Chapter 3

It was silent.

Alice and Rosalie stared at me with wide eyes and fish mouths. If the situation had been less serious I probably would have laughed. It stayed quiet for a while before either of the girls spoke.

"That really happened?" Alice's voice was soft, timid, a complete one-eighty from the girl who had been strong and confident twenty minutes ago.

I nodded, willing myself not to speak for fear of it cracking from the surfaced memories I had tried so hard to suppress.

Rosalie snorted. "You ran away from a boy?" Her voice held a bitter edge to it. "He hadn't even done anything worthy of running away for."

I gritted my teeth and repressed the urge to rip her hair out. Calmly, I rebutted, "I ran away so he couldn't do anything to me. Call it self-preservation if you will."

Surprisingly, that silenced her immediately. She looked down at the table top and brought her hands under the table.

Alice cleared her throat. "Where do you live now?"

I shifted my gaze over to the boys who seemed to be calmly drinking their sodas, ignoring us completely. Seemed. I caught their eyes flicker over to us enough to know that they were listening to our conversation across the empty restaurant.

Rosalie spoke up again, "Don't worry Bella, they aren't going to kill Jasper's little sister, not unless they want to unleash the God of War."

It took me a moment to realize she was talking about Jasper and then, "God of War?"

Edward spoke up from across the room, "Rosalie," his voice was short and with a hit of annoyance, "Why don't you girls come back over here and we can continue questioning Miss Whitlock together." It was more of a demand than a suggestion and there was a no-nonsense tone in his voice which immediately made Rosalie and Alice stand up.

I complied with their unspoken request and rose from my seat also, the three of us making our way across the restaurant again. Jasper immediately got out of the booth and gestured for me to get in between him and Emmett. I silently got in the booth Emmett's hand immediately finding my knee to give it a quick squeeze of reassurance.

Once everyone was seated again Edward spoke up, "Where are you living, Bella?"

I looked down once again, not out of fear but out of shame. Mother and I couldn't afford anything decent in New York because of being a single mother in a small town everything was cheap and she never made much money. My apartment was a single room—bed, bath, living, and kitchen quarters all in one convenient—very small—room.

Emmett let out a laugh, "We aren't gonna kill you Bella, Jazzy would have a fit."

Jasper growled, "I told you not to call me that."

"Drop it you two," Edward said, stopping Emmett from starting a pissing contest. "But they are right, Bella, you have no reason to fear us too much anymore." Too much—those words almost made me laugh but of course I don't think he meant it to be funny.

I looked down at the sticky table and mumbled and unintelligible answer.

"Come again?"

"Roster Avenue." My voice was still soft but Edward was able to understand enough.

He gave a disapproving glance at me before clearing his face of any emotions once again.

"Why would you live in a place like that?" Rosalie butted in, aggravating as ever. "Everything on Roster is complete trash; a little girl like you would never survive there long."

"It's all I could afford."

Jasper scoffed. "Well you're not living there anymore. No sister of mine is living in a place like that."

I looked at him bewildered. Sister? No one's called me that in years.

Will. Jasper was Will. I knew that he was but it wasn't connecting in my brain. Jasper was Will. Will was Jasper. They were one in the same. Jasper was my brother.

Oh god.

Jasper killed Sam. That means my brother killed Sam. My brother is a murderer. My brother threatened my life. He would have killed me.

My own brother.

What has he gotten himself into? My brother would never do something as evil as killing another human being unless someone he loved was being threatened.

That isn't my brother. Jasper isn't my brother. My brother is dead. Will is dead. This man—no this monster—is just the shell of my brother, his soul long gone.

"Then it's settled. Bella will come to live with the Cullen's." Edward's voice broke through my train of thought.

"Wait, what?" I asked, alarmed. "I'm not going anywhere with you. I don't know you! I don't know any of you! Why would I live with you? Especially after you threatened my life!" I slammed my hands on the table and tried to get out only to be blocked the large man on either side of me. "Move," I said keeping my voice low and temper under control. "I already told you that I wasn't going to say anything so you can let me go and trust my word on it because you already know where I live and work."

Their faces were frozen in shock and surprise. I guess not many people talked back to them. Jasper composed himself the quickest and put a gentle arm around my shoulders which I tried to shake off with no avail. "Izzy," his voice was soft, almost timid, as if he were speaking to a scared animal. "Please don't be like this. I'll be there too Iz; we'll be together again." His hand made soothing circles on my shoulder and I had to hold back a cringe that was threatening to break through my cold mask.

"Please remove your hand from my person." I said, my voice leaking an icy frostiness that even made me shiver slightly.

Jasper's hand fell away from my shoulder and he sighed deeply. "You are going one way or another, Isabella, I don't care if I have to drag you to the Cullen Estate myself."

I gave him my coldest glare. "I don't see the point—I already have a home—I don't need any of you."

Edward sighed, annoyed, and ran his fingers through his hair. "Humor us." His voice was empty, void of emotion and I realized that, like before, I had no say in the matter.

I grunted before speaking resignedly, "Fine, but answer me this first—why do you want me?"

Jasper rolled his eyes and said, "Because you're family."

"Come again? It's funny, I could have sworn that you just said that we're family but I know for a fact that we're not. My only family is my mom back in Texas so why don't you tell me the real reason."

Rosalie gaped. "Does she have short-term memory loss or something?"

I laughed harshly. "I have no such thing; I'm just not stupid. My brother died years ago. This man, Jasper, is a monster—not my brother. In case you all have forgotten, I watched Jasper kill a man. My brother would never do that. Ever." I pushed hard against Emmett's bulky shoulder signaling I wanted to get out and after a quick nod from Edward he got up. I ignored his preferred hand and got out myself fixing my apron as I did so. "If you have no further questions I would like to be on my way; it's well past my shift and I am tired."

I focused my question to Edward who sighed and said, "If you must, I can relate. Just allow one of us to make sure you get home safely—there are a lot of bad people out there who wouldn't hesitate to hurt someone as pretty as you."

I sighed and nodded, relenting to his request knowing that I was getting far more freedom than a person in my situation would normally get.

Edward nodded, "Emmett?"

Emmett's face softened slightly and nodded his head once, containing his emotions. He offered me his arm and I went over to the counter and grabbed my stuff. I waited by the door for the gang to file out before I followed, locking the door behind me.

AN: okay… That's it for today. Please tell me what you think in a review. (I wouldn't ask, but I recently lost my telepathy power so I don't know what you're thinking unless you write it down)