Chapter 17: The Devil's Hook
It feels so good. It's thick and soft and warm. I rub my cheeks against the reddish brown sweater, eyes closed, smile embarrassingly wide. I want to tangle and weave myself into every inch.
"I ask you what you want for your birthday, and you ask to see my room? Could've gone to dinner in Port Angeles. We could've taken a trip to a cabin, anything." Jake lays across his bed staring at the ceiling.
"Well, I can't go anywhere. I got my job back at the diner. Can you believe Peg finally called me? She gave me tomorrow's breakfast shift."
"I can't believe you wanted to come here." Why does this bother you so much? How irritating could it be? You're home.
"Why not? You come to my place to get away. I came here to do the same. It's a change of scenery, Jacob." I abruptly take my shirt off and try on the sweater. "I couldn't say no to Peg. She called me and said I could come back for a couple of shifts. I'm still being punished."
"Punished?"
"You know- I had a little fight with a couple of girls from school at table four." I roll my eyes at the thought of never living it down.
"No, you never told me."
"I guess it just escaped my mind. I'm trying my best to forget about it. Everyone in town knows by now."
"I don't live in town." It feels like a pensive vibe is floating over Jacob's head today. The way he looks up at the ceiling and lays so still.
"It was stupid, really. Jessica is convinced I'm sleeping with her boyfriend."
"Were you two talking?" He turns on his side to focus on me. I can feel his earthy eyes staring into the back of my head.
And suddenly the dresser full of knits is less interesting. Jake's mood has crawled onto my back and burrowed into my skin. "No. Why would you even ask that?"
"You are beautiful, Bella. I'm not stupid. I was in high school once too. I would've chased you around the halls if I'd had the chance. I know other guys are looking at you."
But you wouldn't have had to do a lot of chasing. A baitless hook would've done the job. I'd stare into your eyes and bite down on the hook just to watch you reel me in. Breathlessly gaping and moments away from death would've been my high school M.O.
"In case you hadn't noticed I have a boyfriend." I wrap my arms around his neck and lean sideways for a kiss on his king sized bed.
"Oh that wouldn't have stopped me either."
"I guess that's Mike's problem now isn't it?"
"That's his name, Mike? What's his last name?" He sits up at the edge of his bed, keeping hold of my waist.
"Jake—" I let out an exasperated groan and try to pull away from his arms.
"What? Do I have to come up there and find out?" His grasp feels tight and territorial. His beast starts to send heat to my insides. This could get blown out of proportion.
"No." I turn back to my sweater hunting mission, pulling out another heavy wooden drawer, and ignoring his serious tone.
"You sure?" Jacob tickles me from behind, attacking my ribs.
I double over in a laughing heap. "Yes! I'm sure! Stop Jacob!"
He wraps his arms around my shoulders and watches me delicately browse through his neatly folded rows of sweaters. "Why do you like them so much?"
I shrug into his chest before whispering, "It makes me feel closer to you," connected to you.
I raise my hands above my head as he helps me out of one sweater to try on another. "I like this one." I turn to face him, showing off the forest green piece. The wheat colored patterns form the scene of a wolf chasing the moon.
I press my braless chest up against his, feeling our heartbeats penetrate the natural fibers.
"It looks good on you." He runs his hand through my hair and kisses my nose.
"I love this color, and they all smell so good." I inhale deeply. "They smell like you."
"You smell good too." He tries to pull the sweater by the hem, his nose pressed to my neck.
"Leave it on, Jake," I pant into his shoulder.
"Leave it on?"
"Yes, it's turning me on." I lick his neck and jawline.
"A qiviut sweater turns you on?" He searches my eyes for a hint of humor, a smirk on his lips.
But I'm past the banter. I can't think of anything better than how I feel in this room.
"I want you to fuck me on your bed, in your sweater." I voice my request on his unassuming lips.
It all changes in an instant. We both feel the desire align. We are the only things in focus.
His hands grip my hips, his fingertips digging and flexing in raw hunger. Thrown on the bed, jeans pulled off, panties moved to the side, his fingers slid into my slippery center. He plays with my sticky essence, dragging heated circles around my clit.
We're so quiet, almost too quiet with my mouth hanging wide open. I'm holding my breath at the pleasure. My walls clench around his fingers as he builds in force. And before I can cover my mouth, a loud moan escapes my throat.
He laughs at my startled expression before resuming his movements. He watches my pussy seize his thick fingers.
I almost cry out again. "Jake, I'm trying to be quiet," I whisper between clenched teeth.
"Who said we had to be quiet?" He smiles into my lips, swirling his tongue in time with his thumb.
"There are other people in this h-house." I stifle the sounds as much as I can. "Shiiittt." I can't help it. I need more. "Come on, Jake. Hurry up! I can't take it anymore. I want you inside of me."
With his jeans finally unzipped, I whine in his ear as he dives into my sensitive center. The ridges of his cock make me bite my lip. It feels so good the way he stretches my pussy with every thrust. I kiss along his neck and bury my hands into his scalp. My legs instinctively wrap around him for a deeper, heavier stroke. I feel so full.
And right when the pleasure starts to climb, someone knocks on the door.
"Seriously?" Jacob spews between clenched teeth. We freeze and break apart when we hear the second knock.
I rush to cover my bottom half with the comforter. I recklessly rake my fingers through my hair while Jake buttons his jeans and answers the door.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just thought you two could make use of this." A soft and gentle, older woman's voice flows into the room.
"No. Hell no. Sue, go put that away." Jake hisses through the crack in the door.
"What's that?" I lean towards the door to see a bundle in Sue's hands.
Her head peaks around Jake's form explaining, "It's Jacob's mom's blanket. It's similar to a fertility blanket, passed down through generations. You two should start trying for a baby pretty soon. A healthy son is the goal."
My mouth falls open.
"This is part of carrying the bloodline, you see. I overheard talk from Billy and Old Quil. Sam and Emily are already trying. If you both can conceive before them, it makes your chances even better for Alpha. Jacob may not want to tell you about these things, but it would make this easier for all of us."
"No. We are not having a baby right now. My brother cannot become Alpha if it's truly meant for me. Don't drag Bella into this warped plot."
"Well we haven't exactly been safe," I interject. A baby at eighteen. Jake's baby. We should've thought about this. We haven't thought about this.
Sue gently smiles brightly before resting the blanket on the wooden chair. "I'll just leave this here."
Jacob closes the door on Sue before turning back to me. "Bella-"
"They said you have a gift." You're supposed to be Alpha, not Sam.
"It's not a gift. It binds and strangles." His hands shake at his sides.
"You've been chosen."
"You went to one meeting, and you're already starting to sound like them." His jaw tightens and his eyes narrow.
"I don't know what 'It' is, but you're special. I know you're special. They know you're special."
"I wish things were different."
You wish we had protected sex? You wish we used a condom the first night you made love to me? Or is this about your family?
"We could run away together." There's nothing tying me to Forks. Pull me out of the dirt so we can leave this place.
"That would be defeating the purpose." He places both his hands over his face.
"How? We'd be together. Things would be different."
"That's not what you said before the elders. You told them I should be Alpha. You said yes to everything, even after I told you to keep quiet. I told you not to respond."
I feel my chest tighten at the blame.
"How could I say no? How could I be silent when I had the opportunity to help you? It feels good to be bound to you. I don't care where you are or where you end up. I want to be there." Is that why you've been so quiet all week? Am I to blame for the bitterness? Did I screw everything up?
"I don't want our relationship to be about what I do, or who my family has turned me into. I just want it to be you and me, who we are, and how we fit together. You're my safe place, Bella, not this room or anything in this house."
"I'm starting to think that's impossible because it's you. You're special and everyone can see it. Confide in me. Depend on me." Don't blame me for caring.
"That's what I'm supposed to say. Don't let them put ideas in your head."
"We can say it to each other. We should be able to do it for each other. It's not an idea. I feel everything."
After minutes of silently staring at the blanket, I've reached my limit. "I should go."
He didn't stop me.
And it was all I could think about all week. I guess Jacob is giving me space. He hasn't called or come by my house. I'm sure we both know that I'm not the one that needs the space. The silence is driving me up a wall.
It's Saturday afternoon and my hands are bone dry from the bleach again. You can hear them rub together like sandpaper. Maybe I'll start a fire and make myself go up in flames. Then I'll have my own screams to listen to. Work is my only distraction.
I'm getting used to the familiar ache. The tension in my shoulders that shoots down my back and to my feet makes me dream of Jacob massaging my entire body.
I can still feel him all over me, inside me, his lips kissing that spot on my neck. I'd settle for sinking into a hot bath just to keep from feeling incomplete. I'll probably end up tossing a cup of coffee back. It all sounds better than being here.
Something is bugging me. Something is off, not quite right. It's not anxiousness like nerves, but irritating like an itchy tag in the back of a shirt.
I'm looking around the diner and my eyes are about to cross. All the faces look the same and the voices order on a continuous loop. I'm trapped in a Disney teacup going around and around the dining room, so much so that I'm nauseous.
I've grown weak.
This is my last two hours and all I can ask at the next table is "What can I get for you?"
"Oh, hey honey. I'm glad you're back." It's that soft buzzing flake of a voice that almost makes me drop my pad.
"What are you doing here?" My hand painfully grips the pen.
He innocently ignores my question, skimming over the menu. "I never knew a waitress outfit could be so sexy. Much better than that red number."
I roll my eyes. This is a joke. "What the fuck do you want, Edward?" I ask between clenched lips.
"Ut-oh! Do I have to report you for bad service?" His green eyes get big in feigned excitement.
"Ut-oh! Do I need to tell Jake you've been harassing me? Or better yet, I'd stab you in the face with a fork myself."
" A fork, huh. I'd like to see you try." His eyes get low, and his cheeks grow smug at the corner of his lips. He goes back to flipping through the menu before adding, "If I were afraid of Jacob, I wouldn't be here."
"Did you just come here to bother me, or are you going to order something?"
He leans back in his seat before bringing all his attention to me. "This is what happens when you don't call. I just show up when I need something. Besides, it's not like I can wait around at the bar, or light a flare at the market. I gave you my card for a reason." This is his foreplay. A game of hide and seek, cat and mouse. The card was a trap.
"Oh that? I threw it out." I blink back the lie.
He leans toward me, looking up into my eyes and shakes his head. "Nope. No you didn't." It's sick and cunning the way his mouth gathers.
Well I meant to. I meant to tear it up and toss it in the trash. It's been bad luck. I nervously tap my heels on the linoleum floor. "Seriously, I've had enough. Order now or leave."
"Tell me what's good here? Better yet, I'll take whatever your usual is. I'm curious."
I damn near tore a hole into my note pad at the request. "Schnitzel it is." You Ass.
And within fifteen agonizing minutes I'm back in hell, plopping a fried porkchop on his table.
"I'm looking for Michael Newton. You know him?"
"Yeah." I bite my lip, watching his fork and knife screech across the plate.
"Can you give me some directions?" He tries to squeeze out an answer with a raised eyebrow.
"If he's not at Bass Pro Shop high siding with his dad, he's hanging in Port Angeles spending daddy's money. Why?"
"Well, Daddy has been dodging me while Mike goes shopping with my money. But luckily for me, his son is part owner of Hephaestus."
"Hephaestus?"
"Their. fishing. vessel." He waves a fork with a neatly cut piece of the breaded pork back and forth with each word. "Now was that so bad? I bet you wished you'd just called."
I shake my head back and forth. "Still don't know why you had to come and ask me. The town is this big." I hold up my pinched index finger and thumb. "Drive around long enough, and you'll find anyone you're looking for. Then again, you already knew that. You found me."
"Now where's the fun in that? Why would I miss out on an opportunity to see 'bizarre Bella'?"
Is that what they call me?
I click my teeth at him, snapping at the space between us.
He bites the air back, clicking his teeth together in response. "Don't do that. I bite back." His face flashes kink and thrill before it returns to the expressionless mask.
He takes a drink of ice water before his voice gets low and solicitous, "You know Bella, in the end, I hope this all works out for you. Be careful, somebody's always watching."
I search the diner for native faces and watchful eyes. He may not be the only one here.
"Do me a favor and let Mike be surprised to see me." He slips out of the booth, a light jacket in his arms. "Say hello to Skoll and Hati for me." He tosses two hundred dollar bills on the table and deafly brushes pass to leave.
Ok, so what did you think? I'd really like to know! Is Edward annoying? How do you feel about Jacob? Thank you for reading!