Hi all!
Just a quick thanks to my beta's, who work so hard to fix my mistakes. PainJane and Adt216, I appreciate you more than words can express.
Thank you to each and every reader and reviewer. I sucked at replying to reviews on the last two chapters, but RL is back to normal so I'll be sure to fix that this time 'round. ;-)
Here you go, girls!
Hope you like
Chapter Twenty-Nine
-The Past Part One-
Let the countdown begin...
-3-
"So, this is it?" I ask, peeking over Bella's head at the two story suburban home standing between huge trees and forestry. Fuck, this place has a shitload of greenery.
"Yes, this is it." She nods with her head turned towards the passenger-side window.
I drop my gaze from the quaint little home to her profile and notice her biting her bottom lip contemplatively.
"You nervous?" I ask gently, placing my hand over hers that's been resting on my thigh the entire drive over.
She turns her head towards me, releases her lip and smiles softly.
"Are you?" She tilts her head to the side.
I smirk, flipping her hand over and lacing our fingers together. My eye catches movement on the porch over Bella's shoulder. Renee and Charlie step out of the front door. Renee is practically vibrating with excitement, her hands clasped together as she rolls up and down on the balls of her feet, smile stretching for days. Charlie, on the other hand, is squinting in our direction, probably trying to see if I'm defiling his daughter in his driveway.
I consider the irony of his concern, given the fact that it was me who had to dissuade her from giving me road head. A fight I'm not proud of winning—at all.
"Not in the least," I finally answer, bringing my attention back to Bella. "But I'm not sure if I can say the same for your father." I nod my head in her parent's direction, causing Bella to turn and groan.
I chuckle softly when I see Charlie relax at the sight of Bella's head, which is clearly not in my lap. Bummer.
"Guess it's now or never," Bella mumbles almost to herself.
"I think you are nervous," I tease as Bella unclasps her seatbelt and sighs heavily.
"I think you're full of it," she quips, casting me a sidelong smirk, and then opens her door.
I chuckle again before following her lead.
This is going to be fun.
"Hi, guys!" Renee calls eagerly, taking a few excited steps towards us.
I smile and wave, following Bella to the porch. Her steps are slow and tentative at first, but as we move closer, Bella's pace picks up until she's almost sprinting towards them.
Renee squeals right before Bella throws herself into her mother's embrace.
I grin at Bella's excitement and then take the few steps up the porch to shake Charlie's hand.
"Sir," I greet, unwilling to call him by his name. In Seattle, he wanted me to call him Charlie, but that was two weeks ago. I ain't taking no chances. The guy is the Chief of Police, which means he's most probably heavily armed.
"Edward." He shakes my hand firmly, but I'm relieved to find there's not a hint of warning in his grip. "It's Charlie, son."
I sigh a breath of relief, one I didn't realize I was holding, and smile thankfully.
"Edward, honey." Renee's greeting draws my attention away from Charlie's intimidating moustache.
Before I have a chance to speak or even move, I'm enveloped in a motherly hug, practically forcing all the air from my lungs.
"Hi, Renee." I chuckle once she pulls away.
"It's wonderful to have you here." She softly taps my cheek, her smile making me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Damn, I adore Bella's mom.
"How was the traffic?" Charlie asks from somewhere behind me.
"We missed most of it, thank you, Si—umm, Charlie." I hear Bella giggling beside me before she takes my hand in hers. I give her hand a tug until she's folded into my side, and then release her hand to drop my arm over her shoulder.
"You guys must have left around five?" he estimates correctly.
"Yeah, we wanted to get a head start." I nod, rubbing my palm over Bella's arm.
Her fingers twitch against my hip before she hooks her thumb through a belt hoop in my jeans.
"Well, we promised you breakfast, and you're just in time." Renee grins from ear to ear before stepping to the side for us to enter.
"I should probably get the luggage first." I start to pull away from Bella's grip.
"First, we eat," Charlie declares decisively. "I can't work on an empty stomach."
Xoxo
"So, this is Forks, huh?" I ask, licking at the vanilla ice cream cone in my hand.
After breakfast with Renee and Charlie, we hauled my duffle bag and Bella's two suitcases into the house. Why she needed two suitcases for a weekend trip baffles the shit out of me, but I know better than to question her. My girl doesn't travel light, that's for fucking sure.
We unpacked our clothes in Bella's room, which, to my surprise, was remarkably normal, yet completely baron of personal trinkets or photos. When I asked her about it, she mumbled something about Jacob being in all of them. Apparently, on her first trip home after their break-up, Bella rid her room of anything and everything that would remind her of that cocksucker. I'm definitely not complaining.
We're currently walking down the main street of Forks, eating ice cream that Bella insisted we buy despite of the chilly weather, because allegedly it's just that good. Taking another lick, I have to completely agree with her. It's fucking delicious.
"Yip." She nods. "This is basically all there is to it." I watch her savouring every last lick of her strawberry cone and grin at the childlike happiness in her eyes.
With a soft snort, because I find her fucking adorable, I raise my arm and throw it over her shoulders, tucking her firmly into my side. She shifts the cone from her right hand to her left and snakes her arm around my waist, dipping her hand into the back pocket of my jeans.
This is nice—walking around with her at my side, telling me about her hometown and the things she used to do here as a kid. I could definitely get used to it.
"That's the library." She points towards an old building at the end of the street. "I used to spend a lot of time there."
"Always the avid reader." I kiss the top of her head, and she squeezes my ass through my pocket. Yeah, I could most definitely get used to this.
We fall into comfortable silence as we stroll around the little town's bookshops and boutiques and whatnot.
"Did you always know you wanted to be an editor?" I ask her once I toss the napkin from my devoured ice cream cone in a nearby trashcan.
"I thought about writing for a while," she admits with a shrug, "but I would get these plot ideas and instead of sitting down to write them, I would wish I knew someone that could write it instead so I could just sit back and read it." We both chuckle softly.
"So, instead of writing, I decided to edit. That way, I could read great stories, but also help to bend and mould them until they were just perfect," she continues to explain as I move my hand to the nape of her neck and rub the skin beneath her hairline.
I nod in understanding as we cross the street slowly, unhurried as there seems to be one passing car every twenty minutes at most. Forks is a world away from Seattle, that's for sure.
"What about you?" she asks after a moment, tilting her head up to look at me. "Did you always want to be a writer?" I grin widely when my eyes fall on a smidge of ice cream on her top lip.
I drop my head and cover her lips with mine, jutting my tongue out to gently wipe the creaminess away.
"Mhh..." I moan against her mouth as the kiss automatically deepens. Bella rubs her hand over my ass as I run my fingers into her hair, tasting the strawberry flavour on her tongue.
"Bella?" Our moment is interrupted by a female voice I don't recognize. I like kisses slow and lazy though, so instead of pulling away abruptly, I push my tongue against hers one more time before gently extricating myself from her mouth.
Holy. Crap.
In front of us stands a woman, probably around our age, almost covered from head to toe in ink. Her hair is long and black and hangs way past her elbows. Her lip, nose and one eyebrow are pierced. Her eyes are covered in dark make-up. She's wearing layer upon layer of clothes—tidies—pastels—flowers—although none of it covers her arms. I'm sure she has to be local and acclimated to the weather 'cause my balls want to freeze off just looking at her bare skin.
Don't get me wrong, I love ink. I have my own, after all. It's just that I never expected to find someone adorned in it from navel to nose in a place like Forks. She looks like she belongs in Seattle, even more so than Bella and me.
Her smile is friendly though, as she looks at Bella, then me, and then back at Bella.
"Angela," Bella breathes beside me before leaning forward to give the girl a one armed hug. "How are you?" I watch Bella's face and find myself relaxing when I see that she's smiling a genuine smile. I know the difference.
"I'm good." This girl smiles brightly as Bella steps back into my side. "I can't believe it," she shakes her head in awe. "Bella Swan, in the flesh. Fuck, I've missed you babe!"
Bella giggles and grabs Angela's hand to give it a quick squeeze.
"I've missed you, too," she replies sincerely, confusing me even more.
Angela's attention shifts to me as she cocks her head to the side and lowers her gaze to give me a very slow, very thorough once over. By the time her eyes meet mine again, I feel slightly exposed and severely violated.
"And who might this be?" Angela raises an eyebrow haughtily.
I tighten my grip around Bella's shoulders desperately. I haven't been so thoroughly eye-fucked in a very long time.
I hear Bella giggle again but I'm easily distracted by the number of holes in Angela's ears when she deftly throws her hair back with a chortle.
"Angela," Bella finally speaks, "this is Edward Cullen. Edward, this is Angela Weber, one of my best friends from high school."
"Enchantée," she purrs before grasping my free hand.
"Uh—hi?" I stutter, pulling my hand away from hers awkwardly. This little lady is definitely one sandwich away from a picnic. I find it utterly fucking astonishing that Bella ever knew, much less befriended, a girl like this. Astonishing, and wholly fucking intriguing.
I can feel Bella shake in laughter beside me. I pinch her shoulder only to receive a retaliation pinch to my ass. I stifle my unmanly squeal and force a tight-lipped smile for the woman staring at us curiously.
Moon Shine finally pulls her gaze from my body and shifts it back to Bella. I can feel myself sighing in relief, as if escaping narrow death.
"I like this one," she comments saucily. "Way hotter than dickwad."
My ears perk at this. I can only imagine that 'dickwad' is in reference to Jacob. Maybe I was too quick to judge Forest Nymph, she obviously has a good head on her shoulders. Emboldened by her words, I feel myself relaxing again.
"He's not bad," Bella jokes warily. "But what about you, Angie?" I can spot a deflection when I see one. I'm almost tempted to pout and stomp my foot, but I'm too fucking scared Sunbeam in front of us will turn her attention back to me. I remain silent and watch the two women talk wistfully about girly crap I'm seriously not interested in.
"Mr. Banner?" Bella gasps, effectively pulling me out of my internal musings. "But he's like ancient, and he was our biology teacher, Angie. How in hell did that happen?"
Flower Petal laughs heartily, throwing her head back to emphasize her delight, revealing yet another tattoo under her chin. Who the fuck gets a tattoo under their chin?
"Oh, Bella, Bob was like twenty six or something in our senior year. He's hardly ten years older than me." I'm mildly impressed. Seems like Kat Von D snagged herself a former teacher of theirs—very taboo. Nice.
"Besides, he's my soul mate." The urge to roll my eyes is almost crippling. "He's a child of the light, Bells. I swear, Florence and the Machine wrote their songs about that man's spirit." I think I can taste blood from where my teeth are biting into my cheek. I want to beg her to stop before I piss myself laughing.
"He gave out the golden onion awards, Angie. You used to despise him." I can tell Bella's faintly amused, but she's about nine levels from where I need her to be.
"Onion schmonion. He fucks me stupid, I can tell you that much." I cough and sputter at her frank words. For me to be shocked by crudeness happens on very rare occasions. I'm in fucking awe. "I bet you do too, huh?" She winks suggestively at me, giving my body another once over.
I want to push Bella in front of me to cover myself, but pussies can't 'fuck you stupid'. I'm certainly not walking away here shell-shocked and emasculated.
"I can hold my own," I answer with forced indifference.
"I'm sure you can." She nods with a lick of the lips and then looks at Bella as if she didn't just rape me with her gaze.
Bella's head is turned into my chest as she laughs exuberantly. I smile wryly, because fuck it, I can't help liking Green Fingers just a little bit. She is kind of, sort of awesome, in a very weird yet fascinating way.
"You should come say hi," Angela offers politely once Bella composes herself.
"I don't think Mr. Banner will be too pleased to see me." Bella waves her off with a smile.
"You're probably right," Angela muses playfully. "You were a bit of a hell raiser back then."
"What?" I interrupt before Bella can utter a word. A hell raiser? Miss Swan? I highly fucking doubt it.
"You haven't told him?" Angela quirks an eyebrow at Bella, who suddenly appears to be far less talkative than a few seconds ago.
Bella mumbles something, but I can't bother to listen. My eyes are fixed on Angela's pleadingly. I need to hear this.
"Well." Powder Puff rubs her hands together deviously before casting me a quick glance. "Seems like Bella's been holding out on you, champ."
"Seems so." I look down at a very quiet, very red Bella.
I recall the talk Jasper and I had weeks ago when we first took Charlie out to the pub. He told me Bella used to be a bit of a wildcat. I remember chalking it up to college experiences, but hearing that it started way before that has me practically salivating at the mouth for more info.
"This little one had the town running mad with all the stunts she pulled." Feather Fairy giggle-snorts. "I'm surprised Mr. Minola from the pet shop hasn't stormed down the street to charge you for the dog food you stole from him that night."
I frown in confusion.
"Dog food?"
"There were a bunch of stray dogs at our school. I didn't have money, and I couldn't let them go hungry," Bella defends reluctantly.
"So you decided to steal it?" I practically gape at her. Who the fuck is this woman?
"Not before I asked him to donate some," she huffs indignantly. "Crazy old fart refused."
"Well, in that case..." I shrug in acceptance.
"Yeah, but scoring booze from Newton's liquor store sure had nothing to do with those damn dogs," Angela pipes in with a smirk.
"Holy fuck," I gasp, pulling away from Bella so I can see her face clearly. "You juvenile delinquent, you." I poke at her arm playfully. She rolls her eyes and slaps my hand away with a chuckle.
"Mike Newton ratted me out to Banner for copying Alice's homework. His father unfortunately had to bear the brunt of his son's sins." Bella shrugs nonchalantly.
Well colour me fucking happy. Bella Swan, or rather, the old Bella Swan was a regular little shit stirrer.
I think I just fell even more in love with her.
...
...
...
Wait... What?
Xoxo
"Stop hogging the Pringles." I stretch a needy hand towards Bella.
She snorts, but pushes the salty delights in my direction. I fumble blindly until my fingers reach the entrance to the tube.
"How can you stand reading from that thing?" she asks distractedly as I push a ten-chip stack into my mouth. I'm a pig when it comes to Pringles. I fucking love the stuff.
I fucking love Bella, too.
"One night with this bad boy and you'll never read a paperback again," I respond lazily once I've swallowed most of the contents of my mouth.
It's late, but after dinner and catching up with Bella's parents, we're still not tired. I think Bella is too amped about the wedding tomorrow, and I'm too aware of the fact that I'm in love with her. Fuck me.
We're lying on her bed, our body's perpendicular to each other. Bella's leaning against the headboard, book in hand, and I'm propped up against pillows at the foot of her bed, armed with my Kindle Fire.
I hear her huff at my response, and I smile in reply, not taking my eyes off my Kindle for a second. I'm finally able to read a book I've been trying to get to for ages and nothing is going to distract me from it, not even my ever budding, ever annoying feelings for Bella. Don't get me wrong, I suppose I've known for a while that my feelings for her were growing steadily. I'm not afraid to face them. It's fucking awesome to be in love. But, this is the first time in my life that I've been in love with someone and unsure whether they actually reciprocate my feelings. That is the mother fucking reason I'm hell bent on distracting myself with this book.
I notice movement to my right as Bella raises her foot from beside my head to push the Pringles back towards her.
"Fuck, please don't do that," I beg with a shudder. I see her foot freeze mid-air in my periphery and turn my full attention back to my book.
"What?" she asks in surprise.
"Don't move the chips with your foot," I mumble, casting her foot a quick, unappreciative look before pushing the tube towards her with my free hand.
"My foot wasn't actually going to touch the chips, you know that right?" Her voice is filled with confused humour.
"I know," I sigh heavily and lower the Kindle, knowing I'll have to explain my little anti-foot fetish or she'll never let it go. "I'm not a foot fan, okay?" As expected, Bella is staring down her nose at me in confusion.
"O-kay," she draws the word out as her pretty little brows furrow in confusion. Pretty little brows? Fuck my life.
"Do you just not like them anywhere near your food, which I will agree is unacceptable, or do you not like them, at all?"
"Let's just say I'll never be the one to rub your feet after a long day, or use them in any shape or form during sex." I explain carefully. I know it's weird, but I can hardly stand touching my own feet, so anyone else's is just a no go.
She laughs, but bends over and makes a show of retrieving the Pringles with her hand. I smile my thanks and raise my Kindle to continue my reading.
"You're weird," she mumbles between crunching bites.
"I'm not the one that stole dog food, baby," I reply dryly, seeking the paragraph where I left off.
"Are you ever going to let me live that down?" She sighs, but I can feel the bed shake from her laughter.
I smile absentmindedly and shake my head in reply. Not anytime soon, my love.
We're silent for a long time, both caught up in our reading, when I notice movement from the corner of my eye again. Like a scene from Jaws, all slow motion with overly dramatic music, her foot rises from beside my head, slowly inching its way towards my face.
I twist away from the offending appendage with a high pitched yelp, just before she's able to push her toes in my face, Kindle flying across the room as I scurry to safety.
"Shit, Bella," I grumble as I jump from the bed to get as far away from her and her fucking cute, yet fucking disgusting foot.
She's curled onto her side, laughing so hard that tears are literally rolling down her cheeks.
I cross my arms over my chest with a huff, trying to ignore the impulse to laugh with her and failing miserably.
"You're such a freak," she manages between gasps as she finally raises her amused eyes to mine.
I snort in indignation and turn to pick up my Kindle, which thankfully didn't get harmed in my very unmanly display of self-preservation.
"You're such a little shit," I chastise with a soft laugh as I place it on the bedside table and scoot over the bed towards her, pinning her beneath me.
"Sorry," she apologises unconvincingly as she stares up at me with wide, innocent eyes. "I just had to see how bad your phobia is."
"Satisfied?" I ask with a smirk as I raise my hand to wipe the remnants of her tears from her cheeks.
She nods and offers me a toothy grin.
Fuck, I love her.
I lean down and give the tip of her nose a kiss before falling down beside her, folding my arms behind my head to stare up at the ceiling.
We're silent after that, Bella still reading from her book while I daydream beside her.
"What are you thinking?" she asks after a few moments, closing her book and placing it on her bedside table.
"I'm thinking about the fact that we can't fuck," I joke, turning my head in her direction with a smirk. There is no way I'm doing the dirty with Bella in her parents' house. Charlie may be fine with the fact that we're sharing a bed, but I'm sure he'll be less than pleased to find dirty sheets when we leave on Sunday.
"Is that all you think about?" She laughs, turning on her side to face me.
"I spend a healthy amount of time thinking about it, thank you very much," I defend with a chuckle.
"We could play a game?" she offers hopefully.
"Like what?" I sigh, turning my gaze back to her roof. "Our games usually end up with me between your legs."
"Well..." she trails off suggestively. I turn my head towards her, utterly intrigued by the sultry tone of her voice.
I watch her hand run over my covered pecks, then rub gently over my abs before they dip into my boxers.
"Bella," I warn thickly, yet I'm unwilling to remove her hand, feeling my cock stir beneath her touch. Charlie be damned. I know how to work a washing machine.
She smiles sweetly and then wraps her hand around my semi-erect dick.
"We can play space invaders?" she suggests innocently, gently pulling my cock to the side and then aiming it like one would a gun. I bark out a loud laugh when she starts aiming it in various directions making soft machine gun noises.
I'm sputtering and gasping, try to keep my laughter down while Bella shoots at invisible objects using my genitals.
"Baby," I manage through a chuckle, hysterical at the ridiculousness of the situation. "If you're going to use my penis as a joystick, you should at least press the button at the top."
"Why's that?" She laughs, making a few more shooting noises.
"That's the only way it will shoot." I waggle my eyebrows at her, because fucking face it, she might be joking, but it's not enough to stop me from growing hard.
"Ew." She fakes disgust and removes her hand from my pants with a dramatic jerk.
I laugh and wince as I turn to face her, shifting my cock into a more comfortable position.
We smile stupidly at each other for a few seconds, just enjoying the lightness of the moment.
"Why did you do all those things Angela said today?" I ask her gently.
My question catches her off guard, but I've been wondering about it all afternoon. She seems so different from the girl depicted earlier today, and I'm curious as hell about the old Bella.
"I've always fought hard and sometimes unfairly for the things I believe in." Her face sobers as she replies softly.
I like her explanation.
I like her.
A lot.
To solidify this, I lean forward and capture her lips with mine. It's a long, solitary kiss, unwilling to deepen it, knowing that we'll both get carried away.
"Like me?" I ask with a crooked grin once I pull away. There is no doubt that Bella fought hard and dirty for my book, and for reasons all too clear to me now, I want to hear that she was not only fighting for my book, but for me too.
She rolls her eyes in response and awkwardly pushes at my chest. I relent with a laugh and stretch over her to turn the light off, pulling her into my arms as I roll back to my side of the bed.
We're silent as Bella moulds her body to mine, her head resting in its now familiar spot on my chest.
My thoughts are tumultuous as I lay staring up at her bedroom ceiling. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, and despite my sudden emotional revelations, I'm here for Bella. And for now, that's the only thing that matters.
"I did, you know," she whispers into the stillness, pushing her hand beneath my thermal and running her fingers gently over my abdomen.
"Did what?" I frown into the darkness, rubbing her back and fighting my body's natural reaction to her touch.
"Fight for you."
Xoxo
-2-
"I'll never understand why women take forever to get ready," Charlie huffs beside me.
"I'm sure it'll be worth it," I say with a laugh as he changes the channel once again. We're dressed and ready for the wedding, sitting patiently on the couch in the living room, waiting for Bella and Renee. Well, waiting as patiently as men can, which isn't that patient at all.
I would have started climbing the walls by now, seeing as the two women are really eating away at our travel time at this rate, but my mind is all over the place.
Charlie grumbles something beside me, but I'm too caught up in my thoughts to pay him any mind.
If all goes well, today will be the end of Jacob, and the beginning of me. I have a plan.
We both jump up at the same time as we hear footsteps descending the staircase. Scrambling over to the landing like two teenagers on prom night, we straighten our shoulders and wait eagerly for their descent.
Renee is the first one to appear, and she looks lovely. I smile at her, getting a wink in return before she cocks a challenging eyebrow at Charlie. I stifle a laugh when Charlie clears his throat and plasters a huge smile on his face.
"You look beautiful, darling," he comments gracefully as Renee steps over towards him and takes his hand.
My eyes are frantically searching for Bella. I have no idea why, but I just know seeing her today is going to be the end of every pretence or wall I've ever tried to build. She will own me after this. I just hope and pray that I get to keep her too.
"I swear I spend most of my life waiting for you," Charlie mumbles beside me. I want to smile or even laugh, but my nerves are eating away at me.
"Like I spend most of mine waiting for you to grow up," Renee quips sweetly. This time, I have to laugh, pulling my eyes away from the stairs. Charlie's expression looks pinched and I laugh again.
"Touché," he concedes with a sheepish grin and pulls Renee after him as they make their way towards the kitchen. "Bells, you better hurry or we're going to be late," he calls after him for good measure.
"I'm ready." I hear her soft voice only a few breaths away from me. My head whips back in the direction of the stairs. Standing only three steps away from me is the most beautiful sight I've ever seen. Fuck me, she's gorgeous. And fuck odds or chances or luck or even Jacob Black, but she will be mine after today.
I'm not even going to try and describe what she's wearing. I think it's called a knee length wrap dress? I think the colour might be pink, or it might even be something closer to salmon or magenta or mother of fucking pearl, I don't know, and I don't give a shit. Point is, it's elegant and soft and moulded to her curves, and I don't know where to focus my attention—her endless legs—her luscious hips—her tantalizing tits—her delicate collarbones. I think I might be drooling all over my tie, but holy shit, she's sexy.
My eyes lift to hers, and the cocky satisfaction in them clears my mind long enough to smile at her appreciatively as she descends the final steps.
"I like this," I whisper as my hand gently traces the flowers pinned behind her right ear.
"Is that all you like?" she asks nervously as my hand turns to stroke her cheek.
"No." I shake my head and smile. "It's the only part that's safe for me to touch right now."
She laughs breathily before I lean in to give her lips a soft peck.
"You're going to be the loveliest woman there," I sigh against her cheek before pulling back.
"I don't want to outshine Leah," she whispers softly, frowning down at her dress.
I place a finger under her chin and lift her distressed gaze back to mine.
"Regardless of the dress, you always will."
Her smile melts my heart as she raises her hand to hold onto my wrist.
"You're biased," she teases, rubbing her thumb over my pulse.
"And right." I grin, pulling her hand to my mouth to kiss her knuckles softly yet deliberately.
I know what kissing Bella's hand means. Right at the beginning when we made our stupid terms to the arrangement, Bella specifically mentioned that I'm not to kiss her hand. Back then I thought she was crazy, but after some thought I came to the conclusion that to her it's a gesture of endearment, intimacy and love. Judging by her quiet gasp, I'm guessing I was right.
Now, all I can do is hope.
Hope that she'll love me back.
Xoxo
-1-
"What is this place?" I ask as we make our way towards a large clearing, surrounded by woods and once again, shit loads of green.
"We're on the La Push reservation," Bella answers quietly as I fold her hand over my arm and tuck her into my side. "This is where Jacob and Leah grew up."
"Weird." I frown, taking in all the guests making their way towards the seats set up outside. A gazebo of some sort, covered in ivy and flowers, is towering at the end of the makeshift aisle. I don't know what dumbass thought it would be a good idea to have a wedding outside in the middle of May, but apparently, no one else seems fazed by the chilly weather. At least everything is set up under a white tent, not that I can imagine that being enough to block out the cold, but whatever.
"Are you okay?" I ask against her ear, digging my nose into the soft curls framing her face. She smells so fucking good.
She nods, giving my arm a squeeze.
"There's Jasper and Alice." She tilts her head in our friends' direction. Jasper looks just as cold and uncomfortable as I feel, and I can't help laughing when I shake his hand.
"What a bunch of nature loving freaks," he whispers conspiratorially as Bella and Alice hug.
I laugh and nod my agreement.
"Did you see that?" he asks, indicating to the already seated guests.
My eyes wander over to the wedding party and notice that the guests seem to be split in two groups. On one side of the aisle is a bunch of olive skinned, dark haired natives seemingly dressed in original tribal gear with matching pensive expressions. On the other side are all the pale faced townies, the only visible indication that everyone here lives in a town that hardly ever sees sunlight.
"Ebony and ivory." I comment with a laugh.
"Don't get me started on that song." Jasper groans. "It'll be stuck in my head for the duration of the day."
Moments later we're making our way towards the rows of chairs. We're surrounded by hushed whispers as we make our way down the aisle to take our seats next to Charlie and Renee, who interestingly enough chose seats on the Native American side.
"You seem to be the talk of the town," I joke against Bella's ear as we're seated.
"Pretty sure they're all talking about you." Bella giggles and places her head on my shoulder. Well, that shuts me up. My eyes wander covertly over the curious stares, all focused on yours truly.
Well, shit...
Commotion at the end of the aisle catches my, and luckily the rest of the vultures', attention. Moving towards the gazebo is a huge motherfucker. I'm talking buff, tanned, and practically ripping from his suit. Surrounding him are four other dudes, equally tanned and equally fucking enormous. They joke around, slapping imposing bastard number one's shoulder before they line up behind him, leaving him standing alone in front of the altar like a coffee coloured Hulk.
"Is that him?" I whisper-shout into Bella's ear. I've lost my cool, that's for damn sure. In all the weeks preceding this lovely event, I've conjured up images of the cocksucker that is Jacob Black. Not one of those images depicted him as Vin Diesel's Apache twin.
Bella nods silently against my shoulder.
"You dated that guy?" I'm fucking stunned to say the least. Bella is an intellectual. I can't imagine them having anything in common. He probably tunes and fixes bikes while bench pressing trees in his spare time. She's delicate, soft, smart and fucking clean. I shiver a bit in disgust.
She giggles and lifts her head to give my jaw a soft kiss.
"What the fuck did you ever talk about?" I scowl, ignoring her sweet gesture.
She laughs a little louder this time, earning a few deliberate stares.
"He's smarter than he looks."
I highly fucking doubt that, I huff internally.
"He looks like he has dirty ears," I comment sullenly. This time we receive a couple of pointed stares from the surrounding tribe.
Bella turns her face into my neck as her shoulders shake in laughter. I silently join her, feeling my disgust ebb ever so slightly.
"You should see his feet," she jokes, lifting her bright eyes to mine.
"Oh fuck, Bella." I cringe, squeezing my eyes shut at the very disturbing mental image of his huge, hairy toes. "That was uncalled for."
My eyes fly open when her hand softly strokes my cheeks. I look down at her smiling face and mirror her expression.
"Why are you so calm?" I search her clear eyes, all jokes aside.
"Because seeing him reminds me that he's not you," she whispers, her expression turning soft and warm and oh so fucking gentle.
"Is that a good thing?" My treacherous voice breaks slightly as I get lost in her eyes. Lost, I tell you.
"Yeah." She nods, wiping her thumb over my bottom lip.
"Yeah?" I kiss the pad of her thumb.
"Yeah."
We stare at each other for long beats, her thumb working my hormones into a fucking frenzy as my heart slams against my chest.
The words are right there at the tip of my tongue, but I know now would be the worst timing ever, so I try to convey my feelings with my eyes. It seems Bella is trying to have a silent conversation with me too, but our eyes suck at communicating. I open my mouth to speak, what I'm planning on saying is a mystery to me, but I try regardless.
Fortunately, pounding drums and a sound simulating a foghorn jars us both back to our present surroundings.
The people around us slowly rise as Bella and I quickly rush to our feet.
Standing at the other end of the aisle is a female clone of the man waiting for her. She's not nearly as huge, of course, but she's an Amazon nonetheless.
"Fuck, they don't grow them small over here, do they?" I mumble to no one in particular, but Bella's shoulders shake in front of me, indicating that she heard me loud and clear. I smirk and possessively fold my hands around her waist as she leans back into my chest.
And then the bride, who I can only assume is Leah, slowly starts to move.
I give her a once over, trying to see what Jacob could have seen in this woman to let the one presently pressed against my chest go. I come up with nothing.
I guess it's true what they say, that one's loss is the other one's gain.
Jacob Black may be a huge fucker, but he's also a huge fucking idiot.
xoxo
And...? What ya thinking?
Part two of the wedding ch will be posted within the week, so don't throw stones at me yet! ;-)
Thanks to the ladies on Twitter for helping me (and confusing me even more) in choosing Bella's dress. I'll be posting a pic of her dress and Edward's suit on my Twitter page (SainstMistress) and on Facebook (thesaintsmistress Nicos). Come take a look!
The next chapter is going to be epic, so see you all there!
With love...
Your Mistress
xoxo