Hey! Well, it's nearly Xmas and I am in no way ready for it, lol. I've been writing instead of wrapping presents and signing cards...oops, don't tell the hubster!
Sorry to have kept you lovelies waiting for the next chapter, I couldn't get any time to sit down and put it into words. But here it is, and thanks to Mambomama my legend of a Beta, it's up sooner than I was expecting.
Please don't feel cheated with this chapter, you'll see why at the end ;) I promise the next one has a hint of the citrus y'all have been waiting for. :D
As ever, thank you to you all for reading, a massive thanks to the lovelies who took the time to review and a special Jasper shaped thank you to PurpleKisses and stephibaby, my newest reviewers and LithiumReaper, Liamsgurl33 and slytheringrl17. Mxpi1970, you my dear, are the shizz! Lmfao.
Usual disclaimer stuff, I don't own anything. Much as I'd like to. Mmmm...Jasper...
Jasper POV
Aw, shit...
My head feels like I've gone ten rounds with Tyson and the light coming through the window is making me feel like I got red-hot pokers stuck in my eyes.
Damn tequila.
It takes a while, but I eventually manage to open my eyes. Well, I say open them, I parted my eyelids just enough to figure out where I was laying, because judging by the damn crick in my neck, I wasn't in the bed I'd been so looking forward to sleepin' in.
Dark brown leather under me, deep red wall in front of me and – Gah!
A huge bare foot was dangling about three inches from my face. Gross.
I'd woken up sprawled across the leather couch in the den with Emmett having passed out on the matching arm chair. Only, due to his mammoth size, he was too big to fit in it properly, so he ended up laying across it, hence the fact that I almost got a toe in my eye.
Oh, God...Please tell me I didn't sleep with my mouth open...Not cool.
A low groan alerts me to the fact that there's someone next to me. Ben is still asleep on the couch beside me so where the hell is that noise coming from?
Ah. Peter is coming round, lying on my coffee table.
Jesus...
"Urrrgh...Whitlock?" He groaned, "What the hell did we do last night? My head is god damn killing me – ooof!"
Even in my extremely hung-over state, Peter fallin' off that table still had me laughin' my ass off. Though, the answering splitting of my skull soon put a stop to it.
"Not funny, man..." he grumbled as he tried to sit himself up.
"It really was, Pete." I answered, gripping the sides of my head as if that would stop the pain.
"What's going on?" Ben whispered as he, too, began to come around from the booze coma we all seemed to have fallen into.
"We're in the den, though I don't remember any of us passing out." Peter mumbled, apparently not quite able to stand the volume of his normal voice.
"Oh man, Ang is gonna kill me. I'm supposed to be going with her to her folk's house for lunch today. Ugh, you guys, I need coffee."
I managed to pry myself off the couch and stumble towards the kitchen. I stood looking around the roomfor five minutes until I saw the coffee machine. Apparently, my hangover prevented my brain from performing simple functions like recognizing what a coffee machine looked like.
I lifted the lid to discover that there was a filter already in it with the sachet sitting just inside.
Thank you, again, Esme.
I got it going, and before long, there was a steaming pot of delicious smelling coffee ready and three mugs on the table. Emmett could just get one when he came to.
As the smell of java filtered through the house, and I was soon joined by a shabby looking Ben and a zombie-looking Peter.
Wow, Peter with red eyes is scary. It's like looking at the hairy dude from that movie 'The Hangover' when they first wake up in the morning. At least Pete has his damn pants on...
Two cups each later, and the three of us are feeling slightly more human.
"How in the hell, are we up at 9:20am? Did we even get back here before 3?" Peter asked, after checking his watch, then his phone, then the clock on the kitchen wall. Clearly, he wasn't convinced that it was the actual time.
"I have no idea, man." I answered truthfully, because I really didn't.
As we sat in silence, trying to wrestle with our hangovers, my mind wandered back to last night. Emmett and Peter had ripped into me somethin' fierce about my obvious thing for Bella. And once Emmett had convinced himself that I wasn't 'chasing tail', he'd been just as bad as Peter about me already being pussy-whipped.
I told them they were talking shit, that Bella was a sweet girl and that I enjoyed talkin' to her and that was it. They just kept going on about a 'Harlequin romance novel moment' whatever the hell that meant.
They did say that she'd literally just broken up with someone before we got to the bar last night. And that if I was planning on going for it with her, I should keep that in mind.
I was just remembering that Emmett had texted Rosalie, and that her reply had him and Pete falling all over themselves laughin', though they wouldn't tell me what she'd said.
Assholes.
The sound of a car pulling up woke us out of our mental time-out, and a minute or two later, we heard the front door open and quiet voices fill the hallway.
"Jazz?" Vic hollered as we heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen.
"Jeez, Red. Think you could take it down a decibel or two?" I mumbled as she rounded the corner.
"Ouch, brother. You boys look as bad as we feel." She chuckled and helped herself to a cup of coffee. "Damn...Miss Esme thinks of everything, huh?"
"Sure does. Hey, didn't you come in with someone?" Only Vic had appeared in the kitchen.
"Yeah, Rose went to find Emmett. "Said she'd find him if she just followed the snoring."
"Is that it?"
"Nah, Char's here too. Guess she thought you'd still be asleep, Petey."
"Wish I fucking was, Vic." He chuckled, rubbing his eyes.
"Morning boys!" Char and Rose chorused on their way into the kitchen. "Ooh, sorry." They apologized in a whisper as we glared at them for being so loud.
"What did you boys do last night?" Rose laughed, "I can't even get Emmett to open his eyes."
"Not really sure ourselves, Rose." Ben answered, between yawns.
"Well," began Char, "we were thinking of heading out for some breakfast. Ali-"
"-DID SOMEONE SAY BREAKFAST?" Emmett yelled from the other room, and we all laughed.
Sure...Bright sunlight, coffee and his wife physically trying to wake him up does nothing. Mention the prospect of food, however, and he's live and kickin'. Unbelievable.
Fifteen minutes later, and the boys have freshened up, I've had a very quick shower, a change of clothes and we're now waiting for the girls. Vic wanted a shower, same as me, and the other two wanted to freshen up as there was apparently a queue for the shower at the girls' place.
Another ten minutes later – which honestly was sooner than I was expectin' – we were lockin' up and heading to the cars.
Vic had driven my truck back home. I'm guessin' she and the girls had walked back to the bar to pick it up this mornin'.
How in the hell had they managed to do that after the night we'd all had?
Vic's car had been delivered while we were out, and she was currently circling her baby, checking for any sign of damage. Char was laughing at her while Rose was gushing about the performance of the beloved 2008 Dodge Super Challenger.
Vic had wanted a muscle car ever since she was little, thanks to her slight obsession with The Dukes of Hazzard. (Not that she knew more than how to change a tire...) However, though the 'General Lee' was a Dodge Charger, she'd always preferred the Challenger. So, after our music really took off, that was her one extravagance that she'd allowed herself. (Apparently, her many pairs of shoes were a necessity not an obsession...Right.)
Suffice to say, the girls all piled into Vic's pride and joy, and we boys clambered into the cab of my truck, and we all headed to the nearest Denny's.
Apparently, it had been tradition on a Saturday mornin' for the last few months since they'd stumbled in there after an all night session on Emmett's last birthday. The waitress had evidently taken quite a shine to him and Peter and had given them extra helpings at no extra charge. I was surprised that Rose and Char had agreed to keep going if some woman was sweet on their men, but according to Peter, the woman was in her early fifties and so they didn't mind.
There was an old Chevy pick-up parked up by the door when we arrived, and I noticed that though it was old, it seemed that it was obviously loved by the owner as it was clean, the tires looked new and the grill was still shiny.
On entering, Barb, an older woman with a warm smile and a pen tucked behind her ear greeted us all with a wave and gestured to 'the usual spot' which turned out to be an apparently empty booth in far corner of the restaurant.
Except when we got over to it, it wasn't empty at all.
Alice, Angela and Bella were already sitting there, and after a chorus of 'hello's and 'how are you feeling's, we all attempted to fit ourselves into the booth, which was not an easy task. I ended up at the end of one side of the table with Peter on the other.
Bella seemed to be blushing already, and we'd only been here five minutes. I wondered what the hell had her so embarrassed already. Though, I noticed that her blush made her look a damn sight more human than the rest of us.
Breakfast went by quickly, with the chatter of last night being replaced with eating and the sounds of cutlery on plates. God knows how much coffee and orange juice we went through between us, but I saw that Barb had started brewing an extra pot. Emmett clearly relished the extra helpings as he'd cleared two 'Meat lovers' breakfasts, including the two separate plates of pancakes that came with them.
Where the hell does he put it?
As I was staring at Emmett, wonderin' how exactly he wasn't the size of a house, I heard Bella giggle and saw her and Char whispering to each other.
"Hey guys, can you let us out?" Char asked, looking like she was trying not to laugh.
Rose, Emmett and I slid out of the booth to let them pass, and I watched Bella as she walked to the ladies' room with Char.
"Hope that's not my wife's ass your eyes are following there, Whitlock," sniggered Peter.
"Fuck off, Petey." I grumbled as I slid back into my seat after the other two.
I was just taking a long sip of my coffee and contemplating how I could get away with having Bella squeeze past me to get back to her place when she and Char came back.
"Move your butt, Peter. I'm not moving everyone again." Char grinned as she playfully shoved his shoulder to get him to slide over for her.
He did as she asked, and Angela passed her drink over to her.
"You wanna just sit here, Bella?" I asked, trying to ignore the shit-eatin' grins plastered across Peter and Char's faces. Fuckers.
"Sure. Thanks, Jasper."
I moved over, like Peter had done, and Rose passed her drink to her.
I was acutely aware that our legs were touching, and if I'm honest, I was trying really hard to ignore the fact that her v-necked t-shirt was giving me a dynamite view of her cleavage.
Do not look. Do not look. No, Whitlock, do not look!
She wasn't helping any as she kept reaching past me to get to the sugar or the others' cups when it came time for a refill.
Does she know how much she's teasin' me?
At one point, she reached around behind me to swat Emmett on the back of the head, and her breasts pressed into my side. And from the smirk on her face as she heard me clear my throat in a vain attempt to keep my thoughts out of the gutter, she knew exactly what she was doing.
Minx.
Last thing I needed was to have 'The Major' attempting to salute her when I stood up.
Angela and Ben left a little while later to get ready for lunch with her folks, with Rose and Char practically dragging Peter and Emmett out of the door before they could order anything else. Which left Alice, Vic, Bella and myself.
"So, Bella and Alice have offered to help us get the house finished, so I thought two of us could go get the groceries and other stuff while the other two go back to the house and unpack. What'd you think?"
"Sounds like a plan, Red." I certainly wasn't looking forward to the unpacking or the shopping, but the prospect of spendin' the day with Bella made it a hell of a lot more appealin'.
"I figured that Ali and I would go back to the house. I sure as hell am not havin' you unpackin' my smalls, brother." Vic giggled, and I couldn't help but agree.
"Works for me." I answered, smiling at Bella. "Want me to get any paint to decorate the spare rooms?"
"Nah, we got plenty of time to do that."
We finished our drinks and headed out, after saying a quick goodbye to Barb.
"Um, what about my truck?" Bella asked, stopping by the old Chevy I'd seen earlier.
"Why don't we drive to your place so you can drop it off?" I replied. Realising that I was curious to find out where she lived.
Jeez, Whitlock...What are you, a stalker now?
With that, Alice and Vic hopped into the Challenger and Bella and I climbed into our respective trucks and pulled out.
The journey to her place only took five minutes, and soon she'd parked her truck in the underground parking below her building and was climbing in to the passenger seat next to me.
We chatted about nothing and everything as we drove from shop to shop picking up everything we thought Vic and I would need. I was pleased I hadn't had to go alone, as she remembered so much stuff that I hadn't even thought of. She suggested we stop by the local deli and get some take out for later on. I was just happy she wasn't thinking of going home yet.
The whole time we'd been out, there'd been this weird tension between the two of us. One minute we'd seem to be walking on egg shells around each other, and the next we'd be laughing like old friends.
Like at the hardware store, when she'd slipped on a badly cleaned up puddle of motor oil and I'd caught her before she'd fallen.
As she'd straightened up, her eyes had locked with mine, and I swear, I thought she was almost daring me to make a move. Unfortunately, an overly helpful employee by the name of Eric rushed over to see if she was alright and ruined the moment.
Eager bastard.
A little after two in the afternoon we pulled up to the house and started unloading the stuff into the house. There was no sign of Alice and Vic, so we got to work putting the groceries away, with Bella chuckling at the notes Esme had left for us. She'd apparently done the same when Bella had moved in with Alice.
With the kitchen and guest bathroom fully stocked, I went to the fridge to get us a drink.
"So, do I get a tour of the place?" Bella asked as she played with the bottle top from her drink.
"Oh, yeah. Sure, if you like." I smiled and stood up, taking her hand as she made to stand.
She didn't drop my hand as we walked, so I continued to hold it as I showed her around the place. She laughed when she saw the table Peter had fallen asleep on and requested that she be here when I open my bottle of Gentleman Jack.
I thought she began to feel a bit nervous as we made our way upstairs. I wasn't oblivious to the fact that my mouth had gone dry as I tried not to imagine me leading her up to my room for a far better reason than just a tour of the house.
We could hear music coming from Vic's room as we climbed the last few steps. I knocked on the open door and we stepped in to see that Vic had seemingly unpacked everything and was now sitting with Alice on her bed flipping through photo albums.
"Aw hell, Red. What pictures have you been showin' her?" I asked, mortified at the thought of Bella seeing some of the ones I knew were in those albums.
"Now come on, Jasper," Alice smiled sweetly, "they're not all bad."
"Crap..." I muttered under my breath.
"Let me see?" Bella chuckled as she stepped towards the bed.
"Oh no, you don't!" I hollered, as without thinking, I grabbed her round the waist and hoisted her over my shoulder.
"Shit, Jasper!" She yelled as she dangled upside down over my shoulder. "Put me down before I kick your ass!"
"Who's gonna be kickin' who's ass, darlin'?" I asked as the other two fell about laughing.
"Alice?" She whined, pleading for help. But Alice only winked at her and clutched Vic's arm in an effort to stop laughing.
"Alright, alright. You win, Bella." I chuckled releasing my grip on her to allow her to slide down. She was wriggling so much that I had to let her down before she took out The Major and his Generals.
Blue balls I can handle, but black and blue balls, I can't.
I didn't fail to notice the way she slid right down my body instead of simply lowering herself to her feet.
And I also didn't miss the gleam in her eye as she stepped away from me and asked, "So, where's your room, Cowboy?"
Wait! Don't kill me! This is what I meant earlier. The next chapter has a touch of citrus and will be up soon.
Maybe sooner if I get some fun reviews! Lol ;)