Chapter 8 - Claim What's Yours

Author's Notes: I own nothing, save for the storyline, mistakes, and Richie.

Once his meal was finished, and after chatting back and forth with Alice the entire time, with Edward and Esme chiming in when they had something to say, Richie felt his time to leave was around. He stood, and then said as much, the reaction from Edward belying his disappointment.

"You don't have to leave."

The words were rushed, a longing in them speaking that the other male really didn't want him to leave. And the reaction was odd to the human boy. Ever since his disowning and subsequent arrival at Forks, everyone seemed to be in a genuine hurry for him to leave. Or made him feel so uncomfortable that he took his leave on his own terms and no one cared when he did. He'd grown accustomed to those reactions, and these new ones, though welcome, were something he wasn't used to. "I'd really better go. School seems to be out of the question, and I figure I'll use the day off to catch up on things around the house."

"Then, at least let me drive you home. You shouldn't walk that distance, plus, you don't know where you are." Edward was grasping at straws, groping in the dark for something to hold onto. He was scared of hurting the human boy, and that alone implied that he should stay away and keep his distance, but the fact Richie was his mate complicated things. The carnal, animalistic side of the vampire, long since dormant since there was no one around to bring that physical side of him out, had awakened and wanted him to keep Richie around, talk with him until there was literally nothing left to say. Nothing left to find out about each other through words and expression. And then learn about him in other, much more intimate, ways.

Having absolutely no way to deny that, Richie was forced to agree, though he did so with reluctance, even after Alice offered to join them to find out where he lived. Minutes later, he was saying his goodbyes and extending his thanks once again, as well as a promise to an insistent and widely smiling Esme to return once again.

And, then came the car ride.


Though Edward drove fast - so fast that it was frightening, actually - the drive still seemed to take quite a while. The trio talked about little things, like favorite classes and teachers for this school year as well as Edward's playful teasing about introducing Richie to real music, it was as if nothing was amiss between them. As if they were three ordinary friends simply enjoying a morning together. No one would know that Richie was getting increasingly nervous as the ride went on.

There was something, some sort of energy at play between him and Edward, and it was causing his nerves to hit him more than usual. He stuttered a bit more, tripped over words a bit more, no matter how short his sentences became, and it felt like something was flipping his stomach, turning and flipping it more and more. This wasn't normal. And what was more, given his inexperience with romantic feelings, especially towards the same gender, they were dangerous.

"Is it...does it feel warm in here to anyone else?" The human boy inquired, playing with the collar of his shirt as he did so. The air in the car was thick and stifling. And also very...warm, now that he realized it.

"I hadn't noticed anything." Alice's voice spoke up from the back seat, with her ever-usual cheeriness, as Edward gave him an odd look, but nonetheless obliged his mate by turning the air on higher. The both of them watched as Richie slid the air ducts his way, toward his flushed face, hoping to obviously try and cool himself off. Exchanging a look, a silent comment passed between them, the boy unaware.

His blush is quite adorable, isn't it?

Edward smirked slightly in agreement, though it wouldn't be much of a lie for him to say that everything this little human boy did was starting to become adorable. His blush, the way he fell over his words upon getting too excited or nervous, and the vision Alice had gotten of him slumbering in his arms. He wanted it to become real. He wanted it all to become real, because he finally understood what passed between his family when they look at one another. He'd finally found it himself.

Following Richie's directions, they came to a stop on the outskirts of Forks, about a fifteen minute walk away from the school, as the boy had told them, through a bit of a stutter. And they pulled up to a house not even five minutes later, one that was very small, very quaint, and given his personality, very appropriate for the boy to reside in.

As Edward threw the car into park, Alice piped up from the backseat. "We'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Yes, you will." Richie answered her, without much of a shaky smile, or the stutter that had been in his words before. Though, when he turned back to Edward, he found those amber eyes watching his every move...and nearly felt a shudder crawl it's way up his spine when he did. What. The. Hell?!

Because just the amber-eyed man opening his mouth to speak, eyes on him as he talked to his sister, sent shivers up and down his spine, when just an hour ago, they did nothing of the sort. But, being in his car, these simple acts were enough to make Richie's stomach churn in...fear? Anticipation? But, of what?

"I guess this is goodbye." The simple sentence made Edward's velvet voice drop a bit, like he was upset to see him go.

"Until tomorrow, Edward." Richie said in a silent agreement, as he reached for the door handle and pulled. ...only for nothing to happen.

You have got to be kidding me! Feeling like one of the siblings was coming after him with a jar of spiders or a tickle spell, Richie tried again and again, only to get the same result each time, his annoyed glare becoming more and more prominent.

Edward laughed lightly at the adorably annoyed look on his mate's face, before reaching over to grip the handle himself and pulling. "It sticks sometimes. Here, why don't you let me?"

And three things happened at once.

The motion of the vampire reaching across his lap sent his scent toward the human from the vents blowing at him, making an intoxicating blend he couldn't even begin to describe or even begin to pinpoint as the smells assaulted his senses. And the scent sent shock waves through Richie that shook him to his core, making his body spasm just a bit in the most pleasant of ways, and Edward's amber eyes caught the movement easily, going to his boy's face for any sort of indication anything was amiss. Amber and chocolate eyes met, both sets considerably darker than remembered, and before they could even realize what either one was about to do, Richie's lips were a near inch away from Edward's, his body acting almost on autopilot, going towards the seductive, intoxicating scent and the owner of it.

At least until fresh, rain-soaked air permeated the car, breaking both human and vampire out of the trance, making Edward lean back a bit, so he was more on the divider than so dangerously close to Richie. And the blush Edward so desperately wanted to see came to his mate's face, as his eyes tore away from his and he looked anywhere, literally anywhere, but at his face.

"I-I'll see you, t-tomorrow, then?" The question was meant for both him and Alice, it was really, but his chocolate eyes went to the amber-eyed man he had just nearly kissed as he asked it.

"Yes, you will." Edward, for his part, showed no physical nerves or anything of the like of what had just occurred, even though his lips nearly burned where the human's hot breath had fanned against them, venom bubbling in the back of his throat as the monster inside him urged him to surge forward, claim the human's lips, take what was supposed to be his.

"We'll be waiting here at 7:20!" Alice also spoke up, her voice holding even more of her cheerful personality than normal, and Richie, unaware of the real reason, simply chalked it up to seeing him again. This time, well and whole.

This time Richie turned to her, flustered beyond anything he'd felt before, but not flustered enough to not to argue them going out of their way for him. "You don't have to-"

"We want to." Edward's voice cut off any protestation he was about to make, and, out of fear that he might make the same mistake of nearly kissing him again, he found he was powerless to resist.

"Okay. Then, tomorrow it is, then."

"Perfect!" Alice trilled happily from the backseat, as Edward watched his mate intently with a small half-smile and half-smirk, leaning against the divider. Richie, for his part, smiled weakly, before stepping out into the cool, damp air.

"I'll see you both tomorrow." He'd repeated himself , but his mind was on autopilot, desperately wanting to be inside his own house, to replay what the hell had just happened to nearly make him kiss the bronze-haired amber-eyed man smirking at him lightly from across the divider.

"Yes, you will." Edward's soft voice made it sound like a combination of both a promise, as well as a threat. And, given his current flustered state, he wasn't sure if he was excited or afraid.

All he could do was smile at them both and give a nod, before shutting the car door and and walking to the front door of his small home. Edward didn't pull away until after he was safely tucked inside.


Edward drove down the street in a daze, one hand on the wheel and the other perched over his burning lips where Richie's hovered and had so nearly connected with his.

Richie was about to kiss me.

Behind him, he caught the sight of his sister in the backseat, grinning madly at the dreamy, almost dazed, expression on his face. "Well?"

"I'm sure you saw it all from your vantage point." Edward replied just as teasingly.

"And what do you plan to do about this? Since he obviously feels as drawn to you as you do to him." Alice asked him, though she was biting her lips to keep from smiling any wider as Edward glanced in the rearview mirror back at her.

One thing was abundantly, almost painfully, clear in his mind. How badly he had wanted to close the distance between them, but held off, knowing that he would have frightened the poor boy more than he already was. Despite that, the thought was clear, prevalent, and needed to be voiced.

"I won't stop until he's mine."