A/N: Again, thank you so much for my amazing reviews. It makes me so happy to read what you all think about the story. Enjoy!
Chapter 25: Exposed
Three weeks had passed since Valentine's Day and things couldn't be more perfect than they are right now.
Things are good with my family…things are good in school…and most importantly, the person who I love dearly is with me almost on a daily basis. Some would say that Jasper and I being around one another almost all the time is too much. That it's too suffocating and not healthy.
Well, I'd love to see them explain that to an imprinting vampire or better yet, to the imprintee.
They can say whatever they want but, there is no physical or emotional way that the two of us could ever be separated again.
Even with that said, we actually don't spend twenty four hours together. I think we have a good balance of things.
But, that's not to say that when he isn't around me, I feel like I'm on edge when I don't know where he is.
Take this afternoon.
I was sitting in my last class of the day, nervously strumming my fingers on my desk, glancing at the clock every thirty seconds wondering where in the world he was. Between lunch and this class, we are separated for exactly fifty minutes…and like clockwork, he is always outside my classroom when I come out. Always.
So, it was a bit of a shock when he wasn't there waiting for me. But, I walked to class today all alone. As much as I wanted to wait for him, I couldn't because today was the big day.
Today those big English papers were due.
The paper that I felt like was going to determine my future.
When the bell rang, I thought I was going to jump out of my seat because I was so deep in concentration.
"Alright everyone, please come up and hand me your papers…" our teacher motioned for us to come up to the front and hand them to him. I slowly rose, clutching the paper in my hand.
I had been working so hard on this paper for almost two months…staying up late, not getting much sleep because of it.
I was standing in the back of the line with everyone else when I heard the classroom door open.
"Miss me?" a smooth voice whispered to me and I instantly relaxed when a pair of hands touched my shoulders.
"Where'd you go?" I turned around to face him, he just smiled and shrugged.
"I forgot my paper at your house this morning…" he said softly, just above a whisper in hopes that no one else would hear him. Bad enough people were still talking about the ring I was wearing, imagine what they would do if they heard Jasper talking about how he spends the night in my room almost on a nightly basis.
"How did you forget it?" I laughed as we moved with the line.
"I was…" he dropped his hands from me when we reached the front "otherwise distracted…" he said.
I just shook my head at him. I told him we didn't have enough time this morning…but no, he said he couldn't go a whole entire day without "the taste of your lips…"
"Ah yes, Miss Cullen and Mr. Hale…I'm actually looking forward to reading your papers." Our teacher collected the papers and we were on our way.
"Oh my god did you hear that Jasper?" I smiled as we walked back to our seats. "He said he wants to read our paper…that's a good thing right??"
"I believe so." He nodded as the class began.
I didn't really hear anything. I was far too nervous and excited about my paper.
"Natalia, please don't tell me that you're going to be stressing or obsessing over this paper for the next month?" he took my hand as we walked out of our class and towards the parking lot.
"I'll try not to but, I can't make any promises. Besides, you can always calm me down in like five seconds if I really start to get on your nerves."
"That's not what I meant. I just don't want you worrying too much about it…you're going to do fine on it."
"Says you. I know I can be a little annoying sometimes I'll admit it. So, you don't have to pretend like I can't get that way sometimes."
"I don't think I would ever admit to it…even if I wanted to."
"Hmph." I pouted. That was the sort of cool, sort of frustrating part of our relationship.
On the one hand, I could ask for anything and Jasper would happily give it to me in an instant. But, on the other side, there was nothing really I could do that would make him intentionally annoyed or frustrated with me. Even if he felt that way, he'd never say it.
It really wasn't fair to him because I had no problem telling him if he did something that was mean or unpleasant (which, that rarely happened).
"Are you pouting?" he laughed when we reached outside. "It's very…" he stopped walking and I stopped as well. I followed his gaze and just about turned around the other way when I saw what…well, rather who he was staring at.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me…" I mumbled and Jasper's grip instantly tensed around me
"Please, tell me this isn't happening..." I sighed, my stomach suddenly not feeling very good at all.
All I got in return was an odd sound coming from beside me. A sound that I knew all to well…the slightest of growls as we approached the person who was leaning against Jasper's car.
"This is one nice car you got here Jasper."
"Yes, and I'd appreciate it if you stepped away from it." He said, his hand clenching tighter around mine. As if it was the only thing keeping him standing here with me instead of attacking.
He held up his hands in surrender and moved away and turned his attention towards me.
"Hey Natalia. You're looking stunning as always."
"Hi Jacob." I nodded slightly, praying that no emotions were coming off of me. I didn't need Jasper mistaking them for something they weren't were. "What are you doing here? How do you even know I go here?"
"It's not that hard…there's only one high school in this town." He laughed.
"Oh." I frowned. I should have known that. "So, um…what brings you to here then?"
"I need to talk to you. I had hoped to talk to you alone but…I see that really isn't an option is it?"
"No." Jasper answered for me and I just watched the two of them back and forth.
Jacob was just standing there, cool as a cucumber…but Jasper, well he was another story.
His eyes were no longer their normal hazel green…but that almost black color they got when he was extremely angry.
But, I knew he wouldn't try anything….in a parking lot full of people.
He loved his family too much that he hopefully wasn't willing going to start a fight.
Looking around, I could also see people starting to stare as they walked to their cars.
Girls were eying him with interest. Guys were staring at him…sizing him up maybe.
And then, across the parking lot, I saw Edward standing there with Bella, Alice and Rosalie. My brother looked like he was about to come over when Alice put a hand on his shoulder and told him something and his eyes widened and he quickly got into the car and drove off.
Great. The one time I could use his help and he just leaves.
"Whatever it is you need to tell you her, you're going to have to say it in front of me."
"Have it your way…." He shrugged again.
"I've got a confession to make to you doll…" he started up again but paused when Jasper shot him a glare.
"I haven't been completely honest with you. When I told you that I was having those weird feelings of wanting to protect you, I wasn't telling you the truth. Truth is, I was unknowingly chosen by the others to check on you once in awhile…to make sure that the treaty wasn't broken…"
At that moment, a thousand questions popped into my mind. He had been lying me all this time? Was he actually trying to break up Jasper and I?? And more importantly…what treaty!
"I don't understand what you're trying to tell me Jacob. Are you trying to say that all those things you did…" I took a deep breath, already knowing his answer before I finished the question "because you wanted to separate Jasper and I?"
"Yes." He admitted "But, with very good reason." He defended himself. "And all this time I thought the stories were a myth."
"What? What is this treaty you're talking about?"
"You're joking right?" he laughed.
I didn't answer. It was like all the sudden, with his thirty seconds of talking to me, he had unknowingly opened up all the wounds of the time when Jasper and I weren't together…and I felt my knees waver with the intensity of everything.
"Does it look like she's joking?" Jasper stepped forward a bit from me and got closer to Jacob. "So, why don't you just explain what is going on to us. Because, you are making no sense what so ever."
"Okay. Calm down." He stepped away from him slightly. "Well, legend has it that like a long time ago…a treaty was made between my people and them." He nodded over towards Jasper.
"About?" Jasper pressed
"That they…I mean the Cullens could stay here and roam around, as long as they promised that they would never bite a human or cross the border line. They agreed and that was that. But then, strange things started to happen in our little community. Remember that day in the clearing?"
I just nodded, my voice not wanting to cooperate once again.
"Well, word got around that the Cullens were back…and that led to the freaky mutations going on with me and some other guys I know. Because we're supposed to protect people from them…and that's why I was trying to break up you two." He finished.
And that was all I could handle. I let go of Jasper's hand and walked up to Jacob, the only thing I saw was red, I was that upset. I attempted to try and hit him but he caught my arm in mid slap.
"That wouldn't be very smart Natalia." He said softly as I felt my arm burning with the intense warmth of his skin. "I came to tell you the truth because I felt you deserved to know."
"Let go of me…" I snapped at him, trying to move out of his grasp but he wouldn't let me "you're lying to me…you didn't even know me! Why would you want to do something so horrible to me!"
"It was nothing personal. It's something that goes way beyond you and I. I was just doing what was asked of me…and I'm going to continue to do it whether you like it or not. Don't be angry with me. If anything you should be angry with your family for not telling you all of this to begin with. They're the ones who lied to you."
"Don't say that…" my voice cracked "they would never lie to me."
"You really had no idea did you?" he looked down at me, concern and sympathy in his eyes.
"Stop it...none of this is true." I yelled, my voice straining with every word.
"Natalia, I swear that I'm not lying to you. You have to trust me."
"Trust…" that was it, I snapped right then and there "how can I trust someone who was lying to me since the first day I met them! Let me go Jacob…I want nothing to do with you."
By now, people were definitely staring and Jasper decided that this was his cue to intervene.
"Ex-boyfriend." He said to the group that was standing nearby. He turned his attention back to us.
"If you want to keep that arm, I suggest you let her go and leave…" Jasper's voice was calm but I knew that his threat was real behind the calm facade.
"I'm not going anywhere until I know that her family has told her the truth." Jacob let go of me and I instantly felt like collapsing to the ground. But, Jasper didn't let that happen.
"I know you're upset darlin'…" he whispered as he held me close to him for a few seconds "but, you need to hold it in, just until we leave here….can you do that?" I nodded slowly and he let me go.
"Fine, get in the car then." Jasper told Jacob but didn't even look in his direction.
We weren't even halfway to my house when I lost it.
I seem to always lose it whenever Jacob is involved. It was making me begin to question my own sanity.
"You're not lying are you?" I turned in my seat to see his face.
"I told you I wasn't."
"But why? Why would they not tell me?" I turned back around.
"I don't know, you're going to have to ask them." He said as we pulled into the long driveway.
I really didn't want to know what was going on to be honest. I knew it was only going to make me upset. My family may have lied to me about this but, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't lie about it to my face would they?
No time like the present.
The three of us got out of the car and walked up to the front door. I placed my hand on the doorknob and kept it there for a few seconds, trying to come up with the courage to turn it.
I didn't have to because someone opened it from the inside. Much to my relief, it was Alice.
"We've been waiting for you. Come on Natalia." She looped her arm through mine and walked with me into the living room where everyone else was sitting on the chairs and couches. Everyone was there, including Bella, Rosalie and Emmett.
"Sweetheart, come sit with us please." Carlisle motioned for me to come sit with them with his hand. But, I didn't move. I was frozen on the spot.
"I'd rather not." I whispered. For a moment, it wasn't even like I was looking at my family.
I decided it was best to just ask the obvious question.
"Is this true?" I looked over at them but I didn't really need their answer, I could see it on their faces
"You guys didn't think I'd find out did you?" I suddenly felt betrayed…by my own family no less. Why had they kept this a secret from me?
"Natalia, you have to understand that we just wanted to protect you." Carlisle stood and walked towards me since I was making no effort to walk to them.
"From what? I know what you all are…and I've never judged you."
"I know honey but, really when it came down to it, we didn't think it would be that big of a deal if you didn't know everything about us. About how we once were here."
He had a point there. Sometimes even real families don't even know everything about one another. But, for three people…the three people who were my only family now to keep this from me was unsettling. Not the part that they lived here but, the fact that they had some sort of secret pact with Jacob's relatives or something like that.
"I don't care that you lived here a long time ago. I care that there's some treaty going on…and you never told me."
"Again, that never really was an issue either."
"What!" I stared at my father wide-eyed. "How is that not an issue?"
"Because we agreed to never harm a human by biting them…and I can assure you that the three of us will never do that to you Natalia. The treaty would remain intact. You already live sort of a peculiar life honey, we just thought it was best if you didn't know so you won't worried all the time."
Things weren't making sense to me. If my family had no intention of biting me or whatever, then why were they sending Jacob to come check on me to make sure I was still human?
Even more so, why did he decide to come out with all of this now?
I was about to ask my list of questions when my brother beat me to it.
"That's why you told her?" my brother laughed coldly "that doesn't even make sense Jacob…and it has nothing to do with the treaty." Edward stood and crossed the living room so that he was at my side. "Jasper has no intention of doing that." He shook his head.
"Do you know that for a fact?"
"Know what?" Jasper stepped forward to the other side of me.
"This isn't about us breaking the treaty. It's about Jasper breaking the treaty. Which again doesn't have anything to do with us because Jasper isn't part of our family. He never made any agreement with your tribe."
"Can someone please explain to me what you are talking about?" I looked at my brother, who stayed silent. I looked at Jasper who seemed to be just as confused as I was but he was piecing things together in his mind already. And then, I looked over at Jacob who was staring straight back with concern in his eyes.
No, it was much more than concern. It was more like fear and maybe a bit of anger.
I tried to make sense of things in my mind as well since no one was telling me.
Jacob had purposely shown up that night of my birthday in hopes that he would destroy Jasper and I. He came the same day that I met him. The same day I told him about Jasper and the imprinting…and the look he had in his eyes now, it was almost the exact same look when I told him that it was possible for Jasper and I to be together forever.
Oh!
"Oh god…" I mumbled to myself but everyone heard me. "You think that Jasper is going to change me into one of them don't you?"
"He better not, otherwise things wouldn't end up very good for any of you." Jacob smirked.
"What? But, Jasper isn't a Cullen." Thank god for that! "If he never made a treaty with your people, how can you possibly hold it against him?"
"The moment he imprinted on you, that's when everything changed. He may not share the same name, but he is still what he is. You're life is on the line every moment you are with him. And, it's up to me to make sure that you stay just the way you are…a beautiful and fragile human."
"My life isn't in any danger. So, you can just go and tell everyone that nothing bad is going to happen to me."
"How do you know? Have you even asked him if he ever thought about making you his forever?" he shook his hands at me.
"No." I admitted. I just turned and looked at Jasper. His face was stoic.
"Well, how about it imprinter, is that what you plan on doing?"
"Please don't lie to me Jasper." I whispered to him and he turned to face me.
"The thought has crossed my mind…that I'd love for you to be with me forever. But, I would never do it if you didn't want it."
"What?" Edward pushed me away from Jasper and stood in front of him. "How can you possibly think for a second that I will let you do that to my sister!"
"I'll never do it…unless she wants it." He stood before my brother, and I knew he was telling the truth.
"I don't care if she's on her knees begging for it…you will never do that to her. Absolutely no way…I will personally stop you if you even so much as try it."
"Oh Edward stop it." I moved to stand in between them. "No one's going to be begging for anything…so please stop with the threats." I glared at him.
"Jacob?" I could hear Jasper's voice behind me, locked with tension "can I speak to you in private?"
"You aren't going to attack me again are you?"
"No."
"Fine."
"I'll be back Natalia." He said, pressing his lips to forehead roughly before walking outside.
"Where are they going?" I looked over at Edward. He had to have heard Jasper's thoughts.
"He wants to talk to him Natalia. It's nothing for you to get worried about." He looked at me quickly before walking over to the couch and sat next to Bella.
If anything, he should be worried about Bella. She looked like she could rip his arm off for threatening her brother…again.
And they say teenage girls have out of control emotions.
Nope, my brother took the cake when it came to freaking out over everything.
But, I had no room to talk. I flipped about a lot of things all the time. Well, more so when it came to Jasper.
A day in the life of an imprinter and his imprintee.
"So, sweetie, you aren't mad at us for not telling you?" Esme spoke for the first time in all this from her spot on the couch. I looked over at her and shook my head.
I could never be mad at Esme, even if you paid me a million dollars.
"No, not really. I mean, I wish you guys would've told me about this whole treaty thing. But, I see now that it never really concerned me…you guys would never hurt me."
"Well, it sort of does concern you now Natalia." Edward corrected me. "I never thought about it that way. But, what Jacob was thinking was right. Maybe because I don't know about this whole imprinting business. But, from his thoughts and images, I see that it's much more than I thought. You are Jasper's universe…as ridiculous as that sounds. It never dawned on me that he was thinking about perhaps keeping you with him forever. You already belong to him. It makes sense that he would want you for all eternity."
I couldn't fathom why in the world why my brother was siding with Jacob now.
"Can we please not talk about this anymore?" I frowned and turned my attention back towards the front door. I wanted to know what was going on out there…I hated suspense.
"It'll be okay." I heard Alice's cheery voice beside me "Trust me." She smiled and patted my cheek gently before I hugged her.
After apologizing to my family for acting like a selfish brat, we all sat around and talked.
Well, mostly I listened. The girls were talking about Rosalie's upcoming wedding this summer.
I apparently was going to be a bridesmaid.
As excited as I should've been (and, believe me I was on the inside) my face showed anything but excitement. I was anxious for Jasper to come back…I wanted to know why he was so tense when he went outside.
An hour later, I got my wish when the front door opened. All head looked up to see only Jasper standing in the doorway.
"Natalia" he used that calm voice again. The one he used when he was anything but calm "please come." He looked over at me and I instantly stood and walked over towards him.
"Where are we going?" I asked him as we walked outside and towards his car.
"Just for a drive…maybe a run." He said with that still calm voice of his. It was starting to freak me out.
I knew I probably shouldn't get in the car. I didn't know if he was angry or not. But, I got in anyways.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" I turned to him slightly and grabbed one of his hands.
"Yes." Was all he said and after a brief squeeze of my hand, he let it go and put it back on the steering wheel. I settled back into the seat and just watched outside the window.
In a matter of two hours, a lot of things had been exposed and brought into the light.
Jacob had lied to me all this time and he openly admitted to wanting to break Jasper and I apart.
My family apparently lived here before and had some sort of treaty with Jacob's tribe.
And finally, Jasper admitted to me that yes, the idea of me becoming like him was something he has considered.
Now, I was just wondering which one of these things had made him so upset…or whatever he was feeling right now.
Alright, so I need your guys' input for the next chapter. Do you guys want Jasper to just tell Natalia what he and Jacob talked about or...do you want to have it be the actual conversation between Jasper and Jacob? Let me know (:
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