enter her home. Maybe she'd be more forthcoming than these cryptic little wolfboys.

I wasn't in a very good mood.

"She's Sam's girlfriend- no, wait, fiancee. He popped the question, like, last month." Embry rolled his eyes again. He was going to damage his retinas if he wasn't careful. "You should have seen him, he didn't stop grinning for a week. It was gross."

"They're really in love, huh?" I felt the holes in my chest - the ones left by Edward, anyway - begin to burn with pain.

If Edward had asked me to marry him, how would I have reacted? Marriage wasn't something that mattered to me. If it was what he had wanted, though, if he had wanted to bind himself to me... but he hadn't.

I shook myself silently. I needed to stop this. There was too much happening right now for me to wallow in grief - no matter how consuming that grief was.

"You have no idea," Embry replied, oblivious to my heartache. "The rest of us have to listen to his thoughts all the time. The second we're off of pack business, it's 'I love her' this and 'She's so wonderful' that. Jared's even worse. And Jake's head doesn't even make sense anymore-" He stopped speaking suddenly and cleared his throat. "Uh, never mind."

I made a disgusted noise and didn't even bother to ask for a clarification I knew I wouldn't get. Stupid werewolves.

Embry drove past the easternmost house on the highway before turning off onto a narrow dirt road. "Your truck is slow," he complained.

"Yeah, well, you'll have to talk to Jacob about that. He's the one that rebuilt it."

He snorted. "Right. I'm really going to tell Jake that something he built is a piece of shit. I like walking straight, thanks."

I gave him an evil glare. "Call my truck a piece of shit again and I'll see to it you don't walk straight." No one got to insult my truck.

Embry just laughed.

At the end of the lane we came to a tiny house with a narrow window and a faded blue door. The front porch was weathered and well-used, and the railing was covered in coffee cans full of potted flowers - marigolds, daisies, daffodils, and a bunch of other plants I didn't recognize spilled across the wooden planks. The result was very home-y.

Embry opened the driver's side door and inhaled deeply. "Oh, thank God. Lunch. I was gonna collapse here in another minute." I raised an eyebrow, and he shrugged. "Hey, it takes a lot of calories to morph into a giant dog."