𝘊𝘙𝘐𝘔𝘚𝘖𝘕 ° 𝘑𝘈𝘚𝘗𝘌𝘙 𝘏𝘈𝘓𝘌 ✓

46 | RUNAWAYS |

IT TURNED OUT, EVEN ON THE RUN, LIFE WENT ON QUITE NORMALLY. Rory stared at her skin, warm for once under the heat of the summer sun. The refraction of the light bouncing off her skin mesmerized her, it sounded vain, but she never really noticed it that much before, having spent most of her immortal life in the castle of the Volturi where it was definitely not a good idea to expose her skin anywhere during the day, or in Forks where even in the summer, the rain and cloudiness was a constant.

But just past the border of Mexico, holed up in a pretty much isolated villa near a nameless town, Rory had the freedom to lay out in the sun like she was any normal teenager enjoying the heat. Instead of a smoothie, she carelessly sipped at a glass of warm O-Positive with a swirly straw.

The book that she had brought was little long forgotten as her only companion the last week joined her outside in only plain black shorts and a white tee.

It was weird to act as though they were on a summer vacation in a nameless town in Mexico, knowing Rory was being hunted down by the Volturi.

They had spent the first three days making their way down the west coast, trying to throw the trail off by making insipid phone calls they knew the Volturi would notice. As they traveled further from Forks, the sun became a problem which cut the time they previously spent running in half as they continued to make sure they covered their tracks.

They finally arrived in a small nameless town in Mexico just five days after the wedding. The villa they had conspicuously bought under a fake name and fake story the day before was larger than necessary—four bedrooms, a uselessly big kitchen, three bathrooms, a library, and two offices—all that wrapped around the private courtyard Rory and Jasper spent their days in.

It was far enough from town so that no guests came around unless invited, and close enough to the desert for Rory and Jasper to hunt the ocelots, coyotes, and other small animals that prowled the region. They also had a sizable storage of blood bags, which meant their eye color stayed on the more orange side of gold than straight up ruby red.

Rory thought it would be weird to run away from everything she's ever known with a man she had barely seen in the last year, but it was a man she shared so much history with. She loved him and he loved her—they settled together as easily as water and the sea. Like the last eleven months were a nightmare and they were finally awake with nothing stopping them from being together, well, except for the Volturi.

She offered him a smile as she watched him mow the overgrown grass of the villa's courtyard. There was something beautiful about a man doing dirty work.

"Ma'am," he tilted his head down once as he passed her spot next to the pool.

A giggle escaped her lips. So he wanted to play that game, huh? "You missed a spot," Rory called out as the lawn mower's engine cut off and Jasper ran his hand through his wavy hair. 

He flashed a grin towards her, "I sincerely apologize, ma'am. If you'll point it out, I'll fix it right away."

Rory smirked and beckoned her two fingers in a "come-hither" motion, balancing her body on  her right elbow in a half sitting position.

He growled and leaped onto her, his mouth landing on the spot he had missed.

➖

There wasn't much for Rory and Jasper to do other than talk about the time they spent apart.

Rory tried not to go into too much detail of the dark months following their initial breakup. She told him of her first months as a vampire in the Volturi, focusing on the hours she would spend just painting or the difficulties she had with her bloodlust. He wished he had been there to help her through it.