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Chapter 11
I stalked through the dark forest, using only the light of the moonlight as my guide. I hunched over, keeping low to the ground as I walked, not wanting to attract any attention if possible. I was a hunter seeking out my prey, and I could smell her all around me. The path that she had taken through the dense woods was clearly marked by the distinct floral scent that she left behind her. I could have found her blindfolded, let alone in the bright light of the full moon.
The woods opened into a clearing. It was my clearing. That place that I had stumbled on years ago. That place where I went when I wanted to think. That place that I had told no one, not even Jasper about. And she was there.
She was standing in the middle of the clearing. She turned when I entered, clearly startled.
She was wearing a dark blue dress made of some flimsy satiny fabric that was easily tossed around in the gentle breeze. The moonlight made her skin look even paler than usual and made her brown eyes black.
Her head whipped around when she turned to look at me, tossing her long hair up in the cool breeze.
I paused at the edge of the clearing as if I was waiting for her to run. She breathed heavily once, and then smiled coyly. The kind of smile that I had never before seen cross her lips. The look her she fixed me with filled my body with tremors. She beckoned me forward with one finger and I stupidly stumbled towards her. As I walked I vaguely wondered who was really hunting whom.
I grabbed her and pulled her firmly into my chest. Even though I towered over her and she felt so small in my arms I almost felt afraid of what she might do. She placed her hands on my chest. I grasped her tighter, momentarily afraid that she would push me away with a strength that I could not match.
I slid one hand up her back and wound my fingers into the ends of her hair. I tugged gently and she willingly tipped her head back, exposing her neck and most of her chest to my feral gaze.
Before I could even think to stop myself I lower my mouth to her chest, grazing my lips across her porcelain skin. The heat radiating from her chest almost burnt my lips as I ran them across her collarbones.
I trailed my lips up her neck and she fisted her tiny hands into my hair, pulling me in even closer.
I stopped, my trembling lips hovering over her carotid artery. I could feel her rapid pulse fluttering against my lips. Her heart beat heavily, not like she was scared. More like she was excited.
I breathed across her skin and she shuddered beneath me.
My hand that was still on her back pressed her body tighter against mine, the other still wound in her hair, gently holding her head where I wanted it.
Something bumped into me.
I growled. Those dumb vampire movies that Emmett had made us watch the night before had screwed with my brain. I still took a brief moment to solidify everything that had happened in my dream to memory. Maybe I could go back to sleep and see how it ended.
I opened my eyes for the briefest second the firmly shut them again. I had forgotten to close the curtains. My room, being nearly fifty percent glass, got very bright first thing in the morning. I also didn't remember turning off the light last night, which would have also added to the ridiculous amount of light.
I opened my eyes again. This time I saw Bella. She was lying next to me, still wrapped up in the quilt. Her hair was tangled slightly and curled out in various directions. Her brown eyes shone in the harsh light of my room. She was smiling at me. Smiling at me as though she had never been happier to see me. She looked like an angel haloed in light.
I blinked my eyes, startled by this second dream that was in direct contrast to my first. I blinked again, half expecting her to disappear. Then I remembered something.
"It's morning, isn't it?" I asked, afraid of any reaction that Bella was bound to have.
Still smiling, much to my surprise, she nodded.
I didn't know that I could move that fast. If I hadn't stopped short I probably would have gone right through the window, which didn't seem like a bad idea. "Oh god, Bella. I am so sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen," I groaned into my hands.
"For what to happen, Edward?" Bella's voice was gentle an un-accusatory.
I waved my arms back at her. "I didn't mean to fall asleep. When I brought you up here last night I had meant to go and sleep in one of the guest rooms, but when I put you down—well—you had a pretty firm grip on me. You wouldn't let go. I thought that I could wait until you let go, but I must have been more tired than I thought. I am so sorry." I tried in vain to completely burry my face in my hands.
I hear Bella get up of the bed and move across the room.
"Edward," her voice was still even. "I don't mind. Don't be embarrassed. It's perfectly fine. What I am concerned about is what I am going to tell my father." She sounded a little worried there. Of course that's what would bother her.
I dropped my hands from my face and turned to look at Bella. She was still smiling at me. She didn't seem upset. "My mom called your dad last night. She said that you and Alice were exhausted and were going to stay in one of the guest rooms. She was half right, Alice stayed in the guest room, with Jasper." I rolled my eyes.
"Emmett and Rose?" Bella asked, in an attempt to distract me further.
"Disappeared to god knows where. I didn't want to know, and I still don't." Whatever it was it definitely wouldn't be rated PG-13.
"That's twice now," Bella laughed softly. "I seem to fall asleep a lot when I am around you." Her voice was gently teasing. She wanted me to forget what had happened.
I laughed. She did fall asleep, but I definitely didn't mind.
"It's weird, I am not the kind of person who falls asleep anywhere. I really can only sleep in my own bed. I am usually to nervous to sleep anywhere else."
"I guess that means that I just make you comfortable," I said, trying to find some explanation other than that I was boring.
"Yeah," she laughed. "You do."
That made me feel a bit better. At least I knew that she did feel comfortable around me. That was something.
She smiled again and looked down at herself. "Well, I should probably go downstairs and thank your mother."
"Alright," I agreed reluctantly. I was just beginning to feel better. The last thing that I needed was to be alone with my thoughts.
Bella smiled at me and walked out of the room, leaving me alone to change my clothes and begin to feel really guilty again.
I banged my head against the dinning room table. Every time I went over it in my head I became more and more like some oafish caveman that hit Bella over the head with a club and dragged her unconscious body back to my cave.
We had all decided to go down to La Push so Jasper had taken Alice and Bella home so that they could change. I was supposed to pick Jasper up at his parent's house and then Bella and Alice up and Bella's house in an hour.
Part of me wanted to back out of it. I wasn't sure if I could face her. I felt like I didn't deserve to look at her ever again. Bella may have acted fine with it, but I was sure that what I had done was going to change the way that she felt about me. I would no longer be the friend that she could trust; I was now some stupid creepy guy that she had to keep her eye on. I had never felt more disgusted with myself in my whole life.
I heard the kitchen door open and close. I looked up to see Rose breeze in and out of the room. All she managed to say to me was, "I can't find my cell phone."
Emmett followed her in but stopped to take a look at me instead of following her into the living room. "Dude, rough night?" he asked.
I groaned and covered my face with my hands.
"Whoa. What happened?"
I looked up at Emmett. He actually looked concerned. "Do you remember how Bella talks in her sleep?"
Emmett nodded.
"Well, it turns our that she's kind of grabby to."
Emmett's eye widened. I could see what I had said wrong.
"Last night she got a pretty firm hold on my wrists," Emmett's face fell, "and she wouldn't let go. She kept asking me to 'stay' in her sleep. I couldn't let go without waking her up. I thought that I could wait for her to let go on her own. Apparently not."
"Dude," Emmett said slowly. "Was Bella pissed?"
"No. No, she seemed fine with it," I said disbelievingly.
Emmett gave me a quizzical look. "Then why are we worrying?"
"We are worrying because I acted like a total insensitive and un-thoughtful pervert," I snapped.
Emmett rolled his eyes at me. "Edward. You fell asleep next to the girl you love who loves you to. She doesn't mind. What is your problem?"
"We aren't together."
Emmett shook his head. "And whose fault is that?" He walked out of the room after Rose.
I swore loudly, though the thunking sound that my head made on the table was even louder.
We had been at the beach for about an hour but Bella and I had barley spoken. This was more my fault than it was Bella's. I just felt so ashamed about how what had happened that I was having trouble looking her in the eye.
The sudden need to burry Emmett in the sand had distracted everyone else. I had my chance to talk to her, explain myself, and maybe apologize again.
I had been standing over Bella for the last three minuets and she still hadn't noticed me. She was lying on her stomach reading Dune. It had always been one of my favorite books and Bella had picked it up just because I had asked her to read it.
I crouched down in front of her. "Bella," I said in an attempt to draw her attention away from the book.
She looked up at me, startled. "What?"
"I was wondering of you wanted to get away from these goofballs and go for a walk with me down on the beach. There was—uh—something that I wanted to talk to you about." I cringed slightly. I didn't really want to explain why I had acted to stupidly, but I hoped that if I gave her some kind of explanation that I wouldn't lose her as a friend.
"Sure," she smiled sweetly at me.
I held out and hand and she took it, allowing me to pull her to her feet. Bella looked down at her self briefly and scowled. She attempted to knock the sand off her pants but I thought that she was fighting a loosing battle.
I didn't really know how to start so Bella and I ended up walking in silence for about a quarter of a mile.
I eventually just took a deep breath and went for it. "Bella—Bella, I am really sorry about what happened last night."
"Edward," Bella sighed, "I told you already; I'm not upset. Stop worrying."
"I just—I just didn't want to give you the wrong idea." I really didn't want her to think that I was some kind of a creep.
Bella's face was unreadable for a moment. "You didn't," she said, almost a little sadly. "I know you better than that."
I laughed. I guess she did know me better than that. What had I been thinking? Bella knew that I wasn't just some creep who was trying to get into her pants. I was her friend. "Good. I was afraid that I might have screwed up the dynamic of our friendship."
She smiled a little more.
"I just didn't want to affect what we have."
"You didn't," she said. She laughed, but it almost sounded forced.
After a while I looked up to see to figures approaching us down the beach. I knew that it was Jacob and Seth long before they were close enough to be visually identified. Those two seemed to have some kind of sense about whenever I showed up on the reservation.
I had met Jacob and Seth through repeated visits to the reservation in high school. Jacob was mildly annoying at times and tended to be a bit of a 'skirt chaser,' but he was a nice enough guy. Seth was pretty cool and really nice. I liked the guys okay but I never spent much time with them outside of La Push.
Bella stiffened when she saw the guys approaching us. I guess that the two would look rather intimidating to people who didn't know them. Jacob was all bulk but wasn't a quick thinker, and Seth was just too nice to pick fights with people.
"Hey Cullen," Jacob shouted. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"It's a free country," I shouted back. No matter how old we got we still had to play this stupid little game every time we saw each other. "I can be here if I want to."
"Oh, we'll see about that." Jacob picked up his pace.
I grinned. Jacob had yet to defeat me at this game.
"Bella, move," I told her.
Bella's eyes widened in shock and she back away from me quickly, putting a distance of almost fifteen feet between us.
Jacob was coming at me at a run, Seth behind him just trying not to laugh. I stood my ground, waiting for Jacob's attack. One last minuet swift move to the side and a well-placed foot knocked Jacob onto his back.
I put my foot on his chest like some kind of conquering general. "Ha," I grinned down at him
Jacob looked stunned for a second then grimaced at me. "Fine, you win. This time."
I removed my foot and held out my hand to help Jacob up. He looked at it unwillingly, but allowed me to pull him to his feet.
"As I recall, I won last time to," I reminded him. "And the time before that."
Jacob ignored me and busied himself by knocking the sand off of his clothes.
"You may be stronger than me, Jacob, but I am smarter than you." I clapped Jacob in the shoulder, letting him know that my teasing was all just for fun.
"Hey Edward," Seth said, punching me in the arm.
"Hey Seth. Long time no see."
"Well, you have been off at school, man. It's not we are going to drive all the way out there to go and see you."
"I think we should. The girls seem to be much hotter where you are."
I followed Jacob's line of sight over to Bella who was still looking shocked over fifteen feet away. I laughed and waved her over. "Guys, this is Bella. She's chief Swan's daughter. Bella, this is Seth Clearwater and Jacob Black."
"Hi," she waved shyly. She inched herself closer to me as if she was seeking out my protection.
"Bella and I already know each other," Jacob informed me with a smug grin.
I turned to Bella. "You do?"
She shrugged.
"Yeah, we go way back, Bella and I." Jacob turned to Bella. "I didn't recognize you without mud in your hair."
Bella's eyes narrowed and I saw recognition pass through them.
Jacob laughed. "I see you do remember me."
I couldn't help my own laugh.
"Where's Jasper?" Seth asked.
I pointed back down the beach. "Back there with his girlfriend."
"Hey is—" Jacob wolf whistled and waved his hands about, his standard gesture when referring to girls, "—with him?"
"If I am to assume that by that crude gesture you meant Rosalie, then yes she is there to."
"Excellent," Jacob said. "Hey Seth, lets go down and visit the Hale's and leave Edward alone with his girl." Jacob started off down the beach.
Seth rolled his eyes and gave Bella a faint smile before following Jacob.
Laughed, shaking my head. Some people never change.
"You're not going to tell him about Emmett?" Bella asked.
"No. Let the little twerp find out for himself." I had never really approved on the way that Jacob looked at Rose but I had to admit that it was damn funny to watch her shoot him down. "C'mon, I wanted to show you the tide pools."
I steered Bella over to the large rocks that were washed over when the tied was high.
Bella eyed the rocks with fear. "Tide pools?"
I jumped up on the rocks and held out my hand to Bella. "I'll help you. Don't worry; I wont let anything happen to you."
Bella placed her small hand in mine. "Promise?" she asked tentatively.
"Promise." I pulled her up onto the rock.
I had miscalculated a bit and Bella had ended up a bit closer to me than I had expected. It was so hard not to just wrap my arms around her right there, but I stopped myself yet again.
"Steady?" I asked Bella in an attempt to distract myself.
"Yup," Bella smiled unsurely.
I hoped from rock to rock, pulling Bella carefully behind me. I showed her everything in the tiny worlds created by the tide. Bella was inquisitive and eager for me to tell her about all of the things living in the pools. She was not so fond of me when I told her to stick her finger in the anemone and it closed up around her, but we both got a good laugh out of it in the end.
We were heading back when Bella fell out of my sight. I heard some scuffling and when I looked up she was gone.
"Bella?" I called out for her, worry filling my voice.
In one brief second every bad thing that could have possibly happened to her ran through my brain on fast forward. Knowing Bella she could have tripped over a fairy circle and gotten pulled into another dimension.
"Are you all right?" I managed to ask before I really began to panic.
"Well," she responded almost instantly, "I'm not wet."
She hadn't been that far behind me. She must have tripped coming over the last area when I wasn't looking. She was leaning back on a rock.
I got to her side as quick as possible. Supporting most of her weight, I managed to get her over the dangerous area and sit her down so I could get a good look at what had happened.
I pulled the shoe and sock off of the foot that Bella had been keeping her weight off of. It looked fine, but six years of playing soccer told me that you could hurt something bad and never see a scratch.
Six years of soccer, and being the son of a doctor, had also taught me how to identify a break.
"Wiggle your toes for me," I asked Bella.
She wiggled them for me with more enthusiasm than was required. If the situation hadn't been so serious I might have laughed. Well, that meant that nothing was broken badly at least.
I pressed my fingers into the sides of her ankle. "Does this hurt?"
"No," she shook her head. "It's fine. Look," she rolled her ankle around. I saw her hide the brief wince of pain from me. "I just tweaked it. I've done it before."
I felt so bad all of a sudden. I should have listened to Bella when she felt uneasy about going up there. If I hadn't been so insistent then she wouldn't have gotten hurt. It was all my fault.
"What's the matter?" she asked, sounding exasperated.
"I just feel bad. I promised that I wouldn't let anything happen to you." There was the guilt again. I always seemed to feel bad about something related to Bella.
"Edward, nothing happened to me," she insisted.
"Yes, you got hurt."
"Yeah, it's not like this is the first time that I've done this." She wiggled her foot at me. "I just need to keep off of it for a few hours and I will be fine. If I don't put any pressure on it I should be as good as new tomorrow morning."
"I should take you home," I resolved. Maybe I would take her to see my dad on the way, just to make sure that nothing was wrong. An x-ray or two would make me feel a lot better.
"Edward, no." She snatched her foot away from me and began pulling her shoe back on. "I am staying here and having fun with everybody else."
I had to smile. She was a strong one, and a stubborn one. "Fine." I stood up.
Bella grabbed on to my shoulders and stood herself up, keeping her weight off of her bad foot. "Well, we better get going if I am going to hobble back down the beach before the sun goes down."
I shook my head, turned around and pulled Bella up onto my back. There was no way that I was going to let her walk back down the beach after she had gotten hurt.
"Edward," she grumbled, "you are not going to be able to carry me all the way back like this."
"Bella, last night I carried you up two flights of stairs while you were unconscious. I think I can manage to carry you half a mile down a flat beach."
Bella sighed dramatically. "Fine." She gripped harder onto my shoulders; unknowingly pulling herself much closer than I thought was decent.
I had to take a deep breath to clear my head before I started down the beach with her.
After a few minuets Bella got over the weirdness of letting me carry her. She began to enjoy it and even made a joke or two at my expense. I don't mind, it was all in fun and I would do anything to hear that girl laugh.
We were back to the group sooner than I had wished. Seth was playing catch with Emmett and Jasper while Jacob talked to Rose and Alice. Jacob was less of a pain when he realized that he didn't have a chance in hell with a girl. After that he tended to be fun to hang around.
Emmett leaned over and said something to Jasper when he saw us approach. I didn't need to have super hearing to know what Emmett was thinking. Jasper, being the great friend that he was, smacked Emmett on the back of the head with the football. Jasper grinned at me and I mouthed 'thank you,' back.
Emmett opened his mouth when we got closer but I shut him up. "She fell and twisted her ankle," I clarified. I didn't need Emmett making Bella uncomfortable.
I set Bella down on a vacated log next to the empty fire pit. "Take your shoe off again. I want to make sure that it's not swelling."
"I'm perfectly fine Edward," Bella grumbled as she pulled her shoe off.
I knelt down in the sand before her and checked her again to make sure that it hadn't gotten worse or that I hadn't missed something. "Fine," I sighed, defeated. "Don't get up. If you want anything then ask somebody. If I see you try to stand up then I am going to take you home."
"Yes mommy," Bella mumbled sarcastically.
I smirked at her and Bella stuck her cute little pink tongue out at me.
It got dark very quickly after Bella and I got back, but luckily Jacob had the fire going before the sun was completely gone.
Everybody ran around for a little while, giddy from being outside at night. I felt bad about Bella being stranded to that log, but every time I glanced over at her she would smile at me and every time I asked if she was okay she promised that she was having fun.
There was no place like La Push to see the stars. After spending so much time in the city I had almost begun to forget what a clear sky looked like. After making sure that Bella was wrapped up tightly in a blanket I pulled her close to me and showed her every constellation that I could remember.
Of course Jacob could not pass up a chance to tell stories. Luckily his tribe had many ancient legends and most of them I hadn't heard too many times. This particular one, however, I had heard, so I paid more attention to the fact that Bella's leg was pressed against mine then what Jacob was actually saying.
I felt a sharp pang of jealousy when Bella moved away from me, towards Jacob. But then I relaxed when she leaned her back against my legs. She had just been moving closer to the warmth of the fire.
My hands found their way forward and began to rub circles in the back of Bella's neck. I knew that Bella carried a lot of tension in her neck and was always rubbing it herself. I had occasionally seen her jerk her head to the side and hear a popping noise that I was sure wasn't healthy.
Bella immediately relaxed back into me, very grateful for what I was doing. All I could tell from the amount of tension in her neck was that something must have had her wound up the past few days.
"I've got a story now," Emmett announced.
I groaned internally.
"So three girls walk into a bar."
I groaned again. I had heard this one. It was less a joke and more of an excuse for Emmett to talk for a long time and end with a sexual pun. I instead returned my focus on Bella.
She lay her head back on my knees and smiled at me. I stroked her hair that fanned out across my legs. She looked to pretty in the glowing embers of the firelight. Her smile looked tired and I could see her eyes starting to close very slowly.
"I think that I should get you home before you fall asleep on me again."
She made a face of protest, but the most intelligible thing she could get out was, "Mmm."
"C'mon. It's getting late." I found Bella shoes on the other side of the log and handed them to her.
She tugged them on and made a move to stand up before I stopped her. "No you don't. You are not walking on that ankle."
Bella looked confused for a brief moment before she realized what I was talking about. She laughed quietly to herself.
I wrapped her tighter in the blanket and, once again, scooped her up into my arms. Bella squeaked when she realized what I was doing and wrapped her arms tightly around my neck, clinging on to me.
She looked up at me. I hadn't ever realized just how ridiculously close she was when I did this. I guessed it was because all of the other times she had been fast asleep. She was awake now, and looking at me in such and odd way I almost considered asking Jasper and Alice if they could ride back with Rose. Then I remembered exactly how tired Bella had looked a minute before.
I carried her up to the car, got the door open and managed to get her in the seat. She looked like she was practically asleep before I even managed to close her door.
I had hated to wake Bella up when we got back to her house, but it couldn't be helped. Bella had allowed me to carry her to the front porch but had insisted that I put her down before going into the house. For some reason she didn't want her dad to see me carrying her like we were newlyweds.
Chief Swan, of course, was a bit shocked when Bella hobbled into the house supported by me. He was so worried that he didn't even seem to notice that I was holding her up; much less that Alice and Jasper had followed us into the house. He brought me a bandage and I was able to wrap Bella's ankle up.
I helped Bella up onto her feet and she seemed very smug about the fact that she could walk. "Good as new."
I laughed at her and went to properly greet her father. "Chief Swan. It's good to see you again."
He looked rather confused at first before taking in the fact that I was shaking his hand. "Oh—wh—It's good to see you to, Edward. Jasper," he nodded his hello to Jasper.
"We'd better go," I said, deciding that it would be better if I kept this first meeting short for Bella's sake. "Bella needs her sleep. She was unconscious in the car. I just wanted to make sure that she could get around without my help."
Bella carefully made her way across the living room to the stairs, her face indignant. "I can handle myself perfectly fine without you," she snapped playfully at me. "I'm going to bed." She started up the stairs.
"Good night, Bella," I said softly.
She turned to look down at me, her face no longer hard. She just smiled, her eyes filled with glowing light. "Good night. See you tomorrow."
"So are you going to tell her tomorrow?" Jasper asked when I dropped him off at his house.
"No," I shook my head.
"Why not, you two are going to be alone together. We're going to my grandma's tomorrow night," he reminded me.
"You mean the harpy?"
"Hey," Jasper said with little enthusiasm.
"What? No offense, but your grandma is insane."
"I know," Jasper sighed. "You haven't been telling Alice that stuff, right? Cause she's got herself worked up into a tizzy about tomorrow."
"As well she should," I said with all seriousness in my voice. "Do you remember when she said that she didn't like the look of me? I was eight!"
"Yeah, well not that grandma's opinion really matters, but I know that Alice would feel better if she had her approval."
"Is Emmett worried?" I asked, nodding towards Rose's car.
"Is he ever worried about anything? Besides, grandma doesn't approve of Rose, she wont care at all about who she's dating."
I laughed. "What was that cute little name your grandma used to call Rose back in junior high?"
"The whore of Babylon," Jasper said, trying not to smile.
"Right, we should start calling her that again," I joked.
"The last time you called Rose that you spent two hours inside your own locker," Jasper reminded me.
I laughed. "We were just dumb kids. If possible, I knew less about dealing with girls then than I do know."
"Speaking of which, why aren't you telling her tomorrow?"
I shrugged. "I have a plan. I want to take her somewhere special. It's not exactly the kind of place that we can go to at night so I'm putting it off for another day. Plus, I need to make sure."
"Edward," Jasper groaned, "I've told you, she's in love with you. I've talked to her about it. I swear that if you don't tell her before break is over then I will, I don't care what you do to me. I am sick of watching you two dance around this. Plus, Alice keeps asking me questions, which I can't answer without breaking my promise to you. I can't keep this up." Jasper looked serious.
"Don't worry," I said. "I've got a plan. I'm going to tell her and everything will be fine."
Jasper headed to his front door. "Just don't screw it up," he said over his shoulder.
"Thanks for your confidence in me," I muttered sarcastically.
Don't you love how every thing bad that happens to Bella seems to be Edward's fault. He is a bit of an overreacter.
Thanks for reading! :)
