Do I own Bella and Edward? Nope, just borrowed them from Stephenie Meyer…..
EPOV
The last notes of the song were fading as I pushed my way towards the stage. Bella stood with her head down, breathing heavily, her hair obscuring her face. I tried to read her thoughts……..nothing. Damn! She was still on mental mute with me. It disconcerted me even more to know that I could still not read her mind. It made me feel nervous and insecure. I was roughly 10 feet away from her, at the edge of the stage when her scent hit me. I stopped dead in my tracks. Her scent was the same as before, if not more powerful and intense now, and it called to me strongly. The sole difference was that now I did not want to take her blood, I wanted to take her. I wanted to consume her. I was surprised and ashamed when I felt a tightening in my stomach. It was pure lust. I silently willed her to look at me, to acknowledge my presence. I knew by now that she knew I was there. She raised her head and stared straight into my eyes. I did not blink, she did not waiver.
Without breaking her stare, she touched a mic in her ear and I heard her mumble quickly "Take them to my rooms please."
The intro for the next song started and Bella finally broke eye contact and gave herself to the music singing to the screaming mob of fans again. If the silent communication we just shared had not been so intense I could almost believed that I imagined it. I felt a small hand on my shoulder and ignored it at first thinking it was Alice. The hand shook my shoulder again and I turned to glare down at whoever interrupted me. The small blond I had seen earlier looked up at me fearfully.
"Sir," she gasped "Isabella has asked for you and your party to wait for her in her dressing room." She looked at me nervously as her words slowly registered with me. I put one finger up, asking her to wait, and turned back to the stage again, willing her to look at me again.
"Please ….um….Mister….. Cullen?" she trailed off uncomfortably "Bella will be upset….. thinking that I did not come and inform you."
At the sound of my name I whipped my head around to look at the woman. "How do you know my name" I asked trying to keep my voice casual. The girl blushed a bright pink and began to stammer "B….Bella always k…keeps seats at every concert for the Cullen's, and since you and your family are in those seats, I just assumed…" she trailed off at the look on my face.
"I will go and get my family, stay right here please" I asked her politely. My thoughts were whirling through my head vampire speed and I tried to keep my facial expressions smooth. I pushed back through the crowd and beckoned everyone to follow me. It took great effort for me to get Emmett's attention away from Bella onstage. I growled and Rose smacked him in the head again.
"What!" he asked innocently "Can't a guy admire his little sister?" he smirked at me.
"Isabella has invited us backstage" I informed my family arching my eyebrow. "We have to go, someone is waiting to take us now" I hissed insistently when nobody moved.
"Wait," asked Esme incredulously turning from the stage "She knows we're here? Oh never mind, I am just so happy that our family will be whole again!" she cried flinging her arms around me.
We made our way back to where the blond girl was waiting. She had her hand touched to her earpiece frowning. She looked up at our approach stunned by the beauty of the lot of us. This was a normal human reaction and I smirked until I heard her thoughts as we followed her.
I hope this really is Bella's long lost family. She was happier today than since I have known her, and God knows she deserves some happiness. This one seems to be mesmerized by her, maybe he's not family, maybe he's….
Her thoughts broke off when we encountered one of Bella's burly security guards and I groaned. I wanted to see where that little gem of a thought was going.
"What's this?" he said astonished, looking over us "Ange, you know Isabella allows nobody…..and I mean nobody backstage. It's part of her contract."
The woman stomped her foot impatiently and glared at the brute "Let us by, James, this is on Bella's direct orders, and I don't think you want to piss her off tonight" she fumed "besides" she added with a proud smile "these are the Cullen's. Bella has costume change in 5 minutes and she has requested that Alice go choose something for her second set."
I heard a delighted shriek from behind me "Bella Barbie!" cried Alice jumping up and down her eyes shining with excitement. Alice then proceeded to shove past the security guard screaming "Out of my way idiot, I have an outfit to decide!"
The guard glared at us but stepped aside quickly once her caught sight of Emmett's scowl and my thunderous expression. The girl…Ange….led us to a large dressing room and asked us to relax and offered us refreshments. There were several large couches at the front of the room and we all proceeded to make ourselves comfortable while we waited. All except for Rosalie and Alice who were shrieking with obvious delight over Bella's wardrobe. I looked towards the large closet. I guess some things had changed with Bella, who used to need fashion advice from my sisters.
The blond woman noticed my unbelieving expression and laughed "Bella has a stylist; she gave her the night off and told her that she had someone better in mind to coordinate clothing for her. I think the stupid woman almost had puppies when Bella told her!" she snickered. 'Ohhh, incoming" Ange warned as she ran for the door and yanked it open to admit a very angry Bella.
She was obviously in a hurry and started undoing the buttons on her outfit while quietly giving orders to the blond woman. "Ange, you have get security to control the front of the stage. There are people trying to surge on with us and I am afraid someone is going to get hurt. They are out of control tonight. Oh and tell that ass James he is fired. He dared insinuate to me that you were incompetent and tried to argue with me as I was coming backstage. I don't have time for his bullshit" she growled.
She had finished undoing the buttons and had started to drop the dress from her body when I gasped. She spun around and locked eyes with me, biting her lip. If she could still blush she would have been crimson. I quickly turned my head away from her, trying to think of anything but the creamy white skin of her back that had been revealed as the dress had started to slide off. Only then did she seem to notice the rest of the family sitting there watching her and for the first time that evening I saw her composure slip.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled "I am not used to having company backstage." She ran toward the wardrobe holding the dress up with one hand. Alice danced out of the closet with Rosalie on her heels and they embraced Bella excitedly then yanked her in to change.
When Bella emerged moments later she was fully dressed in another stunning outfit and looked radiantly happy. She took a deep breath and smiled at us. Carlisle and Esme quickly stood to embrace her. I am sure Esme would have cried if she could produce tears. Emmett grabbed her next and gave her a big hug.
"Can't breathe Em" she gasped smiling. Jasper pulled her by the hand and wrapped her in a tight hug laughing.
"Jasper" she smiled "You don't know how long I have wanted to do that!"
I had been hanging back all this time, not sure how to approach her when I felt Alice at my elbow "Just go to her stupid" she hissed.
I walked up to Bella keeping my eyes on her face. She eyed me warily and took a step towards me. I put my hand out and stroked her cheek, looking into her eyes. Her hand reached up to touch mine and I felt the familiar electricity jump between us. She gasped, then spun on her heel and ran out of the room leaving me breathless.