The Project

Chapter Twenty Four

Jasper's POV

I was shocked that Bella wanted to do this. My mind kept telling me that it was just the emotion of our previous conversation mixed with her female hormones that was driving her to be so confident all of the sudden. I was hoping- though only a tiny bit- that she would stop us again before we made a mistake.

I knew something about mistakes.

I was a teenager, too, you know. When she was just sitting there so expectantly, gratefully matching the tender, loving way I was kissing her, I just couldn't help it anymore. I was confident that she really wanted us to do this, so I stopped worrying. I trusted her judgment more than my own.

I had to feel for each button of hers as I steadily undid each one. When I had reached the bottom, I slid my fingers along her shoulders and arms. She was so warm, and so terribly soft. It was driving me crazy!

We had to break away for air, and she shook her shirt onto the ground. I admired her full upper body for a second before a sudden flush of red distracted me. A brilliant crimson color colored her face and made my body throb with desire.

I groaned. "Damn it, do you have to do that?"

She looked surprised. "W-what?"

Idiot, don't confuse her.

"Blush." I answered her casually. My arms snaked around her lower back and rested on the soft, bare flesh. "It's so fucking sexy it's a crime."

I wanted to taste some part of her, so I attacked her mouth with my own. My hands made quick work of her bra, and she started sucking on my bottom lip. I could have died happily at that very moment. I couldn't help but imagine those lips sucking another part of my body.

With a groan packed full of lust, I forced myself to pull away from her. Staying in these pants- wind pants, not even jeans today- was starting to hurt. My hands shook as I yanked on the drawstring and managed to get them off without falling onto the floor in haste. I was pleasantly surprised to see Bella's sweats mingle with mine a half of a second later.

That's not all of hers that would be mingling with something of mine tonight.

I smiled to myself and threw my underwear on top of hers. It almost made me laugh to see that they were black, and lacy around the edges. Who would have guessed it?

We were totally free of the confines of our clothes. I turned my head eagerly and soaked in Bella's raw, true appearance.

She was so hot my stomach clenched. Her body had soft curves I had never seen up close before. Jane was rather toned, and Alice was too damn small. Bella was just the perfect amount of woman.

"Bella," I whispered darkly, trying to get her attention. "Look at me, Bella. Don't be shy about it- not now." We've already come too far for her timid side to stop us. She just totally skipped second and third base. She had wanted to hit a home run, and I had no problem with it. She was a rookie, but that was okay. I've played this game enough times before to teach her how.

The instant her eyes locked onto me, I allowed myself a little longer to appreciate her body. So fucking perfect. I whispered whole-heartedly, "You're beautiful, Bella. So much better than anyone else."

"Anyone else?" She asked with half attention- as my pushing her onto her back and sliding my hands over her breasts was quite a distracting action.

I would never lie to Bella. She deserved to know there had been others. Some part of me wanted her to know before we did this- just so she knew and could decide if it was what she wanted. I started kissing a string of teasingly gentle kisses along her neck and muttered, "Yeah."

"There were others?" She asked with a slightly possessive edge to her voice.

She wants you the same way you want her. She wants you all to herself.

I really wished our friends' names weren't on my short list when I mumbled, "Jane and Alice."

After a second of private thought, Bella became needy. She whimpered, "Jasper, come on already."

I let go of her neck and scooted in between her legs. I warned her seriously, "Don't scream, Carlisle will come in here."

That would not go over well. I'd have to stab his eyes out or kill him. Nobody but me was going to see Bella in such a beautiful way and get away with it.

Besides, I didn't like the screaming. When I had lost my innocence with Jane- she screamed so damn loud you'd think I had stabbed her fucking neck. Never once in my entire life had I been so scared. If Alec had been home, he probably would have shot my ass.

Bella's soft lips pressed against my shoulder, and she muttered, "Just do it."

I got myself into position and jerked inside of her. I wasn't sure if doing it fast like that was best, but I didn't really know how else to do it!

Bella gasped sharply, and I braced myself for the scream. However, it didn't come. Instead a sharp and unexpected pain landed through me as her mouth clamped down onto my shoulder. I felt the skin rip deeply and my warm blood trickle out.

The pain made me even more eager to get started. It turned me on- being bitten. I learned that one with Jane. That bitch got mean when she was sexually frustrated. She never broke the damn skin, though.

Bella looked at me with wide, horrified eyes. I hastily kissed her to make her be quiet. When I let go, I whispered reassuringly, "It's fine. It's not the first time I've been bitten."

The severe blush she had earlier had faded to an almost undetectable pink. Hearing me say that made her go back to red.

I tried to ignore her sexy ass redness. "Are you okay now?"

Say yes, I can't wait forever!

Damn it, calm yourself down Jasper. Don't rush her. It's her first time you know.

After a second, she confirmed, "I'm okay now."

I smiled at her and carefully, somewhat slowly, began to make love to her. She didn't seem to mind the first-timers pain as her hands roughly grabbed my hair, and she engaged our lips in a dance of their own.

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For the next hour or so once we were finished, I lay with Bella against my chest in my bed. I was not ever going to be able to sleep in this bed again without imagining that I could feel her warm body with me.

Anyway, I figured she was hurting, so I gently rubbed her lower half for a while after. Occasionally I lost my focus and let my hand trail elsewhere. Up her stomach to her chest. Along the soft muscles of her back. Over that firm ass of hers and down her thigh to the back of her knee. I did try to behave myself, it just wasn't working too well.

The idle hand was rubbing little circles on her hip when she startled me into processing a real thought. It sounded like she had forced air into her lungs. It was that noise Rosalie made when she had got herself so worked up she started crying too hard to breathe properly.

I propped myself up on my left elbow and glanced at her over her shoulder. I asked fearfully, hoping to God she said no. "Are you crying?"

Bad memories flashed across my mind.

"Alice, what the hell, why are you crying?"

"Jasper, w-what d-did we do!?"

"No." she whispered unconvincingly. Not an entire second passed before her body shook and the tears started to flow. She changed her mind, "Y-yes."

I felt my whole body run cold. Was she hurt? Was she upset because we had sex in the first place? "Why? Why are you crying, Bella? You said you wanted this."

She sounded frustrated and lost when she answered. "Just because. Because of e-everything."

I gently rolled her so I could see her, and I pulled her into a protective grip.

"J-jasper, we shouldn't have d-done this!"

"Why not, Alice? We're together now, so what's the problem?"

I did a damn good job at masking my terror when I attempted to comfort her. "Hey, calm down, okay? Don't talk yet- just calm down."

After a while, her hysterical outburst had settled into light sadness. I kissed the salty wetness away from her cheeks. She smiled at me just so very slightly.

I felt my entire body coil with anxiety, fearing the worse. "Are you okay?"

I tried my hardest to force a bitter, heart breaking conversation, out of my mind. You know, I had kind of sort of loved Alice Brandon. I had tried to be what she asked me to be. I wanted to be her crutch. I wanted to teach her how to walk on her own as I helped her with the healing process. She told me no. She said that if we were going to be together, then it had to be strictly non-romantic.

She said that she loved Peter, and I should love Jane. That we were just a fling to gain life experience.

I had always known that she had just been too scared to break away from Peter again. That she wasn't able to let herself trust me the way she trusted him. That she, at the time, wasn't ready to let someone else keep her standing up because she was so used to Peter holding onto her so very tightly.

She told me we were over that day. In her exact words: 'I don't want this anymore, Jasper. You're just not Peter- I don't want you.'

I learned what heart break was the day my mom died, but that day was the first time I actually felt my heart being torn out and spit on. Do you know how many times I cried over Alice? How many times Rosalie almost got her ass super-kicked by a black belt because she refused to stop harping at Alice over what she did to me?

It took us weeks before we even started looking at one another. It wasn't until just before school started that we had struggled our way back to being friendly. Then the whole group broke in half, and it became very clear that I couldn't be anything to Alice. Not even a friend.

So I had let myself become everything to Bella. Why not? I had nobody who I would want to be shared with. I wanted only her. If she wasn't okay, if she was going to pull an Alice on me, I would die. I would honestly and truly just fucking die.

"Yes." Bella answered my question. I felt the relief of a thousand wash through me. She was fine. She was calming down. She wasn't going to leave me.

"What was all that about?" I asked her, tense because I wasn't sure I really did want to know.

Her eyes locked onto mine, and she shivered once. "I think too much, that's all." After a second of deliberation, she offered me a real smile, sounding optimistic. "I just think too much."

I couldn't hold back my temper when I snapped at her. "Well don't fucking do that to me."

Her mouth fell open at my fierceness. I mentally scolded myself for being so short with the woman I loved. I sighed and decided I should explain my fear to her.

"When Alice and I… God, it was horrible. She cried for like three hours." I felt sick as I pinched my eyes closed. I had to shake my head to ward off the memory. The bed creaked when Bella moved on it.

"So what had happened?" She asked me gently.

I cringed, not wanting to think about it, but knowing she deserved an answer. "We were together for a while, Bella. Quite a while, considering how I get with people. It was at a party of hers. Marcus convinced me to try one beer. I'm such a fucking loser- I couldn't stop once I got started."

Do you know how times you need to throw up to empty your stomach? Three. I found out the afternoon following that night.

I felt my eyes widen with the memories. "It's a little hazy after that. Alice somehow had my shirt and belt off in the living room. Tanya got all pissy and told us to take it upstairs. The next thing I remember clearly was her waking me up all freaked out. There was some blood on her sheets, and she couldn't find half of our clothes."

She had finally calmed down around ten in the morning, we woke up at six thirty. Never again would I be okay with girls and tears.

I shook my head mournfully. "Just try not to cry if… if we do this again. You're going to give me a heart attack."

Her arms wrapped around me. "I'm sorry. I had no idea."

Always sorry for what's not her fault. Sigh...

I laughed a little bit. "Don't be sorry, there's no way you could have known." I noticed that there was a clawing pain in my stomach. How many hours had passed since breakfast? I pointed out, "I'm hungry."

"Me, too." she informed me.

I rolled away from her and strolled over to the dresser. I pulled open my tip (top) drawer and rummaged for a few scraps of suitable clothes. Where the hell was my big blue shirt? That would be great on her. I loved that damn shirt.

I swear I could feel her eyes burning a hole into my back. She was right earlier, we didn't even need to talk to have a conversation. My instincts were telling me all I needed to know about what she was doing. I was inside of her head or something.

Confident in my sixth sense, I asked her casually, "Enjoying the view, Bella?" A moment later a pillow hit me in the back of the head and bounced onto the floor. That's a yes.

I laughed at her action and found the shirt, pulling it and some pajama pants out. I sat with her on the bed and grinned as I gave her my shirt.

She looked at me questioningly. "And I have this why?"

I smiled at her. "Because you're wearing it." I'd seduce her and slip it onto her while she was weak minded if I had to. I wanted to see her in it. Leaning forward a little, I whispered huskily, "I want you to have me on you all night."

Just as I had hoped, her cheeks practically blazed with that perfect shade of red. Could we patent it and sell makeup in that color? The shade 'Bella'? Girls around the world would buy it and use it to tempt their men.

She slipped into the shirt, leaving it down low enough for me to stare at the tops of her breasts. I couldn't decide if I was upset by that- because she was messing with me on purpose, or if I just loved her more because she knew how to play the game.

She got up and unsteadily walked towards the door. "Wait!" I called after her, running to her side. Her hair was crazy. They were already going to guess what we did, might as well let her hold firmly onto her dignity by making her look presentable!

I messed with her hair for a few seconds, smiling. "I don't own a brush, sorry." When she looked all spiffy again, I opened the door to my room. We walked beside one another as we entered the living room.

Carlisle looked just plainly and simply horrified to see Bella in nothing but my shirt. He sounded like he was the pastor, and he wailed, "Bella! You too?"

I smirked when my sister hit him in the arm. She had one mean ass punch when she really wanted to hurt you. Carlisle looked like a little kid who was just slapped by his best friend. "That hurt." Rosalie just glared at him, her eyes full of unhappiness.

After a moment, she returned her attention to us. "I put leftovers in the fridge for you guys."

She looked a little sad. I could imagine why. Yesterday, when I learned through her and Carlisle's fight that she had romped with Caius, I also came to learn that she wished she had not. She admitted that she only did it because he pressured her into it.

Caius was going to die for that when I saw him next. Somebody better hold me the hell back, or I was going to jail.

Bella glanced at me curiously. She had picked up on Carlisle's slip- to no surprise. I glanced hopefully at Rosalie. I hated secrets, all they did was hurt a person. I wanted Bella to know everything. Rose seemed to understand that. With a defeated sigh, she offered me a sluggish shrug before looking at the TV screen. Carlisle frowned and did the same.

I took Bella's hand in my own and led her into the kitchen. After entering the privacy of the kitchen, she asked, "What's all that about?"

I tried to think of what and how to say it to her. I pulled the lasagna plates from the fridge and started to heat one up before I decided on bluntness. "Rosalie slept with Caius yesterday. That's what my and Carlisle's fight earlier was about."

"Oh." she responded softly.

I shrugged, tense again. I was not happy with the idea of Caius right now. I opened the pantry and started looking for my box of almost-instant Jell-O. Bella set two glasses on the table and poured Coke into them. I smirked, but said nothing as I extracted the aforementioned box.

I win!

I got a large pitcher of hot faucet water and started mixing my quarry. It had to cool overnight. "Tomorrow we can be igneous together." We both started chuckling as I set the bowl on the top shelf of the fridge.

I heard her messing with the microwave as she asked me, "How is your shoulder.?"

Throbbing internally. Stinging because of the air. Going to bruise like my eye.

"In pain. It's still sort of bleeding." I answered her quite simply.

Her eyes met mine, and she looked horrified. "Oh my God, really?"

"Yep." I smiled as I crouched down by the sink and peered inside, looking for the First Aid kit. "I bet it's going to scar." I extracted the clear container and pried it open. I was totally hot on the idea of it scarring and being there for me to see anytime I wanted.

"And you're okay with that for what reason, exactly?" She asked with equal amounts of surprise and wonder.

I ripped open one of the plus sized bandages and carefully slapped it over the wound. With a smile I grabbed Bella's hand and playfully twirled her into me. I answered from the very deepest parts of my heart. "Because, you've marked me, m'lady. Now I will belong to you forever." I had tried to lighten up a potentially awkward comment with a bit of playfulness.

She hugged me tight and beamed. "No matter what?"

I tilted her head upward and gently brushed my lips against hers in a delicate little display of affection. I promised her, "No matter what."

Teaser for c25: Isabella Swan, daughter of the police chief, was now officially in possession of alcohol underage.

All reviewers who say more than "update soon" or "great chapter" will get an extended teaser!

((Sorry for the late update. I haven't been feeling very well.))