A/N: I'd like to thank my wonderful beta Tearlit! And to all the people who reviewed.
Chapter seven
Bella Pov
I woke up screaming from a nightmare that slipped away from me as soon as I was conscious, leaving me with only a heavy feeling of terror. I gazed about frantically in the dim light and Edward came rushing at me from nowhere. I screamed - he was going to hurt me, despite what I thought he was no different. Oh, God, why did I let them bring me here? He put his hands on my arms and I screamed, thrashing about; he held on harder and I could dimly hear him calling my name.
"Get away!" I yelled, kicking out frantically.
He backed away his hands in the air, looking alarmed. Esme came rushing in.
"What's going on?" Esme asked, locking eyes with Edward.
"She was having a nightmare, I tried to help but she thought I was going to hurt her, I think," Edward said quickly.
Edward then backed out of the room as Esme rushed forward, taking me in her arms.
"Shh," she whispered, smoothing down my hair.
I sobbed into her shoulder, not even looking up when I heard the door opening and shutting again. I cried for what seemed like forever, with Esme holding me and murmuring comforting things in my ear.
I took a deep breath as the tears began to slow; I blinked and looked up to see Alice sitting on the edge of the bed in her robe looking at me worriedly. I swallowed; I just was worrying her more and more everyday. I sat up and wiped my hand at the tears, brushing them away. Alice slid closer, pulling me into a tight hug.
"He can't hurt you anymore," Alice murmured into my ear comfortingly.
But it wasn't true; he'd break out again and come after me.
"No, he'll get out and come after me again," I cried into her hair.
"We won't let him hurt you again, I'm taking off and I'm going to be there with you at work until he's gone for good," she said giving me a squeeze.
Edward PovI stood in the hall, one hand running absently through my hair. I couldn't quite believe Bella thought I was trying to hurt her like Jacob had…and yet how could I not believe that? I was a man and therefore a threat to her very existence. Jacob was probably the only person she had ever been deeply involved with and he had hurt her in more ways than I could imagine, more ways than I would probably ever know.
I didn't think she was scared of me, exactly; she was just scared of what I could be, of what I could do to her if given the chance. I knew that even though she let her guard down with me sometimes, deep down she was still waiting…waiting for me to prove I was just as depraved as he was. Waiting for my fist to come crashing down, waiting for me to shatter what little bit of life she had managed to piece together. That thought cut me deeper than it should have.
Bella was strong and beautiful and so good. She was everything I had ever wanted in a woman, but I could not make her mine. Maybe one day, but not now…maybe not ever. Would I always be Alice's brother? Would I always be just the guy that saved her from Jacob? Of course I would, she couldn't want me. At the rate she was going she would never want a relationship again, and the only person I had to thank for destroying her and any chance I had of having a relationship with her was that stupid bastard, Jacob Black.
I growled and longed to punch the wall…but I knew that would only scare Bella even worse. I sighed and sank down, letting my head fall into my hands. My injured hands, wrapped in the bandages Bella had applied for me earlier as a thank you for saving her…I wanted to do so much more damage that …sad excuse for a man. Alice suddenly came charging from her room, probably in response to the sobs that I could hear coming from behind Bella's closed door. She paused when she saw me and sat down.
"What happened?" she whispered.
"She-she had a nightmare, I tried to help her but she thought I was going to hurt her," I said hoarsely.
"What did you do!" she yelled as quietly as possible.
"I-I just grabbed her arm and tried to wake her up, but she wouldn't stop screaming," I defended, knowing I should have been more careful.
"I told you to be careful!" she yelled."I was, I-""NO! When she calms down, you will go in there and apologize for scaring her!" Alice bellowed before getting up and rushing inside the room.
Jasper came out of Alice's room in just his boxers, I rolled my eyes, and he looked around, clearly confused.
"She's in there with Bella," I told him before adding, "Put some pants on, man, mom doesn't want to see that when she comes back out."
He looked down, grimaced and walked back into Alice's room for a second before coming back out with sweatpants on.
"What happened to her?" he asked, sitting down next to me.
"She had a nightmare and I tried to help, but I only made it worse," I said, looking down at my injured hand.
"You care for her, don't you?"
"Yes, I do, but there's nothing I can do about it," I said depressed.
"Why not?" he asked, looking at the door.
"Because, she was abused and she can't handle another relationship right now," I said clenching my fist tightly.
"Wow, Alice said he hurt her…but she didn't really explain," he admitted.
"If you ever hurt my sister the way he hurt Bella…," I growled.
"I would never hurt Alice, I love her," he said swallowing.
"Jacob claimed to love Bella, too" I said sighing.
It was suddenly quiet in Bella's room I looked at the door waiting for it to open. Slowly it cracked open and Mother stepped out, nodding at me to come in. I swallowed and stood up slowly, walking to the open door and standing there, looking at Bella. Her brown hair was stuck in clumps to her tear streaked face, here eyes were puffy and red and there was an almost ashamed expression on her face as she stared silently down at her hands. I stepped forward carefully.
"Bella?" I asked softly. She looked up at me with an unreadable expression in her eyes – at least she didn't appear to be afraid. I closed my eye sin relief and slowly walked closer, stopping at the end of the bed.
"I'm sorry Bella, I didn't mean to scare you," I said, taking a deep breath.
"I'd never hurt you," I sighed, wishing I could reach out and comfort her, but I couldn't, because she was scared of men, and I was very much a man.
I made a decision right then, I'd distance myself for a few weeks, maybe even distract myself from Bella. I knew an excellent distraction - a girlfriend. There was a girl at work that had made her affections very much known – perhaps now was the time to give her a chance.
A/N: Ok my beta is taking the weekend off so this is the only update until I get stuff back from her. Review and let me know what you think! Reviews make me want to update sooner!