***I do not own anything. This world is entirely the creation of Stephenie Meyer
Chapter 1
I was restless. The nights I stayed away from Bella always seemed like days, months, years even, rather than the few hours that they actually were. I tried not to watch the clock. Seeing the second hand slowly tick in a relentless circle would only make the time go by slower. I needed a distraction.
Of course I chose her. What other distraction was there? Her warm skin and deep brown eyes, her chocolate brown hair and soft lips, she was my entire existence. Suddenly the familiar intense longing to run to her came to the front of my mind again so I sat at the piano and began Esme's favorite. My fingers moved up and down the keys playing the complicated melody but it wasn't long until her face filled my head again and the song turned into her lullaby.
I smiled. Just hearing the familiar tune made me picture her sleeping. I hadn't been away from her the whole night. Though I didn't stay with her as I usually did, I couldn't fight the urge to see her through the night. I had snuck in through her window, just to catch a glimpse. She was so beautiful when she slept. They way her breathing was slow and shallow, the way her mouth fell slightly open. I was always completely in awe of her but when she slept...
That night she had slept peacefully, which was almost odd for her. I walked to her bedside and brushed her hair from her face.
Her face changed. She looked worried.
I began to think that my touch had disturbed her peaceful dreams. Sleepily, she muttered my name. She was dreaming of me.
Why did she look so...scared? Something in her dream was frightening her and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Was it...me?
I pushed the thought out of my head. I would never harm Bella, she knew that. Or did she? I thought of waking her but I decided to let her sleep. I wouldn't think about it. But now sitting at my piano without her in front of me, without her scent intoxicating me, I couldn't help but think...
"Bella will be at school in 15 minutes."
Hearing her name in someone's thoughts other than my own took me out of my stupor and I missed a note. Alice's face was smug when she walked into the room.
"Neglecting practice?" She thought.
"I was thinking." I said, slightly embarrassed. Though I new she was only joking, I rarely made any mistakes on the piano, it bothered me that she had noticed. But I had no time to dwell on that. I grabbed the tan leather jacket that hung by the door, picked up my keys and walked to the door, making sure Alice was following me. She held a small silver package in her hand.
"Alice, I don't know if that's such a good..." I began.
"Oh hush Edward," she said in her high trilling voice, "Bella is just going to have to deal with the fact that today is her birthday and we're celebrating."
I knew Bella wasn't thrilled that today was her 18th birthday. Most humans thought of birthdays as joyous occasions, a reason to celebrate. But when did Bella ever have the normal human reaction?
I sighed as I got into my silver Volvo. Alice chirped happily about her plans for Bella's party that evening. She had ordered a cake from Seattle and the flowers were to arrive while we were at school. She would run home a little before Bella and I got there to make sure everything was perfect when Bella arrived. I didn't care how flawless Alice's planning was, how delicious the cake or even how beautiful the decorations were, Bella was not going to like this party.
I frowned.
I wished she wasn't so opposed to gifts and attention. There was nothing in the world I wanted more than to shower her with expensive gifts and take her out to expensive dinners and to exotic places, but she wouldn't have it. So instead we spend most of our time in Forks, with the occasional visit to Port Angeles to catch a movie.
I always drove more quickly to school than I did any other time. I was anxious to be next to her again. To feel the warmth of her body touching my cold hard skin, to breathe in her scent.
We pulled into the parking lot of Forks High School. She wasn't there, I always got here first. I stepped out of my car and leaned against it, Alice danced to lean next to me. The silver package was in her hand and she looked excited.
"Please subdue whatever you're planning. There's no need to make my life harder than it already is." I begged.
"This isn't about you. This is about Bella" She answered.
I smiled. "Oh really? I could have sworn it was about you. Bella after all would prefer if we forgot her birthday all together." I could hear the roar of her engine now, though she was still miles away.
"She'll thank me later." Alice nearly pouted.
Stubborn to the very end. I wrapped my arm around her and gave her a little squeeze. I couldn't blame her for making a big deal out of Bella's birthday. We both wanted the same thing, to spoil this perfect human.
A few minutes later she pulled into Forks High School. Her face still looked worried as she scanned the parking lot, but when her eyes found me standing next to my car they brightened and a smile crept to her lips.
How many times would I see her have this reaction before my silent heart stopped beaming with happiness?
She stepped out of her car and slammed the door to her ancient chevy truck closed. Alice hurried to her side.
"Happy Birthday Bella!" she chimed.
"Shh!" Bella hissed back. She glanced around the parking lot to make sure no one heard her birthday being mentioned.
Alice, undeterred, pressed on. "Do you want to open your presents now or later?"
"No presents." Bella replied flatly.
Alice's face fell. "Ok...later then. Did you like the scrapbook your mom sent you? And the camera from Charlie?"
A small smile crept across Bella's face. Alice's strange gift always amused her.
"Yeah, they're great."
"I think it's a nice idea. You're only a senior once. Might as well document the experience." Alice smiled.
I liked this. I was tired of Alice filling Bella's head with her visions of me turning her into a vampire. I was keeping Bella human if it was the last thing I did.
"How many times have you been a senior?" Bella asked slyly.
"That's different." Alice's tone was flat.
I reached my hand for Bella's, no longer able to keep the distance between us. Her warm skin was exactly the release I needed. I felt the anxiety that always built in me like a tremendous weight disappear. I smiled as I heard her heart beat faster. Her beating, human heart. My favorite sound.
"So, as discussed, I'm not allowed to wish you a happy birthday, is that correct?"
"Yes that is correct." she replied.
Alice laughed at her serious tone. "Of course you'll enjoy it. Everyone's supposed to be nice to you today and give you your way, Bella. What's the worst that could happen"
"Getting older." She grumbled. The look of worry reappeared on her face. Could that have been what had been bothering her last night and this morning, was she worried about aging?
"Eighteen isn't very old," Alice said. "Don't women usually wait till they're twenty-nine to get upset over birthdays?"
"It's older than Edward."
"Technically," Alice continued, "Just by one little year though. What time will you be at the house?"
"I didn't know I had plans to be there." Bella said, looking confused.
Alice whined. "Oh be fair Bella! You aren't going to ruin all of our fun like that, are you?"
"I thought my birthday was about what I want?"
I smiled. Even Bella could see straight through Alice. "I'll get her from Charlie's right after school."
Bella's face became determined. "I have to work."
"You don't, actually. I already spoke to Mrs. Newton about it. She's trading you shifts. She said to tell you 'Happy Birthday'." Alice said smugly.
Bella became desperate. "I-I still can't come over. I, well I haven't watched Romeo and Juliet yet for English."
"You have Romeo and Juliet memorized." Alice said.
Bella continued, "Mr. Berty said we need to see it performed to fully appreciate it-- that's how Shakespeare intended for it to be presented."
I rolled my eyes.
"You've already seen the movie." Alice countered.
"Not the nineteen sixties version. Mr. Berty said it was the best."
Alice's mouth became a hard line. "This can be easy, or this can be hard, Bella, but one way or the other--."
I stopped her before she could finish her threat. "Relax, Alice. If Bella wants to watch a movie, then she can, it's her birthday."
Bella smiled at me.
"So there." she shot at Alice.
"I'll bring her over around seven, that will give you more time to set up."
Alice beamed and laughed. "Sounds good. See you tonight, Bella! It'll be fun, you'll see."
She kissed Bella on the cheek and danced off towards her first class. Her thoughts were excited as she imagined Bella jumping for joy at the sight of the tremendous pink cake and mountain of presents. I knew this is not how Bella would look when she walked into my house tonight, but perhaps I could lighten her mood a little.
She turned to me, her eyes pleading. "Edward, please-"
I put a finger to her lips. "Let's discuss it later. We're going to be late for class."
I took her hand and we walked at the annoying human pace I was forced to conform to in the presence of humans. We walked to the back of the room and took our seats, still joining hands under our desks. Though most people didn't gawk at us the way they used to, we were still the star subject of the majority of thoughts in the room. Particularly Mike Newton's.
"I should start being a better friend to Bella. Make her my best friend in fact. Maybe Cullen will slip up one day, hurt her. Then I'll be the shoulder for her to cry on and..." He thought.
I stopped listening, infuriated. Not only had I grown tired of his annoying fantasies of himself in my place next to Bella, he had pinpointed my exact fear. I did not worry about him comforting Bella from heart break, or comforting her at all. If I hurt Bella, no one would be able to comfort her. She'd be--
No. I wouldn't think about it. I squeezed her hand a little as the lesson began.
As the day progressed, Bella's face was searching. No doubt for a reason to not attend the lavish party that waited for her this evening. I didn't bring up the subject for the rest of the day. I wouldn't give her a chance to use whatever excuse she had come up with.
We walked to lunch together. I grabbed her arm as she tripped and a smile crept to my lips as I saw that it was only a small crack in the sidewalk that she had stumbled over. No other human would have been bothered by it. But if there was something to trip over within any radius of her, Bella would find it and inevitably fall.
I took her through the lunch line. This was always difficult for me. I would like to pick out her favorites, but she never particularly cared for many things on the school's limited menu. Naturally, I would have picked out whatever looked the best, but human food repulsed me. I grabbed a tray.
"Pizza today?" I asked hopefully.
Her face arranged into an expression that told me no.
"What would you like, Bella love?"
She looked at the selection. Her face was not pleased. But she sighed and grabbed an apple and a sandwich. I took the pizza anyway, I needed something for my charade, and perhaps she would want it later. I grabbed two sodas, paid the cashier and walked with Bella to our usual table where Alice was waiting, along with the rest of Bella's friends. Friends who ignored her whenever Alice and I were present.
We sat down and Bella unwrapped her sandwich. Alice looked at me hopefully but I shook my head so Bella couldn't see. Her face fell slightly and I saw her put Bella's small silver box into her bag, too quickly for human eyes to register.
I was right about the pizza. I smiled as she pushed half of her sandwich aside, obviously deciding against the flavor, and reached for the pizza. I played with a strand of her hair while she suspiciously glared at Alice for the remainder of the lunch period. It didn't help that Alice's devious smile never faltered under her glare.
We went through the day uneventfully. No thoughts of Bella's birthday entered the minds of the humans around her, just as she wished. I walked her to her truck after the final bell, but instead of helping her in and then preceding to my Volvo, I opened the passenger door for her.
She folded her arms and the stubborn, childish expression of dislike that I loved so much swept across her face.
"It's my birthday. Don't I get to drive?"
I smiled, this would be easier than I had imagined. "I'm pretending it's not your birthday, just as you wished."
"If it's not my birthday, then I don't have to go to your house tonight." she said hopefully.
I shut the door and walked around her to the passengers side.
"Fine," I said smugly, "Happy Birthday."
"Shh." She said once again, and her face fell as she walked to the driver's side.
I hated it when we took Bella's car. And I hated it even more when she drove it. The 55 mph speed limit was almost excruciating. I looked for a distraction. My eyes fell on her outdated radio. The radio I knew didn't get any reception and had terrible sound quality. The radio I knew would be replaced by Emmett the second I had Bella in my house that evening. She wouldn't be too thrilled, but maybe I could warm her up to the idea.
Shaking my head, I turned the dial, searching for a radio station with a frown. "Your radio has horrible reception." I said.
She frowned. She always stuck up for her truck like it was a small child that I felt the need to constantly pick on.
"You want a nice stereo? Drive your own car." she said in a sharp, almost angry tone.
I tried not to smile.
When we parked in front of Charlie's house, I moved closer to her, taking her face in my hands.
"You should be in a good mood, today of all days." I said, breathing over her face.
"And if I don't want to be in a good mood?" she asked, her heart rate accelerating.
"Too bad." I said, doing my best to dazzle her, as she once put it.
I kissed her then, a little longer than I normally did. But when her arms wrapped around my neck, I smiled and pulled away.
"Be good, please." I said kissing her one more time, enjoying her heartbeat.
"Do you think I'll ever get better at this?" She asked sheepishly. "That my heart may someday stop trying to jump out of my chest whenever you touch me?"
She was stroking my ego.
"I really hope not." I said with a smile.
She rolled her eyes and continued.
"Lets go watch the Capulets and the Montagues hack each other up, all right?"
"Your wish, my command." I said.
I sat on the sofa, trying to take up as much space as possible in order to force her to touch me when she sat down, while she skipped through the credits. When she came to sit next to me, she sat on the edge of the sofa, the only place I had not reached to.
I frowned.
Reaching my arms out for her, I pulled her next to me. Her warm body reminded me of the temperature difference and I wrapped the old afghan around her so she wouldn't freeze next to my cold skin.
"You know I've never had much patience for Romeo." I said as he confessed his true love of the girl who was not Juliet.
"What's wrong with Romeo?" Bella asked, offended that I had dared to criticize the great romantic.
"Well, first of all, he's in love with this Rosaline- don't you think it makes him seem a little fickle? And then a few minutes after their wedding, he kills Juliet's cousin. That's not very brilliant. Mistake after mistake. Could he have destroyed his own happiness anymore thoroughly?"
She sighed. "Do you want me to watch this alone?"
"No, I'll mostly be watching you anyway." I traced my finger over her warm skin. "Will you cry?" I asked hopefully.
"Probably. If I'm paying attention." She said, implying that she wouldn't be. That sounded like the best situation to me, but I didn't want to give her any reason to not come to my house tonight. I pushed her away from me.
"I wont distract you then." I said, though I couldn't stand the new distance between us, and I kissed her hair.
She paid attention to the movie, much to my dismay. I whispered Romeo's lines into her ear as the movie progressed. I was thoroughly amused when Juliet awoke in her tomb next to her dead husband and a tear fell from Bella's eyes.
I wiped her tear away. "I'll admit, I do sort of envy him here."
"She's very pretty." Bella said, as though the beauty of the actress was even comparable to her own.
"I don't envy him the girl- Just the ease of the suicide." I said, disgustedly. "You humans have it so easy! All you have to do is throw down one tiny vial of plant extracts..."
"What?" Bella gasped.
"It was something I had to think about once, and I knew from Carlisle's experience that it wouldn't be simple. I'm not even sure how many ways Carlisle tried to kill himself in the beginning... after he'd realized what he'd become... And clearly he's still in excellent health." I brightened the end of the story, I hated to frighten her.
She turned to look at me. "What are you talking about? What do you mean this is something you had to think about once?"
"Last spring when you were..." It was hard for me to finish this sentence, "nearly killed." The anger that boiled inside of me every time I thought of James being that close to Bella threatened to boil over, but I composed myself and returned to a teasing tone. "Of course I was trying to focus on finding you alive, but part of my mind was making contingency plans. Like I said, it's not as easy for me as it is for a human."
She started shaking her head, a look of remembered horror on her face. I shouldn't have brought this up.
"Contingency plans?" she asked.
I rolled my eyes. How could she assume I would continue to live after she didn't. How could she even imagine that it would even be possible for me to go on in a world where she didn't exist.
"Well, I wasn't going to live without you. But I wasn't sure how to do it- I knew Emmett and Jasper would never help...so I was thinking maybe I would go to Italy and do something that would provoke the Volturi."
"What is the Volturi?" Her voice was demanding now.
I pictured them in their billowing black cloaks and piercing red eyes. "The Volturi are a family. A very old, very powerful family of our kind. They are the closest thing our world has to a royal family, I suppose. Carlisle lived with them briefly in his early years. In the beginning, before he settled in America- Do you remember the story?"
She nodded her head. "Of course I remember."
"Anyway," I continued, "You don't irritate the Volturi. Not unless you want to die. Or whatever it is we do."
Her face contorted into horror and she suddenly grabbed my face between her hands. "You must never, never, never think of anything like that again! No matter what might ever happen to me, you're not allowed to harm yourself!"
Though if somehow something ever did happen to this perfect human that sat in front of me, regardless of her wishes, I would find away to end my life. But as long as I was with her, her life would never again be threatened, it was a promise I would keep.
"I'll never put you in danger again, so it's a moot point." I said.
She got angry then. "Put me in danger! I thought we'd established that all the bad luck was my fault! How dare you even think like that!"
I loved the flush of blood that colored her cheeks pink when she got angry.
"What would you do if the situation were reversed?" I asked her.
"It's not the same thing." she said, a look of hurt coming to her eyes.
I chuckled. She was right. The thought of being in a world without her was more painful then she could possibly imagine. It would hurt me infinitely more than my death could even bother her. But this is not what she meant. How could she underestimate the love I felt for her so much?
"What if something did happen to you?" She asked. "Would you want me to go and off myself?"
No. I refused to think of anything hurting her, even if it was her that was doing the hurting.
"I guess I see your point.." I didn't, but I would appease her. "a little. But what would I do without you?"
"Whatever you were doing before I came along and complicated your existence." she said, exasperated.
What had I done before Bella? Was there even life before Bella? There was certainly nothing without her in the future. Those long decades I had existed before I knew her were distant and dark. She was like a bright light in the darkness of my personal hell, a new moon.
"You make it sound so easy." I said.
"It should be, I'm really not that interesting."
Not that interesting! How could she not see that she was the most fascinating creature in existence? I spent all of my time trying to absorb as much of her as possible, to know all there was to know about her. And she calls herself uninteresting.
I was tired of arguing with her. And I could hear Charlie's thoughts getting closer.
"Hope Bella will be fine with pizza for dinner. Maybe I should have taken her out for her birthday. But I bet Edward will be there. He wont want dinner and Bella wont want to be without him. She really has an unhealthy obsession with that boy. The mariners better break their losing streak tonight. How long can they expect...."
I stopped listening. Once Charlie's thoughts turned to baseball, it was over. I turned back to Bella.
"Moot point." I said again, ending the argument. I reluctantly moved her a few inches from me and sat up straight.
"Charlie?" she guessed.
I smiled. Both because at that moment the police cruiser pulled into the driveway and because Bella laced her fingers with mine.
Charlie walked through the front door with a pizza box in his hand.
"Hey, kids." He said with a smile. "I thought you'd like a break from cooking and washing dishes for your birthday. Hungry?"
"Sure, thanks, Dad." Bella said, getting off the couch to eat with her father in the kitchen.
I sat in the living room pretending to be interested in the television while I allowed Bella and her father to enjoy a family dinner. When I saw Charlie push his plate away I walked into the kitchen, now was the time to trap Bella into attending her birthday party.
"Do you mind if I borrow Bella for the evening?" I asked Charlie.
"That's fine- the mariners are playing the sox tonight. So I won't be any kind of company... Here." Charlie threw her the camera Bella had received as a gift that morning.
Why would he think this was an acceptable thing to do with Bella? Surely it wouldn't have been anything for him to toss the camera to any other human, but Bella would have probably dropped it if he'd have handed it to her.
I caught the camera a few inches from the ground.
"Nice save." Charlie said. "If they're doing something fun at the Cullen's tonight, Bella, you should take some pictures. You know how your mother gets- she'll be wanting to see the pictures faster than you can take them."
"Good idea, Charlie." I said with a smile. Bella couldn't refuse now. Her face fell.
She pointed the camera at me. "It works." she said.
"That's good." Charlie added. "Hey, say hi to Alice for me. She hasn't been over for a while."
Bella rolled her eyes. "It's been three days, dad." but she added. "I'll tell her."
The sound of the pre-game show came from the living room.
"Ok, you kids have fun tonight." Charlie said, his thoughts suddenly only focused on the game that evening.
I smiled and took Bella's hand. We walked to her car and I opened the passenger door. To my surprise, she didn't complain. She just climbed in, put her seat belt on and pouted.
I tried to hide a laugh when I got in next to her and stared a car. Thankfully, she didn't notice.
Bella's truck was excruciatingly slow. I gripped the steering wheel tightly as I tried to coax as much speed out of the ancient engine as possible, it groaned.
"Take it easy." Bella said.
"You know what you would love? A nice little Audi coupe. Very quiet, lots of power..." I could picture it. Driving Bella to school in her shiny red sports car. Hearing the engine purr and the soft sound of the tires rolling over pavement. Bella wouldn't be allowed to drive it of course, she would be to fragile, delicate. One crash could... kill her. I pushed that thought out of my mind immediately.
"There's nothing wrong with my truck." She said defensively. "And speaking of non-essentials, if you know what's good for you, you didn't spend any money on my birthday presents."
"Not a dime." I replied thinking of the CD wrapped in the silver paper on the piano. How I wished that CD was a fine piece of jewelry or an expensive jacket or plane tickets to Paris, but Bella would hate that.
"Good." She said.
"Can you do me a favor?" I asked. I was thinking about Alice's excited face waiting at home for us. Emmett waiting to install the brand new car stereo. Esme who would love nothing more than to see Bella beaming with happiness in her home.
"That depends on what it is." Bella said, skepticism in her voice.
"Bella, that last real birthday any of us had was Emmett in 1935. Cut us a little slack, and don't be too difficult tonight. They're all very excited."
"Fine, I'll behave."
I sensed a little remorse in her voice.
"I probably should warn you.." Saying Emmett's name reminded me of the animosity between Bella and Rosalie.
"Please do." She urged.
"When I say they're all excited... I do mean all of them."
"Everyone?" She struggled. "But I thought Emmett and Rosalie were in Africa."
"Emmett wanted to be here."
"But... Rosalie?" She asked hesitantly.
I thought of Rosalie's face as it had been when she had arrived that morning. She was not too keen to be attending Bella's birthday party, but if Emmett was going to be there, so was she.
"I know, Bella. Don't worry, she'll be on her best behavior."
I saw the distress on her face as she thought about Rosalie. I believe she felt guilty about Rosalie's desire to be on a different continent from her, something I couldn't believe bothered her. If Rosalie wasn't so vain and self absorbed, she would be here all the time, like Emmett wanted.
I changed the subject. "So, if you wont let me get you the Audi, isn't there anything you'd like for your birthday?"
She looked down, avoiding my gaze and whispered. "You know what I want."
I frowned. Why was she so eager to throw away mortality? I was tired of arguing with her about this. She was staying human if it was the last thing I did.
"Not tonight, Bella. Please."
"Well, maybe Alice will give me what I want." She said off-handedly.
I growled. The very thought of Alice taking the life of my beautiful Bella made anger boil inside of me.
"This isn't going to be your last birthday, Bella." I said. It was a promise.
"That's not fair!" she whined.
My teeth snapped together. I was to angry to say anything for the rest of the drive.
When we finally did pull up to my house we were met by lights glowing from the party decorations. Alice had used her extra time.
Bella moaned.
I was still too angry to speak, but this was her birthday. I took two deep breaths and let them calm me.
"This is a party." I said, hoping I was successfully masking my anger. "Try to be a good sport."
"Sure." She muttered.
I got out of the car and quickly walked to her side, opening her door and offering her my hand.
"I have a question." she said.
My eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"If I develop this film," She began, looking down at the camera. "Will you show up in the picture."
I laughed. Human vampire lore was hilarious. It surprised me sometimes how little Bella really understood of my world, and yet she was so ready to join it. I was still laughing when I opened the front door and ushered her inside.
"Happy Birthday, Bella!" my entire family recited in unison. She blushed. I loved that.
I wrapped my arm around her waist and kissed her on the forehead. She seemed overwhelmed by the explosion of pink that Alice had added to the living room as decoration. There were hundreds of pink roses and a giant pink birthday cake next to a mound of silver wrapped packages sitting on my piano.
Carlisle walked over to us and put an arm around me. He looked at Bella.
"Sorry about this, Bella. We couldn't rein Alice in." He said in a very audible whisper.
Rosalie and Emmett were the next closest. Emmett was grinning wide as we walked to greet the birthday girl, Rosalie was working on keeping her face blank.
"You haven't changed at all," Emmett teased, "I expected a perceptible difference but here you are, red-faced just like always."
"Thanks a lot, Emmett." Bella said, blushing more.
"I have to step out for a second." He winked at Alice. "Don't do anything funny while I'm gone."
"I'll try." She replied, she wasn't angry but her face showed she didn't like Emmett's jabs at her. I didn't either. Even though I knew he harbored no ill feelings towards Bella and he teased her purely out of fun, his jokes fueled the make-me-a-vampire flames.
I smirked as Emmett walked out of the front door, thinking about the new stereo he was about to install. Alice left Jasper's side and danced forward, her hands outreached for Bella's.
"She's practically family and Edward loves her. Don't breathe. Edward loves her. She isn't just any human. It would ruin my whole family if I... Edward loves her."
It was hard for me to hear Jasper's thoughts. Though I knew it was hard for him and I knew he would never intentionally harm Bella, he still was struggling to control herself. Every time his thoughts turned to Bella's blood, I protectively hovered closer to her, put my arm around her, positioned myself at all times between her and Jasper.
"Time to open presents." Alice chirped leading Bella to the silver mound on my piano. Bella looked slightly angry. Why couldn't she let us spoil her just this one night. After all, it really wasn't anything special to be spoiled on your birthday.
"Alice, I told you I didn't want anything." She said finally.
"But I didn't listen." Alice replied happily, "Open it." She said smugly handing Bella her first package.
Bella weighed the package in her hands and a confused expression touched her face, when she read the tag on top she looked apprehensive.
When she tore open the paper she seemed to not understand the picture on the box, and when she looked inside the empty box, her confusion seemed only to grow deeper.
"Um..thanks." She said. I smiled, though there really was a present could she be thinking at this moment that we had followed her wishes and actually got her nothing. I laughed silently.
"It's a stereo for your truck." Jasper explained with a laugh, "Emmett's installing it right now so you can't return it."
She grinned. Could she actually be happy about this gift? I began to curse myself for agreeing to her wishes and not buying her something more extravagant.
"Thanks Jasper, Rosalie...." She began. "Thanks Emmett!" She yelled towards the door.
"Open mine and Edward's next!" Alice nearly sang.
She turned to me with a venomous glare. "You promised." She said.
Emmett came in the door, "Just in time." He said happily.
I returned my gaze towards Bella. "I didn't spend a dime." I told her truthfully. I reached up and brushed the air out of her eyes. The movement of her swirled her scent through the room.
"Edward loves her. EDWARD LOVES HER!" Jasper thought more forcefully this time.
I moved closer to Bella, he was making me nervous.
Bella inhaled deeply and finally gave in. She looked at Alice. "Give it to me."
I should have taken the gift from her, unwrapped the paper before handing her my pitiful excuse for a gift. I should have insisted that we not open presents in front of my family. I should have agreed to her wishes and forbid my family from purchasing Bella any gift. But I didn't.
I saw it as if it was in slow motion.
"She's important to my family."
Bella took the package from Alice.
"She has her own family. A father and a mother who love her."
She reached to jerk the tape away from the side of the paper.
"She is Edward's Alice. It would kill him."
"Shoot." She said.
A paper cut.
A sharp intake of breath.
A single drop of blood.
"Mine."
"NO!" I roared as Jasper's face contorted into uncontrolled fury and he launched himself at her.
I threw my body in front of her, pushing her from Jasper's deadly path. I heard a loud crash, the clatter of bowls and presents and the cake falling to the floor, the shattering of glass, but I couldn't worry about that right now. All of my focus was on my murderous brother.
My brother. Would I kill him? If I had no other way to stop him, what else would I do. I would not, could not let him harm her.
He slammed into me with extreme force, growling from deep inside his chest, snapping his teeth inches away from my face, but I held him. Emmett had him in the next second. Holding him too tightly for Jasper's ravenous struggling to affect his grip. His eyes were filled with wanting as he stared down at my beautiful Bella.
I crouched in front of her, ready if he broke free. Ready to attack. Ready to kill.
Carlisle looked at Emmett. "Emmett, Rose, get Jasper outside." he said with authority.
"Come on Jasper." Emmett said solemnly.
Jasper continued to struggle violently against Emmett's unbreakable grip. Rosalie moved in between Jasper and I, blocking his view of Bella and began to help wrestle Jasper through the door that Esme held open.
No one breathed.
Esme turned her face to Bella. If there could have been, there would have been tears in her eyes. She shook her head with deep regret and apology. "I'm so sorry, Bella." She disappeared after Jasper.
"Let me by, Edward."
My teeth were still bared. My hands balled into fists. I was ready to attack. It took me a half a second to register Carlisle's request, but when I did, I relaxed slightly and moved aside.
He moved past me and I froze. I didn't know what I was going to see when I turned to face her. The smell in the air told me that a lot more blood had been spilled then the paper cut. How badly had I hurt her when I flung her away from Jasper?
I turned to look at her. Blood poured from her harm from a deep gash filled with glass. My stomach wrenched but I fought to keep my face stone.
On her face, there was only shock.