Bella's Little Sister

Chapter 24

Riding motorcycles had definitely not gone well, to say the least-and that was putting it mildly. Jacob had stood in front of the bike, holding it steady while I straddled it. I had gripped the handlebars tightly, my knuckles quickly turning white. Jake's hands hovered over mine as he reminded me once again how to start the engine.

"Clutch?" When I had successfully located it, he nodded once. "Gas?"

I triggered the red switch before returning my gaze to his own.

"Ready?" At my silent confirmation, he continued. "Now, slowly release the clutch."

Before I had even had the chance to do so, however, I had heard Edward's voice. Jess. I paused, momentarily forgetting where I was. Edward's image wavered before me, his eyes pleading. Stop. Jacob quickly moved forward when I stalled the engine to steady the bike again. Jacob seemed worried when I restarted the engine, but I brushed it off.

Edward's image had appeared every few seconds as I sped down the dirt road. My gaze would lock with his each time, distracting me just enough that I began to lose control of the bike. It was only seconds later that I had tipped it and rolled a few times across the muddy ground before colliding with a large rock. Jacob was quick to start up his own motorcycle and come to my side, his expression worried again.

He dropped the bike carelessly next to him before he pulled me from the ground. I moved to stand, wanting to try it again, but Jacob had quickly shot me down. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" When I had moved to stand again, he gripped my arm to keep me in place. "Forget it; we're done with the bikes."

I had not realized right away that my head was bleeding. After removing his t-shirt and using it to wipe away the blood, Jacob had helped me stand and insisted that we were leaving. It would be some time before I got the chance to see Edward again.

Much to my dismay, Bella dragged me along to a movie night with Jacob and Mike that weekend. However, it was either going to the movies with my sister or watching a sports game on TV with my father-none of which I was actually too keen on doing. My sister had stated that she was going to keep a closer eye on me this time, to make sure I wouldn't run off and do something stupid.

"Also," she had threatened. "If I see that you're even getting the idea to do something stupid like what you did last time, I'll tell dad everything."

I knew, obviously, that her words were not as loaded as she was making them out to be. What she really meant was 'I know about the motorcycles with Jacob'. I had been more than surprised when she confessed to that, though I had carefully kept my expression blank. I was not sure how she had even found out about that, but I did not question her on it, either.

Eric had called Bella once we got to Port Angeles to tell her that he wouldn't be coming; Angela had come down with the flu and he wanted to take care of her. Jessica had bailed when she found out I was tagging along. Which left the four of us.

"So Face Punch, huh?" Jacob asked Mike. "You like action movies?"

We were standing near the entrance to the theater, waiting for Bella to buy our tickets.

"Not really," Mike responded to Jacob's question.

Jake snickered at his reply. "I heard it sucks. Big time."

As I watched the two converse, I picked up on Mike's sour mood. I was fairly certain it had something to do with the fact that Bella had invited Jacob to see the movie with us. I turned my gaze to where my sister was standing in the ticket line. I sighed and leaned back to place my head against the cool brick wall as I waited almost impatiently for her to rejoin us.