We arrived at the club a little after Jasper's band began to play and Alice instantly positioned herself at the edge of the stage in front. She was right next to the amp and directly below where Jasper stood, confident and relaxed as he worked his fingers over the strings of his electric guitar. His concentration was focused on the music but somehow he sensed our presence as we entered and looked up, acknowledging our group with a nod.
I noticed his eyes lighting on Alice and as he spied her in front. I was happy to witness the genuine smile beaming on his face as he strummed the guitar as though just for her. I felt a surge of happiness for my sister in her choice. Jasper was definitely a good guy and he obviously liked her as much as she liked him.
Emmett grabbed an empty table and Rosalie and I followed him and sat down. I scanned the crowd and realized that I recognized quite a few faces from school. Before I could sit back in my chair and enjoy the music I heard familiar giggling over my left shoulder. My name was whispered on someone's lips and then there was more murmuring and giggles. My curiosity got the best of me and with a deep breath I turned and looked.
I only caught the hopeful expression on Jessica Stanley's face before I quickly rotated forward to find Emmett snickering at me. I scowled at him, wishing that I had resisted the temptation to discover the source of the unwanted attention. Emmett was endlessly entertained by my discomfort and he broke into a massive grin as I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
Rosalie, at least, seemed to be as irritated as I. She glared at the cluster of anxious girls who slowly moved in toward us and rolled her eyes at me. "It looks like your fan club is here Edward," she snarled.
Before I could come up with a plan to avoid what was inevitably going to be an awkward scene, Jessica approached our table with two other girls I recognized from school tagging along behind her. I felt trapped in my seat and tried to look anywhere but meet her gaze. I could sense her trepidation but I wasn't about to do anything to make her feel like her advances were welcome. It was irrational but anger surged within me and I almost cringed, hunching my shoulders forward and clenching my jaw.
"Hi Edward," she said with a confidence that surprised me. I heard Emmett's smirk as he kicked me in the ankle.
"Hi Jessica," I replied in as friendly a tone as I could muster with my jaw still clenched tightly.
"Um, it's so great to see you here. Are you here to see Jasper's band?" My eyes flitted up to her at the mention of Jasper's name.
"Yes," I answered sharply, my irritation sneaking through.
The hurt look in her eyes showed that she got the message. "Oh, well…see you later," she muttered dejectedly and I felt the heat rise to my cheeks.
As the girls shuffled away toward the stage Emmett punched me in shoulder. "You didn't have to be an asshole, Edward."
"Ow, damn Emmett." I rubbed my arm where I knew a big bruise would form later. "I'm gonna get some air." I slid off the seat and walked out toward the entrance where a few groups stood around talking.
It felt unbelievably cool outside in contrast with the sweaty club. Smoke from a cigarette drifted in my direction and the smell clouded around me.
"Edward Cuullllen," Lauren slurred as she dropped her cigarette and smashed it into the sidewalk with her high heeled shoe. She slithered in my direction and again I braced myself to be accosted.
She draped her arm over my shoulder and I recoiled from the contact. She smelled like stale smoke and beer which made her even less desirable. But I was feeling a little guilty for being rude to Jessica earlier and I didn't want to be a jerk. I tried not to appear as repulsed by Lauren as I actually felt. She had obviously had way too much to drink already and was teetering, leaning into me for balance. She pawed her hands over my chest and I was having a difficult time trying to keep myself from just stepping back and allowing her to fall.
While I brainstormed on how to get away from her, a continual dialogue of nonsense flowed out of her mouth. "Edward you are so gorgeous and I'm really popular. You should like me. I like me. You should like me. Look at my new shoes. I like my shoes. Do you like my shoes? You are so hot."
Her hands started to stray south and as her fingers squeezed my butt cheek I jumped and pushed her roughly away. She stumbled but before she hit the sidewalk I grabbed her arm and steadied her.
I had my hand wrapped around her forearm this way when I heard her voice in my head, "You are mine, Edward Cullen" and I dropped Lauren's arm as though I'd get burned by the contact.
I pivoted in place to see Bella Swan at the end of the block walking toward us and I was instantly aware of my overwhelming physical reaction to her presence. My heart beat accelerated in my chest, my face was flushed and desire flooded through my body so completely I couldn't breathe. I stepped around Lauren and instinctually turned to face Bella. She was the sexiest creature on earth. The way she sauntered forward but with purpose was hypnotic. I couldn't tear my eyes away.
She was wearing a skin tight black lacy dress that came to the middle of her thighs and hugged her hips deliciously. I would have worried that anyone else would have toppled on the stiletto black boots she wore but she was so sure on her feet that they seemed an extension of her long legs. Her dark hair swirled around her shoulders seductively and I saw myself running my fingers through it, grabbing fistfuls, pulling her head back, and devouring her neck with my lips and tongue.
I wasn't paying attention to Lauren, but Bella was. I hadn't even realized that Lauren had moved and was standing next to me with her arm on my back until I followed Bella's angry glare. I peeled my eyes away from Bella reluctantly to glance at Lauren whose eyes were now wide and sober with panic and fear.
"He's mine," Bella hissed in her mind and faster than I could see she batted Lauren's hand away from me and grabbed my hand, lacing her fingers painfully tight in mine. I resisted the urge to flinch from the coldness and allowed my hand to be encased in the solidity of her grip.
She looked in my eyes and a small victorious smile formed on her delicious lips. Turning her face away, she began to walk back down the long city block the way she had come, pulling me along with her. I walked automatically. I was overcome by the surge of electricity that flowed from Bella's hand into mine and through my entire body. I felt like I was floating forward, my feet not touching the ground.
I was only vaguely aware that my feet were moving at all as I marveled in how the feminine softness of her features was absent from her profile. The angle of her forehead and the sharpness of her cheeks were sculpted as of stone. The proportions of her features were so near perfect that I couldn't tear my eyes away. I yearned to hear her voice; to know that she was real.
I was so entranced by Bella and the feeling of her hand entangled with mine that I was thoroughly startled when she stopped abruptly, turned her gaze toward me and seethed jealously, "Why do I always find you with a girl hanging all over you, Edward Cullen?"
I was too stunned by her question to come up with a reply. I opened and closed my mouth a few times to answer but I was too flustered to speak. I was concerned the anger in her words but more than that I was actually thrilled by her jealousy. It meant that she felt some ownership over me.
Bella looked at me curiously as though trying to understand my uneasiness. She raised her hand and gently rubbed my forehead, smoothing the furrow from my brow, and smiled.
Her touch lifted the fog lift from my brain. I exhaled the breath I'd been holding and blurted, "Bella, I wasn't here with Lauren. I just came outside to get some fresh air and she just started hanging all over me. I swear I didn't instigate it."
She giggled mischievously, "Shhh Edward…I know. Just wait, we'll talk."
I followed her. I would have followed her anywhere. We turned the corner and I recognized the motorcycle parked along the curb as the same one as Jacob was riding when he picked her up from school. An image flashed in my brain of a large wolf-like beast and I felt a spasm of fear, only partially realizing that Bella was asking me a question in my mind. "Can you drive?"
I nodded in response and swung my leg over the bike. She was on behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist faster than I would have thought was possible. I was beginning to understand that Bella was extraordinary in more ways than I could imagine.
Even though I could barely think straight with her arms encircling my torso and her breasts pushed softly up against my back she gave me silent directions in my mind and somehow I found that I was able to follow them. She had me driving back toward Forks and when we had been on the highway for a while she asked me to turn off the main road and we cruised for a while in the darkness down a forested side road.
I was curious as to where she was taking me but I didn't dare break the silence or her trust. I wanted her to know that I was willing to follow her lead, to risk knowing her, to take whatever it was that she would give me.
"Pull over here, Edward," she released her hold around my waist as I followed her final directions and came to a stop in a turnout by the side of the road. "Come," she gestured for me to follow her and as my eyes adjusted to the moonlit night I saw her disappear down a path head at the edge of a clearing in the trees.
"Bella?" I called down the pathway and into the darkness. I instantly felt her hand grasp mine and pull me forward, stumbling behind her. After just a few minutes of walking blindly this way the trail turned and I found myself in front of a small tidy cabin. Bella walked up the steps, opened the door and turned on the lights inside.
I followed her up the steps, surprised to find that the cabin was very nicely furnished with oriental throw rugs and a plush overstuffed couch in front of the fireplace. Bella immediately grabbed a few logs from the pile near the fireplace and began to construct a fire. When I realized her intent I jumped forward to help, earning a look of irritation from Bella which quickly changed to one of acquiescence.
She easily thrust the log she held loosely in her right hand to me and I buckled under the weight. She repressed a chuckle at my reaction and I flushed in embarrassment. I wasn't usually insecure but my manhood was a little wounded. As I finished up constructing the fire I thought of how the more time I spent with Bella, the mystery surrounding her grew exponentially.
When the fire was sufficiently blazing I finally rotated my body back toward the rest of the room to see that Bella was sitting on one side of the couch, her feet tucked under her, making her appear small and vulnerable like I had never seen her before. My nervousness at being alone with her immediately vanished as I became consumed with the desire to wrap my arms around her and take away the suffering and pain that I saw in her face. I wanted to protect her and love her and make her mine, always. But I shook off that compulsion and instead sat down next to her, waiting for her to make the first move.
I searched my mind for her thoughts, my head throbbing in my concentrated attempt to quiet my internal ramblings. But though I listened deeply for any fragment or scrap of thought from her, there was nothing. Just as I felt a wave of disappointment crash down upon me at the loss of the mental connection between us, I heard a faint hum in the far recess of my mind. I knew in that instant that I could sense her mind as though it was inside of mine. And I also knew without a doubt that she was purposely, and skillfully, cloaking her thoughts from me.
As we both sat in silence, I forced myself not to stare at Bella and instead kept my focus on the flickering flames in the fireplace. I listened to the wind pick up outside, slapping against the side of the cabin, and rattling the thin windows. I tried to calm my nerves but my heart beat raged inside my chest, thrumming wildly in response to the closeness of Bella. I had never felt so young, so inexperienced, so at the mercy of someone else and I inwardly cringed at my weakness. I was summoning the courage to speak when Bella spoke.
"You should call your friends, Edward. They'll worry about you," she said nonchalantly as though it were perfectly normal for us to be alone in a cabin out in the woods together.
I nodded and pulled out my cell phone, dialing Emmett's number clumsily. He picked up on the first ring.
"Edward, where are you, dude? You disappeared; we thought maybe one of those chicks kidnapped you or something."
"No, Emmett. I'm…uh fine. Um…I'm getting a ride home later, okay. I mean…I'm not coming back to the show."
"What? Dude…what's up?" Emmett was yelling into the phone, the noise in the background making our conversation difficult. "Did you finally hook up with someone?" he bellowed into the phone and my eyes flitted up to see if Bella heard. She was looking at the fire but had a definite smirk on her face.
I knew that I was going to have to give him an explanation or he wouldn't leave me alone. So I told him the truth. "I'm with Bella."
"Whoa. No way…Bella? Cool, Eddie boy." I could sense that he wanted to say more and was hesitating. I was about to say goodbye when he yelled in the phone, "Edward…be safe man."
"Bye Emmett," I said and closed the phone, slipping it into my pocket. I slid further back onto the couch and looked into Bella's eyes. This time I wasn't going to wait for her to send me a vision or speak in my mind. I was going to take charge.
"Bella, I need some answers. I need to know who you are. I feel like we keep getting close and then you push me away." I don't know if I remembered to breathe because after speaking I felt the urge to suck in a deep gulp of air. I exhaled loudly and Bella visibly recoiled and arched her body away from me.
I couldn't help feeling hurt by her movements and I hunched over, scowled, and ran my fingers through my hair in exasperation. "You seem like you hate me sometimes, Bella." I said in a hurt voice I didn't recognize as my own.
"No, Edward. Never think that. I could never hate you," she said with such feeling, so much emotion that I did believe her. Whole heartedly.
"Edward there is so much you don't know about me. I keep trying to stay away from you so that I don't hurt you. But I just can't. I feel so connected to you. I don't understand it." Her tortured expression pulled at my heart and I leaned in to touch her.
"No, Edward. You must not come any closer," she said firmly and with conviction. "You don't know what you're getting into. You need to know, to understand…because I don't think I can stay away from you anymore."