Lily had enjoyed her weekend away far more than she had expected to.
She had called Sarah and Tom every night, letting them know she was safe, had no boys around, and had not been pinched by any crabs as of yet.
Naturally on the last day there she jinxed herself.
John had asked every night over the phone if she had been pinched by a crab, and every night she would respond that she had not. But unfortunately, it wasn't meant to last. She had been enjoying her last few moments on the island walking knee deep in the ocean while holding her sandals and her summer dress out of the water. She loved the ocean or any body of water. She enjoyed being out in nature, but something about the ocean calmed her soul. Being in the woods felt like home, while the ocean was peace. Cities had always made her feel…antsy and anxious. She wasn't sure if it was because everyone was on top of each other or if it was just the pollution and high crime rates.
No cop or teacher or anybody in a position of authority had ever helped her before forks. Maybe she had just been disenchanted by the whole ordeal.
She had found that she didn't mind being alone when she thought about it.
Nobody from the Cullen family had texted her, nor had they responded to any of her messages. She thought at first, she might not have signal, but her phone calls to Sarah, John, and Mr. went through without any issues.
She hopped everyone was okay….
Lily made sure to clean the house up before she left. She didn't want to leave it for the housekeepers. It just seemed wrong as she was able to clean up after herself.
While she was lost in thought wondering the beach and waves, she felt something brush up against her foot. The one thing that nobody wants to experience while in water of any kind.
She jumpedand tried to get away from whatever it as her foot had touched, only to land in a patch of sand with several more mysterious things.
That's when she felt it.
The brush of a claw.
The pinch of its pincers.
Several of them.
She screamed as loudly as she could before biting onto her hand. Nobody would be able to hear her anyways as she was far away from everything. Lily tried to move but she kept tripping and fell onto her knees into the ocean, resulting on a crab pinching her right pinky finger.
Shit!
Just then, the gentleman who handpicked her up from the airport had scooped her out of the water and brushed the crabs that had decided to defend themselves against her intrusion off of her. Lily had several red pinched marks on her skin. He carried her into the house before searching through her bags for another dress.
"Quick, go take a shower to wash the sand and salt off your skin. I'll put your clothes into a plastic bag so that nothing else gets wet. Once you finish, I will take you to the airport. I'm sorry the crabs got to you."
"To be fair" Lily started with a crooked grin, "I was invading their herd…flock…thing."
"Miss, I believe the term you ae searching for would be consortium." The man said looking amused. "Go shower, I'll take care of everything here.
The shower Lily ended up quickly taking helped calm her nerves. She was going to kill John once she got home, she decided. He caused this mess!
That also got her thinking as they took the boat to the main island and changed to driving.
This was also Jasper's fault. He shipper her off to the island and refused to answer her messages. He didn't owe her anything, in fact she owed him for the use of his island. But with that kindness came crabs and she was not happy. She would pick her bone with him once she was actually home.
Once she got to the airport, she said thank you to the gentleman who had been taking care of her sense her arrival.
"Hey, thanks for everything. I really feel bad asking but I don't even know your name."
"That's correct Miss. We do not give out our real names to anyone. It's part of our security detail."
What?
"Wait, you were here for security reasons?" Lily asked, shocked at the realization. She thought he had just been her chauffeur.
"Mr. Jasper Cullen takes his… interests… very seriously, regardless of the topic. He anted to ensure you were safe so far away from your home. Thankfully, the only issues I had were your amazing water shenanigans. Do try not to anger the wildlife next time. Now, go. You'll miss your plane."
With that statement completed, he returned to his car and drove away leaving Lily in a state of shock.
Interests? She thought to herself. What does he think she is she wondered? A stock? Shaking her head, she grabbed her bags and decided to go through security and grab a coffee.
Thankfully, there was a popular coffee shop inside the airport. She grabbed a sugary frozen concoction she loved and a sandwich. Her plane wouldn't be boarding for another 30 minutes so she sat down at her gate.
She was still lost in thought while she boarded, getting a window seat.
Perfect.
Now she could daydream and hopefully work through everything before landing.
Lily pulled out her travel notebook and a sparkly gel pen (thank you Alice) to write her questions.
What does Jasper want with her?
Why did he hire a security detail/ body guard for her?
Did he know who Mr. Handsome was and his wife?
How is everyone? Is everyone safe?
What is the plan moving forward for the baby vamps?
Did Jasper actually like her or was she just his blood singer like Bella was for Edward?
Why did he and everyone in his family ignore her this whole weekend?
She continued to think while looking out the window. She had the isle to herself so she was able to spread out a bit. The plane seemed pretty empty.
The hours passed as they do while someone is looking out at the clouds from a smudged airplane window. The landing was smooth, but baggage claim was awful. She texted Sarah letting her know she had landed. She was walking and texting and bumped into what she thought was a solid wall.
It turned out to be a male chest.
A very firm, male chest covered in what appeared to be light blue fleece long sleeve shirt.
"Hey Doll. Lost in thought?"
Lily looked up and realized she had run into Jasper.
Just the man she needed to speak with.
"Oh hello stranger. I am sorry to have run into you. Might you be a dear and help this poor unaccompanied female into a car so that she can get home safely?" Lily asked, trying to sound like she had walked out of a western film.
Jasper laughed, causing butterflies to appear in Lily's stomach. His laugh was deep, and had a strong tenor feeling to it that seemed to call to Lily. She tried not to focus on it.
"Darlin' I don' think the accent suits ya."
"Well shoot and tarnation! I thought I was doin' pretty well!"
"My ears will never recover."
Jasper grabbed her bags for her and showed her the way to his car. He packed the luggage into the trunk before taking the driver's seat.
"I'm glad to see you are still in one piece. Is everyone ok? I tried texting but nobody seemed to respond. I was afraid someone had gotten hurt or worse."
Jasper seemed to contemplate what he was going to say before saying it.
"Jaz, just say it please. I need to know."
Sighing, he decided to answer.
"First, everyone is ok. There was an incident that involved Emmett and Rose as well as the wolves. We didn't catch Victoria. She ran into the wolves' territory. That's what caused the issue between everyone. The wolves felt that Emmett had crossed the boundary line in his attempt to catch Victoria. Everyone is fine. The wolves heal fast, just as vampires do. If we lose a limb, we can reattach it or grow a new one. But it hurts growing a limb back. You're only sore for a few days when you reattach a limb, so that's the usual path. The only limb we need to keep ourselves attached to is our head. If you burn our head or all of our body, we die."
"Did he actually cross the boundary line? Actually, don't answer that. It shouldn't matter. You guys have a revenge bent crazy vampire running around both areas. Why can you not come up with an amendment to the territory to allow the pursuit of a danger?"
"I wish I could say it'd be that easy, but I don' think its possible."
Deciding she would have to manage that for everyone because apparently supernatural's were all a bunch of children refusing to share the sandbox, she started on another question.
"Am I your singer?"
That startled Jasper.
"No doll, if you were my singer you wouldn't be here alive right now. I would have slaughtered you long before I even heard your first name." He said grimly, hands clenching onto the steering wheel.
"You need to have more faith in yourself. You're what… 160 or something like that? I think you have an amazing amount of control. I think you just pick up on everyone else's thirst, especially Edward. He isn't just torturing himself being with Bella. He is torturing his own brother. You cannot take the blame for that."
"I appreciate the vote of confidence, but…"
"No buts! Next question. I just don't understand why you seem to always be there for me. I mean, did you actually hire a security detail for me? Who does that? I'm not criticizing, I'm just trying to understand."
"I can't tell ya yet, I'm sorry. I jus' need a bit more time. As for the security detail, I had to ensure you were safe."
"Jasper, I was put on a deserted island all by myself and the wild life."
"I heard that ya had some issues with some of the neighbors." He said teasingly.
Lily hit his arm playfully, pretending to be angry while Jasper laughed again.
"Shut up! I was brutally attacked and maimed by the evils of that island! It's your fault too!"
"There was a sign"
"Excuse me? Where?!"
"On every door on the inside, letting everyone know the island often gets migrating crabs and they often pinch when startled."
Lily just huffed and sat back against her seat; arms crossed in a pout.
She had missed him.