Chapter 41: Spying (Light-Hearted?)
In the following weeks, Louisa lost count of the number of times people said that it wasn't her fault that Lambe wasn't sentenced to life in prison. The rational part of her brain agreed with them: she was seventeen. She wasn't an attorney or part of the police force responsible for collecting evidence. She hadn't even finished high school. Why on earth would any of this be her fault?
But then she remembered the cold, icy anger that burned through her veins as she lost her temper, doing the very thing her father had warned her against. At least the defence attorney was probably as miserable as she was after she had aired his dirty laundry in the middle of a courtroom. But if she had managed to hold her tongue, she wondered if Lambe would be sitting in a jail cell instead of walking free.
Well, relatively free. He was still sentenced to three years in prison. Three measly years with time served, after all of the horrendous things he had done. It made her want to scream and cry, often at the same time.
It was fortunate she had Jasper around. Not only could he help control the worst of the ever-present anxiety that had plagued her since the trial, but he was an excellent distraction. It was rare for Jasper to stray far from her side that summer. He became such a constant presence in the Collins' household that he had to be reminded to make an appearance at his own house.
Of course, this may have also had something to do with the guests that had arrived ("Invaded my sanctuary," Jasper was quick to correct) in late July in the form of the Denali coven from Alaska. Originally, the Cullens were going to drive up to them, but after hearing that Louisa was remaining in Forks and not accompanying the two families on their summer holiday to Isle Esme (because, of course, Carlisle had to name his private fucking island after his wife), Eleazar declared a change in their plans.
Louisa was, naturally, more than a little annoyed. Part of her reasoning for declining the invitation to a private island when the Cullens had asked (besides being the only human in the group) was so she didn't have to see Eleazar. Oh, sure, he was a pleasant enough man. But after his last visit to Forks, when he and Carlisle had used her as a psychometric guinea pig, Louisa was reluctant to meet him again. The Denalis had arrived just that morning, and Louisa had personally vowed to give the Cullen house a wide berth until they left later in the week.
Rosalie, however, had other plans. Since Eleazar and his family had arrived, Rose had been texting Louisa nonstop. This was particularly irritating, considering that the Denalis had arrived at four in the morning. By noon, Rose was all but begging (no matter how much she denied that she was) for Louisa to come and keep her company.
She's all over Edward, Louisa read in the most recent update. You need to come over and distract her.
What am I supposed to do? She typed back. I walk in, and Eleazar will pounce on me.
"Lou!" Dottie squealed. "Come quick!"
Heart pounding, Louisa flew out of bed and down the hall, her sock covered feet skidding on the hardwood floor. She burst into Dottie's room, expecting to see her bleeding or dying on the floor, but she wasn't. She wasn't even looking at Louisa, in fact, but out of her bedroom window. She waved, beckoning her closer as she watched something intently out of the window.
"See anything interesting, Mrs Kravitz?" Louisa drawled, pushing the curtain aside and peering over Dottie's shoulder.
Either Dottie didn't notice the comment, or she was too excited to care. "It's Bella!"
Curious, Louisa peered in the direction of Chief Swan's house, where his cruiser was parked in the driveway. The doors were opened, and Louisa could see Chief Swan bending over the boot of the car and extracting a single suitcase. Bella herself was nowhere in sight, most likely already in the house and inspecting her newly renovated room.
Dottie was chattering away, "I wonder when we should visit. Only, it was so overwhelming when we moved here, with the welcome wagon arriving before we managed to unpack and all. But I want to invite her to the beach tomorrow. I'm sure she'd appreciate the invite. It's hard enough moving to a different town, let alone to an entirely different state."
Louisa hummed and gently tugged on Dottie's ponytail. "Why don't you make her a plate of cookies? They'll be done by the time she's settled."
Dottie bounded off without another word, and a minute later, Louisa could hear her clattering around the kitchen. Rolling her eyes, Louisa wandered back towards her room. She scooped up her mobile, which she had abandoned after Dottie's summons. Her text conversation with Rose was still displayed on her screen, and she took a moment to consider how to politely decline.
She was saved the trouble the moment she received yet another text from her vampire best friend, informing her that she was waiting outside.
Louisa scowled. I said I wasn't coming over, she texted back.
"Well, that's too damn bad." Louisa jumped, her heart leaping to her throat at the sound of Rose's voice. She spun around, and sure enough, Rose was leaning in the doorway, looking bored. "Because Tanya is here, and if I have to suffer through that, so do you."
"I'm not going," Louisa said.
Rose gave her a scathing look. "You are. Now, are you going to change out of those rags, or is that what you plan to wear?"
Louisa hopped back into her bed and pulled the covers over her head in protest.
She heard Rose growl, and a second later, the covers were ripped off, and she found herself being yanked out of bed. Louisa yelped and tried in vain to struggle out of Rose's ironclad hold. Not only was she unsuccessful, but she found herself being dragged towards her bedroom door.
"Fine!" She yelled. "You win! Just let me change out of my pyjamas."
Rose gave her a smug look but stepped out of the room to allow Louisa to change. Ten minutes later, Louisa joined her friend in the kitchen, her hair combed and wearing a sundress. Dottie was puttering awkwardly around the room, uneasy with being in such close proximity to Rose. Rose didn't seem to notice, or perhaps she simply didn't care about the obvious tension and looked up from her nails when Louisa plodded down the stairs.
"I wasn't expecting you to put that much effort into your appearance," she admitted, giving Louisa a once-over.
Louisa rolled her eyes. "I'm not wearing trousers. This is literally the least amount of effort I could put into my outfit." She turned to address her sister. "Rose is kidnapping me. If I'm not home in four hours, call me with some imaginary problem that only I can fix."
Dottie didn't seem to know what to do with this request. She shot a nervous look in Rose's direction before giving Louisa a hesitant nod.
Louisa gestured to Rose with a dramatic wave and followed her to her car. The drive to the Cullens' house was quiet, with Louisa giving Rose the silent treatment and Rose too self-righteous to care. They pulled into the garage sometime later, only for Louisa to find herself yanked out of the car the second Rose cut the engine.
"It is so good to see you again!" Carmen exclaimed, releasing Louisa from a rib-cracking hug, only to pull her face down and plant a kiss on each cheek. "You have grown since I have seen you last!"
However, she didn't get the chance to respond because Carmen threaded her arm through Louisa's and guided her into the house. "You can meet your cousins," Carmen chattered. "I was so disappointed to hear you would not be joining us on holiday."
Louisa shot an irritated look at Rose's smug face before turning to appease Carmen. "I wanted to spend time with my family this summer," she explained. It was a lie that held a kernel of truth. After all, this could very well be her last summer as a human. Who knew how long she had left with her father and sister?
Carmen nodded and waved away her excuse. "Yes, yes. It is all very understandable. Only I would like very much if you could have come. It would have been a good opportunity to get to know your new family."
It was then that Louisa noticed the new faces lingering around the first floor. Eleazar was conversing with Carlisle and a short woman with pale blonde hair; meanwhile, Jasper, Emmett, and Alice were sprawled on the couch and entertaining another unfamiliar blonde. A little further away, Edward was playing his piano and trying to ignore a third woman, who seemed to be doing everything in her power to gain his attention.
The latter had to be Tanya, but which woman was Irina and which was Kate, Louisa could only begin to guess. She didn't get the chance to ponder it further, however, because Tanya had finally torn her eyes away from Edward and taken notice of her arrival.
"You must be Louisa!" She squealed, abandoning her station next to Edward and materialising next to Louisa in the time it took for her to blink her eyes. Tanya thankfully refrained from pulling her into a hug but couldn't stop herself from cradling Louisa's face in her freezing hands. Which wasn't all the much better when Louisa thought about it. "You're just as pretty as you are in the pictures!"
Louisa had no idea what pictures Tanya was talking about but managed to force a smile onto her face nonetheless. "Thank you, Tanya."
Tanya gasped with delight. "Oh, did you just use your gift?"
Despite the awkward situation, Louisa had to laugh. "No, Jasper told me about you."
She tossed her strawberry blond curls over her shoulder and sent Jasper a playful smile. "All bad things, I hope."
Jasper appeared next to them and extracted Louisa from Tanya's hold. "And all true."
Tanya cackled in delight before grabbing Louisa's wrist and dragging her over to Carlisle, Eleazar, and a sister she introduced as Irina.
Irina gave her a once over that Louisa couldn't decipher before nodding in greeting. She didn't say anything, but that had more to do with Eleazar dominating the conversation. It took every instinct in Louisa to smile politely back and not grit her teeth.
If there was one positive outcome of her visit, Louisa thought after answering yet another one of Eleazar's intrusive questions, it was that Tanya never strayed far from her side that afternoon. Louisa could feel a change in Edward's mood at this distraction, and the heavy, moody pieces he was playing on his piano shifted to something lighter and more peaceful.
"And you do not feel that it is beneficial to use your gift more?" Eleazar asked at one point, his head tilting as he watched her with a yellow, wide-eyed stare. "I would have presumed that using it more would acclimate you to it and decrease the headaches. Or perhaps it would be like a pressure valve, where—"
"Eleazar," Tanya purred, sending the man a fond yet stern smile. "I think Louisa would know what is best for herself, no?"
If vampires could blush, Louisa is sure Eleazar would have done so. "Yes, of course," he agreed, his voice laced with embarrassment. "I only—"
Tanya didn't give him a chance to finish the thought and dragged Louisa to the couches where Kate was being entertained.
"So, this is the girl with the magic hands," Kate said, an amused expression on her face.
Louisa pulled her wrist from Tanya's grip and wiggled her fingers. "I hear you have some too?" Jasper had explained that Kate could generate an electric sensation with her mind—meaning, that while she couldn't physically shock you, she had no problem tricking your mind into believing that she was. According to Jasper, Emmett apparently loved seeing how long he could withstand the pain before giving in.
Kate flipped over the back of the couch, appearing before Louisa in a blur of movement. She held out her hand for Louisa to take, a smile that was both predatory and playful dancing across her lips. "Wanna try?"
"I'm going to have to pass," Louisa admitted, leaning back against Jasper, who wrapped his arms around her middle.
Kate sighed in mock disappointment but didn't drop her hand. "Will you read me?"
In any other circumstance, Louisa would have responded with a resounding 'no.' But there was something about Kate's air that wasn't malicious or calculating. She could tell that Kate didn't want Louisa to prove herself or observe her with clinical interest. Instead, a childlike curiosity burned in Kate's eyes that Louisa found rather endearing.
"You're the middle one, then," she said, tilting her head as she surveyed Kate. "You remind me of my sister," she continued, reaching out to take Kate's hand. "Although she doesn't know any martial arts."
Kate's yellow eyes widened. "Are you doing the thing?"
Louisa shrugged. "Maybe. But you've got calluses on your hands," she said, her fingers gliding over the thickened skin on Kate's palms. "This isn't from manual labour, though—you have too many scars for that." They were faint, like the ones on Jasper's skin. She probably wouldn't have picked up on them if she wasn't aware that Kate was a vampire. "So, some sort of martial artist? No, a bodyguard of some sort. But these marks are old. You could only have gotten them as a human."
An irritating itch began somewhere in the back of Louisa's mind, and she dropped Kate's hand before she got carried away. The last thing she wanted was a nosebleed in a room full of vampires.
Kate's lips were parted like a little 'o'. She glanced between her hand and Louisa, her lamp-like eyes burning with curiosity. "You got all of that from my hand?"
"It's all in the hands," Jasper replied sagely, pulling Louisa over to the loveseat. She moved to sit beside him, but Jasper pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on her shoulder.
Under normal circumstances, Louisa would have felt a little embarrassed by Jasper's liberal PDA. Still, if it kept Tanya's hands at bay, she was all for it. She reached behind her to tangle her fingers through his hair and lightly scratched his scalp. Jasper let out a contented purr and buried his face in her neck, going boneless against her like an overgrown cat.
Fortunately, Jasper's clingy behaviour seemed to act as a deterrent to the Denali's because none of them came within arms reach of her. Kate even chose to sit on the floor in front of her rather than take the empty space on the loveseat. Louisa spent the rest of her morning entertaining Kate and, more importantly, Tanya, with stories about herself, pulling out particularly ludicrous and juicy stories when it seemed like Tanya was contemplating joining Edward back at the piano.
She had only just begun regaling a curious Tanya with her (admittedly bullshit) theory that Forks High (Home of the Spartans!) was haunted when she was startled by her mobile ringing. She glanced down at the screen, surprised to see that it was her sister. Louisa frowned. She had only been gone for a few hours—certainly not long enough for Dottie to think she needed rescuing.
"You need to come home," Dottie said the moment Louisa picked up.
"It's only been two hours."
"I'm fucking serious, Louisa. You need to come home right now."
A combination of her sister's uncharacteristically foul language and the serious tone she said it in had alarm bells blaring in her head. Without thinking, she pulled away from Jasper and walked to the front door, sliding her feet into her shoes. "What's going on?"
"Spencer is here," Dottie said. "I told him that I didn't want to see him, but he won't leave, and I don't know what to—" she let out a startled shriek, and Louisa could hear thumping in the background. "He's banging on all the doors. Come home."
Louisa's frown deepened. Until about a month ago, Dottie and Spencer had been attached at the hip. That was until he revealed himself to be a creepy stalker in the middle of the canteen during finals week. Dottie had promptly cut him out of her life and not looked back, no matter how much Spencer had pleaded. Spencer hadn't taken the change well, but other than bombarding Dottie on social media, he hadn't attempted to see her in person. Until now, it would seem.
"I'm leaving now. Go upstairs and lock yourself in the bathroom," Louisa instructed, heading into the garage, where Jasper was already waiting in one of the Cullen's many cars. "Are the doors locked?"
Dottie swore again, this time her voice taking on a panicked edge. "I think the backdoor is unlocked."
"Leave it," Louisa replied. "Go to the bathroom. I'll be home soon."
"Can't she call the police?" Jasper murmured, his voice barely audible over the squeal of the car's tyres.
"We don't have a landline," Louisa explained. "But Dottie, you need to hang up and call the—"
"Someone just opened the back door," Dottie whispered.
Jasper was pushing one hundred and twenty as they sped down the highway.
Louisa swore too. "Turn off the bathroom light and lock the door. And pull the lid off the toilet tank. Stay quiet; I'm almost home."
"Dottie, I just want to talk," came a muffled voice, loud enough for Louisa to hear it. Although Louisa hadn't spent enough time with Spencer to know if it was him, it was unmistakably male.
Dottie let out a whimper but otherwise remained silent. Louisa could hear a doorknob rattling over her sister's heavy breathing.
"Dottie, please!" he banged on what Louisa could only guess was the bathroom door, eliciting a squeak from Dottie. "I know you're in there. I just want to talk!"
"Don't reply," Louisa instructed. "Just focus on the sound of my voice. You're safe. I'll be home in a minute. I'm almost there."
Dottie didn't answer, and Louisa was almost positive that she wasn't breathing. "Breathe with me, Dot," she said. The last thing she needed was for her sister to faint in a locked bathroom whilst her stalker ex-friend was trying to break in.
And then there was another voice coming through the speaker. It was fainter, farther away, but definitely male. Louisa checked the clock on the radio, noting it was too early for her father to be home from work. She couldn't make out who it was or what he said, but he seemed to be having some sort of conversation with Spencer.
Jasper pulled up in front of the house, the tyres squealing on the pavement, and Louisa leapt out before he put the car in park. As fast as she was moving, Jasper was faster, and by the time Louisa made it up the front steps, the front door had already been ripped from its hinges. She raced into the house, only to come up short in the kitchen, her sister's name dying on her lips.
Edward was standing at the base of the stairs, holding a squirming Spencer in one hand and a mobile in the other. Jasper stood a short distance away, watching the scene through narrowed, calculating eyes. A heavy energy fell over the room the next moment, making Louisa feel strangely relaxed and compliant. She watched Spencer sag in Edward's hold, as if his bones had turned to gelatine.
"Why are you here?" Jasper asked, his voice low, honeyed. Louisa dimly recognised the voice as the one he used to get information from people. Having been on the receiving end of that voice on at least two occasions, she knew how potent it was.
"I just wanted to see her," Spencer replied, his words almost slurred.
"The police are on their way," Edward said.
"I wasn't going to hurt her," Spencer said. If he had been allowed to feel anything other than what Jasper had wanted him to, Louisa was sure there would have been an edge of panic in his voice. "I didn't do anything wrong."
"Breaking and entering is illegal," Edward reminded him. "As is trespassing."
Jasper hummed before turning his head back to Louisa, who continued to watch the scene in a transfixed daze. "Darlin', why don't you go check on your sister? I'd like to speak to Spencer alone."
Louisa nodded and stumbled towards the staircase, her numb limbs making it feel like she was floating several feet off the ground. Edward deposited Spencer at the kitchen table before moving to help Louisa up the stairs. It was only when they had made it to the upstairs hallway and effectively out of the range of Jasper's power that Louisa was able to walk unsupported.
"How did you get here so fast?"
"I ran," Edward admitted in a low voice. "Alice didn't think that he'd hurt her, but we didn't want to take the chance."
Louisa let out a shaky sigh and pulled Edward down for a hug. "Thank you," she murmured, kissing his cheek.
Edward's lanky arms wrapped around her body and gave her a gentle squeeze. He released her after a moment and gestured for her to continue down the hall. Other than carrying a distraught Dottie back to her bedroom, he was kind enough to give them space as Louisa comforted her sister. The two sisters curled up together on Dottie's bed, where Dottie alternated between stunned silence and incoherent, tearful babbling. Louisa alternated her attention between petting Dottie's hair and texting her father, updating him of the new situation.
They stayed there until Jasper came to collect them and led them downstairs, where a police officer was waiting to take Dottie's statement. When the officer asked if Dottie wanted to press charges, her sister looked up at Louisa with wide, panicked eyes.
"It's up to you," Louisa reminded her.
"What does Daddy say?" Dottie asked in a small voice.
"He thinks you should," she admitted. "But you're the victim here. Only you can decide what's right for you."
Dottie's face collapsed, but she managed to nod. After inquiring how long she had to press charges, she decided to consider the matter. It wasn't the ideal decision in Louisa's mind, but she wasn't about to tell Dottie that. After all, she couldn't imagine how confusing the situation had to be for her sister—despite Spencer's creep factor, they had once been friends.
After the police left, taking a distraught Spencer with them, Louisa spent the rest of the day puttering around the house and trying to distract Dottie. Jasper took up a post at the kitchen table and quietly watched them bake cookies for Bella. Edward, on the other hand, after kindly reattaching the front door to its hinges, drove home. Louisa tried to get him to stay if only to avoid Tanya for a little while, but he smiled and informed her that hiding would do little to dissuade her.
"She'll see it as a scavenger hunt, I'm afraid," he explained. "She'd find me one way or another, and I presume you don't want everyone showing up here?"
This was an unfortunately true statement, and Louisa watched Edward take off in the silver Volvo that Jasper had driven.
When an appropriate amount of time passed that allowed both Dottie to calm down and Bella to settle into her new home, the Collins sisters plated up several dozen cookies and traipsed down the street to the Swan residence. Although Jasper wasn't particularly keen on interacting with additional humans on his summer holiday, he was cajoled into accompanying them, mainly after Louisa told him who Bella was.
"No shit?" he whispered as Dottie skipped ahead of them. "Edward's got a mate?"
Louisa smiled and threaded her arm through his. "That's what Alice said."
Jasper's face twisted into what could only be described as a pout. "She never told me."
"I don't think she would have told me if she had a choice," Louisa said, squeezing his arm. "Apparently, Edward's going to flip when he finds out."
Jasper considered this before nodding. "He's not going to like that she's human."
"What's wrong with that?" Louisa asked. "It's worked out well for us."
Jasper nodded and pressed a kiss to her temple. "But Edward is…"
"Edward?"
"Exactly. He won't want to change her. And when she inevitably dies…" He trailed off, a haunted look crossing his face. "Vampires rarely survive the death of a mate. And if they do… well, it's better if they don't."
Louisa couldn't claim she understood what the whole mate thing felt like from a vampire's perspective, but even as a human, she knew that losing Jasper in any sort of capacity would ruin her life. Even the thought of it turned her stomach, and she shivered and clung tighter to Jasper's arm as they climbed up to Chief Swan's front porch. Dottie was already bouncing on the balls of her feet in anticipation, a stark contrast to how Louisa and Jasper were feeling. Still, they waited patiently as Dottie pounded on the Swan's front door and tried to look happy when a stunned Chief Swan answered.
"The welcome wagon has arrived," Louisa explained. "Dottie wanted to invite Bella to the beach tomorrow morning."
"A group of us are going to First Beach," Dottie rushed to explain. "We thought Bella might want to join us. The weather is supposed to be nice."
Chief Swan gave Dottie a stunned sort of nod before stepping aside and waving them into the house. Dottie waltzed in like she owned the place and made her way to the kitchen, where she deposited the large platter of cookies on the bench. Louisa and Jasper followed at a more sedate pace, listening to Dottie prattle on about the assortment of cookies she had prepared.
"I didn't know what she would like, but they're all gluten-free, vegan, and made without nuts. She's not allergic to apples, is she?" When Chief Swan stammered out a negative, Dottie sighed in relief.
"You said a group of you is going tomorrow?" Chief Swan asked, cutting off Dottie before she had a chance to launch into the chemistry behind baking.
Dottie nodded and began listing the teenagers of Forks, namely rising juniors and seniors, who had RSVP'd to the event. "I don't know if Ben Cheney is coming now though, because Mike Newton is supposed to come and he totally was flirting with Angela Webber during finals week even though she wasn't into it, and Ben and Ang have something going on anyway and—"
"Breathe, babe," Louisa instructed, more for Chief Swan's benefit than her sister's. The poor man looked like he wanted to hide when faced with Dot's ramblings. "There's going to be a carpool leaving from Newton Outfitters."
"And you'll be driving tomorrow?" Chief Swan asked, giving Louisa a nervous glance.
"I will," she confirmed. "You can count on me to supervise any maritime shenanigans."
"Or lack thereof," Dottie interjected, her already high-pitched voice coming out in a panicked squeak. "There'll be no trouble tomorrow."
"Not even a lick of underage drinking," Louisa agreed with a solemn nod.
Dottie socked her in the arm.
"I'll make sure to keep the drugs—I mean, ibuprofen—in the car."
"And Jasper, will you be there to supervise?" Chief Swan asked, clearly unsure if she was serious or not.
"Male supervision is always essential. Women need leadership and guidance," Louisa quipped. Chief Swan didn't pick up on her mocking tone.
Jasper subtly elbowed her in the side before turning to give Chief Swan a pacifying smile. "I can't," he said, managing to look disappointed by the idea. "Family is visiting from out of town."
"Aren't you avoiding them?" Dottie asked.
"No, of course not," Jasper said far too quickly to be convincing.
"Mmhmm," Dottie hummed. "Well, if you want to not avoid them at La Push…"
"I really can't," Jasper said emphatically. "Carlisle doesn't like it when I spend too much time in the sun. I'm practically albino, you know," he said, needlessly pointing to his pale skin.
Dottie gave him a critical look. "Sunblock does exist for the melanin-ly challenged."
"Honestly, look at him, Dot. He'd probably blind us by sparkling in the sun or something," Louisa interjected, shooting a mischievous grin towards her boyfriend.
Jasper raised an eyebrow, looking torn between annoyance and amusement. He settled for rolling his eyes and shaking his head rather than dignifying her comment with a response.
The conversation halted when heavy footsteps trudged down the stairs, and a moment later, Bella Swan made her grand entrance. Louisa's first impression was that Bella was pretty in a girl-next-door sort of way. She had waist-length brown hair with a widow's peak, large dark brown eyes, and lips that were a bit too full for her slim jawline. The second thing that Louisa noticed about Bella Swan was that there was nothing to notice. There was something odd about the girl's entire person, as if her appearance had been put into the witness protection program, leaving behind a generic caricature of a teenage girl. Other than her simple beauty, the girl had no defining characteristics, leaving her as bland and boring as possible. The effect was unsettling.
Louisa surveyed Bella with a critical eye as Dottie all but pounced on her, trying to pick up something about the girl's personality, only to find none. It was then that Louisa realised the implications of Bella's odd nondescript-ness: she couldn't deduce her. Not even a little bit. She thought maybe, maybe, that Bella was right-handed, but other than that, Louisa was staring at a blank slate.
She glanced at her sister, easily picking up personality traits and personal history: bookworm, pop culture fanatic, bisexual, really bad at math. Facts that Louisa knew not only because she knew her sister but because of the little ques and quirks that clung to Dottie's person, making her a living, breathing being rather than a cardboard character cut-out. But when Louisa turned the same critical eye on Bella…nothing.
She looked up at Jasper in confusion, wondering if he could feel her tumultuous emotions, only to find him staring at Bella with a horrified expression. Louisa's first thought was that Jasper was about to eat her new neighbour, but as the seconds ticked on and Jasper remained firmly planted to her side, she began to grow concerned in a very different way.
Trying not to draw anyone's attention, she wound her arm around his torso and tilted her mouth towards his ear. "Do you need an out?"
There was a minute shake of his head, but the panicked look didn't disappear from his eyes. Deciding that this little meet and greet needed to be over as soon as possible, Louisa plastered a charming smile on her face and extended a hand.
"I'm Dottie's older sister, Louisa," she said. "I'm going to be a senior in the fall."
"You're the detective," Bella said, reaching forward to shake Louisa's hand.
"I prefer the title Your Majesty if you don't mind," she tried to joke, feeling rather unnerved under Bella's blank stare. Wanting to do anything to get out from under it, she jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "And this tall glass of water is Jasper."
Jasper nodded to the girl but didn't offer any further greeting.
Bella might not be easy to read, but Louisa had no trouble seeing the intense look of attraction flash behind Bella's dark eyes. Louisa was used to the reaction when girls met her boyfriend for the first time but considering that this particular girl was Edward's mate, it was a little awkward.
"The girls are going to the beach tomorrow, Bells," Chief Swan said. "They wanted to know if you'd like to go. You could make some friends before school starts."
When it seemed like Bella was about to decline the invitation, Dottie jumped in and all but begged. Even Chief Swan got in on the action, and under such an onslaught, Bella had no choice but to accept. Judging by the pinched look on her face, however, Louisa was ninety-six per cent certain that the girl would be bringing a book with her on the excursion. Which, honestly, if it kept Louisa from having to interact with the girl, that was fine by her.
No Stone Left Unturned
"What the hell was that?" Jasper asked the moment Louisa closed her bedroom door. He was standing in the middle of her room, body rigid, looking like he was about to take off running at any moment.
Louisa approached slowly, only for him to reach out and pull her to his chest the moment she was in arms reach. "We're talking about Bella, right?"
"What's wrong with her?" He asked, his pupils reduced to pinpricks.
She could feel his anxiety swirling around the room, and it took every bit of mental fortitude to resist giving in to it. Taking a deep breath, she led him over to the bed and pulled him down so that he was cradled in her arms.
"I don't know," Louisa admitted, running her fingers through his hair. Under normal circumstances, the action would reduce Jasper to a puddle of contentment, but in his agitated state, he merely burrowed his face deeper into her chest. "Alice never mentioned anything."
Jasper shuddered. "I was like she was some sort of black hole," he grunted. "I've never felt anything like it."
Louisa nodded and kissed the top of his head as she pondered his words. "I couldn't even read her," she agreed. "It was like there wasn't even a person there."
Jasper propped his chin on her chest and looked up at her curiously. "You couldn't read her?"
"Nothing," Louisa confirmed. "She was a giant question mark. I felt decidedly normal. Although there was that moment that I saw her checking you out…"
Jasper rolled his eyes, his nose wrinkling in disgust, as he refused to humour her.
Louisa chuckled and pressed a kiss to his forehead before a thought occurred to her. "Alice mentioned that Bella was difficult to see. Could she be gifted?"
Jasper shuddered and rested his cheek back down on her chest. "I don't know. Maybe." He didn't say as much, but Louisa got the impression that he wanted to drop the subject.
She hummed in acknowledgement and ran her hand through his hair. He leaned into her touch, his eyelids fluttering shut, and sighed.
He was scared, Louisa thought as her stomach squirmed with an uneasy feeling that wasn't entirely her own. The idea was incongruous with her steadfast and stoic partner, but the longer she thought on it, the more accurate it seemed. She continued to massage his scalp as she considered this piece of information and how to proceed. Unlike her, Jasper didn't enjoy talking through his problems, instead preferring to work through them independently. She might be able to force him to talk, but he wouldn't be happy about it, and she was reluctant to push him.
No, what he needed was a distraction.
"You know," she said after a moment of consideration. "You haven't kissed me today."
That got his attention. Jasper's head shot up, brow furrowed. "I did too."
"Not properly," Louisa said, trying to pout her lip, which became harder to maintain the longer Jasper looked up at her with a scandalised expression. "I want a real kiss."
He nodded thoughtfully and shifted onto his elbows so that he hovered over her. "Forgive me, miss," he said, his sweet-smelling breath washing over her face. "I didn't mean to neglect you."
She hummed as she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, pulling him back down so that his whole weight pressed into her body. He lowered his face to kiss her, but at the last second, she turned her face away so that his lips landed on her cheek instead.
"That wasn't a real kiss," she chided, trying not to laugh at Jasper's stupefied expression. Craning her neck, Louisa pressed an open-mouthed kiss to his throat, relishing Jasper's growl of pleasure.
The next moment, Louisa's arms were pinned to the bed, Jasper retraining both of her wrists above her head with one hand while the other hitched her leg around his hip.
"You're playin' with fire, darlin'," he grunted into the hollow of her throat. His breath was heavy against her skin, causing an eruption of gooseflesh across her body.
"Am I?" she asked mildly, pleased that her voice didn't sound as flustered as she felt. Not that it mattered, of course, considering her boyfriend could sense her every emotion. Still, it was fun to pretend that she felt even a semblance of control. She certainly enjoyed the irritated huff she got out of Jasper. She twisted her hips to free her unstrained leg and curled it around Jasper's. Her foot pushed up the hem of his jeans and rubbed the back of his calf. "How so?"
A deep, animalistic growl ripped through Jasper's body, vibrating through her chest. The sound seemed to awaken some sort of fire in her body, and suddenly, Jasper was nowhere near as close to her as she wanted him to be. Despite the fact his solid body was pressed against every inch of her, it wasn't enough. She wanted—no needed—more. The thought terrified and exhilarated her.
Worming her wrists out of his strong grip, her hands found the edge of his shirt, sliding underneath and ghosting across the hard muscles of his back. Jasper shivered at her touch, and the hand gripping her leg tightened.
"Fuck," he grunted, pulling his head back, his eyes screwed shut. The hand on her thigh loosened, and he ran it down her leg in a slow, gentle caress, leaving burning trails across her skin. "Darlin', I—" His hand crept up until it reached the hem of her dress until it slipped under, and his fingers were massaging her bare thigh. "May I kiss you?"
"Please." It came out half a whimper of desperation, half a sigh of relief, and ended abruptly as Jasper's lips captured hers.
They had kissed before, of course. Louisa would even go so far as to say that kissing Jasper was one of her favourite hobbies. But never had it been like this before. It was like every nerve in her body had been set alight, singing with pleasure, want, desire. It wasn't enough that he was kissing her like his life depended on it, though. It would never be enough. She wanted more, more, more, and it hurt that he was so far away, not close enough for her to touch, to taste, to consume.
With a frustrated moan, she reached down and fumbled with the edge of Jasper's shirt. He understood her wordless plea, and his lips left hers for the briefest of seconds as he peeled off his shirt. Her hands roamed greedily over his broad shoulders and muscular chest, over the ridges of his abdomen and the crest of his hips that disappeared tantalisingly beneath the waist of his jeans. His skin was smooth as silk beneath her fingertips, but she wanted more.
She sat up without breaking the kiss, crawling into his lap and straddling his hips. With her new position, Jasper made quick work of the buttons on her dress and even quicker work of her slip beneath, which he literally ripped from her body. In any other circumstance, she'd be annoyed at the destruction of her clothes, but at that moment, it was a necessary causality. His warm, rough, calloused hands pushed her dress off her shoulders, where it joined his shirt on the floor.
When she had to pull away to breathe, his lips began a trail down her neck, her shoulders, sucking on her skin in a way she knew would leave love bites, but she couldn't bring herself to care. All she could think about was how warm he felt, how solid his skin was beneath her hands, the intoxicating cinnamon and apple scent that filled her nose until she could smell nothing but him, feel nothing but him, want nothing but him.
Mine.
The passing thought sent her into a frenzy, and she pulled his face back up to hers, greedily recapturing his lips. Jasper let out a startled grunt but didn't object. He gently pushed her back down onto the bed, supporting just enough of his body weight so as not to crush her.
"Louisa," he breathed.
Panting, she looked up into his flushed, freckled face, his warm brown eyes staring down at her with so much love she thought her heart might burst.
"Jasper," she whispered, running her thumbs along his cheekbones.
"I love you," he whispered.
It was the first time he had ever said the words to her, and her very soul seemed to sing. A grin split her lips, and she let out a joyful laugh. "I love you too."
He returned her grin and pressed a kiss to her lips, his nose rubbing against her own.
Then he froze and lifted his head. "Your father just pulled into the driveway."
In her lust-addled brain, it took a minute to piece together his words. "Did I seriously get cockblocked by my father?"
If this had been a situation in a rom-com, it would have been hilarious to watch the protagonist and her love interest interrupted at the worst possible moment. But laying there in Jasper's arms, their chests still touching as they heaved and caught their breaths, it was anything but funny. Her body was telling her to go, go, go, when all rational thought was telling her to stop. Her skin thrummed with pent up energy, leaving her skin feeling hot and itchy. To her frustration, tears pricked the corners of her eyes. Jasper frowned and brushed them away.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. And then, to her horror, he sat up and reached for his shirt.
"No!" she shouted, lunging for him. He caught her, a ripple of his confusion fluttering in her chest. "Don't, please." She said into his neck, shifting to straddle his waist.
His arms tightened around her body. "Your father will be—"
"I don't care," she said, knowing that she should. As lenient as he was, her father would not be pleased if he found them in their current state of semi-undress. "Don't leave."
Jasper kissed her bare shoulder, sending tingles down her spine. "I'm not. I'm right here, Louisa."
She pulled her head back to look at him,
"I want—"
"I know, my love," Jasper murmured, pressing his lips to hers. "I know."
"I have loved to the point of madness; That which is called madness, that which to me, is the only sensible way to love." –Françoise Sagan
A/N: ALEXA, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN, LOCA? I'm going to be honest: I needed a break from this story. I've been feeling super limited by it, so I decided to step away for a bit to pursue other projects. I guess it worked because I wrote an original novel. All that to say, however, I will never abandon Louisa&friends!