Rating: M

Disclaimer: The original characters and plot are the property of Stephenie Meyer.

Thanks to her for bringing them to us.

No copyright infringement is intended

Big thanks to the endlessly patient and helpful Snuggler for being my beta.

CHAPTER 10

Author's note

I don't want to give too much away but feel it is necessary to give a word of warning about the next chapter – it's a lot darker than the previous ones and what happens may come as a bit of a shock but:

a) It's necessary for the plot

and

b) My story is based on Twilight – this is my take on an episode from the original Twilight story

It won't mean that everything that follows will be dark too.

Bella slept in lazily till 10:00am the next day. She had all the time in the world, or at least a whole day, to really get to grips with some of her more difficult text books: Psychology in particular. That meant she could afford a little pamper-time too. Having fetched her laptop, she placed it on the bathroom floor and set iTunes going to keep herself company. Then she ran a hot bath, pouring bubble mix under the running tap so that it foamed up, releasing strawberry scent into the steamy atmosphere. She got in, gingerly at first and then sank down, feeling the heat warming her to her bones. An hour later, she was up and dressed in shorts and an old T-shirt. It didn't matter what she wore today, she wouldn't need to look nice to be on her own. The bath had relaxed her, and she sat at her desk with the text book open. Right…study, she told herself, but she hadn't had any breakfast yet. She grabbed a cereal bar from the kitchen and took it to her room to eat while she looked at the book.

Outside, a warm summer's day beckoned. It seemed a shame to be indoors on such a day, but sun and fresh air always made her sleepy. There would be no way she could focus on complex text in the sun, but she could always do a bit of reading for pleasure first and come back to the text book later. This seemed like a good idea. She had "all day", after all. She picked up the romance she'd been reading that first day she'd seen Edward and took it outside. Laying on her front, on the grass, she rested her chin on her palms. There was something delightfully ironic in thinking about the hero this time and picturing Edward; knowing that fantasy could come true. It was hard to be alone without him today, there was no denying it. She imagined him having fun, could see him, in her mind's eye, laughing and joking with his brother, whistling to the two dogs. The hounds would be in their element as they lolloped through the woods to retrieve fowl; they were gun dogs after all. While Bella lay day-dreaming, she became aware of the wind whispering through the trees and the sun warming her back. She put the book aside and lay her head down, resting her cheek on her hand and, incredibly, fell asleep again.

She drowsily came-to an hour later at the sound of a text message. It was Edward. "How r u?" it simply said. It was rare to receive a text from him, and he hadn't used text-speak before. The fact that he was thinking about her, was still lovely, though. "Fine," she texted back. She stretched and got up but wasn't ready to go indoors just yet. Wandering round the garden, she tried to guess which plants might be weeds and pulled them out. Before long, it was 1.30pm and time for lunch; study could be left till later. She didn't have "all day" any more but still had hours and she'd need something to occupy her mind in the evening. Being on her own without Edward's kisses was going to be the hardest part of the day, after all.

She was just polishing off a bowl of soup when Mum came home, and Bella couldn't help but be relieved at having company again. All the time Mum was there, Bella chatted or helped but mostly hovered in doorways as Mum beetled back and forth carrying out chores. When Renee eventually went back to work, Bella trudged upstairs, sat at her desk and glared resentfully at the text book. She pulled out her mobile and looked at it, considering phoning round to see if anyone was free after all. The only person she really wanted to see right now was Edward. Wouldn't it be great, she thought, if he chose to just pop in, even for 10 minutes. Then she felt guilty about wanting to deny him time with his family. Suddenly, there came the sound of three familiar knocks on the front door, and Bella nearly tripped as she stumbled over her own feet in the rush to get downstairs.

She flung open the door, panting and grinning like an idiot, all ready to say something smart-arse like, "Couldn't stay away, huh?" but her face fell when it wasn't him.

Whoever it was didn't look very savoury: tall; stocky; with thick, thuggish, features and greasy-looking hair pulled back in a pony-tail. She had a feeling she had seen him before but couldn't think where. There was a safety-chain for the front door which Bella could never be bothered to put on, despite the number of times Mum had said she should, but Bella wished it had been in place this time.

"Can I help you?" she said warily.

"Yeah," he answered with a creepy smirk.

Something was wrong. At first, Bella didn't register what it was but then became aware that he was pushing at the door. He was trying to force his way in! Panic rose from her gut, and she tried to slam the door against him, but his foot was ready to jam it. He shoved the door against her. Before she had time to register what was happening, he had grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her back, clamped a hand over her mouth and manhandled her indoors. Dread overtook her, and she tried to bite him as she kicked and struggled with the primal fear of a wild animal, but he was too strong for her. He shoved her roughly to the ground, face down and climbed astride her back, pinning her arms with his knees. With his forearm, he pushed her head against the floor, leaning into her cheek, and she heard a sound like the rip of tearing material. Yanking her head back by her hair, he slapped something over her mouth. She felt a slight release of pressure from her arms and tried to take the opportunity to escape, throwing all her energy into struggling and clawing at her attacker.

"Keep still, bitch!" he snarled.

He was too strong for her anyway. She felt her hands being pulled together behind her back, and there was another ripping sound as something thin and rough cut into her wrists and she found she couldn't move them. He turned and sat astride her in the opposite direction, and despite her desperate attempts to kick him, pinned her legs too and bound her ankles together in a similar way. Turning back, he laid the full, heavy weight of his body on her, panting.

"That's better," he said close to her ear in a deep and rasping voice.

She felt crushed and suffocated by his great, greasy body and could smell him. He smelled disgusting, a nasty, acrid smell like a filthy gent's toilet. It made her want to be sick but she couldn't. Her mouth had been sealed up by what she assumed was wide tape making it impossible to vomit or scream. She tried rubbing her mouth against the carpet in a futile attempt to rub it off.

"You don't give up easy, do you?" he said.

He climbed off, flipped her onto her back, grabbed a large role of silver tape and tore off a long strip, sticking it right across her mouth up to her jaw line.

"Let's see you get that off," he challenged.

Then he got up, walked over to the front door and pushed it shut, flicking the latch to lock it. Finally, he drew the curtains, flipped on the light and returned to stand over her, victorious.

Trussed as she was, she was utterly helpless. She had never felt such complete despair. She looked up at him leering over her and waited. Whatever he had planned, there was a horrible inevitability about it now. He bent down and, to her surprise, grabbed her upper arms and yanked her into a sitting position. She bent her knees, dug her heels into the carpet and shunted herself backward, instinctively still trying to escape. He sighed and shook his head as if in disbelief.

"Don't be so fucking stupid," he said, "You won't get far like that."

He looked at her as if he was considering something.

"You don't even know who I am, do you?" he said, "No you wouldn't. Not now you've got your pretty boy."

He loped towards the armchair, installed himself arrogantly in it then continued, "What pisses me off, though, I mean what really pisses me off is that you'd rather have it off with a fucking black man than me."

Would she? Her mind raced as she struggled to think. She'd only "had it off" with one person but she didn't recall choosing him; she didn't recall anything beyond dancing. She only assumed she'd…with the guy with the dreadlocks because he was the last person she could remember before waking up.

"You slut!" accused the man facing her; then added with a sly grin, "D'you get my note?"

What was he talking about now? Note? Thought Bella, what note? Christ, that note, the one from Mike's party? She shook her head, this guy wrote it, it didn't make any sense, who was he? She searched his face, trying to think why he was familiar. Then her eyes opened wide. She knew where she'd seen him before. He'd given her a drink. That was it. He'd handed her a drink, only the second drink of the evening, and moments later she'd started behaving as if she was drunk, so drunk that she had no idea what she was doing. How could she have been so blind? It was obvious now that the drink had been spiked. That was why she'd gone off and had sex with someone she'd never met before. What did the colour of his skin matter? What mattered was being tricked into letting a complete stranger screw you. She glared at the man before her. She was still helpless, still terrified, but she was something else now, furious. All along, she'd felt ashamed for throwing her virginity away, but now she realised that she'd had it stolen from her. He sat staring at her with a look of smug satisfaction watching her expressions change as she pieced it all together.

"Now she gets it," he said.

"Ya see, you're mine, by rights," he told her. "It was my drink, my fucking GHB, you owe me…But I i'nt in a hurry, we got hours yet. Mummy won't be home for a long while."

Bella looked at him in shocked amazement.

"What? You think I dunno," he said. "You'd be surprised what I know about you, Bella. I've been watching you for a while. The only problem has been that fuckin boyfriend of yours but he's not coming tonight, is he?"

A cold chill went through her as she realised that, in reassuring Edward, she'd revealed the fact that she'd be alone and vulnerable this evening. She trembled, picturing the ways this bastard could torture her in the next 3 hours. She wished she could talk to him, try to reason with him, but she knew instinctively that it wouldn't have made any difference. He was obviously unstable and that made him all the more dangerous. He sat looking at her intently, and his lips broke into a smile that didn't reach his eyes. An eerie silence descended on the room. Bella was too scared to move.

"It would have been nice," he said, as if thinking aloud, "if you could have sucked my dick, but I'm not stupid. I don't want you screaming and there's always the chance you might try and bite it off."

Bella heaved at the thought of the filthy thing in her mouth and was grateful that at least she wouldn't have the horror of that to face.

"But first things first," he said.

He shuffled forward in the seat, reached into his back pocket and produced a large pair of kitchen scissors.

"I came prepared," he added, obviously pleased with himself.

Bella's eyes opened wide with terror.

"Don't fuckin panic," he said. "How else can I get your clothes off when you're tied up? I wouldn't struggle, though, if I was you, we wouldn't want any accidents, now, would we?" he said pointedly.

The air seemed to thicken with anticipation as Bella feared the worst. She shuddered, her heart in her mouth. He got up, walked towards her and knelt down, licking his lips. Then he grabbed the edge of her T shirt at the side seam and started to cut through the cloth. Snip, snip, snip, he worked his way up the fabric. For a moment, the only sound came from the scissors and his heavy breathing, though Bella could hear her own heart pounding in her head. He went on cutting, dangerously close to her armpit and on, until he came to the neck. Bella turned her head to avoid the advancing sharp ends, and her eyes filled with tears. He was just hacking at the neckband when, surreally out of place, came the sound of a clunk from the garden gate outside. The scissors stopped.

"What the fuck!" he hissed.

There was the sound of footsteps on gravel and voices followed by a knock at the door. He held the ends of the scissors to Bella's throat.

"Not a fuckin sound," he commanded in a whisper.

The absolute silence in the room made them both more acutely aware of the sounds outside.

"Bella, Bella, come on, answer the door".

Bella's heart leapt at the sound of Edward's sweet voice and the tears rolled down her cheeks.

After a while, she heard Emmett's naturally booming voice in response, "If you've done without your phone all day, why do you have to have it now? …and, why does the housekeeper's daughter have it in the first place?"

"I loaned it to her, it's a long story."

Another wait.

"Come on Ed, you'll have to forget it. She must have gone out."

"But I'm sure I heard something… and the light's on," said Edward, barely audible.

"People do that when they go out," insisted Emmett.

"OK," Edward's voice. "Come on mutts."

Bella's assailant relaxed the scissors away from her neck, breathing his relief and mocking her with an evil smile. Her flicker of hope died.

Then there was a scratching and scuffling noise from the door.

"No, she's definitely there," said Edward. "Look, the dogs know. BELLA, BELLA!" he shouted, hammering on the door now. "Why aren't you answering the damn door?"

"Something's wrong," he said, "I'm taking a look around".

Crunch, crunch, crunch on the gravel followed, the sound of footsteps retreating. They returned a short while later.

"The sitting room curtains are shut. Why has she shut the curtains already, it's still light?"

"Perhaps she's gone to bed, perhaps she's ill."

"She was all right last night."

"Hang on. You said you didn't have your phone."

"Fuck. She's not answering."

"Edward, I don't know what the hell you're playing at but this is bloody silly. I'm taking the dogs back; I'll see you later."

There came the sound of retreating footsteps again but unexpectedly followed by banging on the sitting room window

"BELLA, BELLA! ARE YOU IN THERE? ANSWER ME!" Edward bellowed

Another minute later and the back door handle was being rattled violently.

"BELLA! Fuck this; I'll pay for the bloody damage!"

There was a great thumping noise, and the back door shuddered in response. He was obviously trying to break the door down. It was obvious to Bella's captor too. He reached for the nearest object, the small wooden footstool and went into the kitchen with it, holding it by one leg. Eventually, with the dull crack of splintering timber and the tinkle of shattering glass, the door burst open. There was a sickening thud, and Bella just caught sight of Edward as he fell forward onto the kitchen floor. She screamed behind the tape. Every millisecond seemed to take hours while she willed him to move, fearing the worst. She couldn't lose him, she loved him. Hope returned as Edward lifted his head, bleary-eyed and put his palm to his cheek grimacing. He slowly took in the sight of Bella and crawled over to her. With trembling fingers, he carefully pulled back the tape from Bella's mouth. Then he fumbled in his pocket, brought out his Swiss Army Knife and prized open a blade. He cut through the cable tie that bound her ankles with ease but cutting through the tie that bound her wrists without hurting her still further was a delicate operation, it had been pulled so tight. She gritted her teeth, as he painstakingly removed it. Once she was free, she sank into his willing arms, and he cradled her like a baby. Relief flooded over her, and she allowed the tears to flow. It was a while before either of them spoke.

"Did he hurt you?" he asked huskily.

Bella held out her wrists with the angry, raised, red welds. "These are the worst," she said.

"No, I mean, did he…..?" He didn't want to say it and Bella didn't want to hear it but she knew what he meant.

"No, not that," she said.

"Thank God," he breathed and sighed, his shoulders relaxing slightly. "I'm sorry he got away, I couldn't stop him…I hardly even saw him. He hit me with something."

Bella lifted away from him slightly and put her palm delicately to Edward's inflamed cheek. He winced.

"Are you going to be OK?" she said.

"What this?"

He attempted a small smile but it came out lopsided.

"This is nothing, I've had worse playing rugger."

He hugged her to him again.

"Who was he?" he asked.

Bella wasn't sure how to answer. The truth was "a man who tried to rape me once before by spiking my drink but someone else got there instead," but Bella didn't want to get into all that with Edward right now. She'd had enough trauma for one day.

"He saw me at a party," she said, "I think he's a bit mental."

That was all true and would do for now. She flinched at the sound of footsteps outside, and Edward hugged her tightly. They both turned to the doorway to see Emmett filling the frame.

"What the hell is going on here?" he demanded.