Chapter Twenty One

Bella

I enjoyed my soak in the tub without any fear of Peter coming in, I trusted him because Jasper did, but then I heard a tap on the door and froze,

"Bella how long do you boil eggs for?"

I relaxed and put a hand over my mouth to stop myself laughing,

"About four minutes, at least that's how I like them,"

"Then stir yourself girl or they're gonna be too well done."

I got out and dried quickly pulling on a pair of jeans and a jumper that must have been bought for me by either Jasper or Peter because they were almost my size but a little tight. I didn't mind though, I felt clean and fresh at least until I got into the kitchen. Peter was disappearing behind a blue haze as the toast started to smoke so I grabbed it out of the grill quickly, burning my wrist in the process. As I cried in pain he grabbed my wrist with one cold hand,

"Are you OK?"

I nodded and as he moved his hand I felt the burning starting again,

"Could you keep your hand there for a minute please, it stops it stinging."

"Sure. Sorry Bella, cooking was never my forte."

"It was very kind of you to make the effort for me. I think I'll give the toast a miss but the eggs will be fine."

They were a little hard-boiled for my liking but I didn't say anything, I wouldn't have upset him for the world.

Jasper

As I got back the smell of burned bread was overpowering and when I looked in through the door Peter appeared to be holding Bella's hand and this made me deeply unhappy so I moved inside quickly,

"Everything OK here?"

Peter dropped her hand and stepped back, he could sense my anger but Bella hurried to explain,

"Peter cooked me some dinner and I grabbed the toast, it was burning. Being as clumsy as usual I burned my wrist and he was just helping me, stop it from stinging."

I felt better hearing this and took her hand in mine to examine the burn. There was an angry weal on her wrist which was just beginning to blister so I covered it with my own cold hand and Peter smirked.

"Did you find something to feed on?"

I looked back at her,

"Yes thank you. Sorry I was so long."

"That's OK it gave Athos a chance to get me a bath."

"Athos?"

"Yes, I have two Musketeers now so I don't need to worry at all."

"Yeah, and I'm the better looking one..."

I looked at Peter confused, and he explained,

"I checked before accepting."

I looked at him even more mystified as Bella grinned at him then looked up at me again.

I wasn't sure how to approach the next subject so I just blurted it out,

"Bella I was wondering if you shouldn't at least ring your mum and dad, let them know you are alive, they must be frantic."

She looked shocked, her eyes going wide as she took my suggestion in,

"And tell him what? That I was abducted? Drugged? He's going to throw a fit Jasper. He'll insist I go home and we both know I'm not safe there."

"He's your father and he's worried. At least let him know you're safe."

"Are you telling me to go back, that you won't look after me any more? If you are then I'll leave now but I'm not going back until I know who I can trust."

She got up, tears of anger in her eyes and went to the bedroom slamming the door behind her.

"Well you sure fucked that up Major! You gonna put things right with her? Tell her the truth?"

"The truth?"

"Don't try to kid a kidder Major. You know exactly what I mean, there's no way you'd let her go, you couldn't if you tried."

I wanted to argue but I wasn't sure I could, he was right, I just hadn't wanted to admit it, I was still confused as to why it took so long for me to recognise what she meant to me. I nodded and followed Bella in to the bedroom. She was sitting on the bed sobbing, her hands over her face, and I sat beside her putting my arm around her heaving shoulders very gingerly,

"Bella, I will never allow you to walk into danger I promise you. I never meant that I would leave you to face this alone. I just thought you should speak to your father, tell him that you are safe, that you are staying with a friend until you sort out your feelings for Edward. Tell him you ran away because he was pressuring you."

I hesitated unsure how she would react to my next words,

"Bella, I came looking for you because I was scared you were in danger and it was my fault. I had to make sure you were safe and I was suspicious that at least one of the family had to be involved in your disappearance. I will find out who did this and I will make sure they can never threaten you again. Bella, I think I might be at least partly responsible for Alice's actions, you see I have feelings for you and perhaps she's seen that and she's jealous."

I waited as Bella's sobs died away and stiffened as she looked at me with red swollen eyes.

"What?"

I waited unsure what she wanted to hear and she rubbed her face to dry the tears then spoke again,

"I don't understand Jasper. Alice is jealous of me? Did Edward know? How long has this been going on? What are you saying?"

Still I hesitated sure I'd just made a big mistake, possibly my biggest ever, so I took my arm away and stood up.

"I'm sorry Bella. I know I had no right and now was a stupid time to tell you, I've just made things far worse. I'm going to leave you in Peters capable hands, you'll feel better with him. I won't be far away though, until you decide what you want to do."

I moved towards the door, my hand on the door knob when I heard her voice,

"You leave me now don't ever come back."

I turned unsure what she meant, was I to leave and never come back or was she telling me if I left now I could never come back? So I stood my mind in ferment, unable to move.

Bella

I wasn't entirely sure I understood anything that he'd just said, I couldn't bring myself to believe what I thought I'd heard. If I had got it right then Jasper had just admitted he had feelings for me and Alice at least knew, but why would he be interested in me when he had her? Was it possible that if he did have feelings for me that he had orchestrated all this himself to get me alone with him? No, I couldn't believe that, he was one person I had never felt was a threat to me. Could it be that Edward had heard his thoughts and that's why he was so anti Jasper, why I had been warned off him? I glanced at him as he stood silent and unmoving by the door knowing that if he left now I would never be able to trust him again and I would never want to see him again. I would go back to Forks collect my things and leave the whole Cullen family behind moving back to Phoenix and if Victoria, or Alice, or whoever it was, found me then so be it, it would be my punishment for getting involved in the vampire world. I had to admit to myself that I was willing him to turn round and come back to me but my head was telling me I was crazy to even think that. It told me he would open that door and walk out of the room and out of my life. Without conscious volition my mouth uttered a single word,

"Please"

It was so quiet I was sure even vampire senses wouldn't catch it and he didn't react at first then I saw his shoulders slump and he turned to look back at me. In his face I saw such anguish, such indecision, that it almost broke my heart because I knew his heart was telling him to come back to me but his head was screaming at him to go, that he was putting me in danger and I suddenly knew exactly what to do. I got up and stood facing him,

"Jasper there is only one person in my world at the moment that I trust, even more so when he opened his heart to me and if he leaves then I'm left totally alone and I don't know how I'll survive then. I need you D'Artagnan, more than ever."