Chapter Twenty Two
Jasper
I yanked my arm out of Emmett's grip and ran rather than being dragged into the woods. My brother was 'thinking' hard. He was angry, but not as much as he had been earlier. I suspected Rose had gotten to him and I decided to thank her later. I might have to make another trip to see George soon to pick up a few bribes for her. I had a feeling a few diamonds would convince her to keep Emmett out of the way for a while. Failing that I'd hand her two tickets to Paris, she loved it there, and she'd force her husband to come along for the ride.
My mind quickly drifted to everything Bella and I could do if we had a little privacy. She seemed as eager as I was to get some 'alone time'. I thought of the look in her eyes just before she'd pressed her warm lips against my jaw. The skin there burned in response. My mind quickly turned to other places she could put her lips if we were ever left alone for long enough.
Amusement encroached on my rapidly building lust and I took in my surroundings. I'd stopped running, how had that happened? Carlisle was standing in front of me with a shit eating grin on his face.
"What?" I growled. He'd interrupted my fantasies.
His smile widened. "Is there any particular reason you're standing there with your eyes rolling back in your head?"
I growled again. I could tell by his face he knew exactly what had distracted me enough to leave me staring into space in the middle of the woods.
"Jasper!" Emmett growled from somewhere ahead of us.
Beside me, Carlisle laughed.
"Come on son, you're only prolonging the torture by hanging about out here."
I glared at the ground and started walking at human pace towards what was sure to be an irritating conversation. I was twice Emmett's age, what right did he have to tell me what to do? He was keeping me away from Bella. Then I realized that I was keeping myself away from her by dragging this out so I started running.
We found Emmett standing in a small clearing on top of a fallen tree. He had his hands on his hips and a stern look firmly fixed on his face. It was a gesture I was sure he picked up from Rosalie, and he looked ridiculous. I tried not to laugh.
Fifteen minutes later I was still waiting for him to begin. I was getting bored and pissed off. Carlisle was still enjoying the situation, and for the very first time since I'd met him, I wanted to hit him.
The three of us stood completely still and quiet and it was driving me nuts.
Finally Carlisle got bored too. "Come on! Lets start this conversation. I'm sure you've got lots to say, Emmett. We need to finish this soon because Esme has plans for us all tonight."
What plans? I hoped she hadn't included me and Bella in those plans. I had plans of my own.
Emmett sighed loudly and hopped off the tree to sit down on it. He looked expectantly at me, and I sat just out of arms reach. Carlisle sat on my other side, grinning again. I ground my teeth and waited.
"We need to have a very serious talk Jasper," Emmett began "about boundaries."
I said nothing, Carlisle sniggered. This was not funny at all.
"Now I know you love Bella, we're not debating that." Did he know how serious he sounded? Or how stupid? I doubted it. "And I know you're used to having sex on tap with Alice, and that you've been going through a bit of a dry spell lately."
"What?" I tried to keep my voice level.
He looked at me as if I was the idiot. "You haven't been getting any since Alice left right?" He pointed out. Then he got angry again. "Don't you tell me you've been sneaking off somewhere. If you've been cheating on Bella I'll take your head off."
