I'm not even going to bother offering apologies, I know I suck. I could offer excuses, but I won't.

Instead, here's the update. ;)

(DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything except the plot. Stephenie Meyer owns the rest. Lucky bitch.)


I leaned in towards Jake a little, casting a brief glance at Jasper.

I wasn't sure how he would react to me fishing for information about Edward.

Jake seemed like a blabbermouth and I wanted to get as much information out of him as possible. "So, what's his deal?"

"Edward's a complicated guy. But I think it all started when his sister got sick."

"Alice? He mentioned her briefly. What do you mean she got sick?"

"Alice was diagnosed with leukemia when Edward was ten. He'd been in counseling since he was five when he started exhibiting 'violent behavior' with other kids. He punched a kid for stealing his crayons or some shit and his parents overreacted. Total bullshit, but they kept him in therapy. He didn't have any more incidents, but his parents thought it was doing him some good to talk to someone about his feelings. But when Allie got sick, Edward flipped the fuck out. I guess he thought he was going to lose his only sister. He started getting into fights in school. He tried to slit his wrists when he was fourteen, but his dad found him before he could bleed to death. They sent him to an institution for a month and then brought him home when they decided he wasn't crazy, just emotionally fucked up. After that, it seemed like he was getting better. His dad took him to see Allie every day and he started volunteering at the hospital. But it turned out that he was stealing pills. He tried to OD on his sixteenth birthday."

I clamped a hand over my mouth in shock.

"They put him in an institution for a while and then a miracle happened. Allie got better. She kicked leukemia's ass, and when she came home, she insisted her parents bring Edward home, too. So they did, and Edward seemed better. His grades were awesome, he started playing the guitar again…" Jake trailed off and looked down at his hands.

"And then Allie was visiting her aunt in California and she was killed in a car accident."

I gasped softly. "How long ago was that?"

"About six months ago. That's when Edward started missing a lot of school and stuff. His parents didn't know what to do. They took him to another psychiatrist and she put him on some kind of medication, but the shit made him act really strange. He was really paranoid, really tired all the time…"

My eyes darted over to Edward, but he still seemed to be sleeping.

"He tried to slit his wrists last month when his parents were out of town. Jasper and I found him. God, that was the scariest fucking night of my life. We didn't take him to the hospital. We knew he'd botched it, he didn't bleed enough. So we just bandaged him up and didn't tell his parents. We figured maybe his meds were off or something. Now I'm beginning to wonder if we did the right thing. There's an awful lot of shit going down because of what he did at your school."

"Why are you helping him take me? He's obviously mentally disturbed."

"To be honest, I'm afraid of what he'd do if we tried to stop him from taking you. He's…Edward talked about you a lot. He's got a soft spot for you."

"He needs help, Jake."

Jasper cleared his throat and I looked up like the kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Bella, I need some information from you. Your height, weight, date of birth…"

I nodded and stood up, making my way over to him. I gave Jasper all the information he needed and he typed it into the computer.

"So how do you two know Edward?" I ventured.

"Uh, we played on the same soccer team when we were twelve." Jasper muttered distractedly.

"And you guys stayed friends all this time, huh?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I don't want to be rude but I'm trying to concentrate…"

"Oh! I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone."

He smiled and turned his eyes back to the screen.

I sighed heavily as I sank back into my chair beside Jake. I guessed I would have to drag any information I wanted out of the talkative one.

"You don't have to watch me, you know."

He flashed his megawatt smile. "Nice try, Bella. Edward told me not to let you out of my sight and the last thing I need is for him to be pissed at me. Just relax, watch some TV or something."

I frowned and rolled my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest.

"He's not such a bad guy, you know. Aside from the whole kidnapping thing, he's a pretty cool dude."

I snorted in a very unladylike manner. "Yeah, sure Jake. Look, I'm sorry but having a mental illness of some sort and your sister dying isn't an excuse for…"

I trailed off as Jake's smile faded and his eyes widened.

I swallowed thickly and turned in my seat to find Edward standing behind me.

His jaw tightened visibly and he balled his hands into fists. "Someone has a big fucking mouth."

Jake stood up and held his hands up in front of him. "Edward, look man…"

"You shut the fuck up, Black. Get out."

Jake opened his mouth to argue, but Edward's eyes blazed with anger and he took a step closer. "Get. Out."

"Edward." Jasper's soft voice startled me.

"Calm down. Breathe. Bella, take him outside for a minute, would you?"

"Me?"

Jasper's eyes were pleading. "Just until he cools off a little. Go."

I bit my lip and grabbed Edward's hand in my much smaller one. "Come on, Edward."

He followed me out of the motel room and I closed the door behind us. "He didn't tell me anything…" I started.

Edward's nostrils flared. "Don't lie. I heard him. That wasn't his story to tell, Isabella."

"Don't blame him, I asked him to tell me. It's my fault."

Edward snorted. "Don't defend him. He's scum, he always has been."

"I thought he was your friend."

"Jacob Black has never been my friend. He always tagged along with Jasper, so I dealt with him. But I never trusted him. I should have known better than to trust him to watch you. I knew he would either open his big, fat mouth or try to get into your pants."

Edward wrapped his hand around my waist, brushing his thumb along the waistband of my shorts.

I shifted uneasily, backing up a step until I was pressed against the wall.

I swallowed thickly as his hand slowly traveled up my side, brushing against the side of my breast.

"Edward…" It was meant to sound warning, but it came out in a breathy whisper.

"I wouldn't have let him put his hands on you. No one touches you. No one but me."

His hand moved to cradle my face gently in his palm. "My beautiful Isabella."

I flinched away from his touch. "Edward, you can't…You can't make me care about you. It doesn't work that way. You know that. You know it's impossible for me to return your feelings. Why don't you just let me go? I'll hitch a ride back to Forks with Jasper and Jake and you can go on to Canada."

"It's not impossible, Isabella. I've seen you the past few days, softening towards me. We have great conversations when you're not being a cranky bitch. And you can't tell me you're not attracted to me physically. Your body reacts to me. Even now, I can see your nipples hardening under your shirt."

I flushed bright red. I couldn't deny it, my shirt was thin and the night air wasn't that cold. His close proximity and the way he had touched me only a short time before were arousing.

He pushed his body flush against mine, his mouth at my ear. "You know, I think about you sometimes, when I'm touching my cock."

I trembled at his words. "Wh..what?"

He pulled back just far enough for me to see his face in the dim light. The ghost of a smile flickered over his features.

"I would watch you all the time at school. You never shunned me like the rest, Bella. You never mocked me or turned your back on me. You would sit at your desk with your nose buried in that god-awful Bronte book and chew on your lip…" At this, his thumb came up to graze gently across my lower lip.

"I think about your mouth a lot."

"Edward…"

His eyes flickered to mine. "Am I so hideous, Isabella? Could you never want me the way that I want you?"

"You're not hideous."

He snorted softly, his fingers sliding along my bare arm, igniting my skin in their wake. "I know. All the girls wanted me…They all wanted to be seen with me, to fuck me, to be marked as mine. Until I went 'crazy'. Then no one wanted anything to do with me. I guess I've showed them how crazy I really am, haven't I?"

His tone was frightening, almost manic.

"Edward, calm down. Please."

"I won't hurt you, Isabella. I could never hurt you."

And with that, Edward pressed his mouth to mine.

His kiss was violent, all gnashing teeth and forceful tongue.

I held my hands at my sides, not kissing him back.

He pulled away after a moment, his eyes searching my face. "You don't know how long I've waited for you."

My heart wrenched in my chest.

This man, this boy was whole-heartedly in love with me.

Yes, he had kidnapped me.

Yes, he had shot one of my teachers and my best friend's boyfriend.

Yes, he had threatened my father.

Yes, he was holding me hostage.

But this beautiful, broken boy was laying all he had left at my feet.

His heart.

So when he pressed his lips to mine for a second time, I pushed back the voices in my head that were telling me I was a fucking idiot.

I pushed back the thought of what consequences my actions might bring.

I cleared my head and I let my heart do the thinking.

And I fucking kissed him back.


*hides behind laptop screen*

Not gonna lie, I was scared to post this chapter.

I answered some questions, I posed some new ones.

More about Edward and his past will be revealed in due time.

Fear not, loves. I promise I know where I'm going with this.

I'd love to hear what you thought of this chapter! Drop me a review?

I probably won't be able to update this week because of work / the holiday, but hopefully next week.

Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing, it honestly means the world to me.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating this Thursday!