Bella looked over her at brother as they sat in the bed of their truck after school. He was lazily eating a Twizzler and keeping an eye on Katie from across the parking lot. She followed his gaze and studied the girl who was carrying her nephew. Honestly, she didn't look like the other girls she'd heard her brother had slept with, but, now that she thought about it, she was more similar to Stacey, the girl Alex had been in love with since, like, forever. They were both divers, small in stature, and had pretty faces. But while Stacey was blonde and blue-eyed, Katie was brunette with eyes like caramel; Stacey also looked like she hadn't seen a day of sun while Katie naturally had brown skin from her Latina heritage. They were so similar yet so different, and Bella could see how they both pulled her brother in.
"Is she nice?" she asked as he reached for another Twizzler.
"Who?"
"Katie."
"Uh, yeah, I guess. I mean, I'm sure she'd be nicer if I didn't ruin her life."
"You didn't ruin her life."
"I'm sure there are plenty of people who would disagree with you there, Bells."
"Then they're conveniently forgetting that it takes two to tango."
"While that may be, this is most definitely my fault. I lost control."
"Did you force her to have sex with you?"
"What? No! Of course not!"
"Then you guys are both to blame."
He shot her a look and shook his head. "It's a bit more complicated than that, sis. But I appreciate you sticking up for me."
"We still doing that movie night tonight?"
"Uh, yeah! Is that even a question? Harry Potter is fruit for the soul."
"Alex, what the fuck does that even mean?"
"I dunno, but I don't really care. I'm just glad I don't have to spend this wonderful Friday night with him." He jerked his thumb over in Brad's direction where the other swimmer was laughing with James and some other kids.
"I still can't believe you're actually friends with him."
"And I can't believe you're friends with Mike Newton, yet here we are." His eyes narrowed when he saw Katie trying to wave him over. "I'll be right back, okay? Looks like Katie needs to tell me something."
"I'll be here, waiting for death to claim me."
"Oh my god, you're still pissed about Edward's mood swings? Get over it! He's just a pretentious dick, okay?"
"No not okay! He acts like I ruined his fucking life."
He glanced over at Katie who was giving him an impatient look. "Look, I promise we'll talk about this later, but Mama Bear looks pissed, and I'm not about to keep her waiting."
He leapt out of the bed and jogged over to where Katie was waiting by her car. He leaned against it and dropped an arm across the top as he waited for her to talk to him. She really didn't look happy.
"So, um, what are your plans for this weekend?" she asked with a quick glance up at his face.
"Bella and I were just gonna watch some Harry Potter and eat some pizza. Dad's been working late on these new animal attack cases."
"Would you totally hate me if I said you needed to do something other than that on your Saturday night?"
"Um… depends."
"My parents want your family to have dinner with us at our place."
"Oh, wow, yikes."
"Yeah… they really want to see what your family is like, and knowing them, they'll be super pretentious about the whole thing and maybe it's better that your dad can't come because they'll probably say something about how this runs in the family."
"You know, I do recall your parents being ginormous dicks."
"I can't even get mad at you for that because it's true." Katie wrapped a loose thread from her jacket around her finger and looked up at him. "So will you come?"
He looked over his shoulder at where Bella was climbing out of the truck bed. "Yeah, we'll come. But that just means you owe me a favor."
She pulled him down into a hug and whispered, "Thank you. I know how much my parents suck."
"Anything to help you out, Mama Bear."
They pulled back, and Katie opened her mouth to say something else, but then the sound of screeching tires and screams cam from behind Alex. He whirled around to see Tyler's van skidding straight for his little sister. Ice cold fear spiked within him as he realized he would never get to in time, that he would have to watch Bella get crushed.
"Alex." Katie grabbed his hand as movement from the other side of the parking lot caught her eye.
Edward Cullen was next to Bella and the van had stopped right in front of them. Katie felt as every muscle in Alex's body tensed. Something wasn't right. Alex ran over to the truck and managed to worm himself between his sister and the other boy.
He cradled Bella's face in his hands and inspected every inch of her skin he could see. "Are you okay?" he asked as he frantically motioned for Katie to call an ambulance. "Oh my god, are you hurt anywhere?"
"No, Alex, I'm fine," she grumbled, trying to pull his hands away. "Dude, you're smothering me."
"You almost got crushed by a weed van!"
"Hey, I don't smoke weed!" Tyler protested through his car's open window. "Bella, man, I am so sorry!"
"Oh, please, we can all smell it," Alex growled. "And don't speak to her, okay? You'll be lucky to keep your license after this, dickface."
"I called an ambulance!" Katie said, causing Bella to groan.
"I told you, I'm fine!"
"She might have a concussion," Edward told Alex. "She hit her head when I pushed her behind me."
Alex eyed the other boy and felt a snarl grow in his chest. He cleared his throat and said, "She was so lucky that you happened to be standing so close to the truck."
Edward stared at Alex, as if searching for something, and forced a smile. "Just glad she's okay."
"Right."
Bella grabbed her brother's arm after Edward had walked away. "Alex, he wasn't standing next to me," she whispered. "He just appeared and pushed the van away!"
He placed a hand on her head and smiled down at her. "Hey, it's okay. You're okay. C'mon, let's get you checked out. I'll be right here."
"But, Alex, he was—"
"Shh, it's okay." He gently pushed her in the direction of the ambulance. "We'll talk about it later once the doctor's gotten a look at you, okay?"
He glanced back at Katie, and the two of them shared a look. Something was very wrong.
