AMOC Chapter 5: Beware of Beauty

"It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness."
― Leo Tolstoy, The Kreutzer Sonata

BPOV:

The kiss was more than good it was downright sinful and luckily it was interrupted.

Looking at the tall blonde, who wore a dress that in my opinion was a little tacky for the workplace, I noticed she was staring at him like she wanted to strip him down and screw his brains out,right here in front of me.

The way they were openly looking at one another made me feel like a voyeur. They obviously knew one another and possibly in a biblical way.

"I'm not only back, but I'm getting married. Have you met my fiancee Isabella Swan?" Jake announced with conviction.

When Lauren looked between the both of us , I swore there was daggers in her dark blue eyes. The only question was, who were they intended for, me or Jake?

"I must say, I am surprised." Lauren clucked her tongue and gave me a look over from head to toe as if she was deciding if I was worthy enough to speak to.

"Me too." I replied sweetly.

"I bet."

Lauren's sarcasm wasn't wasted on me. Taking a deep breath I gave Jake's hand a gentle squeeze hoping to break the trance between them.

"So we are here to meet someone about a picture for our wedding announcement." Jake said.

"Oh. Then you are my next appointment." She smiled snidely.

My stomach grew sour and I wasn't sure if it was caused by nerves or the tension that was so thick between them you couldn't cut it with a knife.

"I suppose we are." He replied.

"Come this way." Lauren led us back to a small room where a cheap forrest background canvas covered one wall.

Looking at it I assumed this was going to be our backdrop for our picture. Another wave of nausea hit me. This was stupid. Here we were taking a fake ass picture for our fake wedding. I suppose it was ironic but at the moment I couldn't stop my knees from knocking together.

"If you two could stand right there." Lauren pointed at a spot marked with an X on the floor.

Forcing myself to move forward I made my way to the spot. Jake followed me and turned toward me. Looking into his eyes I saw something I hadn't seen in them before. It was a mixture between hate and disgust. Was it about us or about her? What in the world had happened between the two of them to make Jake act so strangely?

"Okay so I need you two to look at one another or you can look at the camera. It's up to you."

Lauren stepped behind the camera and placed her face up to it.

"What do you want to do?" I whispered.

"Look at me." Jake replied softly.

Facing Jacob I stood with my hands idly at my side before he reached down and took them in both of his and held them up to his chest. His eyes flickered with mischief while he smiled at me.

"Say cheese." Lauren called out.

Smiling with my lips pressed together I saw the flash out of the corner of my eye. She took several more before she stepped out from behind the camera.

"Got them."

"We appreciate this Lauren. Hopefully they will look decent enough so we can put it in our wedding book." Jake pulled my hand up to his mouth and brushed his lips across my knuckles.

Butterflies fluttered in the pit of my stomach. I knew this was all an act but damn he made me wish it was for real. Wanting a man like Jacob was dangerous. This marriage was to serve one purpose only, keeping Charlotte safe. It had nothing to do with lust or love. Besides, I barely even knew him. This feeling I was experiencing was nothing more than a moment of weakness and hormones.

"I'm sure it will." She replied with indignation.

"So when is the big day?" She asked.

"October first." He replied.

"Wow, that's pretty soon. Any reason for the rush?" Her eyes diverted directly to my flat abdomen.

"The only reason we are rushing is because we love each other. When you know you met the right person, nothing else matters. Life is short and we don't want to waste another minute apart." Jake said with such sincerity that even I believed him.

"How sweet." She looked at me and frowned slightly.

"Why do you look familiar to me?"

"My dad is...was the Police Chief before he passed away."

I felt the terrible ache that always came when I mentioned my father. It was moments like this when I needed him the most.

"Oh. Charlie Swan. He was a very nice man. My mom went to Highschool with him. She said he was a lady killer and she was so jealous when he married your mother." Lauren chuckled but I could still see a cynical look in her sapphire blue eyes.

"We should get going, Bella and I are quite busy with our wedding planning." Jake wrapped his arm around my waist as he led me out of the room and down the hallway.

He grabbed the door handle for us to step out of the office when Lauren made a last remark.

"It's good to see you moved on Jake."

I froze as I felt his body grow tense up against mine. He turned his head sideways and replied back.

"It was easy really. I didn't leave anything behind worth giving a shit about. " He answered.

Jake nudged me forward. Once we were outside, I sucked in a fresh breath of air. I turned to looked at him. It was easy to see that Lauren still affected him whether or not he wanted to admit it.

"She must have been hard to walk away from." I heard myself saying.

"What?" Jake's head whipped around and gave me an asinine look.

"You and Lauren. A blind man could see you two were once a couple."

"Haha. Lauren was just one of my old High School girlfriends, nothing more." Jake rebuffed.

"Oh. Well, you must have loved her very much."

"No I didn't. I just...we...it's nothing Bella. Ancient history. Now let's go see your boss about making us a wedding cake."

Knowing when it was best to give up a fight I kept quiet about the strange reaction between him and his old girlfriend. When we arrived at the bakery I wasn't one bit surprised that Milly already knew about my sudden engagement.

"I can't believe it. You are going to leave me soon." Milly wept as she wiped her eyes with her apron.

"What? I'm not going anywhere." I snorted.

"Uh, honey you won't have to work anymore." Jake mumbled into my ear.

"I love my job." I cried out in dismay as Milly pulled me into her beefy arms and hugged the breath right out of me.

"He's right. You are marrying a fine wealthy man who can keep you at home with that precious daughter of yours." Milly smiled sheepishly at Jake who was already somehow managing to charm her with his devilish smile.

"What is wrong with you two? As much as I would love to stay home with Charlotte everyday, I would go crazy if I didn't work."

Didn't anyone understand that I enjoyed working for a living? Besides I wasn't getting the million dollars, Jake was. There was no way I would depend on him for everything I needed nor would I live a life of leisure. It wasn't in my nature to sit around and be pampered.

"You could maybe help me with catering jobs. My legs are getting old and it's hard to move around at the parties." Milly offered.

"I wouldn't mind if you helped her out from time to time as long as it didn't take you away from me for too long." he winked at me.

"See, he is already learning to compromise with his future wife. How sweet." Milly blushed.

This was more than awkward it was downright gross. Milly was nearly sixty years old and I couldn't fathom why she didn't see right through him? I thought with age one got smarter not more naive.

"I wouldn't necessarily use the word sweet to describe him." I huffed.

"Milly we are here in hopes that you can make our wedding cake."

"When is the wedding?"

"October first." Jake beamed.

Milly rubbed her hands together and I saw the knowing glimmer in her eyes. She was going to do it.

"I will, now let's talk theme and creams." Milly chuckled as she grabbed Jake's bicep and led him to the back of the kitchen.

Rubbing my head where a dull headache was beginning, I took a deep breath and followed them back.

XXX

JPOV:

Once we arrived back at her house I walked her up to the front door.

"Are you okay?"

I noticed she was rubbing her neck several times during the day.

"Yeah, just...stress headache. I'll be fine once I take a hot bath."

"Oh. Well, at least we got a lot done and I made a friend out of Milly."

"Yeah. I like her too and that's why I can't quit working for her. She might look like a tough old bird but her health isn't at it's best. She needs an extra pair of hands helping her."

This was Bella's way of telling me that she didn't plan on being a fulltime housewife. Her need to help others was a character trait I just couldn't relate to. Bella was a nurturer. She liked to help those who were less fortunate. I was starting to see why my father was so fond of her.

"Will talk about that later. Get some rest and I will pick you two up tomorrow at five."

"What?" Bella frowned.

"I almost forgot to tell you. Rachel invited us over for dinner at her house. Dad thought it would be good for us to sit have a family dinner and explain what role everyone will play at the wedding."

"Role?"

"We have to act like a doting family that cares about one another." I snickered.

"I see." Bella exhaled loudly.

"I promise once we get this wedding ordeal behind us you can have your life back. Well, most of it will remain the same."

"Jake I need to talk to Charlotte about this. She is going to be so confused." Bella rubbed her neck again.

"Just tell her that you love me and want us to be a family."

"I hate lying to her."

"It's not really a lie. You do want us to be a family so we can prove that she is better with us."

Biting on my lower lip I watched as she considered what I said.

"Okay." Bella replied softly.

"I can't say that I am perfect Bella but I can tell you that I am a man of my word. I promise to do whatever it takes to keep Charlotte away from Edward." I stated with conviction.

"Thank you." Bella smiled softly.

My eyes found their way to her lips and for a second I recalled the hot kiss we shared.

"Bye Jake."

"Bye Bella."

I knew if I stayed even a second longer I wouldn't be able to restrain myself from pulling her into my arms and sampling her mouth again.

Quickly I left and headed back to Dad's. He insisted that I stay at his house until we were married. I knew it was his way of keeping an eye on me.

My phone rang.

"Hello."

"Jacob. It's William Whitley."

This couldn't be good. Mr. Whitley was the president and owner of the agency.

"Hello Mr. Whitley."

"Jacob it has been brought to my attention that you have taken a leave of absence. I normally wouldn't mind. You work hard and deserve a break from time to time. However, we are in the middle of a pressing problem with the McHolden account. You were in charge of it and I need you to come and handle it personally."

Rolling my eyes I laughed inwardly. The McHolden account wasn't really my project. It was his nephews, Liam Whitley's. I only got to work the account because Mr. Whitley feared his silver spooned nephew would screw it up. The boy went to Harvard but how he graduated was beyond everyone in our office. He wasn't exactly the brightest bulb in his prestigious family.

"As I recall I wasn't in charge. I assisted Liam with his account."

"I beg your pardon. I specifically put you in charge of it." Mr. Whitley scoffed.

"No you didn't. I would have received a bonus check once the contract was signed and I didn't get any compensation for the late hours I put in on it."

Smiling I knew he was trying to find a way to backpedal out of this situation. Mr. Whitley was a brilliant businessman but he was very frugal. He didn't like shelling out extra money to employees he deemed unworthy of it. He made a point of keeping me in the assistant position so that I wouldn't receive the perks that the project managers received.

"You listen closely to me Jacob Black. You will return here and do the job I assigned you. If you don't then you can look for employment elsewhere." He demanded angrily.

"I can't do that. I'm in the process of getting married in seven days and my father's health is poorly. So you see, I'm going to take that vacation that you've owed me."

A minute passed before he finally responded.

"I understand your dilemma Jake. I really do but I need you here. Mr. McHolden refuses to work with anyone but you."

I laughed. It was so ironic. The one time I take a vacation and suddenly Mr. Whitley noticed how important I was to his agency.

"I'm afraid I can't. I've made other commitments that take precedence over Mr. McHolden's account."

"What? Have you lost your mind?" Mr. Whitley shouted.

"I'm really sorry." I replied while pressing my lips together to prevent the laughter that was lodged in the back of my throat from escaping.

"So am I. When you return you can pack up your things." Mr. Whitley snorted and then hung up.

The laughter I held back erupted. It felt good to finally tell that overbearing, obnoxious, old bastard "no".

"Looks like I will be starting my own business." I said out loud.

Pulling up at my Dad's I stared at the house and pondered why he hadn't made any changes to it since my mother's death. Why wouldn't he want to make improvements to it? It was a lovely home, when properly maintained.

Thinking about his house reminded me of my next project. I wasn't kidding when I told Bella I wouldn't live in her house. Once we were married we would purchased a better and much larger home. I was willing to play my role in this fraudulent marriage but I wasn't going to do without the luxury I earned.

Entering the house I didn't hear a peep. Feeling relieved that I didn't have to listen to his lectures or advice on how to handle the next week of marriage duties I made my way to the bar. Grabbing a few beers I went up to my room. Popping open the first beer I drank it in haste. My nerves were rattled which was an uncommon occurrence for me. In college my roommate gave me the nickname of Iceman. He swore there was ice water running in my veins. I didn't sweat over the little things. I preferred the strain of being boggled down with challenges and deadlines. It kept me busy and therefore I didn't have much time to think about anything else.

Tonight however I really didn't have anything to do. Sitting on my bed I glanced around my childhood room and saw pieces of my long forgotten past sitting about. Trophies I won from sports sat neatly in place on my dresser and the shelf that my mom built with her own two hands. She was so proud of my accomplishments.

Everything had been so much better when Mom was alive. She knew how to bring out the best in everyone, even my sisters. Life was a constant joy in our home back then. Good times were a plenty and bad times only made us stronger. Now that she was gone so were all our hopes and love for one another. She was the glue that held this family together. I don't think we will ever be as close as we used to be.

It was disappointing to look at your family and see them as a threat rather than the support you longed for. Pushing my pitiful thoughts aside I sat down the empty bottle and opened the second one up. Guzzling it down, I enjoyed the cold liquid as it ran it's course straight to the pit of my stomach. Feeling less strain and a lot more relaxed I climbed off my bed and reached underneath it to find a box.

This box held some good and terrible memories for me. Sitting on the bed I stared at it, questioning if it was smart to open it up after all these years. Seven years ago I hid it away from the world and from myself.

Grabbing the box I shoved it back under the bed and suck down the remaining portion of my beer. Grabbing another beer I walked over to my window and gazed out at the moon and the tall pine trees that grew for miles and miles from here.

Seeing Charlotte today in the flesh reminded me of how fragile a young child's heart was. There was no doubt in my mind that a man like Edward and his nasty family could corrupt the goodness I saw in her beautiful eyes. Bella was right to fear the damage that family could do to her daughter.

Even if I didn't like the idea of marrying Bella or any other woman for that matter, I was going to look at this situation as a means to save Charlotte Swan from the evil clutches of the one man I wanted to make suffer more than anyone or anything I'd ever known.

XXX

The following day I woke up and started working out the details to transfer the money my father promised me to my personal account. Dad went along with me to the bank to sign all the necessary documents so that the day after we were legally married the money would be transferred. I needed to hurry and get Jesse off my back. It wouldn't look good for Bella to be married to a man who owed a gambling debt.

Returning home I helped Dad up to his room. He looked haggard. It hurt to see my old man who was once so tough and invincible appear fragile. I was starting to see that my sister wasn't exaggerating about his health. I wondered when I first arrived if he was pulling the sheets over everyone eyes, just to manipulate us to do his bidding. Maybe I was even hoping this was the case. I could be a cold heartless bastard at times but deep down even I wasn't fond of the idea of my father passing away.

For years we had our differences and we both fought stubbornly over many issues but not once did I wish for any harm to come to him.

Once I knew he was settled enough to take a nap I went back downstairs to make a few phone calls to finish up some business deals. Tyler was pleased that i would have the money for him and felt my pain when I told him what I must endure in order to get the money. I called a few of my bachelor buddies in Seattle to see how things were going in my absence and learned that Mr. Whitley was not only pissed off but afraid I was looking at another agency close by.

Checking my voicemail at home I listened to a few female voices that pleaded for a chance to visit me. It was going to be hard in the next few years trying to play the role of celibate husband. Although Bella did respond nicely to my kiss I knew she wasn't going to allow me in her bed anytime soon.

Then it hit me. I knew exactly how to persuade my future wife into agreeing to a new home. Smiling from ear to ear I knew how to start putting my plans into action. Opening my laptop I googled real estate properties that were available in the area. An hour passed by when an image of an house came onto the screen that made my heart race. Sitting up straight in the chair I read carefully over all the details. It would need some major work on it. But it was the house that would fit my needs perfectly, and help me inflict some necessary pain on one individual who deserved it.

XXX