(AN: Stuff in italics is either a flashback or a dream.)

Chapter 1: Take Off

BPOV

May 21, 2008

"Hey sugar." The tall man leaning against the brick wall called at me. He was really handsome, for a grown up. He had on an old leather jacket and ripped jeans. He had long blonde hair pulled back behind his head. It looked like he hadn't shaved in a few days because his chin looked all stubbly.

"Umm, hi?" I sounded unsure. Why was this man talking to me? I didn't know him. I was only 13, and he was, what, 25?

"So sugar, what's a pretty little thing like you doin' out here all by yourself?" He looked me up and down. It made me feel uncomfortable.

"I'm going to the grocery store to buy something for dinner for me and my dad."

"Pretty little things like you shouldn't have to walk to the store all by themselves. Here, let me give you a ride in my van." He had a southern drawl in his voice. He seemed nice, and he was offering me a ride to the store. I know Charlie always said to never talk to strangers, but this man was nice.

And I was tired of walking. "Hey, thanks!" I walked over to his van and hopped in the passenger's side.

20 minutes later, I was on my back on the floor of the forest, the man over me. He pulled his cock out and forced it into me. I screamed in pain. He seemed to enjoy my pain because he thrust himself inside me harder.

I thought sex was supposed to be enjoyable. I thought it was supposed to be with someone you loved. That's what Ashley, my friend had told me at school. I didn't love this man. I barely knew him. One minute, he was driving me to the grocery store, the next he was driving through trees. As soon as he got to where he wanted, he pulled me from the van, threw me on the ground, and started tearing all my clothes off.

I wanted to scream out. I was scared of this man, and he was hurting me. I wanted to cry out for help.

But I couldn't. I glanced down at the knife that was being held to my throat. He didn't have to tell me what would happen if I made any noise. If I screamed, that knife would drag across my throat, and I would be dead in less than 3 minutes.

He kept thrusting in and out of me. This wasn't how I supposed to lose my virginity. I was only 13. I wasn't ready. The tears started to spill out of my eyes. I just wanted it to be over.

He pushed himself into me harder, and I couldn't stop the whimper that escaped out of my lips. He looked down at me and smiled. He moved the knife from my throat to right below my collarbone. He pushed it into my skin and dragged it until he reached my breast.

He kept his hand over my mouth to prevent me from screaming out in pain. I looked down and saw the blood oozing out of the wound he had just made.

Then, he grabbed my arm and cut me again, leaving a long, bloody line from my shoulder to my elbow. The entire time he was cutting me, he kept thrusting in and out of me.

Suddenly, he pulled himself out of me. He got up off the ground and zipped his pants. He looked down at me and said, "See you around, sugar."

My eyes flew open. The images from my dream were burned in my mind. I hadn't had that dream in 3 years. Ever since I had started dating Jacob, I was happier. I never dreamed about my rape anymore.

But here I was, dreaming about it again. I was still able to remember all the details, even though it had happened more than 10 years ago. I remembered the drawl of his voice, the harsh texture of his skin, the pain I felt when he thrust himself inside of me. After he left, I stayed on the ground, paralyzed with fear that he was going to come back and kill me.

When I finally got up, I grabbed my clothes. They were ripped and dirty. I threw them on myself and ran out of the forest, crying and screaming for help the whole time. When I finally made it to the highway, I collapsed. I was exhausted and bleeding and I wanted to go home.

A cop car pulled up. I prayed it was Charlie, my dad, the chief of police. Deputy Mark got out of the car. He took one look at me, crying and covered in blood, picked me up, put me in the cruiser, and drove me to the station.

After I had been cleaned up by the paramedics, my dad took me home. Ever since that night, I had nightmares about the man. I dreamed he was going to come back and kill me.

I never told anyone about my nightmares, because I never told anyone about what happened to me. I never told Charlie what really happened. I told him I had been in the forest and gotten cut on a rock. My best friends never knew I was living a traumatized life.

I rolled on to my stomach and looked at the pillow next to me. It was empty.

I sat up, wrapping the blanket around me. I was completely naked under the blankets.

I peeked around the room, looking for Jacob. He had been my knight in shining armor. After we had met at Lusty Lady that night, Jacob came back to the club every night, trying to talk to me. After six months of saying no, I finally allowed him to take me on one date. Here we were, 3 1/2 years later, engaged. It was so exciting. I couldn't wait to become Mrs. Jacob Black.

I looked at the wall. The picture had fallen off and the lamb was on the floor. The end table was on its side too. I blushed. I guess I had been a little too enthusiastic last night.

"Jake?" I called out into the dark suite. I looked around. He was nowhere to be seen. I really needed him right now to comfort me after my nightmare.

"In the bathroom, Bells." His voice came from around the corner. I got up, keeping the blanket wrapped around me, and ventured over to the bathroom. I peeked in. He was in his boxers, and nothing else. Brushing his teeth, he turned and looked at me when he heard my feet on the tiles. He looked down and smiled at me.

He spit into the sink and gargled. He turned toward me, bent down, and kissed me lightly on my lips. "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. I'm glad to see you're finally awake. By the way, you were amazing last night."

I blushed. I couldn't help it. I had basically attacked him last night, pushing him into the wall as I tore at his clothes. I guess the lamp had fallen over as we made our way to the bed.

"You weren't too bad yourself." And he honestly wasn't. Jacob was amazing in the sack. I had never slept with anyone who could do the things that Jacob could. He pleasured me in ways that no one had done before. I was no Virgin Mary; I had slept with plenty of guys before Jacob. I was from a trailer park, and was the definition of trailer trash. In high school, I fucked a different guy each week. I had a tramp stamp. I was pregnant when I was 14.

But now, I had been in a serious, monogamous relationship for more than 3 years. I loved Jacob, and soon, I would be his wife. My life couldn't be more perfect.

We were in Japan now. Jacob was trying to get some of the businesses over here to start serving Black Water beer. His brew was served in almost all bars in the United States and Europe. He now wanted to expand to the Asian market.

"Ready to go home?" he asked, brushing his finger along my cheek. I shivered involuntarily.

"You have no idea. I like it here, but I'm ready to sleep in my bed again. Hey, do I have time to shower, or will we miss our flight?"

He looked at me, fighting back laughter. "Bella, it's 11:00am. Our flight isn't until 3:00pm. You have plenty of time. Though you know, I wouldn't mind showering with you…" He trailed off seductively.

I instantly felt the temperature in my face rise.

He sighed. "I love when you blush. You look so adorable with your cheeks all red." He pulled me and crushed my body into his. "Is that a yes on the shower?"

"C'mon, baby. Let's get wet." I dropped the blanket and crushed my lips to him. I jumped up, wrapping my legs around him. He carried me into the shower, turning the water on without breaking the kiss.

********

I was just finishing putting the rest of my clothes in my suitcase when I felt a hand on my waist.

"Hey, sugar" the voice said. I instinctively grabbed the hand and flipped the stranger over. I looked down and saw Jacob lying flat on his back, a mixed look of shock and pain on his face.

"Oh, Jake, I'm so sorry! I'm a little jumpy today, and I wasn't expecting you to come up behind me." The truth was, my nightmare was still fresh in my mind, and I thought Jake was him when he touched me and called me "sugar." But I couldn't tell Jacob that. If he knew I had a nightmare, he would freak out.

"Bell, what's going on?"

"Nothing" I lied. Confusion spread across his face. Crap. He knew what I looked like when I lied. Shit, shit, shit.

"Bella, you're lying. I know you're lying. Tell me what's wrong." He looked concerned. I knew I would regret this later, but I decided to tell him about my nightmare.

"It's just, I had the nightmare last night, and it's kind of freaking me out right now. I haven't thought about that since I've been with you. I don't know why I thought about it last night. It just freaked me out." Jacob stood up and put his arms around me.

"It's okay, Bella. You don't have to worry. I'll never let anything like that every happen to you again, I promise. If it makes you feel any better, we'll get a brand new security system installed in the house when we get home." That made me feel better. Ever since Jacob had found out I lived in a trailer, he had insisted I move in with him. For the past 3 years, I had been living with him in his enormous mansion. Dating a millionaire definitely had its perks. We went to the best restaurants, stayed at the nicest hotels in the nicest rooms, and were treated with respect wherever we went.

I was excited to go home. I couldn't wait to tell Charlie that Jacob and I were getting married. He loved Jacob like his own son. When he found out that Jacob would soon be part of the family, he would be ecstatic.

Jacob pulled away from my body, still keeping a hold on of my hands. "Babe, you have to finish packing. We're leaving in 10 minutes."

I looked up at him. "Okay, I'm almost finished." I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and finished putting everything else in my suitcase.

Jacob and I walked down to the lobby with our luggage. He checked out and asked the desk people to call us a limo.

We walked outside, and the limo was waiting for us. The driver put all our things in the trunk as we climbed into the car.

I snuggled next to Jacob, resting my head on his shoulder. He put his hand on my knee and gave me a kiss on my forehead. The driver got in the car and drove us to the airport.

********

EPOV

"Get up, bitch. We're gonna be late!" I heard Emmett's voice enter my head. I groaned. It couldn't be time to leave yet. I just needed 10 more minutes of sleep…

Suddenly, I felt my body go ice cold. I jumped out of the bed, falling on the floor. I looked up and saw Emmett cracking up.

"What the fuck, Emmett?" I was soaking wet. "An alarm clock would have sufficed."

"Well, bro, I've been trying to get you up for the past hour, so I thought you needed a little more motivation."

"And your idea of motivating me is to hose me down with ice cold water while I'm in my boxers?"

"Yeah, pretty much." He had a huge grin on his face now.

"Fuck you, Emmett."

"Chill out, little bro. Besides, we have to get over to the airport unless we want to be stuck in Japan another night."

"All right, all right" I grumbled, "I'm up."

"Good. Whitlock is downstairs in the lobby, checking us out. Get your shit together and let's go."

I got dressed quickly and threw all my crap in my bag. I was happy to be going home. Emmett and I were here in Japan helping Jasper promote his new film. Emmett was in post-season, so he wasn't training every day. I checked with my chief-of-surgery, and he had said it was cool if I took off for a few days.

So here we were in Tokyo, loving life.

I walked down to the lobby and instantly spotted Jasper and Emmett. Emmett was huge. Well, he was a football player. He had black, curly hair and enormous biceps. Jasper was next to him.

Jasper definitely fit the part of a movie star. He had blonde hair and good looks. Whenever we went out, girls always fawned over him, since he was famous and handsome.

"Cullen, hurry your ass up. I've been down here since noon waiting for you." Jasper looked annoyed.

"Sorry, Whitlock. I was just finishing jacking off." Jasper cracked up. "Are we all checked out?"

"Yeah. It's all taken care of. Now let's hail a cab and get to the airport before we miss our flight. Again."

********

We got to the airport in record time. We breezed through security and walked over to gate A23, where our flight was leaving from. I grabbed us three seats in the waiting area and looked around.

It looked like we had an interesting group of people going from here to L.A. A couple of people with kids, some international people, a couple who definitely looked like they were in love, and, fuck, Newton was here too. I better make sure Emmett didn't see, unless we wanted a fight.

Mike Newton was a defensive linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles. Emmett was a defensive linebacker for the New York Giants. The Eagles and the Giants hated each other; therefore, Newton and Emmett hated each other.

Emmett was walking over with Jasper, laughing boisterously. I looked over at Newton.

"Hey, Cullen!" I saw Emmett look over at Newton as Newton flipped him the bird.

"Fuck you, Newton."

"Can't. I just finished fucking Holly. She said I was the best she ever had." He smiled deviously.

Emmett's eyes narrowed. Ah, yes. How could I forget Holly? Emmett's ex-girlfriend and Newton's current girlfriend. "Just be happy we're in a public place, Newton." Emmett plopped down next to me. I looked over at Newton again, but suddenly, my eyes caught something else.

I saw a beautiful, brown-haired girl looking at us. She had the most amazing eyes and a quizzical look on her face. She was staring at us, probably because of Emmett. She turned her eyes back to the guy whose lap she was sitting in.

Fuck.

She's taken.

Dream on, Cullen.

You don't even fucking know her.

Forget about it.

I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep and forget about the gorgeous girl sitting 20 feet away from me.

********

BPOV

"What the hell was that about?" I asked Jacob. Two guys (they looked like football players from their size) had just gotten into a fighting match.

"Oh" said Jacob. "That's Emmett Cullen and Mike Newton. They're football players for two teams that hate each other. They hate each other, too."

"Oh. Funny that they're both in Japan at the same time."

"Yeah, well it looks like Cullen is here with Jasper Whitlock—"

"Jasper WHITLOCK?" I shrieked. He was my favorite actor. He was so handsome and dreamy. I looked over, and there he was, sitting with Emmett the football player.

"Yeah, he's promoting that new movie—"

"—Taken" I replied instantly.

"Yeah, whatever. And I think Newton is here with Holly Madison, his girlfriend, helping her promote something. I don't see her though…" Jacob looked around the area, searching for Holly. "Shame. I would have loved to meet her."

"Well, you'll have to settle for me right now" I teased. I started nibbling on his ear.

"Mmm. That feels nice." We sat in the waiting area for another 10 minutes. Suddenly, a voice came over the loudspeaker.

"Good afternoon. We would like to start boarding for Japan Airlines flight 2232, nonstop flight to Los Angeles. We will now be boarding all first-class passengers."

Jacob gently nudged me off his lap. "That's us." I looked around. I noticed both the football players were also riding first class. A short, black haired woman stood up, along with a statuesque blonde woman.

Once the flight attendant scanned our tickets. We boarded the plane. We found our seats. Jacob let me have the aisle seat because he knew I hated being next to the window. We were in the last row of first class.

Soon, all the other passengers began to board. Once everyone was in their seats, I looked around. A bronze-haired main in the front row was looking back at me. Strange. I smiled at him, then turned and gave Jacob a swift peck on the lips.

The captain greeted us, and the flight attendants went over the safety instructions. I don't know why they even bothered. Flights rarely crashed. The plane took off without a hitch. I put my head on Jacob's shoulder and closed my eyes, hoping I wouldn't open them again until we were in Los Angeles.