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Chapter 40
Homecoming
Jake
The farther we got from the lake, the angrier I got.
What Ben had said all! It was unbelievable. Freaks. Mutants. Scum. Changing flea circus. And those were the nice terms he had found for Leah and subsequently also for me. And he had insulted Becky afterwards just as much.
I shook my head as I felt the fire inside me.
Breathe evenly! Remain calm! Ben was just in shock. What else could he think about us. He was too scared to understand it in any real way. What should one think if their own girlfriend suddenly turned into a wolf, which was also larger than themself? Perhaps Leah had approached the matter a bit too radically. Above all, I just felt sorry for Leah. She had already had a nervous breakdown on Friday because she had a problem with this secret. Then I encouraged her to tell the truth and it backfired completely. I felt guilty. Because I was happy. So very happy. I imprinted on Becky. Becky loved me. She knew my secret. She had no problem with it and was even downright excited about it. I had experienced a fantastic first time. And an equally overwhelming second time. My life was just running perfectly. And with my sister, everything was falling apart.
Halfway home, she started crying again and Becky was struggling to comfort her. I stopped at a small rest area. The girls had to pee and I was grateful for a short break.
My anger distracted me from the traffic and I became reckless. I grabbed a bottle of water from the trunk and then slammed the lid down with so much force that something metal rattled onto the road under the car and a precise indentation of my hand could be seen in the metal hood.
Shit!
I quickly turned around in all directions.
Nobody had seen me. Lucky you. But what would Edward say to the considerable dent? I wonder what the repair would cost me? Dent removal, sanding and repainting.
Becky was the first to return to the car.
"Will you let me drive?" she asked cautiously.
I was confused.
Becky didn't care for cars that this set of wheels would tease her.
"Then you can take care of Leah. I am at my wits' end," she explained her request to me.
I nodded and took her in my arms.
"You've done well so far, though," I assured her. She really had. Because I wasn't sure I could comfort Leah enough. Only Mom would be able to do that. With lovesickness she knew herself unfortunately well.
After pulling a metal rail out from under the car and tossing it into the trunk, I got in the back with Leah. She leaned against my shoulder and finally stopped crying. Only a few tears came sporadically. She asked me what I had said to Ben.
"That despite everything, you are still human. The same person as before. That you love him and he loves you too, after all. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been together so long. But he didn't want to hear all that. I am also not sure if he listened to me at all ... And then I warned him not to tell anyone about it. Otherwise, we would pay him a little visit. I think he heard that again then," I told her and Leah even smiled a little at the idea of dropping in on him in wolf form, preferably at night, in the fog.
Around eleven we were back at home.
Leah hadn't cried the rest of the way, but as soon as the car stopped, she opened the door and sprinted to the front door, putting her hands over her face.
I briefly marveled at the BMW that stood next to us in the driveway.
I guess that meant Edward was there. A BMW X6 M! ...! When I had seen one on a report on TV, I had started drooling, but to see this amazing car now really live made me a little stunned.
I walked around the car in amazement.
"Are you almost done ogling the car?" Becky asked, chuckling at me.
She actually sounded a little jealous.
"Next to you, everything else can only pale!", I said honestly, walking up to her and kissing her on the way into the house.
Leah wasn't crying, she was whining in our mom's arms.
How many tears could a single woman have?
The two of them were sitting on the sofa and Edward was crouched behind it with a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. They both talked gently to her.
"Maybe he just needs time to understand. Our world is not easy for a human to grasp. Just give him some time to think about it," Edward said calmly.
Leah looked at him irresolutely, then nodded barely noticeably, and rested her head on his arm.
"Once he thinks about it and sees that you're still the same, maybe then Ben will realize he overreacted and apologize," Mom also said.
I sat down in the armchair, Becky on the armrest.
We didn't know what else we could have done. We had already told her all that, but from our parents it seemed to have a different effect.
Leah calmed down and the whining subsided.
My eyes wandered haphazardly through the house. On the table stood the remains of a very extensive breakfast.
Mom had certainly used our absence once again to sleep late. That also explained why she was still sitting there in her bathrobe, although it was ... Wait a minute! ... What was I thinking just now? ... Parents? I mentally shook my head. How did I come up with this nonsense?
Leah was thirsty and Edward promptly dashed to the kitchen and handed her a glass.
Dude! Did I see that right?
I immediately looked at my mom.
Curious. Mistrustful. She looked like she did yesterday. Almost. She had a very slight mark on her forearm, but it certainly didn't hurt. Surely, she had stumbled again. Something sparkled in her eyes. A glitter that I had never seen in her before. But yesterday I had seen it. With Becky. And a few weeks ago, with Bran and Jenny. I was ... surprised? Shocked? Confused? Disgusted? Pleased? Somehow a mixture of all of the above!
Questioningly Edward looked at me, because he surely didn't understand my incoherent thoughts, which had started just at the moment when I had seen HIM correctly.
'You've got your T-shirt on backwards!'
I smirked and Edward quickly retreated to the kitchen again to correct it.
No! I tried not to imagine now what the two of them had been doing here since yesterday morning!
I fled from my own mental cinema and decided without further ado to clean out the car. I couldn't do anything with Leah anyway, but Becky stayed with them.
Edward looked out the window for a moment, saw a thick big cloud in the sky and followed me.
Good idea. Now I could confess right away. That would also save me from the images of my mom in my head.
"What do you want to confess?" he asked, before we reached the car.
Becky had pulled forward, into the driveway, so he couldn't see it yet.
"Sorry," I muttered apologetically as we then stood in front of the dented trunk.
He run with his fingers over it and surveyed the damage. Then I pulled the metal part out of the trunk and held it out to Edward.
"What is it?" he asked, confused.
"No idea, but it belongs somewhere under the car. I slammed the lid too hard earlier. There was a clatter," I explained remorsefully. 'It was stupid of me. It wasn't the car's fault that I was angry.'
"No problem, Jake. As long as you're back here in good health, nothing else matters. I'll ask Rosalie to look at it later," he explained, really meaning it.
I had thought that his talk was not real. Or was only valid as long as the car remained intact. But he really didn't seem to care much and he was already opening the garage where our camping stuff would be stowed.
"How was the trip?" he then asked calmly.
I exhaled deeply once in relief.
"Except for the Ben and Leah thing, it was great."
I was about to take the first things out of the trunk, but froze in mid-motion and closed my eyes with pleasure.
Great was understated - and I instantly thought back to that little concealed cove. And of the small hidden tattoos that I had found.
A light, cold blow to my chest brought me out of my thoughts.
"If you're standing right next to me, I CAN'T not listen!" I quickly jerked out of my memories and I endeavored to think of something more innocuous and briefly recounted it. The lake, driving jet skis, eating ice cream.
The girls playing volleyball gave me another reminiscent hit, until only Becky's stuff was in the car and we went back inside.
Leah grabbed her bag and disappeared upstairs. She wanted to be alone.
"She's really miserable," I noted when Leah was upstairs.
"Is that a surprise?" mom asked me sympathetically and reprovingly at the same time.
"Is there anything we can do?" asked Becky, next to whom I threw myself on the couch.
"Maybe we should stick to our plans," Edward said, addressing Mom, but she didn't seem at all enthusiastic about it.
"I can't just leave with you now," she declared fiercely. "Even if Leah wants to be alone right now, I can't just skedaddle."
"I'm thinking of Leah in this," Edward explained himself immediately, however. "I know no one better than Esmé to give one comfort. And no one can take one's mind off one's grief better than Alice. You have nineteen years of experience at that."
"You want to drive to your house? To your family?" I asked.
Edward nodded and Mom seemed to mull it over.
This could really work. Leah was eager to see how and where these vampires lived. After all, we hadn't discovered them as wolves yet.
Finally, Mom was also in favor, if Leah agreed.
"And you probably want to come too!" Edward stated smiling and Becky someone nervously agreed as I was already on my way to Leah.
I knocked on her door and entered without being asked. She was curled up on the bed, staring at one of Ben's stuffed animals. I sat down with her on the edge of the bed.
"Hey, Leah, we have an idea," I began enthusiastically.
She turned in my direction, but enthusiasm undoubtedly looked different. It would also have been too easy.
"What do you think about going to see a real vampire den?"
Her gaze became interested.
"With coffins, a torture chamber, a moat, bats ..." I turned into ridicule the idea of the presumed reality.
A slight smile appeared. And immediately I got a firm blow against my upper body, with which she pushed me from the edge of the bed to the floor.
"Don't talk nonsense! Coffins!" Leah also did not believe that.
At least she laughed again while I breathed through the pulling pain in my ribs. Messing with Leah really wasn't as much fun as it used to be.
"But I have to take a shower first," she explained, already jumping up.
Yep ... I should probably do that beforehand, too. After all, the only water we had seen since yesterday had been that of a natural lake. Clean was undoubtedly different. Becky would surely also want to shower and change beforehand.
My thoughts strayed so quickly that I couldn't stop it.
I imagined the water jet hitting her silky skin and the drops beading down her perfect body. Over the piercing. Over the small wolf. Over the cle ...
"Jake!" Edward vociferously distracted me from below.
Damn. I drove my fingers through my hair in annoyance. Why did Mom have to pick the one guy who could read thoughts?
I picked myself up off Leah's floor and went back downstairs.
"... make yourself at home with us, Becky. So, if you also want to take a shower, our bathroom is at your disposal," my mom said to Becky and motherly put a hand on her shoulder.
Becky was undoubtedly amazed at this sincere invitation. It certainly wouldn't occur to her father. But that's just the way Mom was.
"Jake will certainly show you around," Mom was still saying as she walked past me to the stairs holding hands with Edward.
What would the two of them do until we were all done?
I shook my head vigorously.
Do not think about it!
I sat down with Becky and while making out we reminisced about yesterday - at least I tried not to think about that night - until I heard Leah finish and I got Becky's bag out of the car. I held out my hand to Becky and went into the bathroom with her.
It had been such a crappy day so far, but the moment I pushed the door shut, I had an epiphany about how I could save the day for myself.
"Do you want to go first?" Becky asked me and was already looking for her things in the bag out.
"I have a better idea!" I stated and slowly began to undress her. I'm sure that's not what Mom meant when she said I'd show her everything, but I so didn't care right now. I would endure her lecture without complaint. I welcomed her exposed skin extensively. She did the same to me and it tingled inside me with excitement.
Suddenly we heard loud music. I smirked and Becky paused.
"With three supernatural beings under one roof, I guess loud music will be the order of the day around here," I explained to her and she laughed out loud.
We quickly washed our hair and then soaped each other with shower gel. Everywhere!
"Jake!" she reprimanded me forcefully but, in a whisper, slapping my fingers as I pulled her to me backwards, my hand wandering lower and lower.
But her head fell limp against my neck shortly after and her hands sought their way to me. We kissed incessantly so that we did not become too loud. In the rush of emotions, we brought each other to euphoria ... only with our hands. With her legs clasped around my waist, we left the shower. I set her down in the middle of the room, carefully drying her skin and she mine.
And, well, she's a girl. They also cover themselves with body lotion from head to toe after showering. Or ... let themselves be lotioned.
I took my time and lotioned her tattoos with special care. I kissed over the tribal motif with stars before looking up at Becky and rising again. Her eyes sparkled.
Like a shooting star. "You are my Star!" I stated.
"I love you, Jake," she whispered, drunk with joy, and snuggled into my arms.
"And I you, Becky," I replied, no less happy.
While she was getting dressed, I inspected the shower yet again and rinsed away any last remnants of 'evidence'.
With a towel around my waist and kissing each other, we staggered into my room. I was just dressed - with the kind assistance of two soft silky girl's hands -, when I heard Leah scream indefinably.
Immediately I ran into the hallway, but she just laughed vociferously. Confused, I went to her and looked as she did in Mom's bedroom. I couldn't help but laugh as well. Becky joined me and she was also laughing.
"Mom. You're kidding!" Leah squeaked, struggling to keep herself on her feet with laughter.
"Oh, yes I do!" insisted Mom.
Alice would be 'thrilled', what with the expensive designer rags she always wore.
Thank you for reading!
