Edward POV

4 years ago

I lit the cigarette and took a nice long drag before slowly blowing it out, feeling the familiar calmness take over my mind and body. My eyes closed involuntarily while I inhaled again, enjoying every second of my stress-reliever. My headache began to fade away as I continued blowing smoke into the crisp air. I guess it was around 11 at night. Just another cold wintery night in Forks, Washington. I personally love the cold. It matches me perfectly. I have no idea why I even feel like this. That's what pisses me off, not knowing why I feel lonely and depressed and just plain mad.

I shook my head and stared at the sky, not really seeing it. A loud crash and a whimper pulled me out of my thoughts. I quickly sat up from the grass and looked towards an alley where I saw a large figure leaning over a tinier one. I squinted and put out my cigarette, slowly getting up, making sure they didn't hear or see me. As I got closer I noticed a man pinning a smaller girl down. Instantly, my heart started pounding against my chest and adrenaline surged through my veins. I stopped just in front of them before I took in several things at once. One, the girl lying on the ground was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. Two, she was crying. And three, the man was on top of her and he was breathing heavily and moving. My fists clenched and before I knew what I was doing, the guy was underneath me trying to swing.

I smelled the alcohol on him and I was thankful he was very uncoordinated at the moment. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I'd be beaten to a pulp. I heard the girl whimper behind me again, so I looked back to make sure she was okay. Bad idea. I felt his fist before I saw it. He knocked the breath out of me and I was on the floor, everything spinning and all I could taste was blood, blood, and more blood. He kept hitting me, and started kicking, until I was sure I was going to pass out. My eyelids slightly closed and I heard the girl behind me trying to scream. I say tried because she let out a squeak before she started gasping for air. The adrenaline hit me twice as hard and I rolled over, keeping back a groan of pain. I crawled over to them and got even angrier when I saw him rip her zipper and roughly pull her pants down. I growled and charged at him, tackling him and I got the nearest thing I could reach and hit him over the head with it as hard as I could. I realized it was a bottle when I felt the glass shatter above me and felt him go limp underneath me.

I got off of him, and kicked him a few times, because I needed to get my anger out. I looked over to the girl and she had her knees up to her chest and was watching me with wide eyes. I slowly got up and walked over to her trying not to scare her. I reached out to her and she just nodded. I gently lifted her up, making sure she was covered. I walked her to my house and tried to put her down, only to have her whimper and grip me tighter. I kissed her hair on impulse and murmured in her ear, things like, "Shhh." "It's going to be okay." "I'm here. I won't leave." "You're safe with me."

I lightly knocked on the front door and rested my head on hers. It just felt so right to have a beautiful girl in my arms. As weird as this sounds, I felt it was my job to comfort her. The door swung open, revealing my very concerned family. Images of the argument we got into before I left to smoke flashed in my head, but I quickly pushed them away and as soon as I stepped through the door, my family gasped. I kicked the door shut and covered up the girl as much as I could with her torn shirt, feeling strangely protective of her. I lightly brushed her hair with my lips before murmuring, "Do you want me to call someone? You're welcome to stay here if you'd like, I don't mind." She didn't respond so I went to put her on the couch, and as soon as she sat up she looked at me. I could see the panic in her eyes and I instantly felt guilty, she looked around me at my family and the panic got worse so I knelt in front of her and gently took her face in my hands,

"Hey. It's alright. Did you want to stay with me? Or I could call someone…" She quickly nodded her head and I wasn't sure what she wanted. I stood up and turned my back on her to get the phone. My heart skipped a beat as soon as I felt her wrap her arms around my waist hugging me from behind. It felt good to be wanted, in that way. I raised my right arm and looked under it to see her looking up at me with her big brown eyes that I could easily get lost in. "I… I wanna stay." She said lowly and I let my arm fall on her shoulder as her cheeks became a warm pink. I gave her a slight smile before my mother touched my arm, "Edward, can I please speak to you in the kitchen?" I looked to the girl, who dropped her arms from me and shivered while looking down. I nodded to my mother and went with her, deciding to give the girl my room.

"Edward, who is she? When I told you I was worried about you being lonely, I didn't expect you to go and get a girl." I felt my fists clench and I glared at my mother, "So what if I'm a little lonely? Who cares? A normal parent would prefer I wait to-." I breathed in and gripped the bridge of my nose, trying to calm down. "She isn't just some girl. I found her in an alley. Can she stay the night?" My mother's eyes widened and I shook my head, walking back to the living room. I looked to the couch and found it empty. I frantically scanned the room for her and my father, Carlisle, slapped me on the shoulder, "I sent her to your room. She's up there now." I sighed in relief and turned to leave when I thought about her. I turned back to Carlisle, "Can you come and bring your supplies? We sort of met in an alley and she's hurt." He nodded and followed me up the stairs, "That explains the cut on your cheek."

I nodded, not really caring and opened the door to find her sitting on my bed, leaning against the headboard. She was tightly hugging her knees to her chest. She looked up and relaxed when she saw me. I stepped into the room and stood beside her as Carlisle brought in his supply bag and shut the door behind him. She tensed and swallowed audibly, scooting closer to me, eyeing Carlisle. I kneeled beside the bed and got her attention. "This is my dad, Carlisle. He's a doctor and he wants to make sure you're okay." She looked from him to me and nodded, relaxing a little.

Carlisle began to talk then, "As Edward said, I am a doctor and I want to help. Can you tell me what happened? How about we start with your name?" She bit her bottom lip and muttered, "Isabella Swan. I like Bella." Carlisle nodded, "Well, Bella, can you tell me exactly what happened?" "I was walking home and he grabbed me. Pulled me in an alley and … he hit me a few times. He tried to do other stuff, but he didn't get the chance." She wouldn't look at either of us and I wanted to move her hair, so I could see her pretty face, but I didn't want to scare her. Carlisle tensed, looked at me, and then looked back to her. "Did you want to call someone? Or the police?"

She nodded and then shook her head. "Are you sure, you're okay? I can take some tests if you'd like." She shook her head, "There's nothing. All he did was rip my zipper and shirt." I watched her intently, waiting for her to go into shock. She looked calm enough. I put my hand to her cheek, lightly brushing it with the tips of my fingers, "Do you feel cold? Sick? Maybe, dizzy?" "No, I'm fine. I'm pretty sure I won't go into shock. I'm used to this kind of stuff happening. Well, unpleasant things happening to me." I didn't like the sound of that and then I realized she had a disgusted expression on her face and was running her hands up and down her arms. "Did you want to shower?"

Her face brightened and she jumped up, stumbling a bit, so I reached out and caught her. "Are you okay, Bella?" She looked down and nodded, blushing furiously. I smiled and gave her a clean towel, pointing to my rest room. She nodded and left, leaving Carlisle and I alone. Carlisle turned to me, "She could have been hurt pretty bad. You might want to get a name out of her. I'm sure her parents ought to know. I think we should wait to alert the authorities until we talk to the parents." I nodded and went to my dresser, pulling out some black gym shorts and a white tee-shirt.

I thought twice about it and went to Alice's room. I knocked on the door and she opened it, holding out a pile of neatly folded clothes. I took it and smirked at her, "Thank you." She nodded and smiled back, "Welcome my dear brother. Now, go before she gets out." I went back to my room and heard the water shut off, so I quickly put it on the bed beside my clothes and left.

I went down to the kitchen and made two grilled cheeses with ham and got two big cups of coke. I carried the food and called her name, my hands full. She opened the door and I smiled widely when I saw her in my clothes. She looked good. I went straight to the bed and set the food out. I smiled even more when I saw her blush. "I thought the other clothes were too revealing." I nodded and held out the plate to her, expecting her to be famished. She took it and ate quickly. I chuckled, "Like it?" She paused and blushed, nodding her head.

I held her soda out to her, which she drank in less than 5 minutes. I watched her and gave her mine when she looked at her empty glass. After she was finished I took our dishes to the sink downstairs, and when I came back, she was lying down with her eyes closed. I waited in the doorway for a few minutes before covering her with my blankets and shutting the door behind me. I took a blanket from Emmett's bed and went downstairs to the couch.

Someone is poking me. My eyelids fluttered open and I rolled over expecting to find the sun on my face. I opened my eyes and found myself in complete darkness and man it was freezing! I looked down to my side where a small finger kept poking me. I grabbed it gently and followed it with my gaze until I saw her. I immediately sat up and examined her for any injuries before asking what was wrong. She shook her head, "I can't sleep. And… well… I uhh… ummm…" I raised my eyebrows waiting for her to continue. I met her gaze and noticed how shy she became so I intertwined our fingers to comfort her. She looked down at our hands while she spoke, "Nightmares. And…I feel safe with you." She mumbled the last part and I felt my heart skip a beat. That's the second time it has happened with her. Why? I barely met her and she makes me feel different. But, why?

I smiled up at her, gently pulling her down to me allowing her to get comfortable. After all, the couch was a pull out bed, so there was plenty of room. Once her breathing slowed, I started falling back to sleep, but not before she grabbed my arm and put it around her so I was holding her to my chest. I smiled and puller her closer, resting my head on hers before I drifted into a peaceful sleep.

Good so far? Review, please(: