I don't own Twilight. What I own is my character's behavior, personality, background, and plot of the story.
Thanks to my Beta MadMooey18 for her constant support and help in making this story what it is today.
Hey love, Jasper just told me what the two of you will be doing today. Have fun.
Bella picks up her mobile phone from her bag and sees a message from Edward. She smiles as she reads it then quickly shoots him a message.
I know the exact kind of ring that Alice wants, so it won't take long. Can you make it for dinner?
That's a new development since he told her that he loves her: dinner at her place whenever he can.
"Of course, Bella. That's what people who love you do, they make sure you never feel alone."
Bella looks up in surprise at Edward not seeing his confession coming. She opens her mouth, but soon closes it when she realizes that she has nothing to say to him.
"I know it's too soon, and I don't need you to say it back to me. It doesn't change the fact that I love you. You completely own me heart, mind, body and soul," Edward rushes to tell her.
Bella gets up and sits on the coffee table in front of the couch so she is facing him then asks, "Do you really mean it? Or did you say it just because you think it's what you are supposed to say next? A natural progression of things?"
Edward shakes his head angrily at her and tells her, "I know that it's too early - ," but before he can finish she cuts him off by placing her lips on his.
He quickly deepens the kiss and runs his tongue along her lower lip which prompts her to open her mouth. What happens next is only akin to fireworks, and soon enough the distance stops being enough. Edward pulls Bella toward him until her body is flush to his. That prompts her to lean her knees on the couch to the outer side of his legs, and next thing she knows Edward pulls her toward him and suddenly she is in his lap instead of on the coffee table.
"It's not too early," Bella mutters as she breathes heavily once she breaks the kiss. "I can't think of a loss that would be more painful than losing you aside from Adam and Peter."
Edward can't help the smile that takes over his face at her words. She didn't tell him I love you back, but it doesn't matter because she told him in other ways.
Her confession feels like a heavy burden she has to carry in her heart. She imagines how Edward will look when he hears that and how she will feel to finally be the girl that tells her boyfriend that she loves him in abundance with no fear or apprehension. A carefree girl, the dream of many, including herself. In her head, they are the sickly sweet couple that everyone complains about but secretly envies.
And yet there is a part of her, a significant one, that feels she must tell him later. This isn't the time yet. The other shoe might drop. She needs to wait this out to see if what they have is gold, or is an alchemy. This feeling is too powerful for her to ignore and therefore she has no option but to listen to it.
I have some producing to do. I'll go straight to the studio from the office. But I might be able to swing it after the boys sleep for an hour or so.
Bella sends him a disappointed emoji followed by a thumbs up that lets him know that she is okay with their plan. She then drops her phone in her bag and leaves the theater which she has been attending the acting workshop in.
She spots Jasper's car as soon as she steps into the frigid air of late December. She quickly runs to his car and slides into the passenger seat.
"I didn't keep you waiting too long, did I?" Bella asks him as she puts on her seatbelt.
"No, I just got here," Jasper replies.
Bella nods her head then spots the same guy that has been following her since the school fiasco. The man Edward hired as her bodyguard. He didn't tell her about doing that, but she is pretty sure it was him. She took down his license plate number the first time she spotted it and had an informant of Aro's in the police run it for her. After that, she used the information given to her to hack into his phone. Ron Brown has made over five calls to the Cullen's family home less than 24 hours before she first spotted him.
She wants to call out Edward's ridiculousness for having done such a thing, but she knows that is what he needs to calm his nerves, so she will stay quiet about it.
"So, you know for sure what kind of a ring Alice would want, right?" Jasper asks her, breaking through the haze of her mind.
Bella nods her head and answers him, "I have known what kind of ring she wants since middle school."
Jasper turns to glare at her and tells her, "I brought you with me because you are supposed to know. Knowing what she wanted in middle school doesn't count as knowing."
"Chill. I follow her private Pinterest. It's safe to say her ideal ring hasn't changed," Bella tells him, rolling her eyes at him.
"Good, that's good," Jasper replies, then shifts in his seat and rubs his hands against his thighs.
Somebody is nervous.
Bella hides the smirk she feels taking over her face and decides to distract him, "So, how are things going on your end?"
"Huh?" Jasper asks her, glancing her way looking confused.
Bella leans against the window turning her body in his direction, and recalls, "We had an agreement and I want to know what is going on with your family. I hope you aren't slacking."
It finally dawns on Jasper what she is talking about and he answers her, "Well, dad hasn't made an attempt to ask Edward any of that, but I did stop dad from punching him."
"Tell me everything!" Bella demands.
Why the heck did he not say anything?
"So, he didn't tell you?" Jasper asks, smirking.
"He probably didn't want me to worry," Bella justifies quickly.
That's probably it.
Jasper snorts and says, "Sure, sure."
"Reminder, I am the only one who knows your girlfriend's ring preference. Mocking me won't bode well with me," Bella tells him in a bored voice.
"God, you can't take any good old ribbing, can you?" he asks her as he glares at the traffic on the street.
Is he glaring at me but has to look at the traffic, or is he glaring at the traffic?
Who cares? You aren't friends and he doesn't need to like you as long as he sticks to his end of the deal.
"I am an only child. I don't do good old ribbing," she replies which prompts him to roll his eyes at her. "Plus, we don't know each other well enough for me to tolerate your good old ribbing. Our collaboration is a necessary evil."
Disregarding her statement, Jasper answers her question, "After the incident with your son, dad wanted to get at the Kings, so he hacked -,"
Before he could continue his statement Bella tells him quickly, "Don't tell me about any criminal activities. I want plausible deniability."
Jasper snorts at her comment and rolls his eyes then continues, "When Dad got back at the Kings, Edward thought that it wasn't enough. He got in a fight with dad and accused him of being weak. He told him the only reason the Kings dared to do what they did is because dad is no longer intimidating, and is losing his touch. Dad didn't like that."
"He hasn't tried to take him on any missions?" Bella asks him, running her fingers through her hair. To know that the guy she loves is putting his life in danger to such an extreme degree is nerve wracking, and the not know is even worse.
She hasn't had the guts to ask Edward about it because she knows it's a topic he despises and she doesn't have the heart to put him in a bad mood.
Also you are a coward.
"Dad is fucking pissed at him. He doesn't wanna even look at his face."
"That's good," Bella mutters more to herself than to him.
The car comes to a pause and Bella feels eyes on her. She looks to her left and finds Jasper staring at her while biting his upper lip.
"What?" Bella demands feeling uncomfortable under his unrelenting gaze.
"You jumped head first into a relationship with Edward. We know about your dad's activities and your relation to Aro, yet you're extremely uncomfortable with anything mob related."
Bella frowns for a moment unsure whether to treat what he said like a question or statement. "Edward isn't part of the mob business. If he was, I wouldn't have dated him," she replies, tackling the easiest part of his statement.
"I am sure Edward will be delighted to hear that," Jasper said sarcastically.
Bella replies calmly, "If he was part of the business, Edward would have been a different man, and he knows that. He also knows that those differences would be enough for me to not want to date him."
Jasper nods his head then asks her, "And Aro?"
"Aro is a convenient ally to have," she tells him without missing a beat. She doesn't try to sugarcoat it. Her relationship with Aro is a mutually beneficial one. Since the incident she has grown fond of Aro, but it doesn't change the fact that she is uncomfortable with his profession.
Jasper snorts and tells her, "I bet he is a convenient friend. It's not everyday that you find a friend willing to off your dad because you felt like it."
Is that what they all think? That I offed my dad cause I felt like it.
Her initial reaction is to scream and yell, tell him all about how unfair he was being to her and how he knows nothing about the hell her father put her through, but she holds back, takes a deep breath and states, "He sure is when you find yourself in a burning house and he can help you out of it."
Jasper rolls his eyes at her very shaky, but really non-answering answer and tells her, "That's such an interesting metaphor. I am sure it helps you sleep at night."
Bella rolls her eyes at his offensive attitude then turns to look out of the window as she replies, "It does. A burning house eventually falls to the ground, and when it does, it turns into hells. Firefighters can get you out of a burning house, but nothing short of god or the devil can get you out of hell."
They spend the rest of the trip to the jewelry store in silence. Bella spots in the rearview mirror the same guy sitting in a car parked five buildings behind them talking on his phone. Bella rolls her eyes and gets out of the car. She frowns as she looks at the unassuming brown building in front of her. Is this building supposed to be the store of the best jeweler in the east coast?
Jasper leads her to a door on the side of the building and rings the bell there. "Who is it?" a soft masculine voice asks them.
"Jasper Cullen." They are automatically buzzed in. The first thing Bella notices once she steps foot in the large room is the smell. The scent of Jasmine wafts into her nostrils and surrounds the room. It's not an overwhelming scent, yet strong enough to make her look around for a Jasmine tree.
"Mr. Cullen, I have been waiting for you. What can I help you with?" Bella looks to her left and sees a middle aged, average looking man walking in their direction.
"Tyler, this is Miss Swan, Edward's girlfriend. We're here to buy a ring for my to be fiancée," Jasper introduces her and answers him. Tyler smiles and nods his head respectfully but doesn't reach out to shake her hand. Bella smiles back at him and takes her mobile out of her bag and shows him pictures of rings Alice added to her Pinterest.
He hums and nods his head as he looks through the photos and takes notes in his small notepad then gets to business.
"How about you make the final decision?" Bella finally asks him having been fed up with Jasper.
How can anyone need over two hours to pick a ring out of fifteen ones? And more importantly, how have these two lasted this long together?
How do they make decisions together when one of them needs hours to decide and the other needs minutes? She quickly types and sends the message to Edward.
A minute later comes his reply. My brother and his girlfriend, you mean.
Duh!!!
They don't. They take turns deciding on shit.
Bella sends him a thumbs up then drops her phone in her bag as Jasper walks toward her with a small bag in his hand. "You picked one?" she asks him hoping that he did in fact choose an engagement ring instead of buying a bracelet and coming back later to decide.
Jasper nods his head nervously, still unsure if he made the right choice as Bella sighs in relief and leaves the building. "Do you feel like having a coffee? I feel like having a coffee. Let me put the bag in the car then go get it," Jasper tells her, spotting a coffee shop two buildings away.
Bella nods her head not commenting on his rambling and waits for him to unlock the car when she spots the same guy walking in their direction.
Something in the way he walks puts Bella on edge and makes her take a step toward Jasper as she whispers to him, "Edward hired a guy to guard me, didn't he?"
Jasper looks up frowning as he closes the door and quietly says, "Of course not, what are you talking about?"
A chill runs down her spine and her voice shakes as continues staring at the guy as she asks him, "Then who is that guy?"
Jasper turns in the direction she is looking at. The shine reflecting the light under the man's belt makes him realize that coming here without his bodyguard was a bad idea.
As soon as the stranger's hand reaches to his waist, Jasper yells, "Watch out!" then shoves her hard toward the concrete wall. She hears the sound of a gun going off and then feels a shattering pain before everything goes black.
Hello lovely people,
I know, I know I am an awful person. First, I take a super long break from fanfic, then I need a whole week to update this story when I promised to update earlier in my other story's update, and on top of all of that, I give you a cliffhanger.
I am not gonna dip my toes giving a winded explaination cause I already did that in my author's note in Safety Blanket. Plus, whenever my favorite writers take a break I don't really care for their reasons. People need a break for personal reasons and who am I to think I am entitled to an explainations. I am always like, "I am happy you're back and I can't wait to see what the next chapter will be."
I am gonna be a bit forward and think that you guys think like me.
I will take turns updating my stories once a week, so next monday you will have Safety Blanket, and the monday after that, you will have the next chapter.
Let me know your thoughts and predictions in the review section. I love hearing what you think even when it's criticism.
Until next time you hear from me,
Stay Safe