Chapter 13 - In Holy Places

We wanted to get his jewelry on me and safe ASAP, so that meant bugging Jasper at home. He knew what was going on, so I hoped he didn't mind us popping in and asking him to pierce me in his off time. We started up the stairs to the little apartments, and it became very clear that we needed to put more insulation between the walls.

You could clearly hear Rose and Tanya moaning over Emmett's grunting. Edward was a deep shade of red. Tanya finished and thanked Rose, and we heard Emmett asking if she wanted him to do anything for her. She declined, and I quickly knocked on the door of Jasper's apartment, in hopes of getting far away from the conversation. Of course, that was not what happened. Jasper invited us in, and he must've realized that we were just now learning of the lack of insulation, because he was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

You could clearly hear Emmett worrying over not doing anything for Tanya, and Rose cooed at him that he was a sweetheart, but since Tanya was a lesbian and not bi, she'd find his touch about as pleasurable as he would Jasper's.

"I could rock your world, Emmett! You just got to give me a shot!" Jasper shouted through the wall at them.

We heard a loud thump and a squeal. "You stay away from me, Jasper. I don't want a shot of anything you've got."

"That's your loss," Jasper teased.

"Why are these walls so thin?" Emmett asked.

"You tell us, you were the contractor," I hollered back at him.

"Oh, heavens, who all is listening in to this mess?" he asked, sounding mortified.

We heard Angela and another man say "We are," and then Jessica, Laurant and Tyler, who were all at Jessica's, said, "We are, too," as well.

"Oh mercy, at least it wasn't anyone in my family," Emmett sounded relieved, but that was short-lived.

"Actually, Emmett, Edward is here with Bella," Jasper said, grinning way too big.

"Edward?" Emmett squeaked.

"Yes," Edward answered.

"Don't tell mom," Emmett said so seriously, it made us all burst out laughing.

"I won't," he answered back coolly and then turned to Jasper. "Do you mind if we take this downstairs? It's kind of a private matter, and this obviously isn't a private place."

"We're going to have to fix that," I added.

Once we were downstairs and tucked away in the piercing room, I decided to catch Jasper up to speed. "I need a couple more piercings."

"Nipple?" he grinned, grabbing his gun.

"No..."

"Pussy?"

"No!"

"Belly button?"

"No." I was getting tired of his guessing.

"Tongue?"

"For heaven's sake, Jasper, just my ears. I need to be able to wear three pairs of earrings-"

"You could put a pair on your nipples."

"Seriously?"

He shrugged. "I think you'd like it."

Edward stepped in front of me, blocking me from view. "Just her ears."

"Fine, but why the sudden piercings?" he asked, getting his gun ready.

"We need a safe place for the jewelry," I answered.

"Why don't you put it in the office safe? It's bolted to the ground, time locked, fireproof, and the room has an alarm on it. No one has the code except you and Edward. I doubt you'd find a safer place for his grandma's things."

Jasper was right, and Eddie could see it anytime he wanted. That was the most sensible course of action, but I didn't want to take off my ring. I looked down at the ring on my finger, and Edward grabbed my hand and kissed it. "This one doesn't go in the safe."

"Really? Congratulations, guys, that's awesome!" he cheered, patting us on the shoulder. "I can give you both a set of intimate piercings as an engagement present. I'm telling you, you won't be sorry with the results."

"I think we're fine with our hole-free parts." I had never been with anyone, and I didn't want my first time with Edward to be anything but natural intimacy.

"You mean with the holes you have now," Jasper chuckled, turning us both red.

"Let's go lock this stuff up," I said, pulling Edward out of the room. We both breathed a sigh of relief, once the jewelry was put away.

"I just thought I'd let you know, there's someone named EPC that keeps bidding on the jewelry. It just went past forty thousand dollars. What do you want me to do?" Jasper asked, coming into the office.

"It's my mom who's bidding," Edward answered him.

Jasper frowned. "Should I let her win?"

That was the million dollar question. "Is she bidding on all three?" I asked.

"Yes, it looks like it," Jasper informed us.

"I say let her bid it up and see if they approach you again, Edward," I suggested.

"Again?" Jasper asked worried.

"Alice called. I guess she had a change of heart, sort of. She had her mother bid on the auctions, so she could pull the items without ruining her rating, but when she saw how much they were going for, she called Edward to try and convince him to sell."

"Well, at least she's asking. That's an improvement, right?" Poor Jasper sounded so hopeful. It was kind of weird to think that he might like evil Alice. I honestly couldn't understand how anyone could like someone so self-centered.

"We'll see," Edward stated grimly.

"Bella, can I still borrow your weed whacker?" Jasper reminded me why I'd planned on going home tonight.

"Yeah, I'll bring it when I come in."

"Cool, goodnight," he waved to us and disappeared up the stairs to his noisy apartment.

"What does he need a weed whacker for, and why do you have one?" Edward asked confused.

"I have one, because I use it to trim my lawn. He needs one to help take care of his sister's yard. Remember, he moved here to help look after her, while her husband was deployed."

"Oh, right." He seemed disappointed.

"I should get going. I hate being out so late," I complained. Edward pouted, when we headed to my car. "I don't want to go, but I have a few things to do around my house."

"I haven't ever been to your house," Edward pointed out. I'd never thought about it, but he was right.

"No, you haven't, why not?" I asked him, almost accusingly.

His eyes widened, and his mouth opened. "I don't know. I don't even know where you live."

"Well, you should. We are engaged after all." A giddy giggle escaped me, and I found myself jumping into his arms and kissing him. It was all slowly starting to sink in and making my insides quiver with excitement. "We're engaged, Edward, we're really engaged, right?"

He nodded his head yes vigorously, causing me to erupt into another round of giggles and squeeze him so tight. "I love you." I couldn't, not, say it. It was crazy that it was just now hitting me, but when the decision had been made for me to keep the ring on, it became real. We were getting married.

"I should see your house, shouldn't I?" Edward questioned.

"Yeah, that'd be nice. When do you think you can come out?"

He looked back across the alley toward his home and frowned. "I'm not sure if I should leave him. He did just have his dialysis earlier."

I pulled him down to kiss me softly. "I understand. We'll work out a time."

"No, wait, just let me ask him how he's doing and then get your address." He rushed inside, and I saw lights popping on, as he moved through the house.

Finally, the lights were all flicked off in fast succession. He popped out of the back door and locked it, hopping down the stairs and rushing over to my truck. He was eager to go and wearing a grin as big as mine. "Since it's getting late, I thought I'd just bring a few things and maybe stay the night…if that's okay with you."

"That's definitely okay with me, let's go."

It became clear that Edward was nervous by the bouncing of his leg as I drove. We'd never gone anywhere together with me driving. I didn't think I was a bad driver and wondered if I was freaking him out. I was doing the speed limit and following the traffic signs. His leg continued to bounce, and his arms tightened around his duffle bag.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yes, I've just never seen your house. I've never actually been to Forks. Is it far?"

"Well, it's not close. It usually takes me about an hour to get to work."

"A whole hour? That's really far."

I shrugged. "I suppose it would be if I was just going to a regular job, but this is our business, we own it. It's worth the drive."

He smiled over at me. "Thank you, for saying that. I didn't realize how much I was asking of you, when I first went into business with you. I was so thrilled to find someone who might help me bring the shop back. I never stopped to think about your side of things."

"I'm happy you asked me. It was the best decision I've ever made."

I pulled up into my driveway, and he looked across my yard that was framed in a white picket fence. "You have a picket fence," he pointed at it in awe.

I gave him a mischievous grin. "Yes, I do. I'll soon have my husband and babies to go with it," I teased, before I hopped out of my truck and headed for the front door.

Edward was back to being pensive, when he stepped inside and started to look around. My house was much smaller and a little simpler than his, but that was because it had been my father's bachelor pad for several years before he'd died.

Edward found the marks on the wall, where my dad used to measure me. It was the one place that had never been repainted, and it was now a faded green. "This says Bella," he pointed out.

"Yup, that's me. My dad used to mark my height every time I came to visit. See here, I grew a whole inch and a half that summer."

He gave me a flat smile. "So, this was your dad's house. You grew up here."

I nodded yes, not sure what the problem was.

"Where are we going to live? You can't give up this house, Bella. It's part of your life, your family."

I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to sell my house. It was part of my history, but I didn't want to live here once I was married to Edward. My first inclination was that being married to him meant living in his house close to the shop. It just made more sense. "We're going to live at your house, if you're alright with that. It's closer to the shop, and Eddie is there. There's more room to grow there. This place has only two bedrooms, whereas yours has five. I was thinking we'd have more kids than one, right?" I asked.

His face lit up, and he pulled me into his arms. "You really want to make a family with me?"

"So bad," I whispered against his lips and then kissed him good and hard.

He was breathing hard, when we pulled apart. He turned away from me, trying to gain control of his body. He was such a sweet man to not push me. "Why don't you show me around a bit?"

The tour was short. There really wasn't much to the house. The best part of it was the screened-in back porch. "So, that's it, not much to my house, but I'm not here that often. I need to mow the front yard first thing in the morning. I haven't had a chance to do it in a couple of weeks, and I'm sure it looks like a jungle in the daylight."

"I'm well-versed at using a mower. You could say cutting things runs in my blood."

"You're a silly man, but you're my silly man. Let's head to bed. I'm tired, and we have a lot of work to do in the morning."

I loved sleeping next to Edward. His bed was bigger than mine, but that just meant we had to snuggle more in mine. I woke up to the sound of a lawnmower kicking on, and I was confused, as I listened to it running around my backyard. Edward stirred under me, the mower disturbing his sleep as well.

I got up, wrapping myself in my robe, and made my way to the back window, only to see Jacob on my dad's old riding mower. I only ever used it in the backyard, because it was huge and didn't fit through the front gate. As soon as he noticed that I was watching him, he whipped off his shirt and blew me a kiss. This was not good.

I rushed out onto the screened back porch, leaving the screen door that led out to the yard safely locked. "Jake, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What?" he shouted back.

"What do you think you're doing!" I screamed louder.

"Hold on a second." He drove up, parking next to the back porch and shut off the engine.

"What are you doing?" I growled.

"Don't get all huffy. Dad said he drove past your place and saw the yard looking shabby. I thought I'd come by and help out. I'm a nice guy like that, you know. I'm sure you can find an appropriate way to thank me."

"Weren't you in the hospital?"

He scoffed at me. "They thought I was crazy, but then they saw the shadow of one of the ninja's on a street camera. I told them they were real! Ninjas, can you believe it?"

The idiot sounded thrilled that he'd been beaten up by ninjas.

"So, why were you in the hospital, then?"

"They gave me a concussion, a few cracked ribs and several shallow cuts. I think they may have been trying to jump me into their gang. I'm pretty agile, you know. I can see why they'd want me to join their ninja gang." He threw a couple karate chops, looking utterly ridiculous.

I rolled my eyes at him. He was such a tool. "Don't mow my lawn, you'll not get thanked. Edward is here to help me this morning."

"Edward?"

"Yes, Edward, my business partner and fiancé."

"Your fian…what? You can't be engaged!"

I held up my hand, flashing my ring at him. "I've got a ring and everything. It's official."

"No, no, no, no, you're supposed to marry me! We're supposed to have kids and live happily ever after. It's what your dad wanted, what my dad wants. I want it, too. You're supposed to be with me, Bella!"

"I don't love you, Jake. Quite frankly, you're an ass, and you annoy the crap out of me."

He had jumped off the mower and rushed to the screen door, but thankfully, it was still locked up tight. "It's not right, Bella. You're supposed to be a part of my family. My dad sees you as a daughter, and I'm supposed to make it happen. You need to take that ring off and-"

"I don't think so," Edward cut in. "Why are you even here?"

"I'm mowing her lawn, like a real man does to take care of his woman," Jake said, puffing out his chest.

"I'm not your woman, Jake. Thank you for trying, but I don't need your help this morning. I do appreciate the effort, but it's wasted on me if you're doing it to impress me."

"I can be a real man for you, Bella." He flexed his still-bare chest at me, and I sighed. If I didn't know him, I'd probably think he was handsome, but I did, so his dancing pecks held no interest for me.

I pulled Edward closer and leaned back into him, wrapping his arms around me. "I have all the man I need in Edward. Give Billy my love, Jake, and have a good day." I dragged Edward back into the house and made sure the back door was locked. I could still hear Jake shouting about him having the muscles of a real man. Edward looked worried, so I decided to clear that up for him. I tugged his shirt up and started kissing down his pecks to his abs. He groaned a little, before he stepped back. "Now, this is what the muscles of a real man look like."

"Does he bother you often?" he asked, changing the subject.

I shrugged. "I'm not usually around, so I don't know how often he swings by. Billy keeps an eye on the place for me, since I'm gone most the day, and I don't come home some nights at all as of late. We don't want the house to fall into disrepair and have vagrants try to squat in it or something. It's been a problem in the past."

"Are you serious?" Edward sounded shocked.

"It was vacant the first six months after I lost my parents, while I was living on the rez. Once I was emancipated, I moved back in, and it hasn't been a problem since."

"Emancipated?"

"Yeah, I moved out from Billy's, after I got my high school diploma at sixteen. Didn't we discuss this already?"

He shook his head no at me. "I knew you went to college, and you graduated young. I knew you lost your parents."

"I moved out of Billy's house, because Jake is…well, Jake. He's not as aggressive as of late as he used to be. I think he might've been on steroids. I teased him that they make things shrink, and I think he quit taking them."

"I don't like you staying here alone with him wandering about. He seemed pretty upset about us being engaged."

"He's immature, Edward. He's not a threat to you."

"It's not me I'm worried about. Bella, I saw how he treated you in the shop. What would've happened if I wasn't here this morning?"

"I would've left the doors locked, and he would've left after a while."

His hands went to his neck, like they did when he was stressed. I set about making breakfast, with the silence hanging thick in the air. Jake made me nervous and uncomfortable, but I'd always been able to handle him in the past.

"We should get married," he blurted out.

"That's the plan," I said, waving my hand.

"No, I mean now, or soon. I want to be married to you fast."

I set the table, as his worried eyes followed my every move. "I'll think about it," was my answer. I did want to marry him soon, but I didn't want to rush it over something as ridiculous as Jake. I needed time to figure out what to do.