Note: Here are a couple of pictures of Tillamook, Oregon, where Jacob and Bella stayed in the last chapter. This is the beach area where Bella saw the vampire. And here are some other cabins and hotels by the beach where they stayed.
This is where Bella and Jacob spend the night in Crescent City in Chapter 12.
Chapter Twelve
Day 15
It was 10:45 when Jacob woke me up the next morning. He was dressed and had our stuff by the door when he shook me awake.
"Why don't you get dressed and we can go get some breakfast? There's a café across the street."
I got out of bed with a groan, wrapping the sheet around me as I walked to the bathroom, while Jake flopped back on the bed and picked up the remote, turning the television on. I stood in the bathroom doorway, brushing my teeth while he flipped through the channels. I hadn't seen a television in two weeks.
"Hey, Spongebob! Put it back!" I told him, my mouth full of toothpaste.
I yanked the tags off a new t-shirt I'd gotten the week before and pulled it on over my jeans. As I ran a brush through my hair, I realized Jacob had cleaned up and gotten rid of what was left of the chair he'd totaled the night before.
We went to the front lobby to check-out.
I could see Jacob's eyes darting back and forth, as we walked through the parking lot and his nostrils were flaring slightly as he sniffed the air. He tied the sleeping bag to the back of the bike and carried my backpack and his canvas bag to the front of the building.
I didn't ask and he didn't say a word, so I assumed the vampire was long gone.
We paid and turned in our card key and Jacob took my hand as we crossed the street to the café. It was pretty busy, being a Sunday, but we only had to wait 10 minutes for a table. Jacob tossed our stuff into the booth and we sat down across from each other.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked me after we'd been sitting in silence for a few minutes.
"I miss the cabin," I whispered, biting my bottom lip.
"Aww, Bells," his eyebrows furrowed. "Me too."
He reached across the table and took my hand. "Have I ever lied to you?"
"No!" I answered, surprised. I was shocked that he would even ask me that.
"Then trust me – we will go back. I promise. Just you and me. And this time, it'll be all good." He grinned. "And we'll go skinny-dipping again. And we'll have two sleeping bags.
"No! Just one," I smiled. "I like sharing." I squeezed his hand.
"And we'll take the raft out on the lake at night. At midnight. And make love under the stars."
A heat spread abruptly through my lower body at his words, and I looked down, excited and embarrassed.
"That would be… perfect," I swallowed, my cheeks coloring.
He rubbed little circles in the palm of my hand with the callused tip of his thumb and I swear it felt like he was touching me there.
It was a little frightening that Jacob, my friend Jacob, the one I'd counted on for so long and took for granted, could have such an effect on me. I was afraid it was written all over my face.
That he could make me feel like I was melting into a hot, luscious mess on the floor, with a look, a touch, even just the sound of his husky voice. And when he said things like that, I just…
"So, here's the question," he broke me from my surprised reverie. "Where do you want to go? Anywhere in the United States, we can go. I don't have a passport, or I'd say the sky's the limit, but that's still a pretty big place for us to wander. Is there anywhere you've always wanted to see?"
I pursed my lips, thinking. I knew a few places I didn't want to go; Florida, for one. Arizona was a close second.
"California?" I used to watch The Beverly Hillbillies on Nickelodeon with Charlie and the opening song went through my head. Swimming pools, movie stars.
He looked up at the ceiling, thinking, calculating in his head. "We could do that," he nodded. "That would be easy, in fact. San Francisco? LA? San Diego? Where?"
"I don't care. Let's just drive through until we find a place we want to stay."
The waitress came over and put Jacob's plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and pancakes down in front of him and then set my bagel with cream cheese on the table. She filled his coffee cup, leaving mine empty, before she smiled at Jacob and sashayed away, glancing over her shoulder at him as she left. He didn't even notice.
"Sounds like a plan," he scooped up some eggs and bit into his bacon.
"Did you check-in with Sam this morning? Does he still want you to do a twice a day thing?" I spread the cream cheese over my bagel and took a bite.
"No more phasing for a while," his brows furrowed seriously. "Last night everyone was there when I left the hotel room and phased. Sam doesn't want any of them to know where we are. I won't be checking-in for a week, unless there's an emergency."
I nodded my head and noticed the crooked smirk that appeared suddenly on Jake's face.
"What?"
"Embry and Quil say hi," he told me. He took a sip of his coffee. "Quil wants to borrow Love's Carnal Desires when we get back."
My eyes widened.
"Quil asked if you'd dog-ear the good pages so he doesn't have to hunt for them."
My eyes widened even more.
He put his head down and tried to cover the huge grin on his face. "Jared and Paul say you can thank them later."
"Thank them for what?" I asked, narrowing my eyes suspiciously.
"For having such vivid, detailed thoughts, and uh, teaching me so well."
Oh. My. God.
I picked up the nearest object, which happened to be a spoon, and threw it at him. "Jacob Black! What have you done? What did you tell them?" I demanded.
"I didn't tell them anything, I swear!" He looked down, his ears red. "Pack mind, remember? They can see and hear my thoughts."
Great. Just great.
~~``intoxicating``~~
"If we just stay along the coastline, this highway should lead us right to California."
"Perfect," I pulled my helmet on over my head.
"Disneyland?" he asked.
"No," I frowned. "It wouldn't feel right. Too… happy. Seems disrespectful, don't you think?"
He nodded solemnly.
"Why, did you want to go there?"
He shook his head. "Someday. But not now. I wish these were better circumstances."
"Me too," I told him, getting onto the back of the bike. "Me too."
"Let me know if you need to stop for food or a restroom, or just want to check something out, okay?" He hollered over the motor.
We pulled out of the hotel's parking lot and left Tillamook behind. The fog had burned off, and the sun was trying to break through the clouds, but there was a coastal chill in the air.
The sun. That's what I needed. California was famous for beautiful weather. I wrapped my arms tight around my personal sun's waist and tried to soak up and absorb some of his heat as the crisp air rushed by us.
The weather was strange as we rode down the coast. There were microclimates every 10-20 miles or so. We'd hit a cold, foggy patch, then it would be cloudy and windy. Eventually, the further we drove, the bluer the skies and the higher the temperatures rose.
We'd stopped after driving for four hours straight to get something to drink and get gas, as well as use the restroom. It was just a little after four in the afternoon. It was hot now and I took off my jacket, leaving just my hoodie sweatshirt on over my t-shirt. Jake tied my coat down onto the back of the bike.
"So, a couple more hours and we'll look for a place to spend the night. If you see somewhere you want to stay, yell."
An hour and a half later, we passed a crowded beach with picnic tables and a playground. I could see bbq pits by the tables and smelled grilled hamburgers and hot dogs as we passed.
"Stop!" I pulled on his shirt to get his attention.
He pulled into the lot. "Here?"
"Yeah, but go back, there was a store a couple blocks back. We'll pick up some hot dogs or something. Oooh, and some marshmallows."
He grinned back at me. "Okay, hold on."
He u-turned and went back 3 blocks to the grocery store I'd seen and we bought some hot dogs, a liter of soda, some marshmallows and a deli salad with carrots and raisins, which I would force Jacob to eat. I knew wolves were carnivores, but really, it wouldn't kill him to eat a little roughage once in a while.
It was going on 6:00 and some of the picnickers were packing up to go. A sign said the park officially closed at 10. There were five fire pits and we lucked out and found one that someone hadn't put out completely. Jacob managed to coax the coals into overdrive and we grilled the hot dogs and ate at a picnic table.
"Look," Jacob pointed to two little kids on the swings. "Who do they remind you of?"
A huge grin spread across my face. There was a tiny pale girl with dark hair and big brown eyes on the swing, and an even smaller dark boy behind her, pushing her.
"Could be us," I giggled. "Only we didn't swing. We made mud pies."
"We could have swung, you don't know. Maybe we just don't remember."
"We can swing now," I dared him.
I tossed the last couple of bites of my hot dog into the trash and ran for the only other empty swing. The little boy and girl watched me with big round eyes.
"Come on! Push me!" I yelled.
Jacob crammed half a hot dog in his mouth, wiped his hands on his jeans, and jogged over. He looked at the little boy and girl still watching me, mesmerized. He put his index finger up to the side of his head and rotated it a few times. "She's loca," he told them.
They giggled shyly, sneaking glances back and forth at the two of us.
He pushed me for a few minutes, making me sail up so high, I thought I was going to fly right off the swing.
"Okay, you push me now, Bells."
"Did you eat your carrots?" I asked him pointedly, not quite ready to give up my turn.
"No."
I looked over at the boy and girl as the swing lost some of its momentum when Jake stopped pushing it. "He didn't eat his vegetables. I don't think he should get a turn, do you?"
They looked at Jacob, who pouted and then back at me and shook their little heads, smiles playing on their faces.
"Nope. See? You didn't eat your veges. No turn for you, Jacob."
They looked back at him to see what he would retort, when a man whistled and yelled, "Jamie! Izzie! Let's go!"
They squealed and waved at us before they took off running. Jacob took the now empty swing alongside me.
"Wanna share?" he raised his eyebrows suggestively at me.
"How?"
"Just sit on my lap. Haven't you ever shared a swing before?"
"No," I said getting off mine and looking around, paranoid. There was no need to be. The park was empty except for a teenage boy and girl down by the water, who weren't even close or paying any attention to us.
"Come on, climb on."
I gripped the metal chains on either side of the swing and pulled myself up, sliding my legs around and over his lap.
"Ow, that's uncomfortable." I adjusted my legs so the chains weren't pinching them.
Jacob shuffled his feet in the dirt, stopping the swing's movement. His hands were on my rear end and his mouth was on mine before I knew what hit me.
"I knew that was your evil plan," I murmured when we both came up for air.
"You know me too well," he growled against my lips. "So, I have an idea. It's nice out here, why don't we just drive down the road a ways and find a spot on the beach and sleep here? In the sleeping bag, under the stars."
"Okay."
"We can't park here in the lot overnight or they'll probably tow the bike, but we should be able to find a place to pull over and park farther down the highway."
He stood up, holding me against him, with my legs wrapped around his waist. I could feel he was hard, and I swallowed nervously.
Us alone.
In a sleeping bag.
On the beach.
Under the stars.
I hoped he'd gotten that condom on with no problems on the first try.
~~``intoxicating``~~
I took a deep breath, my nose buried in the sleeping bag. It smelled like the cabin. I rolled over onto my back and squinted as I could see the stars just starting to shine in the pinkish, charcoal twilight sky.
I had one of our flashlights next to me that Jacob had fished out of his bag for me. The surf crashed and pounded 100 yards or so away. We were up by the rocks, protected and hidden from the road above.
Jacob took his shirt and his shoes off before he joined me on the sleeping bag. He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and stuck it in his shoe.
"And just in case you were counting those condoms again, sneaky girl, there's one in my wallet. So don't go hurting yourself wondering what I did with it."
I put both my palms up in front of me. "I wasn't anywhere near your condoms."
He dropped onto his knees beside me. "Just saying."
I looked up at him, with his back to me as he gazed out over the waves. His shoulders and back seemed massive as his torso flared down to his narrow waist. He was so big. I couldn't help but feel safe with my own personal werewolf protecting me. How lucky was I?
I was sleepy. All this sunshine and fresh air tired me out. I turned on my side and idly ran my bare toes back and forth in the sand around the edges of the sleeping bag.
"Bella?" Jacob said softly. "Don't be mad at me, okay? But part of me feels like we should go back."
I didn't say anything, and he was quiet for a moment before he continued.
"I feel like we should just stand up to them and end this." He turned back and looked at me. "But then, if anything happened to you… I just. I don't know what the right thing to do is, you know?"
I looked down at the sand, avoiding his eyes. Jacob was so good, so brave, and I was such a coward. I couldn't bare to go back. For selfish reasons.
What if something happened to Jacob? I wouldn't be able to stand it. I was willing to put everyone else's life in peril if it would save his.
It wasn't about my life, I didn't care what happened to me. More than anything I wanted everyone to be safe; Charlie, Billy, the wolves. But if it came down to a choice between them and Jacob…
I'd choose Jacob.
I lay my head down on my arms and shut my eyes, letting the sound of the surf lull my senses until I drifted off to sleep.
~~``intoxicating``~~
I woke up and my hair felt wet. My immediate thought was that the tide had come in and Jacob and I were being swept out to sea. I lifted my head and felt Jake's hand soothingly sweeping along my arm.
"Are you okay? You were crying again."
"A dream," I murmured.
"Do you remember any of it?"
I closed my eyes and images flashed back at me.
"I was home, standing in the kitchen. Charlie had his back to me, facing the sink. I was so happy to see him. He turned around slowly toward me, and my dad's face changed. It's like it superimposed before my eyes and turned into Felix's."
I took a deep breath and Jacob swept my hair away from my face.
"So I ran from the house and through the woods. The dream gets kinda blurry… But then I saw the house. What used to be the house." My voice dropped to a whisper. "The Cullen's house. It was burned to the ground and I walked through the rubble, and my shoes were sinking in the ashy remains."
Just remembering the next part made my heart start hammering in my chest and more tears bubbled up to the surface.
"You don't have to tell me, Bells. Come here."
"No," I pushed his hand away and wiped the tears off my face. "I want to. It got like a horror movie or something." I took a deep breath and it turned into a sob. "I was walking…" I had to stop and get my voice back in command through my tears. I could hear Jacob saying my name softly as I struggled. "I was walking over the burned-out dirt and a…"
My mouth opened and a keening sound came from my chest. I forced the last part out. "A hand came up out of the dirt and it, it – it grabbed onto my leg!"
I lunged my body at him with the force of my sobs. "It was him, Jacob! It was him! The hand! It was white with long fingers! And it was cold!"
I couldn't speak for a long time. I just cried onto Jacob's chest and he held me till I got it all out.
The stress was getting to me. Maybe Jacob was right. Maybe we should just go back and face things head-on. Whatever would be would be.
"Bella, honey. This dream has nothing to do with him. You've just been through a lot." His voice tightened as if his next words were difficult for him to say. "You know Edward loved you. If anything, he's watching over you. Don't confuse this nightmare with anything to do with him. You know that would hurt him."
I took a deep breath. He was right. This was a nightmare, plain and simple. It wasn't a sign or a warning. The last thing Edward would want would be for me to be frightened of him. He'd died trying to keep me safe.
"Thank you," I whispered. "Thank you for understanding and not taking it personally. I know it's hard for you."
"It's alright, Bella. It seems so stupid now. The jealousy, the hate. I'm sorry I put you through that."
"I know. Me too. I wish we could go back and do it all over again."
"Ya know, I was thinking," he sat up and stared at the sky. "It's weird how things work out. When Edward left last year, I know you were a wreck and everything, and I felt so bad for you. But, what if he'd never left? What if you never needed my mad automotive skills?"
My first thought was, I'd probably be a vampire right now, and I'd be living my happily ever after. Poor Charlie would be going through exactly what he's going through now. I'd be in cold, faraway Alaska living with the Denali clan, with Tanya looking over my shoulder and judging me – the newborn. Letting Edward know how miserably I failed to measure up to the rest of them.
I'd be drinking blood. Maybe I would have had polar bear or baby seal blood, instead of hot dogs for dinner.
I'd be stuck trying to come up with small talk to fill the long 24 hour days with no relief of sleep.
But Edward and I might also be making love with no restraint, no danger of getting carried away and him killing me. To the contrary, I might hurt him, being a newborn and all.
Unless… what if Edward were still just as uptight and old-fashioned as when I was human? I couldn't imagine Edward making me feel as good as Jacob does. Or being so natural and comfortable about it.
And Edward doing the things that Jacob has done to me? Edward… with his face… there? I don't think Edward did things like that.
Or I could be in the exact predicament I was in now. The Volturi could still have come to kill the human who knew too much. And Edward's reluctance to change me would have left me a weak human, just as I was now. Without Jacob, I'm sure I would have died in that fire along with the Cullen's two weeks ago.
A shudder went through me and I made a command decision to stop thinking about what could have been.
I'd still rather be with Jacob right now, over anyone else. Even if Edward hadn't left last year, I bet I would have eventually gotten around to discovering Jacob's awesomeness on my own. If there were such a thing as destiny, we'd have been unable to fight the draw to one another.
"Bells? You still awake?"
"Yeah." I sighed. "Jacob, I'd have figured out how special you are eventually. Might have taken me a little longer, but I'd have figured it out," I yawned.
"Yeah, I grow on people," he smiled softly.
"Like fungus," I wrinkled my nose playfully.
"Like fung-"
He jumped to his feet expeditiously in one lightening fast move. He spun his head, searching for something.
"What? What is it, Jake?" I scooted quickly off the sleeping bag and back toward the rocks. My gaze flew up above us and that's when I saw him - a figure on the cliffs behind us. All I could make out in the moonlight was golden hair, and I knew.
"Jake! Up there!" I screamed, pointing up to the rocks above.
I watched in horror as they jumped from the edge, flying out 20 feet or so before gravity pulled them down to the beach in front of us.
"Jacob! No!" His body quaked and shook like it was going to fly apart.
And then it did.
In a dizzying blur, the figure was right on top of me, his face less than two feet away.
"You smell so sweet," he hissed, his red eyes staring straight into mine. "I bet you taste like a vintage red wine. As soon as I take care of your hairy companion, I'll drain yo-"
I felt the thick coarse fur of Jacob's coat skim across my nose and cheeks as he leaped across the length of sand between us and tackled the vampire against the rocky cliff ledge.
My throat felt tight and I tried to suck in air as I backed away, my limbs heavy with fear. They were both moving so fast, my eyes following them as they bounced and thrashed across the sandy shore.
I'd never comprehended how Jacob could defeat a vampire. They were so strong and so fast. But Jacob had reassured me numerous times that that was what werewolves were designed to do. I'd always hoped that he would never be put to the test.
It was dark and they were hazy, moving at such superior speeds. I could see Jacob had the vampire pinned to the ground, with the weight of his massive chest and paws. He worked his muzzle just right around the vampire's neck and bit down. With a flick of his powerful jaws, the head snapped completely off with a loud crackling crunch. I watched in awe and terror as the head propelled right past me and sailed halfway down the beach.
The night filled with terrible splintering snapping sounds as the wolf fractured the limbs from the figure's body. Jacob turned his head at me and made a noise between a bark and a howl that sounded like a command. I just shook my head dazedly at him. What did he want?
I stood, shaking now, watching the unbelievable scene unfold before me.
"Get the matches out of my bag, Bella."
Suddenly it was Jacob, his hair wild and disheveled, on all fours, pulling the vampire's body parts into a pile.
I dropped to my knees and crawled the few feet to his bag and hunted through the pocket till I felt the matchbox. I stood up and brought it to him, igniting the tip of one till the flame burned orange in my hand.
"Be careful! They're highly flammable." He stood up and pulled me back a foot or so and took the match from my hand, tossing it onto the pile. With a loud bang, a fire exploded, shooting up in the air as if we'd poured a can of lighter fluid or gasoline directly on it. Jacob jogged down the beach a ways and I turned my head as he approached the fire, the head in his hand.
"Burn you fucker," Jacob growled.
I heard it bounce onto the pile and watched as the flames licked blue and purple and orange. Jacob and I stood together and stared into the blaze. I felt him reach for my hand and intertwine his fingers with mine.
I didn't know what to do with what I'd just seen. My mind didn't quite know how to process it. The flames were dying down now, and we backed up and slumped down onto the sleeping bag.
"I need to wash off. There's some venom on my legs – that shit is poisonous and burns like a mother. And the smell – I have to get this smell off me. I'll be right back."
He jogged down to the water and dove in. I crawled around the sand, collecting the pieces of fabric from Jacob's clothes. One pair of shorts and underwear, down the drain. There was a garbage can up by the parking lot, I'd throw them away when we left in the morning.
Jacob came up out of the surf, naked. He shook his head viciously, the water spraying like a dog all around him. He tried to shake the remaining water from his limbs as he made his way back to me.
I felt amazingly calm, and knew my brain just wasn't quite wrapped around what had happened. Which meant that tomorrow I would pay the consequences. Or maybe I was so jaded now, I was just used to supernatural beings trying to kill me and watching them tear each other limb from limb. I didn't know which thought was scarier; that I would break down in the next few days or that I was used to it and unaffected.
"It was the same vampire from the hotel last night, wasn't it?"
I nodded my head.
"I could tell by his smell. He must have followed us."
I nodded silently again.
"Your blood must have one hell of a scent," was all he said, before he flopped onto his back and fell asleep instantly. I covered his lower body with the blanket and wrapped myself around him, his skin clammy from the ocean water. I knew he would be hot as a furnace again in a few minutes, so I ignored the chill on his skin and passed out beside him.
~~``intoxicating``~~
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