AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm an IDIOT. I accidentally put this story under Bella/Edward, when it's so obviously NOT. It's fixed now, properly categorized under Bella and Jacob romance. Sorry to those of you who watched to wait for the Bella/Edward lovin' – not going to happen in this story. D: Still interested? Please READ and REVIEW!
2. GROANING
Jacob ran over in one stride, and tossed the offending bike off of me. "Bella!" his hands trailed from my shoulders down to my hip and leg where it had struck me. "Bella, what hurts?"
My entire body was sore and throbbing from being so completely tense on the motorcycle. My arms ached from clutching the handlebars so tightly, and my legs were now jelly from clinging and straining around the lower part of the bike. "Everything," I groaned, now completely exhausted.
"Anything feel broken? Bruised?" the concern in his eyes draped over every part of me.
"My pride."
He let out a nervous chuckle. "Just like you, Bella, to get hurt after you get off the motorcycle."
I groaned again, and shut my eyes. It felt better to.
He sighed, and lifted me effortlessly into his large arms, and I rested my head against his warm, shirtless chest. Why was I surrounded by people who were able to carry me as if I was a doll? Stupid, strong werewolf.
But I didn't bother to try and argue with him to let me down; I knew that I couldn't even make it halfway to the truck by myself.
Jacob took his time walking to the truck, unlike the last time I had been injured by the bikes, when he had sprinted to the car and back. He delicately placed me into the passenger seat, smiling, not saying a word as he brushed my hair from my face and behind my ears. Then he raced around picking up the bikes, tossing them in the back, slowing to a normal speed as he climbed into the driver's seat. Wordlessly, he held out his hand for my keys, and I groaned as I reached in my back pocket for them.
He laughed as he took them and started the ignition, pulling me right next to him, holding an arm around me as he drove away from our secluded and makeshift motorcycle track. I didn't allow myself to get so comfortable to snuggle against him; because he was shirtless as always, it didn't feel quite appropriate. He pulled me closer, forcing my weak and awkward restraint to lessen, and I relented; too exhausted to pretend I cared. He rubbed my arm affectionately, and I sighed.
"At least I won," I muttered.
A bark of a laugh sounded, and I jumped. "You won?"
Irked, I was able to lift my head just a little to stare up at him. "Yes. I won. Where were you?"
"Ahead of you for the entire race."
"Excuse me?" Begrudgingly, I sat up, wincing as I inched away from Jacob. "Just before I soiled my victory with a bit of classic clumsiness, I crossed the starting line before you did." Aggravation and annoyance rose up in me, despite the fact that I wanted nothing more than to go back to my previous position, to think of nothing, and drift off to sleep.
He turned toward me, brow furrowed. "Exactly – the starting line and not the finish line."
"Okay, Jake," I said his name slowly, in an attempt to keep myself from raising my voice. "Humor me: where was the finish line?"
"At the end of the dirt road, you know, where forest stops you from going any further?"
I glared at him.
"Ohh…I had just thought you got mad about losing and wanted to speed off," he grinned broadly as it all connected, though I couldn't even blink. "You thought we had to turn around and end where we started?"
I nodded once, unable to speak.
"Hah, guess we should have talked about that before we began."
I turned away from him and stared out the window, past the sea cliffs, straight into the ocean. The sun was still pretty high above the horizon; we had barely spent anytime riding, and it was probably only a little after noon. I shifted my gaze to the sun, refusing to stare away, willing the UV rays to blind my vision temporarily.
Needless to say, I was embarrassed. I actually thought I had beaten Jacob in a race on motorcycles. How could I possibly think that I would be able to win the race if he hadn't actually let me? I was so excited to think that I won, and then I fell…Well, it would have been bearable if I really had been faster than Jacob, but now it was just bruising the same spot in the same day.
But it was easier to be angry, than face the embarrassment. "How was I supposed to know?" I spat out in a low voice.
"Aw, Bells, honey, don't be upset. It's no big deal. Just a stupid race." When I didn't say anything, he continued, "We never said where to end the race. It was my fault, I just assumed…"
I still didn't look at him, and glared into the sun until it hurt too much and I needed to shut my eyes.
"Well, you know what they say," he started in a lighter tone. "When you assume, you make an 'ass' out of 'you' and 'me'."
I couldn't help it; I turned my head with a confused look.
He was grinning boyishly, thrilled to see that his little attempt at a joke got my attention. Something inside me fluttered to see my Jacob shine through again. "Ass, you, me? A-s-s-u-m-e?"
It took me a little more than a moment as I stared at him still, but then I visibly rolled my eyes and turned my head to look out the window again, quickly trying to hide the smile that I couldn't suppress.
The rest of the drive was quiet.
Jacob parked the car to the side of his house, turned off the car and jumped out to run around to open my door. Before he had opened the door, I was already scooting over to the driver side.
"Oh, come on Bella. Don't go home yet. It's not even one o'clock." His face had fallen, and his mood flashed to a gloomy level.
I held out my hand for the keys. "Please put the bikes back in the garage so I don't bring them back to Charlie's."
His face quickly changed to a stubborn stone. "No," and he put my keys in his back pocket.
I looked him full in the face, not amused. "Jacob…" I started in a warning tone.
"No, Bella. You're in no state to drive. You are exhausted and still sore and achy from the race and the bike falling on top of you. You may not be cut up this time, but you're still hurt. You're going to come in the house and I'll fix you up so you can get some rest" He had a look that was daring for me to argue with him, but I sighed.
He held out his arms for me, but I opened the driver door instead, choosing to get out myself to show that I was not completely helpless. He smiled as he shut the passenger door, and walked around to my side anyway. As I stepped out of the truck, slammed the door, and moved a foot forward, I teetered dangerously and Jacob caught me. I scowled, but let him direct me to his front door with an arm around my waist; I really was too tired by now.
We stepped into the house, and Jacob asked me if I wanted to take off my jacket. I nodded, and while keeping his arm wrapped around my waist, he used the other to unzip the jacket and help me shrug it off. He hung it on a hook by the door.
"Billy won't be home till later tonight," he said, answering my unasked question. I was thankful that we wouldn't have to think of a plausible reason why I was impossibly weak at the moment. It didn't make much sense to me either.
"Would you like to sleep on the couch or my bed?" he looked down at me in his arms.
I shrugged, and he just walked me down the short hallway towards his bedroom. It didn't matter to me much; I'd knock out soon enough.
Jacob led me to his bed, and pulled back the comforter for me. I sat down gingerly, and kicked off my sneakers, yawning. As I curled up on my side, he pulled the blanket back over me. "Thanks Jake," I whispered.
Expecting him to leave, my tired eyes shot open as I felt his weight come down on the mattress beside me.
"Where are you sore most?" he asked quietly.
"My shoulders…and hip where the bike landed," I said in a quieter voice.
He reached his hand out and I felt the tips of his fingers barely touch my left shoulder. "Would you like me to massage your shoulders?"
"Sure," I hardly made a sound, but his werewolf ears heard me anyhow.
"Turn onto your stomach, Bella."
I flipped over, my hands clutched together underneath me.
"Relax, Bella," he said, and I heard the smile in his voice. "Spread out your arms."
Obediently, I moved my hands to my sides, and then slid my arms along the bed sheet till they were just lower than my shoulders. My hands, still tense, grabbed at the sheets.
His rough skinned hands then gently rubbed the front of my shirt-covered shoulders, fingers digging slightly into the skin, his thumbs pressing into my underarm. He moved his fingers all around my shoulders, rotating his thumb, occasionally dully pinching the skin.
It felt so good. I had never allowed anyone to give me a massage; it was a little too much physical contact for me. Renée had once tried to convince me to allow her to demonstrate what she had learned from her new massage lessons, but I was smart enough to avoid it. Now I knew why people would pay so much to have someone give them one.
His fingers moved inward, from my shoulders to the center of my back. As he pressed his thumbs deep into a point of my back just below the base of my neck, and his fingers dragged across the skin above my collar bone, I groaned aloud.
Jacob removed his fingers from me as if my skin had burned him. "Sorry, did I hurt you?"
I felt my cheeks flush, and I was grateful that he couldn't see my face. "No, Jake…It actually feels really good." I was suddenly aware that both of our voices had returned to their normal volume.
There was a slight pause before he spoke. "Oh," I heard him smile again. "Let me know if it hurts, or if I'm pressing too hard."
"Okay."
He then continued his actions, repeating the very same point of pressure before he had stopped, causing me to groan again, although soundlessly this time so I wouldn't distract Jacob. He rotated the pads of his thumbs in circles moving my muscles around, gently pushing them up, down, and back up again. Then he placed his thumbs directly on either side of the back of my neck, and alternated pressure on each thumb, moving down my spine to my lower back. When he reached my lower back, the spot just above where my jeans rested, his fingers curled around my waist, and I moaned into his pillow as he pressed his thumbs into two identical sensitive points along my lower spine.
While he dug his fingers into my flesh gently, and dragged them through my muscles, I was constantly making noises in the pillow, unable to stop myself. I tried to keep them as silent as I could at least, but I really knew that it was a fruitless attempt against his wolf hearing.
Eventually, after he dragged his index finger and middle finger down my spine once more, Jacob spoke again. "Alright, does that feel better?"
I nodded sluggishly in his pillow and he chuckled.
"Well, that's good. Get some sleep now, Bella." He ran his fingers through my hair once and stood up, shutting the door behind him as he left the room.
Though completely drained, sleeping was just about the last thing I thought I could do at the moment.
The trails that his hands had made along my back were now left burning, the most recent areas throbbing with the flesh memories. Jacob's warm hands were all over my back for the past several minutes, and now that they had left I missed their presence. I missed Jacob's weight on the mattress beside me.
I sighed and flipped onto my side as the burning faded.
I groaned for the thousandth time, this time in frustration.
Jacob's and mine friendship had always been rather touchy; he would hold my hand as he'd lead me somewhere, or keep an arm around me in a comfortable way. At first, it seemed to be more of a brotherly contact, despite the fact that I knew of his more than friendly feelings towards me. The massage he gave me could have, if I continued to skew it that way, been seen as that same innocent gesture of caring friend. But it wasn't, and I didn't.
But I was entirely spent, and couldn't keep a coherent thought together much longer. The massage was like…a lullaby, and I was ready for sleep, giving up on thinking till I was fully rested. I slipped into sleep seamlessly.
Surprisingly, I didn't recall a single dream or nightmare when I woke.
It felt as if I had only closed my eyes for a moment, and my eyes opened of their own accord. I stared at the ceiling with groggy eyes, shutting them tight as I twisted and stretched, yawning. Turning to my side, I automatically looked for my digital clock radio, startled and disoriented to see a blank wall instead.
I sat up and looked around quickly, slowly recognizing and remembering where I was.
That's when I noticed Jacob standing in the doorway of his own bedroom.
AN: How about a new chapter every four reviews, at least? That sounds good. There was going to be a lot more to this chapter, but I decided to cut it short to have something for the next chapter. Is this story kind of uninteresting? Please let me know with a review!