Chapter Twelve
Need
The plate slipped and fell, the water sloshing in the sink spilling over her weathered gray shirt.
"Graceful, Bells," Jacob jest.
She elbowed him but instantly felt a bruise forming. He was almost as hard as Jasper, and Jasper had flesh that was tougher than steel. "You're a jerk."
"Sure, sure." He sighed, "do you remember anything yet?"
She shook her head, the same as every morning that he asked, as though she wouldn't have told him. "No, nothing."
Handing a soapy cup to him he rinsed it under the faucet before drying and placing it in the above cabinet. They had a nice routine, a good rhythm working as a team. If that was how it always had been, how could she forget? The two beautiful men she was with, the joy she had with them... Even the simplest things, how could she?
"Why a club," she asked nearly laughing. Now that the horrid night was behind them she could look back and find humor into it. Jacob and Jasper tried to show her a good time, however terrible it was. Although the alleyway with Jasper was nearly worth it.
Scrubbing the pot where Jacob cooked noodles the former night she glanced crossway's at him waiting for her answer.
"Couldn't think of anything else, and I always wanted to go."
"Movies, a park, anything else."
"You don't watch movies. Don't listen to music either, actually, but the club has beats, not music."
"What?"
He paused and grimaced as though he let something slip. "Ummm..."
Jasper walked in then, groceries piled in his arms. He dumped them on the small circular table.
"Jasper, why don't I listen to music?"
He guarded his surprise, Jacob's raven head dipping low as if expecting him to lash out.
"Bella, sit down, please. The dog can finish those." He pulled out her chair, the perfect southern gentleman, and with wary eyes, she took a seat.
He sat across from her, his hands folded elegantly on the table. "There was an incident that happened two years ago. It left you in a deep depressive state. That's why I came here. It wasn't only to see you, it was to be certain that you were alright, that you found happiness. No matter how slight. I'm sorry to say that wasn't the case."
Her mind reeled. What could have possibly taken place that would have left her unable to be happy? Did someone die? Even if that was the reason, it wouldn't have stripped her joy of everything. "What happened to me?"
"It's not the time -"
"I deserve to know!" Her hands shook, like Jacob's when he was about to morph. She had to know. It was important, and they knew just how much. It could've been the key, it could have unlocked her memory. She wanted it. Needed it.
"You got lost in the woods," Jacob told. "Sam found you and brought you home. You were never the same since. No one knew what went on. You hardly spoke."
She pushed to remember, any flash, any little piece would've satisfied. There was nothing. A light pounding began in her head, and she pressed her fingers above her brow.
Jasper took her hand, lowering it from her face. "Don't force it. It'll come in its own time."
"What did I do?" She thought of Charlie, of Jacob. How badly she must have hurt them. Had she hurt Jasper too?
"You did nothing wrong," he hissed, surprisingly angry. His eyes were the burning intensity of the sun. "You did nothing wrong. Everyone stayed by your side. You continued on. You did wonderfully."
She looked down to their joint hands. She caressed his knuckles with her thumb, slowly, feeling each of the mountains. Moving his palm upwards, she traced the crevices. He was like cooled satin, icy feathers.
Jacob coughed and Jasper retracted back quicker than she could blink. Her hand, alone ,the blood rushing, warming her.
"How would you feel to meeting your best friend?"
"You're not my best friends?"
"There's another - my sister. She has an ability too, to see the future, though it's void here with the dog in the way. Would you like to meet her?"
Her. She had a girl friend. She nodded. "I'd like that." How did she get so many good friends? She had to have been the luckiest girl on earth, and yet, she couldn't remember any of them.
Bella wasn't the top of her class, but she wasn't dense. She noted how Jasper was giving her a distraction, and she couldn't find it in her to fight too hard. Whatever happened to her, she was starting to think was best left as an enigma.
***
When Bella returned to help the mutt finish the dishes Jasper stepped out into the hall. He would call Alice in five minutes to tell her to come, and then he counted down in his head. Three... Two... One.
His cell rung. "Hello, Alice."
"I'm on my way! And I'll bring your bike. Thank you! Thank you for this!"
"I think she's ready."
"When are you going to admit it to yourself?"
He ignored the question. "See you soon." He flipped the cell closed.
Him and Alice had been together for over sixty years. They were close, they knew everything about the other. She didn't need her visions or Edward's mind-reading ability to know what was going on inside of him. It was a storm, it threatened to blow him away. His physical strength would be of no aid to him then. He was as helpless as any ordinary human.
He buried his hands in his jean pockets and leaned onto the wall resting his shoulder into the mold. Through a small window he watched the sun move over the sky, a fiery chariot. She was there, in his mind, a greater beauty than he'd ever seen in all of his years, all of his travels.
The door opened behind him and closed. Jacob came up beside him.
"You're worried," he assessed.
"Are you sure about this? What if she remembers?"
"We can't keep it from her forever."
Jacob's voice lowered gruffly. "Why not? If we can stop her -"
"No. She wants to know, and she will in time."
"What if she goes back to the way she was? I won't lose her again!"
Like static electricity the protectiveness stung him. "Maybe it will be better this time."
"Don't lie to yourself."
"She never tried to get over him, if she tried, she would have been better than the way I found her. Now that she's happy without him -"
"Until she remembers, and then that fucking hole will open up. It will destroy her. She can't survive it a second time!"
Inside of his pockets, he clinched his fists, bypassing his rising voice and fury. "Alice misses her."
"You're risking Bella for what your bloodsucker sister wants?"
"I won't let that hole kill her." He glowered at him. "And don't forget, pup, I'm a bloodsucker too."
Jacob lashed knocking Jasper flat against the wall, his face close to his, his black eyes glittering maliciously. His teeth were gritted in a snarl, his form trembling, shaking him.
Jasper didn't calm him, he did nothing but silently dare him. If Jacob was going to kill him, he let him try. He wouldn't mind throwing the moronic mutt around. Only... Only it would hurt Bella, and that was why he wouldn't cause the first injury.
"I'll tell you one more time, you pale-faced leech, stay away from her!"
"Not when she needs me."
"She needs me! You've never been there for her before, so why now?"
He didn't answer. He didn't have one.
"If she remembers, her death will be on your head. I'll kill your whole family for it. Fuck being in Forks, I will make all of your bastards pay for her life." He pulled him forward by the scruff of his shirt and slammed him back into the wall, plasters cracking and crumbling, white specks and clumps at their feet, Jasper barely feeling any of it. "When the girl-leech gets here, you'll leave. I don't need another keeping an eye on me." Jacob threw him back uselessly, his balance flawless, and he stormed out, vanishing from the window.
Jasper snapped his teeth together, struggling to keep his anger in check at the slammed door. He couldn't lose it too close to Bella, but the roaring thoughts were loud, his body singing. He wouldn't make the same mistake his brother made. He would never leave her. It became more than making her happy, to keep an eye on the pup. It was more than he ever felt.
Jasper needed Bella.
