Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight nor the characters contained in this story.
Warning: This story is rated M for a reason. Language, Violence, Sex. You've been warned.
AN: Thank you so much for reviewing!
I'm sorry y'all, I know the chapters are short, but with my schedule it's the best I can do and still update weekly. If you really, really hate them, I can switch to longer chapters but it would mean only updating once a month (or more).
Let me know what you prefer?
Back to the story...
Garrett quickly found Bella's scent trail leading to the Cullen's home and followed it. Relief filled him when he scented the trail skirt the wolves' treaty line but not cross it.
Still, she had cut it awfully close. She was so damn stubborn that way. When he'd warned her about the wolves, Bella's curiosity had peaked. She had asked him just about a million questions he didn't have the answers to. Strangely, it was one of the things he loved most about her.
He spotted the house through the trees and came across Jasper's fresh scent. Garrett could see where there had been a small skirmish and marks on a large nearby tree; as if someone had been slammed against it. His breath caught on a growl. Would Jasper have actually hurt her? Garrett couldn't imagine it, not the man that he knew Jasper to be now, anyway.
He sprinted the remaining distance to the Cullen's front door. Garrett pushed the door open a little more forcefully than necessary, causing it to groan and partially splinter.
Garrett's eyes quickly sought out her face in the room. Bella's back was turned towards him, her long mahogany hair catching his attention. She'd had it up when she left and must have decided to listen to him for once, and wear it down to hide the scar on her neck.
That scar.
Garrett didn't blame Jasper; Jasper had lived in sheer hell under the control of Maria for decades. He could only imagine what horrors had happened that night to cause Jasper to lose control. Garrett assumed the large scar was from her throat being torn open, but he had never told Bella that. Sometimes, though, he would catch her looking at it in the mirror and he'd watch as she would trace her fingers over it, lost in thought. Garrett wondered if she knew or remembered. If she did, she never said anything.
"Bella! Thank God! Are you okay?" Garrett asked, moving towards her only to be stopped by Emmett.
"I don't fucking think so," Emmett growled, his large palm pushing against Garrett's chest and shoving him roughly backwards.
"What the hell, Emmett?" Garrett asked incredulously, as his eyes swept the room and noticed them all glaring at him. "What's going on?"
"It's okay, Rose," Bella said quietly. "Tell Emmett to let him through."
"Are you sure?" Rose asked.
Bella nodded and squeezed Rose's hand reassuringly.
Rose searched Bella's eyes for a moment and found nothing but pure fire. Good girl.
"Give him hell," Rose growled lowly.
"Oh, I plan to," Bella replied with a growl of her own, turning around to finally face Garrett.
Once Emmett reluctantly stepped out of the way, Garrett stupidly rushed to Bella and wrapped her up in his arms.
A moment later, Garrett was on his ass by the front door, the force of his collision causing the door to splinter the rest of the way and fall from its hinges.
Garrett looked over to Carlisle in confusion and a plea for help.
"Don't look at me. You're on your own with this one, old friend," Carlisle warned, his hands up in a surrendering gesture.
"Bella. What's wrong, baby?" Garrett asked, his brow furrowed as he cautiously stood up.
That was when the furniture started flying...
First it was a chair that he deflected with a hand.
"Don't you fucking dare call me baby!"
Then an end table flew beside his head as he barely dodged it.
"You lying piece of shit!"
Piece after piece came hurtling through the air at him, along with her insults following.
"Can we keep her?" Emmett whispered conspiratorially to Rose. Rose didn't respond. Perhaps it was because Rose was thinking the very same thing.
Carlisle looked to his own mate, expecting to find her fretting over the house being demolished. But surprisingly, Esme looked...a bit proud? Carlisle shook his head. She never ceased to amaze him.
"Bella, stop throwing things!" Garrett yelled. "Just talk to me!"
That stopped Bella abruptly in her tracks. She had Edward's piano lifted over her head, ready to hurl it at Garrett.
Edward, seeing an opportunity, gently snatched it from her hands, and set it down as far away from her as he could get it.
"Talk?" Bella sneered. "You want to talk? Okay, let's talk. Let's talk about you being a fucking liar!"
"Is this about Jasper?" Garrett asked calmly, taking a step towards her. He just wanted to hold her. To touch her. She was so upset and he hated it.
"Your good friend Jasper, you mean?" Bella growled, taking a step back in return.
"It's not like that," Garrett argued, quickly glancing around at the others. "I mean, yes, he's a good friend but I..."
"How long have you known Jasper and where he was?" Bella interrupted, her tone cold.
Garrett didn't answer. Fuck, he hadn't planned on the them talking to her. The plan was for her to come, fail at killing Jasper, and leave. Why the hell didn't she just leave after?
"How long? Fifty years? Sixty? More?" Bella growled. "All that time, and you kept it from me. Why?"
Garrett knew it was time to tell her truth...well, some of it. But she wasn't going to fucking like it...
"Because you weren't ready then. But it's time now and you needed to see for yourself. You need to let your parents go, Bella," Garrett replied gently.
Bella reared back as if she'd been slapped. "What?"
"You've never grieved them. Instead, you turned your grief into this damn quest for vengeance. It's time to let this go and move on with your life."
"How dare you bring them into this! So you think you know what's fucking best for me? Is that it, Gar?" Bella shouted, her eyes now black as coal.
"I don't know. I've only taken care of you and been in love with you for over a century, Bella," Garrett scoffed. "You tell me."
Bella's eyes grew wide.
"That look. Right there. Your vengeance was the only thing you cared about; the only thing you saw. I was just hoping you would finally see...," Garrett paused abruptly, taking a deep breath before he broke and uttered the word 'me'.
His heart was on a precipice and she was set to kick it over the edge.
"That doesn't give you the right to lie to me! And you don't get to make declarations of love as a defense for it, either!" she countered, not missing a beat – at least on the outside, anyway.
On the inside, she was a complete mess. He was in love with her? She'd had no idea. Bella always thought they were on the same page with their relationship. Garrett was her best friend, her lover, and practically her sire, as far as she was concerned. He had helped her learn how to live as a vampire and how to accept this way of life.
The fact of the matter was, Bella felt she owed him everything. Without him, she probably wouldn't have lasted more than a few days on her own. And if she had, who knows what she would have ended up becoming.
"I'm sorry. I really am. I know I shouldn't have lied to you. I've always just wanted to keep you safe," Garrett apologized while closing the distance until he was standing right in front of her.
Bella shook her head and stared at his chest. She had trusted him and he lied to her.
"Baby, please," Garrett plead, his hand guiding her face up to look at him. "I love you."
Garrett leaned down then and lightly ghosted his lips over hers; hoping, begging for her acceptance.
Jasper growled in reply from the open doorway.
AN: Guess who is back? *whistles innocently* ;)
Thoughts?
**Thanks for reading!**