Hello Readers . . .
So, as promised, this is the fanfic of the fanfic. This picks up where A Betty's Pledge ends and begins the divergence of the two stories. Some of you didn't like that I used the word "alternate." I'm not sure what word to use to make everyone happy, but there are TWO different stories from this point on: the one I'm offering the fandom and the one I will be publishing with TWCS.
I'm sorry it took me forever to upload today. I slept most of the day. I think the stress and heartache of yesterday really got to me.
Without further ado . . .
"Hey, Bella. What's wrong?" Alice was standing by my path, talking to Jasper in hushed tones.
"I need a bathroom," I told her, hurrying past without a second thought. I ignored her inquiries, set on my course. I threw the doors open to the house with a loud bang. My eyes were wide as I searched in which direction I should go. A long hallway off to the right looked like my best bet, so I rushed down it in blind haste.
I was barely through the door before I felt the vodka-blueberry-coconut mixture make a reappearance. Luckily, it was mostly fluid, so the sink made a perfect puke bucket. I stood there for several more moments, my bottom lip trembling from adrenaline. I glanced up to the mirror, seeing how ashen and gaunt my face looked. I turned on the faucet and splashed some cool water on my cheeks, then rinsed out my mouth a couple of times.
What the Hell am I doing...?
Why the hell did I react that way? I mean, I knew coming in it was most likely going to be slightly difficult. Jealousies can run wild in this kind of situation, but this was completely different. It...hurt. And I didn't understand why.
I'd done what I was supposed to do. I shut off my emotions, I set my limits, and I cut off any expectations. I came here with the intentions of...
"Fuck," I muttered, hating the sting of tears forming in my eyes. How could I let him make me cry? He wasn't doing anything that he wasn't supposed to do. He was a Consort at a sex club...and I was his nameless toy to play with.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck..."
"Well, if you say it nicely, I might oblige." I turned to see James leering at me from the doorway. He had his hand low on his abdomen, his bottom lip between his teeth as he stared at me like a lazy lion watching a limping gazelle. I didn't have patience for this shit.
"Do you need the bathroom?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from shaking. James laughed, taking a step inside the small confined space. All of a sudden, I felt really uncomfortable.
"What I need is you, apparently," he answered, his voice thick like molasses.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning I saw how you flipped your shit out there. And I saw how Edward watched you run like your pussy got hurt, but he didn't care, did he?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," I answered, taking a hand towel from the rack to wipe my face off.
James crossed the threshold, blocking me inside the room. I felt my defenses kick in for a moment. I didn't like feeling like I was trapped.
"Do you know what else I saw?" he whispered, his beer laced breath fanning across my face, adding to my nausea. "I saw you sucking him off last night in that room. I watched you through the mirror, both Vicky and I. We saw your mouth on his dick, and do you know what I thought? Mine would look so much better with your lips around it."
I swallowed hard, trying to keep the bile at bay. "Get out of my way," I growled, trying to sound fierce and solid. I really wanted to pass out.
"He fucked you good, I got to give him that. Probably fucked that Lauren chick just as well today without a second thought. He's always been my kinda guy. But what you need is a real experience. That's what you came here for, right? Experimentation? Trying new things?"
"I want to leave."
He put his hand on my waist, his fingers automatically curving around the low dipping fabric in the back. I felt him graze the curve of my ass, and I wanted nothing more than to punch him in the nads, but I couldn't move.
"What you want is for me to take you now. Vicky won't care if she's not here. She's fucked a few Consorts and Betties solo in her day."
I placed my hands on his chest and shoved as hard as I could, but he barely moved. James was at least six foot tall, built from solid steel, and could probably bench press one of me in each arm. If he didn't want to leave, there was no way I was going to make him. Panic swelled in my chest, and I felt my fist plant itself into his jaw before I knew what I was doing.
"Yes!" James cheered, wiping his mouth from a few drops of blood. I'd split his lip wide open. "That's what she likes. A little foreplay. Oh, baby, this is going to be so good."
He bent down to kiss me, crimson fluid on his lips, his breath smelling bitter and rank. I recoiled, pushing him with everything I had. His hands clamped down on my body, his chest pressed up against mine. I closed my eyes, wishing I were anywhere else.
Suddenly, I felt him being wrenched away from me, and I fell to the ground in a trembling heap. Carlisle had James by the throat, Jasper holding the creep's arms behind his back in submission. I felt two arms pick me up off the ground and I looked up to see Jacob's warm, concerned eyes looking down on me.
"Bella, honey, are you okay?" Rosalie asked, coming through the pool door in a hurry. Emmett was behind her, followed by Alice, Angela, and Jess.
Jacob repositioned me, holding me in his massive grip so that my head rested on his shoulder. I felt comforted, safe, and in no way able to answer the hurried questions being thrown at me by my friends.
"Get your shit and get out!" Carlisle growled at James, pushing him by his jugular toward the door. Jasper followed close behind him, a stern look on his face that I'd never seen. He'd always been so laid back before.
Victoria met James at the door, beginning to question what happened in rapid succession. "These people don't know how to have a good time, darlin'," James drawled, and I pulled my body in closer to Jacob at the sound of his horrible, non-repentant reply.
I stared blankly ahead of me as Rosalie grabbed a towel from the bathroom and told me she was going to wipe the blood from my face. I watched numbly as Jacob carried me out of the pool house, back toward the house. I kept quiet as more of the house-mates gathered outside, watching, asking questions, trying to see where the blood had come from. And I looked away as Edward met my gaze, the concern and sincerity I'd known so well last night making a reappearance.
I felt nothing.
I wanted to go home.
The Contrite
~ Edward Masen ~
I didn't know what I was doing. My life had seemed so simple less than a week ago. Now, I felt like everything was turned the fuck around.
Bella had screwed everything up. Her presence, her touch . . . And I'd tried so many times to extract her from my mind, but nothing was working.
Like an idiot, I tried to talk to her about the pain this program could bring. The heartache that giving yourself to a woman . . . or a man . . . could cause when that person turned around and shit on everything. She basically laughed in my face, telling me that her heart was secure and safe behind an emotionless brick wall. I knew better.
So instead of wasting time by telling her I knew about it from experience, I'd decided maybe a visual would work better. It wasn't my intention, but I capitalized on it anyway. Not to mention, her complete and utter apathy burnt me like nothing else had, and part of me wanted her to hurt the way that I did.
But not like this.
Damn it, I blamed myself. I stood outside her door, staring daggers into the wood, wishing I could be in there. I hated fucking James. I didn't know what he'd done to her but I had an idea. He could never keep his damn hands to himself, and lovely, sensual women had always been his downfall. Bella was all that and more, and he'd cornered her inside the pool house because she'd ran. Ran from me, from the scene with Lauren, and from the feelings seeing the two of us together had invoked.
And I blamed myself for whatever she'd endured.
No matter what Bella had told me, I wasn't stupid. Her adamant denial that emotion didn't come hand in hand with sex didn't make it true. I, of all people here, knew that there was something deep inside our souls that shared a connection with a sexual partner, regardless of the relationship's nature.
But I'd driven Bella to prove me wrong. I'd pushed that reality onto her without any regard to how hard she'd push me back. And now, she was hurt. I wouldn't blame her if she left all together.
"They're taking a long time." Emmett leaned against the wall, his hands dug deep into his pockets. We'd been standing out in the hallway, waiting for Bella and Rosalie to emerge from the room. So far, only Alice had come out. She wouldn't give me any news, stating that Bella would have to tell me what had happened herself. All she said was that she was fine, giving me a pointed look that both increased my guilt and made me want to vomit.
This morning had started off so much different. I'd awaken to Bella in my arms, slumbering softly. She had been laying there, her back against my chest, her body gloriously naked. I held her for several hours, wishing she'd wake up yet hoping she'd stay in that sleepy state of oblivion at the same time. The sweet smell of her hair in my face, the feel of her soft body pressed against my hard one . . . Nothing could've felt so right.
I hadn't wanted to do this bull shit again, didn't want to go through the program and put my heart on the line. I'd done it and was shit on, so much so that I'd turned around and did it to someone else. It turned me into someone I hated.
But with her in my arms, it felt right, no matter how many times I told myself not to give in.
With her words from last night echoing in my mind, I tried to remind myself that she was here for a purpose. She'd made that quite clear several times over. Being with other men was on her horizons. More than that, it was in her immediate plans, but part of me hoped she'd change her mind. Two nights in a row, spending the whole night with her in my arms, I thought she'd chose to forgo those others for me.
But when she didn't show up to our morning date, part of me hated her. Not a small part, either. I hated the seductress that she was, the innocent virigin she could portray, and the heartwrenchingly beautiful woman she would always be. More so, I hated myself. Those hours I held her, the pathetic romantic inside my shriveled heart had convienced my mind that I'd put that crippled organ out on the table once more.
When she tried to creep out of the room in the morning, I told myself it was nothing. I pretended to be sleeping and mumbled my invitation. When she accepted, it only convinced me further of the lie.
I sat in the kitchen for an hour and a half, longer than she'd been awake for. I'd heard Alice grumbling about her avoiding the planned swim party, figuring it was her attempting to distance herself.
Fine by me, I thought, taking one more sip of my lukewarm tea before heading upstairs. I passed by her room on the way to my own, not even taking a second look toward her direction. Each step I took my wall was being rebuilt, my brain and rational logic cussing out my weak heart like a well-seasoned sailor.
I got ready for the pool, slipping on my mask of indifference.
"Ed!" Seth called, clapping a large hand on my shoulder as I stepped onto the patio.
"Hey, bro! Have a nice time last night?" My brother, the constant man with nothing but pussy on his mind, called from the shallow end of the pool. I leveled him with a sly smile, as if I had a tantalizing secret I wasn't telling. Confidence and swagger – that's all I could afford to portray.
"Look at that face!" Mike crowed with a triumphant laugh. "My boy had it good last night."
"And the one before," Jacob added, taking a swig from his beer bottle.
"Come one now, gentlemen," Jasper stated, holding his hands up in a calming gesture. "Let's not be a bunch of horny frat boys. These women deserve respect."
Respect, I scoffed internally. She didn't leave me with respect that morning, trying to sneak out like some kind of prostitute. If she was in it for the experience than so was I. She wanted a ice cold exterior so that she could protect her emotions, that was my specialty. And it began with outward appearances, right?
"Yeah, we shouldn't act like frat boys," I proclaimed with mock seriousness. "They don't get laid as often as we do."
After much cajoling and an exasperated shake of the head from Jasper, we decided to set up the BBQ before the girls showed up. Knowing they'd want to make an appearance by being sociably late, we didn't rush our grilling. In fact, this was the part I used to enjoy. Still did, if I was honest, but my mind was still filled with all things Bella.
No better way to get my mind off of her by watching a parade of practically naked women strutting before me.
"Damn . . . " Mike's proclamation turned our heads, and we all removed our beers from our hanging mouths as the first chick appeared.
The mated women crossed the threshold first, giggling arm in arm while holding some kind of mixed drink in their manicured hands. Most of those women had come to be like sisters to me, but I could appreciate a delicious body when I saw one. At risk of popping an inappropriate happy stick, I turned my head while the mated men left the food table to claim their women. I didn't blame them.
As the couples disappeared to enjoy the various attractions the pool had to offer, the Consorts and I tried to adjust ourselves, incognito style. Mike flipped the burgers a little early, most likely in preparation so that they wouldn't be burned when the next wave hit – the parade of women we were actually allowed to fuck.
And here they were.
The large bay doors opened and each women stepped into our sights. The Cullens sure knew how to pick their women. Rounded curves, flat, toned stomachs, legs long and enticing . . .
Mouthwatering.
Each Betty stepped out of the mansion dressed in varying scraps of barely there bikinis. I never seen the point of wedged sandals before; they seemed pointless in my opinion – not something one could enjoy at the beach. But seeing those tight asses propped up on shapely legs made my dick stand to attention. Yeah, getting Bella out of my mind might be a little more fun than I'd anticipated.
"When can we send out invitations again?" Mike asked, lewdly licking his lips in anticipation.
"Well, if we followed Eddie's lead, we don't have to," Jacob retorted, glaring at me as he turned away from the women and chugged the last of his beer.
"Something you want to talk about, Jake?"
"Naw, man," he shrugged, twisting the top off another beer. "I just don't get how you can break the damn rules every year without so much as a swat to your wrist."
"Quit pouting," Seth scoffed. "It's not like you wouldn't break the damn rules if you had the chance."
"All I'm saying is that it's only the first week in the Mansion, and he already has his hooks in the hottest chick here."
"You want Bella?" I asked him point blank, trying my hardest to act like that question didn't hurt like hell to ask.
"Fuck, I think all of us do. That's why we're here, right?"
"Guess so . . ."
"Where is she, by the way?" Seth looked around the yard.
"Probably still a little sore from the weekend events," Mike chuckled like an idiot. "Am I right?"
"Alice said she's not coming," I answered with a shrug, hoping my voice carried nonchalance, and not the edge of hurt I felt in my heart. I pushed it down, wanting to get back that air of indifference I'd had for so long. I turned to Jake, giving him the flattest expression I could manage. "If you want Bella, go claim her."
"I might just do that," he answered, watching me closer than I would've liked. I turned away from him, sipping on my beer a little to long to pass as apathy. "Edward, don't do this." I heard his words in my ear, low so that they were only between us.
"Do what, Jake?"
"One weekend with her and you're going to turn back into the 'Asshole the Jane wrought'?"
"Don't act like you know what you're talking about, Jacob," I growled in his face, holding the warring emotions back with all my ability.
"Fine," he grit out. "Act like a royal dick-wad again. Bella doesn't deserve that shit, anyway."
"You're right. She doesn't want anything like me. She wants fifty of me, all night long, in multiple ways."
"You're a fuck head, you know that?"
"Yup, that's me. Deal with it." I walked away before I could say anything I'd really regret, finding a vacant cabana and making myself comfortable. In that moment, there was nothing I wanted to do more than get good and drunk, and the small, fully stocked mini fridge sitting right next to the lounge chair became my new best friend. And after I'd poured five long necks down my gullet, I was well on the way to my goal.
"There you are," a silky smooth voice purred, and I smiled as the side of the cabana opened to reveal a beautifully seductive Betty. Lauren, I think her name was. The fact that I barely knew her name was another reminder of how consumed I'd been by Bella.
Bella, the women who had no interest to satisfying herself with me alone. Fine by me . . .
That'd be my motto for the rest of this god forsaken program.
Fine. By. Me.
"Here I am," I smiled drunkenly. "And here you are."
"Hmmmm," she moaned. "Yes, but I'd really like to be somewhere else." She stepped closer, her itty bitty bikini riding deliciously low on her hips.
"And where's that?"
"Right about here," she replied huskily, straddling my lap with her mile high legs. She placed herself directly onto my pelvis, grinding just slightly as she adjusted her body. Her breasts were leveled in my face, bouncing a bit as she settled. My hands automatically gripped her hips, the silky smooth skin feeling like one hundred percent woman under my fingers.
I smiled, thinking this was what I needed to get over Bella. To get her out of my skin and my mind.
"I like you here," I told her, running my hands up her sides, teasing the sides of her barely covered breasts. "But there are rules, you know."
"Well, rumor has it you're a bit of a rule breaker, Edward."
"Is that so?"
"Mmmhmmm," she nodded with her plump bottom lip between her teeth, one hand reaching back toward the tie around her neck. She pulled the string slowly, loosening the top of her thin, pink bikini top. The cups spilled down her body, revealing a set of perfectly round tits.
Like I said, mouthwatering.
"I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not a rule breaker," I said, swallowing thickly. "And if they find us in here like this, we'll both be kicked out."
"Come one," she purred, leaning in to rub her nipples across my chest. "Everyone loves a rebel."
Her painted nails ran up and down my bare chest, leaving a trail of goose bumps behind. Reaching the edge of my board shorts, she pulled the tie that kept them loosely on my hips. Lauren dipped one finger inside, swiping across the head of my dick. Finding her goal hard and ready, she thrust her hips once more, giving me a fairly good idea of what she'd be like in bed.
Passionate yet demanding, and one hundred percent not Bella.
Lust turned to disgust. Wanton saliva became the sting of bile in my throat. I swallowed again, this time to keep my stomach contents down.
"Stop," I ordered, sharp and clear so there was no mistake. Lauren sat up abruptly, looking at me as if I had two heads.
"What?"
"I can't do this."
"Can't do what?"
"This," I replied, gesturing toward her half naked body. "Not here, and not right now."
"No one will know," she purred again, trying one more time to entice me into action my grinding herself onto me. It took everything inside me not to toss her ass onto the floor.
"It's not that," I told her, grasping her arms so that I could pull her away from my body.
"Well, then what is it?" she bit out, all sensuality gone from her voice.
"Our first time shouldn't be like this," I tried desperately. My words seemed to deflate the anger brewing inside of her. She grinned like that cat who ate the cream.
"Well, since you didn't send me an invite, I figured I'd come to you. I know what I want, Edward. And I've wanted you since the first time I saw you."
"Is that so?"
"I was hoping I'd get an invitation from you soon," she said in a sad little girl voice, running one nail down my abdomen. "Maybe this weekend?"
"Maybe," I supplied, the thought of it not sitting right. "But I won't be able to send you anything if we get kicked out."
"One little kiss," she asked, pinching two fingers together to measure what she considered to be little. I nodded, hating the sudden palpitations thrumming in my rib cage. She leaned forward, smashing her breasts into my chest. Her plush lips pressed against mine. Sweetly innocent at first, but then she opened her mouth, and what I deemed as a little kiss turned into a full on fornication of the oral kind.
Eventually she pulled away, retied her top, and swayed her ass as she left me sitting there with a butt load of crap floating through my mind.
I didn't understand why I responded the way I did to her touch, but I was pretty sure it had to do with Bella. Once again, I found myself loathing the day I'd met her. Today wasn't my day, and apparently I needed a huge attitude adjustment.
I stood from the cabana with plans to return to my room for some well needed R & R when I spotted Bella gaping at me like a fish. The pain in her face seeing me leaving the cabana, knowing Lauren had just been inside alone with me, tore through her features. For that one second we held eye contact, I knew she was hurt. She'd received my visual message about emotions being tied to sex loud and clear, and despite the pain she was feeling, part of me was glad. Let her know the sting of betrayal and regret.
"Edward," Rosalie's voice barked sharply, pulling me away from Bella's gaze. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her flee into the pool house, but I turned my thoughts away from her.
"What's up, Rose?"
"What the hell were you doing with that nasty bitch?" Rosalie practically growled at me, consternation deep in her vivid, blue eyes.
"I don't think it's any of your business, Rose," I scoffed, pushing past her to grab another beer from the ice chest.
"You've been screwing my Betty for the past two nights, I think it is my business."
"Your Betty has made it pretty clear she's looking forward to more invites from other Consorts," I retorted as I twisted the cap off my beer. Rosalie stared at me blankly while I chugged three quarters of its contents, the judging silence more than I could handle at the moment. Guilt swam through my mind. Guilt and anger and regret . . . again.
God, I hated this damn program.
"You're an idiot, do you know that?"
"Enlighten me, Rosalie. What did I do now?"
She took a step closer to me, lowering her voice so only I could hear her words. "I understand you've been hurt and you're afraid to keep your heart open —" I cut her off before she could say anymore on the pathetic topic.
"Look, I like Bella a lot. But I'm not going to risk anything on a woman who is clearly here for one purpose only – to get laid in every way imaginable. She's made that clear."
"And how many men has she been with since she got here, genius?"
I paused, temporarily thrown back by her words. "It's only the first week. I'm sure she'll get her feet wet."
"And yet, she turned down every invite I gave her last night for a chance to do some ridiculous – illegal, I might add – challenge with you. And in case you didn't notice, she doesn't need any help in that area."
"You would know, wouldn't you Rose. You and my brother."
"Does that bother you?" she asked, both hands going to her hips.
"What, that you were intimate with Bella? I don't know, Rosalie. Does it bother Emmett to see you give yourself to another woman?"
"Emmett knows what I like," she answered softly, a little less bite to her tone.
"And I'm sure he'll still allow you to continue your trysts with other women once you leave this place, right? 'Cause that's what love's all about! Maybe one day he'll fall for one of your women as well. Oops, my bad. Heard that already happened." My sarcastic, condescending tone made her guard go up, and I felt another wave of guilt as her eyes filled with tears.
"I wouldn't expect you to understand self sacrifice and all that love can bring." Her words fell from her trembling mouth, weak and pain stricken. I didn't know which thing I said to make her so upset, but I'd hit a nerve somewhere in my rant. Despite what Rosalie was trying to do, I didn't want her hurt by me. Besides the fact my brother would kick my ass, I loved her like a sister.
"Rosalie, I —"
My words were cut off by a commotion near the pool house. Rosalie took off in a dead sprint, and a wave of dread enveloped me when I realized Bella had been inside.
Everyone crowded around the bay doors leading to the pool house, trying to see inside. James walked out with a smug expression on his face, Jasper following close behind. A streak of blood smeared his lips, chin, and across one hand. I felt my insides begin to boil. A topless Victoria stood by his side, demanding to know what James had done.
Bella . . .
I pushed my way through the crowd, wanting to see if she was alright. Jacob parted the bodies, carrying a trembling Bella in his arms. She had blood on her arm and across her face, with no definitive location of the source. I stared open mouthed as Jacob carried her over the threshold, his massive arms making her look small and defenseless.
I wanted to call out to her. Every instinct in my body want to take her from Jacob and keep her safe myself, but I just stood there, frozen. She glanced up from Jacob's chest and leveled a heartsick, traumatized gaze right through me, and it was then when I realized that her pain was my fault.
She'd seen me with Lauren and ran inside that house, trying to hide away from the emotions she'd denied for two days. Jealousy, rage, envy, pain – it didn't matter which she felt, it'd been too much. I recognized that point of realization, for I'd had it myself a time or two. It'd been too much for her and she fled, right into the arms of a sinister monster.
I'd never forgive myself.
"Edward . . ." Carlisle voice seemed distant, unable to penetrate my bubble of self-flagellation. My mind was zoned past him, drilling into the head of the man who'd hurt my Betty.
"You son of a bitch!" My body reacted before my common sense had a chance to catch up. I flew across the yard, barreling straight toward James. He saw me coming a second before my fist made contact, but that didn't squelch the satisfying crunch of his nose breaking.
"Edward!" Jasper grabbed me across the waist, pulling me away from James before I could pummel him again. "Leave him be."
James spit out a mouth full of blood, smiling at me with red tinted teeth. "You never could share, Eddie. Even when we were young."
"She's not a plaything, you fucking asshole. How could you?"
"You see, that's where you're wrong. They're all our playthings! That's what our ancestors wanted, right?"
"James, you don't have any idea what you're talking about," Jasper scoffed, his grip around me loosening slightly.
"No? Am I wrong, Carlisle? Isn't that what you told me once I was mated to that?" He pointed over his shoulder to a stunned Victoria, her eyes widening as she watched her paired mate's display. The disdain on James' face as he looked at Victoria was evident, and she tried to cover her naked breasts in a sudden wave of propriety.
"James, when you were mated, I'd hoped you'd change." Carlisle's voice was firm and reprimanding.
"You mated me to a whore. Why would I change?"
"James," Victoria barked. "What the hell has gotten into you?"
"If you ever touch Bella again," I warned, snarling when James' smile widened at my unfinished threat.
"James, get your stuff and get out," Carlisle declared. "You're no longer needed here."
"Fine by me," he laughed. He grabbed a towel from a lounge chair and began mopping up his torn up face. The blood reminded me of Bella, of the crimson fluid I'd seen marring her beautiful skin, and suddenly I needed to get to her.
Ignoring the calls from Jasper and Carlisle, my feet moved toward her direction. I needed to see her, wanted to feel her in my arms and know that she was okay. Damn the emotions, damn the walls, I didn't care. I'd put her in that position and I wanted to see her through it. Fuck James. Fuck Carlisle. Fuck Jacob Black.
But an hour had gone by and I still wasn't allowed to see her. I didn't know if it was by her request, or from Rosalie's. I'd wait though, for however long it took.
"Is he gone?" I asked, continuing my pacing outside of Bella's door.
"Yeah, James left thirty minutes ago," Emmett replied, checking his watch for the time.
"Good," I muttered, the wave of anger and injustice tampered for the time being.
"Ed, maybe you should take a break," Emmett began, pausing when I leveled him with a menacing glare. "It's just that I doubt she will want to see anyone right now."
"You're waiting," I pointed out.
"For Rosalie," he clarified. "I can let you know what happened, okay? I think you need to cool down for a while."
Just then, the door opened. Rosalie stepped out, looking tear stricken and tired.
"She's fine," she announced thickly. "Thank god the boys got to her before James did anything stupid."
"The blood?" I demanded, having to know the answer.
"It was his," Rosalie sighed, offering a slight smile of approval. "Bella has a mean right hook."
My insides rejoiced in gratification. It seemed both of us got a piece of that asshole.
"I want to see her," I declared, my tone not giving room for argument. I saw Emmett stand from the wall, ready to back his woman up if I started a fight.
"She doesn't want to see you," Rosalie stated flatly, her arms crossing over her chest.
"I don't care." I took a step toward the door, ignoring my brother's hand on my shoulder and Rosalie's outward palms of protest.
"Is Bella okay?" I heard Jake's voice from down the hallway, and I looked to see him, Seth, Angela, and Jessica headed in our direction.
"She's fine," Rosalie answered, letting out a breath as she addressed the newcomers. "She's been through a lot tonight, so only one visitor for now, alright?"
"I won't be long," I told the group, redoubling my efforts to get inside her door.
"No, Edward. She only want to see one person right now," Rosalie reminded, acting as sentinel once again. And when she turned to look behind me, my heart thudded to a dead stop. "Jake, Bella wants you."
I stood stock still as her words sank in, barely feeling Jacob push past me to get inside her room.
Jacob.
Jacob Black.
Her savior.
That's who she wanted to see, of course. Not the man who made her see the truth in the harshest of ways. Not the man who she'd shared a bed with, who'd made it really plain that she meant nothing more than a pussy and pair of nice breasts.
I was a fool for more reasons than one.
And I had about enough of it all.
Yes, much of the beginning will be a repeat and I will update asap to get to the newer chaps. Just hang with me. To those of you who've contacted me via PM I will be contacting you sometime today or tomorrow. It's been a little overwhelming but I did hear you and will be in contact soon. As for the haters, please bow out. Negativity has no place here. Thanks.