Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I own the plot.
A very special thanks to Verucasin, beta – extraordinaire.
AN:
This chapter is by far the longest, but I was growing a little impatient and I just didn't know where the hell to end the damn thing. I have spit the chapter into two and I will post it back to back. This is PART II. So I give you a little more than usual, including a few minor details about what Edward is battling. I might also have been slightly inspired by RL, see for yourself. So now sit back and enjoy.
ooooooooOOOOOoooooooo
Chapter Eleven
PART II
My appetite returned and I dug into another sandwich as Edward scoured the beach for firewood. It wouldn't be long until sunset. We sat next to each other while the darkness chased the sun below the horizon. The perfect blue slowly morphed into all shades of oranges, reds and purples. It was absolutely breathtaking. I took a few pictures of the fading sun, along with a bunch of Edward and the cliffs. Once he snatched the camera and took a few snapshots of me. I laced my arms across his neck, and for the first time since our fight I pressed my lips to his, and the light flashed from the flare as Edward took a picture of us kissing.
Engulfed in darkness the cliffs looked like the massive pillars holding up the sky while the sun was gone. Edward lit the fire and I lay dazed listening to the soft crackling.
"Were you planning to go back together?" Edward broke the silence. He was lying angular on me with his head resting on my stomach.
"No I hadn't thought about it at all, but you so explicitly dismissing it... hurt."
"I'm sorry, that was clumsy of me." His voice was apologetic.
"It's okay." I felt the weight of his head disappear from my body. It was hard to see what he was doing in the dim light. I felt his breath touch my neck. He cradled my face.
"I'm sorry I hurt you, but that still doesn't mean we are going back together." I heard the strain in his voice. It sounded like he hated saying those words. "If I could take you back to the states with me I would."
"I know." I didn't really want to have this conversation. I didn't want to discuss our finale any further. I rolled to my side and stopped watching the stars glide over the sky. I put my lips to his skin, making his smell fill my nose. I felt his long fingers fiddle with the knot at my neck where my bikini top was tied.
"What are you doing? I asked playfully, having a strong feeling things were going to heat up.
"What we are doing." He corrected and pulled the scraps of fabric off and freed my chest. He kissed my neck softly "Now strip. We're going skinny dipping." He ordered. He stood up and pulled his board shorts down. I one quick swoop he was naked with no hint of shame. The light from the fire was sparse, but I could see enough of that gorgeous body. My belly clenched and my breath hitched, but I did as I was ordered. I was thrilled at the idea.
Without a stitch of clothes on, I ran past Edward. "Catch me if you can." I yelled playfully and I was sure I heard him growl under his breath. I hit the water plowing through it, splashing it everywhere, when I felt Edward throw his arm around my waist. I yelped when he yanked me back against his body and submerged us in the warm ocean. We played around like juveniles for a while, dunking each other's heads under, which was a completely unfair fight as Edward was slick and hard to catch. Somehow he seemed to always be able to reach me, and I could never really get to him. It was surprisingly freeing to be naked in the water, when the chance of someone seeing was slim to none. We laughed and kissed, played and teased each other. I was so happy that I feared coming back from this euphoric high would be a long fall. I pushed the depressing thought back and refused to let it linger and spoil our fun.
Edward's playful touches changed as did my moves. I wiggled around in his arms and faced him. The moonlight was turning our skins into the color of silver, and his eyes were deep and longing. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my lips to his softly. He willingly parted his lips and let me invade his mouth when I felt the urge to taste him. I wrapped my legs around him in the chest deep water and my lips grew frenzied against his. Desire was surging inside of my body. I moaned into his mouth when he drew his hand down over my backside relishing his hands on me. We were floating weightlessly in the water and it was unexpectedly erotic. Just like last night before I felt no shame asking for what I wanted. We matched perfectly, we belonged together and being intimate with him was more natural than I ever dreamed.
His mouth was warm and wet against mine, mixed in with the salt from the ocean. Edward greeted all my advances with a ferocious need matching mine. I was all wet and hungry as he seemed to be also. I groaned loudly when I felt his erection press against my thigh. I reached down and ran my fingers up the length of him, collecting a guttural hiss of pleasure. I stroked him a few times, reveling the feeling of the hard flesh in my hand. His lips worked more furiously with mine and I felt the desire and need explode from him. I removed my hand and squirmed closer to him letting him know he didn't need to hold back. I felt the hardness directly lined up at the apex of my thighs and sighed loudly when the filling and complete sensation rocked through me. Edward slowly started to push inside of me.
It was surprisingly easy making love in the water, or maybe it was just so effortless because it was with Edward. It was more intimate than I ever imagined, perhaps because we were close to weightless, or perhaps because this was so right.
We moved closer to the shore, trapped in our own little world, skin slipping, tension building, unashamed noises filling the night. We were completely absorbed and consuming each other when the sandy beach hit my back. Edward was hovering atop me as he kept thrusting in and out of me the same time the water kept lapping over our bodies. Each time he pulled back I moaned, missing the fullness of him buried deeply inside of me. My tension was building relentlessly and as the water washed over us once more I shattered and cried out, my body going rigid and pulsing with pleasure.
"That's it baby." Edward murmured through his teeth. His breath was harsh and his movements growing more frantic as he thrust into me. I laced my hands into his hair, knotting my fingers when holding him to me. I arched my hips upward greeting thrusts as I knew he was nearing his climax. The intimate noises as he came caused me to convulse and tumble over the edge once more while I watched the stars above.
"You're so perfect." Edward caressed my face. His voice was low and gentle as he laid next to me.
After a lazy rest covered in sand, we had moved to the blanket. Making love on a beach was romantic as nothing else, but it seriously had its downside. Sand had the ability to go everywhere. My hair had been caked like mud, my teeth crunched when I chewed, and the tiny grains gone up into my privates, and proved rather resilient when trying to rinse them out. But besides that, making love to Edward on the beach was one of those experiences you could cross of your list of 'things I wanted to do in this life'.
"Those are large shoes to fill." I murmured in response. It terrified me that he would consider me to be perfect, I was so far from perfect. "But thanks." I smiled. It was still warm, so being naked outside wasn't really a problem. He traced his fingers along my stomach. I fiddled with the camera held it above my head and pressed the button. The flash gave out a blinding ray and we both winced.
"A warning next time would be fucking nice." Edward hissed and rubbed his eyes.
I giggled. "Sorry. I'll take precautions next time. I promise." I tried to stifle my grin no to irritate him further.
I felt his shoulders stiffen and Edward literally growled under his breath. "So fucking stupid... I swear to god." He murmured. I heard him gritting his teeth as he moved away from me. I could see the contours of his body as he sat up resting his face in his hands. The anger built inside of me. It was just a stupid picture, nothing to get so pissy over. I opened my mouth to snarl at him when Edward obliviously cut me off. "I'm so sorry." He whispered away from me.
"What?" I blinked in utter confusion.
"We're not really being responsible." He mumbled sarcastically.
"Responsible?" My brows furrowed, my mind was a haze, first he was calling me stupid, now he was apologizing and talking about responsibility. Talk about mood shifts.
"You know... protection?" He said quietly.
"Uh... Oh!" It dawned on me. I had been the furthest thing from my mind. I had never had to use condoms or anything. I had almost never in my life had sex with a random guy. I had been on the pill throughout my senior year and college. But I could imagine where Edward's mind had wandered off to. It made me a little nauseous to say the words. "I've only been with one guy and that was for 7 years. I'm not carrying anything nasty around." Another thought occurred to me. "Should I be worried?" The words almost didn't make a sound. Could I blame him? He was gorgeous and he never said anything about other women.
"No, I get checked every 4-6 months." He said, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Wow... maybe he got around? Why on earth would you get tested every 4-6 months? I searched for an explanation and came up with nothing. I felt uneasy, queasy, but I wanted to play it cool, though I failed miserably and I was almost hyperventilating. The idea of Edward being with someone else made me want to throw up for some reason. "Relax..." He touched my thigh and stroked it comforting. "I'm a blood donor and testing is standard procedure. I have a really rare blood type or something." He chuckled without humor. "I haven't been with anyone for... a year at least." He nervously grabbed his hair again. "That's not really what I was worried about." He moved closer to me, like he was seeking something. The warmth of his chest pressed against my side.
"We're both squeaky clean, so what is there to worry about?" I tried to keep it light. It wasn't actually a topic I wanted to explore any further.
"You really are out of touch." He said softly. "Are you... protected?" He breathed the last words while he stroked my collarbone.
Dammit, how could I be so stupid? It was so obvious what he was referring to. I really was out of touch, but this question was easy to answer. "I'm not protected in anyway, but there no way I could get pregnant... I'm barren land." I had stopped taking the pill just after Jacob's death, because I didn't really see the point in continuing. And since then there hadn't been the faintest sign I was a woman. "No period equals barren land." I muttered.
"Oh... I'm sorry for you." He said, empathy was thick in his voice.
"Don't be, I haven't really thought about it, and I'm sure when time comes I can get some help. Guess I'm not perfect after all." I shrugged.
"Don't say that." He said softly. He kissed me quickly and stroked my hair. There wasn't much to say after that slightly awkward revelation. I fell asleep not long after that listening to the soft crackling of the fire while I snuggled into Edward's close embrace.
"Bella... stop itching." Edward murmured, still half asleep.
"Mmm." I rubbed my face against his arm feeling completely drowsy. The silence lasted only a few minutes, but I had dozed off again, but Edward annoyingly found something important enough to wake me up again.
"Bella... sweetie. Please stop itching." He grumbled and snuggled closer to my back. I slipped under seeking unconsciousness again. "Baby, if you don't stop itching I will tie you up. Now cut it the fuck out." He mumbled playfully.
"What?" I frowned, feeling irritation rise inside of me.
"You keep itching." He said softly. His warm breath feathered past my shoulder as he kissed my back.
"Uh... Oh." I was shocked, ripped abruptly awake by an insane crawling sensation snaking across my skin. I ripped my fingernails across my behind. The itching was insane.
"What is it?" Edward asked concerned.
"My butt." I whined. "It itches like hell. What is that?" I continued complaining with nails flying over my skin. I scrambled to my knees on the blanket to rid myself of the torture.
"Oh my god... that's impressive." Edward grinned as his eyes flipped as wide as teacups. I tried to look around myself, probably looking like a dog chasing its tale. At my first disabled glance, horror struck. My bum was neatly covered with tiny red bumps and to make matters worse, I was also decorated with tracks of where my nails had clawed at my pale behind. The small scarlet marks continued down my one thigh and up the small of my back. Ultimately that made me look like... like I had a serious case of acne and had been spanked.
"Ah man." I whined again. "Stop laughing Edward, this is so not funny." I hissed.
"It's a little funny. You have to admit that." He bit down on his lips as not to submit to a roar of laughter. I threw him a mean glare, hoping a simple displeased peer would be enough to discourage his need to laugh at me.
"No!" I snapped. I kept itching while trying to locate my underwear so I wouldn't be floundering about the beach stark naked and covered in about a million mosquito bites. I was a complete laughing stock.
"You should have put some repellant on." He offered irritatingly wise after the damage was done.
"And I would have put that on my ass?" I spat, feeling horribly snarky. I knew I was being ridiculous, but the itching was driving me up the wall. I picked up my undies and put them on. Top and shorts in the same tempo. I knew if I had bothered with the repellant, the last thing I would have done was rub it all over my butt. I hadn't exactly contemplated on sleeping outside with not a stitch of clothes on. "And seriously why the hell do you not have one single bite?" I did a quick once over and not one single red dot interrupted the perfect flawlessness of his skin.
"Don't be mad. The mosquitoes must not like my blood. But you on the other hand must have the sweetest blood ever, looking the way you do." He mashed his lips together, to keep himself constrained and not tumble over the edge in hysteria at my temper tantrum and bug bites.
"I'm not mad." Finally the humor found its way through my anger. I still tried to hide my amusement and the smile that followed. "It just... itches." I moved to pick up my shirt, but he was there before me.
"Give me that!" I accused.
"Not until you tell me where you're going." He implored, clutching the shirt in his hands.
"I thought that was pretty obvious. Back to the resort." I stared at him confused.
"Why?" He asked, looking a little hurt.
"To have a shower and brush my teeth." I tried to calm down. I figured it was the best way to get my shirt back. "Give me that." I mused, trying to make my voice sound alluring. I swung my hand out to snatch my shirt. No luck.
"No." He grinned at me.
"Fine." I stalked to the other side of the blanket and snatched his.
"Hey... that's my favorite." He complained. I pulled his shirt over my head. "But I like the way it looks on you, though." His green eyes smoldered.
"Well, that's my favorite." I pointed to my shirt he was holding. "So I guess we're even."
Still clearly amused by my erratic behavior, Edward started packing our stuff and we tracked back through the jungle. Edward tried to muffle his laugh every time I scratched my behind. I went for the door of my hut feeling I had left the place eons ago. I clutched the handle. "Breakfast in half an hour?" I asked. I feigned leaning casually against the wall so I could grind my backside against the wood, revealing some of the insane itching. Edward's eyes twinkled.
"I'm going to enjoy putting something cooling on that later." He smirked and looked down. I groaned defeated under my breath while my cheeks heated. "Can we make breakfast an hour and a half? I want to go for a run, but not on a full stomach." He jumped onto my porch, keeping my shirt out of range.
"You're so hyper, but fine." I said lightly and opened the door. He blocked it.
"Hey, come here." He said softly and smiled at me with his brilliant gleaming eyes. I forgot to breathe for a second. He tried to push his fingers through my tangled hair, but settled for stroking it and gathering it between his hands. He leaned his forehead against mine and I reached up to kiss him lightly. He searched for more as he parted my lips. His tongue traced along the seam of my mouth. I wrapped my arms around him, hugging myself to him. "I'll see you in a bit." He whispered through our kiss.
"See ya." I let go of him and he jumped of the porch.
I quickly showered, and got ready. I yanked a brush through my matted hair and put some crème on my abused butt. It was a desperate attempt to soothe the skin and it had little effect.
I decided to use the computer and check my e-mail. It was probably about time I let the world kneow that I was alive and okay. Edward would be running for a while anyway and it was pretty early in the day. The Twong's had one computer available for guests to use. I pressed the button, and the screen flickered to life. I sat and waited for it to be ready to use.
I pressed the icon for the internet and typed in my hotmail address. I had thirty seven unread emails. I skimmed through them, most of them where from my mom, a few from Alice, two from Jacob's parents, two from my Dad and some junk mail. I started reading the ones from my mother first, those were the ones I was the least interested in and I wanted to get them out of the way. I saved the ones from Jacob's parents and Alice. I knew those would be worth reading, but they would also be the hardest.
I clicked on the oldest dated email from my mom.
Dear Bella
I am so worried about, where are you?
I am disappointed that you left us this way, you could at least tell us where you are.
Did you even consider what people will say?
I stopped reading ignoring the rest of her bitching. This was the reason I didn't get along with my mother very well. There were so many things we didn't see eye to eye on.
I clicked on the next one, naively hoping that one would be better.
Bella
Would you please be so kind as to answer my e-mail.
Do you even consider what this is doing to us?
I closed the email with a sigh. I so didn't want to read anymore from her. It always had to be about her, didn't it? My thoughts were icy at the thought of her opinion on what was important in this world.
I clicked on the first one from my dad, hoping it would give me a little more support. I hadn't actually told my Dad that I was leaving, so he might be mad at me as well.
My dearest Bella
I hope that you are well. Your Mother told me that you had left home and gone off somewhere.
I just want to let you know that it is okay, and I hope you find what you need. I'll be here if you need anything.
Take care of yourself and get better soon.
You're my baby and I love you.
Dad
I drew a sigh of relief as I read through the e-mail. My dad understood. It always made me feel warm and fuzzy when my dad expressed his feelings, that didn't happen very often. None of us were very emotionally verbose.
I clicked on his last e-mail. It was short and dated yesterday.
Sweetheart, call your mother, she is driving me insane.
I smiled, thinking how my mother would harass him. She would be on the phone day and night; begging, speculating that he was keeping something from her. She always thought there was an alternate motive to everything. Even though there wasn't, but there always had to be with her, that was how she was.
A name suddenly caught my eye. Cullen. I read the subject of junk mail. Cullen MIA. I clicked on it. On top there was a picture of a man. His hair was a reddish-brown, almost coppery, it was half way down his face, and styled in perfect disarray. He was standing against a plain white wall, wearing jeans and a ripped t-shirt. His green eyes were burning into the camera and onto my screen. He looked absolutely perfect.
"What?" I mouthed utterly stunned. Dumbstruck, my hand found its way to my face and covered my mouth in pure shock. I instantly recognized the picture, I had seen it before. It was on one of those enormous billboards lighting up the night at times square. I started laughing hysterically loud, shaking my head in utter astonishment. This was just so cliché. I finally realized where I had seen his face before. Edward wasn't someone I had seen or that he just resembled someone I knew. Oh no. The man on the picture and the man I had spent the last 2 weeks with, were one and the same. Edward Anthony Cullen, the beautiful mystery man was apparently the It boy in la la land. I didn't normally follow any gossip, but this much I did know.
"Oh. My. Freaking. God!" I mouthed slowly. My heart started pounding in my chest and I forgot how to blink. "You have got to be fucking kidding me." I felt my body start to go numb in shock. This was just unbelievable. I sucked in a deep breath but it did little to calm me. I scrolled down and started to read the text below the picture. As I read, tears started brimming in eyes, flowing over and streaming down my face.
Hollywood heartthrob Edward Cullen has currently been MIA since he was fired from his newest project, which started filming last week.
Speculations to whether his disappearance is linked to the rape charges is unknown. It is said that Edward Cullen has decided to visit relatives in Seattle, to relax and stay out of the public eye.
One word in the short story caught my attention and my heart lurched to a halt. RAPE. I stared at the word. I moved the cursor to click the link that marked the word. A new image exploded onto the screen. I started reading.
Hollywood hunk Edward Cullen has been arrested. This morning Police entered Mr. Cullen's hotel and he was escorted to an unknown police station in LA. The allegations concerning Mr. Cullen alleged rape of his High school sweetheart Tanya Denali has proven hard to kill. It is said to be Ms. Denali's parents that are responsible for the charges. The case is still under investigation and the police have so far not made any statements as to Mr. Cullen's arrest.
I started hyperventilating, and had to blink hard to see through my tears. What the fuck was this? A series of profanities escaped my lips as I stared at the picture at the bottom of the screen. This was much different than the beautiful picture I had just seen. This one seemed to be from a chaos of photographers, bodyguards and Edward in the middle, trying to hide his face.
My stomach clenched itself into a hard ball and cramped. I folded over my body to ease the pain. I was trying to calm my breath so I wouldn't pass out from hyperventilating. I had slept with a rapist. The words bounced from side to side on the inside of my skull. How was it possible to land myself in a bigger mess than I had arrived in? My ears started ringing and my vision clouded. I put my head down between my knees to stop the inevitable. I closed my eyes and I felt myself slip away for a few seconds. I came to, just before my body started heading for the floor. I caught myself before I hit the ground bracing myself by holding the edge of the table. I just hung there on the chair, completely limp.
I debated if I should read more crap or… or what? I had no Idea. A small voice inside of me told me to go talk to Edward, that maybe this wasn't true, that maybe there was a logical explanation for this. Could Edward really rape someone?
I listened to my breathing as things started to fall into place in my head. He was running from something. He was hiding something. I knew that, he had told me that. He said that this something would hurt me and change how I felt about him and I had no choice. All the pieces of the puzzle fell into place in one heartbeat. Every odd answer, every innuendo, every suspicion was this. I had discovered his little secret and it was one with catastrophic proportions.
My gut instinct was to wait for Edward to return and tell him what I had found, but my head kept repeating the same word over and over again. Run. Run. Run. I pushed my fingers through my hair, grasping it at the back of my neck. I pulled so hard I was about to yank it out by the roots. I sucked in a breath to round up the courage to search for further information. I would at least try and find the information from a reliable source, not a gossipy web page that would do everything for a meal ticket.
I searched for several minutes reaping through all kinds of junk until I found something that looked decent. This headline was even worse and only a few days old.
Edward Cullen, prime suspect in the rape of a sixteen year old fan.
ooooooooOOOOOoooooooo
Now, show me some love lovelies.
Come find me on Twitter – thumannlegend
Also be a sweetheart, click on my profile and enter my blog. I promise you will find a story you have never read before! I dare you.