Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight Saga or any of the characters in the story.
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Chapter Thirty
The next few days passed very much the same way as on Monday. Bella usually woke up alone since Jake had a midnight patrol, and she would get ready alone in the mornings, get to school and proceed with her day. There had been no more encounters like what had happened in the girl's bathroom on Monday, but Bella wasn't entirely upset about that. It had been an adrenaline rush, but she shuddered to imagine what would happen if anyone heard or saw them by accident.
It was on Wednesday night that Bella sat with Jake while he was looking over his homework while she sat across from him on their small love seat in the living room, grading papers and sipping on a glass of wine. There was a calm silence swirling over them as their legs tangled beneath the table, reminding one another that they were always connected.
When the phone rang in the kitchen. Bella put aside her glass of wine and stood from the couch, stretching her neck as she quietly made her way to the phone.
"Hello?" she asked, picking it up off of the receiver on the wall.
"Hey there Bella! I didn't catch you at a bad time, did I?" Charlie's voice came over the speaker.
"No, dad, you're fine. I was just grading some things, what's up?" she asked.
"I wanted to know if you'd want to do another dinner on Friday night? I'm busy all weekend with shifts, and I could do with some of your home cooking," Charlie replied. Bella chuckled at his blatant invitation. He was only after the food, maybe only a fraction of the company.
"That'd be great. Are Billy and Jacob coming again?" Bella asked, trying not to sound hopeful.
"Sure, I'll invite them and they can come if they want, but that sounds good. I'll see you on Monday, kiddo," he said.
"Alright dad, see you then," she said and then hung up the phone again.
When she walked back into the living room she noticed that Jake had pushed aside all of his homework and watched her approach him. Holding his hands out towards her she took the unspoken invitation and straddled his long legs, leaning her body against his overheated one. Leaning her head in the crook of his neck she let out a sigh.
"Are you done with homework?" she asked.
"Not really, but I wanted to take a break and just be with you," he replied softly, bringing a hand up her back and stroking her long hair. The heated pads of his fingertips gently stroked the mark on the back of her neck and shoulder and she shivered against him at the pleasant sensation.
"Do you need any help?"
Jake snorted a bit at her question, "No, honey. I don't need help, but thank you for asking."
Bella nodded and breathed in the scent of his skin again. He was so warm that she felt her body melt into his and relax completely. She'd been a bit stressed out with this week, getting back into the groove of teaching and it felt as though she always had a stack of papers a mile high to grade. Sometimes it felt like she'd never reach the end of it.
"Do you need any help with anything? You've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off since Monday," Jake commented and Bella hummed in agreement, shifting her body so that she was in a more comfortable position on his lap. His arms wrapped around her more securely, holding her as if she were the most precious object in the world.
"No thank you, Jake. It's just hard to manage sometimes, but I want to be able to do it on my own," Bella said with soft determination. Jake laughed deep in his chest and kissed the top of her head that was still nestled into his neck.
"My stubborn little girl," he said humorously.
"Hey, don't forget I'm older than you," Bella snapped childishly, her lips in a small pout.
"Yes, but I'm much larger than you," he rebuked. Bella huffed against his skin, but left it alone as she nestled herself in his warmth. Jake's free hand rubbed against Bella's spine while the fingers still grazed against his mark. It wasn't long before Bella was lulled into a gentle sleep in his arms.
-8-
Bella woke on friday in Jake's arms for the first time that week. For a moment she panicked thinking that he had missed his patrol and she squirmed in his arms until he groaned with awareness.
"Stay still, Bells. Jesus Christ it's too early to move," Jake mumbled in his rough voice but Bella was persistent.
"Did you miss your patrol last night?" Bella whispered to him quietly and Jake breathed deeply.
"No, I had Quil take over for me since I've been missing out on sleep," Jake replied and then settled back into the bed. Bella nodded and looked at the clock across from the bed. She still had an hour before she usually started getting ready, and there was no way that she was going to fall asleep again. Being as careful as possible she managed to gently shimmy out from under Jake's arms and padded towards the kitchen, flicking on the small light in the tiny room.
She set about making some tea for herself and she pulled out the toaster and the bread, and some jam from the fridge. After it was finished she ate her breakfast quietly and sat in the living room, watching the room lighten as the sun rose higher through the trees. While she was putting the dishes into the sink she heard Jake.
"Bella?" his voice was slightly strained and she could tell he was confused.
"In here," she called back to him over her shoulder. Within moments she saw Jake walk into the kitchen in all of his naked glory. Bella blushed, but couldn't help but appreciate the view. She had to admit that living with Jake had its advantages. And him sleeping without a stitch of cloth on his body was definitely an advantage.
"You left the bed and ate breakfast without me? I'm hurt, Bells," Jake put a hand over his heart in mock heartbreak and Bella giggled softly, walking to him and wrapping her arms around his waist.
"I'm sorry, what can I do to make it up to you?" she asked, looking up into his darkening eyes with her own hungry ones. Jake's chest rumbled softly as his arms came around her petite body.
"Well… I could do with a shower before school," Jake said with a smirk on his handsome face. Bella giggled again and slipped from his arms, grabbing his hand and tugging him towards the bathroom.
"Let's go then," she said, a sultry tone to her voice. She knew that she may pay the price for this with being late to school, but as she felt Jake's warm hands begin to strip her body of her clothes and tease her flesh, she could not bring herself to care.
-8-
"Okay, everyone tomorrow we will be starting some new material, and with that I have a short page of homework for you all to fill out," Bella started and was met with a collective groan from her freshmen students, "Don't worry, there's only five questions. Nothing too difficult."
As she handed out the papers to the rows of students the bell rang signaling the end of the day. A few of the kids said goodbye to her, but the majority sprinted out the door as soon as they had their papers in hand. True it was only thursday but it felt as though everyone was overly excited for the weekend.
Bella straightened up her papers and a soft knock on the door made her look up. She saw that Embry stood in the door.
"Can I help you with anything, Embry?" Bella asked gently. Embry hadn't been doing as well in her class and she wondered if it had to do with the pack and how many hours he was out patrolling.
"Uh, yeah I was wondering if I could have an extension on the paper you asked us to write? I've gotten caught up in a lot of things at home and with the guys. I just lost track of time," he asked in a shy voice. Bella felt bad for the tall boy in front of her. Jake had mentioned in passing one time that Embry's mother was not allowed to know about the pack, and so Embry was constantly getting in trouble for disappearing or not coming home at night, only to have to do it all over again.
"Of course, how about you take the weekend to finish it, and if you need any help, you can come over to our place and I can give you some pointers?" Bella asked and Embry nodded, a small smile on his face.
"That'd be great! Thanks Bella! Oh, and Jake wanted me to tell you that he's on patrol until midnight and that you shouldn't wait up for him," he said. Bella nodded and thanked him as he left the doorway. A feeling of disappointment settled on Bella's shoulder as she thought of her lonely night ahead of her. Walking out to her car she couldn't shake the feeling from her body.
As she pulled out of the parking lot a thought crossed her mind and instead of turning down the road to the cottage she continued on the highway towards downtown Forks. Her father would appreciate a visit from her, even if they were going to have dinner tomorrow night.
The drive seemed to go fast and she pulled into the small driveway next to her father's cruiser. Stepping out she had a smile on her face as she thought of spending some quality time with her father, since she had not done that since the barbeque. A bigger smile flitted over her lips as she remembered the day that Jake had told her that she was his imprint. That had been such a confusing time in her life, but she couldn't imagine herself living without Jake now.
She walked up the steps onto the front porch and opened the screen door to knock on the front door. Listening carefully she didn't hear anything from inside the house and so she knocked again. Maybe he was watching a game and hadn't heard her?
This time when she knocked she was almost pounding her fist on the door. The cruiser was in the driveway, there was no way he wasn't home. A chill breeze picked up and Bella reached for the door knob, slowly twisting it only to find that the door swung open easily with the wind that blew at her back. Standing in the door she saw that there were no lights on in the house despite the fact that it was growing dark out.
"Dad? You home?" Bella called out as she stepped into the dark house, reaching for a light switch. Flipping it up she started when she realized that there was no power in the entire house. How strange, there was no storm or power outages that still lingered from the last weekend.
A strange feeling started to develop in Bella's stomach and she shivered from the persistent breeze outside. Stepping further into the house she closed the door behind her and slowly started walking down the hallway.
"Dad? Charlie! Are you here?" she called out, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up the further she walked into the house. There was something very wrong in this house.
Bella's breathing began to grow harsher as she still had no reply to her calls. She had to get out of this house and call Jake. She had to call someone, anyone. But there was no way that Charlie was in the house, and if he wasn't here then Bella had no idea where he could have gone.
As Bella turned to walk back towards the door, something caught her eye in the living room. Squinting her eyes into the darkened room, she could make out a tall shadow on the opposite wall standing next to the TV. Bile rose in Bella's throat as her heart sped up into a gallop. The longer she looked at the shadow the more she felt as though any movement she made would be her last.
For what seemed like ages she stared at the tall, broad shadow until finally a spark of courage lit up her skin and she turned back towards the front door, lurching forward to try and make her escape.
She'd barely made it two feet before an ice cold hand wrapped itself over her mouth and snaked around her waist. Screaming into the hard, icy flesh Bella flailed her legs in the air, one of her heels flying off and clattering to the hardwood as a result.
She was sure that she had never experienced true fear until that moment. Realizing that she may not ever see Jacob again had tears streaming down her face as she struggled against the unwavering strength of the cold, hard hands. By the way her body shivered uncontrollably and the sick feeling of dread and fear that filled her, Bella knew that it was a vampire behind her. And with a wail, she understood that Edward had finally come for her.
And yet as she struggled she saw through blurry eyes that three other figures had stepped in front of her. Blinking away her tears she focused her gaze and watched with terror as three pale vampires stepped into the light. There was a petite female with a large mane of red hair on the left, and a stout man with a blonde ponytail on the right, and in the middle stood none other than Edward Cullen. Each of them with a hungry, malicious look in their eyes as they stared at her.
More tears sprung from her eyes as she tried to twist and flail away from the vampire that held her securely in it's arms. Her muffled screams were barely a sound from under the tight hand on her mouth, and the fact that she knew no one could hear her made her fear too much to bear.
"Restrain her, and shut her up. We have a long way to go and I don't want any complaining from her," Edward's voice did not sound like the other Cullen's musical chimes. Instead of perfection, his voice was a hiss, and could only be described as torture. Bella could hear every bit of malice and torture he had hiding behind that voice, and with one last long wail of terror, she felt something smash her over the back of her skull and the entire world was consumed with darkness.
DUN DUN DUNNN! Hold onto your butts everyone, cause here we go! Leave a comment if you'd like, and thanks for reading!