Eleven a.m. and I was bored out of my fucking mind. Most of the major players had been introduced. Had they just said their names and the company they owned or belonged to, this could have wrapped up two hours and forty-five minutes ago. For Christ's sake, every fucking person at the table had a name plate sitting in front of them. Instead, each individual spent ten minutes talking about the honor and privilege of being able to contribute to such a project. There were still fifteen un-introduced figures present. Had I stabbed myself in the eye with the pen that was incessantly clicking away in my hand, I would have found more enjoyment.
When twelve-thirty rolled around and the head spokesman announced a lunch break, I turned my attention to Chris. He was hunched over his laptop and not wanting to interrupt whatever online emergency he was dealing with, I waited for him to notice me. When he slammed the screen shut a few minutes later, I was loath to add to his ire. He was breathing kind of heavily and had a glimmer of rage in his eyes.
"Hey, Chris, are you okay?" I asked my friend, worried that he might have gotten some type of notice that this project wouldn't be able to go forth. Clearly, it was business related for him to have been so absorbed during the meeting.
"Fucking, lazy-ass. I can't send my character to work until-" Chris started to explain before I interrupted him.
"Character?" I repeated, starting to feel a little insulted. What did he refer to me as when speaking to others? Chris was eyeing me like Quil does when he's about to unleash a turd of ignorance.
"The Sims game. Have you never played it?" Shuffling the rest of his papers together, Chris was waiting for me to laugh or chuckle or something.
"You were playing a game?" Briefly I thought of stabbing him in the eye as well. Had I known video games were an option, I sure as hell would have played something, anything!
"Jacob, these meetings are usually boring as shit. With the exception of three faces here, I've already been introduced at least a dozen times to the rest. I can't believe they still do this unnecessary hoop-la. I can learn more about each person and their company from Wikipedia than I can from listening to them spew polished vomit over their many awards and accomplishments."
"Then why the fuck did you insist on dragging my ass out here? I don't care where the hell all of these people come from; I could have just made a thirty minute guest appearance and been that much happier."
"Jake, come on, man. These people are part of the assembled project that are going to fork over twenty million dollars to you. You might want to pay just the slightest bit of attention so you can at least send out Christmas cards. Hey, don't you live near a place called Forking?"
"Please, Chris," I groaned, wanting to rip out my hair. "My attendance is not necessary for that. I'll have a copy of the meeting notes where every person will be named, probably with an address as well so I can send out generic wishes of meaningless crap in December. And I think you're referring to Forks, not Forking."
Was I always to be surrounded by idiots? Chris knew damn well I didn't live in Forks and certainly there wasn't a town named after a slang term for sex.
"Wow, she's really done a number on you," Chris said, taking in my look of exasperation.
"Who?"
"The girl. Man, I've never seen you so hung up about a standard business proposal. I can only assume that this chick has you wrapped around her finger and she's making you feel guilty for leaving her alone for the day."
"Trust me, you have no idea what you're talking about. Besides, she's not completely alone; some of my family came with us and they're all out enjoying the sights of L.A. as we speak." As soon as I said that, Fate appeared. Hands full of tourist brochures, it slid them out of my sight and my hackles tingled. How much trouble could my imprint be in with a group of wolves?
"Well, I still can't wait to meet her."
"Yeah, I'll see if she wants to stop by here sometime. Maybe they can meet us up for lunch."
"I just figured you'd bring her with you to the party," Chris replied, shrugging his shoulders. I started to feel anxious, being duped by another P word.
"Uhh,…party?"
"I told you, Jake, this is big. After everything is done and set into motion on Friday, Asgard Holdings is co-hosting a semi-formal ball slash dinner party. All the big wigs want to show off their trophy wives while congratulating themselves on what will be one of the biggest announcements ever to be made. They're also going to be honoring silent partners and donators. This gala will be like a premier for the business world. Did I forget to tell you? It's no big deal, I'm sure your girl will just be fawning to play dress up. What better place for her to find a dress than L.A.?"
No big deal? He was talking about an affair that would have more than five hundred people attending, not to mention the fact that I couldn't exactly drag part of the pack with me to such an event for security. A nighttime event with so many people would be an easy way for vamps to crash. Out of all of the hundreds of smiling faces, they would just be one more aesthetic in the crowd.
"So it's this Friday?" I hedged, attempting to plot and disregard ideas quickly: Illness? Death? Sam mentioned clearing out Quil's minefield; maybe he could get a picture of a caught pack-mate?
"No. It won't be for a couple of weeks; maybe even a month or two."
Oh good. We wouldn't be here, having safely returned to La Push and…
"You'll have to fly back for the event. It'll be your payday, so to speak. Talk it over with your hot little thing; I'm sure she'll be thrilled. Look, I gotta go grab some grub. I'll see you back here in a little bit." Chris left the room, and I sat alone for a few more minutes, trying to think of how to avoid the futuristic tacky party.
The only gown I was interested in seeing Bella wear would be one that either started with the word night or wedding. Since she had already said the marriage thing was not to be mentioned, that only left night-gowns as a valid thought. Definitely not an appropriate image to have at work, though.
I was still left with the problem of having to bring Bella back to L.A. for the party. Protocol dictated that I have a date. I had no intention of not bringing her with me; the trick was how to accomplish it with wolf back-up? Maybe I could convince Chris that I wanted to include an assistant. Unfortunately, that wolf would not only need to know how to be civil in a social setting but they'd also have to be able to talk about something other than sex. That shortened the list considerable.
Remembering that I had no idea where my mate was, I decided to call Bella and see what she was up to. I stepped into the elevator to head out and get some lunch as well as I hit speed-dial. Her phone rang six times before going to voicemail, causing me to frown. Even if she couldn't hear her cell, one of the guys would have commented about the ring. I attempted one more time before giving in to total panic. The beginnings of hyperventilation during the fifth ring stopped when someone answered.
"Hello, this is Bella's secretary. How may I direct your call?" Quil answered in a snooty voice.
And resume hyperventilation.
"Quil, what the hell are you doing? And why are you answering Bella's phone?"
"Jake? Hey, man, how's it going?" His tone was gone and once again respectful. Well as respectful as Quil could ever be. I knew he was hiding something.
"Gee, let's think about this: Quil, the most mentally disturbed of the group that is currently watching my imprint, is answering her phone. How the hell do you think I'm doing?"
Paul's voice echoed from the background of the phone line. "Is that Big A? You're in deep shit now; I told you this was a bad idea." Quil made some type of shushing noise before addressing me again.
"Jake, relax. She's fine. You're going to be known as the first werewolf to have high blood pressure if you keep freaking out about every little thing. The girls wanted to get out of the hotel and sight see a little. Currently we're at an…amusement parks of sorts. Just outside the city. No vamp activity and everyone still has all of their body parts in tact."
"That's great, Quil," I replied sarcastically. "Now put my mate on the phone before you no longer belong to the category of 'having all of your body parts'!"
"Well, yeah, about that. See, Bella's a little tied up at the moment and currently can't come to the phone. It should only be a few more minutes and then I'll have her call you back, I promise."
"Quil, I am counting to three before my patience totally leaves and I Alpha-command your ass to walk around on your hands and knees, barking like a dog for the rest of the day."
"That's not cool, dude. I told you-" Quil stopped talking to me to answer someone else in the background. "Now? Ten seconds? Yes!" Even if I wanted to, there was no way I could be anywhere in ten seconds to help save Bella from whatever horrible incident she was about to face.
"Look, J, I gotta go. She's fine; even having a little bit of fun. Bye." Quil disconnected the call pretty quickly but he wasn't fast enough. Before I was met with airtime silence, I could hear the distinct screaming of Bella.
During the next five minutes, my heart stopped beating more than once; I dreamed up at least twenty five ways to make Quil scream in the same fashion; and tomorrow, Chris could find a partially empty office somewhere in the building to house Bella for the day. No way was I leaving her with the wolves again. If I let any of them live to begin with.
Thirteen minutes and fifty-four seconds later-another strike against Quil- my cell rang. I had managed to find a bit of solitude in a parking garage in case of an eruption of furriness anger.
The caller-ID said Bella and I answered with a somewhat hospitable, "Hello."
"Hi, Jake. Quil said I needed to call you back right away but not why. Is everything okay?" Bella asked sweetly, causing my anger to melt just a little.
Even over the phone though, I could hear her heart racing a mile a minute, increasing my own nervousness. Whatever type of park they were at, it would be Quil's last amusement.
"Yes, sweetie, everything is fine for me. What about you? What are you guys doing?" It's nothing short of amazing that I could formulate an understandable vocabulary of words. My teeth were cemented and my jaw never moving as I talked to Bella.
"Oh my gosh, it was so scary," Bella gushed.
All I heard was a crack as I bit even harder to stop from screaming. Or exploding. Both sounded like a really good idea.
"I really didn't want to but Quil assured me it was safe and that you wouldn't mind since you guys used to go cliff diving and this was practically the same thing-"
"He made you go cliff diving! Where?" I screamed at her, instantly feeling guilty.
None of this was Bella's fault and Quil truly did not want to live another day. Paul probably backed him up on the whole thing and with those two behind the wheel of ideas, Embry wouldn't have stood a chance. His kryptonite would have been Sara and she was an easy adrenaline junkie to encourage.
"No, we didn't jump from a cliff," Bella answered hesitantly. I could barely hear her over the sharp noises known as breathing that were emitting from me. Fate made sure I could fully appreciate her statement and once my gasping stopped, she continued.
"Sara said that even though I lived in Seattle, I probably would enjoy a less city-like activity." I knew Sara was the catalyst in this. "I told her I was comfortable doing whatever the group wanted to and they all seemed really interested in a forest hike."
Fucking hell, they lived inside a goddamn forest most of the year. I could feel my pressure begin to build again as Bella went on describing their adventure.
"…so after hiking for a couple of hours, we got to this beautiful, abandoned bridge. Oh, wait until you see some of the pictures, Jake, they're really beautiful. Maybe we can go out there again and take Van; I know he'd love it. Well, minus the bungee jumping…"
Shit-kebobs! A group of my nearest and dearest had not only pushed my imprint off a bridge, but prolonged it by watching her bounce. None of the pack would let me actually touch Sara and I'm sure Embry tried his damnedest to talk them out of it, but I dreamed. Tying nooses around all of them, I'd fling them off a bridge as well. Of course, I wouldn't use a bungee line. I'd even make it special and use the same bridge they pushed my sweet, self-sacrificing and very breakable imprint from. Said imprint's voice bought me back from my plotting.
"I was really scared, but everyone else went and I didn't want them to think I wasn't having any fun. Jake, are you still there?"
"Yes, honey," I managed to garble out. "I'm still here," barely. "Are you okay though? Are you bruised, scratched, broken in any way?"
Bella giggled lightly before assuring me, "No, Jake. Nothing has been rearranged. We're getting ready to leave so I can check on Van, and then if here's enough time, the girls wanted to walk down Hollywood Boulevard before it gets dark. How is your meeting going? What time do you think you'll be home?"
"My day has been enlightening so far," I snickered slightly- borderline hysterical- remembering the punishment I would be inflicting later. Take that Fate-fuckers. "I'm not sure what time they'll wrap-up for today, but it probably won't be much later than five o'clock, six tops."
"Okay, well, I miss you. I need to get going though; everyone's getting ready to hike back to the van."
Bella didn't sound like she was relaxed but at least she was somewhat happy despite Quil pushing her towards death. I was hoping that Fate was still swinging from the bridge, preferably from its neck.
"I miss you too, sweetie," I murmured softly, before steeling my voice somewhat. "Before you hang-up though, could I perhaps speak to Quil? Just hand him the phone, he can catch up with you guys in a few."
"Okay, Jake," Bella answered, relieved that I was no longer yelling. "I love you and I'll see you tonight."
My heart was doing a victory dance. I could hear her call to Quil, followed by his mutterings of, "he has no right to be pissed. Oh sorry, Bella, I was talking to myself. You guys go ahead, I'll catch up." The phone switched hands and it took awhile before Quil spoke. Now that I had heard Bella's voice, I could wait for Quil's.
"Dude, I told you. She's fine. Everyone had a lot of fun and no one died, so you can't be pissed," Quil hurried to explain in a single breathe.
Pausing to absorb and then disregard his ranting, I asked patiently, "Quil, do you know what the punishment is for throwing the Alpha's imprint off of a cliff?"
"Don't be stupid, dude," Quil snorted out. "J, they didn't even have bungee jumping when werewolf laws were written. Have you been chewing on real lead pencils again? I told you, mechanical ones are the way to go so you don't have to gnaw at the things to re-sharpen the point."
So much for my patience, let the anger rule.
"I swear to god, Quil, you will march your ass back to the fucking villa and stay there until I get back. You will not pass go, you will not collect any fucked-up toys and so mother-fucking help me, if the seven of you are not inside when I get back, tomorrow's headlines will read 'Huge wolf viciously attacks and kills local tourists from Washington'. Do I make myself clear?"
This was ludicrous. Too much time spent around the same jack-asses and Quil couldn't adapt to normalcy. If he didn't have werewolf healing abilities, I'd be none surprised to learn that one of his automotive customers ran his ass over. Hell, I might do that on general principals.
"Man, you're kind of being a prick. You do know that, right?" He asked peevishly causing my mind to halt and my mouth to go on auto-pilot.
"No, I'm not, Quil. If I was being a prick, I'd order Embry and Paul to kill you right now!"
"I wasn't talking about your attitude towards me, although it is kinda shitty. But I was talking about how you're being so fucking anal towards what Cupcake can and can't do while you're around. You're trying to call all of the shots and not let her decide anything for herself. That's not cool, dude, and if you keep this shit up, her ass is going to dump you."
I wouldn't say the next five seconds of silence were the longest I had ever felt. However, during that time, my brain analyzed every second I had even spent with Bella. I was mid-memory of our plane ride when the tremors kicked in and my metaphorical wolf came out to enforce. Even Fate took a step back.
"You moronic jack-ass! If Bella wants to cliff-dive or go parachuting or fuck, if she wanted to go swing-dancing with a couple of homicidal maniacs, I wouldn't stop her. I may beg and plead for her to change her mind but if she was dead-set, I'd let her. The only catch to all of that would be that I went with her. Not because I'm trying to control her but because I'd like to make sure she could fucking live long enough during and after to talk about it. That makes me a caring person, not an asshole!"
"Jeez, don't get you're panties in a bunch, dude. All I'm saying is that-"
"You're pissed off because I'm rightly upset that you guys convinced her to do something she wouldn't normally do," I answered knowingly.
"You are way off, I'm mad because-"
"Really?" I snidely remarked, interrupting him again. "So you're going to tell me that had I been at the villa with you guys today, you and Paul would have suggested the bungee thing? That you wouldn't have goaded Sara-cause I know you sure as shit did- to have a moment of extremeness and help convince Bella to go?"
"Well, when you put it that way, probably not. BUT, only because you would have smacked the shit out of me on the head had I even suggested it and then spent time convincing Bella that going to some stuffy museum or art show, would be more entertaining."
"You are wrong, Quil." Not about the smacking part. "If Bella wanted to do something risky, we would have gone. But at least I could have been there to watch and make sure she wasn't just accommodating you guys because it's in her nature to do so. I'm not discussing this with you any more, Quil. You will do as I have instructed and the seven of you will be at the villa tonight where we can set our happy asses down and discuss the topic of peer pressure. Do I make myself my clear?" I demanded, the Alpha authority rolling clear and precise from within. Quil was out of options.
"Yeah, I hear you. We'll see you tonight." click.
Quil was being pissy, but he could get over it. The thought that he viewed me as controlling made me feel both sick and happy. Bella was free to do as she wanted without my input but we were an imprinted pair. If there was ever any doubt, we could talk about it and come to an agreeable conclusion.
The happy part came in regards to Quil. He obviously lacked the skill required to balance needs against wants, but in the end, he was required to answer my demands. I gave him a lot of leeway, especially when it came to his actions and ideas. We had always bickered with each other incessantly as kids; why would that change as adults? Now that I was blessed with an imprint who needed guidance, protection and adequate role-models, Quil needed to pull his shit together.
I used the rest of my lunch break to actually get some food and think about both my meeting for my career and later on, the one dealing with my life.
Having to listen to eight hours of logistics that didn't hold any interest for me, may have been a way for Fate to torture to me. Being able to return to the hotel and see my imprint made up for any of those inconveniences, especially when she was more than willing to express her love physically. Fate frowned and shuffled the life cards again.
Arriving back at the villa a little after six o'clock, I walked in to find three wolves staring at the T.V. petulantly, looking like they had already been reprimanded. Three imprints sat in the dining room looking at magazines or something. My imprint was not one of them.
"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Setting my briefcase down by a couch, I waited for any one of them to answer me.
When nobody did, Rachel spoke up. "Nothing much, Jake. Quil said you wanted us to wait until you got home so we could decide on dinner."
"Where's Bella?" I asked. I knew where she was, I could hear her heartbeat. What I meant was, why wasn't she out here socializing with the rest of them?
"I don't know," Rachel shrugged her shoulders. "She was with us up until about thirty minutes ago, then her phone rang and she went into the bedroom to take the phone call in private. I just assumed it was you, giving her lovies and she was too embarrassed to talk in front of us."
It sure as hell wasn't me and my gaze landed on the three silent ones in the room. Quil and Paul started to shift uncomfortably, refusing to look at me while Embry kept his stoicism. Clearing my throat loudly, one by one they looked up at me. None of them looked happy. Fate showed up in a cape.
"What?" I barked, suddenly realizing I might have misread their stances.
"It was one of her leeches. They are pissed off and Bella spent a lot of time trying to calm down one of them named Edward. Dude, she told them where we are," Quil answered before dropping his eyes back to the floor
I sucked in my breath so sharply that Rachel looked up from her text. Taking in our expressions, she pulled at Claire's and Sara's arms. All three got up and left to one of the other bedrooms, leaving just the wolves present. My own heart was thundering as Quil continued to speak softly in fear of me lashing out.
"She just got off the phone a few minutes before you showed up. We'll, uhh, wait out here while you go to talk to her."
Staring at my brethren, what I had mistaken as petulance was warranted, concealed anger. They had heard the voices of the damned and all of it now felt real to them. A nomad crossing our territory was one thing, but to know a coven possessed an actual attachment to an imprint and talked to her on the phone was a supernatural slap.
"Quil, go tell Claire what you want for dinner and then head outside for a human patrol. Keep it low-keyed and then return in forty-five minutes. Once it gets dark, we'll switch every three hours until sunrise."
With a nod, Quil took off in search of the girls and I gave a silent prayer that he'd choose somewhere simple for dinner. If he didn't, I couldn't really fault him seeing as how it had been my oversight to begin with. Paul and Embry watched as I walked to my room, where I rapped once on the door before entering. The rejected peanut butter painting was curled up against Bella and gave me a silent snarl before padding across the bed to throw himself into his sunning stroller. I tried really hard not to laugh but with so much recent stress, I think I was cracking a little.
"What's wrong, honey?" I asked Bella. Reclining against the pillows, she opened her eyes to give me a worthy smile before twisting her hands nervously.
"I just got off the phone with my brother. He's furious with me for agreeing to fly down here with someone I barely know." Scrunching up her nose distastefully, Bella looked at me again.
Her explanation confused me. Maybe with an eternity on their hands, vamps took the courtship thing a little slower, but to humans (and make-believe but really real shape-shifter) we had clocks to follow. Clocks that clearly tolled, a near six-month relationship was not too soon to trip plan.
"Didn't you tell him we've been dating for a while? It's not like I just picked you up in a bar last week and suddenly we're jet-setting around the U.S."
"And I told him that," Bella confirmed. "But he thinks I'm either lying about how long I've known you or that I have known you for a while and I'm lying because you're a bad person. Jake, I've never heard him so angry before; it kind of scared me."
"He won't hurt you!" I growled out. When a person you loved felt threatened, any spouse would become protective. Even Fate had to give me that one.
"I know that," Bella reassured me. Reaching out, she grabbed my hand began petting it, like she did with Vatan. Gross. "I've just never even seen Edward get angry towards me."
"Why is it any of his business anyways? You're an adult, you don't answer to it-him." Twisting my wrist slightly, our hands were still clasped. She just couldn't pet it.
I'm not anal-retentive. I just don't like my mate touching me like a…a…cat! Definitely a werewolf thing.
"My middle sister, Alice, is a little cuckoo. She's been making up a lot of worst-case scenarios and her demeanor can be convincing. I'm sure Edward just listened to it one too many times before he figured he'd better call to make sure. Right now, he's probably telling her everything I said and she's trying to make her accusations fit. It'll die down after a day or two. But, honey, we should probably think about planning a trip to go visit them. I think it's time I introduced you to my family."
Fate found its cape again and I think I might have thrown up slightly. I certainly choked and sputtered momentarily before regaining control of myself. I knew this was an eventuality, I just wished otherwise. I could hear both Paul and Embry stop breathing for a minute while I debated on how to respond. They probably should have waited a few more minutes.
"That's a good idea, honey. Let's finish our trip here, move you into La Push and then we can arrange some type of fang—family meeting with your folks. Okay?"
With a soft sigh, Bella leaned over and embraced me tightly while mumbling, "thank you." Pressing her closely, I relaxed, knowing that as difficult as this was going to be, it had to be done. At least this way, we had the advantage regardless of what Fate had planned. With an evil, knowing grin, Fate flounced away and I paid no more attention to it.
Quil had chosen Greek for our evening fare. Bella confessed to having never really tried anything other than gyros. Sitting in front of me on the couch, I valiantly shook my head as the group tried to explain her incorrect description of what went into a proper gyro. Sara actually excused herself when Bella got to the part of ketchup fried shrimp drizzled with caramel sauce and then coated with green olives.
Bella and I ended up sharing Moussaka- a slightly spicy casserole of meat, cheese and non-flamboyant vegetables. She didn't seem to be eating much and judging by the smirk of Vanklava's, I suspected the demon was consuming most of it.
In the throes of our passion that night, it was sexy, wild, loving and somehow felt almost life altering. Thrusting just a few more times to reach my own climax while Bella was riding hers, something changed. As I felt her body gripping mine, the heat between us soared and I pushed deeply to release.
After regaining my breath, I pulled out as she collapsed on the bed before rolling over to give me a huge smile of satisfaction that I returned. It wasn't until I went to clean up that I froze in shock.
Oh god, how the hell do I tell her there's been an accident? Fate handed me a cigar that simply said 'Congratulations'.