.Chapter 12 – Options
I went back into the living room, where Demetri and Irina were talking. They looked up when I came in, "Isabella." I smiled, "Hi, Demetri. Rina, whe…." Felix came into the room, looking at me. "There you are." I sighed, "Wow, I was just about to ask about you." He crossed the room, held my waist and walked us back outside. Before I could open my mouth to speak, He took me up in his arms and ran into the night with me. Soon, he put me down, "Sorry, I just wanted you alone." I sighed, "That's sweet." He smiled, "Why don't you come back to Volterra with me? Aro would be thrilled to see you." I shook my head, "So he could ask me to join his Guard again?" Felix held me closer, "You would be amazing if you joined us." "But it's not something I'm interested in." "Isabella, you don't have to join then, but I would like you to come back with me." I bit my lip, "I appreciate the invitation, but…." He sighed, "But you don't want to be away from your sisters." I nodded, "Exactly." He smiled, "I just missing hearing you laugh and making Jane angry." I smiled, "I miss that too. But since she's here, I could pick up that habit." "You know, if you two didn't have your abilities, you may get along." I stepped away from him, "Please. Jane and I are from two completely different worlds. Mine's Earth." He laughed out loud. "Besides, she wants to be Aro's little pet, so I won't fight here for that title." From behind, Felix buried his face in my hair. I closed my eyes tightly and folded my arms, as he held my waist.
I felt him press his lips against my head. I felt his hand graze along my torso. His lips moved down along my neck, "Felix?" He groaned, "I'm sorry. I know you're not interested in any of this." I nodded, "Right." I needed to distract him, before any of this went too far. "Hey, I got an idea. I might have gotten on Emmett's bad side and I want to make it up to him. So, go back to the house, and get Demetri and Alec." He held my cheek and kissed me, "I will." When I couldn't hear him anymore, I groaned loudly. I went back to the house and looked for Emmett. Mercifully, he was alone in the garage. "Emmett?" He looked up and smiled, "Hey Bella." I leaned closer to him, "Look, I'm sorry for the fight Rosalie and I had. I didn't mean to get you in the middle of it." He shrugged, "Rose is fine. You are one of the few people who gets under her skin, but I'm the only one who can calm her down." I grimaced, "I still want to make it up to you." He looked at me, "You're going to apologize to her?" "NO! I was thinking about something else." I whispered to him what I want to do, "What about Edward?" I smiled, "I'll take care of Edward." He looked at me, "I bet you will." I glared at him, "Anyway, just get everyone."
I walked into living room, where Jasper, Emmett, Demetri and Felix were sitting around a large round table. "What are you guys playing?" "Poker," Demetri answered. "Ohhh." Edward came into the room, "Have fun." I grabbed his wrist, "Can we play?" Jasper looked up, "Edward's ability keeps him out of the game." I smiled, "Well, I'll put my shield over him and he won't hear a thing." I expanded my shield, "Can you hear them?" He looked down at me, "No." I smiled, "Great." Jasper made a face, "I don't know, Bella, I mean we've played this game for some time now." I patted, "Don't worry, I'm a fast learner." Jasper was still on the defense, "I have $5,000." "Sit down," they spoke unanimously. "Wait a minute, she's never played before," Edward began to protest. "Sit down," I pulled him down in the seat next to me. Everyone was dealt a hand and I had a nothing. It was time for me to have some fun. "Umm, Jasper?" "Yes?" I smiled, "If all you cards have the same symbol on them, that's good, right?" He nodded, "Yes." I tried to stifle a giggle, "Edward?" "Yes Bella?" "If all the cards are in sequential order, that's good too?" "Yes it is."
"Demetri?" "What?" he asked in exasperation. "Calm down. If all the cards read a jack, ace, king, ten and queen, that's good too?" Everyone slammed their cards down. "So that is good? Well, great because I didn't have any of that." I laughed out loud, collecting my winnings. Emmett shook his head as he gave everyone their next hands. I smiled brightly, "I've always wanted to say this, but I'm all in." Felix patted my hand, "Isabella, you don't want to do that." "It's ok." Everyone showed their hands, "Quads bust, you're dead before the turn." Demetri furrowed his eyebrows, "What?" Jasper looked up, "Don't ask me, I was dead before the turn." I offered to shuffle, making the boys even more nervous.
After playing for another hour, Eleazar and Carmen came home. "Hi….. uh-oh!" I looked back at Carmen, "What?" "Eleazar…?" I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes. "You're playing poker….. with Isabella? Have you lost your minds?" I cashed in and was counting our money. "You could have warned us earlier?" Jasper groaned. I giggled, "Don't worry. You can try again tomorrow." Emmett got up and followed me, while I lifted my shield from Edward. His head snapped up, "I can't believe you two." Emmett and I looked back. Emmett grabbed my wrist and pulled me upstairs. "Here's your money back and half the winnings," I handed him over $20,000. He laughed, "We should go to Vegas. You could clean them out." My eyes widened, "Well not at MGM Grand. I was banned from there. Broke the bank." Emmett took me up in a large hug, "When can we go?" "Go where?" Our heads turned and there was Rosalie, with Carlisle. Emmett let me down, "Vegas. Bella's pretty good at card games." Rosalie glared at me, "Right." She walked off. "Rose?"
"I'm sorry." He looked down at me, "Don't be. I told you, I can calm her down." I smiled, "Or Jasper could." "Ha," he mock punched me in the shoulder and went after Rosalie. I went to my room, putting on my stereo. I put my winnings away in my closet and changing my clothes. Taking off my blouse, I walked over to my bed, "Ahh, Felix!" He was smiling at me, as I was standing in front of him, with just a bra on. "Don't you know how to knock?" He shrugged, "Not really." I dashed back into my closet to put a top on, "This isn't Volterra. You can't just go anywhere you like." He stared at me, "I'm sorry." I was standing by the edge of my bed, picking up my stereo remote. I looked back and his arms were around me and we fell on the bed. "Fel…." He kissed me again. I put my hands on his chest, trying to push him away. But he took my wrists and held them above my head. I bit down on his lip and he pulled back. "I'm sorry, but there is something I need to tell you." He rolled his eyes, "Let me guess, you like Edward?" "How did you know?"
He scoffed. "I noticed it from the moment I got here. He's always upset when I'm near you and you acted like you're cheating on him when we were in the living room." I sighed, "Ok, now you know." He smiled and shook his head, "I don't care. Isabella, I want you." I blinked, "Felix, I'm in a very difficult point in my life. I'm just finding out who I was and the fact that Edward and I were in a relationship." "A relationship that he backed out of. Why did he do that?" "Because…. he thought he was putting me in too much danger by having a relationship with a human. A human so exposed to our world, that's not a good thing. That's why Edward had to leave." Felix took my hands in his, "Isabella, he could have changed you, but he didn't. Don't you think there's something wrong with that?" "Because of….." I didn't want Felix to know about the wolves, "an agreement the family had. They wouldn't change another human, unless they had no other choice. So unless I was dying, they saw no reason to change me." Felix's eyes narrowed, "Except having us find out about it."
This was becoming difficult. "Well, like I said, it doesn't matter anymore. What's the point? I'm a vampire now." "Regardless, he walked away. Why pursue something that wasn't meant to be? Edward is your past," Felix cupped my chin, "I'm your future." Bit my lip, "Felix, I don't know if….." He leaned closer to me, "Isabella, please don't count me out yet." He pressed his lips to mine. His hand held the back of my head, holding me closer until we fell onto the bed.
