Bonded

Chapter 14

I chuckled, fingering the material between my fingers. "We both definitely need some stress relief," I admitted. "Between Bella and Kaya and the pack, it's just been a mess."

Bianca reached behind her back to unhook the bra so she could change. "How is Kaya adjusting to...everything?"

"Kaya is living her best afterlife and loving every second of it," I handed Bianca her actual bra and crop top. She quickly redressed herself before we head out of the dressing room. We walked around the Victoria's Secret more. "Not that I blame her. If I was also dead and brought back to life for god only knows how long, I'd be living it up too. She was talking about getting a tattoo before I left."

"Can she do that? Is that even possible?"

I blew a raspberry. "At this point, anything is possible." I tried to focus my energy to connect to Jacob again with no avail. Bianca made her way to the check-out counter, snatching the black lingerie from my hands and giving it to the less than enthused sales associate. "Hey! What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm doing you a favor," Bianca sang, swiping her credit card before I could say anything else about it. Bianca had become somewhat of my sounding board since she came into our lives. Even though she had been completely thrown into this life with no warning, she was taking it all in as if it was as natural as breathing. Her and Embry were going strong, taking things slow. She told me that he was the one that was waiting for the right time and didn't want to rush sex. Bianca had completely turned Embry Call into a lovesick puppy dog. And, honestly, she was the perfect person for it. She was kind and sweet; she had such a sunny disposition. We had never seen her in a bad mood. Ever. Bianca was the human embodiment of positivity and kindness. They couldn't have picked a better person to enter our lives, truly.

We walked around the mall more, chatting about anything and everything. I was trying my best to distract myself from the fact that I had absolutely no idea what was happening with Jacob back at the pack house. We wandered into a couple of stores; I was aimlessly trying to find a dress for the wedding. Bianca shoved a bunch of dresses in my hand before pushing me into a dressing room.

"You need to look hot," Bianca said from outside the dressing room. "I don't think he's in love with this Bella girl anymore but, you need a dress that will make him want to drag you out of there and fuck you in the car."

"Jeez, B," I laughed. "Whatever happened to subtlety?" I pulled a red dress over my head, discarding it into the 'no' pile. Everything was just too short or the wrong color or just an all-around no.

"This is war, Leah," she declared. "When my ex and I broke up the first time, he started dating his ex-girlfriend. It was a week before my 21st birthday and so my sorority sisters took me shopping, we found the most low-cut dress ever and we partied all weekend and put it all over social media so he'd know what we was missing. Jacob needs a wakeup call."

"He hasn't exactly done anything wrong though. We talked about it," I said, turning to look at my butt in a navy blue bodycon dress. Shaking my head, I took it off and tried another.

"Still, he needs to know what a hot piece of ass you are. Sexy but classy. Like you look gorgeous in everything, but this needs to be a statement."

I opened the curtain and stepped out in a low-cut burgundy, chiffon, floor-length dress. Looking down at myself, I shrugged and did a twirl. "Is this enough of a statement?"

Bianca's jaw dropped as she looked me up and down. "Do you just wake up looking like a goddess because that's not fucking fair."

I started to smile when, all of a sudden, a surge of emotion rushed over me. My hand snapped to my forehead and I struggled to keep my balance. Bianca's voice was muffled; I felt her grab my arm to hold me upright. I opened my eyes and immediately felt dizzy and lightheaded. Bianca led me to a chair, still talking. All of a sudden, my energy was back at Kaya's house. I was overwhelmed with a sense of confusion and anxiety. Jacob was awake. "Holy shit..." I whispered, taking a deep breath. A small sweat broke out on my forehead and neck; Bianca moved my hair so I could feel the breeze on my hot skin.