I woke up in what I guess you could call a cold sweat, except for the fact that I was burning hot. It felt as if my entire body was aflame, and like I was bitten by a thousand fire ants.
I saw Bella's sleeping figure on the bed across the room, and Charlie's form on the ground in between the two beds.
I felt the need to say something, but my throat was so dry. Spying a glass of refreshing water on the nightstand next to my bed, I struggled to raise my arm to reach it. I downed the entire glass within five gulps, and instantly craved more.
After ten minutes of trying to get up, I gave back and laid down in my pool of sweat. Yeah, I know. Ew. I tried to go back to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes, the image of that boy danced behind my eyelids.
Who was he? In my dream, I felt as if I've known him forever. When he sat next to me, I felt peaceful. When he touched me, I felt safe. And when he kissed me, I felt an emotion beyond the largest form of love.
How is it possible to feel all that for a guy I haven't even met? Last time I checked, it wasn't normal to lovea complete stranger. With a sigh, I surrendered into the sleepiness that crept up on me.
"Is she better?"
"Does she lookbetter?" I groaned and rolled over, smacking my arm against something hard.
"Ow," I mumbled, slowly separating my eyelids. I was met by Emmett's somber face. He chuckled.
"If anyone should be saying 'ow', it should be me. If I recall, youweren't the one hit across the face...but you sure look like you were." I grumbled and tried to sit up, but failed miserably. Em slipped his arm around my waist and hoisted me up so my back was resting against the bed post.
"Wow, thanks Em. You sure do know how to make a girl feel beautiful." Note the sarcasm. He brushed some hair out of my face and held my gaze.
"You arebeautiful, Max." We stared at each other, all the while butterflies were in a frenzy in my stomach.
"Erhem. Sorry, I don't mean to be interrupting, but I'd like to make sure my step-sister isn't dying from a deadly disease, because if she is, then Charlie's going to kill me." Bella shimmied up to the bed and pushed Emmett over to make enough room for her to sit on the bed.
"You're socaring, Bells. Don't strain yourself from trying to help me." I rolled my eyes.
"I try. So, how'd you feel? 'Cause honestly, you look like death."
"I'm fine," I replied curtly. I don't know if it's just me, but being told I look like hell doesn't really boost my self esteem.
"Uh huh, sure. Being out cold for a week sure is fine," Em's voice dripped with sarcasm but was laced with concern. He held my gaze for a minute before I looked away and blushed. Whatever happened earlier freaked me out. It's not possible that I'm falling for my best friend, right?
"Really. I'm fine. There's nothing wrong wit- did you say out cold for a week?" I glanced incredulously at Bella, waiting for her to tell me that he was kidding.
"Yeah. You were sleeping for an entire week. We called a doctor and he said you had an intense flu. He said you should wake up the next day, but you never did. You really scared us." Bella sniffled and didn't meet my gaze.
I swallowed. There was a possibility that I wouldn't wake up. I clutched the sheet until my knuckles turned white.
"Bella, could you give us a minute? It looks like she's freaking out." Bella nodded and stepped out, silent tears streaming steadily down her cheeks.
Em and I sat there in silence for a while, me hyperventilating and him watching me closely.
"Come here," He mumbled, pulling me towards him. I clutched his shirt and quietly cried. He hulled me onto his lap, never breaking our embrace, and softly rocked us back and forth, all the while muttering soothing words.
"It's ok, Max. You're fine. There's no reason to cr- It's your family, isn't it?" When I didn't respond, he sighed and continued to stroke my hair.
I cried harder when he mentioned my family. My parents, siblings, and grandparents all died in a building collapse when I was just ten. The thought of ending up like them, a cold, dead corpse buried under layers of dirt, really freaked me out. I shook and sobbed for a good fifteen minutes.
My bawling finally settled down into little hiccups, and I remained on Em's lap.
"You ok?" I nodded and snuggled closer to him, still slightly frightened. He rubbed my lower back comfortingly.
"I'm sorry you had to see me...break down like that. It's just it's so hard to think about it sometimes-" He cut me off.
"Sh, it's not your fault, ok? We've been over this. The building collapsed due to its weak structure, not because of your 'bad karma.'" He paused to push some hair out of my face, "Believe me, Max. Someone as beautiful, nice, caring, sweet..." He trailed off, leaning in closer with every word he said.
"Just tell me when stop," He breathed, gently cupping my face with his cold hands. I lifted my chin, my lips already parted involuntarily to meet his.
At first the kiss was slow, gentle, pleasant. We broke away for a second, but then, with a growl, he lounged back in. He kissed me roughly, pushing me up against the headboard and getting on top of me. I straddled his waist with my legs and kissed back just as feverishly, trying to keep up with his inhumane speed.
He fiddled with the hem of my sweatshirt, and impatiently yanked it off, leaving me in only my tank top. I huffed into the kiss, disappointed that he was taking control, and broke the kiss for a second to tear his shirt off. He grinned, never taking his lips away from mine.
My back started to feel sore from being pushed up against the hard wood headboard, so with all my strength, I flipped us so I was on top. He looked stunned for a second, but then just pulled me closer.
"You always liked being the one to lead," He mumbled in between kisses. He pulled away and attacked my neck, leaving a trail of fluttery kisses where ever he touched me.
His hands roamed my curves as his lips made their way down to my midriff, then back up to my neck.
I rolled my eyes, and decided to tease him a bit. I pushed down a bit so I could reach his neck. I bit, licked, and kissed his entire neck until I found his sweet spot. I was on the brink of giving up. I gave one last final attempt, and kissed the tender spot right under his ear, and stopped, shocked, when I heard him moan. I pulled back and smirked at him.
"Oh shit," He murmured. I leaned back in and kissed his sweet spot, almost laughing as I heard him suppress some moans.
"C'mon. Don't hold your moans back. They just turn me on," I whispered seductively into his ear. I licked the spot under his ear again and smiled as I heard him growl.
"Bitch. I swear, you're going to be the death of me," He said through gritted teeth. He clutched the sheets as I lowered myself a bit more to get a better view of his face.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," I purred playing with the zipper of his pants. He hissed and jerked upwards, holding the sheets tighter. His hands shot out and pulled me up to him.
"Max. I. Want. You. So. Badly." He moaned and pulled me even closer to him. I smirked at him.
"To bad. You'll just have to wait." And with that I jumped up and sauntered out of the room, adding an extra swing to my hips.
"Max!" I laughed as I heard Emmett yell my name, and ran out of the house and hopped onto my bike. Who would have thought I just had a heavy make out session with my best friend?