Chapter 2

All heads in the room turned toward the door and the four men. They looked down at me and their eyes zeroed in on the watch. They roughly grabbed my arm and attempted to rip the box from my grasp. I would have none of that. I slapped his face with my free hand and he stopped the struggle momentarily. Before I could catch my breath, he kicked me as hard as he could in my gut, and I was airborne for a few seconds until I hit the floor and slumped over. The box was then promptly ripped from my hand and I was shoved aside. Through teary eyes, I saw the four men proceed to take the belongings from the other customers. Phones, purses, and wallets were deposited in a burlap bag. I had a flash of hope, realizing that my phone was in my purse, which I had dropped when I was pushed over. It still sat next to the door, the black leather camouflaging with the black walls. While I attempted to breathe again, I figured out that the calls must have been Alice warning me to get out of the shop before the burglary occurred. The good news was that Edward must be on his way, coming to get me the hell out of here. My side ached as I sat up, watching the thieves smash the glass and registers, stuffing their sack. One man was pulling the blinds down over the doors and windows and locking them.

"If anyone makes a move to escape" one of the larger men said gruffly "you'll get a bullet in your head." He held up a revolver for emphasis.

I heard tires screech on the pavement and it sent my heart flying, either Edward or the police were here, and I didn't mind which one it was as long as I made it out alive…And hopefully with the watch. Unfortunately, I was not the only one to hear the tires because each robber's heads cocked up at the sound. They immediately began to scream and torment the customers and employees, demanding to know who had called for help. My heart sunk when I saw them slap an old woman across the face who had a small cell phone which she had hidden in her pocket. Not only the old lady was punished, but everyone was shoved into the center of the room as the robbers continued their heist. In the process of breaking the cases, one of the burlap bags fell to the ground, its contents scattering around the room. Cursing, the men scurried to pick up their jewelry, but not before I could grab my small box back and tuck it behind my back.

I stopped breathing as I realized that one of the men had spotted me taking the box and he knelt down in front of me, a large smirk on his face.

"Well well well? Look who decided to take what isn't theirs?"

"This is mine" I growled "I bought it". Then because I was feeling cocky, I added "Unlike you."

That earned me a hard right hook in the face. My cheek was practically screaming at me. He turned around, obviously pleased with himself. But my stupid stubbornness would not let him off without a fight. I stood on shaky legs and kicked him hard in his calf. It's funny, I couldn't recall exactly what happened next. I remember being thrown and hitting a wall, my vision going in and out as I was pummeled by the men. Everything ached. I wanted to scream at myself. Why did you need to do that? Couldn't you just escape with your pride? As I began to get back to my senses, I heard a pounding on the door.

"Bella!" I heard my angel scream.

Edward. He was here. He could easily break the door, but that would rise suspicion. I couldn't call out to him to let him know that I was alright, or even alive. He settled with breaking the glass. That was a good idea, he could claim he used a rock instead of his hand. The glass peppered me and soon my one and only was kneeling down beside me, eyes dark and furious.

"Bella? Why didn't you tell me you were going somewhere? Alice had a v- oh my god you're bleeding. Are you alright? No…Of course not, you're…."He trailed off slowly looking up to the thieves who surrounded us.

"Get over there" one said, gesturing at the circle of frightened people "or get this in your head."

Edward stood slowly, looking the man dead in the eye. I could almost see a flash of fear in one of their eyes as Edward towered over him.

"Get this in your head monster" he hissed, and suddenly the man was sinking down from a wall five feet away. The rest of his gang made wimpy attempts to fight off Edward, but they were all in vain. When all of the men were down, and mostly bleeding, he was back at my side helping me to sit up. My ribs protested and I groaned weakly. In moments, police were at the scene arresting the men. Carlisle also arrived eventually. Carlisle looked at the old woman who had been slapped and took a small fall, but she just had a bruised hip and would recover easily. I thanked God that no one had been severely injured. Carlisle began to asses my injuries, which I put off as "I'm ok" and "It's not that bad", but Edward would have none of that.

"Those…Bastards got away alive. I should have-"

"Edward. They will be prosecuted and dealt with fairly. In the meantime…Someone needs to take an ambulance ride." I realized that he meant me.

"No. No thank you, please." I struggled to sit up and was met with two sets of cold hands who pushed me back down.

"No Bella, not this time. I'm fairly certain you have broken a few ribs, fractured a few metacarpal bones, broke your left leg, and you've got quite a shiner there" he added setting an ice pack under my eye.

"But I promised Charlie I would make lasagna tonight" I added feebly, as my last protest.

Carlisle chuckled and Edward stayed upset. "I think he'll live" Edward said tightly

I guess I would cooperate. I did feel pretty crappy, but if any needles or blood came out, I would refuse to be good.

The embarrassment was not when the ambulance pulled up screeching loud, but when they had to carefully load me onto the stretcher and strap me in. Edward held my hand the whole time. His face never changed. The expression of anger and remorse still etched on his face.

"Edward I'm fine" I assured him, squeezing his hand.

"You say that a lot, Bella"

"It's ok Edward, really."

"No, no its not. Not this time. Why were you even at the jewelry shop Bella? What were you doing there?"

I couldn't tell him about the watch, so I faked a whimper of pain, and he buried his head in my hair and apologized profusely. But I only felt slightly guilty.