Chapter 33
It was official. My truck had died.
My monstrous beast of a truck that seemed more like a tank than a vehicle, had been found to be not worth fixing. Rosalie of course offered, but I didn't want to keep the shell for nostalgia and have a brand-new engine and all the fittings, it seemed like an undignified end to my first car in some strange way.
So, I had resorted to a mix of transport via vampire, and just having people drive me.
Though there was one option there that I absolutely hated.
Jasper of course was more than willing to drive me and had even tried to buy me my own motorbike or lend me his. But that was too much drama with Charlie to deal with. I didn't want to add any strain to our relationship. Not when my future of seeing my dad was so murky.
And so, the day after my ill-fated attempt to drive myself to Port Angeles, Jasper drove me to the border of La Push so that Jacob could collect me without having to drive all the way into Forks.
It reminded me a little too much about the times Renee would take me halfway to see Charlie for the summer.
We said our goodbyes and quickly Jake had wrapped me in his giant warm arms and was spinning me around.
"You don't come here enough anymore." He said when he finally put me down.
"It hasn't been that long." I responded with a soft, joking elbow to the ribs.
"Yeah, but before the big fight I was used to seeing you all the time while we practised. Now you're only here every couple of weeks."
"I know, I know. I'm just busy Jake, I will try and come more often." I knew what he meant; I had definitely been seeing him less. It wasn't on purpose; I genuinely was busy with school and keeping up human appearances.
"But I'm here now!" I said as we sat in his little car. "What's the plan?"
"A few of the boys wanna go cliff diving and the weather isn't too bad." He said as he pulled out onto the road and started the drive into town. "Definitely not warm enough for you to jump but a few of the girls will be there, otherwise we can just hang out."
"Sounds like a plan to me, let's go watch the idiots throw themselves off of a cliff." I laughed.
"Ouch, I'm not an idiot." He play pouted.
"You're jumping too?" I asked.
"Of course! It's the closest I can get to the thrill of chasing down a vampire without you getting mad at me."
"Okay then I do think you're an idiot." I laughed again.
"Come watch today, and then in the summer sometime come jump with us, I know you would love it."
"I'm not really the adrenaline junkie type." I chuckled a little. "Okay maybe sometimes I am, and we'll see."
Several hours later I was surrounded by damp, overgrown boys and the wind was picking up to the point where it was getting uncomfortable.
The girls who had come, Emily, Kim, and the new girl Claire, had left for Emily's home a little while ago and I decided I was ready to head home myself. The girls had invited me over for dinner with them, but with the bitter cold and without my own car I was keen to arrange my ride home before it was too dark.
I called Jasper twice before he picked up. He was still hunting and was about an hour away, just him and Emmett, so I sent Edward a quick text to see if he was able to pick me up. He instantly agreed and so Jacob and I began to make our way back to my drop off point.
We held an easy conversation as he drove, but there seemed to be something Jacob didn't want to say. I wanted to broach the subject, but I also wanted to respect his privacy and certainly didn't want to push.
We arrived at the rendezvous point before Edward did and sat in companionable silence for a moment. Jacob took a deep breath and seemed just about ready to say what was on his chest when he sighed.
"Don't worry about it Bella, it's nothing." He said with a little grin, not quite as lively as he usually would. "Have a good week at school and don't be a stranger."
And then Edward pulled up in the sleek, fancier car than his usual Volvo and I said my goodbyes to Jacob.
Jake's mood instantly lifted.
"Is that car what I think it is?" His jaw hanging open.
"I don't know Jake, you know I know next to nothing about cars." I laughed as I stepped out of his car and made my way over to Edward's where he was already opening my door and from the smirk on his face he was amused by Jake's thoughts. I called out my farewell as Edward helped me politely into his low car, and I briefly saw him wave as we took off.
"What are you smirking about there?" I asked as we sped off down the road. This car almost felt like running. Almost.
"Jacob's thoughts." He replied with a laugh. "Yes, this car is exactly what he thinks it is, and for once I find myself agreeing with the wolf on something."
"And that would be?"
"For lack of a better word, it's a sexy car." He replied with another laugh.
I had to laugh too. Hearing Edward in his prim and proper tone say the word 'sexy' was more than a little ridiculous.
"Though my appearance did interrupt him trying to tell you something, though I was sure you wouldn't mind me interrupting his particular conversation."
"Don't be cryptic, if you're going to use your powers for gossip then just tell me." I joked.
He laughed again and shook his head. "He was trying to tell you he loves you Bella."
"Ah," I sighed. "I hoped he had gotten over his crush."
"He isn't quite there," Edward continued. "But he values your friendship more than anything, so I think he'll be fine. He's just trying to come to terms with your upcoming change."
All I could do was nod.
"Yeah, he'll be fine. He has to be fine."
"He'll know the truth Bella, well he already does, so you won't have to leave him." He responded. "He'll be one of the very few people who will be able to know and you'll be able to still have contact with, and that will help him. And you."
"Thanks Edward," I said with a smile, "I really do miss getting to hang out so much, it'll be good once I'm changed."
"Yes, it will be good when we don't have to worry about me killing you quite so much." He chuckled.
I snorted.
"Yeah, when there isn't any more threat of becoming someone's next meal, my life is going to feel a whole lot easier."
For the next week, it felt like all I could think about was my upcoming change, and exactly how this was going to change my life.
It would mean saying goodbye to my mom but without ever actually saying goodbye. That was going to suck more than anything else.
None of my human friends would ever know what truly happened to me and I was going to have to carefully avoid any chance of them seeing me for the next few decades at the very least. And I would live on forever while they all lived their lives, married, had children, and eventually died. And I could honestly tell myself I wasn't feeling robbed of any of that.
Children weren't my thing, they never had been. In a way I had already spent a large portion of my life raising Renee. I felt no attachment to the idea of raising anyone else. If I truly felt the need to raise something in my life I could always get another chinchilla like I had as a child. That was more than enough for me.
But as Edward had said just last week, there would always be the wolves. Or at least there would be for a long time. Apparently, they didn't really age while phasing and I certainly couldn't see Jacob giving that up. There would always be this band of teenage boys and young men who would tie me to my human life and my time here in Forks.
And of course there was Charlie. My dad knew enough and was content with knowing only what he needed to know. And while I certainly wouldn't have the control to be near him at first, that risk would lessen as my immortal life continued, and I would have my dad. Even knowing I would only have him for a few decades more, it was another of those ties to my humanity.
I was content with my choices. And I was happy.
The following Friday, I found myself alone with Jasper in the big house. Everyone had gone to visit Alice and Bree, and we decided to make the most of a weekend together.
Of course everyone who needed to know, Charlie included, was under the impression Alice was still seeking medical treatment in Seattle, and that we had all gone to visit her for the weekend.
And so we had a whole house and a whole weekend together with no threats of interruption or eavesdropping and all of the privacy the big house in the woods could offer.
We were lounging in the main living room on the Saturday morning, I was just in a pair of boxers I'd stolen and a hoodie that I honestly couldn't remember if I had stolen or bought for myself, and Jasper was in sweats.
Sweats that hung deliciously low on his hips, showing off the faint muscle definition and hinted at the treasures I knew they were hiding.
I was lying across the sofa, lazily snacking on trail mix, and watching him from where he was leaning in a doorframe opposite me, attention on the television playing some comedy.
I traced his body up and down with my eyes, taking in every detail. His golden hair, long enough I could scrunch it up in my hands and pull him closer. His full lips and defined nose and jaw. His long and muscular arms, hardened in his human life and refined in this one. They were wrapped across his chest in a well-practised move to seem more human, his large fingers wrapped lazily around his biceps.
I bit my lip as I remembered just how those long fingers felt on my body only an hour earlier. And the night previously. And through the night.
My eyes continued their path down to that teasing waistband again, where it sat so suggestively and teased me with what it hid.
I heard the barest ghost of a chuckle and my eyes darted back up to his.
"Why Miss Swan, you are either enjoying this movie rather more than I thought you would, or you've found something else you occupy your mind." He teased.
"Oh Mr Whitlock," I gasped in feigned shock with a high pitched and girly voice, "how could you suggest such a thing?"
I lazily added another chocolate piece into my mouth and let my eyes continue their wandering.
Suddenly he was on top of me. Laying parallel to me but holding all of his weight off of me so I could barely feel the whisper of his body above mine.
I gasped in real shock this time.
"Oh, I'm not suggesting anything, Miss Swan." He said with a husky growl. He leaned down to nuzzle playfully at my neck.
"Though if you have this kind of a hunger as a human, I can't wait to have you as a newborn." He chuckled as I gasped, and he ever so slightly mouthed my neck in a pantomime of a love bite.
I dropped my bowl down beside the couch and wound my fingers through his hair, pulling his face up to meet my passionate kiss.
He allowed me to pull him up, and then ever so slightly sank down to allow me to feel his weight on top of me. Just enough to tease me further and notice his physical reaction. I pulled my lips away from his.
"I'll never have enough of you." I gasped breathily as his lips made their way back to my neck.
"I want all of you, Isabella," He growled back as he ground his hips down onto mine with a little more force. "Though if I take you here on the couch we'll certainly never hear the end of it."
And the weight was off my chest and hips, and then we were upright.
Our lips once again met, and I wrapped my legs around Jasper's waist as he began the walk up to our room.
For once we moved at a slow pace. Up the stairs one at a time, we were in no rush.
Once inside the threshold of our room my feet dropped from around him and I stepped back, just enough to allow myself space to undo the drawstring of his pants and edge my fingers down the back. I knew I couldn't squeeze hard enough for any sort of pressure to be pleasurable, so I dragged my nails from the bottom to the top of his ass. The hiss that escaped from his lips confirmed my suspicions this would feel great.
I hooked my fingers into the pants once again and went to slowly push them down before Jasper ever so carefully grabbed my wrists.
"Uh-uh, you first." He said as he pulled my hands from where they were trying to reveal him, then he grabbed both of my hands in one of his and pinned them above my head.
His index finger of his right hand trailed down my nose, across my lips, and then grabbed the neckline of the hoodie, pulling me slightly closer to him, our chests nearly back together though with my arms still above my head.
"I wanna see all of what you're hiding under here first."
I had to laugh quietly.
"You've seen all of it a hundred times before, and not more than an hour ago."
"Oh, but I will never tire of seeing it if I live a million years." He replied, his lips brushing against my ear.
He let go of my sweater and his right hand trailed down the centre of my chest, and then slipped up into the hem. I quietly gasped at the initial coolness of his hand, but I had come to love this.
He trailed his hand back up my chest until he reached my breast and lightly grasped it.
"And especially not when they get bigger like they have." He growled as he continued to knead my breast with his hand, then his fingers began to deliciously pinch at my skin.
I couldn't form words at that point and resorted to moaning in pleasure. All I wanted was him, I wanted to touch him, feel him.
But my hands were still pinned.
I tried to move my body closer to him to feel more of him.
"Eager, are we?" He cocked his eyebrow and smirked.
"Always." I gasped, his fingers still pinching and tasing me. "I need you, I love you."
He let go of my arms and pulled me close with that hand that had been my restraint.
"I love you too, always." And he kissed me with such passion and such love.
He then began to push my sweatshirt up over my head and exposed my naked upper body.
Jasper paused only for a moment to admire me as he always did before he occupied his mouth again. First with my lips, then he began to trail down my body before kneeling down in front of me, fingers teasing on the waistband of my underwear stolen from him.
I ran my hands through his hair and held on tight as he slowly kissed his way from hip to hip.
"I love you so much, Isabella Swan." He just about whispered as he laid is cool forehead along my abdomen. "I can't wait to spend forever with you."
"You have me forever; every minute I think I fall a little bit more in love with you Jasper."
He reached up to gently untangle my left hand from his hair and kissed my knuckles so gently before looking up at me through his long, blond lashes, one eyebrow raised as if in question.
"Isabella Marie," he said, his voice full of emotion and the strength of his emotions washing over me pleasantly.
I stared at him for a moment, trying to piece together the scene. He was being so gentle and loving, holding my left hand in front of us and using my full name. He almost never said my full name, and this was the third time this morning.
And then it hit me. My left hand. The emotions. The scene.
I began to beam like a mad woman and my eyes became a little watery with the emotions of it all.
"Jasper." I gasped. I was ecstatic. I was so crazily in love with this man and this felt like the most natural thing in the world.
"Isabella Marie," he repeated. "Forgive me for not having this planned out in some romantic gesture and grand setting," He chuckled slightly. "I wasn't exactly planning on this right this moment, but right this second feels like the perfect time." He paused. "You have given me a new lease on life, shown me love I never could have imagined, accepted me exactly as I am and yet helped me to grow in so many ways. Will you do me the incredible honour of becoming my wife?"
I couldn't even speak, I just stood there half naked and grinning like I was a kid at Disney. I even began to giggle.
Jasper then ever so gently grabbed the beautiful pearl and silver ring he had previously bought me and pulled it from where it sat on my index finger as always and placed it onto my ring finger.
As soon as it was placed, I was down on my knees with him and wrapping my arms around him.
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" I finally answered. "Yes, now and forever, for the rest of our lives, I want to be tied to you in all ways possible."
"Even if we don't get married for a hundred more years I don't care, I just want everyone to know you are all mine, and I am all yours." He spoke.
I reached up to his head again and kissed him with all of the force and the passion I had in my body, trying to demonstrate just how much I loved him.
Suddenly we were off the ground again and I felt the soft covers of the bed behind me, and the weight of Jasper above me. I wrapped my legs around him and moaned as he dug his hard hips into mine.
"I'm yours," I gasped as I broke my lips away from his for a breath. "All yours. Forever."
A.N.
Hey, hoped you enjoyed this little cuteness. I was tossing up whether I wanted Jasper to ask Bella to marry him at this point, or if I wanted to move away from the whole getting married super young and while human trope. Buuuut I think the fact my partner and I have started looking at engagement rings heavily influenced my decision and this just flowed out of my fingers. And it is was I originally ha planned for this story all those years ago when I started writing.
But what do you think? What would you like to see at a Bella and Jasper wedding? Do you even want to see it?