Chapter Twenty Four
Present Day
"And how is Esme these days," Barbara Walters asked.
Carlisle grinned. He leaned forward and pulled out his wallet, showing off pictures.
"You've become quiet an advocate for adoption, Carlisle, you and your lovely wife. How many have you adopted now?"
"Three, and God willing, we are going to adopt a little boy from a small country in Latin America. I can't give away any more information at this time. Esme is determined not to be jinxed."
"And what made you decide to do something as monumental as adopting all these children?"
"Esme always wanted a house full of children. And once she recovered from her hysterectomy, instead of getting down and depressed, she said, 'I guess I'm supposed to fill our house else wise.' And we have."
"Will this child you're adopting be your last?"
He nodded. "Probably. With me touring part time with these guys…I can't help as much as I'd like."
"There was some controversy that you wouldn't come back at all…" she prompted.
He nodded once more. "I was content with what I have at home, but when these four make up their minds about something…" he shook his head. "Plus, I think Essie was ready to get me out of the house," he added with a laugh.
"This is the first time in six months you haven't been covered in baby puke," Jake joked.
"And you aren't?" Carlisle shot back with a grin.
Jacob smiled. "Eh, well, being a dad is cool."
"Yeah, it is," Emmett added.
Edward remained stoic, his eyes downcast during this line of questioning. Barbara must have sensed it because she turned to Jasper. "After your mother's funeral, it began an even darker period for you, didn't it, Jasper?"
Jasper nodded. "Yeah, no one but Al really knew what was going on with me. It wasn't anyone's fault, it just was."
"Speaking of Alice…" Barbara said. "We have a surprise for you."
Jasper turned just in time to see Alice stepping from behind one of the cameras which zoomed in on Jasper's face.
"Alice…what?" he asked, shocked.
She smiled as she dropped onto his lap. "We are in our home, Jazzy," she said.
"But we agreed you weren't going to do this," he interjected.
She smiled. "No, you decided I wasn't going to do this. Not me."
He rubbed her just barely protruding stomach. "Are you sure? It was a really black time for you."
She put her hand on his face. "I talked to Jamey. He agreed. Our story needs to be told as well."
Jasper sighed. "Alright."
Alice turned to Barbara, but remained in Jasper's lap, her hand clutching tightly in his. "Well, let's go back to that same day, the day that baby Olivia was born…"
July 2003
An exhausted Alice made her way back to her and James' hotel room. "Where have you been?" came his voice from the darkened corner of the room.
Alice jumped slightly and clutched her heart, which was beating rapidly. "Esme had the baby," she said softly.
"Yeah, I was there," he said flatly. He flicked on the light and she blinked in the sudden brightness.
"You-you were?" she asked nervously.
"Damn it all, Alice," he said as he stood in one graceful motion. "Are you going to do this every time you think he needs you? Are you going to drop me every time?"
Alice looked down, shamefaced. "this is the last time," she whispered.
James's eyes blazed as he grasped her arm, not lightly. "Say it. Promise me, damn it."
There were tears in her eyes as she looked up and whispered, "I promise."
Present Day
"But that didn't last, did it?" Barbara asked.
Alice shook her head, tears now pouring freely down her face. "I was so unfair to Jamey," she said. "And that unfairness went on for a while…"
October 2004
Big news today in the music world; Breakdown has just released their first greatest hits album.
"Of course it's going to be awesome, and this is far from our last 'Greatest Hits' album," Emmett McCarty was heard saying today.
"And what of the supposed 'Greatest Hits curse' that plagues a lot of singers?" Carson Daley asked them.
Edward Masen laughed and said, "We survived the supposed 'sophomore album' curse, so I have a feeling we'll be just fine."
The other men in the group were in agreement. "We're a very close-knit group," Jasper Whitlock said. "These guys are my best friends. I don't know where I'd be without them."
"What do you think about Acapulco?" James asked.
Alice looked up blankly from the interview she was sneaking in to read. James didn't like for her to talk with the boys of Breakdown, much, didn't really even care for her to read about them, but she couldn't stop herself. She loved them all like brothers…all except for one. "For what, Jay?"
He sighed. "For our honeymoon. Come on, Alice. The press is giving me a hard enough time over making my solo album and the fact that I've already broken out with a hit. They need to know when we're getting married. We haven't even set a date yet."
She blew out a breath. "We will."
"When? We've been engaged for eight months. The tabloids have been going on and on about how you're a cover and that I'm really gay. Come on, Ali, you've got to work with me."
She bit her lip and went back to reading. "Acapulco sounds great, Jay."
He let out a little growl as he stood from where he had been looking over the different brochures. "Fuckin' all, Alice, can you not call me by my name?"
She looked back up at him with eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? You used to love it when I called you 'Jay'."
"You and I both know why you call me that, why don't you stop pretending?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said indignantly. "I'm sorry, James, had I known you didn't like it…"
"Save it, Alice." He ran a hand through blond curls that weren't the shade she wanted them to be and his eyes, the wrong color blue, bore into hers. "I'm not stupid, Alice. I'm not who you want to be with."
"That's not so!" she stated indignantly, even though she knew he was right.
He sighed and glanced at his watch. "We're having dinner with Mike and his new flame, remember? We need to go."
"Jamey," she said as she reached for his arm as he walked past.
"Save it," he said, jerking his arm away. "We need to go."
She bit her lip again and held in a sob as she stood and went to check her makeup.
Alice sucked in a breath. She had always loved the ocean breeze. It didn't matter if it was east coast, west coast, Mexico, the Mediterranean; all that she cared about was the salty smell. She glanced back into the restaurant. James was acting much happier now that he had some alcohol in his system and a friend by his side, even if it was that putz Newton.
Alice heard a sound and turned toward the hotel next to the restaurant. Her hands flew to her mouth. There, with two women slung around him, was Jasper.
He was drunk, that much was obvious. Whatever else he might have been, she wasn't sure. He could easily have been stoned on some form of drugs. She paused, one step aimed toward Jasper when she felt an arm go around her.
"Hey, babe," James said with a slight slur to his speech. His eyes followed what she was staring at and they narrowed. "You don't need the likes of him," he said as he turned them both back toward his apartment.
She just bit the inside of her cheek to keep from speaking and tucked herself into him, bracing herself against the onslaught of emotions flowing over her.
He didn't notice that something was bothering here, didn't notice that she didn't speak as he began kissing her, fondling her in the cab on the way home, and didn't realize how unresponsive he was as he began undressing her.
Alice was in a fog as she began making the motions. Her mind was torn in two. She cared about James, didn't want to see him hurt, but she didn't want to see Jasper hurt himself either.
"Alice?" James asked, bringing her back to present, and also back to the fact that she was half-undressed already.
Her mind warred, but she gave him a saucy smile. "Come here, Jamey, let me show you how I care…"
"Yeah, baby, I know you like this," he whispered against her skin.
She grabbed his hair and hauled his mouth to her neck, to the very spot she loved to have suckled on…the place Jasper had found. "Fuck, James," she whispered as she ground on him, her desires taking over.
"You like that, baby?" he asked her, his need straining against her.
"Fuck me," she whimpered.
"What?" he asked, sobering slightly. He knew of her past, so he always tried to make love to her.
"Fuck me, James. Fuck me hard." Help me not to feel this hurt anymore, she thought.
He ripped, literally ripped her clothing from her before attacking her skin. "Fuck, you're beautiful," he whispered before his tongue began to lave her navel.
"Shut up," she growled. She shoved him away and got up on her hands and knees on the bed.
"Ali…"
She looked at him and wiggled her ass. "This pussy is for you."
He looked confused for just a moment before he let out a primitive yell and then his hands were everywhere and she screamed as he thrust into her, rubbing her clit furiously, bringing her off quickly.
The alcohol worked against him as he reached his peak soon after and fell against her. "Damn," he said as he fell off of her and onto the bed, falling asleep almost immediately.
She looked at him and sighed. The release had been good, but not as satisfying as she wanted it to be. She needed…more. And she knew exactly where she could get it.
She was a woman possessed as she threw on a pair of jeans and a baby tee. She slid some flip-flops on her feet and ran out the door. She jumped onto the scooter she kept at James' house and hurried back to the hotel she had seen Jasper go into.
She pulled up onto the sidewalk and parked the scooter against the wall of the building. She dashed into the hotel and said, "Jasper Whitlock's room?"
The man behind the counter just looked at her. "Sorry, no one under that name."
She thought a moment, thinking. "Monroe," she said, using his middle name. "Whit Monroe."
The man sighed and said, "Room three oh eight. Third floor."
She nodded and yelled, "Thanks!" as she ran toward the elevator.
Her heart started throbbing in her chest and her breathing became labored, almost as if she had something sitting on her chest.
She walked out into the hallway and almost turned around, but she heard giggling and the door to room three oh eight opened.
"G'night, ladies," his slow southern voice said as he ushered the same two women out of his room. Her eyes closed when he turned her way. "Alice?"
She opened her eyes and looked at him. "I saw you, earlier."
His eyebrow rose. "And…?"
She walked over to him, her confidence restored. She brushed past the girls who were staring at her dumbfounded, gave Jasper a little shove, and shut the door in the girl's faces.
"Alice…what…?"
She gave him one more shove and he was pushed against the wall. "Fuck me, Jasper. I need you. I need your cock in me."
"Alice, that…this isn't you."
Her eyes filled with tears. "I'm not good enough to be one of your whores, Jasper?"
"Honey…you're more than that."
"I…" she sniffed back the tears. "I left James passed out drunk. I just need…I need you, Jasper," she finished softly. "Just…just for tonight."
He was still riding the high from earlier, still had a little alcohol in his system, and had it been she had shown up an hour earlier, he would have fucked her. But he couldn't. He couldn't do that to her. His feelings for her had been growing stronger, and he knew that he wasn't good enough for her, knew that what she needed was James, because he was stable and not fucked up on drugs, but that couldn't stop him from showing her, one last time.
"No," he said finally.
She let out a single sob and said, "Oh, okay…" and she moved toward the door.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. "I didn't say you could leave, darlin'. I said no to fucking you. I won't fuck you. But I will make love with you, just this once."
She gasped and he silenced it by putting his mouth over hers.
