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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Privacy, or Not

After we got the meds from the pharmacy and brought them back home we found it harder and harder to find a place for privacy. And god did I want it. Jacob wasn't making it any easier either. If we were in the kitchen he'd be right there beside me running his hand along my neck. Or when we'd be watching television with Seth and Charlie he'd playfully kiss my shoulder. The most current situation was taking place outside the bathroom when Leah decided that at that moment she needed to use it. Jacob had me pinned up against the wall and was feverously attacking my neck and jaw when she pushed her way through. No one said anything and I could tell that Jacob hadn't even noticed. Either that or he didn't care. So I pushed my arms up against him, breaking the lack of space and stopped his fiery kisses.

"Bella?", he innocently asked.

"Jacob we can't be doing this. Not here"

A pout formed along his face and he curiously looked around.

"There's no one in the kitchen", he suggested. I gave him a knowing look that basically screamed my detest for making out on a linoleum floor. "The truck?", he smiled.

"I think you dad's room is empty", I said while giving a pointing glace towards the living room. It was a joke clearly, but for a second he seemed to be contemplating the option until he finally made a face of disagreement.

"Too weird"

I pulled the labels of his shirt and brought him closer to the wall that I was still being held up against. Then I gave him a small kiss.

"Then I guess we'll just have to stop"

Right then Leah opened the bathroom door and pushed past us, but this time she didn't leave without commenting on the situation.

"Get a room", she mumbled.

Before Jacob could say anything in return she had gone out the kitchen door and was making her way to the garage. A rush of blood made it's way to my cheeks and I knew that I probably looked like a tomato. Jacob lessoned his grip on me and let me slid to the floor.

"Definitely no more of this", he stated.

It was then that I saw the death glare that Charlie was giving Jacob. If I wasn't embarrassed before, I definitely was now. Then Charlie elbowed Billy in the arm. Billy looked over and grinned. He clearly didn't mind that Jacob basically still had me against the wall. Then he dropped his grin and yelled across the living room.

"Jacob, why don't you and Bella go on outside?" He shifted his eyes towards the garage. "I think there's some cleaning you could be working on". We both knew he wasn't talking about yard work. Jacob took my arm and started leading me towards the door.

"Yeah Dad". He absently waved as he opened the door. "See ya later"

Once he shut the door I spun him around and gave him a questioning look.

"What does he want us to do in the garage?"

"Nothing really. Just make sure Mike isn't making too much noise. I guess I could work on the Rabbit"

"So we're not telling Charlie?"

Jacob put his hands on my shoulders and searched my face.

"Do you want to?", he questioned. Relief sprung all over my face after he said this.

"No", I smiled. "It's too early. Besides I don't think he'd do too well with the whole werewolf in your garage thing. It's not really high on the normality scale"

Jacob grinned and turned around to go into the garage. As soon as I walked in I could see that Mike was excited to see some company. Then when I shut the door his eager expression went back to one of indifference.

"Expecting someone else?", I asked him. He eyed Jacob with disgust and answered.

"Nope"

After that I sat down on a close by stool and noticed that Jacob was already quick at work on the Rabbit. You could tell that he missed working on the hunk of metal. It had been at least a month since he touched it. I watched as he leant over in the hood and started tightening something. The muscle in his arm tensed and loosened as he wedged the wrench back and forth. Then he ripped off his white stained shirt and threw it to the floor. After that I couldn't help myself from staring. His skin looked so soft and warm from where I sat. And the way each of his muscles moved as he bent further into the hood made his chest look like a sculpted god come to life. I was doing all I could not to hyperventilate.

"You know", Mike shouted. "I've got muscles just like that, maybe bigger"

Hearing his voice made me rip my eyes from Jacob and stare towards him.

"What?", I asked. A smile crept along his face.

"I said that I had muscles like that, but maybe bigger". He looked over at Jacob and then back at me. "I suppose it's the werewolf thing"

"What the hell are you talking about?". I was getting annoyed. Why was Mike comparing himself to Jacob?

"I just noticed that you were basically drooling after your boy toy there took his shirt off"

With that Jacob popped his head out from in the hood and frowned at Mike.

"Leave her alone Newton", he demanded. That made Mike frown slightly.

"I was just stating a fact boy toy"

Then Jacob smirked and walked right up to my stool and planted a kiss right on my lips. Not just a little peck, but a full blown, lose your breath kiss. I would have fallen off the stool had Jacob not pulled his arm around my back and brought the legs back on the floor. A disapproving grumble came from Mike as Jacob lent back and freed me from the kiss.

"I'd like to see you try that Mr. Muscle", Jacob crooned. Then he eyed the ropes that ran along Mikes arms and legs. "I almost forgot", he smiled. "You're the hostage. So shut the hell up and sit in your corner!"

After that Jacob went back to work on the Rabbit. I could tell that he was more joking than anything, but I still didn't like hearing him talk to Mike like that. Just a couple of weeks ago they would have been civil in each others presence. Probably would have even laughed at the other one's jokes. I guess things just can't be like they were. Simplicity is apparently too much to ask for. I smiled as I saw Jake lean back into the hood and Mike scowled into the corner. Werewolves were some interesting creatures. Scratch that, guys in general were.

…

After spending a little more than four hours in the garage, Jacob finally decided to quit on the Rabbit and took me back into the house. As we were shutting the door Seth bumped past us.

"Where you headed?", Jacob asked. Seth casually looked from the living room to the kitchen and shrugged.

"Nowhere. The garage I guess"

Jacob shrugged and let him slip by. Billy called over to us to sit down in the living room.

"The games almost over. Your teams winning Jacob", he stated with a smile.

We both sat down on the couch. I pulled a pillow over my lap and hugged it against my chest. Jacob wrapped an arm across my shoulders and set his eyes on the TV. Charlie started to grumble.

"He's only happy because his team so happens to be the same as Jake's"

"Eh, don't be so sore Charlie. It's only the ninth inning", Billy joked.

Then we heard a load bang come from the garage and a glimpse of Seth's head passing by the window.

"You wouldn't know that kid's sixteen by the look of him", Charlie stated. "That kid carries the weight of the world on his shoulders"

All three of us turned and look at Charlie. It wasn't just the fact that he was saying something deep about Seth, but the plain fact of what he said. If I had to pick anyone out of the pack that didn't have a single care in the world it would be Seth. So hearing him say that was shocking to say the least.

"What are you talking about", Jacob questioned. "Seth doesn't have any extra weight to handle"

"He's a jokester", Billy added. Charlie simply shrugged.

"It just looks like the kids got something on his mind. Nothing to it really, wish I didn't say nothing I guess. None of my business"

With that everyone set their attention back to the TV screen and continued watching the baseball game. Except me. I was still wondering about what Charlie had said. I hadn't seen it before, but I guess Seth had been acting a little off lately. Not making as many jokes as he normally would and he definitely hadn't been getting in the way lately. But how had my dad seen it before me? I mean I knew Seth better. At least I thought I did? Then Jacob put his hand on my knee and motioned short circles and I decided to forget about what Charlie had said. Seth was a good kid and he wouldn't do anything stupid. With that I jumped off the couch and headed for the door.

"I'll be back", I told Jacob.

Seth was exactly the type to do something stupid. Not so much as Leah would, but enough to get himself in trouble. If he was putting himself in danger because of the nomad pack then I was going to find out why. I didn't want him to get hurt. He was just too innocent. As soon as I caught up to him just along the driveway I patted him on the shoulder.

"Hey Seth?"

He turned around. "Yeah Bella?"

Then I found myself lost for words. I didn't know exactly what I had been planning to ask him. Really I had no idea what I was even getting involved for. I mean, it's not like I would be able to stop him anyway even if he wanted to do something dangerous. Finally I thought of something to say.

"What's going on with you?", I asked. He gave me a confused look and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, I just…are you okay and all? I mean there's a lot of stuff going on". He continued to give me a questioning look.

"Bella I don't know what your trying to hint at, but I'm fine. I mean it's not like we've really started anything. The past few weeks have been kind of boring"

I stayed silent for a couple seconds before adding to my previous question. "It just seems like you've been worrying about something. Like something's bothering you"

Seth look down at his feet, then scanned the woods.

"I just don't want to bring Mike his food anymore. I'm getting sick of it", he stated. "He can be really annoying", he added.

"Yeah", I laughed. "I can see how you'd think that". A few more seconds passed without talking. "Hey, do you want to watch the end of the game with me?"

"I don't really like baseball"

"Neither do I", I bargained. "But that doesn't stop me"

A small smile crept along his face as he nodded and started walking towards the house.

"Good", I said. "Now we can root for the opposite team and annoy Jacob".

As soon as we got inside and sat on the couch, Leah walked in. She opened the fridge, pulled a plate out and brought it over to Seth.

"Go feed the hostage", she ordered.

Charlie quickly looked over to Leah and Seth and questionably arched his eyebrow. Seth grabbed the plate and acted quick to fix Leah's slip.

"Um…she means the horse we found"

"Horse?", Charlie questioned. Billy looked back and forth from Seth to Charlie.

"Yeah", Seth agreed. "Yesterday this horse just showed up out of the blue and now we're trying to figure out who it's owner is"

"Funny", Charlie said. "I didn't hear any horse out there today?" But then a voice came on the TV announcing something to do with the game. Charlie hollered and fisted his right hand in the air. " 'bout time!", he shouted.

Leah smiled slightly and seemed as though she was about to laugh. But then she simply turned from the couch and headed down the hallway. Probably to fix her hair in the bathroom, I figured. Seth weighed the plate of food in his hands.

"I guess I'll go feed the um…horse"

Remembering our earlier conversation I spoke up. "I'll do it"

Seth motioned for me to stay. "Nah, I'll do it". He turned from the couch and walked to the door and shut it behind him. We all pulled our attention back to the game after that.

…

After another thirty minutes into the game Charlie mentioned that Seth was taking an awful long time feeding a horse. Jacob tried to say that it was a stubborn horse that they had found and that it usually took quite a bit of time to feed it. Charlie decided to give up on the fact and looked over to the kitchen.

"Can't I just have the one beer?"

"No", I said.

"Well jeez. Isn't there any respect for a man trying to watch baseball. First there's interruptions about supposed horses, then I'm not allowed beer"

"Hey I'm not drinking either!", Billy joked. "All for you Charlie boy. Not a drop"

Charlie's face turned red from this and he stopped pressing on the matter. Just as Quil and Embry entered the room, Jacob kneeled into my ear and whispered.

"I think I'm gonna check on Seth"

I nodded and got up with him as he headed out the door.

"Yell if anything interesting happens", Jacob told his dad.

Then we were out the door and headed to the garage. But before we got to far Jacob took me in his arms and kissed my neck.

"Finally some alone time", he murmured. Then he kissed me again.

"I think I like this alone time you speak of. What is it again?", I joked.

"Oh it's nothing but good", he whispered against my ear.

The heat of his breath blew against my skin and sent warm shivers across my neck. God I loved it when he did this. Then I pushed in to give him a kiss but a bang and the sound of something hitting the floor in the garage caught our attention. Jacob sent an investing look towards the windows then dropped my arms. He ran up to the garage door and went in. When I finally got up to him I couldn't see what had happened because he was blocking the door. Pushing at his arm I took sight of Seth in the corner of the garage, right over where Mike was tied up. I tried to move Jacob out of the way, but there was just no budging. Then I realized why Jacob was so unresponsive. Through the shadow of the garage I could see Mikes face and right next to it was Seth's.

"WHAT THE HELL!", Jacob roared.

With the outburst Seth fell backwards and hit the garage floor. Mike looked up and caught my expression. My jaw had dropped at the sight. Then a smirk grew along his face.

"Maybe knock next time, huh?", he pointed out. Seth just stared over at Jacob, hiding all emotion.

"What in the name of…what the hell Seth!", Jacob yelled. "Were you kissing him?"

Finally Seth's silence broke and he jaw bobbed up and down as he tried to speak.

"I didn't…it's not! I didn't kiss him!"

Then he got up off the floor and barged his way out of the garage. Not without giving Mike the evilest of glares. Jacob quickly ran after him. Mike smiled at me and grinned all his teeth.

"I think I know what imprinting is now", he grinned. I still stood with my mouth agape.