Sweet Hostage - Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
“Hey!” Bella yelled as Jacob slammed on the brakes and the car screeched to a stop.
“Bells?” He smiled. “Do you see what I see?”
She looked up ahead. “Yeah. A house. So what?”
He gave her an exasperated look. “And what else?”
He watched her expression change as the light bulb went off over her head.
“Laundry!” she squealed.
The house stood alone as one of the few that dotted the back road. But this house had clothes hanging all around the front yard, pinned on a clothesline.
“It looks like mostly sheets and baby clothes,” she said, disappointed.
“Except for there, on the end,” he pointed. “There’s a Seattle Seahawks sweatshirt, a pair of sweats and a pair of jeans.”
“That sweatshirt looks huge.”
“Beggars can’t be choosers, Bells. And now my conscience will be clear - I won’t have to shoplift anything for you to wear later.” He looked at her. “That was my original plan.”
He pulled a little closer to the house before putting on the parking brake and turning to her. “Leave the car running, I’ll be right back. I’m gonna go grab those three things and then we’re gonna hightail it out of here. Fast. You ready?”
She nodded as he got out of the car and sprinted to the house. He never broke his stride as he hopped over the picket fence that encircled the small yard and began snatching the clothes off the line. He just had his hand on the jeans when a small blonde figure came around the back corner of the house.
“Mama!” They screeched. “Mama! There’s a man in our yard!”
As Jacob hopped back over the fence, he heard a squeaky screen door open and a woman’s voice yelling. “Hey! Hey! You come back here!”
“Shove these in the back and hang on!” he hollered as he threw the clothes across the seat at Bella and pulled the parking brake off. The tires squealed as he peeled off down the road.
He drove about a mile further, before he pulled over to the side of the road again. They were both bent over with laughter and trying to catch their breath.
“You were… awesome!” Bella told him, holding up her hand for a high five, once her laughter calmed down to giggles. “That was fun!”
“Yeah. Stick with me. I’m just a barrel of laughs,” he chuckled, pleased with himself. He grinned. “That was pretty funny.”
He reached into the back seat and held up the Seattle Seahawks sweatshirt. You could have fit 3 people Bella’s size into it. But like Jacob had said; they couldn’t afford to be choosy. The jeans, at closer look, seemed to be a children’s size, but the sweats looked like they would fit her.
“We’re not too far from the freeway, so go ahead and put this stuff on now. I’ve been thinking, and I think we’re better off heading toward the airport. I’m sure they have some big hotels there, and we’ll blend in better. Plus, a bigger hotel means more floors with rooms to choose from, so we can scout around a little until we find an empty one in a quiet hallway. Okay?”
She nodded. She was glad one of them was thinking clearly. Only one thing had been going through her mind all afternoon: annulment.
“Okay,” he opened the car door to leave, so he could give her some privacy while she changed out of her dress.
“Um, Jacob?” He stopped and turned to her questioningly. “I um, I can’t undo all the buttons down the back. Alice and Rosalie had to button me in. Could you help me?”
A few seconds passed and Jacob took a breath, when he realized he’d been holding it. “Sure,” he shrugged, trying to be casual. He didn’t want to make her nervous, or make her think he would use the opportunity to ogle her.
“Thanks. Should I… I mean, do you want me to get out of the car, or… ?”
“No, no. Just turn in your seat, I can do it here.”
She turned toward the passenger window, and his fingers suddenly felt stiff and numb. He flexed them a couple of times before he hesitantly reached for the top pearl button. He hadn’t paid any attention before, but there must have been 100 tiny pearl buttons that ran up her back and held the dress together.
Her hair was still pulled up from yesterday, but there were loose tendrils falling down her back that had come undone. He brushed them aside, revealing a canvas of creamy, pale skin.
He hesitated.
Just do it!
He was over-thinking this - it was just buttons, it wasn’t rocket science. His big hands fumbled with the delicate pearl, pushing it through the buttonhole.
Okay, one down. Only about 99 more to go.
He began gaining speed and agility as he went along. But then his fingers froze briefly when he hit mid-back and realized there was no bra, just bare, porcelain Bella.
He was thankful that he was the one with heightened senses and she was oblivious to his rocketing pulse rate. Plus the fact that with her back to him, she couldn’t see the sweat that had broken out above his upper lip. He brushed it away quickly, and tried undoing the rest of her dress with his eyes closed. But that wasn’t helpful at all. His fingers kept missing the buttons and swiping against the smooth silk of her skin. He gritted his teeth and re-opened his eyes, trying to hurry.
“I’m almost done,” he mumbled. He was getting low. Where were her underwear?
Dear god, please don’t tell me she’s not wearing panties. Please god.
His fingers finally hit a strip of white lace across her lower back. But then the lace stopped and there was more skin. She wasn’t wearing a - was it a white lace thong? He started to panic as the visual of Bella sliding out of her dress in just a white lace thong invaded every one of his senses. He began tearing at the buttons in a rush of panic. What was she trying to do to him??
There were still more buttons making their way down over her backside, but he stopped, afraid he was going to rip the delicate fabric if his shaking hands went on.
He needed to get the hell out of the suddenly claustrophobic car, before he burst through his pants and they’d have to find him some clothes.
“I think you can get it off now. I’ll give you some privacy.” He turned quickly and bolted from the car. He didn’t turn back as he practically ran for the sanctuary of the trees.
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Jacob took one look at Bella standing beside the Rabbit as he came back to the car and tried to bite back the bark of laughter that erupted from him. She looked about 5 years old. The giant sweatshirt was so huge it swam on her and could have passed for a dress.
At least the blue sweatshirt matched the gray sweats. Only they weren’t really sweats, they were more like leggings. Leggings that were so small and so short, they were skintight and the length came just mid-calf, not even covering her ankles.
“Don’t. Say. A. Word.” Her arms were crossed over her chest and her head was down in embarrassment.
He forced his face into a neutral expression. “You look fine, Bella. The jeans didn’t fit?”
“No. They were too small. I couldn’t even pull them up. I think they were for a little kid.”
He studied her a minute. “Those heels, though. They’re a little… fancy for that outfit.”
Her white stilettos completed the picture of ridiculousness.
“Yeah, now I’ll really blend.”
“Don’t worry. I can break off the heel. They won’t look too bad if I can make them flat.”
They both got back into the car.
“You were gone a long time,” she told him. “What were you doing?”
“M - Meditating,” he stuttered.
“Really?” she asked, surprised.
“Close enough,” he chuckled, starting the car. “You don’t want to know,” he told her before she could ask. She bit her lip and didn’t know whether to giggle or blush.
They drove in silence for the 25 minutes or so it took them before hitting downtown Seattle. Jacob followed the signs on the freeway toward the airport. Large hotels began popping up, and Jacob pulled the car into a gas station and put their last $15 into the Rabbit, before pulling into a hotel parking lot. Bella saw the sign: Hilton Seattle Airport and Conference Center.
It was starting to get dark outside as Jake slid into a parking space and put the car in park, turning off the engine.
“Ready to hunt down a room?”
She nodded nervously.
“Good. Cos I’m starving,” Jacob told her.
She slipped her now-flat white shoes on and they crossed the parking lot toward the lobby.
“Just act like you belong here and follow me to the elevator,” he whispered as they made their way through the lobby doors.
There were people at the front desk checking in and no one even so much as glanced at the two teenagers as they crossed the marble floor to the elevators. The metal doors slid open and they walked into the empty compartment.
“Pick a floor, any floor,” he told her.
“Seven’s lucky, right?” She pushed the button and crossed her fingers.
A bell dinged as the doors opened. The sound of a screaming toddler greeted them as they crossed into the hallway. A haggard looking woman and her peeved husband attempted to soothe a 3 year old and his baby sister as they stood in front of their hotel room door.
Bella and Jacob shared a look and ventured farther down the hall. A group of teenage girls noisily came from a room down at the end. They were wearing bathing suits. Very skimpy bathing suits. The chattering stopped abruptly when they noticed Jacob. Bella saw one of the girls nudge another in the ribs with her elbow. Both the girls raised their eyebrows and shared a giggle.
“Hey Handsome,” the elbow-nudger - a tall, blonde vixen-looking girl appraised Jacob. She turned around, walking backwards as her group of friends continued on past Bella and Jacob. “When you’re done dropping your little sister off in the room, come visit us at the pool,” she called out to him.
Bella tried to ignore them.
“You’re beautiful!” Another one yelled as they all giggled before stepping into the elevator.
Bella snuck a glance over at Jacob. His head was down and he had an embarrassed grin on his face. Even with his shaggy, shoulder-length hair choppily cut with kitchen shears just yesterday, and his white dress shirt wrinkled from sleeping in it last night, he was still beautiful.
She looked down at herself and felt suddenly inadequate.
Jacob is beautiful, she thought. Hadn’t she told him that herself once? And there was no “sort of” about it. So why did those girls noticing it make her feel like crying?
“I put the card key in my pocket! I can’t help it if it’s not there now. Why didn’t you bring yours?” The frazzled woman still standing outside the door with the kids asked her husband in irritation. “Go talk to the front desk and I’ll wait here. No sense dragging the kids back downstairs.”
Bella and Jacob looked at each other and shook their heads subtly. Time to try another floor. The husband trudged toward the elevator with the two of them. He rolled his eyes. “Don’t ever get married and have kids,” he muttered.
“I can hear you!” The wife hollered over her shoulder as the doors shut.
Jacob hit the button for the fifth floor and smiled at the husband before exiting the elevator. There was a maid cleaning one of the rooms at the end of the hall, and Bella, annoyed, started back for the elevator again.
“Where are you going?”
“We can’t break into a room with a maid right there. She’ll hear us,” she told him.
“No. Wait a minute. Stay here.” Jacob crept toward the room stealthily. He peered in, and Bella almost fell on the floor as he snuck into the room. He came back out in a flash and waved for her to join him.
“This room is empty and she’s cleaning the bathroom. Quick, get in the closet.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her around the corner to the open closet door. Bella could hear the water running in the other room as he shut the door quietly.
“What if she finds us in here?” she whispered.
“Then we’ll run,” he shrugged.
They could hear the faucet in the bathroom running a few minutes longer and then the maid came into the room only a few feet from them. They couldn’t see what she was doing, but they could hear her as she bustled around the room, straightening. The wheels on her cart jangled as they rolled past them and they heard the door of the room close. Then there was silence.
The seconds ticked past and finally a slow grin spread across both their faces in the quiet.
“That was easy,” she whispered.
“Well, now we just have to hope the room stays empty and no one checks in. Come on,” he took her hand. “Are you hungry? Cos I am starving!”
“What are you going to do?” she asked him, following him into the open space of the room.
He picked up a couple of plastic fliers on the nightstand by the bed. “Bells, go peek out the door and tell me what the room number across the hall is, please.”
“Number 245.” She reported back to him.
They ordered a couple of cheeseburgers with fries and sodas and had them dropped off across the hall. Jacob asked room service to charge it to the room and not to knock, just leave it outside - the baby wasn’t feeling well and had finally gone down for a nap.
Bella shook her head in admiration at him as she made her way to the bathroom. “I probably shouldn’t be so impressed when it’s so wrong. But I am.”
Jacob grinned. “You’re a very bad influence, Bells.”
She flipped the light on and shut the door behind her. She held her breath and bit her lip when she took in her reflection in the mirror. How did Jacob manage to look so good, and she was such a wreck?
She had showered at the motel earlier that morning before they’d left, but because they had been pressed for time, she hadn’t washed her hair. It was still piled up on her head in a loose knot, for the most part. But some of it had tumbled down and was hanging limply. Alice had put so much make-up on her that even though she had washed her face, she hadn’t been able to scrub it all off. There were black smudges under eyes from the waterproof mascara that had adhered to her lashes like glue, and apparently was immune to mere soap and water.
And the clothes… they were ridiculous. She looked like a homeless person.
She felt the tears well up. She ignored them and washed her face in cool water instead. Then she took the remaining bobby pins out of her hair. It tumbled down in a wave and she tried to comb it with her fingers.
That made her feel a little bit better, but not much.
She jumped when there was a knock on the door. “You okay in there, Bells?”
She sniffed and opened the door. She’d wiped away the few stray tears, but with one look, Jacob knew she’d been crying.
“What’s the matter?”
“I look ridiculous,” she sighed.
Before she could protest, Jacob began unbuttoning his shirt. “Here, I don’t need this. Go ahead and put this on. You know I’m always warm. This will be big too, but,” he chuckled. “Not like that wide load shirt you’ve got on.”
It was too much.
“You would literally give me the shirt off your back,” she choked, before throwing herself into his arms.
He wasn’t expecting her reaction, but his arms reached around her automatically and held her.
“It’s just a shirt, Bells,” he murmured against the top of her head.
“It’s more than that,” she whispered. With her head still tight against his chest, her hands slid under her and over his stomach. She felt his breath hitch slightly as her palms coaxed higher, up over the sides of his ribs. She pulled her face back slightly so her fingers had deliberate access to his chest and shoulders. Jacob didn’t even breathe as she slid the shirt back over his shoulders.
“Jake?” she asked tightly. “Do you remember there was a second thing I wanted you to do for me?”
He could hardly focus on her words over the goose bumps rising on his skin.
Anything! He would do anything she asked him to.
Her fingers danced over his upper arms and across his biceps as she draped the shirt down and off him. He stared down at her, trying to catch her eyes, but she refused to meet his gaze.
Was she doing this on purpose? Or was he confusing an innocent gesture with something else?
Dammit! He needed to see her face.
She tried to tug the right cuff off over his wrist, but it wouldn’t fit over his large hand. She unfastened the buttons gently, and he fisted her hair when she freed his hand from the sleeve and picked it up and placed it against her cheek.
Her eyes were shut as she softly kissed his palm.
“Bella.”
She dropped his hand when there was a knock at the door.
The tender moment was temporarily swept aside as they both froze in panic.
Jacob tore himself away begrudgingly and walked to the door. “Who is it?”
There was no answer, but the sound of running and laughter from the hallway. He tentatively opened the door after asking a second time who was there. The door from a few rooms down slammed shut and the muffled giggles went silent.
“Just kids.” He rolled his eyes.
“I’m gonna take a shower,” she told him.
Whatever had happened a few moments before was over.
“I’m gonna go down to the front desk and see if we can get some complimentary toiletries, like toothpaste. I doubt they have toothbrushes, but I’m gonna see what we can get besides soap and shampoo.”
“See if you can get a brush, my hair is a mess.” She ran her fingers through it for emphasis.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Hold on.” She ducked inside the bathroom and shut the door. It reopened quickly and she peeked her head through it and held out the over-sized sweatshirt in her outstretched hand for him. He took it from her and pulled it on.
On a whim, he took the few steps that separated them and kissed the top of her head before he left her alone in the room.
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A/N: This is Bella's wedding dress , front and back, that Jacob unbuttoned for her, and her Manolo Blahnik stilettos as worn in Breaking Dawn, that he broke the heels off of.
And this is the Seattle Seahawks sweatshirt that Bella wore.
If you’re reading this on FFnet, you can see the picture on my Profile page.