Beautiful Hitchhiker

Chapter Fourteen – Out of the Darkness

Laurent

Four campsites turning up dead ends, and they weren't there. I went to one along the coastal highway, Camp San Simeon.

I knew that Cullen had to be camping. He had been camping up in Washington and Oregon while he was traveling. They required less personal information in comparison to staying at a hotel.

He thought camping would be a way for him to cover his tracks. For me, it was easy to see that he'd continue to use the campgrounds.

I was coming up to the campsite, which was at a much lower elevation than the highway I was traveling on. I was able to see into the campsites from above. I spotted his car easily. There was a small dark-green-and-tan tent set up by his car and what looked like a hammock. Cullen and the girl were nowhere to be seen.

I found a suitable hiding place for me to be able to watch them if they left the campsite. The second day of their stay, they left to have breakfast and returned to spend the day together laying in the hammock.

I sat there and watched. The motherfucker was happy. It was written all over his body language. They moved as if they were one cohesive unit. If she shifted slightly, he automatically compensated so that they remained close.

There was no other explanation for what I was watching. He loved her. Despite the fact that they'd only known each other for a few days.

This was it.

This was where I could finally hit him where it hurt.

It wasn't enough that I killed Tanya. He didn't love her like he loved this one.

He loved her, but he'd loved before.

He claimed he'd loved Irina.

At first I was angry when she'd left me for him. But I'd loved her so much that it didn't matter, as long as she was happy.

Then he'd left her. Left her because he'd thought it would be easier than trying to have a long-distance relationship.

I saw his logic.

But had pained her that he'd no longer wanted to try. It had pained me to see her in that kind of pain.

I'd sought her out to see if I could comfort her. But she hadn't allowed me to. She'd been angry at him and at me.

She'd been angry at the whole fucking male race it seemed. I'd waited patiently. She'd come around, sought me out for comfort.

And she'd had and after a quick fuck, she'd thrown me away just as quickly. She'd hurt me, again.

She'd call suddenly, crying, looking for comfort again. I'd always make the drive over to her. I'd never been able to say no, because I loved her.

I'd been a fool.

She'd just wanted her needs met, I'd meant nothing more.

And then I'd found her fucking her sister's husband. Now that was just fucking wrong. It hadn't been like her.

I'd confronted her. She'd claimed that since she was going away to college, she didn't want any ties to Alaska. She'd wanted to be able to do what she pleased, since she was no longer obligated to anyone. I'd told her to be with me. I'd told her I would follow her. She hadn't want that. She'd wanted freedom.

I'd seen red. A red fucking haze as I'd snapped her neck, taking the life from her body.

I killed Irina.

It had been easy enough to make it look like a suicide. Her diary had been filled with mumblings of a broken-hearted girl.

I'd driven her broken body, careful to make sure that I left no evidence that I was there, to the bridge.

Just before placing her in the driver's sear, I'd removed her scarf from the asshole that had corrupted my purr, sweet Irina.

A reminder of who was really at fault for killing her.

He was. He'd taken away her light. He'd taken away her innocence. He'd taken her from me. He'd changed her.

I'd watched the car as it had tumbled over the bridge, flipping over just as the hood smacked the water with a resounding crash.

I shook the thoughts of my past from my head and remained watching the happy couple. Then suddenly on a late afternoon, he left her. He left her crying.

What the fuck?

Was this man incapable of fucking sticking around? Why would he leave her?

I didn't go after her. I went after him. I followed him as he drove with no intention of slowing down. I could see him thrashing his head around.

He was angry. He never slowed or pulled over. He just drove.

Suddenly, his car jerked off the highway, and he was going back.

I followed, once again confused with the quick turn about of the man I was following.

What the fuck was wrong with this man? Did he have multiple personalities?

I managed to get onto the campground, claiming to the Ranger that I was just visiting someone and would be leaving soon.

I parked as far as I could from Cullen's camping spot. I walked, using large bushes and other tents as cover. I watched as he searched his tent and the bathrooms for the girl.

Then I watched as he walked to the trail that led into the wooded area. I was torn. I could easily follow and kill them both. But where was the fun in that?

I wanted him to suffer.

I wanted him to fear for her life.

I wanted him to watch me strangle the life from her body.

I wanted him to suffer like I had for so long. I might have killed Irina's body, but she'd been long dead before I'd gotten back to her.

He'd killed her.

For that, his pain would be long and unbearable.

He needed to know that there was danger lurking. He needed to know that there was someone here to hurt him. The girl meant nothing to me. She was nothing more than a tool to get to him. She was a way to hurt and destroy him.

So I did what I thought would be best to scare them. I wanted to scare him. I wanted him to fear for her life.

I tied a scarf that matched the ones James and I used on our victims to a camping chair. I left the campsite and watched as they seemed to come to a conclusion of who left the scarf there. She handled the scarf with tentative fingers and a plastic bag.

They would find nothing but James' skin flakes on it.

Fucking perfect.

Let them think it was him for now.

I watched as they quickly packed only what was necessary and fled the campground.

I followed again. A few hours later, after watching them enter the parking garage of a nice hotel, my phone rang.

"Hello," I answered. There were only two people that called me – James and my informant.

"It's me," she said quietly.

"Agent Kate," I said smugly.

"Shut up," she whispered.

"I take it that you have more information for me, Kate?"

"Have I ever failed to provide you with everything you wanted?"

I smiled to myself. She was no Irina, but she was a close second. Between the heartache her sister had caused to her marriage and to their parents, she wanted Cullen to suffer just as much as she had.

"They called Black's wife and Edward's sister."

"And?" I urged.

"Pismo Beach, at the pier, seven PM."

"Pismo, pier at seven, understood," I said quietly.

"This is the last time."

"Why is that, Kate?"

"I can't do this anymore. I have to try to salvage my marriage, and it's been over ten years. It's time for me to move on. I'm having a baby. I won't help you anymore. I don't want this anymore. This is your vendetta."

I hung up on the bitch.

I didn't bother to call James. Edward and Bella were mine.

James

After my last encounter with Laurent, I knew that I had to keep a close eye on him. He must have really thought that I was fucking stupid. It was obvious that framing Edward Cullen was too important to him. So I did some research.

They knew each other. That told me two things One, he wanted revenge on the pretty boy and two, he was using me a pawn just in case blaming Cullen didn't work.

I followed him and was able to keep a safe distance from him. I managed to get his extra set of car keys and alarm easily.

Fucker wasn't as smart as he thought he was. I managed to get a hold of a baby monitor while he stopped at a late night coffee house. With the copy of his keys in my hand, I was able to get inside his car undetected. I put the monitor under his seat. Now it was just a question of waiting for information.

I needed to know what he knew and when he'd known. I knew that he had an inside man at the FBI. It was the only way he was able to get so much information on our case.

The insider had been able to procure vital information on the whereabouts of the case's agents.

It had to be someone close to agent Black. I held on to the monitor and made sure to stay within distance. I finally got rid of my car, knowing that everyone would recognize it. I traded it for a Ducati, and it was well worth it.

I followed Laurent while he visited campsites. He stayed at one, watching them from afar. He must have found them. I stayed as close as possible, hoping not to raise his suspicions.

I saw him follow that fucking prick Cullen away from the campsite. She was alone now.

My peach…I'd waited so damn long for her.

My first attempt at taking what I wanted from a woman. She'd been was the first and last failed attempt.

The pain I'd endured after her friend had torn me away from her small body had been truly agonizing.

I'd suffered broken ribs, a concussion, a broken jaw, and I'd lost several teeth. I'd even managed to lose a fucking kidney. That was how hard that asshole had hit me.

Because of him, I was unable to save my sister.

Victoria. She'd needed a kidney transplant, and I'd been a perfect match. But I'd been pissed. My family had wanted me to put my life on the line to save her.

I would've done it. But I'd been angry with just how much more she meant to my mother. Victoria had meant much more to all of my family. I'd always lived in her shadow.

It hadn't mattered that my life would be drastically different if I'd given her my kidney.

Fuck, I'd been just seventeen years old.

So what had I don't? Gotten motherfucking drunk and tried to get a piece of the one bitch that would not only fuck me over but kill my sister at the same time.

My parents had disowned me, ashamed that I'd managed to ruin my one chance to redeem myself.

Of course they hadn't known the real reason that I'd been black and blue. Not that it would've mattered. It would've made things worse.

My sister, before she died, had know I had to have done something stupid. She'd even told me that she knew she was going to die, despite me being a match.

How right she'd been. Victoria had died two weeks after that night.

I listened using the monitor as Laurent's phone rang. Despite it being only one side of the conversation, I was able to come up with the time and place to where my little peach was going to be.

And where Jasper was going to be. This couldn't be more perfect.

I patiently waited for Laurent to call me like he said he would. The fucker never called. I waited, but he didn't call.

I wasn't about to let him have what was mine. And that little peach was mine.

Laurent

I watched as the group talked near the end of the pier. At one point, Bella was shouting something to the tall blonde man among them, Jasper.

"What the fuck, Laurent?" a voice cursed from just behind me.

I sighed. "How did you find us?" I asked, curious to how he had outsmarted me.

"I placed a baby monitor under your seat." James seethed, standing beside me.

"Ah, very clever indeed, my friend."

"I'm hardly your friend. She's mine, Laurent."

I shook my head. There was something more to his fascination with this woman.

"No, she's mine. You killed our last victim."

"This isn't about that anymore and you know it. It's been about Cullen since the beginning for you."

I smirked. So he'd figured it out.

"Just as there is something about her that makes you want her all for yourself."

He nodded. "What now?" he asked, curious of my intentions.

My thoughts now were clear. I had to get rid of James. He was too much of a liability now.

"It seems we've reached an impasse."

James forced a laughed. "No. I'm getting what's mine."

He left me behind and circled the arguing group of men and approached Bella and Alice as they were standing apart from Cullen and the others.

I watched as he pushed the little one and grabbed Bella from behind, holding her at knifepoint.

I watched, fascinated with the absolute determination and complete stupidity of a man who had finally lost all reason.

I drew out my gun, ready to bring the motherfucker down. There was no way I would let him end this so easily.

It would be too easy of a death for her. I wanted Cullen to suffer. I wanted him to watch me make her scream.

To do that, she needed to stay alive. For now.

Edward

What the fuck?

My eyes locked on the pair before me. I watched the love of my life with rapt attention, as she feared for her life. I feared for her life.

"She's a beauty isn't she?" James said, turning his head slightly to sniff Bella's hair. She whimpered, her hands clenched at her sides as her eyes watered.

The tip of the blade was embedded in her skin. Blood was already trailing down the pale skin of her neck. Her eyes locked with mine. Telling me she loved me.

I love you, too.

"I can see –" James groped her chest "– and feel why you all fight for her, mmm." Bella closed her eyes for a moment, her hands still clenched at her sides. My blood was boiling with hate and anger. Hate that I had fucking let this shit happen. Anger because I didn't think there was a way out of this.

I took a step forward. The blood trickling down her neck flowed thicker. Bella whimpered and bit her lip, fear in her eyes.

"No, Cullen. I've waited much too long for my little peach." He licked the length of her cheek. "Mmm…she's finally ripe."

I could see Bella tremble in James' arms. Every fiber of my body struggled to remain still. I just wanted her close to me. I wanted – no, I needed her close to me.

Suddenly I heard the sound of thunder somewhere behind me. My eyes, never wavering from my beloved, watched as red spots blossomed on her white hoodie and her eyes rolled closed as she fell to the ground.

The whole pier came to life with screams, bodies running in every direction.

My feet and my eyes gravitated toward my Bella.

Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead.

"Where the fuck did that gunshot come from?" I heard Jasper yell from behind me.

I didn't care where it had come from. All I cared about was the bullet's destination. My brain was already coming up with alternate plans if she was…

I scrambled, running toward my love. My heart beat frantically as I struggled to reach her, frightened people running in all directions.

Bella. Bella. Bella. Bella. Bella.

She was everything to me. She was the person that I needed to survive in this world.

Without her, it would have no meaning. I watched as Jasper sprung to Alice, who was hovering over Bella's body, clutching her to his chest. My heart clenched with unbearable pain.

Please don't be dead, my mind, my heart, my fucking soul cried. Please don't be dead.

I heard Jacob on the phone, barking out orders. I kneeled down beside my Bella, pushing Jasper away. Alice clung to him as she screamed for what her eyes were telling her.

Bella was dead.

James was dead.

Bella was dead.

I took my love's face in my hands; her warmth was still there. She wasn't dead.

She was still warm.

Please don't be dead.

I could see from the corner of my eye a gunshot wound to James' chest. Even though his jacket was dark, I could see the crimson blood of a sick man flow from his black heart.

He was dead.

And I wasn't the one that had caused it. Damn him.

I felt Bella move, and my eyes snapped to Jasper, who was holding his shirt over Bella's body, trying to stop the flow.

I shook my head and roared, "She's fine!"

Only me.

Only her.

My love.

Her love.

Our love.

We didn't need him.

We just needed each other.

I took his bloodied shirt and pressed it to her chest. Her whole jacket was red now. Only bits and pieces of it remained white.

"Edward," I heard my angel whisper.

"Bella," I gasped, tears streaming down my face as I kissed her cheeks, her lips and her eyelids.

She's alive. She's alive. She's alive.

"It's my…shoulder you, dumb…ass. Quit trying to touch the twins," she scolded, her eyes scrunched closed from the pain.

"Motherfucking –" I gasped. "How can you…" I trailed off as she tried to remove her jacket. I was barely aware of Jasper and Alice laughing beside me, relieved.

"I repress the bad shit, remember, Eddie?" she explained before she hissed as I removed the sleeve off her injured shoulder.

Sure enough, she only had a flesh wound near the top of her arm. The bullet must have grazed her and hit James square in the chest.

"Only you can make fun of me when you're bleeding."

"Yup. Love you," she gasped as I applied pressure.

I shook my head and pressed my lips to hers. "Love you, too. Don't call me Eddie." I growled, causing her to smile.

And then I heard one of my favorite sounds.

Her laugh.

My heart sang with every beat.

Love. Bella. Love. Bella. Love. Bella.

About twenty minutes later, Bella was being patched up by a paramedic. I tried to get her to go to the hospital. It didn't help that she fought tooth and nail about going. The paramedic explained that she didn't need to be seen at the hospital.

Well, she was really fucking smug about that.

I wrapped my arm around her waist, and she rested her head on my shoulder as the paramedic finished dressing her wounds.

Jasper and Jacob walked over to us. Bella clutched her hand around mine as the paramedic stuck her with a needle.

"B, how are you feeling?" Jacob asked, kneeling beside Bella.

"I'm fine," she whispered. "Is he dead?"

Jacob nodded. "He's gone, B. He won't touch you anymore."

Bella sniffled. "It was him, wasn't it?" She looked up at Jasper as her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm pretty sure it was," Jasper answered. "He has the same eyes and hair."

Alice walked over to us after talking with a uniformed cop.

"We'll be able to prove it was him once we match his blood with the samples we got from your case, B," Jacob said.

Bella nodded. "The shooter?"

Jasper shook his head. "We have no idea, Bella. It was somewhere behind us. Nobody saw anything, it seems."

"It had to be the other one – Laurent. Maybe he realized that James was about to ruin all his plans," Jacob offered.

Jasper shook his head again. "It didn't help that a panic started with all the bystanders. He had to have gotten away in all the mayhem."

Bella sighed. "My life is complicated."

"I hear you," Alice said.

"So, what now?" Bella asked, moving her injured shoulder a little.

The paramedic excused Bella, and we all walked to a bench.

"Bella, you need to come home," Jacob tried.

I pulled her onto my lap, earning a glare from Jasper. "If she wants to go home, then I'm going back, too."

"I don't want to go back, yet," she said, nuzzling her nose against my neck, averting her eyes from Jasper's penetrating gaze.

"Bella," Jasper whispered, reaching out to touch her. She shook her head and wrapped her arms around me tighter.

"You heard her, Jasper," I snapped at him. "She's not ready."

"You two fighting is not helping," Jacob growled under his breath.

Bella turned to face everyone. "How the hell did they find us? I don't trust anyone but Edward, right now."

Jacob pinched his nose. "She's right. How the hell did they find you? They knew to hit that specific hotel in San Francisco and now here at the pier."

Bella nodded. "It's someone in your department, Jacob."

"Not possible," Jacob said defensively.

"You don't know that, Jacob. They were at the hotel. How did they know that they stayed there?" Alice said, her eyes somewhat distant.

"Fuck," Jacob said, stepping away and starting to pace.

"Shit. The only people that knew where Bella and Edward were staying were me – Leah, Jasper, Alice."

"Who is the one that ran the credit card check?" Jasper asked.

"Sam and Seth were privy to the information," Jacob said thoughtfully. "But Kate was the one that actually ran the check for me."

I stiffened. "Kate?"

"Yes." Jacob looked at me. "Kate Jameson."

"Fuck," I said loudly.

"What?" Jacob said.

"If I'm right, she's Irina's sister."

"Irina didn't become part of the case until almost two days ago. Fuck!" Jacob cursed, taking out his phone and starting to talk a mile a minute.

"Edward, take me back to the hotel, please," Bella whispered in my ear.

"Okay, love," I whispered back, pressing my lips to her forehead.

I lifted her up, her legs automatically wrapping around my waist. She laid her head on my shoulder while her injured arm was cradled between us.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jasper asked through clenched teeth.

I glared at him. "She needs to rest. It's been a long and stressful day."

Bella whipped her head around. "Edward is too nice. In other words, fuck off, Jasper." She glared at him, jutting out her chin before quickly laying her head back onto my shoulder.

"Yeah, what she said." I smiled kindly. Bella asked me to walk her over to Jacob. She told him where we were staying and to keep it between us for now. She also asked him to check on Charlie for her.

Before leaving I walked with Bella still wrapped around me over to Alice. "Sis, you can stay with us," I offered.

I hated seeing her like this. She looked distant and sad as if someone had taken the shine from her eyes.

Alice nodded, threading her arm into the crook of my elbow. We managed to take a few steps before Jasper objected.

"Alice?" Jasper whispered.

"Jasper, you hurt me," Alice said firmly, before turning away from him and leaning her head on my shoulder.

I walked with my sister by my side and Bella in my arms. This had been one hell of a day.

Alice decided to get a room of her own. She wanted to be alone. She promised to our parents before she went to bed so that they wouldn't worry.

I took Bella to our room, the room dark, realizing it was just after nine in the evening. She nibbled on some fruit that room service had left earlier, both of us eating in silence.

"Edward, I – " Bella started but bit her lip in apprehension.

"Love, you can tell me." I hoped that she would talk.

Obviously, her relationship with Jasper before the accident hadn't been a fairytale.

"Are you sure?" she asked sweetly, climbing onto my lap. "I should start from the beginning."

"If you want, I'm willing to listen," I said, kissing her forehead and wrapping my arms tightly around her.

"We were about fifteen, shopping in Port Angeles. I got separated from the group when I went off to find a bookstore.

Two men approached me, not much older than I was. They were drunk. I tried fighting them off, but one of them…James, I think, hit me so hard that I was out cold."

My breathing hitched. My poor love.

"They all claimed that he didn't manage to rape me, so I was thankful for that. But they got away, even James. I had no idea the extent of the damage that Jasper inflicted on him, but Leah told me later that it was bad.

Jasper told me a week later that he loved me. He wanted me to know, just in case something happened to me. I loved him, too. I knew I had deeper feelings for him than I did for Jacob or any of the boys I knew.

"So we started dating. Things were great throughout high school. He decided to join the Army and I was okay with it, because it was something he always wanted. I went to school near Long Beach, and he was stationed nearby. We kept up our relationship during his time in the service, while I worked to get my bachelor degree.

"When he returned following a tour in Iraq, he suddenly wanted everything, the dream. He wanted the happy picture he'd dreamed up. He wanted the house with the white picket fence, the dog running around the yard with our kids.

"But I wasn't ready. I wanted to work on finishing my Masters. We remained like that, living together for a while. I thought we were happy.

"He turned into a control freak suddenly, always asking where I was and who I was with. I guess in a way, he was worried. That's when we started growing apart. I'm not sure how to explain it. He was getting progressively worse, so I wanted to break it off.

"He begged me to reconsider and that he would do anything. I gave in only when he agreed to therapy. He needed to talk to someone, and he did go. After a while, everything was going so well. We were happy, and I was getting plenty of schoolwork done.

"Then suddenly I ended up pregnant. I shouldn't have been able to get pregnant. I was on birth control. Don't get the wrong idea though. I don't regret my son. I love him dearly. The thing is…Jasper…"

Bella sighed and looked up at me, kissing my lips before continuing. "He replaced the pills in my pill box."

My eyes widened, and I stared at her in horror. Who would be that manipulative? "Oh, Bella." I wrapped my arms around her tighter, holding her close to my chest.

Bella sniffled and then mumbled her love to me. "After I found out I was pregnant I confronted him, and he didn't seem surprised, so that's when I knew it was him." Bella chuckled. "For a while I thought it was my mother. She had been asking for a grandchild.

"He convinced me to go back home where my parents could help me and I could finish school in Seattle. He agreed to retire early and go into law enforcement. By then I was about six weeks pregnant and moving back to Washington.

"The engagement was at best somewhat forced. Everyone was giving me opinions left and right. I just said yes. I felt like I had no control of my life, and then the accident happened.

"I needed him, Edward, because I was devastated. I needed him to hold onto the threads of my life that had started unraveling. But it didn't take long for me to realize that I was holding onto him for the wrong reasons. We mutually ended our relationship.

"I was really happy for him when he met Alice. I really was. He deserved to happy, even if it wasn't with me.

"After Anthony died, he tried to enter my life again. He was worried since he had found me a few times clutching Anthony's blanket in the corner of his nursery. I told him that I was trying. I really was trying to live. He found me…I think about a week after our son's death and realized that I wasn't eating. I was hospitalized for malnutrition and dehydration. He had me sign a Power of Attorney form, claiming that he just wanted to make sure all my needs were met while I mourned our son.

"I told him shortly after my brief stint in the hospital that I had to go. I had to leave and go back to California. He wouldn't let me. He fucking froze my accounts so that I didn't have access to them. I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen. He said he was doing it for my own good. I attempted to you know… a few days later.

"When I came to in the hospital he was so angry with me. He had me committed."

By this point, Bella was in all-out panic mode as her body shook with sobs and shivers. "That place was so awful, Edward. If it wasn't for you…" She sobbed.

"Shh…love…it's okay," I whispered, rocking her shaking form in my arms. "We're here now, not there."

"I tried to tell him that I wasn't safe there. He didn't listen." She cried harder.

I stilled. "Bella, what do you mean, you weren't safe there?"

She sniffled and shook her head. "The women were brutal – taunting, touching and scratching. The orderlies touched me here or there in passing. I hated it there."

"Bella." I sobbed with her. "They didn't…"

She shook her head. "No…but still…it was just so wrong."

I continued holding her and kissing her face. We sat that way for a long time.

How could one person be so controlling, just to maintain someone's safety? It was strong. She had a right to do what she wanted. No one should have taken that from her. I would never hurt her. If I were worried about her safety, I would tell her, and we'd work together to make sure that she remained safe.

Especially now.

James was gone, but Laurent was still out there.

He was out there now, waiting to destroy the one thing in my life that meant more to me than my own life.

"I was so scared that I lost you, Bella. Please, can we just get out of here? I can take you far away from all of this." I cried into her hair, holding her tightly.

Bella nodded. "Let's take a shower, and then we'll talk to Jacob about just leaving for a while."

I swiftly stood up and carried her to the bathroom. I placed her on the countertop of the sink. She wrapped her arms around me gently, careful of her injury.

I angled her neck to take a closer look at her injury there. I kissed over the waterproof dressing. Bella sighed, digging her fingers in my hair.

"I love you, Edward," she whispered.

I shuddered slightly, silently praying that I would continue hearing those words everyday from now on.

I looked up at her, her eyes soft but glistening. "What is it, Bella?"

She caressed my cheek and pressed her lips softly to mine.

"Edward, if…I had died…out there, what would you have done?"

I scrunched my eyes closed, shaking my head. "It doesn't matter," I said slowly, my voice still cracked with imagined grief.

She took my face in both of my hands, forcing me look at her. "It does matter, Edward."

"What would you have me do, Bella?" I questioned.

"Easy. Live, move on, and be happy."

I shook my head again.

"It's not possible anymore, Bella. Without you I'd be lifeless."

Bella shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks.

She was pissed.

"What the hell, Edward? After everything you've been through, everything you've put your family through, you'd still end your fucking life?"

I took a few steps back and started pacing. She needed to know just how invested I was in us.

I turned to face her, my voice firm and absolute. "In a heartbeat."

AN: Beta'd by the wonderful lisa89, thank you.