Chapter 14 - Damage Control

Bella's POV

I was waiting; I stood by the window and looked at the woods outside with a yearning. I knew he would be home soon, very soon. I missed him so much and was always lost without him. Nothing compared to the emptiness that ached inside me when he was gone. It was like I could feel myself becoming weaker and weaker when deprived of hearing his beautiful voice or feeling his touch.

Edward had left three days ago, another much needed hunting trip. Leaving me in the house with Esme and Carlisle, everyone else had joined the 'camping excursion' away. It had been a lonely three days, the fact that I couldn't even see Charlie in that time to distract me a little hadn't helped. I had been avoiding that, well I had been avoiding Evan to be honest. Edward told me not to see her until he came back. He was weary of me being around her until he had thought things through. Edward was left alarmed after we discovered the extent of her scheming during my last phone call with her. I wasn't complaining I hadn't really wanted to see her; I was still hurt by her actions. The fact she would use Jake to get at me, it felt like a low blow.

Did she even fully understand her actions?

Three days! What had Evan got up to with full access to Jake in three days? I didn't like that, the idea of her getting close to him. I think if I was being truly honest it was the fact that she could and I couldn't. I knew there was probably a bit of jealousy there for me and wanting to protect my old friend if she was using him. My mind was running over trying to imagine scenarios but I didn't know a thing, I didn't even know if she'd seen him again or if they had even spoken. I had no hard facts, just my paranoia.

"Oh Edward return, I need you now…." I moaned quietly to myself.

'He has to be back soon?' I wondered impatiently. I took a deep breath and crossed my arms, hugging myself. I made myself think that tonight we'd be lying in bed together and doing the most lewd and prurient things to each other. I shivered at the thought of that. Something I definitely had to look forward to.

"Are you thinking of me?" I jumped suddenly and felt icy cold arms wrap tightly around my waist from behind as his cool lips lightly brushed my ear. Edwards low velvet tones making my head automatically fall back into him and I closed my eyes allowing a content smile to spread across my face.

"Mmmm, I take that as a yes!" he murmured confidently. I could tell he was grinning with that crooked smile.

He brought his lips to my neck and kissed it gently.

"I missed you my love" he whispered longingly.

"I missed you too, I feel empty inside when you are away from me, and I love you so much."

I heard him sigh deeply.

"I hate leaving you, I feel the same way. You have no idea how much I wish I didn't have to"

"I know, don't feel bad, I wasn't trying to make you feel guilty."

"I know that Bella, I just hate leaving you that is all". He kissed me again on the neck.

I turned quickly in his arms and brought my lips up to his face and our mouths crashed together, Edward grabbed a hold of my hair as he kissed me roughly, unable to restrain his longing and control his passion. I encouraged him on further by wrapping my hands around his ass and pulling him into me. I felt him growl inside my mouth before pulling his lips from mine, gently biting my bottom lip as he went. We both stared at each other; I was breathless and audibly panted. Edwards's eye's burned into mine and he grinned approvingly.

"Bad Bella, you do nothing for my self control. I am always undone when around you." he lectured me in a light hearted tone.

"Really, I do apologise. I did not mean for you to be undone…" I grinned as I mocked him.

His hands gripped my waist tightly and he squeezed me playfully.

"Behave Bella, we shall continue later but now we have things to discuss."

I let my hand brush under the material of his t-shirt and caress his hard abdomen, I noticed him shudder a little and it pleased me greatly to see the affect my actions had on him.

"Do we have to?" I begged. I continued my caress, allowing my nails to gently drag down lower towards the waist of his jeans.

Edward sighed deeply and closed his eyes.

"I've missed you so much" I whispered with a hunger. Edward bit his bottom lip briefly before sighing again. Then he grabbed my hand suddenly holding it firm in his own and his eyes flashed open. He gave me a warning look.

"We really do need to talk Bella." he said suddenly serious. I frowned with disappointment. "But," he raised his eyebrow at me, "You shall be punished later for trying to distract me like that". I shivered when I saw that familiar wicked grin spread knowingly across his face.

"I hope so" I whispered in response. Edward chuckled.

He began walking towards the bed pulling me behind him gently and then guided me until we were sitting side by side on the end of it. He held my hand in his and stared at it, concentrating. I watched him intently but waited patiently for him to begin.

"I had a lot of time to think when I was away…….." he began. I stared at him but he was focused on our interlaced fingers. "To think about your sister Evan and what we are going to about her."

He had my full attention now.

"And...?" urging him to continue.

"We need to put an end to her meddling, to her erratic behaviour. I especially would like to put an end to her being anywhere near Jacob Black and the rest of those wolves in La Push. Evan doesn't know what's really going on there; she is putting herself in a lot of danger by digging around for information over there."

"So what do we do then?" I asked him unable to see an obvious way to resolve this.

Edward glanced up and his eyes focused on mine.

"You have to put your feeling aside for now; I know you are upset with her. But our priority at the moment is to have Evan tamed and controlled." He paused analysing my face. "I want you to give Evan exactly what she wants………I want you to give her information, I want you to tell her everything!"

I gasped loudly, giving Edward a confused look.

"Everything we want her to know…." he added, arching his eyebrow at me.

"Edward, where are you going with this?" I asked, still slightly puzzled.

"Why is she behaving the way she is Bella? She has no information on us, nothing. So her imagination is running riot. She is intimidated by us, she feels resentment towards you. You need to let her know that you are vulnerable like her."

"By giving her details? Information about our relationship?" I questioned.

"Yes! Tell her about our relationship, if she is so curious about it then tell her what you think she wants to hear. Our edited highlights of course." he added dryly. "I want you to be open with her, tell how you felt about me when we met, where we met and how we fell in love…….."

"But leave out the whole part where you are a vampire and wanted drink my blood?" I asked sarcastically.

"Yes Bella, our edited highlights!" He rolled his eyes at me and I apologised. "Tell her that I left you and hurt you."

"What?" I gasped. I shook my head. "No!"

"Yes Bella. She has to sympathise with you. Tell her what Jacob is to you so she can understand. I trust you, I know you can give her the information she so desperately wants without telling her too much. You just have to let her see how much we mean to each other. If you give her what she wants then how can she sneak around behind our backs trying to unearth secrets she thinks are hidden? If you appear open and honest she will have to give up on that. She will have to face what is going on in her own life and move on with it. Take away the mystery Bella and we solve the problem."

"You really believe this will work?"

"Yes I do" he said confidently. "I believe in you, that you can do this" he encouraged.

"I don't know Edward, what if I say too much. You really think this is the way to go?" I worried.

"It is, I've thought long and hard about it Bella. Just tell her what we want her to know, edit everything. I know you are more than capable of doing this. Show that you trust her. She is desperate for information Bella, if you go to her and hand it to her on a plate there is no further mystery surrounding us. She's your sister, she is part of you. You can turn things around."

"You want me to do this today don't you?" I already knew the answer. He just nodded in reply.

"I will be close by though, I will be listening. She won't even know I'm there." I felt a little better with that idea.

I took a deep breath.

"Okay then, let's go test your theory."

"Bella, where have you been hiding? We've not seen you for a few days..." Charlie gave me a tight squeeze as I entered my old home.

"Just been distracted with things that's all..." I shrugged, trying to sound innocent. "How's Evan doing, what's she been up to?" I was desperate for an update and couldn't stop myself from asking.

"Oh she's good, seems a lot happier since I gave her your old truck" he chuckled "Your lucky you caught her and she's home, she's been out and about a lot since she got it, been over to La Push at least a couple of times too, so Billy told me?"

My stomach did a somersault.

"She has?" my tone a little too high.

"Yep, she told you about Jacob returning?" asked Charlie carefully knowing the subject of Jake was not an easy one with me...

"Yeah she mentioned it to me on the phone" acknowledging "I'm glad he's safe and back home" I added.

"Me too" Charlie said seriously. "Well, now that he's back I got him to take a quick look at the truck for Evan. Billy had to make him actually. Don't think he knew what to make of Evan at first, he was a little shocked when they met but they seem to be getting on okay now. Jacob invited her to a bonfire at the First Beach with some of his friends, which was a nice thing to do considering she doesn't know anyone here. He's tried to make an effort with her for my sake. It's done her a world of good, she seems a lot happier. I think she needed to have some freedom of her own."

"I'm glad she's making friends" I said.

"When are you going to take her over to the Cullen's Bella?" Charlie suddenly changed the subject. "Don't you think she should meet them? Has Alice met her yet?"

He caught me completely off guard with that one. I suddenly realised that I hadn't even thought of introducing her to the rest of the Cullen's, I mean they did know all about her but the idea of her meeting them? I suddenly felt quite guilty; it did look bad from the outside.

"Oh things have been so hectic; I didn't want to bombard her with that too. She's met Edward." I told him quickly in defence. "I guess I just didn't want to do everything at once. I wanted her to settle in first."

"Well, it would be nice that's all. She's very quiet Bella, and I just want her to meet everyone."

It was definitely a dig from Charlie. I began to wonder if Evan had said something for him to bring this up with me.

"Well, she's upstairs so why don't you head on up."

I nodded at him sheepishly, I felt like I'd just had a lecture from Charlie. I didn't like this feeling. At the end of the day I was completely justified for avoiding her and being reluctant for her to meet the Cullen's. But I couldn't even go there with Charlie. He didn't know that his future son in law and his whole family were a coven of vampires, and I could imagine his face if I added, 'and hey, Charlie! I'm going to be turned into one too, right after I get married to Edward. Won't be able to see you for a while after that until I can get my blood thirst under control….." Yeah, that would go down with Charlie like a tonne of bricks.

"I'll speak to you later……." I waved at him as I began to run up the stairs.

I paused as I came to my old bedroom door, staring at it I knew that Evan was already well aware of my presence and had probably seen my car parked outside, through the window. I knocked the door a couple of times before I opened the door slowly peaking my head around the crack, I smiled at her trying to act like I didn't know that she was a scheming, potential enemy of mine out to expose Edwards biggest secret.

"Hey Evan, how are you?" I asked cheerily.

She was sitting on the bed and had been writing in a notebook, she closed it over and pushed it under the pillow quickly and smiled at me politely. I wondered for a moment what she was writing in that notebook.

"Hi Bella, come in. What have you been up to? Not heard from you for a few days."

"Just been busy with stuff" I lied.

"Guess you would be with the wedding coming up and all the planning involved." she said as she tucked a strand of rich red hair behind her small ear. It really was such a lovely color, it made my own dark brown hair look boring. Her chocolate eyes stared at me and I felt suddenly strange looking into them, I felt like I was looking at my own reflection in a mirror. The fact I actually had a sister was still hard for me to comprehend.

"What?" she said suddenly, sounding a little nervous? Her eyes were wide and worried.

I realised I was still staring at her and saying nothing and she was feeling self conscious.

"Oh I was just thinking what a nice color your hair is." I complemented, trying to make her feel at ease. I felt uncomfortable being like this with her when I knew that she was secretly out to hurt me.

"Oh!" she said surprised. Her hand reached up to her hair instinctively. She stared at me curiously for a short moment. "My mom's hair was the same color." she said suddenly.

I was not expecting that. This was the first time she had even mentioned her mom to me. It suddenly brought my mind back to the reason she was here in the first place, that the only family she knew and loved had died, leaving her emotionally alone and living with strangers who she was told were her family. I unwillingly felt for her in that moment and wished the situation between us could be different. Remembering Edwards plan then I realised I should start our little bonding session.

"Well, that's nice. Your hair is a beautiful color" I added. And again, she looked at me a little unsure.

"Thanks…." she muttered, she seemed shy all of a sudden.

"Edward say's 'hi' by the way" I dropped his name in, so I could steer the conversation in the right direction.

"Um…..oh does he… em, tell him I say 'hi' back" she stuttered in reply.

"He'd like to meet you again if that's okay?" to gage her reaction. Her jaw clenched ever so slightly but she smiled a warm smile right afterward. It did not reach her eyes however.

"Yes, I'd like that, I don't know him very well." she glanced at the window which was slightly open and a breeze blew in distracting her. She stared outside, as if she expected something to happen, I knew that Edward was out there somewhere listening to every word exchanged between us.

"Where is Edward today? I mean…what does he do exactly as he's finished school?"

"He's around" I muttered. "We plan on going to University in Alaska, we were going in the fall but now we are thinking of taking a year out to go travelling?"

"Really?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, what would you like to know about Edward? I know I've not really mentioned him much?"

She gave me another strange look.

"Charlie said he has a big family?" She blurted out too quickly. I knew then that she hadmentioned something to Charlie about not being introduced to them. That was the reason for my little lecture.

"Yeah, Edward has four siblings; they are all adopted. There's Alice who is a close friend of mine and Emmett. Then there's Jasper and Rosalie. They are twins. His father is called Carlisle, he's a doctor in the hospital and Esme is his mother".

"Yes, Charlie mentioned that."

"You'll meet them though" I added, "I just wanted you to be settled in first."

"Oh!" she said, she could not hide her shock.

"Sure" I said casually.

"There's no rush, I mean, I know you're busy." She seemed not so keen now on the idea.

"Whenever you want, just let me know" I was trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible but the thought of Evan meeting all the Cullen's terrified me.

"Okay…." she mumbled, still sounding reluctant and I was pleased that she was.

"So how is Jacob?" I asked her.

She rose her eyebrows at me a little "He's good, he seems like a really nice person."

"I'm glad he's back home, I wish I could go and see him but we…we aren't very close anymore."

I had Evan's full attention now and she practically sat straight up and leaned towards me. Desperate for information she couldn't hide her curiosity.

"Charlie said you were best friends………..what happened there? I mean, he hasn't mentioned you once while I was talking to him."

I felt that! It was like a slap in the face. My first thought was, why had he not spoken about me to Evan? Does he hate me that much that I no longer exist to him? Then my second thought was Evan was trying to hurt me again. I had to push my feelings aside though and I needed to tell her some facts as Edward had instructed.

"We had a falling out!" I admitted.

"Really, over what?" leaning closer towards me, as we both sat on the bed.

"It was over Edward!" I said truthfully.

Her eyes went wide and she looked like she couldn't quite believe I was telling her this.

"Why?" she asked, so fast it was almost a demand.

I didn't feel completely comfortable with this but, I had to follow through. So I began to tell her everything. I started with my arrival in Forks and my first day. Explaining to her about how uncomfortable I was starting a new school and not knowing anyone. How hard it was to settle in and everyone talking about me, well aware that she would be doing the same. So I told her how I felt when I first saw Edward that from the first moment I saw him, I think I fell in love with him. That I was drawn to him but he was unattainable to me. That I believed that he hated me. Then as time passed he began to speak to me and I soon learnt that much to my disbelief that he felt things for me too. I admitted that I was utterly intimidated by him when I first met him that I thought he looked like a beautiful angel. I couldn't understand his interest in me. And sometimes I still could not. But we seemed to be drawn to each other. That we feel in love with each other and all I wanted was to be with him always. Evan hung on my every word, and she sat in total silence.

Then I told her how Edward's family left suddenly, that Carlisle his father got another job. Edward had decided it was best we didn't keep in touch. That being so far away from each other was unfair to me and I should start over. That he left so suddenly that I was left completely heartbroken and tormented.

"But why did he do that?" she suddenly interrupted, "Why did he leave you like that if you were so in love with each other? He could have kept in touch".

"He thought he was doing the right thing by me….but in the end he realised he wasn't. He suffered as much as I did being apart."

I continued my story; I told her in his absence I became very depressed. I felt like I could not live without him and then I began to hang out with Jacob, that we became close friends. He dragged me out of my depression I became dependant on our friendship to continue on without Edward.

"And what was Jacob to you?" she interrupted again.

"He was my best friend" I answered honestly. "Jacob was my life line".

"And what were you to him?" her tone changed slightly. I realised then that Edward was right, she did know more than she let on and she was very bright for her age.

"I was his best friend and I guess, well……….I knew that he had feelings for me. That he wanted more but he knew that I loved Edward and always would and he accepted that. He knew we were only friends."

"Obviously not! Because you don't talk anymore." she said sharply.

"Yes!" I confessed. "You are right". Evan looked a little uneasy.

I told her how I'd heard from Alice that Edward was in trouble. That he'd heard a rumour about me that wasn't true, that I'd hurt myself because he had gone and he meant to hurt himself also. Evan's jaw was hanging open now, I could tell she wanted to say something again but she stopped herself. I went on to tell her how Alice and I raced off to find Edward before he did something really stupid and harm himself also. Explaining we found him just in time. When we were reunited he realised he had made a terrible mistake leaving and we both knew we could not live without each other.

"When you say harm himself, what exactly do you mean?" she asked curiously, she was biting her lip.

"Look Evan, Charlie knows nothing about this!" I warned her.

"I won't say anything…." she practically begged. I realised that Edward's plan was working and she was enthralled by the information I was so freely offering her.

"Someone told him that I had killed myself!" I confessed.

"What? Who? Why would someone say that?" she squealed.

"It was a misunderstanding, a huge misunderstanding but this is the information he heard."

"And…..what, he was going to kill himself also?" she asked in disbelief. "Did he not even check to see if it were true or not?" shaking her head.

"He did! He called but one of Charlie's best friends had just died and he was at the funeral. Jacob answered the phone, he was here at the time, and he thought Edward was Carlisle. Edward called and asked where Charlie was, Jacob told him the truth about being at the funeral! He wasn't to know the implications of what he was saying. Edward hung up."

"Edward thought you were dead and he was going to end his life? But he left you!" she said angrily.

"He was in love with me and didn't want to live without me! He told me before he had heard this rumour he had already decided to come back".

"Oh…... so how did you stop him?"

"Alice came, we went to find him, she knew where he would be, so we raced to find him and let him see I was safe and well. We got there just in time. Then we were reunited. We knew then how much we meant to each other, that we can't live without each other. You understand how close we are now?" I asked her.

Evan's face was unreadable but she nodded slowly.

"So when Edward returned with me, his family decided to come back also. They know about what happened but Charlie doesn't and neither does Jacob."

"Jacob doesn't know! You should have told him." she said.

"Jake hates Edward!" I admitted. "I can't tell him things about Edward. He doesn't understand the situation is really complicated."

"That's because he loved you…." she muttered to herself.

"I know. And if I'd never met Edward then maybe we might have become something but it didn't work like that and I know that Edward is my soul mate"

"So when did you fall out?" she pushed.

"When he found out we were engaged!"

"That's why he ran away isn't it?" asked Evan.

"Yes, I think so" I muttered.

She stared at me for a long time.

"You hurt him………….and you used him!" she eventually said.

But you are using him also. Don't you realise what you are doing Evan?

"I know I did" I acknowledged "But I still miss my friend".

The conversation continued a while longer. Evan asked a few more questions. The whole experience was harder than I thought it would be but by the end I felt a little better. I'd told Evan my story, if not the whole story but everything I had said was true.

When I left she was very quiet and thoughtful. I told her I was glad she had become friends with Jacob. I tried to really mean it though the doubt inside me weighed uneasily on my mind about that friendship. I wanted it to be genuine. I didn't want her to use him like I had. If the friendship between Evan and Jake was real then it was a case of I didn't want replaced by her. And I was jealous of her.