Chapter 9:

A Painful Break

I gasped and whirled around. In my haste I slapped Jacob. Wow! That hurt.

"Oh my gosh Jake! Are you okay??" I said helplessly since Edward had his arms around my waist now.

"I'm fine Bella. You probably got more hurt than I did" he reasoned looking pointy at my red hand.

"Ring ring" Edward said as he pulled out his phone and dialed the number 1. All too soon, my phone started ringing.

"Oh come ON!" Just give us 5 minutes. Is that so much to ask for" Jacob yelled at Edward.

"Jake, I wouldn't " but I didn't finish. I was startled by Edward laughter.

"Yes, that's asking for a lot. Come on Bella" he said.

"Actually, I need my truck so I'll meet you there" I said.

"Okay" and he ran off.

"Keep thinking Jake. Juliet's house . . . we have to be missi "But I stopped when it dawned on me. I started laughing at my own stupidity.

"What is it Bella" Jacob asked anxiously.

"Jake, I have to go so I'll tell you when I get back but . . . I think I just solved the final riddle" I said as I climbed into my truck.

How could I have been so stupid? Every time we watched Romeo and Juliet, Edward always quoted himself as Romeo. That meant he thought of me as his Juliet. So Juliet's House was actually my house. The arrow was probably in my house! God I was really stupid.

All too soon I was driving up their curving driveway. Once I reached his house, I didn't even get the key out of the emission. He pulled me out and kissed me before he set me down and gave me my keys.

"Welcome home" he quoted with a chuckle.

"That sounds nice" I said, still dizzy from the kiss. Why don't I breathe?

As I walked in, I noticed Edward was standing up while everyone else was sitting. That's when I remembered that he had found his arrow. I sat down quickly, internally praying he gave a dare to Rosalie.

"Rosalie" he began.

Yes! I celebrated on the inside. He turned to wink at me so he probably guessed I would be happy.

"Rosalie, it's your turn to get a taste of your own medicine. I dare you to kiss . . ." but he stopped for suspense.

That's when I saw Alice's hand come flying towards Edward. I shouldn't have been able to see it since it was coming do fast.

"No!!" I yelled and threw my hand in front of Edward. It was pretty stupid since Edward would have heard her and it wouldn't have hurt him but I couldn't help myself. With a sickening crunch, I felt something break when it collided Alice's hand.

"OW!!!!" I yelled as I clutched my hand to my chest. This was the first time I ever broke my hand but I didn't think it would hurt so much.

"Oh my gosh Bella!!" Alice exclaimed as she snapped out of her anger.

"Alice! What have you done" Edward yelled at her as he looked at my hand.

Then he read her mind and growled at her.

"No Edward! Don't" I begged him.

He was about to launch himself at her when I put my hand in front of his chest. . . again. Bad Idea. I heard another crunch and pain shot through my same hand.

"OOOWWW!!!!" I yelled extremely loud. Like when someone spills their lunch on a popular girl in movies and they scream so loud miles away birds are startled and fly away. I yelled 3 times as loud. I think I broke another finger and the fingers I had already broken. The pain was so bad I could feel the tears running down my cheeks.

"Oh my god Bella!!!" Edward exclaimed. "Alice, get Carlisle's First-Aid kit" he ordered her.

She ran off without another word and came back with a medium sized box.

"It's going to be okay Bella" he soothed as he carried me to a chair. He wiped the tears from my face and started kissing me until I was positively gasping for air. I forgot all about the pain. When he pulled away, I felt my face fall into a pout.

"Hey. I wasn't done kissing you" I complained.

He chuckled "We should take care of your hand first, Bella" he said "Alice, get me some morphine" he ordered her.

She dug through the box and came out with a shot. That wasn't what worried me. What worried me was the needle at the end.

"Wait" I said trying to move away. Edward refused to let me squirm even an inch.

"It's okay Bella" he said as he inserted the needle in my hand. I didn't even feel it.

"See, nothing to worry about" he said. He put pressure on my hand. "Can you feel that?"

"No" I answered happily. "Thank you" I told him hoping that was it.

"Bella, I'm not done yet" he said as he hugged me closer. "Don't worry, you won't feel a thing" he comforted.

"Ok. I trust you" I told him.

"Thank you" he said, his gold eyes burning. I was dazzled as he took stuff out of the box and started working.

I looked at his face as he worked. I was afraid that if I looked at what he was doing, I would get nauseous. As promised, I didn't feel a thing. I only looked away when Alice called my name.

"Bella" she asked unsure of herself. That was a first for Alice.

"Yes Alice?" I asked.

"Bella . . . I'm sooo sorry . . . I didn't mean to . . . I mean . . . I wouldn't

have " but I cut her off.

"It's okay Alice" I told her. "I put my hand there. It wasn't your fault. You didn't know" I said thoughtfully. She must feel horrible.

"There, see, all done" Edward told me. "Only 3 breaks. That's not bad. They'll heal quickly." he told me.

"Do you have a medical degree I don't know about" I asked a little disgruntled. He was a doctor on top of everything else.

"Not a major one like Carlisle but I know enough to fix your hand" he told me.

I looked down and I had a 3 small, clear casts on 3 fingers on my left hand.

"They'll help the bones heal faster" he explained.

"Oh. Okay. Now, can we continue" I asked. Only 5 minutes had passed since Alice was going to punch Edward. I wanted to find my last arrow and be with Edward.

"Sure" he told me. "Alice, I need my revenge so keep your hands to yourself" he told her.