Blood Lust

Ch. 11 – Us

(A/N: I think I gave off the wrong vibe in the last chapter…the club is not closing! The type of closure I was talking about was directed towards Ayden and Bella, not Blood Lust.)

"That was amazing Bella," said a voice behind me.

I turned and looked up into the face of the speaker. I smiled slightly as our eyes met, his familiar topaz gems making my breathing unsteady.

"Thank you Edward, that means a lot to me," I replied, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.

"Of course, I don't believe anyone would expect anything less than amazing from you," he added, one corner of his mouth pulling up into a smile.

I smiled bashfully and glanced down at the floor for a moment before bringing my eyes back up to him.

"What are you doing here Edward?" I asked him, not trying to sound rude, just curious.

"I came to see you, actually. I've been distracted since we've last spoken…I missed you terribly," he told me.

Me too, I wanted to say, but I held my tongue.

"I feel that we might have something going for us," he added, his smile growing into a boyish grin.

"Us?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes…us," he replied.

"Define 'us'," I pressed, cocking an eyebrow.

"Oh, you know…us," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"No, I don't know 'us'," I told him, slightly exasperated.

"You and me, me and you…us…together," Edward said, his eyebrows raised a fraction of a centimeter expectantly.

"Oh! That…us. Oh. Well…uh…," I stammered, racking my brain for some kind of answer that would make sense.

"You say 'oh' like it's a bad thing," he said, frowning slightly.

"Well, yes, it is a bad thing. I mean…we had our chance. Two chances, actually…every time we were an 'us' it ended…badly," I explained, my eyebrows knitting themselves together in a worry line above my eyes.

"Oh," he breathed, sighing, looking very sad.

"I thought…maybe…we could give it another shot, Bella. I miss you. I-I love you. I want to be with you, Bella, I…I really do," he said, looking at me, his eyes full of the pain that came with years of aloneness and solitude.

I closed my eyes, trying to hide the same feelings that I had, the same pain and misery that I had felt while away from him for so long.

"Please…," I said, my voice full of emotion. "Don't do this Edward. Not now…not after such a great show and a great conversation the other day…I can't do this," I told him, shaking my head and opening my eyes again.

He tilted his head very slightly to the side, staring deep into my eyes. He could see my soul through them, I knew, and exactly what I was feeling. I wanted to believe what he said, so, so badly. I wanted him; I wanted to love him and to be loved by him. I wanted to hug him and kiss him and run my hands through his hair…but I knew that such reckless actions would be the start of something. What that something was, I didn't know. But I knew that something would end up in more pain for the both of us, exactly as it had the last two times.

Edward looked at me, and I at him. He straightened his posture and cleared his throat, nodding once. In that simple nod, I knew that he knew what I wanted. And I knew that he wanted the same thing. But that one little four-letter word kept us apart; fear. I was afraid to be hurt, and he was afraid of the same thing.

His gaze moved down slowly from my eyes to my lips. He studied them for the shortest second, and then returned his eyes to mine. He stepped closer to me, closing the distance between us, and reached out, gently holding onto my forearm. He bent down and pressed his lips to mine ever so softly. He pulled away much too soon, his eyes soft. "Us," he whispered, releasing me.

Before any of this registered, he was gone, leaving me with a word and a kiss, a million mixed feelings and thoughts running through my mind. I looked down, and smiled as I saw the rose in my hand, my pale fingers gently holding the green stem, the blood red petals cascading around the center of the flower.

I lifted it to my nose and smelled it gently, the delicate scent reminding me of him. He had done it again. Blindsided me with a kiss and now I was hooked.

Us?

Maybe.