Chapter 38
I raced back to the cabin and quickly switched my front right truck tire out for the spare and phoned Carlisle. I told him to call Bella's father and tell him that we'd gotten a flat on the way there, that we'd be a few minutes late. When I was done I rubbed my fingers along the tire so that my hands were dirty enough to match my excuse. When I went inside the cabin, Bella was watching Emmett play Guitar Hero. She leaped off of the couch and stumbled towards me the moment she'd seen me standing in the doorway. I went to meet her in the middle and wrapped my arms around her, lifting her off of the ground and pulling her closer to me so that I could take in her scent.
"Emmett, Carlisle can fill you in, we have to go." I told him, setting Bella carefully back down on the floor.
"Okay, I'll head back after this song." His eyes were still glued to the television screen.
"Actually, can you run to Bella's and drive my truck home? Edward and Alice are leaving or I'd ask her." Bella eyed me curiously as she slipped on her coat and shoes.
"Uh huh." He mumbled, his fingers flying across the colorful buttons of the 'guitar'. I grabbed Bella's book bag and led us out to the truck, my hand gently guiding her by the small of her back.
"So what's going on?" She asked over the sound of the gravel crunching below us as we pulled out of the driveway.
"Bella . . . how serious are you about going through with your idea?" My question caught her a bit off guard. She stared ahead for a moment. The beams from the headlights bounced along the dirt path in front of us.
"Um, well . . . I want to do whatever's best for everyone. If it will help Edward not want to eat me then I mean, I guess we should do it." I could feel her nerves, but I could tell she was sincere.
Her selflessness mixed with her impulsive decision making was part of the reason why I wanted to buy this time for her. I'd only known her for a week and already she was ready to leave her life behind for me. I was every bit of grateful and I knew that there was something more to this, something more to us - a tie that held us together, one that reached beyond what was in front of us and connected us at the soul. But I wanted her to learn how to be more decisive, to allow herself to decide what she wants and go for it. She was so quick to make the easy choice or to let someone else decide.
"Bella, this is about you. Are you sure this is what you want? If it doesn't go well . . . the only way I can protect you is to change you."
"I know, but I also know that I want to be with you forever, if it has to be sooner than we planned - that's okay with me." She reached over and placed her hand on my thigh and it was hard to keep my eyes on the road, I couldn't help but glance down. I felt a bit of embarrassment from her as she pulled her hand back into her lap.
"We need to come up with a plan then and soon. If your idea works, it can buy us some time. We can do things the right way, but if not - if Edward snaps, then I'll have to turn you. The problem is, it's not only your family we have to convince that your dead - it's the Quileutes."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember when I told you that we had a treaty with them? Well that treaty says that we aren't allowed to bite any human or the treaty is void. Your father is friends with some of the tribe members and our relationship is public. They'd figure it out."
"What if we faked your death too?"
"That could work, we'd have to make it believable. Even though it's a back up plan, we need it to be thorough."
"So where was Edward? What happened?"
"He . . . " I struggled with how exactly to tell Bella that he'd been right under our noses and feeding on human blood. "He may have had a relapse in diet." I said carefully. Her eyes grew wide.
"He drank from a human? I thought you said his control was - "
"He said that it wasn't a mistake. In some strange way he thought he was protecting you." I felt her confusion and sighed. "He . . . was near the school today Bella. Out in the woods. It seems as if he can't read your mind. He's never been close to you long enough to really know for sure and it was driving him nuts. He didn't want to be thirsty just in case he came into contact with you or your scent during his little . . . experiment." Her eyebrows scrunched together.
"Is there something wrong with me?" She asked.
"What are you talking about? Of course not."
"I just mean if he can't read my mind . . . Has that ever happened before?"
"Not that I know of, but it doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. I'm sorry Bella. I feel like I've failed you. I'm supposed to be protecting you and everything just keeps slipping through my fingers."
"You're doing your best, that's all that matters and I'm still here. I love you."
"I love you too Bella."
We pulled up to her house and I made sure to park the truck at an angle in which Chief Swan would be able to see the spare tire. I shut off the ignition and went to walk Bella inside. Her father met us out on the porch. He was a bit worried.
"Bella, you guys alright? Dr. Cullen called, said you got a flat tire on the way."
"We're fine dad." She reassured him.
"Do you mind if I step inside and wash up?" I asked him, holding up my dirty hands for tax.
"Uh, yeah sure. Of course." He stepped aside to let Bella and I in. As I washed my hands in the kitchen I could hear her father questioning her in the living room.
"Did you get enough to eat? You look stressed out. Everything okay?"
"Yeah, uh, Jasper made us dinner and I'm fine. Just kind of tired." She told him, letting out what sounded like a fake yawn. I fought a grin as dried my hands and pulled out my phone to text Emmett.
How long until you're here?
His reply came seconds later.
Already down the street bro.
I was a bit surprised by how fast he'd managed to get here, though he could run much faster than I could drive, I'd just half expected him to still be sitting out at the cabin in front of the TV screen.
I went to join Bella and her father in the living room to say 'goodbye'.
"Chief Swan, thank you for allowing Bella to spend the evening with me. Bella, I'll see you in the morning when I pick you up for school." Her father gave me a curt nod before resuming his spot in front of the television with his can of beer. Bella followed me to the door.
"Goodnight Jasper."
"Good night." I gave her a wink and headed to my truck. Emmett was waiting patiently in the tree line just down the road. I pulled over when I could tell that no one was watching us and let him in, scooting myself to the passenger seat.
"Um, I'm supposed to tell you that Alice is waiting for you. She's not going to Alaska." Emmett told me as he shut the drivers side door.
"What? He promised me they were going to leave tonight." I had to fight a wave of anger.
"He is leaving tonight, but she's staying. She's up in Bella's room."
"Great, just what Bella needs, another unexpected vampire up in her bedroom for the second night in a row. I gotta go, she's probably worried. I'll see you tomorrow at school."
As I ran back to Bella's I could hear the rumble of my trucks engine heading in the opposite direction. I climbed up the side of the house and crawled through her bedroom window as quickly as I could manage. Alice was sitting with her legs crossed at the edge of Bella's bed. I could still hear Bella downstairs talking to her father and I let out a breath of relief, knowing that at least she hadn't been frightened by my absence.
"Emmett said you're staying?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't think it was the right move, but I could still feel her anger and hurt. It was going to take time for her to trust him again.
"Edward wanted to be alone these past few days, so I figured I'd extend his vacation from me." She snapped.
"You know that's not what's going on. He needs you." I tried to assure her.
"And I needed him, but he left and worst of all, he hid from my sight. I felt like I was going crazy this week, like my gift was failing me and he was the one putting me through it. The Denali's are going to keep an eye on him for a bit, I don't have the energy."
"Has your vision cleared up since he's been back?"
"Only slightly."
"Well, that's a good sign. Just . . . don't put him out in the cold forever Alice. He needs your support to get through this. We need Edward at his best if we're going to make this work."
"I still think that it's too risky. You're putting her in danger."
"She's already in danger Alice, it doesn't matter what we do. His emotions changed when I brought up the idea. I think he just needs to face this head on. We all do."
"I can't even look him in the eye right now. I just need some space."
"You will get through this. He's still in there, somewhere deep down Edward is still Edward. You've never given up on me when I've made bad choices. I don't blame you if you don't want to go with him tonight, but I think you should think on it."
"I guess we'll see what the future holds. I'll see you in the morning, same time and place as today." Both of our heads shot towards the door, Bella was coming up the stairs. By the time she opened the door, Alice was gone. Her face lit up upon seeing me waiting for her on the bed. She dropped her book bag by the door and closed it before coming to hop into my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck.
"I was half afraid I'd find Emmett in here again instead of you." She joked. I kissed her lips, savoring the warmth I felt from her soft skin on mine. She pulled back to catch her breath and looked into my eyes.
"Hold that thought for just a moment, I need to take a quick shower. I'll be right back." She said, scooting herself off the bed. She grabbed her clothes from the dresser and left me with a smile before disappearing from the room, leaving me with my thoughts.
I laid back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling, trying to think of ways that we could fake our death that wouldn't leave any questions. The tribe knew our secrets, which meant they knew exactly how to kill us. They knew that fire was the only true way to destroy us. To make sure we couldn't gather the pieces of our bodies and adhere them back together with venom. Would a fiery car crash do the job? Maybe. Vampire reflexes meant that a wreck was highly unlikely, but would they know that? I was 90% sure that they didn't have any active members of the pack, which increased our odds of getting away with whatever plan we chose without meeting the sharp teeth of a phased wolf, but they could still expose us.
Perhaps a house fire that neither of us could escape? A possible gas leak that blows the whole place to smithereens? Controlling a full blown house fire was a lot more dangerous, but would be more believable to the tribe. Who's place would we sacrifice? My family's home? Bella's? We couldn't leave her father without a place to live, though I could find a way to leave him a reasonable sum of cash, say it was a donation after the fact. No, I didn't think Bella would go for that. If we burnt my family's home down, they'd also have to relocate, which wouldn't be the most unbelievable scenario after a loss of a child. Maybe we could just tell them that we ran away together to get eloped, a teenage runaway wasn't the most unbelievable story, at least her father wouldn't think she was dead. She could still write letters down the line.
Bella came back into the room and shut the door behind her quickly, pulling her bottom lip up between her teeth. I was surprised to see her in nothing but a large oversized t-shirt that went down to the middle of her thighs, her long brown locks dripped water onto the floor as she stood nervously waiting for my reaction. I raised an eye brow and sent her a flicker of my curiosity. Her lips pulled up into a smirk as she went to hang her towel over the rocking chair in the corner of the room. When she climbed into bed next to me, I caught a glimpse of her underwear and let out a small sigh of relief. I hadn't realized how tensed up my body had became since she entered the room. It had effectively distracted me from the stress of the evening. All I wanted to do now was focus on the gorgeous girl in front of me, who was clearly trying to get my attention in all the most dangerous ways.