How Quickly is Forever - Chapter Seven
A/N: After reading my reviews, I am finding that readers seem to think my goal was to “right a wrong” in the post Breaking Dawn story, somehow. This was not my intention, and if that is what you believed going into this, I apologize now. Readers keep asking me “how are you going to fix this?” Fixing this was not my intention. My intention was to point out exactly that - this cannot be fixed. It’s a mess waiting to happen. Unless you go the other route and have Jacob happily jump in the sack with a (technically) five-year-old child (and that too, would bring other problems, I’m sure, that I don’t even care about or want to think about), but I would NEVER go there.
WARNING: So. If you’re thinking this is going to be a magically solved HEA - back out now! Things are about to get dark and ugly. If I had known where I was going with this from the beginning, I would have slapped a warning on it, but I’m sorry, I didn’t. I will warn you now without giving too much away. Dark. Ugly. If you want to read a HEA, I suggest Intoxicating or Sweet Hostage. This is not pretty. I am just trying to keep it real.
Although, this chapter is kinda fun and has Quembry in it. So if you must stop, read this chapter first! LOL
Chapter Seven
BPOV
I made my way through the brush and began the ascent up the side of the ravine back toward the house. It was still pitch black out, and I was estimating it was somewhere around 3:00 A.M. I heard a sound as a few small pebbles bounced down the side of the hill beyond me. I looked up and saw Renesmee, still in her pajamas, coming down the side of the hill in the pouring rain.
I froze in panic. She had to have been on her way to Jacob’s. What if she had …? She could have caught us - that was too close.
“Renesmee! What are you doing out here in the middle of the night, in the pouring rain?”
“What are you doing out here?” She threw my own question back at me.
“I was just taking a walk. I thought I might feed.”
“Oh, well, I couldn’t sleep,” she said lamely.
“Well, let’s go back and get you some dry pajamas, and you can try again.”
She stood still like she was going to argue with me, but then reluctantly took my hand and let me lead her back to the house. I hoped Edward was still in Carlisle’s library, engrossed in his research.
I let out a sigh of relief when we got to the cottage and saw it was empty. Renesmee changed into fresh pajamas, and I blew her long hair dry with the blower, before she crawled back into bed quietly and tried to sleep.
After showering thoroughly, I gathered up her wet things to throw in the clothes dryer. Coming down the stairs, I spied someone in the front room.
“Alice?” I set the clothes down and went toward the window where she was standing, her face away from me.
“I know what you’re doing.” She turned toward me. “I want you to know I won’t tell Edward.”
“What do you mean?” I swallowed unnecessarily. “What am I doing?”
The smile on her face didn’t make it to her eyes. “Don’t play dumb, Bella. I know.”
I looked down, ashamed to meet her gaze. “I thought you were unable to see anything when the wolves are involved?”
“I can’t. I was on my way up here when you left hours ago. I followed you.” She shrugged.
I didn’t know what to say. I deserved whatever anger and insults she threw my way, I knew that.
“How could you do this to him? My brother loves you. He let you choose, and this is how you repay him?”
I took a step forward. “I love Edward!” I cried. “I just … I don’t know, Alice. I’m sorry. I was so young. I thought everything would be so easy. I thought being like the rest of you was like magic, like waving a wand and everything was bright and sparkly and I’d live happily ever after.”
Alice shook her head. “We all tried to warn you -- no one more than Edward. You begged him to do it.”
“I know, I know.” I nodded my head, taking all blame upon myself. “Forgive me.”
She reached out and placed her hand on my forearm. “Just stop it,” she said quietly.
“How will you keep Edward from finding out?” I tensed, knowing that she didn’t need to use her words with him.
She smiled impishly. “I have tricks. I’ve managed to employ a few over the years to keep him out.”
“How?”
“I picture Jasper naked. If that doesn’t work right away, then I make the memory a little more detailed. Works like a charm!”
I shook my head, a small smile at the corner of my lips.
She took a step closer to me, her smile gone. “You need to stop it. Now. It’s wrong, Bella. If not for Edward’s sake, then for Renesmee. Your daughter is …”
“My daughter is what?”
“Your daughter is in love with him!” she cried. I put my finger to my lips, signaling for her to keep her voice down.
“My daughter is five years old!” I hissed.
“But she’s his imprint!”
“He doesn’t want her!” I said loudly, after just shushing her. “He wants me!”
Alice shook her head, her brows knit together, perplexed. “But I thought imprinting automatically meant an eventual … coupling.”
“So did I.” I shrugged. “That’s what we all thought. He loves her, Alice, but not like that.”
She frowned at me. “How is she going to feel if someday she finds out that he and her mother were lovers?”
“She won’t.” I looked pointedly at Alice. “Will she?”
Alice looked out the window, confused. “But I assumed he could never be interested in anyone else until she was old enough to …”
“So did I,” I said, joining her at the window. “But apparently he does.”
XXXXXXXXXX
JPOV
As soon as she left, I rolled over to the cold spot she’d left behind. It felt good - cooled me off.
I stared at the ceiling.
What were we doing?
I knew the repercussions were going to be huge, but I couldn’t stop myself. I’d always wanted this. Always. But God, not like this. I’d thought I’d relish in the triumph of victory over Edward. But I was surprised to admit, I felt bad. I really didn’t want to rub his face in it.
Jacob Black must be growing up.
I planned on going to La Push the next day. My dad said the water heater was going out, and I was going to take him with me to town and pick up a new one. Then I’d go back to the house and install it for him. Shopping for a water heater wasn’t that exciting, but I knew my dad would enjoy getting out of the house. Almost as much as he’d love supervising my installation of it.
I’d already invited Quil and Embry over for pizza afterward. They were providing the pizza, of course. I missed them. When all the shit here started going down over a week ago, I seriously thought about moving back to La Push. My dad wasn’t getting any younger, and there was really no reason for me to live on the Cullen’s property anymore.
I’d felt a strong need to protect Ness from her bloodsucker family when she was little. They were so strong, and while she wasn’t fragile like her mother had been, she was still small and someone could forget their own strength.
I rolled onto my stomach and buried my face into the pillow that Bella had laid her head on less than an hour ago. That sharp, sweet smell made my eyes water slightly, but it was counteracted by the stronger scent of her strawberry shampoo.
I closed my eyes and focused on strawberries and the feel of cool, smooth skin.
XXXXXXXXXX
JPOV cont.
As I pulled up to the security pad and punched in the code for the garage, I sensed her. She was sitting on the hood of her father’s Aston Martin, elbows on her knees, chin in her hands.
“What are you doing here, Ness?”
“Waiting for you. You said you were going to Billy’s today. I wanna come.”
I pulled my long leg over the Harley’s leather seat and shook my damp, windblown hair back into place.
“You don’t want to come, Ness. It’s going to be boring. We’re just going to pick up a water heater and I’m going to install it for him.”
“I could help you,” she offered with her best helpful smile.
“Huh, thanks for the offer. Maybe next time.”
“You never take me!” She stomped her foot against the car’s metal front bumper. I half-hoped she’d leave a mark on her father’s grill.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that she kind of freaked my dad out. Last time he’d seen her, he told me his hair was on end for three days afterward. And Quil and Embry were visibly uncomfortable around her.
“I told you, maybe next time.”
She sighed loud and long. “Which car are you taking?”
“Just the Rabbit,” I told her, walking over and unlocking the driver’s door with the key.
She was quiet for a moment, and when I looked back up at her, she was glancing around the garage at all the cars that were jockeyed for position there. The place did look like an automotive showroom.
“Are all vampires rich?” she asked me softly.
“That was off-the-wall.” I chuckled. “Mm, yeah, pretty much I think.”
“Because they steal their victims’ money and wealth?” she whispered.
I shuffled my feet uncomfortably and cleared my throat, unsure of what to say.
“I’m so glad I’m not one of them. Even what I am is better than what they are. I’m alive - my heart beats. And they’re so cold.” She turned her head and looked at me, her eyes sad and serious. “I don’t want to live forever.”
I swallowed. Where was all this coming from? I was not prepared to be having this conversation so early in the day. What was I supposed to say? “Being human isn’t all that great, Ness.”
I relaxed in relief when she smiled at me. “No, but being a werewolf is.”
“Yeah.” I grinned. “We rock.” I ruffled her hair and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll see you later.”
“Take me with you!” she begged one last time.
“No.” I leaned out the driver’s side window and shook my head.
She watched me pull out and head down the driveway toward the road.
XXXXXXXXXX
JPOV cont.
“No, Jacob, you need to tighten that a little more.”
I put the wrench down and counted to three in my head. “Dad, I think I’ve got this. Why don’t you go watch TV? I’m almost done here.”
And you haven’t stopped lecturing me on how I should do it for the last hour.
“No, no, I’ll be quiet. Don’t mind me.”
I tightened up the last screw, adjusted a switch and picked up the old water heater, putting it on the side of the house. I would have to ask Emmett if I could borrow his military style long-bed truck - a cool one hundred, twenty thousand dollar Icon FJ45.
I could have borrowed Embry’s old broken-down Chevy to haul it away, but I loved driving the Icon. And Emmett was pretty cool about driving it hard and roughing it up. After all, it wasn’t much to him to shell out another hundred-something-grand for a new one. I stuffed down my jealousy and instead smiled at the thought of borrowing such a sweet ride.
Speaking of Embry’s eyesore, it pulled into the drive just as I shoved the old water heater tight against the side of the house.
“Ding-dong, Quileutes calling,” Quil hollered, getting out the passenger side. He pulled two large cardboard pizza boxes from the seat. “Somebody here order a pizza?”
“Hey!” I laughed as they followed me up the front porch steps into the house.
My dad had seen them coming and was tossing some paper plates on the table.
“Hey, Mr. Black!” Embry put a couple of six-packs of beer down on the table and hugged my dad.
“Hey, boys.” My dad eye-balled the beers and rolled over to the table, snatching one before I could protest. He probably shouldn’t be drinking it, but hell; he didn’t have a lot of excitement in his life, so I kept my mouth shut.
Once we finished off both extra-large pepperoni, salami and sausage pizzas, my dad went into the front room to watch the news, where I bet he would be fast asleep within five minutes.
“Beer’s gone,” Embry said with the loudest, longest burp I thought I’d ever heard.
“You kiss your mama with that mouth?” Quil asked him, disgusted, fanning the air in front of his face.
“No, but I kiss your mama’s, and she seems to like it.”
I thought Quil was going to go after him for that remark, but instead his eyes got big, like he just remembered something.
“What?” I asked him.
“When Paul was living here, before he and your sister moved out, he used to keep some homemade whiskey out in the garage that his dad used to make.”
“That old moonshine shit?” Embry made a face.
“That old moonshine shit was like 150 proof, enough to get even a werewolf shit-faced.”
The three of us looked at each other, jumping up from the table at the same time, and practically tripping over each other on our way out to the garage.
An hour later, the bottle was empty and we were giggling like girls, reminiscing about the old days. We’d had some good times in this garage. Talking about girls, working on cars, sneaking beer, and once in a great while, smoking weed that Embry used to get from his cousin.
And the porn. Quil would sneak his mom’s laptop out, and we’d sit around and watch porn on it. A couple of times we forgot to clear the browser’s history, and Quil got his head smacked.
“Totally worth it!” He raised the empty plastic jug in the air for emphasis.
Embry slapped Quil’s knee. “And someday, dude, you’ll be able to put that knowledge to use! You know, in about fifteen years when Claire grows up!” He snorted, leaning to the side and slipped off the end of the bench he was sitting on.
“S’alright, man. I’ll wait,” Quil slurred back. “Jakey here may be gettin’ some soon.”
“Can it, man!” I hadn’t meant to do it, but the alpha order just barked out of me. Quil and Embry both blinked and got quiet.
“Hey.” A sly grin came over Embry’s face. “Let’s go for a run.”
Quil and I made a face at him.
“Oh, come on. When was the last time we all phased together? And drunk? It’ll be a blast. Sam never allowed us to drink back in the old days. Come on!” He stood up and kicked off his shoes. He really wanted to do this.
“Alright.” I stood up and pulled my shirt off over my head. I still phased quite a bit, but not with any of the pack in years.
The three of us headed for the door, peeling off clothes as we went. Once the cool air hit us, we smirked in unison and exploded into wolves.
The race was on. We barreled over bushes and leaped through the brush, making fluid hairpin turns through the trees at supernatural speeds. I’d forgotten how much fun it was!
About eight miles out, we came to a stream and stopped to lap at the cool water. We were not too far from the Cullen’s land. In fact, if we went about a mile north through the trees ahead it would lead us right to where Bella and I had …
Quil and Embry both lifted their heads, their lupine eyes large with surprise.
Bam! Embry phased back.
Bam! Quil was right beside him.
“What the hell was that?” Embry breathed.
“Please tell me that was some sick, twisted fantasy from when you were sixteen, Jacob! No way that you could … that you would … Would you?” Quil’s eyes were wide with shock.
I phased back into human form. Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes. I really didn’t want to discuss this. I hadn’t meant to let my mind go there.
“Did you sleep with Bella?” Embry choked.
Quil shook his head, nudging Embry’s elbow. “He can’t, man. It had to be a fantasy. Right, Jake? He couldn’t, not when he’s imprinted. Right, Jake? It’s impossible.”
I ran my hand through my hair, and a couple of pine needles fell from it to the ground. “Yeah, I did. I still love her.”
“Oh. Fuck.” Quil turned to the side and a torrent of 150-proof moonshine splattered onto the rocks. Quil never could hold his liquor. He straightened up and wiped his mouth on his arm. “How, man? I mean, I can’t even look at a woman. I don’t even have those desires anymore.”
I shrugged, shaking my head. “Well, I do.”
“Holy shit. Bella Swan - I mean, Bella Cullen. After all these years.” I saw a glimpse of the old Embry from my boyhood as he grinned impishly. “How was it, man?”
“Dude, that’s disgusting!” Quil shoved him lightly. “She’s a leech!”
“I know, I know.” Embry shoved him back. “But I can still ask him how it was. At least he can still function like a man - unlike some people.”
Quil was staring at me as if I’d told him I’d fucked Edward. “But you shouldn’t be able to, to …” he stuttered.
“Look, it’s late,” I told him, cutting him off. I really wasn’t going to discuss this. I suddenly felt very tired. “I’m gonna head back and take off.”
Before either of them could protest or ask me another question, I phased back and took off, full-barrel, back to the garage. I was always faster than either of them, and I was the only one who still phased with any regularity. I knew I’d have plenty of time to dress and head back to Forks before they made it back to my dad’s place.
Quil’s words rang through my head the whole drive back to my new place.
He couldn’t have, not when he’s imprinted. Right, Jake? It’s impossible.
XXXXXXXXXX
Reviews are always welcome & appreciated! Kthanxbai!