Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight - but I play with the characters for entertainment.

Chapter Four

"Somehow I found a way to get lost in you
Let me inside, let me get close to you
Change your mind I'll get lost if you want me to
Somehow I found a way to get lost in you."

~Three Days Grace

Edward

I could hear her timid steps behind me, the soft click of her bright blue heels echoing in the darkened hallway. She's nervous, the blush pink tint on her face only now fading – she hadn't remembered me but that was okay. I'm almost glad she didn't. It's given me an opportunity to observe her more.

For now, she's been meek, her hands twining together, hesitant to make eye contact, her teeth nibbling on her bottom lip subconsciously. All of her behaviors are so endearing, right down to her soft, light voice.

I wanted more than anything to crowd her space, though – wrap my arms around her and just anchor her to my body. Her demeanor calls for protection, especially in the sinful dress she's wearing. Honestly, the black fabric is modest, showing only her collar bones, her arms and her calves; it's the cut, tailored to her skin with a tightness that drives me mad.

It's better that I'm walking in front of her – gives me time to calm my body from half-mast.

She has an instant effect on me.

I reach the door that leads back into the fundraiser and open if for her, thrilling when her sweet voice meets my ears. "Thank you," she murmurs, her light eyes darting from the floor to my face and back.

I grin slightly, unable to take my gaze off her face as I follow her back into the party.

She's so exquisite, her pale skin nearly glowing. I wonder how soft that skin is.

"Edward!"

I look away from Bella and towards my mother. There is a slight Irish accent when she says my name and she walks towards us with a huge smile on her face. "Hi, Ma," I say, feeling the tips of my ears lighting up.

Ma had never seen me with a girl.

I could only imagine the questions she'd come up with when were alone. I pull on the top of my Mohawk nervously as Ma gets closer.

"I've been looking for you! And who is this?"

I clear my throat. "This is Bella. She's a uh…"

"I'm a friend from school," Bella interjects. She doesn't seem perturbed by labeling herself a friend, though her face does light up into a soft blush.

"Oh, it's so nice that you're making friends," Ma says, patting my cheek. She's slightly tipsy from the champagne. "Have you seen your father? I'm afraid I'm a wee too short."

I crane my neck, easily spotting my father talking to a suave looking man across the room. It isn't hard to find him as both my father and I are a few inches taller than most everyone in the room.

I squint my eyes at the man my father is talking to – dark hair and eyes, olive toned skin, handsome in an odd way with a clearly drunk woman hanging off his arm. I don't like this man immediately.

"He's over there," I point. "I'll walk you over."

No way was I letting my mother near that guy, even if my father was there. I wonder where Alice is, suddenly angry that I have to worry about her safety, too. This is a hospital, for fucks sake.

I turn to Bella, expecting to find her beside me where she had been a moment ago but she's gone. I furrow my brows and look over the crowd of mingling doctors and their families but I can't find her.

My heart and my stomach sink at the same time.

Was I wrong? I was almost certain she'd been blushing because of me, because of my attentions. Did she not feel the wave of attraction that had been pulling me to her?

I clench my jaw and shake off those feelings. This is why I didn't get involved with girls.

"Let's go, Ma," I say, leading my mother through the dwindling crowd.

I hear my father's uncomfortable laugh before I see him. He looks a lot like me in bone structure but his hair is a medium brown, his eyes dark hazel and covered by glasses. He sighs thankfully when Ma wraps herself around his left arm, his hand coming up to pat her fingers.

I step back and look up at the suave doctor, my face freezing when I watch his arm snake around Bella's hip. "This is my daughter," he says, his hand cupping the top of her hip in a way that doesn't seem very fatherly at all.

Bella looks sick, her body trembling so finely that it was barely noticeable.

But I noticed.

Her shoulders hunched lower as her father's hand slid from her waist to her ribcage, the tips of his fingers barely grazing the side of her breast.

I see red. I feel like yelling and puking and hitting all at once.

But I can't react.

I'm so frozen.

Bella isn't.

Her posture changes, suddenly rigid, her face cold as ice. She shakes her father's arm off, jamming her elbow between his ribs – he winces but manages to hold his face. "Don't you ever fucking touch me again, Felix," Bella hisses, getting right in her father's face before turning and stalking away.

And through all of this, her mother is blinking blearily, drunk in public with her bright lipstick smudged.

My own mother's tipsiness has completely vanished, her hand gripping my father's in distress.

Felix smiles tightly at my parents. "Teenagers," he says, by way of explanation. As if he hadn't touched his own daughter in the absolute worst way. As if she hadn't given him a good sized bruise on his torso – one that he deserved and much worse. As if nothing, absolutely nothing, had happened.

Before my parents can answer, Felix drags his wife off and hurriedly exits the fundraiser.

"Edward," Ma whispers, turning her face up to my father. "I want you to watch him."

My father nods, completely sober – I can see a certain tightness in his face that gives away his own sickness to what we had just witnessed. "I will, dear."

My parents turn to look at me but my mind is racing.

To most people, how Felix had touched Bella would have been innocent.

But it wasn't. We all knew it.

How long had that been going on?

Her whole life?

And what about the sudden mood change? It was so drastic.

Scared one moment, ready to kill the next.

It wasn't normal.

She's not fucking normal.

So then why am I still undoubtedly attracted to her?

I had no answers for any of my questions.

"Edward," Ma whispers, brushing the lapel of my jacket. "Let's go home."

I nod.

There's nothing I can say.

Nothing to say.

That night, sleep evades me. I toss and turn on my bed, burying my head in my pillow, squeezing my eyes tight in an effort to get rid of the images in my mind – and the images my mind is conjuring up. My chest aches more than my head by morning and I've resolved to save that girl.

I don't even know her.

But I can't stop the draw. I don't want to fight it.

I just want her to be safe.

And I want to figure her out – the drastic mood swings, as if she's two people.

My curiosity is getting the better of me.

I get up, scooting out of bed and massaging the back of my neck, listening to the sharp crack and relishing in the release of tension.

Alice is oddly quiet through breakfast, only becoming reanimated as we leave the house. She's skipping ahead of me, positively joyful and it's annoying when I'm sleep deprived and nearly insane with worry over a girl I don't even know.

"What the fuck did you smoke?" I spit, stuffing my hands into my pockets and glaring at my little sister.

Alice snickers and stops skipping. "I don't need to smoke anything ever again, Edward. I met my one last night."

"Your what?"

"My one," she sighs dreamily. "You know, my one and only. My soul mate. The one."

Christ.

"Is that where you were last night? You disappeared and I had to go find you," I mutter, secretly thankful that she did run off last night. If Alice hadn't done that, I would never have been on the same elevator as Bella.

Alice spins around on her toes, keeping pace with my long stride. "He's amazing, bro. His name is Jasper and he-"

"Wait," I interrupt, holding my hand up and glancing at my sister out of the corner of my eye. "How old is Jasper?"

Alice purses her lips pensively. "Eighteen."

"What the fuck, Alice? You're fifteen! Fifteen!"

"I'm mature for my age," she claims, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting in a decidedly immature fashion. "Besides, he just turned eighteen last month and I'm going to be sixteen soon."

My hands grip my hair. "It's fucking illegal, Alice."

"I'm still a virgin!" Alice protests, stomping her foot on the pavement before we venture into the crosswalk.

I feel a little sick.

My sister's virginity status was number one on my list of things I don't want to know.

Now I knew.

Shit.

"He's my age," I say, sort of stunned.

Alice snorts. "Hardly. You're about to turn nineteen."

"In the summer!"

"June is still technically spring."

"He's too old for you!" I yell, turning on the heel of my Doc Martens and placing my hands on Alice's shoulders. I'm even shaking her a bit, like she's a ragdoll. "Dad will kill you and I'm not digging up any fucking bodies!"

Alice slaps my hands away and fixes her hair, pushing one side behind her ear. "Dad can't say anything. He's six years older than Ma."

I sigh heavily, rolling my eyes. "That doesn't matter, Alice. That's like saying I could rob a bank because I saw Matt Damen do it."

Alice ignores me for the rest of the walk to school. I let her, because I'm right and she'll realize it eventually.

I really didn't like the thought of my little sister dating a guy my age, though. I know exactly how guys think.

I ignore the little voice in my head that argues my own thinking of Bella in that way. That was different. Bella is at least as old as I am.

I furrow my brows.

Actually, I didn't know how old Bella is. She certainly doesn't look Alice's age – proof enough was the dress from last night.

My stomach drops. God, what the fuck am I going to do if Bella is my sister's age?

I shove the thought away ruthlessly. Why did it matter? I didn't get involved with girls.

But I'm getting involved with this girl.

I can't stop that thought.

I don't even want to, really.

I crane my neck in the hallways at school, trying to find her in between classes. It's almost a compulsion, my chest acutely aching every time I don't find her. I need to see her, hear her voice – anything.

I'm obsessed.

I try to be disgusted with myself but it's impossible.

She inspires this obsession and I honestly don't mind it one bit.

During lunch, I loiter outside the cafeteria, hoping to catch a glimpse of her – I know Bella eats in the cafeteria, albeit separated from the rest of the students.

I'm lucky to see her enter through the west entrance, quickly making her way through the lunch line and only purchasing a rice-based baked bag of chips. I frown, considering the lack of actual nutrition. Did she eat this way all the time?

I remember that she hadn't eaten anything the last few times I'd seen her in the cafeteria and, suddenly, I'm fucking mad.

She's not taking care of herself.

With that thought fueling me, I angrily stomp over to the lunch line and fill a tray up with fruits, pizza, Jell-O and nachos. I'm not even really thinking as I drop the tray onto Bella's table and sit across from her. "Eat," I order.

Bella looks up at me, her grey-green eyes wide, a chip half-way to her mouth. "What?"

I ignore the urge to touch her face, to see how soft her blushing skin really is. Instead, I slide the try closer to her. "You need to eat," I say, forcing my voice to become softer. I didn't want to scare her – and I didn't want to come off as a controlling asshole to a girl I had no claim on.

Bella furrows her dark brows, pushing her hair to the side off her forehead. Today, the long wavy strands are loose, tumbling down her shoulders and resting over her chest. Immediately, I imagine what she might look like nude, but squash the thought when I feel tightness in my pants.

I shift.

Bella shakes her bag of chips. "I'm fine. See? Food."

"It's not enough."

Bella peers at the food on the tray. "That pizza is horrible for your body. And the nachos have meat on them."

I blink.

And try not to let happiness show on my face – she'd just told me something very important about her. She's a vegetarian – maybe a vegan?

"The fruit is good," I say and grin when Bella reluctantly picks a green grape off the vine, pursing her lips as she chews the fruit.

"Happy?"

"There's a lot of grapes," I reply, placing one of my elbows on the table and leaning my head against my fist as I chew my own food, the cheese and chips and meat from the nachos filling the empty pit that is my stomach.

We're quiet as we eat, Bella growing more and more uneasy as time passes. She is glancing over her shoulder every now and then, most likely hearing the quiet snickers and whispers from a group of girls sitting at the table behind her. They're obviously talking about her and I glare at them when Bella looks away.

They stop and our lunch continues in peace.

Bella clears her throat when she's finished the chips and grapes. Her fingers twirl together, a habit I had noticed earlier. "I'm sorry about last night," she says, her face blushing a gentle pink.

For a second, I don't know what she's talking about.

But then I remember the mood-swing, the way her father had touched her and I feel sick all over again. I compose my face into a neutral mask. "It's nothing," I say, even though we both know I'm lying.

She nods and looks away. "Thanks for the food," she whispers, even though we both know she isn't thanking me for the food – she's really thanking me about keeping my fucking mouth shut.

I study the gentle slope of her nose, the long, dark lashes that brush against her cheeks when she blinks and let my thoughts cement into a promise.

I will do anything for this girl.

A/N: So, it's short but that's okay – it's on time and, with this chapter, I can get back to my 10 page chapters! That makes the OCD in me very, very happy.

JessJess76 – answers will soon be coming your way!

james3142 – you're almost spot on the Chelsea past! For now, Felix is still useful to me!

aixa00 – Ha! Maybe I'll put Aro in the story so Felix can be felt up by an old dude!

RaeOslin – Chelsea does know about it! He used to be much, much worse.

Kaygou – would you be behind the Aro-molests-Felix plan, too? Lol

Twilight Rocker 12 – I love all cookies equally lol Sugar has a soft spot in my heart though!

EdwardFallenAngel – hook, line and sinker! Score for me!

cullen freak8888 – I wonder if your predictions will come true….hmmmm.

maysnrs – I'm afraid our little sleepwalker is going to turn into a little stalker lol

vampyregirl86 – yes, Bella and Izzy like him! I couldn't write a love-triangle or a love-hate-love triangle lol everyone loves eachother!

YesMyRealNameIsBella – her real parents are kind of involved in the Denali Corps, just not in the way you think lol

And the first review of the last chapter! Mdizzle181 – welcome welcome! I love new readers!

Okay, so I was so amused – and touched – that all of you want to kill Felix. Everyone is so protective of Bella/Izzy lol I've also decided to call all of my lovely reviewers and readers…..Rioteers. you guys are my Rioteers and I wouldn't be able to write without you!

As always, be brutally honest! I can take it.

~cupcakeriot