13. Decision
"When?" the words came out of my mouth. I looked from Angel, to Jason, to Skylar. They each looked surprised to see me, like I wasn't even supposed to know.
"What? You were just going to hide it from me? Like I wasn't stupid enough to figure it out somehow?"
Jason stepped forward, but I just stepped back. His expression looked hurt. Yeah, well good for him. I felt betrayed. My own family was going to keep secrets from me. Wait. Wasn't I already doing that? Shoot. I blocked my mind from Syd. I could feel her trying to push through, but if Edward couldn't, neither could she.
When Syd came down her face looked more than flustered. Ben just followed her with a puzzled look. Too bad he didn't know that it was me that Syd was mad at.
"Claire you know we wouldn't do that?" Angel emphasized. Her face looked so sweet. It was hard to grimace at her, but I did. She looked down and bit her lip, grabbing Nick's arm. Nick was glaring at me in a way when I met his eyes. That's funny. I don't think I've ever seen him mad at me before.
"Do I?" I spat. "Just because I'm human doesn't mean I can't see through your lies, Angel. I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid." okay, clearly that didn't make much sense, but they seemed to understand me.
"I just didn't want to worry you, love. I don't need Cody to cause you any more pain than he already has." I could tell when Jason spoke that he was still suspicious, but it seemed that no one else caught on.
Jason narrowed his eyes at my red face and strode over to grab my hand. "I'm going to talk to her." he said flatly and carried me up the stairs. He set me gently on the bed, closed the door and sat next to me. "Okay, talk."
"What do you mean?"
Jason sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What's going on?"
"It should be more like the other way around, Jason. You tell me what's going on. What did Alice see?" I peered around his head so I could see his eyes.
"I'm not going to let him hurt you, Claire. We got off track somehow, but I'll fix it. I'm not going to lose you this time." his words were hard and he looked at me. I could feel how serious he really was. I put my hand on his knee.
"Don't you mean were going to fix it?" I added. He cracked a smile and held my hand, but he looked away. His smile faded a bit.
"Alice said she saw some one else helping him. She saw Christopher." it looked like he was about to say more but he just snarled and his two front teeth became long and fierce. I wonder if this is where the vampire legends came form. It wouldn't surprise me. Humans were very creative in their stories. But I guess I'm one of them now.
"Wouldn't it just be easier if you turned me back?" I asked. He turned to me again and shook his head.
"Already tried."
"When?" I asked, shocked.
He smiled sheepishly. "Before you even woke up. It just didn't work."
"Try now." I growled. Or tried to at least.
Jason chuckled and I relaxed a bit. "How about we just talk, love? Without fighting…or throwing punches." he gestured to the bruise on the collar bone. He frowned as he grazed my skin with his fingers.
"Jason…"
"You know I haven't really apologized for that." Jason's voice was barely above a whisper. "You don't know how much it hurt me."
"Yeah. Skylar told me how you hurled when you first saw me."
He cracked a smile. "It hurt me to have to know that I'm just like that jack-ass, Cody."
I shook my head. "You're not. You're so much better."
Jason sighed. He looked up at me with small smile and tried to hide the pain again. I smiled wider, hoping it would make him laugh in return. He did.
"So what was the moon like?"
"Excuse me?" Jason said, pulling his eyes brows together. He took my hand and squeezed it softly.
"Well you're part werewolf. I just thought something would happen." I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess not."
I leaned into Jason as he wrapped his arms around me. He kissed the top of my head and rubbed the small of my back. I jumped up and ran to my closet. I took my wet shirt off and ignored a whistle from Jason. I pulled out a silky top from Victoria's Secret and slid it over my body. Then I grabbed the bottoms to it and went to sit back down.
Jason just laughed and shook his head. "Silly girl." he kissed me.
I leaned away from him and put my back on the head board of my bed. Jason leaned next to me and just sat there. For a moment the silence was just filled with our breathing and slight chuckles when the silence grew awkward. After a few minutes Jason would kiss me and then pull away, but I knew what he was thinking. He was still a guy after all.
A question popped inside my head. "Why were you avoiding me when Skylar came into the room?"
I thought he would deny it, but he just sat there. I looked over to see if he was still awake and saw that his eyes were closed. It looked like he was thinking. I put my hand in his honey curled blonde hair and twirled it in my fingers. He opened his eyes and smiled at me, but it didn't last long.
"I, uh, over heard you and Skylar talking."
"Go on."
"He said I was using you."
My mouth dropped open. Jason heard us? Well he was wrong. Dead wrong. Skylar was talking about Lukas, not Jason. But it made sense for him to jump to conclusions, but for him to not talk to me about it? Man we could have solved this ages ago.
"Jason, you've got it all wrong. We were talking about Lukas." Jason's eyes flashed over to me for a second then they returned to the wall. His lips pulled up into a smile and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"So I'm not the only one."
I smacked him.
"What?" he turned to me, surprised.
"What is it that makes you two feel that way? Even Jacob said there was something off about him, but Edward didn't find anything strange about him. Or Syd." I added at the end. I pulled Jason's face over so he would look at me.
"There's just something about him. I don't know, Claire…something just doesn't fell right about him." he shrugged like this was no big deal, but this was my brother we were talking about. Then I said it.
"Is it because he's black?" I asked him for the second time. I hoped he wouldn't over react like the last time, but I didn't know what else to act. Besides this was my life.
Jason turned to me like he was in pain. He must have been thinking the same thing. But when he looked at his hands and kept breathing normally, we both relaxed.
"I'm not racist, and neither is Skylar. I feel things, Claire. Things that I've never felt before. Stronger love for you," he cupped my face in his hands, "And knowing when someone is hiding something." he looked at me again with the same suspicion in his eyes, but I looked innocent enough. Besides we were talking about him.
"I guess everyone has their opinion." I sighed in defeat. Something in Jason's voice made me want to believe, but Lukas was my blood. I had to give him the benefit of the doubt too.
"So what else do you want to talk about?" Jason asked, taking my hand again. He leaned back again.
"What happened to us?"
"I don't know. I think it's me actually. I've changed so much."
"Your right, Jason. It's because you're a werewolf. That's why our relationship is strained." I teased, but Jason didn't smile. "You're not kidding." I realized.
"It was easier when I was human." Jason looked away from me and stared at the wall again. He kept my hand.
I sighed. We needed to solve this. Jason needed to understand that this was no where near his fault. It was always me. He was just too good for me. No matter where we went, I always dragged him down with me. I was so wrong for him. I always have been and I always will be.
How was I ever going to tell him this? Not my secret of course, but explain to him that I just brought my bad luck with me where ever I went. He didn't need to suffer along with me, but it's not his fault.
"Well you're stuck with me so get over it. Unless…well, you don't want to deal with me anymore." part of me wanted him to just leave. It would be better for both of us, but the other part wanted to slap myself for even thinking about it. I didn't deserve him, but maybe that's why were supposed to be together. We need each other as equals to survive. Yes. That sounded about right.
"Claire, I'd follow you to the ends of the Earth. Even if it meant the end of the road tomorrow, or dying from saving you. I love you and you're not going to get rid of me that easily." he smiled and teased, but he meant every word. I felt like crying of happiness, but I decided it would be better to kiss him instead.
"Just to tell you," Jason whispered in my ear, "That smile of yours really turns me on." I smiled and kissed him harder.
We made love for the second time, but it always felt like the first.
A few hours later I stretched and loosened up. I felt Jason sigh as I slid off of his chest.
"Not so fast." he grabbed me quickly and kissed me gently this time. I laughed breathlessly, surrounded in pure bliss. My life felt like heaven.
There was alight rap on the door and it cracked open. Skylar peeked in and smiled a bit. "Hey."
"Hello." Jason said lightly. I could feel there was no tension between Jason and him any more. Not that Skylar had the tension in the first place. At least Jason didn't feel like splitting.
"Glad you two made up."
"Me too." Jason said it in a way that made me smack him again. At least he enjoyed himself. In fact I beamed and blushed at the same time. Jason laughed and kissed my neck, making a low moan come out of my throat. It took all my will to not kiss him again.
"Hey that's still my sister." Skylar warned, no acid in his tone. He was just trying to be funny.
Jason winked at me. I rolled my eyes and looked at Skylar's smiling, but yet grossed out face.
I shrugged my shoulders. "Hey ain't my fault I'm so talented."
Skylar groaned. "Ew, Claire, gross." Skylar slammed the door and Jason busted out laughing. I laughed too and threw my arms around him.
"So are we back together again?" Jason asked, tilting his head.
"We were never apart." I said, pulling face closer as I entangled my hands in his hair.
"You know what I mean."
I rolled my eyes again. "Yeah I guess I do."
He smiled wide and looked at me funny.
"What?" I asked, pushing away from him to see what was wrong. I checked over my body, rubbed me teeth, and the only ting wrong with me was my messy hair, but that was beyond my fault. I looked back at him with so many questions forming in my head.
"You're so beautiful." he whispered. I blushed again. "You smell so good." he breathed in and it sounded like he was in a trance. I started to back away, alarmed, but when I looked at Jason again, I saw that he meant no harm.
"I'm not anymore." I said.
"In my world, you are."
"You must not have much selection there." I told Jason, kissing him softly again. We just sat there and kissed for a while. His arms went down my back and when I thought we were going to repeat what happened, he pulled away and smiled.
"When are you going to realize that you are so much more than you think?" he pulled my closer and his breath made me dizzy. I couldn't find my lungs, but I started to breathe before I could panic.
I placed my hands on his chest. "When did you grow up? You know, become so smart?"
Jason snorted.
"You know what I mean."
Jason smiled and held my tighter. I never wanted him to let go. "When you survive the grip of a sadistic vampire you learn things. Life's short, and if I'm with you…well I'm not going to waste any time."
I nodded and sank back on my pillow. Jason leaned over me and smiled. I could still smell his breath and it seemed like I was going to get high off of it.
"Claire?"
"Hmm?" I think I was falling asleep. I felt so groggy.
"I'm going to marry you soon."
I snapped my eyes wide open. That was the last thing I expected to hear form Jason. Yes, I knew he loved me, but I didn't expect him to talk about this. Until later that is.
"How soon?"
He winked at me and laid beside me. "How about September 21st?" he asked and sighed happily. I smiled internally. Jason wanted to be with me in as little as a month. He wanted to have some claim to me.
"Sounds perfect to me. The sooner the better." for some reason my hands went to my stomach. I shook off the weird feeling and smiled again.
I bet Cody wasn't too happy with this. Well he can suck it up.