Please Note: Alternating points of view—Bella/Edward/Bella
26. A plan of yours
Before we left Seattle, Jasper kitted me out with a cell phone and a red pickup truck from a used car lot, which he let me drive back to our rented cabin in Eugene. We were silent for the majority of the journey, both of us keeping our breathing to a minimum.
"You've been awfully quiet," he said as we approached the turn off for the dirt track. "You're not happy with the name?"
"It would have been nice to have been given a choice, but if I'm going to be anyone's sister..."
"We can change it if you want. How does Isabella Whitlock sound?" he said brightly.
I gritted my teeth because gripping the steering wheel wasn't an option. Neither was wringing his neck, unfortunately. "How am I supposed to explain living with you to Riley?"
"Don't, unless he asks, then tell him what Tanya said. I'm your brother."
"Right," I said, "because we look so alike."
"Better yet," he said, laughing now, "I can be your brother-in-law, seeing as your brother by blood is married to my sister."
"Whose maiden name is still Hale, I presume!"
He glared at me as if I was spoiling his fun.
"And I'm living with my infuriating brother-in-law because…?"
"Hell, Bella, what does it matter? Use the standard family line and say we're all adopted."
I parked the truck carefully then jumped out and hurried into the cabin with my backpack, quickly scaling the spiral staircase. Jasper followed a few minutes later and sat down beside me on the bed.
He was too close, too tempting and too damned irritating.
"I want a normal life, Jasper. A quiet, simple, normal life. I wasn't doing too badly on my own, apart from messing things up with Riley, but now everyone is going to stick their oar in, and I don't want it. I don't want them."
"You don't want to see them?"
"No. It'll be like before, I know it. I'll become the family pet all over again."
He sniggered, but quickly wiped the smile off his face. "Not this time around, Bella. I won't let that happen and neither will Edward."
Edward. I looked down at the backpack between my feet then leaned forward to retrieve the packages he'd given us. Inside the tissue paper wrapping, we each had a pair of hand knitted, woollen socks. Jasper's were thick and ribbed in a soft grey colour while mine were finer and striped in all colours of the rainbow. Both pairs were long enough to wear under our boots.
Tucked inside the leg of one of mine was a handwritten note:
Bella, something about this yarn really appealed to me, and I had to make these socks even though I had no idea who'd wear them. I think maybe they were meant for you all along. Edward
"My mother used to knit me socks," Jasper said, staring down at the pair in his hands. "She always said it showed how much she loved me."
I lay back on the bed, sighing when he joined me and took hold of my hand. He stared up at the rough hewn logs that formed the roof and started talking.
...
The journey back home was an eventful one, full of exploration and discovery.
When Tanya detoured from our route the first time, she gave me the impression it was to refill the gas tank, but she drove straight past the gas station and found a secluded parking spot at the edge of a forest.
She lifted her bottom off the seat, put her hands up under her skirt and proceeded to peel off the emerald green panties I'd crocheted for her. She hung them provocatively on the rearview mirror.
Just the thought that she'd been wearing those under that skirt, and had managed to surprise me, had me fit to burst.
"Get in the back seat, Edward," she said, "with your pants around your thighs."
I almost tripped over my own feet, trying to get out of the car, but my embarrassment was quelled by the joyful sound of her laughter.
She teased me as she rode me, only undoing two of the buttons on her blouse, allowing me to peek inside and watch her breasts bouncing beautifully in the emerald green bra.
She had a second "vision" several hours further along, changing course completely to find the dense cover of another forest. We raced each other into position on the back seat, Tanya kneeling on all fours and teasing me with that flirty skirt and her naked bottom. I put every effort into making her vision come true, even ensuring that her panties swung to and fro from their spot on the rearview mirror, just as she had foreseen they would.
She let me drive after that, preparing me with her mind before she leaned over to undo my pants and take me in her mouth. It was the only time I obeyed the ridiculously slow speed limit.
Hours later, I returned the favour at the edge of a cornfield with her splayed out over the hood, blouse undone and the crocheted bra on full display. And when I eventually kissed my way up her body and entered her, I declared my love for her over and over.
The hood would come clean, but no amount of detailing would completely eradicate the scents we'd left on the leather upholstery of Carlisle's Mercedes.
When I thought of how strongly Carlisle had urged me to pursue a physical relationship, it seemed fitting to leave him some evidence that I'd taken his fatherly advice to heart. It also made me feel a lot better for all the mental torture I'd been forced to endure with his sanction.
...
I learned a lot about Jasper Whitlock that night, lying there watching the expressions on his face as he recounted his own life story. Some of it was terrifying and some of it heartrending. I understood then how much he had struggled to be part of the Cullen family for Alice's sake, and how eventually, after almost losing that fight one fateful September evening, it had resulted in heartbreak all round.
The pull we felt toward each other troubled me, though. If the concept of mates was just that, a concept, why would it be so hard to resist him? And why him and not Edward, who had caused me no end of sexual frustration when I was still human?
As dawn broke, I let go of Jasper's hand and began to reorganise my backpack, emptying out my clothes into one of the built-in drawers under the bed. I'd need to find myself a smaller bag, or a purse perhaps.
Jasper joined me on the drive into the city, saying he wanted to visit the stores. He waited in the truck outside the professor's house while I apologised to her for my sudden departure and asked if I could have my job back. I realised when she called me Bree that I had a little more explaining to do.
She bought my carefully crafted version of the truth, intrigued by the story of the girl who woke up in the woods without knowing who she was. When I said that I'd like to apply to the university to study English, she took my phone number and said she'd let me know if a job became available for an assistant in her department or in one of the campus libraries. It would give me something more to do and maybe help my application.
Climbing back into the cab of the truck, I looked across at Jasper and he smiled. "You'll do alright," he said.
A few minutes later, I parked down the street from Riley's apartment. We both got out of the truck, but instead of saying goodbye and heading toward the stores, Jasper followed me.
"What are you doing?" I asked, putting my key in the door.
"Being sociable," he replied with a wide grin and a glint in his eye.