A/N; thank you for the reviews. And many apologies for the late update and errors.
Clarification:
Time passed since Bella started working for the CC - 4 weeks.
Chapter 9 - Prison
"You're being irrational," he said to her back.
It was as if he was trying to justify something as horrible as...
Torture.
How could he do it? How the hell was he capable of torture? The images of Edward...torturing someone...even if it was James...
How could he?
She might vomit.
"You do this, when you panic. You bolt."
Oh...
Oh, the rage inside her.
How dare he tell her she bolted due to panic, when he was the one who put panic inside her? He told her something so terrific, so horrendous. Torture was barbaric and inhumane. It was banned from so many countries for a reason. She knew for a fact that some people went mad from torture that they would falsely admit to have done a crime, only to make the pain of torture stop...
It might not even work with James, now that she thought about it. They could torture him, and then it would only anger him more... It could backfire on everyone.
"What kind of torture are you talking about?" she asked stiffly.
"I have obviously already said too much."
She was breathing faster and the thing was that her imagination was not that wide to take her to the places of torture. Maybe that was for the best.
Still, she was curious.
"I'll ask Emmett then," she said.
She knew that was fruitless; Emmett probably too wouldn't tell. He would side with his brother. Why would he side with Bella?
Edward started stepping forward again, and she was sure he was going for the physical contact.
A flash of something gruesome blinded her and she was angered once more.
"Don't come near me," she said, disgusted. "I can't believe I let you touch me."
And so she had.
For hours, in his bedroom.
He stopped walking and seemed suddenly determined.
"Do you think he was sweet on Tanya?" he asked.
"Tanya?" she asked.
"Tanya, yes. The girl that vanished and not even the police could find her. Don't you think he tortured her, raped her, ruined her, before he killed her and respectlessly discarded her body somewhere to this day unknown?"
Now the missing person had a name and that made it personal.
Tanya.
In the mist of her thoughts, she had to say it was a beautiful name. It made her wonder what Tanya had looked like in her living days. It made her wonder if her last day had really been her worst.
"I won't stay here, unless you tell me," she said.
"Is that so?" he asked in challenge.
She hated it when he was like this.
"Should I walk out then, for you to believe me?" she shot back.
"As silly as you are right now, I'd like to see you try."
Silly.
He called her silly.
She had heard many things before and the rumors online were terrible, but Edward calling her silly was many the worst of it all.
"And you're disgusting," she said.
She knew that by saying that, she had taken it too far. It would anger him and for sure - and it did. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes briefly.
"Bella, you..." he didn't end his sentence.
He probably wanted to call her many names, or call her for her behaviour. He was sick of her.
"Oh," she said. "I see."
He looked at her, first annoyed, then curious.
"You see what?" he asked, a little sarcasm in his voice.
There they were again.
Bella was getting on his nerves, she knew that for sure. Perhaps because she was doing that on purpose. What else could she do?
Like before, it wasn't the anger or horror that consumed her.
It was fear. Because she knew that now, it was over for good. And she was scared of that, scared of being left alone.
"Do you really want to know?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Okay," he said.
He walked to a drawer in the kitchen and came back with something that was indeed small and surely didn't look nothing like a torture device. He handed it to her and she saw it was like a ring, which had a small whole in it, probably not much bigger than an inch. Also there was a screw and if she turned it the whole got bigger.
The idea that she was holding something in her hand that could hurt someone seemed absurd as it didn't look like any torture device.
It was almost like a ring...able to fit around someone's finger...
"What, you can break fingers with it or something?" she randomly guessed.
Judging by the look in his eyes, it wasn't such a random guess at all.
She felt sick.
The thing fell out of her fingers and dropped loudly on the floor.
"Is it?" she asked.
"Yes. It's a thumbscrew. You can break any finger with it, though."
She felt panic, fear, disgust, anger...and terror. It was all there, consuming her, making her go wild with frenzy.
Oh, God, free me.
She went to the elevator doors, desperately hitting the button for the elevator to come and the doors to open.
"Do you want James off your back, or not?" he asked.
"This is a deal breaker!" she cried.
"Is it?"
There had been a time, not that long ago, when she and Edward slept together. It was more then sex though. It was so much more.
"I can't believe I let you touch me..." she said disgustingly. "Where is that damn elevator?! Are there stairs? Where can I take them? The should be stairs."
The idea...
The madness...
How did this happen to her?
The one and only thing she really wanted was the one and only thing she would never have.
"A deal breaker?" Edward said, appearing before her. "You mean us?"
She instantly took a few steps away from him and suppressed a shudder.
"Stay away from me! There is no us."
He looked into her eyes, his face somewhat registering something, but she was too occupied to give him any thoughts.
"You can't leave," he said. "With only my blouse on to cover too little of your skin."
"I don't care!"
"You're not even wearing any panties."
What? Shit?
How did he know she wasn't wearing anything underneath the blouse?
His eyes assessed her carefully and she crossed her arms.
"Why not?" she said. "Let them take my picture, and spread the gossip that Izzy had sex with her boss and now she's gone mad. Let them. I don't care."
"You'd rather do that, huh? Only because I told you about torturing James?"
"No!"
He scowled, and said, "Then why?"
She pressed the button feverously and realized why the elevator doors wouldn't slide open.
And that bastard had known all along.
"Open them," she demanded him. With his key card or whatever.
He raised an eyebrow, and she hoped that her voice suggested that he would have to do as she told if...if what? God, she didn't know. She couldn't fight him.
But he did open them, unexpectedly...finally the doors went open.
She stepped inside fast.
"This is it then?" he said, standing between the elevator doors.
Damn him! Why didn't he let her go?!
"Get away from the doors!" she snapped.
"This is where it ends?" he continued, scoffing.
She thought of how she used to think of Edward, and how she thought of him now, knowing he had that torture thing in his kitchen. She thought she was going to vomit and placed her hand on her mouth. She bent through her knees and put her other hand on her stomach.
Please don't vomit...
Please don't...
"Let me go," she pleaded. "Please..."
She expected his sarcasm and anger again, only it didn't come.
"I'll search for a different way to get James of your back."
The words didn't register.
"No torture," he said. "I'll ask my men for plan B."
His men...meaning a team was working together with Edward - of course they did. He couldn't be doing this all on his own.
But it wasn't logical...not logical that he would change his mind about the torture.
She was weak, weaker than she ever thought. This time, when she bent, she really did fall on her knees and then with her back on the elevator wall. She leaned against it and breathed fast.
What was to become of her?
Strangely, he let himself sit too, against the entrance sliding doors to prevent them from closing, even if that's what she wanted, for those doors to close and bring her back downstairs.
"Will this make you stay?" he asked.
"No."
"What am I going to do with you?" he asked tiredly.
"Yeah," she muttered. "Blame it on me."
"You said that torture is a deal-breaker. Even if I don't know what the hell is going on in your head, I'm saying no to torture, so that there is no longer a deal breaker. Still you want to leave?"
"You don't have to stop the torture just on my behalf. It won't matter."
"Excuse me?"
She looked away and said, "So this is what it feels like to be a prisoner."
"Maybe I'm saving you from doing to dumbest thing in your life, because trust me, if you went out on the streets now, looking like this, it would-"
"Who cares?" she said, interrupting him. "The internet says I'm scum. The rumors are already saying that I'm throwing myself at you and-"
"You may have gone through shit, Bella," he said, interrupting her as she had interrupted him before that. "But right now, you're being unfair to me."
Of course, he would put the blame on her once more.
Desperation hit her and all she wanted was to go home.
"So now you're punishing me by forcing me to stay here in this hell."
He raised an eyebrow at her.
"What?" she snapped, her anger rising at his mock.
"I mentioned torture, and you run. Now I take back my words, and you still run? I don't understand and you refuse to tell me."
"I can't believe you! You're just... so disgusting."
"Fine, then," he said curtly.
He got up on his feet.
Then, he reached her and she felt her heartbeat go a little faster. What was he doing?
Before she knew it, he took hold of her upper arms and pulled her up. She thought of torture and she thought of him touching her, as he dragged her out of the elevator.
No!
It was the first thing she thought to do - try to push his hands away from her arms, but damn him for being so strong. Next, she raised her foot and aimed for his kneecap...
But he twisted her, so her back was facing his front and she wasn't able to proceed her original plan.
By now, they were out of the elevator and soon, the doors would close.
"You can't keep me here!" she snapped.
"Let's bet on it, sweetheart," he said with a smile in his voice. "Guess who'll win?"
Oh, my God.
Her anger was fueled by his cruel words, joking in a time like this.
She gathered her force and elbowed him in the stomach. He grunted a little, losing his grip on her, but before she had a chance to run through those sliding doors, he grabbed her wrist, twisted her arm and pushed her against the wall next to the elevator.
She was fixated, unable to move away from his strength.
No, no, no...
The elevator doors slid shut.
She lost. She lost the fight against Edward.
She thought about giving up. Her father wouldn't have been proud of her. She thought she was strong, but he was stronger.
The grip he had on her loosened and Bella didn't bother to fight him again. What was the point?
When he released her, she didn't turn around. She was giving up.
His fingers, very lightly, touched her waist and pushed down the blouse, back to her upper thighs where the hems of the blouse had touched it before, right before the fighting.
He then turned her around slowly, by her shoulders.
"How come we're always fighting?" he said quietly.
She couldn't do this, not with him and his voice, being gentle and kind.
"You're not going anywhere, until I know why you're running away from me."
"As if you would let me go once I tell you the obvious."
He assessed her briefly.
"I would," he said. "You're free to leave once I know what it is that I've done that you find so disgusting."
"There's a catch."
"There was never a catch."
"Always."
He rolled his eyes.
"I always am just a joke to you. Even now."
"You are so intent on believing I did things selfishly. Try me. When did I ever say or do something that came with a catch?"
"How the hell did the conversation switch to this?"
"The moment you said that there's a catch. Now you tell me what the hell is so wrong with getting over this already?"
"There's no point. It's no use. I just want to go."
"You know the conditions."
She looked away as he sounded so casual. He was not letting her go until she told him, in so many words...
But saying the words out loud; it was too disgusting.
"What's it going to be?"
She turned her eyes back to his, her body exhausted from everything.
"My first workday," she said. "I was supposed to work ten hours, remember?"
She could see he was going to object.
"It's what you put in the e-mail!" she snapped before he could intervene. "Later that day when I asked you, you said you mistyped. That was messed up."
"I had to test your liability. Emmett too-"
But then he stopped abruptly.
She thought her heart broke and that he heard.
"Emmett was there, just to test my liability too?" she said, her voice cool but her feelings hurt.
"I asked him for help and he agreed."
"So I was just a project to Emmett."
"Only for a few minutes, give or take. Then he decided, much sooner then I did, that you are trustworthy."
Everything had been a test. How could she know what was real and was was not?
"Why is he still...talking to me? Having contact with me?"
"That thing going on between you and Emmett is real."
"It didn't start real. It started as a test. Who's to say this is all not still a test to you and him?"
"You're his friend. Surely, you don't doubt that."
"Maybe I do."
"Because of me, right? Because you are running for some unknown reason. Because you won't talk to me."
She looked away again, angry that they were even having this conversation.
"You tricked me that day," she said. "You lured me in your car with better working conditions. Then you revealed the truth - that you only brought me home just to keep up your reputation."
"Was I really doing that? Saving my reputation?"
"It's what you said-"
"Well, use your big brain, Bella. It was so much more beneficial for you to get into my car and let the world think I fucked you, then it was for me. You were the scandal of Playboy magazine, and I, the CEO of the CC, let you get inside my car..."
Everything would come back to that.
Bella was just the scandal.
Edward, however, he was someone the world saw as precious.
How was that fair?
"Nothing about that was beneficial," she said angrily. "All the rumors talk lovely about you. I'm the one they're after."
"I can't control the content of the rumors."
"Yes! You could've! You induced it. You said, let's give them something juicier to talk about. You could've just leave me be, as I asked you so many times!"
"I never thought it would be harmful to-"
"Any idiot could've seen it coming! All you did was fuel the gossip. Now it only makes me wonder if that was your goal all along-"
His eyes narrowed. "I wanted the fucking gossip to end, Bella. I didn't want them to talk shit about you."
She let out a hard breath.
"There never was a catch," he said once more. "I didn't trick you. I wanted to have the upper hand though. I didn't want you to think good of me."
"And you know what?" she snapped. "I never did think a good thing of you. Job well done, Edward."
She glanced away, and thought of what it would be like to just disappear.
"After your shift ended on your first workday," he said, "when you cancelled the pub, I waited in my office until you had gathered your own things and went for the elevator. I was waiting for you, to offer you a ride home. I wanted to help you. Regardless the consequences of what other people might think of you or me. If I had known then that the rumors would get worse-"
"Stop it, just stop it! You made it clear that's not what you were doing, that you weren't helping me."
"I needed to keep up that illusion, because... I didn't know you well. I wanted to see how you would react if I would offer you help."
"You're driving me crazy with all the tests!"
"Likewise."
"I've done nothing that would drive you crazy!"
"Right now, you are. You want to leave and I don't know why."
"That's your own fault, not mine! You're the disgusting jerk who's forcing me to stay here. I don't want to stay."
He raised an eyebrow and a look of resignation crossed his face.
"You're so fucking unreasonable. Fuck you, Bella. I'm done."
He walked away from her. The sight of it was devastating.
He's done with her.
She needed time, space, her own place. She needed things she couldn't get.
Then, Edward turned. He threw the keycard, the one he used to open the elevator doors in her direction and it landed next to her.
"Salvation at last," he mocked. "If you want to walk out into the cold, dressed like you just had sex, then fine. Go. But please humor me and stop calling me disgusting, without even as much as an explanation. And stop saying that this is a prison. You're free to leave."
She looked down, at the key card. Her heart ached.
"Put some clothes on, and by the time you're finished, I'll have arranged a safe travel for you," he said before stepping into the kitchen and going out of sight.
She couldn't move. Instead, she slid down the wall until she sat and stared straight ahead of her.
What would become of her?
Bella hated fighting. It's all she had known and she hated it. To her best ability, she avoided fights. Her mom and dad fought so often. It was worse before the divorce, but even after the divorce, they would still fight. And then came her fight with Aro.
Now, Edward.
She picked up the key card. He said he's done. He called her silly. He repeatedly tried to force her to believe that he never tricked her.
But he also repeatedly tried to tell her that she couldn't leave, dressed like this. Even his parting words mentioned putting clothes on. And a safe travel.
Angry or not, she knew that he still cared.
She gently lifted herself up and walked to the kitchen as well. As she walked in, she saw that he was pouring some whiskey in a glass.
"I was-"
"Coming to accuse me of reverse psychology of trying to keep you in my prison?" he said sarcastically.
"No-"
"I thought you want to leave. I gave you the damn card, didn't I?"
You threw it at me, she wanted to say.
"I'm sorry," she muttered.
He walked closer to her and she forced herself not to flinch.
"What for?" he asked.
"I don't understand!" she exclaimed desperately.
He watched her briefly, drained his glass and said, "Understand what?"
"You."
"I'm no rocket science, Bella. Ask me what you need to know, and I'll tell you, in contrary to others. I'm not the unreasonable one here."
This time, she did flinch. He was angry with her.
"Why did you transfer fifty grand to my bank account, instead of my earned salary...?"
"You needed a salary. I gave you a salary."
"What about the contract? The law? Rules? 10% above minimum?"
"Fuck that."
She stared at him in shock.
"Was it such a terrible thing that I gave you a higher pay?"
Her feelings were going all over the place.
"What about the second time? You gave me fifty grand again just because I told you about that dream."
"I was intrigued by you. You deserved to have a fucking break. Also..."
He chuckled a little darkly.
"You wouldn't have told me about your sex dream had I not offered you the money. I know. That was a little unfair play of me."
"I would have. Told you, I mean. With or without the money."
The look in his eyes changed; he was surprised.
"I was intrigued by you as well," she said, looking away from his piercing eyes.
It was very quiet now.
Yes, Bella knew this was new information to Edward.
"I have just one more question," she said. "Something I don't understand about you. Maybe I never will..."
She forced herself to look at him and noticed his eyes were much softer then they were before, when they were fighting.
"How is it that you are incredibly...sweet...during sex, but..."
Oh, God, she couldn't say it.
She shook her head, breaking their eye contact.
"Tell me and," he said, "you're out of debt. I'll pay everything."
Her heartbeat went a little faster. All of that money that she owed...finally resolved. If only she would utter out a few terrible words.
"How can you?" she said, her voice breaking. "I can't get that picture out of my head!"
"What picture?"
But her voice was lost in an ocean of emotion.
"Talk to me, Bella."
It was so hard, but she tried. "Ever since you told me about the torture, I just see you in my head, torturing other people..."
He scowled a little.
"I don't know who you've tortured, or how, or how many times, but how can you? It's like I don't even know you at all. It's like you're not the same person I allowed to touch me..."
Her breaths were shaky. She needed more air.
"You think I've done it before?" he said slowly.
Haven't you? was her first, logical thought.
But she didn't say it. Because now she thought that maybe...maybe...
"I have never tortured someone."
...maybe she'd been wrong all along.
Oh, the mistake...she made a mistake...
Good God, what had she done?
The only good thing that came from his revelation was that now, she could finally breathe again. Because the picture in her mind slowly dissolved.
"You run, because you think I torture people?" he asked.
She took a deep breath and was too ashamed to utter out a word, or even nod.
She didn't need to, because he knew that was indeed the reason.
"Are you running, still?" he asked.
She watched him with uncertain feelings in her chest. Her body was drained from the previous revelation.
"I don't know," she said quietly. "You're capable of a lot more than I thought. Even if you haven't, you would have...with James."
How much could a girl take in, in just a single night?
He seemed to be analyzing her.
It wasn't long before he said, "You should go. I'll arrange a safe travel from here to your home. A deal is a deal, after all."
He stepped a little back.
"Take whatever clothes you need from my closet."
He went to sit on the window sill and kept his eyes on the window or the view - she couldn't tell which.
She couldn't move her legs to his bedroom.
Instead she went to sit at the window sill as well.
Her panic had completely taken her over; now that she was calm, she realized the terrible things she had said to him.
She needed to repair that.
He turned his head, his eyes tired.
The tension she felt was piercing and she felt like the one step progress they had made was now brought backwards by at least ten steps. She looked down at her feet.
Before, there had been so much tension, and emotion and uncertainty.
Now, Bella knew that it was her fault.
"I just want you to know I'm not disgusted by your touch," she said quietly. "I'm sorry I said that."
"Yes."
What's yes?
Did he agree, did he comment on hearing her, or what?
Yes to what?
Or maybe he wasn't in the chatty mood and she should have dismissed herself from his presence, as he had told her, to get dressed and leave.
"I'm sorry to have offended you," she said, getting of the window sill to do what she should have done before...
Get dressed and go home.
However, she felt his hand come around her wrist and he turned her so they were facing each other. The look he had on her eyes was intense and Bella felt nervous just by the way he looked at her. She was frozen in her spot.
"No, I don't believe you," he said.
He released her wrist.
"There's still terror in your eyes."
Was there? She felt shaky but her legs didn't take her away from him. She stayed rooted on the floor before him, with his dark eyes on hers.
Why did she stay? Because he said he didn't believe her, but about what? She never lied to him, so what was there suddenly he thought she was lying about?
Never lied to him...
Well, she did lie to him about fainting all the time, because that wasn't true. She might need to repair that too, at some moment.
"What terror?" she said.
"The fear you felt the first time I mentioned torture. I can't blame you. But don't lie to me. You're disgusted by me. And maybe it's for the best."
Maybe it's for the best...?
What was that supposed to mean?
"You think I'm lying to you?" she said with tears in her eyes again.
"Come on, Bella. It's all over your face."
"You probably mean... Things like... Fear that you think that torture might be the only way to ensure my safety? Worries about everything because my life will never be the one where I don't have to hear cruel gossips, face the paparazzi, drown in debts, get weird love confessions, fear for my life or think about torture as a defense mechanism?"
She crossed her arms and shook her head, her eyes on the window.
"That's what's probably all over my face."
She felt tears fall down and it was a great wonder she hadn't dried out yet.
"The picture of you torturing someone just really makes me sick," she said. "I thought that's what you do. I didn't know how someone can be so destructive, while at the same time so gentle with sex. I was confused. I reached my breaking point, because torture is a deal breaker. But then I realized that this was be the end. Especially because we were fighting and you were sick of me."
Her words awakened his body as he sat a little straighter and watched her in surprise.
"No," he said.
"It was bad," she said. "I was mean. You told me to leave. I thought-"
He reached forward and pulled her closer by her hand, and stroked her cheeks while wiping away the tears.
"You thought wrong," he said. "You said deal breaker and I thought you were walking away for good. Even if I didn't know why you were so upset, did you honestly think I would let you go?"
She nodded.
"That easily?" he asked in surprise.
"You were sick of me-" she repeated.
"If that's true, then why did I try so hard to keep you here?"
His voice with that confronting question nearly crushed her chest.
"You're not?" she asked quietly.
"I'm not sick of you, Bella...even if you run. Even if you call me disgusting."
"But you told me to leave."
"I didn't want to. I wanted to get the chains out and put it around your waist like in Black Snake Moan and keep you here. But you were scared, and repulsed."
Her first thought was, what is Black Snake Moan?
Second, she noticed a feeling in her chest, and it was suffocating her.
"You said that you're done," she said.
He didn't respond and she smiled bitterly.
"You really were done with me."
"Done," he said. "Not with you. I was tired. You were..."
She closed her eyes. "Unreasonable, and silly," she finished for him.
Why did it hurt so much?
It all began when she thought that it was over...this thing between her and Edward. His presence, out of her life...that was a painful, lonesome idea.
"I didn't want to offend you."
Truth be told, she didn't care about being offended anymore. She yearned contact.
"I don't want to be alone..."
She sounded a little pathetic saying it.
"Then stop running away from me," he said.
How could he say that?
"You're not tired of me yet?" she said uncertainly.
He smiled a little and held her waist a little tighter.
"I won't let you run anymore," he said. "I'll keep you my prisoner. How does that sound? Hmm?"
"Awful..." she said, not in time to catch her smile...
Because by saying so, he told her in a much better way that they were good.
"Careful or I'll take you up on your invitation."
"My...? What invitation?"
He lifted up the blouse she was wearing, reminding her of her nudity down there...she felt her eyes widen.
"It wasn't an-"
She hadn't even finished her sentence and he had stood up, while lifting her on the window sill. He stepped forward and stood beween her legs like it was the most natural place to be.
"Perhaps it's me inviting myself in," he said with a chuckle, his lips pressing against hers. "Whatever."
Her breath caught in her throat as she thought of their position, and more importantly, her position.
The window was right behind them.
"Is this a fantasy of yours?" she asked.
He gave her a look.
"Having sex, in front of a window...where everyone can see us..."
He glanced outside briefly, than back at her.
"It's not a fantasy of mine," he said. "Taking you right here, in this position, is though..."
She stopped breathing and thought fast.
Did she want this? Sex, again? On a window sill?
Not very long ago, they were fighting...
"Unless you object," he said.
She was thinking about it, thinking rationally...
He then took her hands and placed them around his neck. His own hands ran down her arms, to her shoulders, down to her back.
"There's a question in your eyes," he said casually.
She shook her head, and said, "Some things are better left unsaid."
"Tell me anyhow."
She bit her lips. She couldn't ask him the question in her mind.
"Please?"
Okay...
"How many?" she asked.
His lips parted and for sure, he did tense.
How many women...
She knew that he understood her and that she was really asking that question.
And he said, "I don't know."
She looked down and said, "That's a lot."
He stopped moving and she forced herself to look up at him again.
"Why haven't you ever brought any woman to your place?" she asked.
"I brought you here."
It was a reminder, of course, that he did make an exception, but that wasn't what she meant.
"Why not any of those others?" she asked.
This time, it was him who looked away.
"It didn't feel right. It would...leave marks. Marks I didn't want to make."
Marks?
"What marks?" she asked.
"Memories," he said. "I would see them, all the time, around me. I don't want that."
"But your office..."
"It's different. Imagine you had brought Aro into your home..."
Oh, man. She would have wanted to burn her place down if that had happened.
"Still," she said, "you never hated them or anything. It wasn't...a bad experience?" If that's the right way of saying it?
"No, but I'd rather not bring someone meaningless with me to my place."
Deduction told her that he brought Bella to his place, and that therefor, she wasn't meaningless.
She meant something to Edward.
"Oh..." she said softly. "You really don't stop with the flattery, do you, Edward?"
He chuckled, his eyes humored.
"Even if I sleep around-"
He stopped abruptly.
"Even if I used to sleep around," he said, watching her now as he spoke slowly, "I think I always kept in mind that someday, I might meet..."
He trailed off, his mind searching for a way to describe whatever he'd been waiting...
"You," he finished.
Each time he made such a confession, it was as if the realization started all over again - that she meant something to him.
The flattery was getting ridiculously intense now.
"I don't understand why you want this," she said.
"This?" he asked, his lips parted in a smile. "You? Or sex? Or sex with you?"
She breathed out nervously.
Then his hands ran up and down her legs. Her breaths grew shaky.
"I hate fighting with you," he said, his eyes fixated on hers. "I don't want to do that anymore."
He wanted her in more ways than just one. And she knew now that physically, it was good. It was very good.
And she had almost ruined everything.
"I'm sorry," she said abruptly, again. "I'm sorry for panicking. And assuming the worst. I'm sorry."
His eyes showed kindness and he softly pressed his lips against her temple.
"I'm sorry I hurt you," she said.
"I know. It's-"
"You deserve sex," she said. "Right here. I'm all yours."
He then lifted her up and she gasped, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding unto his waist tighter with her legs.
"What are you doing?" she gasped.
"Even though what you just said is very hot, somehow those words coming from your mouth just make you more cute."
"Excuse me-?"
"And even though you think I deserve sex, I believe that you do too. So how about we just share to one another, hmm?"
She laughed a little, and said, "Why have you lifted me up?"
"What we're about to do should not be seen by the entire world. This one's for us."
He carried her to his bedroom and when he put her on the bed and leaned over her, she realized that this was the chosen location.
"What about your fantasy?" she said quietly.
"I'm living it."
He stroked her arms with his fingers.
"Rest," he said. "I'll keep your nightmares away this time."
She froze.
"Did I talk in my sleep?" she said awkwardly.
"Loud gasp," he said. "But I didn't want to disturb you, thinking you'd go back to sleep. What was the nightmare about?"
She closed her eyes in shame.
"Something about Rebecca and Manderley," she said. "I saw Manderley burn down."
She knew it probably meant nothing and it may seem like not even a nightmare, but the feeling of losing Manderley had been intense.
"You told me something and now I can't get it out of my head," she said softly.
He pushed away from her and looked at her.
"When you thought that I'm still repulsed by your touch, you said that maybe it's for the best... What did you mean?"
"It means that your staying here with me might not benefit you. But I also don't know if it would benefit you if we were apart."
Which meant, that nothing was sure. Nothing.
"It all comes back to James," she said with pain in her chest. "Doesn't it?"
"It can't last forever," he said. "James won't win."
She hoped he was right.
"I'll keep you safe, Bella," he said. "I promise."
Nobody had ever promised her anything. Her dad didn't believe in promises...seeing marriage is a promise and he and her mom broke that promise with a divorce. And her mom wasn't the kind of woman who would make a promise, ever.
"How?" she said in almost a whisper.
"For one, you're not going anywhere," he said.
"I might run, again."
"You can't outrun me."
And he did show her how true that was. A moment ago, she was running, but he found a way to keep her here.
"And second," he continued. "We're watching James closely. He makes one fault - hack, or enter the CC again - and that will be a violation of the law and with a good lawyer, we can try and bring him down."
"I hope you're right."
"And third," he said. "You'll need that bulletproof vest. It'll be delivered here in the morning."
So many precautionary measures... all for her. All to prove her that her life was in serious jeopardy.
She took a shaky breath, because so soon her mind was occupied again with terrible thoughts.
"What's Black Snake Moan?" she asked.
"A movie. You haven't seen it?"
She shook her head.
"Would you like to?"
"Now?"
He nodded with a shrug. "I'm not tired. Are you?"
"Not so much. But you haven't even slept."
"I go with little sleep."
She was uncertain at first, but he insisted. After they both sat on the couch in the living room, Edward found the movie and pressed play. After some time her body did yearn to sleep, but she didn't want to sleep. Even when her eyes repeatedly fell shut.
He laughed quietly as fought sleep.
"Come here," he said, waving her over.
"Why?"
"Lie down a little. It's good for you."
She looked a little confused, unsure whether this would be too much of a...cuddle...? Too strange? Too soon?
"Just rest your head on my legs," he said, softly pulling her closer by her shoulders. "It's okay."
Her body complied to his words and she felt her tired, aching body appreciate this position. She lay on her side, with her face pressed against his leg. Her eyes were on the television, but she couldn't understand why Christina Ricci was suddenly beaten to near death and left to die on the road.
He started running his fingers through her hair and the feeling was electrical and tingly. More importantly, it was soothing in a way she had never experienced.
She hummed and hoped he wouldn't stop.
She really didn't want morning to come.
"What are your plans?" she asked. "For work, I mean."
"Cancelled."
For her?
She almost didn't dare to think it.
"You don't have to do that..." she said. "I should head home by the time you need to leave for work."
"You must go?" he asked.
"I should. And you should go to work. Keep up the routine."
"And what will you do all day?"
"Uhm. I'm going to think about whether I should move into this building..."
"Clever..what can I do to persuade you?"
"I won't tell you. You might act upon them..."
He laughed and it was the last thing she heard before she fell into a deep sleep.
"Thank you," she said.
He shut off his engine and turned down to face her, his eyes humored.
Thank you for what, she thought herself.
"I mean-"
"Anything," he said. "Anytime."
He was about to open his door, but she stopped him.
"Honestly, you don't have to walk me to my door."
He seemed to be debating this.
"Go to work," she insisted. "We'll...talk."
"Do you want me to call?"
"Sure."
"Alright. Now go, before I come running after you..."
It was the look in his eyes that made Bella think that he might just do that if she didn't leave soon.
"See you," he said.
"Bye."
She was walking on a weird cloud as she entered the main entrance and walked up to her apartment.
Once she walked in and slowly leaned against her front door, she sighed.
What a day.
"Hello, Bella."
Her body grew very cold.
She should have invited Edward up.
"Keep your hands where I can see them," James said.
James Coven, the one person she needed protection from and received so freely, stood before her, in her apartment...
"Did you have a nice date?" he continued.
He knew.
"Nice sleep over?" he said then.
He knew everything.
Talk to him, Bella.
"What do you want?" she whispered.
"I thought it's obvious," he replied with a sickly sweet smile.
She was too scared to utter out another word.
"I found Edward's. Took me years. But I think I'll find yours a bit sooner. Perhaps I already found it."
"Weakness?" she uttered out. "Well, the thing is...I'm an orphan. I'm socially awkward. I don't even own a pet..."
He smiled, a dark smile that disagreed.
"I have nothing..." she muttered.
Right?
"You have exactly what I need," he said in a dark voice.
She had been so certain he was wrong. There was nothing he could hold over her head.
But then she heard his next words, and she felt terribly cold.
How magnificently wrong she had been.
When James left, she fell to the ground and stayed there for a long time. The hours ticked by without much of her knowledge. She didn't want to get up or more or think or rest.
Is this what they called a mental breakdown?
The cold of the floor did eventually cause her arms to move a little. She helped herself up, very slow as a sudden onset of dizziness caught her. She wondered when the first text, the first order would arrive...
"Tell me what to do," she defeatedly said.
A satisfied look came across his face and he stepped forward.
"I'll send you the orders by text. Oblige to them."
Perhaps the first text was already there, waiting to be read. She shuffled to her phone and as she moved, she noticed how surreal everything felt.
James Coven, a possible murderer, breaking into her house and waiting for her, while at the same time somebody had been stalking her and Edward and sending the information to James.
The first thing she saw on her phone was the time.
Was it that late already?
It was almost five o'clock.
And to her greatest fear, she did have a text. The first order was there and she was too scared to find out what it was.
It frustrated her so that that James thought that she could even be of any use to him! She was clumsy and nervous. Now he was manipulating her into doing things she had yet to figure out what they were.
"What if I don't understand something?" she asked him. "What if I need a clarification from one of those texts you send me...?"
"Don't let that happen."
"What if something happens and I can't oblige to the orders...? If it's..."
Impossible, she thought, but didn't say out loud when she caught his eyes. They were glaring at her.
The message he gave her was clear; 'Don't that happen.'
Like ripping of a band-aid, she opened the unread message and drew out a harsh breath
Of course. Call me when you're up - Edward
It was just Edward.
She read the message over and over.
Not long ago, she had tried a different tactic to outsmart James.
"I have to pick up my phone if Edward calls me. He will call me."
"In that case," James said. "Give me your phone."
She froze, not wanted her phone in his hands. But he gave her a glare and she quickly handed it over.
Now Bella could see the text James had sent Edward, via her phone.
Feeling tired. Going to take a little nap. I'll call you instead, okay? - Bella
Fear consumed her and the fact that James had sent a text to Edward and Edward believed it was Bella truly scared her. She took a long, hot shower and went over and over that moment that James had been in her apartment. It'd been so brief, yet so effective.
It was simple; Bella would have to do everything James told her.