FOREVER AND ALWAYS ━━━━ jasper hale.

38- Talk About It

"Protect those who protect you."

-Evangelos Venizelos

***

"Don't even try!"

Jessica scoffed as I opened the door to my house, stepping inside and rolling her eyes. "You know that Brad Pitt is hot."

"Shut up!" I laughed, putting a finger to my lips to say that Bella was probably sleeping. "You can not convince me!"

"I can and I will-" Jessica began, a smile dusting her face. It quickly vanished when she turned around, her face seeming to go ghostly pale. "Um," She pointed behind me, so I furrowed my eyebrows and turned around, immediately gasping and feeling my heartbeat quicken. "Edward? Why the hell are you in my house?"

Edward's shoulders sagged, and he ran his hand over his face, "Thank God." He came over and gave me a hug that lasted about a split-second. "Oh my-"

We both looked up in unison to stare at Jessica, who was looking as if she was considering blogging this moment. "Um, Okay I'm gonna go..." She mumbled, wasting no time in slipping out the door. As soon as the door shut, I turned to Edward. "What is going on?"

"Someone was here, you need to come with me right now!" He exclaimed, grabbing my hand and dragging me out as soon as Jessica's headlights vanished from view. I didn't even notice his car parked on the street. "Someone? Who-"

He turned to me, his obnoxiously handsome face daunting. "Sadie."

***

"What the hell!" I demanded, clutching the glass of water Esme provided too tight in my hands. Alice was pacing around the room, looking like a very aggressive ballerina.

"What did she take? And why is she doing it?"

"Fear would be my guess." Carlisle replied, patting my arm reassuringly, walking over to Alice to do the same. "As for what she took, Edward."

"A red blouse from Bella." Edward began, staring holes into my sister's blank face. "And some sort of teddy bear from Courtney."

I don't even one-hundred percent remember what happened after that, a surge of anger that was so red-hot it blinded me flashed beneath my eyes, and I turned and hurled the glass in my hand right at the door, shattering it against the wood, seconds before Emmett opened it.

"Argh!" I reached my hands up as if strangling some invisible creature. "She took my fucking bear?"

The house was silent for a second, before Edward blinked, and responded. "Uh, yes."

A string of very loud profanities exited my lips, I turned and pointed to the doorway, where I knew Jasper would be standing, and made a sharp "come here" gesture. He did, thankfully, and I hugged him tight, breathing in his scent and for once relishing the waves of calm rolling off of him. I am literally going to kill someone.

"The scent disappeared a mile south of the house." Jasper said, leaning his chin on the top of my head. I was shaking now. It didn't seem real when I first heard it, but now it was so real, too real.

"Someone is orchestrating this. Keeping Sadie hidden so Alice can't see her."

"Victoria?"

"I would have seen her decide."

"The Volturi?"

"I would have known!" Alice demanded. "I have been watching Aro's decisions!"

"We need to go to Seattle." Alice decided after a moment of silence. Carlisle and Rosalie spoke in unison, which was almost as scary as everything else.

"No. It's too dangerous!"

"Great, so we just cruise over to Seattle, have a nice picnic, get our nails done, and then go look for the love of my life!" Alice snapped, her musical voice laced with sarcasm. "Hey! Maybe we can buy a can of Vampire Repellent too!"

"Is that a thing?" I mumbled, my voice so low I was unsure even Jasper could hear it.

"We take shifts watching Courtney and Bella's house."

"Another protection detail?" Rosalie mumbled dryly. i brought my eyebrows together, um, offended?

"Rosalie." I heard Jasper mutter in a warning tone.

"No, she's right. You can't protect us, watch dad, and search for the intruder." Bella piped up, crossing her arms and taking a sharp breath. "And look for Victoria." I added, my voice slightly muffled. I took a deep breath separating myself from Jasper. "We're not gonna let you guys starve." I let my eyes rake across the room, meeting all of their dark gazes individually. "I know you probably won't be too fond about this idea, but we could-"

"Yeah." Bella nodded.

"-Go to La Push. Bella has Jacob, I have... everyone else. We'll be fine there."

I felt Jasper tense slightly, so I took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "We'll be safe."

There was a long moment of silence, and I sighed. "Fine. But the longer you don't eat, the harder it will be to find Victoria."

***

"Did I mention I have weird inhuman strength."

"Goddamn it!"

Paul burst into laughter, leaning his head back and pointing at Embry's facial expression. He look mortified. Not weirded out or confused, just super pissed that I didn't tell him.

"And you just let my self-esteem be destroyed?" He demanded, while the other boys roared with hardly contained laughter. "How could you lie to me like that?" He cried, although it was quite obvious he was holding in his laughter.

"Define lying.'

"Not telling the truth!" He paused nervously, casting me a tentative look, "How do you define it?"

"Reclining your body in a horizontal position."

"Oh my-" Embry's voice trailed off as all of the boys, and Emily, cooed jokingly and giggled at the boy. I walked over to wrap my arms around his mid-section, trembling with silent laughter. Being with the wolves is good, like, a way to pretend life can be normal. "I'm sorry, Em."

"I don't know if I could ever forgive you."

"Well you're gonna have to make a decision soon." Sam joked, coming over and pressing a kiss to Emily's scarred cheek. "You're coming to the bonfire tonight?'

I shrugged, "Am I invited?"

"Of course! You can meet Kim, Jared's imprint." Emily grinned, and so did I when I caught the look on Jared's face when this "Kim" girl was mentioned. "I think you guys will get along."

"You totally will." Jared chipped in, ruffling my hair. "And if you want we could give you another hair cut."

"Would you?" My eyes grew wide with excitement. "Oh! I've wanted to cut it for a while now, it grows so fast!"

"Same." Embry ruffled his hair. "Maybe we can both get one!"

"I volunteer!" Paul raised his hand. "I am a certified hair-cutter."

"I don't know if I trust you with scissors near my neck."

"You should."

"Okay, hold up!" Quil held his hands up. "If this happens... can I get it on video? 'Cause that sounds entertaining!"

"Whoo! Let's go!"