Emmett hadn't stopped calling and texting Rosalie since he first saw her in my apartment. She was constantly complaining and sending me screenshots of the undying love declarations he sent to her, but I knew that a part of her loved it. Rose could bring a man to their knees, but Emmett went willing.
Most of the guys she'd dated turned cheek and ran when they found out she owned an auto body shop and the rest took off when they realized she was actually good at it. But Emmett? When Rose trashed the roses he'd had delivered, he bought her a carburetor. apparently it was some kind of special model or went to some fancy car or something else that I didn't really follow, but she was definitely impressed.
So tonight Rose agreed to let him take her on a date and that meant I was closing up the shop. It wasn't that big of a deal, just handing over a couple sets of keys, getting a few signatures and swiping a few credit cards, then locking the door at 8 o'clock. I didn't really mind, especially if that crazy lug could make my best friend happy. Rose deserved a night off and she definitely deserved to be happy, more so than anyone I knew. If that meant covering a shift or two, I could handle that, no problem.
It was 8:05 when the last customer drove off the lot; I flipped the open sign to closed and locked the front door so that I could count the register. "Hey Bells, you finishing up?" I startled and almost screamed when Jacob's voice sounded from behind me.
"Jesus Christ," I placed my hand over my racing hard and took a deep breath.
"Not quite, but something like that," he joked and I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah Jake, I'm just gonna do a quick count of the register. Rose told me not to worry about it but I don't want her to have to do it in the morning."
"Cool cool," he nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking at the ground.
I turned my back to him and went back to counting. "You can go Jake, I'm fine here." Jake didn't move and I ignored him. He liked to hang around whenever I was in the shop and — while I didn't usually mind, he was friendly enough — tonight it was making me a little uncomfortable. He'd popped into the office more times than I felt was necessary throughout the evening to make sure I didn't need help with anything and had insisted on buying me dinner after we closed, which I sternly declined. Now he was just kind of hanging out behind me, not really doing anything, and making me feel awkward. I concentrated harder on what I was doing.
"So you and Cullen, huh? I don't like it." He finally said, his voice awkward and a little demanding.
"That's really none of your business, Jacob," I told him, not turning around to look at him. I just wanted to finish what I was doing so I could get the hell out of there. Maybe I should've left the drawer for Rosalie to do in the morning.
Jake took a step closer to me and I could feel his luming size behind me. "I wanted to do this different, smoother. But now I'm out of time."
I sighed. Placing the bills back in the drawer and shutting it, then I turned to look at him. He was closer than I thought, standing there all puppy dog eyes and simpering smile. "Look Jake, I really don't like you like that. I'm sorry if I've given you the—"
Jake's big hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me forward, catching me off guard, and he pressing his lips against mine. I pushed against his chest as hard as I could, beating at him with my fists when he didn't stop. Finally, he pulled back with a big grin on his face and I punched him. I heard a sickening crack and pain ripped through my hand, shooting up my arm and making me curse.
"Fuck!" I grabbed my wrist with my other hand and jumped up and down, feeling the blood in my hand start to warm as it assessed the damage and began to swell.
"Oh my god, Bella," Jake looked shocked, obviously unfaced by my attempt at hurting him. "Are you okay?"
"No I'm not okay!" I practically screamed. "You kiss me, uninvited I might add, and then you break my hand. What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"Technically, you broke your hand, it's not my fault you don't know how to throw a punch." I glared at him and he smiled sheepishly. "I just thought that maybe if I kissed you, you'd see what I've been seeing. That we'd be perfect for each other."
"Jacob, get it through your thick, mutant-strong skull… I am not interested in you. I will never be interested in you. I'm sorry that I tried to let you down easy, maybe I should have been more clear." I let gown of my wrist and grabbed my purse from under the counter. "Lock the door behind you," I told him, heading out the front door and slamming it behind me.
I took a cab to the hospital and texted Rose on my way there to tell her everything was fine but that I needed to talk to her in the morning. Hopefully everything was going well with Emmett; she hadn't checked on the shop all evening so that had to be a good sign. I thought about texting Edward but thought better of it, he would only get angry and I was angry enough for the both of us.
Lucky for me it was a slow night because I only had to wait half an hour or so before they got me in to do x-rays and see the Doctor. "Hello Bella," he greeted me kindly when he walked through the door. He was tall, clear complexion and bright blonde hair; very good looking for an older man. In his dark slacks and white button up, he looked more like he should be on the cover of GQ than working the night shift in an Emergency Room. "I'm Carlisle, how're you feeling."
"A little worse for wear but I can't complain," I shrugged, wincing at the motion it caused in my hand and he smiled sympathetically.
"Well I've reviewed your x-rays and your hand isn't broken, but it is fractured. I'll put you in a splint for a few weeks, you'll want to follow up with your primary physician, and take ibuprofen for the pain."
"Thank you Doctor," I looked for his name tag. "Cullen…" I blanched. I briefly remember Edward saying his father worked for Langone Medical Center but I didn't imagine he worked in the E.R. Oh my god, this was mortifying. Had he looked at my past medical history? What had he seen? I guess it doesn't exactly say HOOKER in big bold letters across the top. Just regular STI testing; that didn't mean anything, right? I mean, if anything it just means that I'm a health conscience young woman. Oh God.
Luckily Dr. Cullen didn't seem to show any recognition of who I was and I thanked the stars for that. Maybe someday I'd have to face him, but today was not that day. In the mean time, I'd met Edward's father… and he was hot!
