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Jake jumped out of the shower and hurried to dress himself. Bella would be arriving at the beach in ten minutes, and it would take him five to make it there and welcome her.
He knew that she was nervous, that she wasn’t one for social gatherings, but this was the only time he could hope to have with her. The bloodsucker that dominated her time and space ensured that any moments Jake could have with Bella had to either be chaperoned by himself or others, and all because of the kiss that...went horribly wrong.
Jake winced at the memory, but the wince was mitigated by the warmth that suffused his chest at the thought of Bella’s soft lips against his. He wished he could have a do-over of that moment, that he hadn’t let his fear get the better of him. To top it all off, Bella regretted the kiss just as much as he did... And then she had broken her hand against his face.
Jake almost wished that he wasn’t so sturdy, that he could have absorbed the full brunt of the blow instead of her frail fingers. The memory of hearing her bones crack with his acute hearing, and then the wail of pain erupting from the mouth he’d been yearning to kiss for months -- both noises made him feel queasy.
He pushed the thought out of his brain, shaking his head to clear it so he could continue getting ready. He was determined to be on his best behavior, to show the girl he loved that she had a choice, any other choice than that . An image of Bella with red eyes and pale marble skin haunted his dreams as well as his waking moments, and Jake sighed heavily. “Stop. Get it together, Jake.”
No, tonight he was determined to do better, to be comfortable with her and show her how easy it was just to be Jake and Bells once more. He had made a rookie mistake that was tinged with sadness and regret as Embry had pointed out during Jake’s incessant replays of the kiss. Now, all he could do was be what she needed, while also hoping beyond hope to change her mind. Tonight was for them, even if they were surrounded by his pack members as per the leech’s request, otherwise Bella wouldn’t have been allowed to see her best friend. He swallowed the bile collecting at the back of his throat and forced back the building fury at the memory of the leech’s words, relayed to him by Sam who had spoken with the doc. Jake had been furious at first, with both the leech and Bella for readily giving her beloved tick full permission to control her life, but eventually, he agreed to play nice. For her sake, if for nothing else. He would do anything to see her, spend time with her, to keep her alive…
Jake shook his head again and opened a drawer, searching for the last item he needed for tonight’s bonfire. When the article of clothing he sought wasn’t there, his brows furrowed in confusion. He opened other drawers, looked through his closet, tore through his laundry hamper, searched high and low, but failed to find it. The sound of a horrifically loud truck engine roared down the road and one glance at the clock prompted him to give up his quest, shrug his shoulders, and head out the door. It wasn’t like the cold would affect him anyway; he was only trying to keep any passersby from asking one too many questions, but he was good at thinking on the fly. If anyone asked, he’d come up with something, no big deal.
Jake jogged towards the beach, making it there with just a minute to spare. Sure enough, Bella’s monster of a truck pulled into the parking lot and quickly came to a smooth stop. When the engine cut off, Jake felt sympathy towards his pack, sure that they were relieved at the resounding silence. Jake would never tell Bella just how much The Beast, as she affectionately called it, bothered their sensitive ears.
When Bella gave him a shy wave from the cab, he beamed and loped over to open the door for her. Before she had a moment to think, Jake had her up in his arms and buried his nose into her hair, breathing deeply. He relaxed when he only detected the vanilla shampoo she used, something that smelled strangely like a new book, and…was that lasagna? He would never admit it to anyone but her clean human scent was his favorite scent in the world. It was all her. “Hey, Bells.”
“Jake,” she murmured and lifted a timid hand to the back of his head for a moment before letting go. “Can’t...breathe.”
He immediately released her and dropped back a step, clasping her elbow gently to help steady her. “Right, sorry,” he whispered sheepishly. Bella’s pink lips elevated slowly into a small genuine smile as her brown eyes stared into his. His breath caught in his throat and he was unable to look away. He loved this girl, he loved her very being... So why couldn’t he just imprint on her already?
“Hey,” she whispered back, her quiet tone coated in sincere pleasure at seeing him.
Jake’s heart felt as if it would beat out of his chest. How could one word, one smile bring him to his knees like this? How the hell could she not be his imprint when she was his entire world and he would do anything for her? And how could she not know for herself that she loved him when he could see it clear as day upon her beautiful face when she looked at him like this?
A rousing cry of “Oh, vampire girl’s here! Bring her over here, Jake! I’ve got the tick spray!” from Quil broke the moment they had been in, making them both glance over to see Jake’s best former friend grinning wide with a clear spray bottle in hand along with everyone else watching, that idiot Paul heartily laughing. Jake shot Ateara a glare, sending him a silent promise that the chocolate-colored wolf would pay for his interruption later, before swinging his eyes back to Bella. She rolled her eyes but a good-natured smile settled onto her heart-shaped face. It made Jake smile in turn, his annoyance forgotten. “Ready to mingle with idiots?”
Bella snorted and shut her door. “Oh yeah, I’m used to it by now.” She then let out a quiet laugh at the loud, playfully indignant “Hey’s!” coming from Embry and Seth in unison.
Jake reached out a hand and Bella took it without question, making Jake’s smile bigger, and that was when he noticed it. He froze, taking in the dark blue hoodie that covered the top half of the girl whose hand was in his, looking four sizes too big for her. The very hoodie that he had been trying to locate just a few minutes earlier but failed to find. She noticed his intense scrutiny and nervously bit her lip. “What?”
Trying his best to recover from the shock, Jake lifted their joined hands and pointed at the shirt. “Is that… Is that my hoodie?”
Bella glanced down quickly, her cheeks starting to tinge a slight pink, the eight making Jake’s heart beat just that much faster. Her teeth dug further into her bottom lip. “Um...yeah…?”
Jake gave an imperceptible nod and started moving them towards the bonfire. Bella seemed to relax slightly as she intertwined their fingers. He felt as if he was about to jump out of his skin, and not in the I’m-going-to-explode-into-a-werewolf type of way; lately, she had been doing that more and more, and he could swear she wasn’t even aware of the action. She seemed to subconsciously lean towards him as they entered the path that would bring them down to the pack.
His thoughts raced but he did his best to keep up a casual front, to act as if this was nothing more than just an easygoing stroll between best friends. “So...why are you wearing my hoodie, Bells?”
He expected her to give him a defensive response, to freeze and keep her eyes down, to offer to give it back to him. Instead, she did the last thing he ever expected. Bella gave a half-shrug, her eyes on the beach in front of them, and admitted, “Because it smells like you.”
Jake smothered a smile, refusing to allow his surprise to be made known, because if Bella happened to see the effect her words had on him, she’d most likely attempt to backtrack what she had spoken with shocking honesty. The last thing Jake wanted was for her to feel as if she couldn’t be honest with him, and so he was going to purposely ignore the large elephant on the trodden path before them in the hopes that she wouldn’t rethink her candid words. He focused instead on giving her fingers a gentle squeeze. “I’m glad you’re wearing it. It’s going to be a cold one tonight.”
Her gaze stared off into space and she let out a sad murmur of, “Yeah.” Jake’s eyes focused on her profile, his brows scrunching up in concern. Before he could ask her what was wrong, she seemed to snap out of it and leaned in closer, gripping the tail of T-shirt with her free hand to bury her fingers in. “So, I’ve decided that I’m older than you and I definitely win.”
Jake followed her lead and filed away his worries for a later conversation he would try to have with her before she left him again... Back to the leeches she called a family, back to what was essentially frozen death in his eyes. He couldn’t help but chuckle at her beaming smile and pulled her in closer, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “And how’s that?”
A wicked gleam settled into the eyes that he so often got lost in. “I’m mingling with idiots, that definitely gives me more points.”
More “hey!”s sounded from around the fire.
He let out a laugh. “I don’t think so. You said you were used to it up there, which means it’s already part of your skillset and you don’t get any extra points. I’m still older. Better luck next time, Swan.”
Bella also laughed at the guys’ reactions and shook her head. “I’m going to surpass you one of these days, Black. You just wait. One day, I will be older than you. I’ll be in my 40’s,” she promised smugly.
Jake’s smile lost some of its wattage when she turned to address Quil’s loud greeting ahead of them. He released her hand and pulled her against his side, unable to keep any more distance between them in that moment. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and rubbed her arm as they continued their trek.
He only let her go when they reached the rest of the pack. He gave her a warm smile as Emily pulled her into a hug before Quil could grab her. He watched as she spoke with his brothers, laughing at Embry’s roasting remarks of Paul who promptly replied with a one finger salute. He remembered her words, a sad tendril weeding itself throughout his brain, as he took in her wide grin and the comfort and happiness emanating from her as she teased Seth right along with the guys about a recently formed crush on a girl in his class. With an aching despair, Jake realized just how deeply her casual words clung to his very insides.
“One day, I will be older than you. I’ll be in my forties.”
As he watched her giggle at Quil running away with the spray bottle and Paul gaining on him with a wet and thunderous glare, the rapidly forming lump in his throat took hold.
God, Bells, I really hope you will be.