The Destiny Concept | Jasper Hale

Chapter 20 ✔️

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—Jasper
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It's been a couple days since everything happened. Althea is doing well on the outside, but she is still mentally strained and not as strong as she once was. Bella's back in Forks with a fractured ankle and human.

Edward managed to suck the venom from Bella's arm before she could turn, which everyone seemed to be thankful for.

Isaac has outwardly been 'okay' but I have bared witness to him break whenever he is left with just me and Althea.

"What's on your mind?" I hear Althea ask, pulling her eyes away from the book that she had been previously reading at my desk, spinning her chair so that she faced my bed, where I laid.

"Just wondering why things always go so wrong so quickly." I reply vaguely, causing her to get up and walk over to the bed.

It dipped under her weight as she climbed onto the bed, pulling herself on top of me so that she straddled my waist.

"Sit up," she instructed softly, bringing me closer to her as her arms found sanctuary around my neck in a comforting gesture.

I didn't bother speaking another word, instead I waited to see what she had to say.

"Things have been like this for a very long time. This is not new. Don't think too much about it. We will all push through, okay?" Her voice was so gentle and I couldn't get enough of hearing it. I'd listen to anything, follow anything, do anything as long as the words came from her lips.

"Do you believe in destiny?" I change the subject, taking her by surprise, though she hid it quite well.

"You already asked me this before." She recalled, which made me smile for some reason.

"I know." I said, prompting for her to still answer the question.

"No, but I believe in you. Is that enough?" She replied, looking deep into my eyes.

"More than." I grinned, reaching one of my hands up to her nape and pulling her lips down onto mine, kissing her softly and feeling her smile against my lips as she kissed me back.

She smiled wider as I held my other hand to the small of her back to pull her impossibly closer to me.

The kiss deepened as her hands found themselves tangled in my hair, keeping me in place as she kissed me, completely taking charge, which I must admit is very enjoyable.

That's when she removed one hand from around me to move my hand, that was settled on her back, and moved it just under her shirt so that my hand rested against the skin of her back, sending a shiver up her spine, though it did not seem to bother her.

I pulled our lips apart, our foreheads lent together as I looked into her eyes, listening to her breaths, which had grown heavy. "Are you sure?" I asked, knowing that with everything going on, I don't want to risk overstepping, especially since I'd already pride her away from her research into what Christian had said.

"Yes," the word came out breathless from her lips, and I couldn't help but smile at it. "We could both do with the distraction, and I think it is safe to say that we both want this." The second she finished her sentence, I crushed my lips onto hers, kissing her with more passion than before as my hand slipped higher up her skin, caressing it gently, feeling her suck in sharp breaths as I did so.

I didn't realise that one of her hands had bundled around the hem of my shirt, lifting it slightly and exposing it to the warmth that radiated from her and I couldn't get enough.

With one simple movement, I helped Althea remove my shirt, and once I did, Althea pressed my back down against my bed, running her fingers over my chest.