The Twilight characters belong to Stephenie Meyer

Thank you so much for the reviews!! I hope I don't disappoint with this story.. let me know what you think! Always! Even if you think it's getting to weird or whatever, I want to know. So anyway... as promised. A shirtless James ;D

Chapter 7

Music was blaring in the truck and cigarette smoke was blowing in my face, I just sat in the back trying to disappear into the seat cushions. There wasn't much room in the backseat and I was pressing against the two boys on either side of me, I was wishing I were on the motorcycle now.

We roared down the highway behind James for miles. I could see his blond head up ahead of us and I almost giggled when I scolded him in my head for not wearing the helmet he had strapped to the seat. The trees thinned and the skeleton of a large hotel in the early stages of being built loomed in front of us. James pulled of the highway and rode across the grass to the back of the construction site. We followed, bouncing over the uneven ground. I could hear the clink of glass in the behind me, but whatever it was had been covered by a dirty old blanket.

When the truck stopped we all filed out and walked over to met James. He was surveying the large arches and support beams of the building, his blue eyes hard with concentration. The judgmental part of me had always suspected James of being somewhat stupid since he never got good grades and was always getting into trouble. With the way he was mumbling calculations under his breath and how all the guys with him waited for his orders made me think twice about my assumptions.

"K, Bella come here." He smiled and held out his hand as he passed me, heading towards the front of the building. I took his hand and followed him quietly, still wondering what we were doing here. He handed me a small black phone.

"I want you to hang out up here ok, if anyone pulls off the side of the road or if you see the same car twice, call me ok?" He showed me how to pull up the call log on the phone and just press the send button for the first number in there. I started shaking, I knew whatever this was it was the worst thing I'd ever done.

"James." He had started to walk away when I called him back to me. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm just helping out the builders is all." He winked at me and turned again.

"No one is going to get hurt are they?" James face changed slightly.

"Of course not." I didn't stop him as he walked away this time.

I hid in the trees, watching every car that drove by and straining to see what the guys were doing behind me. I only caught a few glimpses of what they were up to. I saw James and Chase edging their way across beams on the second and third levels of the hotel, my heart almost fell through to my stomach to see them up so high without any kind of safety gear.

I couldn't believe this was all happening in broad daylight. It seemed like we'd been there for a very long time, but when I checked the clock on the cell phone it had only been ten minutes. I sighed and shifted my weight, when I had agreed to spend the day with James I had sort of expected to actually spend time with him. One of the other boys who had been in the SUV with me ran around the front of the building with what looked like small bottles of water, weird I thought. It was too hard for me to see exactly what he was doing, but after only seconds he had gone back to the rear anyway.

I was startled when the SUV I'd rode in roared past me and onto the highway a moment later, heading off in the opposite direction we'd come. Panic welled in me- they were ditching me here. James followed closely behind them and pulled over next to me.

"Come on!" He yelled at me over the growl of the bike's engine. I just stared at him. There was no way I was getting on that thing. James looked over his shoulder and then back at me.

"Now Bella!" His voice sounded dead serious this time, so I ran over and hopped on the back, wrapping my arms around James in a death grip.

We had barely hit the pavement when two loud explosions pierced the calm afternoon air behind us. I screamed and buried my face into James back. I heard his laughter slipping away into the wind. Through my hair I peaked out behind us and could see a large pillar of smoke trailing into the sky out of the trees. Three more explosions sounded, I hid my face again and tried to control the panic starting in my head.

"I can't believe you just did that!" I yelled at James, he just laughed some more and speed up. We drove for miles, it had been at least half an hour since we left the hotel and my arms were numb from the wind. There was a turn off up ahead that took us west towards the beach.

I had been leaning my body up against James, trying not to make it obvious that I was taking advantage of my need to hold onto him to feel up on his tight abs. We reached the end of the road quickly and parked just off the shoulder behind the trees. My arms were stiff from holding on so tightly and I had to hold onto James awkwardly as I dismounted the bike. We walked down to the water silently, both of us sneaking sideways glances at each other along the way. Once we stopped I watched the waves crash violently onto the sand for a minute before breaking the silence.

"James, what just happened?" My voice came out breathlessly, like I'd just been running.

"We just went for a nice ride down to the beach. This one is the best, it's private."

'That's not what I meant." James rubbed the back of his head absently.

"We just helped the owner of that hotel from losing money on a dead end project." James sat down on the sand, resting his arms on his knees.

"You just decided that it was a bad investment for them so you thought you'd help whoever it was out?" I lowered myself next to him, trying to pick a distance that wasn't too close, but not too far.

"What? That wasn't for fun, the people who owns that property and hotel paid me to do that. Didn't you wonder why there weren't any workers there today?" I thought about what he'd just told me for a while, it seemed like the world I'd imagined as being honest and fair when it came to business was actually corrupt. I was embarrassed at my own naivety for a minute, then the full weight of what had just happened crushed down on me.

I had just committed a felony. If we anyone got caught I'd be in trouble too. If I had to face Charlie with what I had done I think I might just die. Oh and Edward… what would he think? I laughed out loud, snorting a little at the end.

"What's so funny?" James looked at me like I'd just lost my mind. I couldn't reply, I was laughing so hard that my sides hurt and tears were running down my face.

"I- just… broke the law! A big one too!" I could barely get the words out over my fits of giggles, but James understood.

"That's right Swan, you're on the dark side now." He laughed now too, I think it was more at me than with me though.

"Cullen would shit a brick if he knew you were with me right now." James' laughter had calmed into soft chuckles and he was drawing lines in the sand now.

"Yeah, he probably would." I stared out at the water again, enjoying how pretty the day was. For Washington it was practically warm.

"So what's up with you two? I mean, is it serious?" I almost choked on my own spit. James was curious about Edward and I? I thought it had been obvious to James that things weren't so great since I had been sneaking off the see him.

"Uh… well. I dunno. I mean, Edward is a really nice guy, and a great boy friend. But I don't think we're going to last much longer." I didn't want to come out and say I would break up with Edward in a heart beat, I just wanted to subtly hint that I was interested in exploring new options.

"Does Edward know that?" James surprised me again. I wasn't sure how to respond to this. I sighed and tossed some sand on to his hand.

"Why do you care?" I smiled and tried to lighten the mood. I had just helped to blow up a construction site. I wasn't in the mood for serious.

"You're going to regret that." James sat up on his knees and pulled off his shirt. Every muscle on his torso seemed impossibly toned and tan. I was mesmerized by the way they flexed with every movement he made.

"What are you staring at? Take your clothes off." For a brief moment I didn't quite understand what James was saying, I was too busy examining the blond trail of hair that lead from his belly button into his low jeans… that he was now slipping off. Oh God…

"Huh?" Was all I could manage to get out.

"I said, take your clothes off. Unless you want them to be soaking wet." James was standing over me in nothing but a pair of dark blue boxer shorts. Apparently I had waited too long to act so James pulled me up by my arm and tossed me over his should fire fighter style. I screamed when I realized he was running towards the water.

"Stop! STOP! James NO!" I kicked and screamed. He stopped when his feet hit the water.

"Are you going to cooperate Bella?" He called back to me.

"Yes! Just give me a second!"

James set me done just out of reach of the lapping water. I took a few steps back and he crouched like he was about to pounce on me. Before he could grab me again I kicked off my shoes and pulled off my jacket. James watched intently, making me pause when I came to the point of removing my shirt. After counting three of my incredibly fast heart beats I took a deep breathe and pulled off my shirt in one swift movement. James was smiling now, and self-consciousness gripped me. My eyes scanned the area around us, for the first time it hit me that we might possibly have an audience.

"Don't worry, no one's here. I told you, this is a private beach." James squinted against the pale sunlight and leaned his head to the side. He looked so hot standing there; his skin was tight from the goose flesh that had spread across it, his nipples hard from the cold air.

Without another thought I pulled my jeans off and edged towards the water. When a tiny ripple of water rushed forward to touch my toes I let out a little squeal of torture, it was freezing. Before I could run for safety James had wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into the water.

Now I was screaming for real, the water felt like it should have ice floating in it. My hands and toes went numb almost immediately and I am positive my lips were blue. James was pulling us further into the water and laughed at my chattering lips.

"It's not as bad if you move around you know." He shouted over the waves.

I forced my legs to move, trying to get a grip on the ocean's floor, shaking violently in my bra and panties. James never let go of me though, keeping the water from sucking me under, and after a little bit I was able to get control of my balance. We just circled each other, both of us deep in thought. Suddenly a spray of freezing water rained over me and James retreated quickly.

"I'm going to kill you!!" I screamed and laughed at the same time. My arms were slow and stiff but I managed to splash him back. We played this game of splash and run for a long time it seemed, but my legs were getting tired and I am sure I was developing a case of hypothermia. James caught up to me easily since I could barely move, and instead of splashing me again he picked me up and carried me back to the beach.

He lay me down on the sand, which was blessedly warm from the sun and then collapsed next to me. We were both panting and shivering, sand had covered practically every part of my body.

"You really are the craziest person I have ever met you know that?" I wiped my hair off my face and laughed. James sat up on an elbow to look down at me, and then he did something I never thought would actually happen. He kissed me.