48. Finishing what you start

The next morning, Ness woke to Jake giving her a kiss on the cheek, and tucking the quilt up under her chin. "I'm going for a run, stay and sleep in," he said softly, kissing her again. She gave a gentle drowsy moan in response, snuggling back under the covers.

She heard the bedroom door quietly click shut and rolled over. She'd slept with the brace off her leg for the whole night and now she could feel the little twinges of pain from just the small sideways movements of comfortable sleep. It was going to be a while before she could go without it for any length of time. She gripped a pillow and placed it between her knees, trying to get comfortable. But the more she thought of her knee, the more anxious she was to get the safety net of the brace back on. After tossing and turning for at least fifteen minutes, she sighed to herself and sat up, reaching for the brace and strapping it back on over her fading scars.

She could feel the viscid mess still on her inner thighs from their love making last night and her hair felt sticky from the salt spray of the beach. Ness pulled Jake's t-shirt over her head and snuck down the hall to have a much needed shower.

She was opening the bathroom door when Rachel came tiptoeing down the hall, still in the clothes she had on last night and looking like she'd slept on the beach, or maybe had not slept at all. Either way, Ness was pretty sure wherever she'd spent the night, it had been in Paul's arms.

Ness arched an eyebrow at her, "Walk of shame, Rach?" she asked teasingly, but open enough to give Rachel the chance to talk about it if she wanted to. And she wanted to.

"Agh, I don't know what's wrong with me," she moaned, irritated with herself. "I don't do this sort of thing normally. I just can't resist the asshole. I mean, he annoys the shit out of me the second he opens his mouth, but that mouth, oh my god, I can't keep away from it," she said rubbing her face and raking her fingers through her glossy hair.

"What exactly is the problem?" Ness asked, leaning against the door frame, conscious of the fact she was naked under the huge t-shirt.

"I don't know. I don't want to go out with the guy; when we have our clothes on, he annoys the crap out of me. But in bed, he is very talented, like… gifted… his body is supreme," she professed. "The sex is like nothing else, Ness. He just looks at me and my legs magically part," Rachel said, using both her hands to emphasize. She pressed her face into her palms shaking her head at herself, "Agh, I feel like such a slut."

Ness regarded the woman standing in front of her as she mentally self-flagellated. The whole time Rachel had lived with them, Ness had only ever known her to be with one guy… once… Paul. She guessed Rachel could have her pick of guys, but she was focused on her internship. This girl was no slutty sex-fiend. "No you're not Rach, a slut is someone who sleeps with lots of different guys. It's just Paul, right?" Ness asked, feeling a bit weird giving relationship advice to someone five years older than her.

Rachel nodded closing her eyes, lightly thudding her head on the drywall.

"What you have Rachel… is a fuck buddy."

Jakes sister's eyes popped open, she looked at Ness, her face lifting into that same, sunny spectacular grin she loved to see on Jake. Ness thought to herself she hoped to meet Rebecca one day too, just to see if she had that same brilliant smile also.

"You're right! He's my fuck buddy!" she squealed, then remembering her father was still asleep just a few rooms away, she covered her own mouth, shutting herself up.

She leaned in to kiss her brother's woman on the cheek. "Thank you Ness," she called as she did a light shimmy of her hips and waved her jazz hands, tip-towing backwards, her face as animated as Ness had ever seen it. "I have a fuck buddy!" she whisper-yelled, giggling as she slipped in to the old bedroom she once shared with her twin.

Laughing at Rachel's crazy exuberance, Ness made her way into the bathroom. The room was clean and small. Dark blue tiles on the floor and half-way up the walls, a homage to the decade the house was built, same too the light blue laminex on the vanity. The shower was newer, converted to make access for Billy easier, room to stand and for a chair to sit also. Flicking on the hot water, Ness rummaged through her toiletry bag, grabbing out the little bottles of travel shampoo she'd brought along with her. Once the water was adjusted, she stripped out of the large top and stepped in.

Renesmee enjoyed the heat and cleansing comfort as she closed her eyes, she lent her head back and soaped up her long mane. She had foam over her hairline, slinking forward over her brow when she felt the slight breeze of the bathroom door being opened. There was silence in the room as Ness's hands stilled on her head, her body frozen. After what felt like an eternity of quiet, nothing but the constant splash of water on the tiles and over her body and a quiet shuffle of movement behind the frosted glass screen, Ness called out. "Is that you Jake? It better be, because you're fucking scaring the shit out of me." Ness ducked her head under the water, feeling the bubble of panic of not being able to see with the soap threatening her eyesight. She was answered by the echoing clank of the screen latch opening and a cool hand curving over her side, "It's just me," he purred openly, the hand was cold but familiar.

"Christ, Jake, you can't just sneak in like that! I fucking nearly had a heart attack!" she said, rinsing the last of the shampoo from her hair and attempting to open her eyes.

"Who else would it be?" he laughed, standing behind her and wrapping his arms around her, copping a feel.

Ness shoved her way out of his hands, "You could have been anyone. I had soap in my eyes, I couldn't see," she peeved, turning and rinsing her face. "You can't do that to me."

"I'm sorry babe. I wanted to surprise you. A little morning warm-up together," he atoned, his cool hands resting on her hips.

"Well, for the future, there is never any kind of good surprise when a girl is naked in an unfamiliar bathroom," she scolded, bending down to pick up the tiny bottle of conditioner.

"I'm sorry," he said softly as he took the bottle from her hands, turning her around. He meticulously applied the luscious cream, his hands raking over her curls, that, when wet, unraveled, hanging down to the curve of her feminine ass. Ness let his sweet attentions relax her. She was still so easily riled up, always a little anxious about being alone. Nervous about being vulnerable.

Jake lent his chin over her shoulder, pulling her back into him, her backside pressing into his thighs, strong arms supporting a portion of her weight as they crossed over her chest. "You okay now?" he asked, resting a soft kiss on the side of her neck as they let the treatment sit.

"It's alright, I'm just still pretty freaked out about stuff sometimes."

"Honestly Ness, who else would it have been?" he asked rhetorically. His tone was trying to appease, to reassure. To Jake, this little red house was the epitome of safety. His home.

" Nahuel," she answered bluntly, as if the answer was obvious. "Escaped from jail, hell bent on finding me." Her head was hung low, her shoulders rounded as she leaned back into her best friend, she sucked in a breath, mumbling. "Aponi, with a camera, just so she could try and ridicule me further." Then she turned to look up at him, a small half smile across her forgiving, candied pink lips, "Or Quill, just because he's a dirty perv," she giggled. It was a little forced, Quill was just a dirty perv, but Aponi and Nahuel; they had very different agendas. As comforting and homely as this little red house was, she still wasn't home. She didn't have one.

Jake turned her around, pulling her against his chest, his arm wrapped around her shoulder as she sunk her head into the crook of his arm, resting in the shelter. This was her home.

"Sweetie, I'm sorry. I'm such an idiot."

"Don't Jake, you're not an idiot," she soothed, placing her palm gently on his cheek. "You just don't think about it as much as I do," she said, trying to restrain the automatic flinch she had as she thought of it. Of how her skin had crawled as he'd slunk up next to her in the pouring rain on that quiet road in Eugene.

"That's the thing," he berated himself, brushing her wet hair off her forehead. "I do. I'm still looking over my shoulder every five fucking minutes. I know we joked about it last night, but I wanted to fucking punch Ateara across the beach and break those wondering fingers of his." His face contorting into the rage he'd been struggling so fiercely to hide. He wrapped his arms around Ness further, cocooning her under the water.

"It's alright. I know he's only playing," she said, with a dismissive wave of her hand. Then she shrugged, looking down to a corner tile, her gaze following a slosh of bubble slinking down the tile. "But I do wish he wouldn't touch me uninvited."

"I'll talk to him," Jake offered cogently.

"Don't," she stopped. "It doesn't matter now. We're leaving in a few hours or so. I'll be even more ok by the time we see him next. Anyway, I don't think the perv can help himself, I do have the best ass on the res, apparently," she chuckled. Her lips were taut across her teeth in a glorious smile as she winked solicitously at Jacob.

He loved the way she could go from freaked, to freaky, in just seconds. His hands smoothed over her ass, slippery from the conditioner that sloped over her skin. The silky curves gliding beneath his hands as hers rippled up over his chest.

"You're so cold, baby," she observed, she'd been so absorbed in her own anxieties to have noticed any earlier. "Here, get under the water." She shifted so that Jake had most of the heat.

"It started bucketing about two miles in, the rain is fucking cold," he said as the heat of the shower began to defrost his bones.

"I hope you don't get sick," Ness fretted, reaching for the soap and lathering him up.

"Luckily I have a sexy nurse to look after me if I do," he smirked, making his hands soapy and gliding them over her breast and stomach. His hands molded to her curves in a loving caress, his fingers making patterns like incense smoke as it curled through the calm, scented air.

"I could give you a sponge bath," she seduced, her slippery hands grabbing his hardening length and stroking. The tight lubricated grasp sent a bolt of pleasure through him. His knees buckled as a long grateful moan passed his lips, echoing off the cobalt tiles of the steamy room. Jake fisted his hands through her hair, his lips folding into hers. They were warm now as he sucked in on her tongue, flicking lightly at the roof of her mouth. His hands ambled over her side as his fingers counted her ribs. His thumbs hooked around, outlining the lower edges of her breast, lifting and buffing as they moved under the satisfying weight.

Ness kept up her travels, back and forwards along his shank as he soul kissed her lips, pressing her up against the cool ceramic. His hands glided down her waist, over the convex of her hips. One hand moving further down her thigh, his fingers passing over the brace and curling behind her knee. He lifted up her leg, hitching it to his hips, with her legs widened, he lined himself up to her opening heat…

"All right you two fucking Nympho's, get the fuck out so I can have a shower before we go!" came a squawking voice form the hall, accompanied by some heavy banging on the bathroom door.

The couple pulled abruptly away from their kiss, Ness letting out a little giggle as her hands continued a few more tortious pumps. Jake did not find anything amusing. " Fucking Rachel," he muttered as he lowered Nessie's leg down. "Why don't you go have a shower at Paul's shit-hole of a house," he screamed back at her over his shoulder. He'd seen her walking back home as he started his jog, obviously having spent the night some place other than home. Jacob was planning on not saying anything about it, but if she was going to be a turd-burger, he could be an asshole baby brother too.

Jake turned back to his girlfriend, naked and wet and soapy in his arms. He leant forwards, kissing her again. Ness kissed him back, "What are you doing?" she asked, whispering into his mouth.

"Ignoring my sister."

"Well I can't," she said, taking her hands off his dick that she'd still been tugging on automatically. "There is no way we are doing it now," she announced, her palms coming up on to his pecs as she held him at half an arm's length.

There was nothing like your sister, or the threat of someone, barging in to put a big fucking dampener on what had been a sure thing five seconds ago. Fucking Rachel.

Jake let out a giant, blue balled, cock blocked, disappointed sigh. He knew when to walk away. Fucking Rachel.

"All right," he ceded quietly, the displeasure in his voice oozing out with his petulance. "We are nowhere near done though," he said, looking at Ness through his wet lashes, his eyebrows raised as he looked at her in attentive restraint. "Nowhere near done," he repeated, a sexy glint in his eye as he squeezed the water out of his hair and made to open the shower door.

Before stepping out, Jake quickly turned. He pressed his body up against Nessie's, pinning her against the wall. His mouth was hot and hard as his tongue searched through every nook and cranny he could find. His skilled hands read brail over her body, speed reading over every line and contour as if to memorize her body like a syllabus guide. His fingers ran over her heat, slicing up through the middle. His digits easily coated in her lube from their almost fuck just ninety seconds earlier. An abandoned gasp fled her lips as two large fingers entered her quickly as his other hand came down and flicked at her nub. He moved in and out a small number of times, keeping his other fingers rubbing on her pearl.

Ness moved her hand over him again, rubbing and pummeling with a sweet throb. Not caring about anyone else but the glorious Adonis holding her in his arms that instant. She conceded, her hand guiding his cock as he supported her leg up by his ribs. "Maybe just a quickie."

"Yeah-ah," he cheered in his rumbled, base voice, pushing all the way inside Ness, thrusting upwards and lifting her up onto her toes as he slammed her against the wall, back and forward. Her rear hit on the tiles with each movement, incoherent mewing escaped her lips, muffled by his tongue.

"I can hear you fucking!" Rachel yelled, as she rattled the door knob.

Ness and Jake stilled, both eyes wide in startling shock, his long member still inside her as she balanced on one leg against the wall. Jake's hand held her braced thigh against his side, her leg hitched around his ass.

"Did you lock the door?" Ness asked in a panicked and much whispered voice.

"I don't think it actually works," he breathed back, his forehead against hers as he looked into her eyes. They both new it was a lost cause. They were destined to spend the day in a hyped up state of arousal, only inches away from each other but helpless to finish their literal anti-climax. Ness shifted her hips, letting his swollen member fall out, the vacant ache immediate between her thighs as her leg was once again lowered to the ground.

"I love you," he said, his hands cupping her face as he planted a slow, savoring kiss, dragging her lower lip out deliberately as he separated.

Jake wrapped his arms around Ness, holding her close as they danced through the water, her cheek resting on his chest. Ness jumped, giving an exposed squeak as Rachel opened the door and stuck her head in the ajar space. "Get the hell out!" Jake bellowed, turning to hide Ness's nakedness through the screen.

"Oh calm down Jacobina, I have my eyes closed," she barked. Then, soothing and using her best entreating voice, she added, "Come on Ness," she pleaded, "I really need a shower."

"All right Rachel. Just let me wash the conditioner out," Ness griped back yelling to the ceiling. "Can I have two minutes please?" she insisted, incited after being bean-blocked twice in as many minutes.

"Fine," Jacob's sister accepted, stepping back and slamming the door shut.

Ness looked at Jake, a shared guise of exasperation and unresolved tension flowing between them. His hands were still around her waist, her hand was still splayed across his back, the other combed through his hair. She shimmied her body over his, her pert breasts washing over his tanned muscles in a last ditch effort to feel him against her. She stood back to full height abruptly, letting out a frustrated grunt.

"Let me rinse this out," she said, getting down to the abstemious business at hand. Jake helped her, raking his hands through and separating out the strands as they rinsed her rambling long hair. Standing behind, it wasn't long before he started to move her sopping hair away from her neck and plant soft butterflying kisses down from behind her ear, and over her bare shoulder. His hands grabbing a handful of breast each, his fingers finding the nipple beneath, tweaking and playing with the jutting flesh. Ness gave a little moaning sigh, as she shifted out of her lover's hands. "We've got to get out, sweetie."

"I don't want to," he whispered, his voice husky and throaty, brimming with his lust. He started kissing her, his tongue tracing the inner rim of her lip, flicking the tip of her tongue as he pressed in deeper, harder, hotter. Ness pulled back.

"Well, I don't want to share this steamy shower with your sister, so we're getting out," she stated, reaching and turning of the water.

Jake sighed for what felt like the hundredth time. "Nowhere near finished," he repeated as he pecked her again swiftly and clicked open the screen. He stepped out and dried himself, he was feeling pissed, frustrated, unsatisfied and… oh yeah… he had a boner that could hold up a wet towel and his balls were so tight they felt like they were ready to drop off. It was going to be a long fucking day. Fucking Rachel.

After a very tense breakfast between siblings, Jake, Ness, and Rachel started to say their goodbyes to Billy and get ready to head over to Forks to pick Bella up from her dad's house. As Jake was packing their bags and Ness was finishing the dishes for Billy, he rolled into the kitchen.

"Renesmee, I heard what happened last night on the beach," he said, taking the moment of her being alone to talk. Ness continued to wipe the low bench as the man spoke. "and I just wanted to apologize on behalf of the Quileute people."

"It's okay, Billy. Aponi has issues, I know," said Ness generously, wishing to put the hostilities behind her.

"It's not okay. We are a hospitable and generous people, Ness. We are proud of our teachings, and our heritage. As Tribal Council Chairman, I want you to know we don't advocate the prejudiced things she was spruiking last night," he announced, full of the power and wisdom that his position and lineage bequeathed.

"But as Jacob's father, I want you to know it doesn't matter to me that you aren't native. I can see how much you love him and certainly how much he loves you. That's what I want for my son… Love." He was looking up at her with an earnest open candor. Ness placed the dish rag over the tap, she scraped over a chair from the table and sat facing the father of the man she did indeed love more than her own life.

"Thank you, Billy. It means more than you know to hear you say that… as chairman but more so, as Jake's dad." Knee to knee they spoke, "you're kind of like Chief, right?" she asked.

He nodded, his eyes crinkling and that same shining smile of Jake's came beaming through. "We don't govern with the old ways any more, but yes, if we did, I'd probably be chief."

"Well, as chief, I want you to know that in the future," she held her hands up in a pausing manner, "and I mean distant future, any children we have, will be Quileute, and I don't mean by linage or tribal numbers, but by culture. Your grandchildren will know, protect and respect the Quileute culture, like their father does. I promise." Ness was searching into the dark, sage, black eyes, his hands coming up and gripping firmly on to hers.

"Sarah would have loved you," he said, a quiet tear brimming on his lids. Ness returned his grip, a hot prickle of goose bump shivering over her arms and back. She held in her tears, her lips trembling a little as she bit down on her lip. She hoped, with all her might, that his mother would have love her, because she sure as hell loved their son. Sitting in the kitchen of the little red house, Ness stared at the wooden cupboards and white bench of her kitchen, the old cedar chopping board lying in the dish drainer as Billy sat opposite her, a warm, dry, fatherly hand in hers that little Rogue-gorge, Red Robin, suddenly felt very much at home.

"Let's get the hell out of this shit hole," called Rachel from the hall way, breaking father and potential daughter out from their private moment.

"Language Rachel!" called Billy, wheeling towards his testy daughter as she stood with bag in hand.

"I don't mean this house dad; I just mean the Res in general," she said dourly.

"Much better," clipped Billy sarcastically as he reached up his arms, requesting a goodbye hug from his daughter. He was under no illusions of how unappealing the isolation and limitations Reservation life held for the youth of today. He knew how hard it was for his daughter to be in the house, still ten years later, surrounded by the ghost of her mother.

Jake came in, striding over to Renesmee as she stood. "Oh come on Ricardo, " he said, looking daggers at his sister, "you didn't seem to mind getting comfy at the little house on River Street last night."

Rachel glared at him, "Shut the fuck up Jacob!"

"Rachel!" Billy yelled, confused as to the reason for his eldest child's outburst.

"Well, he's being an asshole," she whined, avoiding eye contact. Her cheeks tinting pink under her russet skin. Everyone knew there were only three houses on that tiny street, one was old Mrs Barkers place, one was their Aunty Connie's house, and the third was the cottage that Paul and his father lived in. She was mortified her dad could possibly be allowed to have any inkling of her dalliances.

Ness gave Jake a little squeeze around the arm, looking back at him. "Don't be cruel, Jacob," she whispered at his ear.

"Fine," he huffed, unable to escape Nessie's soul piercing, beautiful pleading eyes as he kissed her temple.

Ness gave Jake a little push in Rachel's direction. "You two make up, I'm not spending four hours trapped in a car with this crap," Nessie scolded, like a mother hen.

Billy watched as two of his children stood in front of one another and apologized, giving one another a light, but genuine hug. Sarah would have absolutely loved this girl, he thought to himself as he observed the dynamic between the trio.

Before ten, the four housemates were on their way along the Olympic Highway, following the Sol Duc River as it meandered its way through the old-growth forest and back up towards Mount Olympus. By lunch time they were in Sequim, sitting around Rosalie's kitchen table, enjoying stuffed mushrooms and salad. And by evening, they were picking up some take-out Thai food on their way home. No sooner had the dishes been cleaned, and Jake was forcing a yawn, stretching up and mumbling something about hitting the hay.

All three girls looked puzzled at him over the dinner table, it was barely seven o'clock. He eyeballed Ness, his gaze flicking to the stairs and up, his eyes clouded with desire. His hand grazed under her ponytail and lightly touching her hairline at her neck. He had his bottom lip tucked between his perfect teeth, waiting for Ness to click on.

Then suddenly, the aching of not being satisfied earlier this morning washed over her, a bubble of laughter escaping her chest. She'd had that constant, pent up tension swimming through her gut all day, she'd almost forgotten about their ill-fated shower… almost.

She stood up abruptly, her chair scraping on the tiles. "Apparently, we're going to bed!" she eluded as she pressed herself against her lover's body. "I believe we have some unfinished business to attend to," Ness added, looking knowingly up into Jacob's eyes.

"Somebody simply had to have a shower this morning," she sang over her shoulder at Rachel as Jake hefted her up, and threw Ness over his shoulder, slapping her ass as it landed by his head, He ran up the stairs, two at a time, all the while Ness giggling as they went.

When they got to their room, Jake put her back on her feet, "Shower or bed," he asked standing behind her, pulling Renesmee's shirt off over her chest, kissing along the line of her back as he undid her bra from where they stood at the doorway.

"Um, I think, shower," she said as she turned and shut the door, walking backwards and pulling Jake by his shirt into their ensuite. They left a trail of clothes on their way, lips converging in a frenzied melee, as hands raked over beautiful bodies.

"Oh Fuck Ness, I've had blue balls all day," he uttered through his kisses.

"You think I haven't had a blue bean all day too?" she moaned as his fingers ran up to the apex of her thighs, his mouth finding a hard nipple and drawing it in.

"Ahhhh," she moaned, a wave of pleasure coursing through her as his fingers roamed over her curves and the hardened nub that was hidden in her wet slick as they waited impatiently for the water to heat. "Ah, man… Oh fuck. Yes, Jake."

He reached up and adjusted the spray as they stepped in. He had Renesmee up against the tiles, her leg up around his hips before she had a chance to feel the energizing heat of the water.

He was finishing what he'd started.