CHAPTER 3

The three weeks following my brother setting a wedding date and my arrangement with Jasper consisted of a too short fall break at work, the most awkward Thanksgiving meal of my entire life as Victoria and my mom gushed over wedding plans, and the planning of an engagement party to take place two weeks before Christmas for my brother and his lovely blushing bride.

When the morning of the happy couple's engagement party rolled around, I got out of bed, made a cup of coffee in the kitchen, and then trudged back upstairs to get ready. After a long, hot, and not so relaxing bath, I dressed in a cream colored sweater dress and tall boots before putting on my makeup and then pulling back some of my hair into a messy bun, leaving most of it down.

When it was time to leave, there was a knock on my door and Tanya poked her head into my room. "Ready?"

I sighed. "Hardly." I muttered and turned to leave the room.

Tanya and Rosalie went on a tangent during the car ride to my parents' house. I remained silent with my stomach in knots. Jasper and I hadn't talked any more about how our plan would work, but an engagement party just made the entire situation feel too real. We needed to figure out a game plan soon.

We were a little late to the party. Most of the guests had already arrived when we got there, and when I walked in, it wasn't long until my mom had found me and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Oh, honey, isn't this such an exciting time?" Renee gushed. Bless her heart. She really was ecstatic for them. She had no idea that her future daughter-in-law was a complete bitch. Victoria was good at putting up a front, I'd give her that much. Anyone who didn't know any better would mistake her kindness for sincerity when in truth, she was just a master at manipulating everyone to get exactly what she wanted. It was only a matter of time before the rug got pulled out from under her, though.

"Yeah, Ma, it's great." I said halfheartedly and returned her hug.

"Come on, your brother will want to see you." She said and tugged me along with her as she maneuvered around the house. Before we could get to Garrett, a knife clanged against a glass. Renee's face fell. "Oh, it's a little early for a toast. Oh well, you'll get to talk to him after." She said and patted my hand. "Let me see if I can find your father." She flitted off without another word, and I turned in the direction of the glass clinking.

Victoria started a speech that seemed to drag on far too long, and halfway through, I felt a tall figure come to stand next to me. I looked up and saw Jasper beside me, with a glass of whiskey in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other. He handed me the champagne. I sighed and took it from him as Victoria continued to drone on.

"I am just so blessed and grateful to have such an amazing man standing beside me today." Victoria said in a fakely sweet voice, seemingly trying to hold back tears.

I fought back a gag and looked up at Jasper meaningfully. He gave me a look that told me to behave and to keep my mouth shut, so I only sighed again and looked back towards the front of the room as Victoria finished her toast. After she finally finished, I downed my glass of champagne.

Jasper looked at me over the rim of his whiskey glass and smirked.

"I'm plenty settled." I huffed.

"I didn't say anythin'." He chuckled, taking a sip of his drink.

"She's so fucking fake." I muttered.

Jasper gave me a weak smile. "Bella, it's their engagement party. You have to be nice. At least try to look happy for them."

Before I could respond, Victoria and Garrett walked over to us. Garrett greeted me and pulled me into one of his bear hugs before passing me off to Victoria, who seemed to be laying on her hospitality extra thick at the moment.

"Bella, I'd like to ask you something." Victoria said softly while Garrett and Jasper started talking to each other.

"Alright." I replied with what I hoped looked like a sincere smile.

"I know things between us have been rocky the past few years, but I really do want us to be like sisters again. And you mean so much to Garrett, and we grew up so close… well, I was just thinking… well, hoping that you would be my maid of honor."

My jaw fell in shock for a moment, but I recovered as quickly as possible before glancing over at Garrett and Jasper, who had both caught on to the conversation. Jasper looked just as shocked as I'm sure I did, and Garrett's face was too happy and hopeful for me to turn the offer down.

I looked back at Victoria with another forced smile. "Yeah, of course. Anything for y'all."

Victoria squealed and pulled me into a tight hug. "This is going to be so fun." She said happily. "I'm going to go talk to the other bridesmaids, and we'll need to take a picture before we all leave."

I nodded and watched as Victoria and Garrett both walked away. I turned my gaze to Jasper, and he cringed a little on my behalf.

"You need another drink?" He offered.

It took me a moment to compose myself. "The fucking audacity." I gritted to myself, and the rant was already forming on my tongue.

Jasper's eyes widened, and he quickly pulled me out of the crowd and into my dad's study. "I know you wanna go off right now, but you can't, Bella." He said lowly.

"I'm just…" I didn't have the word. "I'm… right back to the audacity of this skank." I laughed humorlessly. "After all she's done to me, now she wants me to be the one to make her life easier while she plans this bullshit wedding? Nah-uh. No. No. I'm gonna tell her I changed my mind." I said and started to leave the room.

Jasper caught me with his free arm around my waist. "Wait, no, don't do that. For one thing, you're not doing this for her. You're doing it for Garrett. And for another thing, don't you think getting close to her will be the perfect opportunity to figure out what she's really up to?"

I turned to face him with his arm still wrapped around me. "Jasper, if I am forced to spend that much time with her, I'm gonna fucking kill her."

He smirked. "Then I suppose that takes care of the wedding problem then, doesn't it?"

"You say that until you're the one that has to help me hide the body." I grumbled.

"Just tell me the time and place and if I need to provide my own shovel." He replied softly with a sweet, crooked smile.

He was being uncharacteristically encouraging and adorable today, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't absolutely secretly love the change in his typically too cocky attitude. It reminded me of the days before things got too complicated with us, and I realized how much I missed having him around.

I tried to fight my own smile as I looked up into his deep hazel eyes. "You wouldn't help me hide a body." I accused, and it was at that moment that I became very aware that his arm was still wrapped around me.

"You'd be surprised what you could probably talk me into, baby doll." He said lowly.

"Oh, really? That's awfully good to know."

He was still smiling as he leaned in closer to me. My breathing hitched, and though I knew I should stop him, I really, really didn't want to. His lips just gently brushed against mine, and just as I was about to lean into his kiss, the door to the study opened.

Jasper and I broke apart, each took an abrupt step back, and looked at the person in the doorway. Garrett was standing there, wide eyed and trying not to laugh.

"Gar, it–" I started, but he cut me off.

"Nah, nah. Honestly, I'm not really that surprised... Just um… caught me off guard is all." He slowly started backing out of the room. "Carry on." He said and quickly shut the door.

"Fuck." I groaned and looked over at Jasper. He only smiled sheepishly at me. I slapped his bicep. "Why the hell did you have to kiss me?"

"You wanted me to, and you know it." He said.

I scoffed, blushing. "Please." I said dismissively.

"You lie like a dog, Isabella Swan." He accused with a chuckle.

I glared at him, and his returning gaze was challenging. "Even if I did want you to, you didn't have to do it here."

"We're only in here and in this situation because you can't keep your anger issues in check."

"I do not have anger issues. I have fake bitch issues. I am a cheerful person, Jasper. You know I'm a cheerful person."

"That's highly debatable."

"I am a ray of fucking sunshine, thank you very much."

"Yeah, a ray of fucking sunshine. The one that gets stuck in your eye when you're tryin' to drive." He clarified.

I smiled brightly at him. "You see my charm."

His grin was smug, and his gaze was mischievous. "Oh, I can see that you're something else."

I narrowed my eyes at him, already missing the sweet side to him that had seemingly disappeared without a trace in a matter of moments. "Don't look at me like that. I hate when you look at me like that."

"Like what?" He asked innocently.

"Like you know everything."

"Well, that might be a little hard to do." He gloated.

"Must you be so conceited?" I asked.

"You act like you don't love my confidence." He provoked, taking a step closer to me.

"You act like I'm too scared to put you in your place." I said, closing the distance between us again.

"On the contrary, darlin', that's half the fun." He said seductively.

"So you enjoy having your ego crushed? That's a bit concerning. Sounds like you could use a shrink."

"While I'm still trying to win you over? Baby doll, I'd go broke." He teased.

"Jasper?" I asked sweetly.

"Yes, my sweet ray of fucking sunshine?" He replied mockingly.

I got up on the tips of my toes, and he leaned down so that our noses were nearly touching. "This is your mess. Fix it." I instructed harshly before swiftly turning around and exiting the room.

~ SUNSHINE ~

I didn't give the incident in the study very much thought for the rest of the engagement party. I avoided Jasper altogether, as was the new normal, and mingled with my family when I wasn't around Tanya or Rosalie.

At one point, I was dragged around by Victoria to meet some of her other bridesmaids, who all seemed genuinely nice and excited to be a part of the bridal party. She had twelve in total, and I met only a handful of them. The mention of twelve bridesmaids took me slightly off guard, and to be completely honest, it had me questioning if maybe I was the crazy one. Could she really be that good at hiding her true colors to have eleven other bridesmaids besides me? Sure, three of them were her sisters, but that's still eight other people to account for. And for me personally, outside of Rosalie and Tanya, my future bridesmaid list was awfully slim. Something about that little tidbit of information just sent my head into overdrive.

The three bridesmaids that I spoke to that weren't her sisters were all friendships that had formed fairly recently–within the last year and a half, and I wondered briefly if maybe she had changed since Garrett's accident. What if Tyler had just been a momentary lapse of judgment, a relapse into her old way of thinking, and it was the catalyst to her realizing that she needed to be a truly better person?

Could someone as callous as she had been to me really change that drastically?

I spent the majority of the day questioning my sanity, and the party was nearly over when I saw Jasper again, walking over to me with his typical cocky smile and my mother walking right in front of him with an expression that was all too excited.

"Oh no." I muttered to myself. I didn't know where this was going, but I already knew that I probably wasn't going to like the outcome.

Before I could even try to back away, my mom had me engulfed in a hug. "Oh, honey, you're so sweet to want to keep this day special for your brother, but you really didn't need to. I'm so happy for you!" She said giddily just before pulling away from me. "I can't believe you've kept this all to yourself. Oh my goodness. My heart is just so full."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you and Jasper, of course!"

I looked over her shoulder at Jasper, glaring.

"I know you said we shouldn't tell anyone until after today, babe, but since your brother found out, I figured the cat was out of the bag already. Your parents should know, too, don't you think?" He asked, smiling.

"Well, I really think that's something we should've discussed beforehand." I said between my teeth, trying to keep my fake smile from turning into a scowl.

"Oh, don't be mad at him, honey. This is exciting! The best man and maid of honor. How cute!" She clapped in excitement. My aunt came over just then to get my mother's attention, and she thankfully was pulled away to attend to something else.

"What the hell was that?" I asked angrily when they walked away.

"You told me to fix it. You didn't tell me how." Jasper replied smoothly.

"In what world was telling my parents that we're together fixing it?"

"Best man. Maid of Honor. Wedding planning. Double dates. Just think about how many doors it opens for our plan. And technically, I didn't tell them. Your brother did. Word travels fast around here, ya know."

"That's a lame excuse and just a bit too convenient for me, Jasper Whitlock."

"I think you're just not seeing the bigger picture here. And by the way. It wasn't just your parents. It was mine, too."

"What?" I shrieked.

He only smirked and took a sip of his whiskey.

I took a deep breath to compose myself. "And what happens when this is all over? Are you gonna tell all of them that this was all a lie?"

Jasper shrugged. "We'll cross that bridge when it comes."

"This is most definitely going to blow up in your face, you know that right?"

"What are you so afraid of, Bella? Worst case scenario, the wedding goes on and our plan just fails. Best case scenario is… the wedding gets canceled and then you fall madly in love with me." He teased.

"Glad to know you aren't getting your hopes up." I replied sarcastically.

"How about having an open mind, huh? I'm sorry, but I really didn't want to explain to your brother that you're playing hard to get and denying the feelings that you quite obviously have for me. It's a bit heavy for a quick chat at his engagement party, no?"

I scoffed. "You're delusional."

"And you're being difficult." He retorted playfully. "It's alright, though. It's honestly pretty cute."

I glared at him, but before I could respond, Tanya and Rosalie walked up to us, following behind their mother, Charlotte. The twins both looked incredibly annoyed, but Charlotte was beaming as much as my mother had been.

These women have been waiting on this for over a decade. They're probably thinking of ways to convince me and Garrett to have a double wedding. Lord, just strike me down now.

Jasper leaned down so that his lips were at his ear. "And my mom went to tell my sisters as soon as I broke the news to her and my dad." He whispered.

I shot him a sideways glare over my shoulder.

"And when were we going to find out about this?" Tanya asked angrily, motioning between Jasper and me.

"Well, word gets around fast." I said through a forced laugh. "It's new." I continued with a fake smile, sending Jasper another quick meaningful glance. "We didn't want to steal the attention from the happy couple."

They both lifted an eyebrow.

Charlotte made a motion for her daughters to settle down. "Stop being bitter, you two. Jasper and Bella are allowed to have as much privacy in their relationship as they'd like." She said and pulled me into a tight hug. "You know you can't let these three push you around, right, my love?" She whispered in my ear.

I laughed. "You know I don't." Most of the time. But this scheme is quickly getting on top of me.

I bet you'd like for something else–*cough* someone else–to be on top of you, too, huh, Isabella?

Fucking hell. Who's side are you on, skank?

Charlotte breaking our hug pulled me from my inner musings.

I had always liked Charlotte. She was sweet and doted on her family in a way that wasn't overly intrusive, which, for a southern momma, was a fine line to toe successfully. She was just, in general, a true lady. Classy and the perfect hostess and homemaker with just enough sass and spice to make her scary as hell when she was angry.

She took a step back from me and gave me a big smile, taking both of my hands in heres. "I have to go make sure Peter and your father don't get into any more whiskey, but I needed to make sure these two got reigned in first." She said, nodding towards Rosalie and Tanya. She released my hands and patted my cheek lovingly, before looking between her three kids and shaking her head. "There's a special place in heaven for women like us, my girl."

I giggled. "I sure hope so. Or this premature gray hair is all for nothing."

She gave me one last smile and then went to find my and Jasper's dads.

As soon as their mother was out of ear shot, Tanya spoke up. "And you're concerned for Victoria's feelings since when, exactly?" She asked.

"It was your brother's suggestion. He thought I should be the bigger person." I explained.

Tanya rolled her eyes at Jasper. "She most definitely should not be. Not after what that witch has done."

Jasper sighed. "You three need to keep your attitudes in check." He said seriously. "None of us are particularly thrilled with the events at hand, but we need to be there for Garrett. This isn't just about her. It's about him."

Tanya and Rosalie both sighed but nodded. Tanya asked me if I was ready to head home, and Rosalie nudged her with a laugh. "I'm sure she's going home with Jasper, T. I don't know how long they've been being sneaky, but I'm sure they're tired of it."

My eyes widened. "Oh, no, I wasn't planning on–"

Rosalie shook her head at me, still laughing. "It's fine, B. We'll make sure your plants get watered." She giggled before pulling Tanya along with her to the car.

I looked over at Jasper, who was barely containing his laughs. "You need to find more loyal friends. They really just left your ass here." He said.

I pursed my lips. "I'm going to tell my parents and brother goodbye and then you're buying me dinner. It's the least you could do."

"Whatever you say, darlin'." He replied flirtatiously.

What and the hell have I gotten myself into?

A/N Until the next one, bebs.