C/N: This is Edward's POV on the meeting that is happening in his dorm room. This is a long chapter and I will have to break it up into two like I did with BPOV.
EPOV
Something feels off, kind of. I don't know how to explain it. Just a strange feeling, not one I can put a name to, which is weighing in the back of my mind. It's enough to put me on edge. I take a look at the time, 7:30. A moment later, I heard my phone signal I received a voicemail. Strange, I didn't hear my phone ring. I bend over to pick up my phone from my bed. I check the missed call log and nothing. I go to retrieve the voicemail when I hear a frantic knock at the door. I walk to the door and I hear Alice's voice from the message. She sounds worried and angry at the same time, but I'm not listening to the words right now. I open the door and I see Alice standing there, with Bella. My mind goes into shock when I see their faces and I slowly lower my phone. Alice's worry that was evident in the voicemail was still prevalent all over her face. Bella looked completely frightened, her eyes were red-rimmed and blood shot from crying. Her cheeks had dried trails of tears on them. What the hell is going on? When Bella saw me she seemed to get very nervous, she turned to Alice and started to shake her head no. Alice sighed and pulled on Bella's hand.
"Come on Bella, we need to figure all this out," she huffed. Then she turned to look at me, "Can you please call Emmett. Tell him and Rosalie to meet us here. Where is Jasper?" Again, I ask, what the hell is going on? I must have had a look of confusion on my face because Alice rolled her eyes and started pushing my back into my room pulling a very distraught looking Bella behind her. I'm still trying to figure out what is going on.
"Uh, what?" I say trying to pull myself together. God, I'm such a moron sometimes. Wait? What? Call Emmett?
"Why do I need to call Emmett?" trying to sound annoyed right now. Although, it's not far from the truth. I heard a whimper come from Bella and then I saw her suddenly drop to the floor. Alice gasped and dropped to her side and threw her arms around her. She looked up glaring at me. What the fuck? What the hell did I do?
"Edward, please just do it!" she all but screeched at me, "James tried something with Bella again." I felt the rumble in my chest begin, but I don't think Alice heard it. Thank god. "She hasn't told me anything yet. She was late meeting me for dinner and when I began to ask what happened, she said his name and just started crying." That rumble in my chest actually became a growl and it was louder than before. Shit!
What is James doing? IS he playing one of his games? The mere thought of him manipulating and weaseling his way into Bella's life, like he did to hers is making my blood boil. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to tear him limb from limb. I heard Bella's voice and it brought me out of the murderous images I was envisioning about James. I could help but grin inside.
"…can we go to our room?" her voice is low and raspy; "I don't want to bring Edward into this, please." I heard her voice break at the end. Hold on, what does she not want to bring me into? What the fuck did her do to her? If my blood could evaporate from the heat radiating from my body right now, it would. Alice was starring at Bella.
"Bella, look, I don't want you to get hurt. I want Emmett and Edward to know what is going on. Everyone needs to know that James is back and possibly Tanya." I growled again. Seriously! I'm starting to sound like a fucking dog. I heard Alice huff.
"Edward, don't start. This is also for you too. Emmett knows, but I want to make sure Rosalie and Jasper are up to date too. They are our family and friends. They worry about you, so they need to know. Now, James is starting with my friend and I don't want anything to happen to her." She was looking obstinately at Bella, and then she got up and proceeded to help her off the floor. They made their way over to my bed and Alice looked back at me, "Please, just make the call!" she pleaded. I nodded and pulled my phone out. I heard Alice talking to Bella in the background. I scrolled through to find Emmett's number and I press send. This is just one big fucking mess. *Groan* Emmett picks up on the third ring.
"Edward?" he sounded surprised.
"Hey Emmett, sorry to bother you but something has come up and Alice has called an emergency family meeting.' This is going to fun. "Can you and Rosalie come by my room?"
"What's going on?" he tone going into the defensive tone.
"It's not something to talk about over the phone, but Alice says you know some of what has happened today." It came out more like a question than a statement.
"Uh, yeah man, I heard about some of it," he was surprised that I knew. Damn Alice, she was going to try and keep this from me I bet.
"Well, I guess more has happened but Alice wants everyone to be here before she talks about it," the annoyance present in my tone. I heard Emmett growl into the phone. Whoa!
"We will be on our way in a few minutes. Rosalie just got home." I can hear him rustling through things and then the sound of keys clinging together. I hear Emmett yell in the background, 'Hey Rose, Alice needs us over at Edward's place now!'
I couldn't hear her respond, but Emmett comes back to me, "So we'll see you in less than fifteen Edward."
"Alright, see you soon." And then I hang up the phone. I turn around just in time to hear Bella say that James told her to stay away from Alice and me. What? I felt the heat spike in my already bubbling blood. It felt like I could give the sun a run for its money on the heat intensity. Okay, maybe not, but damn near close.
What the hell else did that fucker say? My anger was rising exponentially.
"What exactly did he say Bella?" I was seething. I watched Bella flinch at my tone and her eyes went wide in shock. Bella looked over to Alice and asked for some water. Is she trying to stall? Why would she do that? I go over to the fridge and grab a bottle of water. I walk over to her and she looks up when I stop on front of her. She backs away from me as if she was scared of me. Not good! I take a deep breath to calm myself down.
"I'm sorry Bella; I didn't mean to upset you." I say trying to keep my words soft. I don't want her to be frightened of me because right now she looks as though she could break at any second. After a few moments, her body relaxed.
"It's not you, James really frightened me and I'm still a little uneasy. I didn't mean to react like that," she said as she reached her hand out. What is she doing? I must have had some confused look on my face because she looked down at the bottle of water. I roll my eyes inwardly, you are such a dumb ass sometimes Cullen. I hand over the water and then turn to walk to my desk. I look over to Alice.
"Alice, Emmett said they would be here in fifteen minutes, Rosalie had just gotten home five minutes before I called and Jasper should be here any minute." I sat down at my desk wondering how this 'meeting' was going to pan out. I want to know what James said and did to Bella. He's not going to be able to touch or hurt her again, I'll kill him first.
Um, okay. I'm a little taken back by this statement. I have this overwhelming need to keep her safe, to protect her at all cost. I don't know why. It's really strange, but it's such a strong sense of emotion. It was never like this with Tanya. Why is that? She was my everything, and Bella is a complete stranger to me. But, I feel so protective of her. I heard the jiggle of the door handle and I jump. *GROAN* So much for my overprotective nature, pathetic. Jasper walks in and man, am I glad to see him. He helps me stay calm and I so need that right now. I stand up as he walks in.
"Hey Jazz, we have company," I wave to Alice and Bella.
Pointing to Bella, "Jasper, this is Bella, Alice's roommate," and motioning to Alice, "and you already know her." I snort. When I see Jasper's face when he looks at Alice, I had to try hard to fight back the laughter that was ready to bust out of my chest, but a chuckle escaped. He ignored me and turned back to look at Bella and smiled.
"Well, hello there darlin', nice to meet you," he says as he walks over to her and reaches out his hand to shake hers. I saw Alice give Bella a little push so she would return the gesture. Bella hesitantly reached her hand out and Jasper gently took hold of it.
"Nice to meet you Jasper," she said softly while shaking his hand. She quickly released it and took a couple steps back. He looked over to Alice, "H-Hi Alice, how a-are you doing?" he had a hard time getting that sentence out. Such a dork!
"I'm good Jasper, thanks for asking," her voice has a slight trill to it and her face was beaming. God, it's so nauseating. When will they every do anything about each other? Are they going to continue to dance around their feelings for one another? I roll my eyes, good thing neither of them caught that. But, right now, it's time to get down to business. I walk over to Jasper and clasp my hand over his shoulder.
"Hey Jazz, Emmett and Rosalie are going to be here shortly." He looked over at me in confusion.
"What's going on Edward?" I sigh, not really looking forward to this, but I was going to have this conversation with him later anyway.
"A lot actually and I guess we are going to go over everything when everyone is here." This is one part of my life that I wished would just disappear, but every time I turn around; it rears its ugly head. Jasper looked over at Bella with concern.
"Does this also involve Bella here?" I also heard the worry in his voice. Yeah, unfortunately the fuck up of my life has inched its way into another innocent person.
"Yeah, she's part of it," I seethed. Now that James knows Bella is involved with my family, because of Alice's intrusion, she's become a target. He's going to take advantage of that. He loves the thrill of the chase and he usually ends up with whatever he was after. Over my dead body, fucker! Where the hell did that come from?
I can feel my blood boiling again. I can see him doing something to hurt her; that's what he does, what he's good at. FUCK! I can't let that happen. I have to make sure that he never had the opportunity to touch her again.
The knock at the door take me out of my inner ramblings concerning James and I see Jasper go to open the door. Once he does I see my brother on the other side. Finally!
"Hey guys, what's up?" Jazz says to Emmett. As Emmett answers his voice resonates throughout the room.
"Jazz, man, how are you? Long time no see!" Jasper steps aside so Emmett and Rosalie could come inside. Emmett comes to stop next to me and Rosalie went to join the girls. For a few minutes, everyone in the room just stared at each other waiting for someone to start this. Alice was the one to break the silence.
"I'm glad everyone is here," she said while looking at me. She seems a little nervous. "Emmett already knows a little of what happened today." I know this already but, damn! This just keeps tearing away at my insides. This was bound to happen sooner or later, just wished it was later or never actually. "To bring everyone up to speed, we found out that James is here, attending the university. Although we don't know if Tanya is here." *groan* I really don't know if I'm ready for this. I honestly don't feel like rehashing this right now. Can't we wait, please?
Jasper was the first to speak after Alice's admission. Guess not.
"This is a bit of a surprise," he said looking directly at me and he looked very concerned, understandable given my history. "Are you okay man? Was this what you were going to talk to me about earlier?" No, I'm far from fine, really, but I'm not going to tell you that. I just want to get away from here because right now, I want to go find James and kick his ass until he's begging for mercy. A guy can dream, right? Sigh, whatever.
"Yeah, I'm fine, now." I hate lying, but I don't want to freak my family out, "there was an issue earlier, but Alice helped me through it.' She helped me avoid another panic attack. I gave her a small smile to show my appreciation and her face lit up. Damn! I really need to kick James' ass now. I don't want to see anymore of my family put through my shit, but I'm still kind of dealing right now so my mind is having a hard time settling down and getting over everything, "and yes, I was going to tell you about James tonight, but now, everyone knows." I waved to everyone in the room, still kind of peeved but I can't do anything about it now. I heard a rumble come from the girls' side of the room. I look over at them and I see Rosalie's face turning dark red. She was livid. Oh shit, so not good.
"Why shouldn't we know about this Edward?" I was running my hand through my hair out of frustration and worry, she continued before I could answer, "after what happened before; Emmett felt so helpless, you wouldn't let anyone in or ask for their help. Your family and friends should be there to help support you, not let you fall. I hated seeing him like that and I'll be damned if I allow it to happen again. You are not going to shut us out again!" She screeched and it echoed in the room. Fuck Rosalie, guilt trip much. She definitely knows how to make someone feel like shit. But honestly, it is well deserved. I did shut everyone out. I couldn't look at anyone. I didn't want to see the expressions on their faces. I looked down at the floor and I took a deep breath before I began.
"I'm sorry that you all went through that because of me," it was my fault, "I wished you hadn't and I wished it never happened," now that is an understatement. I never wanted to hurt my family. I tried to keep them out of it. Emmett finally brought me out of my self-deprecating moment.
"Something else happen today?" he asked looking over at me and then over at Alice when I shrugged. I looked over to her and she nodded walking over to Bella. I heard Emmett growl, "What?" he said through clenched teeth. Alice put her hand up before she began.
"Emmett, before we begin, I want to introduce you to my friend and roommate, Bella. Some of what happened has to do with her too." I heard a sharp intake of breath come from him. He is going on the defensive. Brother Protector Extraordinaire. I looked at his expression. It went from a look of total shock to a relaxed smile when he watched as Bella made her way over to him. Alice gave the introductions.
"Bella…Emmett, Emmett…Bella." She put her hand out to shake his, but he was having none of that. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into a tight hug. I snorted when I saw the look of absolute shock race across her face, but then, she giggled. That sound. My heart stopped for a beat when it escaped her lips. That was the most beautiful sound I've ever hear. Oh my god! Stop it! I had to give myself a mental bitch-slap for that. Come on now, what the hell! How can I react like that to her giggle? Earlier today, I go crazy over her scent of strawberries. I was living for her blushes for some unknown reason. *groan* Nope, not happening. I'm letting some girl get the best of me again. NO! I can't let that happen. Look what happened the last time. I won't allow myself to get hurt again, but I won't let Bella get hurt either; by anyone, let alone me. I heard Alice chuckle, so I looked over at her. Rosalie, Bella and Alice all had smiles of their faces.
"How are you doing Bella?" Rosalie asked. Bella sighed and shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm okay, there was some craziness that happened today and I'm still trying to sort it all out." This was what I was referring to. James is already messing with her and I know he can do some serious harm. I heard Alice; her voice had raised a couple octaves. She sounded pissed.
"Why are you made at yourself? You did nothing wrong." Bella was mad at herself, why?
"This last time, before I met you at the dining hall, my reactions to him – it was like he had control over me. He took advantage of that." That fucker. I knew it. I felt the growl building in my chest. I'm seriously going to kill him. "Instead of defending myself, I just let him get the best of me and I ran," I heard the self-loathing in her voice, "he makes my skin crawl and my emotions go into overdrive when he is near me. My first instinct is to flee." She growled out. He cannot have this kind of power over her. I hear Alice and Rosalie gasp. My body was fuming.
"What happened?" I said through clenched teeth trying to keep my anger in check, so I don't frighten her away. She looked up at me, her eyes giving away nothing, but I saw her shiver.
"Well, I had just left our class," she said still looking at me, "I got a text from Alice. We made plans to meet up for dinner and talk," I saw a slight smirk play at her lips when she looked at Alice, but it never fully formed. What was that all about? "When I turned back to head to the dining hall I ran into James, literally. I honestly think he did it on purpose, because my head was down and I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going." She started fidgeting. "Anyway, he apologized to me about what happened earlier saying him and Alice has some past dealings that she couldn't seem to get over – his words." Oh hell no! Alice growled out, "Fucker!" What does he think he's doing? Oh no, what else did he tell her? I heard Bella groan, but then she added, "That wasn't all he said," she looked at both me and Alice. That's all she needed to say. I knew it, he told her. What did he tell her? Do I really want to know? No! Yes. I could barely muster the necessary strength to ask.
"What else did he say?" It came out breathlessly. Bella started to fidget again.
"Um, he was telling me some things about you and Alice. He was smug about it," Of course he would be. I heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh and I look up to see Emmett pounding his fist into his hand. Bella continued on telling us that James told her to stay away from my family. We all had to laugh at that statement. I could have said the same thing about him. She went on.
"Alice, be basically said you were crazy and that you manipulate people into getting what you want," Alice scoffed at that. "Edward, he said you have some serious issues, that you are violent and that you take advantage of people. He told me briefly about a physical confrontation between you and him." I can feel my heart racing, my blood is overheating. "He blames you for frightening someone he was close to. He said that she was scare for him." I laughed, but nothing came out. Tanya, scared of me. What the fuck! I just want to pummel him into next year.
I felt my hand make contact with the wall. I was so blinded by my rage that I didn't even realize it at first, but the throbbing pain was quickly inching its way into my unbridled fury. I lowered my hand, not letting that pain take over the murderous rage I was feeling at that very moment. Bella is trying to apologize to me. Why? What does she have to be sorry for? I should be apologizing to her for allowing my messed up life complicate hers. Rosalie asked Bella if James had said or done anything else. She didn't respond at first. She finally answered when Emmett called her name. She shrugged her shoulders, looking at the floor.
"It's nothing," she said nonchalantly.
"I don't believe you." Alice quipped.
"Alice, don't." Bella was pleading. What did that fucking prick do to her? The red veil was still hovering over my eyes. I was picturing the many way I could torture James and I was enjoying it.
"Bella, the look on you pale face when you walked into the dining hall isn't nothing!" Alice exclaimed and Bella sighed.
"He wouldn't let me leave when I tried to walk around him, he blocked my path. When I finally was able to get around him he grabbed my arm and when I tried to wrangle it free, he tightened his grip." Oh HELL NO! I heard the growl that escaped Emmett at the same time mine came through. I looked over at Emmett and I can see the anger radiating from him. "He told me to be careful who I trusted and was friends with, when he did he brought his hand up to my cheek to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear and his hand lingered a little." I saw Bella shiver and my whole body stiffened in response. I was ready to go off the deep end. Emmett must have been feeling the same way because I saw his body react defensively. His fists were clenched and his breathing had quickened. I'm actually glad that Emmett is here. But, I could totally take James on by myself right now.
I watched Bella as the different emotions were radiating from here; shock, fear, anger, and then surprisingly – determination. I'll make sure he never has the chance to touch her again. I took a few moments to calm myself down and I walked over to her. Emmett was standing close to her, almost like he was hovering over her, to protect her from every angle. If this wasn't such a fucked up situation, I would have laughed at him for being his usually over protective self. But, at this point in time, I'm grateful. I wished I could keep Bella out of this, but I don't see James giving up on her that easily now. Not even thinking about it, I reach out and take Bella's hand in mind.
Instantly, I notice the tingling, burning feeling I felt before in class. It's mind-blowing. I also noticed how I like the feel of her hand in mine. Damn, enough! I need to get back to the situation at hand, no pun intended. I look directly at her, in her beautiful chocolate eyes, hoping that she believes what I am about to tell her.
"Bella, please stay away from him. He was a friend of mine until he betrayed me in the most hurtful way possible," her eyes widened when I said that. She looked intrigued but also confused.
"This is not an issue on my side, but how do I keep him away from me? He wants to see me again, he asked me out again for this weekend. I told him I was going home this weekend." What? He asked her out again. Uh, uh, nope! Not going to happen. Where is Tanya? What game is he playing? I felt Bella try to pull her hand away from me. NO! I don't want to let her go. I hold onto her hand and pull it towards me. I look over to her; I see the shock in her eyes and the worry showing on her face. I don't want her to be afraid of me. I take a deep breath to try and calm down. When I exhaled I felt my body relax and the burning sensation intensified from where our hands were clasped together. Wow, that feels so good.
"I'm sorry," it came out like a whisper.
"You don't have to apologize Edward," she was trying to get me to look at her. "This has been one big emotional roller-coaster of a day and," she laughed, "it's only the first day of classes. I'd love to see how the rest of the semester does," I fight the urge to laugh, but I can't keep the smile from trying to break through. I hear soft chuckles and snorts coming from the background. Oh god, whatever! But Emmett's voice of anger broke through again.
"I need to find out where he's at!" his voice booming through the room and I felt Bella jump. I squeezed her hand in reassurance but I was glaring him down.
"Emmett!" Rosalie screamed, "You will do no such thing. You are not going to go to jail over that fucker!" she was seething. Emmett narrowed his eyes at her.
"I'm going to make sure he doesn't mess with our family anymore. He's done enough. I'm sick of it, and now, what he's done to Bella. It's all the more reason to finish him," he snarled.
With this impromptu meeting, I can actually see what my family went through emotionally for the past six month. I have witnessed Alice's over the past couple of day up close and personal, but I truly never saw anyone else while I was shut off in my room. I have a lot to make up for. I was selfish, determined to stay in my self-destructive state and it overflowed into everyone around me, and that includes Bella now.
"Emmett man, you need to calm down." Jasper said trying to instill some of his calming effect on his.
"Listen to him, please." Alice begged. Emmett started pacing back and forth. He was taking deep breaths in and out, hopefully trying to calm himself. He suddenly came to a stop and turned to look at Alice.
"What about her?" I have to fight back my laugh. They might think I have finally snapped. This is just lovely.
"Like I said, we don't know if she's here or not, but with him trying something with Bella, it makes me wonder what happened to Tanya." I can see the remorse in Alice's eyes, but I just can't deal with this right now. I felt a small squeeze of my hand. I forgot I still had her hand in mine. I look down at our linked hands; her small hand wrapped within mine. I can't. She needs to stay away from me. I yanked my hand from hers and from that exact moment, I felt a loss in me that made me hurt. I craved her touch immediately. I took a couple steps away from her to try to stifle that reaction. It didn't work, but I need to stay away. I realize now, this is not going to be easy.
A/N: I'm sorry I had to stop it there, this chapter like the last one is quite long and I'd hate to put it all on you guys at once. I will have the other half of this chapter up within the week. As you can see, Edward realizes something is going on. But he refuses to acknowledge it for a couple of reasons. Please let me know what you think. I always love to hear from you.
