BPOV
I was sitting at the breakfast bar squeezed in between Rose and Alice, the two of them talking animatedly about a shopping trip.
As much as I liked Rose and Alice was growing on me fast, I hated shopping.
I've never liked shopping, my mom use to take me all the time, hoping it was nothing but a silly faze, but it only made me more irritated. She eventually gave up, letting me shop online for anything I needed instead.
I started thinking back to what Edward and I just said to each other. I did finally remember everything. I shuddered when I thought about it, I never wanted to talk about any of those horrible things again. I felt like I needed a shower just remembering it.
I also remembered how Edward had protected me from that man that was saying all those nasty things to me. He had covered me up and carried me out with Emmett and told me I was safe and calmed me down.
I told him I trusted him, because I did in a way, I knew Edward would never hurt me or let anyone else hurt me.
"Bella how does that sound?" Rose's voice shattered my thoughts. I shook my head a little and shot an apologetic glance at Rose, not having heard what she said.
"I asked if this weekend was okay for us to go shopping together." She repeated, lacing her answer with a teasing tone.
"Oh, um… yeah, that's fine." I told her, picking at my breakfast.
"Wow Belly B, contain your excitement, we don't want you pulling something." Emmett laughed between inhaling his, what I believed to be his sixth waffle.
"I'm sorry Rose, it's just I don't really like shopping." I explained. I heard a gasp and whipped my head the other direction to see Alice, wide eyed, with a hand clasped over her mouth.
"Uh oh, you've hit a nerve now…" Emmett snickered.
"Alice what-" I started to ask, but Alice cut me off.
"You don't… like shopping?" She asked, sounding on the verge of tears. You'd think that I had just kicked her kitten.
"No… I've never liked it, shopping's never been my thing." I said, not knowing what the hell the problem was.
Alice let out a terrified squeak and started to breathe in and out deeply.
I looked around, desperate for an answer to what I had said wrong.
"Alice is sort of a shopaholic. She's been one since she was old enough to walk." I was shocked to hear that it was the velvety voice that belonged only to Edward.
I was surprised that he had said something; he had been sitting in silence since we all sat down to eat. Not that I expected him to start talking away or anything, especially after the almost heart-to-heart we had in front of basically his entire family, but still, a few words would have been nice. Then I realized that I had yet to say anything in response to his words, only staring at him in near shock.
"I am not a shopaholic Edward Cullen; I simply find it an excellent way of relieving stress. Some people go to therapy; I pick out what shoes go best with whatever outfit I just bought." Alice told him haughtily.
Edward grunted and rolled his eyes, but turned his attention back to picking at his food.
I heard Jasper snort next to Emmett. Jasper was another person who hadn't said anything. He just sat quietly eating his food, smiling gently whenever I happened to look his way. Alice had told me that he was her husband, but other than that, I didn't know much about him, although he seemed like a nice guy.
"You're going shopping with us this weekend, even if you… don't like shopping," Alice whispered the last part like it was some dirty word, "because trust me, you spend almost a full week with grumpy over here, and you'll need to get away." She giggled.
"Just because I'm not an annoying shopaholic pixie, doesn't mean that I'm grumpy." Edward muttered sarcastically.
"Okay you two, don't start." Rose jumped in.
Amazingly, both Edward and Alice stopped scowling at each other and continued eating.
After that, we all ate in silence, the only thing that could be heard were our forks scraping across our plates.
After we all finished, Emmett put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and Edward asked me if I wanted to leave yet.
"Um yeah, I'm just gonna say goodbye to Rose and Alice really quick?" It came out as more of a question, since I didn't really know if he needed to leave immediately or not.
Edward just nodded and turned to walk over to Emmett.
"Edward and I are going to leave. I hope I'll see you guys soon." I said to Rose and Alice.
Rose came over and hugged me.
"If he starts getting on your nerves or pulls a jackass move, you tell me and I'll kick his ass." Rose whispered in my ear. I smiled a little bit because I already knew that if someone was capable of kicking Edwards' ass, Rose is the girl.
Alice wrapped her tiny arms around me with surprising force.
"I'm really sorry for what I said when I first came in Bella. I didn't mean any of it, I hope I can make it up to you." Alice said.
"It's ok Alice, I get that you were just watching out for your brother. I've already forgiven you." I smiled at her, hoping that she would get that I really meant it.
"I'm still going to do something for you." Alice persisted. I could tell from the start she was a stubborn one.
I just sighed and waved bye.
When I turned around, Edward was standing in the kitchen doorway next to Emmett and Jasper.
I walked over to them and I was swallowed up in Emmett's large, muscled arms.
"You have fun Belly B, but not too much fun. If Eddie gets a little frisky, just smack him upside his head." Emmett chuckled. He put me down and I could see that Edward was blushing almost as red as I got sometimes.
"Emmett, I'm not going to get frisky." He hissed, embarrassed.
I could tell I was blushing myself, but choose to ignore it and I turned to Jasper instead and smiled shyly.
"It was nice to meet you Bella; hopefully we can get to know each other better later on." He smiled and pulled me in for a hug.
This family was big on hugs, I thought.
"Bye, everybody we're leaving!" Edward said and followed him out the front door.
The walk back to Edwards's house was awkward. I thought that after we got everything off my chest, it would clear things up a little bit for us to relax around each other. But, I guess I was wrong, because it was still awkward.
I looked over at Edward and he had the cutest look on his face. His eyebrows were scrunched together and his lips were drawn together in a pout that made me want to lean over and kiss him.
Whoa. I want to kiss him? What the hell? I figured that we would be friends, well friends/roommates since I would be staying in his house, and in six months, I'd go back home and maybe we would continue to be long distance friends or something. Now I was thinking about kissing him?
That was defiantly not in the plans.
I chanced another look toward him and he still had the same look on his face. It was like he was thinking very seriously about something.
I wanted to say something, but was afraid if I did, I would disturb whatever he was thinking about. So instead I glanced around the island.
It was really beautiful now that I could appreciate it. I could see the bright blue ocean on the left that seemed to go on forever. The tide was gently crashing against the beach, seeming to pulse.
I was staring off into space when he finally spoke.
"You can call your parents or whoever you need when we get back." He blurted out from nowhere.
"Oh, okay. I'll have to call my parents and my friend Jessica. I'll just make up some lies, although, that may be kind of hard for me considering I've been told that I'm a horrible liar. I just hope that my parents believe me. I should probably talk to my mom; she never knows when I'm lying. Oh god, I almost forgot about Jessica. She's going to want details no matter what I tell her! What am I going to say to her?" I just kept rambling on and on, hoping inside my head that I would somehow choke on my own tongue, because I was rambling about nonsense in front of this amazingly hot guy, embarrassing the hell out of myself.
I was about to turn to him and apologize, tomato cheeks and all, when I heard one of the most beautiful sounds in the world; Edwards laugh.
I turned to him slowly, not knowing really what he was laughing about (my luck it was me) and saw he was looking at me laughing his ass off.
At first I was embarrassed, he was laughing at me. Edward was making fun of me.
Then I was angry. Just who did he think he was to laugh at me like that?
I put my hands on my hips and stomped my right foot into the sand, but that only made him laugh more for some reason, his face turning a bright red.
What the hell was his problem? Was I that non-threatening? He kept laughing for a good five minutes, bent over and clutching his sides with me standing with my hands still on my hips, just staring at him. Then it started to happen, the one thing I hated that I did when I was angry or frustrated; I started to cry.
I could feel the traitor tears welling up in my eyes as I kept watching him, but I tried in vain to blink them away. No matter what I did, they never went away.
I always cried when I was mad about something. A trait I got from my mother. I hated crying, it made me feel weak and stupid.
I felt the tears escaping and rolling down my cheeks, I reached up quickly and swiped at them, not wanting Edward to see my weakness, but I was too late. The action caught Edwards attention and his laughter died down to nothing and looked up at me.
"Why are you crying Bella?" He asked me, completely serious now.
I sniffled and turned my face from him, mortified that he had seen me crying.
"Hey, look at me Bella." He said and cupped his warm hand under my chin, turning my face back towards him. "What's wrong, angel?"
I didn't want to speak right now, knowing that my voice would only crack and give him even more to laugh at. Instead I concentrated on what he had just called me; angel. Edward just called me angel, why did he do that? And why did it give me butterflies in my stomach?
"Bella, please tell me what's wrong so I can fix it." Edward almost pleaded.
I sighed and glared at him. I was still angry at him for laughing, I hated to be laughed at and made fun of, and him calling me angel in that velvety voice of his wasn't going to make me forget, although, it was doing a pretty good job at trying.
"You were laughing at me." I mumbled to him, still afraid that my voice would crack.
Edward looked confused for a second and then understanding dawned on his face.
"Bella, I wasn't laughing at you, I was laughing at what you were saying." He tried to explain. I still wasn't happy at what he said and it must have been obvious on my face, because Edward started scrambling.
"Not at what you had been saying - just how you were saying it. I mean you've barely said anything to me the entire time you've been here and then you go on about all that and just keep talking - not in a bad way, it just surprised me that's all. Then you stomped your foot and it reminded me of what all those spoiled girls in movies do and it just didn't seem like you at all. It was funny, but trust me, I wasn't laughing at you." Edward explained hurriedly.
I thought about it for a moment and examined his face. He looked so sincere and I wanted to believe him. When I thought about it, it would be funny to see someone yammer on like I was, and it was weird of me to just stomp my foot.
I saw the worry etched into Edwards face and I sighed, deciding to let him off the hook, so to speak.
"It's okay I guess, I just don't like being laughed at and that's what I thought you were doing." I said.
"I'm sorry Bella; I didn't mean to upset you. Come on, we're almost at my house." He said and turned and started walking toward his house, turning his head back to make sure I was following him.
Once we reached the house, mansion, whatever you wanted to call it, 'cause it was over twice the size of my parents' house back in Forks, Edward picked up something off the coffee table and handed it to me. I realized that it was a phone.
Great, I thought, who to call first, my nosey mother or my nosey friend?
I picked the lesser of two evils and called Jessica first, knowing it would easier be to tell her a lie than my mom.
I started to dial the number (thank god I remembered it) when Edward spoke up.
"Uh, I'll just go change my clothes and give you some space." He said awkwardly and backed out of the room. He was probably worried that I would tell Jessica that he kidnapped me and was doing horrible things to me.
Why wouldn't I do that? Oh yeah, cause I'm trying to live a little, but I'm not sure this is the best way to go about that. I mean, I could go skydiving, but then Edwards's sexiness came into my mind. His wild bed head and piercing green eyes aren't something that I could find while skydiving.
Suddenly, Jessica's nasally voice came through the phone and was snapped out of my thoughts.
"Hello?" She answered, sounding worried. Well, she was either worried about me, or she had a zit.
"Hey Jess, it's me Bella." I said to her.
"Oh my god Bella, where are you? Are you alright?" She asked frantically. Seems her face was zit free after all.
"Jess, I'm fine. I… um… I met someone." I told her. I was a horrible liar; this was exactly why I didn't call my mom first.
"You met someone… as in a sexy someone?" Jessica was no longer worried, now she was digging for gossip, true to form.
"Yes…." I answered her hesitantly. Edward was hot, I just didn't want to admit out loud yet.
"Ohhh Bella!" She squealed in my ear. "How hot are we talking here? George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, that guy from those vampire movies? Rob something… anyway how hot?" I could almost hear her jumping up and down with excitement for the juicy new information.
"Mmm… well, he kind of reminds me of that Rob guy, but he's got the whole, dirty, carefree Johnny Depp thing going on." I said, I was telling the truth, I'd never seen him in anything but jeans and a t-shirt and he was had crazy, bed hair like Johnny Depp.
Jessica ohhhed and awed the whole time
"Listen Jess, I've decided to stay with him for a while." I said and I heard her gasp.
"Bella, I'm all for sexing it up with a hot guy, but what about the trip, and we have to go back to school soon." She said. This was what I wasn't looking forward to.
"I know Jess, but I just have to do this. There's… something between us that I just can't explain, I've never felt anything like it before." I laid on the cheesiness, knowing that Jessica would eat it up.
"Awww… it's like a whirl wind romance, I get it now." She sighed into the phone, probably caught up in her own fantasies.
"Yeah, that's it, look Jess don't worry, I called the administrators at school and told them I wanted to go home for personal reasons, so they think I'm back in America, can you not tell anyone what I'm doing?" I lied through my teeth.
Note to self; call Yale.
I also knew that it was almost impossible for Jessica to keep a secret like this one.
"I don't know Bella." She whined.
"Please Jess? No one can know that I am where I am. I'll get in some serious trouble." I fake begged. Honestly I didn't really care if anyone found out, that would probably be a good thing, but I had to have Jessica believe that I wanted to be on some spontaneous romantic getaway with a hot guy.
"Fine I won't say anything, but only until I get back to school." Jessica huffed.
"That's fine; I should be back by then." I told her yet another lie. "Thank you so much Jess, now if you don't mind, I have a certain someone to get back to." I said so sweetly I thought I was gonna have to take a trip to the dentist.
"Okay Bella, have fun!" She squealed and hung up.
I had one down, one more to go.
I prepared myself for my next phone call; this one would involve a little more work and a lot more lying.
I dialed my mother's phone number and held my breath.
"Hello?" My mom's voice answered.
"Hey mom, it's me." I said brightly.
"Oh, hi sweetie, how's the trip going?" She asked me in the way only mothers could.
"It's great; it's actually so great, that I'm staying a little longer." I tried my best to sound excited.
"You're staying longer? Why? How much longer Bella?" She asked.
This was the hard part.
"Well, it's going to be around six month's total. I was given an offer by the College Board to extend my stay. There's only two other students that got the offer too." I had to admit, that was pretty good for coming up with it on the spot.
"Six months? Oh Bella, that's so long. Do you have to do it?" Renee complained.
"I don't have to do it, but I really want to. It would really expand my education and they say it won't cost any extra." The lies just kept spilling out of my mouth. Was staying here with Edward really worth lying to Renee like this? She made up my mind for me.
"Well, if you really want to and it won't cost any extra, then I guess that's okay, I'll just have to tell your father." She said distractedly.
"Mom, what's wrong?" I asked, she may be an airhead sometimes, but she never ignored me when I talked to her about important stuff like this.
"I'm sorry Bella, it's just, they haven't found anything about Riley and I'm starting to get really worried. He never goes off like this without at least calling me or Phil to say he's okay. The police are on it, but it's just not going anywhere." Renee said, it was clear in her voice that she was stressed.
I didn't exactly share her views.
What was I supposed to say? Well mom, I'm not too worried about that asshole at the moment considering he possibly just had me sold on the black market as a sex slave and this incredibly handsome, beautiful, rich man bought me and now I'm staying with him on a private island for six months out of my own morbid curiously to explore life.
Yeah, she would take that well.
"Mom, I'm sure he'll turn up somewhere alive and well and say he just went on another one of his trips." I attempted to soothe her. I didn't want my mom to suffer because Riley fucked up both his and my life.
"I hope you're right honey. I have to go, Phil just got home and he's been really down, but call me as soon as you can, okay? Have fun sweetie!" She said cheerily and hung up.
I put the phone back down on the table.
That was easier than I thought it would be, but then again, she was probably just distracted with Riley.
I turned around and began searching for Edward. He said he was only going to change his clothes and I had been on the phone for a long time, surely it wouldn't take him so long to change.
I started walking past the large kitchen; I was halfway up the stairs when I heard Edwards voice carry down the hallway.
"Are you sure Jenks? No, no…. you've done all you can already. If you haven't found it yet you probably won't ever, that kind of info is out of even my grasp unless I want to get my hands into things I can't pull them out of."
Who was he talking to and about what? Was he talking about something illegal? I listened harder.
"Yes, I just got the fax you sent over. I'll call if I need anything else." Edward must have hung up because nothing else was said and I heard him moving around.
I waited a few seconds before I continued up the stairs, not wanting him to think I was eavesdropping.
"Edward?" I called out just loud enough for him to hear me, when I got to the landing
His bronze head popped out from two doors down. He looked distracted and a little angry. Had I interrupted him doing something important?
"I'm sorry, I'll go back downstairs, I just wanted to say that called my mom and Jessica, they don't think anything's wrong." I said quickly, turning back around to go downstairs.
"No! Bella, you don't have to go, I just have something serious I need to talk to you about." That caught my attention. Was that phone call about me?
"What is it?" I asked.
"Come downstairs with me." He said and waited for me to go first.
I was worried, was it something bad?
When we walked back into the living room, he sat down on a chair and I sat on the couch. It was tense, I was still dealing with the fact that I was sitting across form the man that just bought me and I actually wanted to be here. Edward looked like he was trying to figure out something in his head.
"Bella, it's about your step-brother. I had a private investigator look into Riley's life and he found some things." He hesitated.
"What did he find out?" I was curious.
"Well, he was able to find out that it was indeed Riley that allowed you to be sold. My investigator recovered some video footage from the building that you were being…sold at, Riley was there talking to a man associated with the black market." He said softly.
I gasped, I knew there was a chance that Riley had do this to me, but to have in confirmed out loud stung me. My step-brother had just handed me over to god knows whoever. What would have happened if Edward hadn't been the one to buy me? What if one of those balding old business men had bought me? I shuddered just thinking about it; after all, I was being sold as a sex slave.
"There's something else." Edward stated.
There was more? What else could there be?
"Apparently, Riley is still being held for the remainder of his debt."
He said hesitantly, like he didn't want to tell me.
"What? But wasn't the whole point of selling me off was to pay his debt?" I asked. How much money did he owe?
"It was, but it only covered a better part of it, not all of it. Now they're holding him there so he can pay back the rest of the money he owes." Edward stood up and started pacing around the living room.
"How will he pay it back?" I asked, I wondered what he could do to pay off that kind of money.
"There are lots of ways to pay back the mob. The most common way is getting money from selling your organs." Edward replied casually.
What? Selling organs? My mouth kept moving up and down, I didn't know what to say to that.
"Fuck, Bella, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that. It's just that the Brazilian Mob isn't nice, at all. Usually, they… kill the person that owes them something and sell their organs on the black market. Organs are in very high demand and can usually get quite a bit of money." He explained quickly when he saw the stunned look on my face.
"They can't do that to him! Edward, I know he's not the greatest person in the world, but I can't let them do that to Riley, he's my step-brother, no matter what he's done. Can't we do something? I can't just leave him there!" I exclaimed.
"Bella, how could you want to save his ass after everything he did to you? I know you're thinking, 'Oh well it isn't that bad!' but do you have even the slightest idea as to what would have happened to you if I hadn't been the one to buy you? 'Cause I do! You would have been bought by some old business man that would have abused you and raped you every day until he decided to get rid of you! Now you want to save the bastard that threw you to the wolves!" Edward yelled. By the time he was finished, he was out of breath and I was close to tears.
I knew Edward was right in a way, but no matter what Riley did, he doesn't deserve to die like that. My mom loved Riley like the son she never had but always wanted. I didn't want my mom and Phil to go through all that pain.
I felt a wave of anger come over me and I stood up quickly.
"You know what, Edward? I'm well aware of what could have happened to me. I keep thinking about it over and over again. I don't need you to remind me and then shove it in my face that I should be grateful to you for saving me. Well, I didn't ask you to save me, Edward! You could have kept up minding your own business and I would have never known the difference!" I yelled at him. The whole time, he was staring at me stone faced.
"Actually, I think I've changed my mind. I don't want to stay here anymore, you're mean and keep yelling at me and keep bringing up that I'm so lucky for you to buy me. You said I don't have to stay here, that you'd take me to an airport if I want to leave, well I want to leave." I cried at him.
I couldn't control the words that flew out of my mouth. I was acting so fucking weird, bursting out into tears all the time. Hell, I think I've cried more here than I have for my entire life. I hardly cry at anything, but something about Edward yelling at me like that just set something off in me.
I wasn't afraid of him; something told me that Edward would never physically harm me. I just hated the he was yelling at me it made me feel like I was a child and he was reprimanding me. That he was looking down on me and he was disappointed. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I cared about that, but I did.
Edward was still staring at me like he was in pain or something. I couldn't take looking at him anymore, his face would only make me want to stay more than I already did and that wasn't good. I was foolish to think I could stay here in the first place.
"I want Rose or Emmett to take me to the airport as soon as they can, please." I sniffle through my tears and I took off for the bedroom that I woke up in this morning. I slammed the door shut behind me and slid down the wall beside it onto the hardwood floor.
I was on the floor for about a minute when the door was pushed open to reveal Edward; he looked on the verge of tears himself.
He slid down slowly to the floor next to me, pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his elbows on them. He ran his fingers through his hair again and breathed out a shaky breath.
"Bella… please don't leave yet, I need you." He whispered.
Ok, don't hate me for the sort of cliffy here.
I know a little sad there at the end, but Bella's got to have her doubts right?
