NOTE: So I made good with my promise for lots of action in this chapter. A ton of things going on with Rosalie and Bella. Hope you like it! Thanks to all of you who review! Keep 'em coming!
Saturday November 8, 2008
Jacob grabbed my hand and pulled me into the shed where a disassembled car was jacked up on cinderblocks, various tools scattered on the dirt floor. "This baby is gonna have some serious torque when I'm done with it," he told me. "So, why are you suddenly interested?"
"I find myself in need of a car that can go faster than thirty. I'm pretty good with speed upgrades…do you think you could let me help fix her up and maybe take her for a few spins when we're done?" I asked. We decided that it would be better if Jacob was kept in the dark about the whole Volturi story and my racing background. There was no need to get him involved.
"Sure, no problem. I could definitely use a hand, it's been slow goings so far, but with a little help maybe we can get her running within the next few months. I'm planning on going down to the junkyard sometime this week. You could come if you'd like," he offered.
"Umm…actually, I get a great discount from this store in Phoenix. The owner is a really good friend of mine. I could buy all the parts we need. Salvaged parts are good for some things, but if we want this baby to fly she'll need top quality machinery," I told him. My bank account was pretty substantial from all of the prize money I'd earn throughout my years of racing and Grandma Swan's inheritance was still partially intact.
"Wow, you're really serious about this, huh?" he asked. I nodded in response. "I wouldn't feel right taking your money to buy parts, though. Maybe we could go halvsies."
"It's not a problem, Jake. Believe me, I'd been planning on buy a new car, but Charlie beat me to the punch with Gypsy so I have a ton of extra cash lying around." I was becoming a skilled liar, something I thought was impossible.
Jake shrugged, obviously still uncomfortable with the thought, but willing to accept my offer in order to better his pet project. "Whatever you say, Bells."
"Oh, do you happen to have that NOS tank by any chance?" I asked.
He nodded and walked over to a messy corner, rummaged through various objects until he extracted the large silver nitrous tank. "We'll need a nitrous system if you want NOS."
"We should look into that," I said while grabbing the tank from his hands and waltzing out of the shed. He followed me, confused. I heaved the heavy cylinder to the edge of a hill that sloped down to a swampy wooden knoll. With one burst of strength I tossed the tank down the ravine where it clattered noisily before slinking to a standstill in the thick mud.
"Umm…Bella? Should I even ask?"
"No, probably not." I turned to smile at him and he chuckled at my seemingly eccentric behavior. "I know I probably should have asked you before hand, but I brought some friends down, as well. They're pretty much fast-car junkies. Especially Rose. She's a mechanical wizard, but don't tell her I said that. I try to be as bitchy to her as possible. Feel free to do the same. She's very resilient to jeering."
Jacob looked a little confused. He turned to the Chevy and waved timidly to Edward and Rose who were now leaning against the bulbous fender of Gypsy. I grabbed Jake's elbow and led him over to the two of them.
"Jake, I think you've already met Edward." Both nodded in acknowledgment, Jacob a bit more sincere than Edward. "Rosalie Hale, this is Jacob Black."
Rose extended her hand as if it were a chore. Jacob shook it, but quickly released his hold.
"So, what are we working with?" Rose asked, a hint of excitement bubbling over her stony disposition.
"A 1995 Mustang GT. It's kind of a mess right now, but totally redeemable," he explained.
"No, no. The shit boxes are always the best to work with. It gives you a clean slate. Any dry rot?" Rose asked.
"Nope, I checked that out before I bought her. I only spent fifty bucks, but there's no point in wasting money that could be used on functional things." Jake and Rose seemed to be hinting it off…surprisingly.
"Good. There's nothing worse than a rotted frame, way more problems than it's worth. Can we see her?"
Jake nodded and lead us back the shed. Rosalie's eyes lit up and she hummed her approval. She wasted no time in plopping to the floor and wriggling under the car bed. Her torso popped up from the hood seconds later. "Absolutely no rot! Nice!"
"Thanks."
"We'll need to do a lot of grinding down here though, especially in the front quarters. Bella, do you have those catalogs with you?" It was freaky how friendly Rose was when she was exposed to her passion of car mechanics. I would have to file that away for future reference. I could raid the impound lot and mysteriously supply her with a junk car whenever she was being an über bitch.
I smiled and pulled out a stack of thick catalogs from my knapsack. She ducked under the car frame and snatched them from my extended hand then walked over to the engine block suspended from the ceiling by sturdy chains. Before I had a chance to blink, she was flipping through the magazine at lightening speed, dog-earring pages and making red pen marks next to parts she wanted to purchase. None of us knew what to think. She looked up, "Well, are you guys gonna help or what? Really, I'm doing all the work here. Bella, take apart the carburetor, I want to see what we're working with."
We passed a good three hours in this manner, appraising the skeleton racer at Rose's discretion. Edward, Jacob, and I were too afraid to cross Rose so we listened to her orders and did as we were told.
After promising to return tomorrow, the three of us left Jacob's house with far less petty drama than our outbound journey.
"Edward, I'm kid napping Bella for the next few hours," Rose said as I pulled up to the Hale's house. She hopped out of the Chevy as Edward and I stared at her in awe.
"I don't think so," Edward said tersely, obviously fearing that I would come home in a body bag.
"Not a request, lover boy. Have Alice drive her over in the Porsche. I promise she'll come back with minimal damage." With that, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and jogged up the porch stairs.
"What the hell?" I said, stunned.
"There's a ninety percent chance that she won't murder you. Throw Alice into the mix, the probability rises to ninety-five. What do you think?"
"Those are pretty good odd." I was intrigued and curious. Rose had never interacted with me in a friendly manner before today and I was interested in what she had planned.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." I gave Edward a reassuring smile and pecked his lips before throwing the truck into reverse and driving across the street to the Cullen's house I followed the long, winding dirt driveway and parked in front of the massive garage. Edward's sexual tension was adorable as he balled his fingers into a fist and stared at me with heated intensity, obviously provoked by my chaste teaser kiss.
"Uh-uh. I have a date with Insane Asylum Barbie. No time for making-out," I told him playfully.
"Oh, please, Bella. We haven't got freaky in the Chevy yet." I giggled at his outburst, knowing full well that he was serious despite his playful tone.
"Sorry, babe. I joined the local convent. Unless, you're God, you ain't getting' none." I managed to keep a straight face until he lounged towards me and buried his head in my chest, the warm breath from his chuckles tickling my skin.
I ran my fingers through his soft curls and lowered my head to kiss his locks, taking a deep whiff of his glorious scent in the process. Edward was gently planting kisses along the curves of my breast, exposed due to the V-neck tee-shirt Alice had forced me into when she had found out that it would be unseasonably warm today. I'd have to thank her.
Furious rapping jolted us out of our bubble and we both looked around for the culprit. A pale fist was furiously knocking on Gypsy's driver's side window, but only the tips of Alice's spiky hair was visible. "Just because I'm too short to see inside this truck doesn't mean I don't know what's going on in there! Rose called and told me to get your ass over to her house right away. Come on Bella!"
I chuckled and passionately crushed my lips onto Edwards for a few fleeting seconds. He tried to pull me closer, but I pushed him away realizing that I would never be able to leave the cab if we continued in this manner. With a sheepish smile I hopped out of the Chevy and was instantaneously dragged over to the garage by Tinkerbell herself.
"If she gets so much as a scrape, I swear somebody is going to die," Edward called. Alice waved his comment away. Before I knew it, she had tossed me into her beautiful Porsche 911 Turbo. All of my complaints ceased in that moment.
"I love you."
"You better," Alice chimed in reply. An eerie purple glow illuminated the winding road in front of us, the setting sun expelling faint rays through the thick tree line.
Alice's Porsche was almost as nice as the Aston Martin and its compact size allowed for easier maneuvering; similar to the Supra I was so used to driving. I was parked next to the La Push beach, my fingers itching to toy with the shift, but that would have to wait.
Rosalie, in her ever present thirst for supremacy, wanted to prove that she could smoke me in a race. She had mapped out an entire route starting from La Push beach and ending at the gas station fifteen minutes away from their house. The majority of the race would be held on abandoned dirt roads and seldom traveled stretches of old highway. It didn't matter to me, as long as I was allowed to drive the Porsche. Rosalie was parked on the side of me in her red BMW M3; a decent car, but not even remotely close to Alice's. She picked up her cell phone and hit her touch screen once.
Alice's phone chirped to the tune of Kate Perry's I kissed a Girl before she speedily answered. "Yes, I loaded the map into the GPS like thirty minutes ago! Can we please get this show on the road?...Well, it's obvious were gonna win…Yeah, but I'm such a better navigator than Jazz…oh, bitch please, you may be his twin, but I can read his mind…5…ha, I'm so right. You suck at life...Okay, six o'clock exactly." She snapped her phone shut and shook her head at my questioning expression.
"I'm trying to psych Rose and Jazz out. Jasper always chooses the number five when told to pick a number. Always. Rose set up an alarm that's gonna go off in exactly one minute. It's in sync with her car so get ready. I really need some bragging rights."
"Alice, come on. Is there any doubt that we'll lose?" I asked confidently.
Before she could answer, the buzz sounded—shrill and distracting. Without hesitation, I shifted into first and slammed on the gas pedal. Rose managed to get off the starting line a fraction of a second sooner and used that advantage to cut in front of me.
I swerved to the side to afford rear ending her, but managed to retain my momentum without having to downshift.
"Okay, stay behind her until the next turn. The roads get wider. It'll be easier to pass her," Alice recommended. I nodded and matched Rose's pace, my fingers poised to jerk the wheel and accelerate at the first opportunity.
Rose screeched around the turn, not even bothering to decelerate, so I followed her example and barreled around the bend, taking advantage of the Porsche's stellar handling and easily maintaining control.
"Take her on the right. If she forces you off the road, there's a good twenty feet of breakdown lane to save you from wiping out." Alice was unusually calm about the possibility that her Porsche might get completely demolished. I was impressed.
I toyed with the gearshift and moved my left foot to the clutch, sending the Porsche rocketing into fifth. Rose anticipated our move and began swerving back and forth. I tapped the steering wheel to the left causing Rosalie to block off that route, but instead of completing the move, I pulled all the way to the right and accelerated in her moment of confusion. She tried to correct her mistake, but I easily dodged her attack by scooting into the breakdown lane and rocketing past her.
"YES! Perfect. Take the inside lane on this next turn!" Alice cooed jubilantly. I smiled and pulled all the way to the left as I sped around a large boulder. The map directed me to a dirt turnoff on my left a quarter of a mile away, but it was invisible to my untrained eye.
"Alice! Where am I going?"
"There, rotted weeping willow at ten o'clock. Downshift and pull up on the 'E-brake' when you hit the dirt. Rose sucks at drifting, you might be able to get a pretty good lead." My eyes locked on the side road and I skillfully shifted into third and yanked up on the emergency brake while simultaneously jerking the staring wheel to the right. Instead of fishtailing on the low friction dirt, I straightened out within seconds of executing my left-hand turn and punched the Turbo back into fifth gear.
"Whoot-Whoot!" Alice was practically jumping out of her seat. I glanced in the rearview and noticed Rose skidded past the turn, her wheels catching on the slick dirt that littered the pavement. She quickly downshifted and pulled onto the side street, but her slip up had serious repercussions. I was now a good two hundred feet in front of her.
She was a masterful drive, however, and her faulty maneuver only made her desire to win that much more prevalent. Her headlights were gaining on me with each passing second and I turned to my trusty navigator for assistance. "Alice?"
"Jasper's going to tell her to pass you at Taha Aki Ravine. There's a wooden bridge that we'll have to cross, but there's also and over pass that forks onto the main road. He'll be expecting us to take the easier route over the bridge, which we will because there's no way in hell I'm letting you go off-roading with my baby, but I want you to do a rapid deceleration at that rock right there," she extended her thin finger toward a massive gray, moss covered rock situated right in before a dilapidated, yet accessible side road. My eyes followed the path and saw that it did in fact bypass the gully, but Rose would have to gain some serious speed if she wanted to secure the lead.
I grinned at the pixie and followed her advice, downshifting into second and slowing to a crawl. Rose, startled by my unexpected technique, slammed on her brakes and fishtailed as she tried to regain control of the car. Before she careened into the Porsche, however, I was off, already having shifted up to fourth gear. Rose bounced back quickly and was able to steady the Beamer, but our little ploy had caused her to overshoot the overpass and forced her onto the bridge. Our lead was further cemented.
"Damn, Alice. Do you have Jasper's brain programmed onto your TiVo or something?" I asked, amazing at her ability to predict her boyfriend's every move.
She giggled. "Nope. He's just totally whipped and I basically control his every move anyway."
I chuckled and downshift around an insanely sharp corner. "What the fuck?" I asked as I surveyed the landscape in front of me. It was comprised of hills and hair-pin turns, not at all what I was used to driving on. I feared for the Porsche's safety.
"Yeah, this part sucks. Just try to stay in third gear for as long as you can, and switch into fourth for the steeper sections. If we lose it here, we still have an opportunity to take the lead again."
"Lose it? Rose isn't going to be able to pass us on this terrain!" I exclaimed as I flew down an incline and around another turn, the speed seemingly excessive for the rolling landscape. I managed to keep in control of the car, however, and was even able to shift into fourth and speed over another hill.
"This is Rose's forte, don't even worry about her and Jazz. Just focus on the road."
Confused, I downshifted again, not daring to risk pulling a complete 180o turn at sixty miles an hour. I huffed in exasperation as the road continued in this fashion for another mile. Out of nowhere a red blur soared above the Porsche, easily overtaking the valley between two small hills where we were currently situated. I gawked in awe at the speed with which Rose was going, enough to jump a hill, yet her BMW was unscathed.
"Told you," Alice said matter-of-factly. "No worries, just keep up with her. We're almost onto the main road again."
With as much dexterity as I could muster, I sped over hills and valleys, taking sharp turn after sharp turn in an attempt to stay close on Rose's heels. Finally, we zoomed onto the old highway which was free from the extreme inclines that characterized the turnoff road.
I shifted into fourth and then fifth, closing the gap between our two cars.
"Alright, be patient. See that turn ahead?" She pointed to the GPS, tracing the outline with her index finger. It was actually a series of two turns, one arcing to the right and another turning back in the opposite direct immediately. It seemed useless to me, but what did I know about road construction. "Trust me on this one. Spin around and throw it into reverse."
"What?"
"Do it now, Bella!" Without hesitating further, I swerved around and shifted into reverse. "Faster." I pushed the gas pedal into the floor. "Turn left now!" I jerked the car to the left with such intensity, causing us to slingshot around the bend, gliding past the BMW. We were perfectly situated for continuing forward. As quick as humanly possible, I throw the Porsche into third, then fourth gear and rocketed forward, securing the lead. The gas station materialized two hundred feet away, but I easily blocked Rose's attempts to cut me off. With on last burst of speed, I slid into the parking lot and expelled a loud victory cry. I had slain the beast. Fuck yeah!
Alice hopped out of the car and began an African tribal victory dance sticking her tongue out at her boyfriend as he and Rose slinked out of the BMW.
"Skill," Rose said tersely, extending her thin hand towards me. Surprised, I took it and smiled.
"You, too. How do you drive on slopes like that?"
"It's easy. I can show you sometime if you teach me how to drift," she offered.
I shot her a sly grin. "Did we just bond, Rosalie? Because I think we did!"
"Ah, No! You're still the biggest street corner whore I've ever seen. But I could use a handle of Vodka so vamanos."
I chuckled and slid into the passenger's seat of the Porsche while Alice filled the tank.
I was exhausted when I came home two hours later, even though it was barely nine o'clock. As the daughter of a state trooper I was smart enough not to drink all too much alcohol before driving home. It was a good thing too because Charlie was extra observant ever since the unceremonious knife attack.
"Bella, how are you feeling?" he asked before the front door had a chance to close.
I rolled my eyes. "Perfectly fine dad. I swear!"
"Maybe you should go get some sleep. Your body needs the rest. And your mother's flying in tomorrow…" I love how he just slipped that little tidbit in so stealthy.
"Are you serious? Ugh! She's going to overreact and be all overprotective on me!" Of course that was the least of my worries. There was always the chance that she would put two and two together and actually realize that I was racing again.
"Sorry, Kiddo."
"Whatever. I see you tomorrow, daddy." I kissed his balding head. "'Night."
"Good night, Bells."
I climbed into bed and managed to get two or three hours of restless sleep in before a gentle rapping woke me out of my anxious slumber. It was coming from my window. My locked steel-gate clad window. Grabbing my Louisville Slugger from beside my nightstand, I unlatched the bolt and slid the gate up, preparing to swing if it was James.
But it wasn't.
"Please don't hit me. This branch isn't that sturdy," Edward joked as he clambered over the sill.
"Edward, what are you doing here?" I asked, discarding the aluminum bat in favor of wrapping my arms around his toned waist.
"I couldn't sleep. And I was pissed that the first full day that we've spent together in two weeks was monopolized by Jacob Black and Rosalie Hale!"
I sighed into his chest. "You know, this is by far the sexiest thing you've ever done, minus the time you pulled the 'stare and drive' on me the first day we met. Breaking and entering is a total turn on."
"Then remind me to do it more often." His cool hand grasped my chin and pulled my face up to meet his passionate lips. My hands explored his body as his dove deep into my messy mane of hair, all the while maintaining our aggressive, passionate lip lock, our tongues tangling in unison.
A/N: Are you excited for some lemons in the next chapter? How do you think Renee will react to all of the new developments in her daughter's life? Review and let me know what you think! I love answering questions and giving hints! Thanks!