I did tell you Aussies are not big on celebrities right? Read this:
"WEARING dark sunglasses and with guitar in hand, a smiling Robert Pattinson touched down in Adelaide yesterday ahead of the start of production on his new South Australian film.
The Twilight star stopped to pose for photos with a group of five lucky fans at Adelaide Airport before he prepares for his role in the futuristic western The Rover, which will be shot in the SA Outback starting this month."
Yes, five whole fans! LOL.
Safe
Chapter 7
Blinkers Off/Full Disclosure
BPOV
If I thought college was full on, I was kidding myself.
This job was the very definition of full on.
The sheer number of magazine staff had surprised me, and the fact the company had four entire floors was a shock. Everyone was busy, all the time and I knew I had to knuckle down from day one and work my arse off too. Nobody would be cutting me some slack just because I was the new girl.
"Bella, we need this" "Bella, we need that", "Bella get Tom in here now" "Bella get these to Philip immediately" "Find Charlotte, where the fuck are the proofs?". It seemed my job was to do whatever I was told to do. It did occur to me that maybe a nice slow introduction to this career would have been nice, like a job on the Forks Times for example.
Too late now. I had to arrange a meeting, interview some boy band I'd never heard of and pretend they were amazing, and check that the photos from the outdoor shoot from last week were ready.
It had been a bitch of a shoot, and the hot young actor was nothing but a pain in the bum.
He only wanted to be photographed front on, not in profile. He didn't like his cute little nose, though it was his third so far.
He spent an hour debating about what he wanted to wear.
Jake would have suggested a pink tutu and ballet slippers had he been there.
Peter's fans were gathering and screaming his name and making us all feel like slapping them and sending them home to their bedrooms. Didn't these little girls have Mothers? They looked to be no more than thirteen to fifteen and were screaming offers of sex and other things to a vain, stupid man twice their age.
I was pretty sure the girls were quite safe from him accepting their offers anyway.
Peter the Perfect had arrived in a limo with blacked out windows but I had caught sight of the semi naked man he had shared the backseat with when he emerged from the vehicle and I was pretty sure they were more being than friends in there on the way.
The weeks had flown by and it was hard to believe it had been a month and a half since I started work.
I was glad it was so full on and I had no time to brood. I had to stay in the present and concentrate on my duties and please my Boss, Jane, as she shouted orders and gave me a dozen more things to do before I was halfway through doing the last lot.
By Friday nights I was always ready to collapse.
Today was no different. Thank God for weekends.
I arrived home and tossed my coat onto a chair and sat down to rid my poor aching feet of the heels that tortured me every step I took. Oh for the days when Chucks were my little sign of rebellion. I'd refused to go all citified while at college but now I had no choice.
Jake was waiting, dressed in his newest suit. He kept updating it and paying a few extra hundred dollars each upgrade, as the money slowly rolled in.
I plastered a smile on my face when he told me we were expected in a restaurant in thirty minutes to meet some important people for dinner.
Great, just what I felt like. A night out fawning over some reluctant potential clients, trying to convince them to sign up with the agency.
I allowed myself ten minutes in the bath, after shaving off any new body hair under the shower.
The warmth of the bath soothed away my tension and I relaxed and just blanked my mind for the first time in a week, as my fingers rubbed the little star on my wrist and reminded me of the stars at home. I never let my mind wander further.
The room was full of steam and so cozy that I had to battle so my eyelids didn't close.
Well, okay, maybe my eyes could rest just for a minute.
"Bella, come on, it's been twenty minutes and we have to be there in ten. You need to dress and do your hair and everything."
I opened my eyes in shock as Jake grabbed my arm and pulled me from the bathtub. He picked up a towel and started drying my back and I grabbed a second one and dried my front.
"Were you asleep?" he asked as he pulled the hairpins from my hair and let it fall down my back. It was all the same length again, now the layers had grown out. Maybe Jake had accelerated it's growth by his need to have it back how it was before.
He took my hairbrush and started brushing so it hung straight to my waist.
"I guess I was. What are the names of the couple we are dining with?" I asked.
"Sam managed to convince Aro Volturi to spare us an hour of his valuable time and we had a first meeting today. It went okay, we think, but he's one of the old school type and he and his brothers and their wives wants to meet our spouses."
"He thinks we are married?" I asked, as Jake zipped up the back of my best little black dress.
"No, I wouldn't lie about that. This dress is an excellent choice."
He had chosen this frock himself when we were out shopping one day recently. He had stood there in the shop, holding it up on it's hanger, scrutinizing every inch of the fabric and cut from every angle.
He had a great eye for fashion so I had just waited patiently for his verdict.
"Yes, I think this could be a worthwhile investment. Try it on, please Bella," he had requested.
I did as he asked and he had then scrutinized it again, on me this time.
I looked at myself in the full length change room mirror and tried to see it through his eyes.
Length good; just sitting midway between thigh and knee. Not too short, but still short enough so there would be a glimpse of thigh when I sat down.
Rack present and accounted for. Nicely presented but not so on show it would drive anyone into a frenzy.
The fabric hung very close to my body but did not cling anywhere, so my figure was completely outlined. Flat waist due to Jake's exercise and diet program.
He did like to control what I ate, but his own diet was just as strict. Jake never ate anything that wasn't necessary and nutritious for his body. He still worked out every day and often I went to the gym with him of an evening and followed the routine my personal trainer had prescribed.
I hated it at first and was convinced Jake wanted to kill me slowly, but now I had the hang of it, it wasn't that bad. It got easier the more often I did it, so I promised myself to never miss more than two nights in a row no matter how chaotic work got, even if it meant I was working out after midnight.
Sacrifice.
That's the cost of being fit.
Any slight pudginess I may have had when I moved here was gone and now my upper arms were strong and my arse had never looked better.
I even did a few extra sessions on weekends if I knew I was going to be tempted to eat 'something bad' at work, like if someone was bringing in a birthday cake for a colleague.
If I kept my measurements and weight at precisely the recommended levels, I didn't see how a mouthful of chocolate mudcake now and then would kill me or undo all the good I had done.
I never mentioned these little indulgences to Jake; I was learning.
If he didn't know, I didn't have to see the disappointment in his eyes. He may have supernatural self control but I never have had, and never will. Sugar may be our enemy but fuck it tastes good.
I would possibly have found it easier to give up nicotine had I been a smoker, than kiss goodbye sugar forever.
"If the ladies like you and Emily, great, but it's the brothers we are trying to impress. Be nice to the men once the wives leave. Apparently the ladies are trained to do dinner then slip away and leave the men to discuss business, so watch me and I'll let you know whether or not to go with them. I'm not sure if Sam thinks it would be best to have some distractions on hand or not. It will be a last minute decision. If I suggest you and Emily might enjoy a drink together at the bar, just go. Don't argue."
"Yes Sir," I saluted.
My make-up routine was simple and Jake looked me over.
"Do the eyeliner. The Volturi brothers are used to women with more make-up than you wear and I like the smoky grey look but your eyes need framing."
Finally I passed muster and we left.
"God, I realize this is really important, I hope we aren't late," I panted as we hurried from the car to the restaurant, me wobbling a little on my extra high heels. I hate heels and running in them is not possible but I can at least go faster than a walk by now.
"I actually booked the table for thirty minutes later than I told you. That means, yes, we are the first to arrive. Well done," he said happily as we walked inside and he scrutinized the patrons. I waited for my kiss but it seemed tonight was all about business.
We sat at the bar and Jake watched the door, adjusting the knot in his tie frequently.
"Relax or you will sweat," I whispered, and he immediately went into calm mode.
"This meeting is vital. They have to approve of us as a couple. Don't lie about anything you won't remember clearly and be able to stick to, we can't get caught out. I'm sure they know everyone lives together first these days before tying the knot, so if they ask, just say we plan to get married next year."
He pulled a small square box from his pocket and opened it, slipping out a diamond ring, and putting it on my finger.
"There, that should get us some Brownie points. Make up some romantic proposal so the ladies think I'm awesome. Oh and make sure you tell me how it happened so I can avoid looking like a tool."
"The way Seth proposed to Rebecca was cute," I replied. I wished my proposal had been that sweet. I wish I'd been proposed to full stop.
Seth had taken her off to one of the tropical islands and gone down on bended knee on the beach at midnight, out the front of the little cabin they were staying in. It had been a full moon and he arranged a trio of musicians to be standing among the palm trees, so he could lure her out with the promise of a dance and as the song ended, he'd done it. Kneeling in the sand, shiny new ring in his hand.
Rebecca had no idea it was going to happen and as Seth paid someone to record it professionally to use as a prelude on their wedding day video, we had watched it ourselves, and every detail was clear in my head.
That may be because I had watched it six times.
"Good idea. Don't make me sound as much as a sap as Seth is though. He may have cried when she accepted, but I wouldn't have."
"Hey Bella, Jake, I see we beat them here," Emily said excitedly as she sat on the barstool beside mine. The men went into an instant huddle, heads together, planning last minute strategy.
"You look amazing," I said to Emily. How come her dress was sexy as fuck and not black?
"Hmm. I can't say I like me in red but Sam says I look good enough to eat, so..."
" Promises, promises. Hold him to that later tonight when you get home," I replied. Jake looked up and frowned, looking a little disturbed. Oral was not to his liking, unless he was getting it, not giving it.
"I wasn't sure about this dress myself, but Sam was pleased and he had the hem taken up three inches because, apparently, I have the best legs in the city."
He could be right. Emily is about five foot ten and as shapely as an old fashioned model, back when they actually ate food and had tits and a bum.
"Well, that's hardly an insult. Look what I just scored."
I held out my left hand and she all but screamed, reigning it is as she realized where we were.
"Oh my God Jake proposed. You said Yes!"
"Ah, yeah, sure. Actually it all happened on that romantic tropical island vacation he took me on," I informed her and she looked confused.
"You watched the video with me? Twice? You said it was way more exciting than how Sam proposed?" I hinted, raising my eyebrows.
"Seriously? You are stealing your friend's proposal?"
"Apparently the Volturi wives will be impressed."
"Okay. Were we there?"
"Of course not. But I told you every detail so you feel almost like you were."
"Right, I shall inform Sam so he doesn't put his foot in his mouth."
"Thanks."
"Heads up, look ravishing, ladies," Jake whispered.
xxxx
Dinner was nerve wracking but I managed to articulate so the Italians could understand what I was saying and not babble as fast as I usually did.
The three men were quite unlike each other, there was no family resemblance. Aro was obviously the Big Brother though Marcus was taller. Cas was a lot younger, a menopause baby maybe?
They were all charming and handsome and Aro kept his eyes on Emily for most of the night, despite the fact his wife was right there. I thought that was rude and even a little creepy. Cas flirted constantly with me but we were there for approval and decoration, so we both pretended being looked over like hunks of meat was cool. At least he was too young to be married and his behaviour was more acceptable, even if he must have known I was with Jake.
Finally the ladies, who had oohed and ahhed at my fiance's romantic proposal on the beach, left the table, taking Cass with them, and I watched Jake closely.
Aro leaned in to Sam and spoke privately to him and Sam paled, then sat up straighter and downed his drink in a single mouthful.
Uh oh, he didn't look happy.
"Thanks for coming, Bella and Jake. I'm sure you are eager to get home, I know you have that big event on early tomorrow, so you need your beauty sleep. Aro and Marcus and I will work out some things and we'll have a second meeting next week, Jake."
It seemed we were dismissed.
Emily looked a little nervous to be left there alone, but Jacob quickly said Goodnight for us both and took my arm, so I was out of the room without getting to speak to her.
"Do you think that went well? Fuck me, that Aro is hard to read," Jake complained as we headed to the BMW.
"He seemed to like Emily. Maybe he will sign with you just to get a few dinners out with her and her sexy dress. I swear, when he was whispering to Sam, all I could think was, I hope he isn't saying 'how much for the little girl?' " I laughed.
"What are you talking about?" Jake replied.
"It's a bad quote from a stupid movie. Sorry. Aro is rather intense and he looks like a man who gets whatever he wants."
"Then we had better hope he wants us."
I held my ring up into the light from the streetlamps we drove past. It was a beautiful ring. Just the type I'd expected Jake to buy.
"I suppose you had better wear that for a while, until we land the Volturi's."
"I don't get to keep it?" I exclaimed, disappointed.
"Bella, come on. Until I'm completely sure I can trust you, we will not be taking that step."
"What have I ever done to make you distrust me?" I asked, my heart thudding in my chest.
"Seriously? We are going to keep up the pretense for longer still? You fuck around, I fuck around, we always have. It doesn't mean much. Sometimes the wives hold the purse strings and I have to persuade them to persuade their husbands in turn to sign on the dotted line. For me it's all about business at least. Just don't get any ideas about running off with him and I will keep turning a blind eye, as I always have."
"Jake," I protested, but what was there to say, really?
"Bella, I love you and you love me and that's enough, right? When things get better and we are financially solid things will change, for both of us, understand?
For now I'm not too worried about you and him; if you loved him you would be there with him, and not here, so, obviously it doesn't mean a thing to you and never has. I understand the need to experience sex with different people, it's the same for me. Just don't assume I'm blind and deaf, Bella. I see the way you look at him and I hear what you cry out in your dreams. Don't take me for a fool. If it ever becomes something important, it has to stop."
"I will end it now, today," I promised, devastated how this night was ending.
Jake parked the car and and opened my door.
"No need, don't get all dramatic over this. It's out in the open and we no longer have to pretend and that's a good thing. Just never think of him while you are with me and we will be sweet, Babe. Hang that dress up, it cost a bomb."
To my surprise, Jake made love to me as if the conversation had never happened, and I lay there in the dark afterwards as he slept beside me, hating how he had managed to reduce what Edward and I shared to meaningless sex. But on the other hand, he was willing to put up with it, if that was what it was, so why try and convince him it was something more, when that would be something he would object to?
It was surreal, as if we'd slipped into an alternate Universe, and it was not until later I realized what else Jake had said. That he slept with clients wives. That he had always fucked around. That he had never been any more faithful than I had.
I had no right to feel wounded, but I did.
My fairy tale was far more fractured than I'd ever imagined.
xxxx
I must have slept because Jake woke me with a kiss and pulled me into his arms.
"Are you okay, Bella? Look, I never meant to lay it all on you that way, you pushed my buttons pretending to be all innocent. It's better now we know where we stand, right? I fully intend making you my wife one day and we will be faithful and monogamous and all that when we are married, but for now, it's not important. You obviously have always enjoyed sleeping with Edward. You clearly are not in love with him. Therefore it's no threat to us. The women I have been with have never meant anything, I can say that in complete honesty and sincerity.
Times have changed. People have open relationships by choice and it doesn't make them any weaker, or mean they love their partner any less. Look at it this way, now I don't have to make up excuses why I am working late and you don't have to pretend your two weeks in Forks is to be with Charlie. Label it however you want, and I would prefer you never discussed this with Emily, but for now nothing has to change.
I do truly love you, Bella.
Just think, if Charlie had made an agreement like this with Renee, you would have grown up with a mother. She needed other men and he put his foot down so she left. That did not benefit anyone but her. Charlie kept his pride and lost the love of his life and you grew up never knowing the woman who gave birth to you. I get it, it was different for them, they were married and had a kid, so he wanted her to stick to her vows. I expect you to stick to ours, too Bella. This all stops when my ring, any ring, is on your finger, okay?"
"Of course," I said. "Edward and I already agreed on that."
"Smart man. I don't blame him for wanting to fuck you; you are the most desirable woman on this planet after all. Just keep it cool and don't start imagining it's more than it is. Now, breakfast. Are we eating here or do you want to go out? Damn,I hope Sam gets back to me this morning, I had a hard time reading Aro last night, I just don't know which way things went. We need this account, Bella. If we get it, life will be sweet. The brothers will follow suit and sign as well and it won't matter if we never sign anyone else ever. Our life could be about to take a massive leap for the better, Babe. We just need to do whatever it takes to dazzle Aro."
xxxx
My life somehow went on, though I was still in a state of shock. Jake would see me suddenly stop whatever I was doing and stand there, stunned as our conversations replayed in my head over and over, and he would smirk and hug me.
"Baby, nothings changed. We are just bringing the lies and deceit out of the shadows and into the sunlight so they can't fester and spoil things. Our life is good, and one day it will be what you want it to be. Perfect. With no interlopers muddying the water. And we will do all the things I have promised. Get engaged for real; have the best wedding anyone has ever seen, and have our boys. Everyone makes sacrifices to attain their goals, and it will be so worth it in the long run."
Work was my refuge, where I could pretend last weekend never happened.
"Bella, we have a problem," Jane shrieked, sitting on my desk and lightening up a cigarette illegally, in our workplace. She sucked on it so hard I thought she'd inhale the entire thing, filter and all. Of course I could have requested , even insisted, she didn't smoke near me but it did seem to ground her so I merely opened a window and sat beside it, breathing in the untainted air as the breeze filled my office and wafted away the smoke.
"Tanya Denali can't come to us so someone has to go to her and get that interview."
I assumed I was the 'someone'.
"We can't reschedule?" I questioned, looking down my Daily Diary. I really did not have time to be running around after some diva who couldn't keep her commitment to come in here for a photo shoot and chat, just because her handbag dog Fluffykins broke a nail or whatever.
I'd never met Tanya but she had unknowingly given Edward and I , indeed the whole Cullen clan, a lot of amusement over the years.
She was tall and blonde and shapely and the first word to occur to anyone watching her babble in Red Carpet interviews was 'vacuous'. Her agent usually spoke for her, before she could make one of her ridiculous off the cuff statements that made every other actor there, even the rolling drunk up and coming young idiot brigade, sound intelligent and educated.
Like the time she said she only became an actress because she hoped to work with James Dean and didn't know why his career had just 'gone quiet' after he appeared in Giant.
She felt that bringing him back to Hollywood and giving him a second chance at a longer lived career was the reason she had been put on this Earth.
When it had been pointed out to her that even if he wasn't dead, he would now be in his eighties, she had been confused.
"But he only looks about twenty. Watch his movies, he looks very young for his age, then."
She was trailer trash, through and through and no amount of speech training and deportment lessons could quite erase that.
But she had the most amazing rack in Hollywood.
It was the sole reason she had made it as far as she had.
For all it's amazing dimensions, unlike most of her well stacked contemporaries, hers looked real.
She appeared in movies that barely escaped being classified as pure porn, so we had seen them larger than life on cinema screens many times and if she had bought those puppies, the surgeon was a genius.
They were flawless.
Edward decided he was the better judge, with him training in the medical profession and all, and although he could normally just give any actress a glance before ruling their breasts natural or enhanced, this set had him undecided.
He wanted them to be real, that was for sure, because all men secretly want God to have generously endowed any female that nicely.
Anyone rich enough could buy a set, but like so many others, he really hoped hers were the exception and were made by Nature.
He and Emmett had held many long deep and meaningful conversations on this one subject, and Carlisle found it hilarious that both his sons were so desperate to know one way or the other. It wasn't like either would meet her, or even wanted to. They were not attracted to her in any way more than in a primitive lustful manner their male genes had been encoded them to be.
But they both wanted to know.
"Why can't she come here, as arranged?" I queried.
"This is off the record and strictly between us, not for publication or gossiping about , but her last 'freshening up' left her nipples uneven. She wants to sue the surgeon, but then everyone would know why and her secret would be out. Therefore she is being 'readjusted' this week and doesn't have time to fly here before she leaves for London. You have to go to her."
Bam. I was right. I win. It was a hollow victory.
Just coping with my new, open, honest, free of deceptions life was taking up most of my energy. My brain kept wanting to drift and speculate who Jake had been with, before he moved here. There were females in our hometown that he had slept with, and I had to accept it. So far I had not been able to muster the courage to ask for details. Once I knew I could never unknow again. I could never forget. When had is started? Was I any more his first than he was mine? Was it a complete lie on both sides that night? I'd cheated with Edward and this was my punishment and Jake had not even pretended any of his affairs were based on love or respect.
He had used women and it worried me.
To what degree was he willing to use me?
Jane coughed impatiently.
"Where do I have to go?" I asked wearily, annoyed my schedule was now shot to pieces.
Jane reached into her pocket and handed me an envelope.
" This is your pass to being flown on her own private plane , to an unknown destination. Her private estate, where she will be resting in the hope she recovers in time to shoot the latest piece of cinematic history. You won't know where you are being taken. She pays millions to kept this place underwraps and nobody has ever found it, so think of it as a magical mystery tour."
"Who's coming with me?" I queried, hoping it was not Embry, our youngest photographer who had an obvious crush on me and made me feel uncomfortable in his presence.
Jake thought it was hilarious when we attended social events for my work, and my secret admirer was too young to legally buy me a drink.
"Nobody. Her agent will hand over some photos never seen before that we can use, taken before the disaster."
The whole trip was just annoying. My first flight in a private plane yet it seemed like we never left the airport, because the windows were all fully covered so I would have no clue which direction we flew in.
Her retreat seemed to be obviously situated on an island but I preferred Esme's Island, to be honest. This one was far less pretty and the beachfront was nothing compared to where Edward and I had walked on those few nights we'd been together.
Tanya was exactly as I expected. Nowhere near as pretty in real life as on the screen but twice as dumb.
She spent most of my allotted time bitching about the 'butcher' who had 'mangled' her body, despite her agent trying to tell her time and again she was not supposed to mention that to anyone, let alone a reporter who was taping an interview.
In the end, I was once again sworn to secrecy and just handed a prewritten question and answer sheet that could have been faxed to us in the first place and saved me all this bother.
All the way home, I was so tempted to text Edward and tell him he was wrong and that he owed me a hundred bucks because I, Bella Swan, who had no medical training, had guessed right.
I always said her waist and hips were far too slim for that enormous rack to have come as part of her original figure.
I was right, Edward was wrong; I had the power to make both him and his brother cry in disappointment if only I could rat her out to them and not lose my job over it.
In the end I figured we had so many ongoing bets for a hundred bucks, he would never know for sure which wager I was calling in and I sent the text after we landed.
xxxxx
My cell pinged. Two words in answer to my request he paid up.
"Which bet?"
Hmm, how to tell yet not tell.
"Of all Johnny Depp's movies, my favourite is Cry Baby."
It was, and Edward knew that, but that was not the real message.
He and Emmett always said if they ever found out Tanya's boobs were fakes, they'd cry like 'little cry babies'. I'd never heard them say that term in any other context. I'd told them I would have 'Cry Baby' T shirts custom made for them if they ever found out the breasts had been manufactured, not grown, seeing as far as I knew, the official movie T shirts only came in Small Women's size. I used to wear mine a lot when I was in High School because nobody else had one and Edward had bought it back for me after one of his family's vacations in LA.
The answer came fast and anguished.
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo"
I laughed, and replied. God I missed just talking to him every single day like we had for so many years.
"Sorry to have to inform you of the tragic news."
He answered straight away.
"It's Emmett's bucks party tonight, I shall not spoil it for him by passing on this terribly sad information."
When I got home and checked for any message from Jake , there was a scan photo of a jellybean shaped infant, labeled 'Rosalie Hale', from Edward's phone.
The wedding invitation had arrived as promised and Jake didn't care either way, whether I accepted or declined but he was not interested in going with me.
I'd bought a gift and was still debating whether to post it or deliver it in person.
Edward and I had both survived being parted, and maybe that was a sign to let go and forget about our arrangement that could only lead to renewed pain.
Neither of us had caved and thrown caution to the wind. I'd half expected him to become reckless and arrive at midnight some night on our doorstep, so maybe we both were where we were meant to be, despite Jake's revelations.
I picked Rose and Emmett's card up again and reread Edward's words written in his perfect copperplate writing.
"Please come. This is a family occasion that all of my family needs to attend."
Despite Emmett's threat, there was a Plus One invited as well, but possibly that was Esme's attempt to ensure Jake accompanied me and kept me out of her son's bed.
I debated the wisdom of going alone.
Even if his Mom assigned a bodyguard to keep Edward safe, I knew we would find a way to be alone for a few minutes at least, no matter what. God knows I long for Edwards arms to hold me together and make me feel safe again, like they did before my world imploded.
Jake opened the front door and I put the card down and turned to him. He wasn't alone.
"Bella, this is our new employee, Jasper Whitlock. He's never been out of his home state of Texas before and I was thinking how wrong that is. Everyone needs to visit as much of this country as they can. So, with that in mind, maybe you should go to Emmett's wedding, and take Jasper with you."
Jake poured drinks and settled the guy on the sofa before coming to take my hand and lead me to the kitchen. First he kissed my neck, trying to make me relax.
"Hey, I'm not sending Jasper with you to cramp your style. He's our intern and he shadows me. I need to entertain Aro's wife and I'd rather Jasper didn't know the intimate details of how business works here in the city quite yet. Palm him off onto Alice, she needs a boyfriend. I'm going to be pretty much absent on weekends until this deal is sewn up so if Jasper and Alice click, the two of you could fly home regularly together and play with the Cullen siblings while I pretend Rosa Volturi is still a sexy and attractive woman who could turn my head."
"Surely messing with Aro's wife is dangerous?" I replied. If this went wrong, Aro would walk. And was I accepting all this now? What the fuck was Jake doing to me? My first thought had been only concern that he was making a bad business move, not horror that he was planning on sleeping with yet another woman. I was fast becoming reconciled to something I thought would have sent me jumping off a cliff.
"Actually, Aro needs her to be distracted. He's enjoying the pleasure of the company of someone else, shall we say?"
"Who?"
Was Jake his pimp now? Was he buying women for the man to play with to win the account?
"Don't worry about it. It's business. Now come and meet Jasper and see if you think he would be to Alice's taste."
xxxx
I stood there in Arrivals as Jasper went to collect our luggage and watched Edward walk towards me. His lips were twitching, trying not to break into one of his beautiful smiles, but they failed and suddenly he was there and I was in his arms and the Earth stopped spinning out of control for the first time in weeks.
"Bella," he whispered, his hand in my hair, the other moving, caressing, every part of my back. I didn't want to move an inch, I just wanted to stay here and enjoy some normalcy in what was somehow my most sane and stable relationship now.
Edward loved me and would never do what Jake was doing, of that I was sure. No matter if his life depended on it, not just his income and his fledgling business. I knew he'd walk away and start from scratch, flip burgers, before he entered into the Devil's pact Jake was embracing.
"I have missed you so much," a soft velvety voice whispered.
"It's so good to see you again," I replied sincerely.
A cough brought me back to reality and I stepped away from Edward and hoped we had just looked like very dear friends who had been parted for too long.
"Edward, this is my traveling companion, Jasper Whitlock. Jasper, this is Edward Cullen, my best friend. Jasper is Jake's intern and as he has never been anywhere outside of Texas except New York, we thought he might enjoy visiting Washington. He's my Plus One. Jake's really busy and sends his regrets that he can't get away just now."
Edward shook hands and took my bag from Jasper, but he raised his eyebrows, and I could see he was assuming Jaz was there to keep us separate and chaste.
"It's complicated," I whispered as we led our guest to the carpark.
Having Jasper in the car with us meant our conversation was limited to Edward updating me on small town events of note, and me asking after Rosalie, and of course, Alice.
"Carlisle and Esme are off on some last minute wedding stuff so only my sister is at home today."
The girl did not disappoint and to my delight, she opened the door of Esme's house, ready to jump into my arms then she froze.
Edward shook his head and grinned as Jasper forgot how to speak and stood there just as transfixed as his sister was.
"Um, maybe we could all go inside and get comfortable," Edward suggested, pushing past the pair of them.
Alice backed back into the sitting room and Jasper followed her, as if he had lost all will and had to be with her.
"Wonderful, another pair of soul mates enters the building," Edward sighed in my ear.
"Look at it this way, neither of those two are going to notice our absence," I replied, and he saw my point.
"Alice, make Jasper feel at home while I take Bella up to my room and show her my new bath plug," he stated, dropping my bag.
xxxx
I actually did get to meet his new bath plug, as Edward insisted we needed to take time and relax after my flight, so soon we were both encased in warm bubbles as I lay back against his chest.
"Does the fact Jasper is here mean Jake no longer trusts you in my company?" he asked, running his fingertips lightly across my chest as his other hand stroked my mound and made me unsettled.
"Edward, you would not believe what has been going on. I don't want to even say the full extant of what my life is like now out loud, but sufficient to say we no longer need to feel any guilt about this." I waved my hand between us.
"Jake knows," he replied.
"Jake knows; he has always known, and he has sanctioned it. Let's not go there yet. I need some normalcy. I feel like my life has morphed and changed and that I never even saw any of what was really going on until now. My head is threatening to explode. Just know, I don't have to hide anything and if Jake calls, which is highly unlikely by the way, then you don't have to stay quiet and pretend I'm in your guestroom bed."
Edward looked confused, which was completely expected and a normal reaction. I liked normal. I didn't see a lot of it these days.
I knew I had to say more, but I wasn't ready to tell him everything. Saying it out loud would make it all too real.
"Jake has not exactly saved himself for me alone, for various reasons, and he is okay with us sleeping together as long as it quote remain meaningless unquote. Obviously I am not going to shatter his illusions, but he has sure shattered all of mine.
Until we get engaged, he's pretty much happy to share me with you. Business and getting properly established so we will be financially secure for life are his priorities and he will be absent a lot from now on. It seems I am available for weekends as well as weddings and bar mitzvah's, as the saying goes. Whenever your work schedule allows it, we can spend time together here as often as you want to."
"Seriously?" Edward replied, turning my body to face his.
"Yep. It seems two weeks a year just got upgraded to two days a week, if you want it to."
"Of course I want it to. I'll tell Dad to give me shifts on weekdays only. Bella, things are going to change. I can feel it."
Things were changing as we spoke. I just hoped Edward was not letting his imagination read more into this new development than was really there, because despite everything, one fundamental thing remained the same.
I needed him more than ever, and I was really happy we would get to revive our friendship and see one another often, but I still loved Jacob Black.
Unconditional love was a complete bitch, who knew?
It made no sense even to me, and any smart girl would run away screaming to the hills, but the heart wants what the heart wants, and mine wanted Jake. And a picket fence and two small black haired boys.
A/N...Yes, Bella is delusional, yes things will change but they will get worse before they get better, and nobody is going to leave bitchy reviews because you all read the disclosure. And yes, the cat story is happening soon, LOL. Come back if you want to know how Jake will finally cross that line and alienate her...love to hear how you think that will happen!
