"I will do, goodbye Bella." Edward said clearly.
"Goodbye Edward." I replied, turning to see him one last time, but he had already gone, along with his family.
Once I got back the house I stared on Charlie's dinner straight away, thinking about the Cullen's. I really wish I had been given the chance to say goodbye to them. Esme and Carlisle were like parents to me and I didn't know what I would do without my big bear of a brother Emmett.
When Charlie walked through the door he gave me a puzzled look.
"Don't tell me they left without telling you." He grumbled.
"No Dad. Edward spoke to me earlier. We both agreed we had been drifting apart for a long time. It was time to move on."
"Well that's good." Charlie smiled, obviously pleased with my reaction.
We sat at the table, eating making small talk, just like normal. I could tell Charlie was watching me, waiting for it to sink in, for me to realise what had really happened and for me to turn into a zombie.
It never came.
I spent time down at La Push with Jake and the pack, I went to school, met up with Ben, Angela, Mike and Jessica. My life went back to normal. This continued for a month or so. I hardly ever thought of Edward, Alice, Esme, Carlisle, Emmett or Rosalie. But the one Cullen I couldn't take my mind off was Jasper. I always wished we could have been closer. Edward never allowed it, always stating that he didn't have enough control.
As I cast my mind back to that night that changed my life it only made me want to talk to jasper more.
"Shoot." I muttered as the paper sliced my finger, I pulled it out to examine the damage. A single drop of blood oozed from the tiny cut.
It all happened very quickly then.
"NO!" Jasper roared.
Edward pushed me back against the table, sending glass flying everywhere. When I looked up I saw the eyes of 5 suddenly ravenous vampires.
Emmett thought Jasper was going to attack so grabbed him around the waist, holding him back. When I looked at Jasper all I saw was concern and frustration, in his eyes, whereas Edward's eyes were pitch black and locked on the blood pulsing out of my arm. Jasper saw where I was looking and growled loudly, attracting Edward's attention. In a flurry of movement Jasper was being pulled out of the door by Emmett and Rose.
WhenIlookedatJasperhesaid "Imrumex.Noneumnocebit." (I'msorry.Icouldn'tlethimhurtyou.
In return I smiled weakly and whispered "Scio. Credo tibi." (I know. I believe you.)
He smiled weakly in return, looking relieved, before he was pulled outside.
I sighed. I had no way of contacting Jasper even if I had the nerve to. It was a Friday evening, exactly a month since the Cullen's left. I was sat on the sofa, aimlessly flicking through the channels when a particular programme caught my eye.
It was all about the civil war. I knew Jasper was from that time period but hadn't been given the honour of actually hearing his story. Major Jasper Whitlock. That fit nicely. I always thought Whitlock suited him better than Cullen or Hale.
I sighed to myself, deciding it was late I headed upstairs to bed. Charlie was staying late at work tonight so I was alone. I had a dreamless sleep, I hadn't had a nightmare since a month ago.
When I woke it was around two in the morning. I would have gone back to sleep but something didn't feel right. I walked over to my window and peeked outside. There was a red truck parked at the end of the drive. After a moments thought I realised something. I knew that truck. It belonged to Jasper Whitlock.
I pulled on some old trackies, a Hoodie and my converse. A minute later I was walking out of the front door. I saw a figure hunched over the steering wheel and, seeing the blond curls, instantly recognised my ex-best friend's husband.
I cautiously knocked on the window and to my surprise I seemed to have startled Jasper. He sat watching me as I opened the cab door and pulled him into a huge hug. After a seconds pause he returned it.
"Let's go inside." I whispered, pulling away from him to grab his hand and pull him indoors. Jasper trudged along behind me, not saying a word.
Once we were safely inside, well as safe as you can be with a vampire, I sat down on the couch and motioned for Jasper to join me. He sat down heavily and put his head in his hands.
"Jasper?" I asked cautiously. "Are you okay?"
He sighed. "Bella Swan thank you. You are the first person to ask me that in a month. And no. I'm not. But it's great to see you again Bells. How did you find me?"
I looked at him, puzzled.
"You were parked on my drive. How could I not find you."
Jasper lifted his head and looked at me, confused.
"But I was just driving. I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going. I wonder why I ended up here."
I wrapped an arm around Jasper and held him tightly, resting my head on his shoulder.
"Maybe you wanted to go someplace familiar?" I suggested.
He sighed, wrapping an arm around my waist. "Maybe I wanted to come home?"
"Don't you consider Texas home?" I asked.
"Well home is where the heart is I guess." he sighed softly.
We sat on the couch for an hour. Both just remembering.
"Bella?" Jasper asked quietly.
"Yeah."
"Why aren't you scared of me? After everything that happened with your birthday I just wanted to say I'm…"
I cut him off before he could finish.
"I saw what happened remember. It was never your fault."
Jasper gasped slightly, looking at my face curiously. "How did you see that? A room full of vampires and it's the human that notices!"
"I looked at your eyes. They were golden, Edward's were black. The others were too busy watching you struggle to notice. No-one else even saw that he was about to attack. You saved my life that night but got the blame for endangering it. I wanted to say something but I was going to talk to you first. Edward never gave me the chance. Why Latin by the way?"
"Oh. I knew the others didn't know it. It was a long shot that you would understand but it was worth the chance."
I sighed to see Jasper watching me, he was projecting waves of happiness, admiration, awe and love?
I started to giggle with the overpowering emotions. This only made Jasper smile more, his golden eyes lighting up.
"Jasper stop projecting!" I gasped between laughs.
As the hysteria dies down I smiled at Jasper. He smiled back but then his face turned to a look of confusion, shock and sadness. His eyes closed and his fists tightened.
"Jasper? What's wrong? Jazz?"
Jasper started breathing heavily but seemed to calm down slightly when I ran my fingers up and down his back. Noticing that this helped I carried on; it wasn't long before he was back in control.
"Bella, I'm sorry. That was the first time I properly smiled since…" he trailed off.
"Since what Jasper? Do you mean the party? I just told you, you're forgiven for saving my life!"
"No I don't mean that Bella. What did Edward tell you before he left?" he asked tentatively.
I gulped. "He said he didn't love me, I wasn't anything other than a pet to him. It didn't bother me. We were growing apart anyway."
"Did he say anything about Alice?" he asked in a strained voice.
"No Jasper, why? Has something happened?" I asked, my voice growing panicked.
All of a sudden Jasper collapsed across the floor. He was dry sobbing with his eyes tightly shut, hands balled into fists. Once the initial shock died down I collapsed onto the floor next to him. The sudden wave of emotion knocking me to my feet. I held Jasper in my arms as he cried tearlessly.
Jasper managed to calm himself down long enough to tell me something that would change my view of Edward and Alice forever.
"They cheated on us Bella. My wife and my brother. All that time." After choking out those words Jasper completely broke down again.
They cheated.
How could they do that to Jasper?
When I thought about it Edward and Alice controlled us both. We relayed on her visions, which Edward constantly confirmed, without questioning a thing. They hardly ever let us make our own decisions.
I wonder how Jasper found out.
JPov
"They cheated on us Bella. My wife and my brother. All that time."
Bella gasped slightly as the hole in my heart seemed to open up and all the emotions from that night came flooding back.
"It was just after your party. Everyone but them went to hunt. They said they needed to talk. I went to look for Alice. That's when I walked in on them. In our bed. They were so… involved that they didn't even notice me coming." I gritted my teeth. "I just ran. When I got back they just acted all innocent. I made them tell the family. Edward promised he would tell you the truth, he obviously didn't. That's when they said we should leave. I've not spoken to them since except to finalise the divorce."
I sighed, then, not thinking, leaned against Bella. She fell backwards with me only just catching myself before I fell on top. If I was human I would be bright red. Bella just looked at me, shocked.
"Sorry." I mumbled. I swiftly picked Bella up, and, sitting on the couch, lifted her onto my knee.
"Sorry about that Bella. I should have had better control."
Bella rested her head against my chest. "It's okay. You obviously needed to get that off your chest and I was glad I could be here to help."
"Thanks Bella." I sighed. That really was like Bella Swan. I just told her that the love of her life and her best friend were cheating and she was more concerned about me.
I pressed my lips to her hair. She really did smell divine. Like strawberries, freesias and a warm summer's day. As I ran my fingers through her hair she slowly relaxed and fell asleep.
I looked at the time. It was 5am. Bella would be exhausted. I slowly carried her upstairs and placed her on the bed. Once she was comfy I slipped swiftly out the window. I moved my truck out of sight from Charlie; it would just cause questions if it was still on his drive when he got home. Once the truck was around the corner I ran back to the house and jumped through the window. As soon as my feet hit the floor I was hit by a whirlwind of emotions followed quickly by Bella throwing herself across the room at me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist and cried loudly into my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her quickly, before she fell.
"Bella darlin'. What's wrong? What happened?" I asked, panicked. The only emotions I was getting from her were pain, rejection, relief and love?
"I thought you left me without saying goodbye!" she sobbed.
I rubbed circles on her back, sending her waves of calm.
"I would never do that Bella." I sighed. I carried her over to the bed, placed her down then lay next to her so she could continue ruining my shirt.
After she had calmed down I turned onto my back so Bella could curl up against my side, with my arm wrapped tightly around her.
"Sorry." She whispered croakily. "I guess I overreacted."
"It's fine Bells. I had my little crying session earlier so it's only fair you got yours."
I hugged her tightly.
"You know the only reason none of us said goodbye before was because Edward wouldn't allow it."
"I guessed." She replied, starting to fall back asleep.
"Get some sleep Bella. You need it." I sighed.
"Kay. Night Jasper."
"Night Bella."
I smiled to myself as Bella slowly lost consciousness. If someone had told me that Bella Swan would be tucked under my arm at any point in time I wouldn't have believed them. I looked at Bella's sleeping form. She really didn't realise just how attractive she was. She had a natural beauty, unlike Rosalie and Alice whose beauty was supernatural and clouded by make-up. She had curves in all the right places aswell. Damn! What was I doing? Thinking about Bella like that only a week after my divorce had come through. I sighed. There was no point denying it now. I had always been attracted to Bella. Not only by her blood but her body also. That's when I noticed. Ever since we had left there had been a pull in my chest, like I was missing something. At first I thought it was Alice but now I realised, it couldn't have been, because the ache was gone now. It was Bella. We were connected in such a way that it pained me to be away from her. As I figured all this out I realised: Bella could never feel the same towards me.
As I wondered whether I was actually going to leave, Bella did something that made me decide that, without a doubt, I was staying right here. Maybe I did have a chance of getting her to love me? The thought 'home is where the heart is' crossed my mind as Bella uttered my name in her sleep then spoke a little more clearly.
"Welcome home Jasper."