SM owns I just took out their sharp teeth…

Special love to Cullen Confection, Graymatters, Momoffour Luvntwisaga, Sweet Poetic Justice, Butterfly Betty Cullen.

Song: Wild Horses by the Rolling Stones

Ch 14

EPOV

"What happened last semester with Irina?" she asked me.

I should pass on this question. I was not ready to talk about this with her. Alice and Jasper only knew because I got too drunk one night. Damn, I knew I was taking too long to answer. I looked up at her, then down at the ground.

"Brown Eyes, you are really smart, do you know that?"

"I know you don't want to answer my question," she responded as she took a drag off of her cigarette. She didn't have on an ounce of makeup to cover her bruises anymore and yet, she was simply beautiful.

"I want to tell you all you want to know about me, but there is a lot to that story and you have asked a huge question. How about if we come back to it once I get my courage up?" I offered.

Bella nodded and I felt myself relax. "Wanna go somewhere with me?" she asked suddenly, her eyes lighting up.

"Tonight, right now?"

"Yeah, why not? You leave in the morning and we need to talk; we have about two hours before they will miss us. I know a place."

We got back in the car and Bella backed out slowly. "Well, since you paused that question, I guess it's your turn."

"Ok, how about what's up with Granny—why do you stay with her?"

"Granny is diabetic. She wears contacts and needs them taken out and cleaned every other day. Last year she had her leg amputated and it got infected. I had to clean the wound a lot. She also manages the housing complex she lives in. In order for her to keep that income, I have to do the books. Since she is blind, she can't drive or pay her bills. My mom works out of town and is only home on the weekends so it helps both Granny and Renee if I stay here. Then I met Riley, and he lived here."

I looked at her as she rattled off her story. "And you work?"

"Yeah, I was waiting tables until recently."

I rubbed my face. I was amazed at the girl beside me. Here I was bitching to Carlisle and Esme that I was having to work during the summer and Brown Eyes was busting her ass to hold down a job, go to school, take care of Granny and deal with Riley all at the same time.

"How did you do it?" I asked.

"Do what?" she asked, like her schedule was the same as every kid in America.

"You are kidding right, Bella? Seriously, you've been doing the bookkeeping on the complex where Granny lives that has around 30 houses. You keep track of Granny's meds and doctors and all her appointments, you were working a part-time job, you told me you graduated fourth in your class from high school, and in the mean time you were juggling Riley's needs? How in hell did you do it?"

"It's my turn to ask questions," she deflected. She had driven us to a pier. She climbed out and said, "Follow me."

"This is where I come to think. If you sit at the very end, you can feel the current move the pier. And at night, it's so dark, you can't tell where the sky ends and the ocean begins." She looked out over the water. Her face looked peaceful. She looked serene, even though she had been through hell in the last twenty-four hours.

We walked. Well, I walked and Bella stumbled. The unevenness of the planks gave her hell but it gave me an excuse to touch her. I placed my hand on her back and around her waist and was thrilled when she didn't move away. I hadn't yet figured out which movements would scare her. I knew at first Jasper had to be very slow but purposeful with Alice. And with Irina, I just didn't pay attention. Bella was different though. I could feel it in my heart.

"So, will you answer my question now?" she asked, her voice small and uncertain as though she expected me to refuse again.

The truth was I still wanted to refuse, but I knew I had to tell her. "Brown Eyes, will you hear me out, all the way through?"

"Edward, I have to explain things myself so let's just start and see where we stand at the end of all this. But I feel like you are hiding something from me, like something big, not just those little things that couples find out about each other as they get to know each other."

I took a deep breath and began my story. "Yeah, so you know last year I went to a different college?"

She sat down as we came to a bench on the pier. She tried to light a cigarette but the wind was not helping. I smirked at how she didn't know to cup her hand against the wind yet. I held my hands around the smoke and lighter, creating a wind shield.

"Yeah, I assumed as much," she nodded her head thanking me.

"I dated this girl, Irina, in high school but we were on again off again. And during one of our off periods, she hooked up with a guy like Riley." I searched her eyes for something, some change of emotion, but there was nothing. She just took another drag off her cigarette.

"She would date him and then come to me covered in bruises. I would get so upset, but she would beg me just to hold her and not touch him. Then a week later, she would leave me and go back to him. She did this a few times."

"Well, Bella I have a temper. And I can keep it in check most of the time. But Irina got the best of me. She used me against the dude she was dating. I thought I meant something to her but when I found out she was just stringing me along, I lost it." She was still not showing me any emotion.

"I tried so hard to show her that she didn't have to live like that. But one night I couldn't handle the yo-yo, back and forth any more. We were arguing, and I threw a glass at the wall near where she was standing and I punched the door. She called the police on me, Bella. Not on the douche that was hitting her, but on me."

"Things just got worse from there, Bella, I started partying ALL the time. I barely passed my classes. My mom and dad demanded that I come home and go to the University for the next year." I finished speaking, afraid to look at her, scared of what I'd see in her eyes. Would I see revulsion? Anger? Fear?

"So you have been hiding your temper and the fact that you know how to party from me?" She took a drag off her cigarette and smiled, almost sounding amused. "I mean, I know there are a ton of details, but I was expecting you to say you killed a chick or something. Edward, I can look at you and tell you have a good heart, you are so calm. You make me feel peace. Do you know that is not a feeling I truly understood until I spent time alone with you?"

I look at her in wonder. "I can't imagine not knowing that feeling." I admitted shaking my head.

"Edward, I come from a different world than you. I can look at you and see that. I know what it is like to eat the same meal for days because Renee couldn't afford food after Charlie left. I don't know what it is like to not worry about something or somebody."

"You know we are just kids, right? This is supposed to be fun," I asked her. I just wanted to hold her in that moment.

"Don't you dare feel pity for me! I have done ok. I worked hard for that scholarship. I turned down a full ride to the local college here. I knew I had to be better than this place and the people here. I did what I had to do. But don't you, for one second, feel pity." She said all this with her face to the ocean. I wondered if I would ever get through those walls. I wondered if I could show her that pity was different than concern and sympathy.

"You know Riley wasn't the only bad guy," she said, her voice suddenly cold and angry. "I led him on. I kept him supplied with meds. I knew which buttons to push. I knew what made him angry." She looked at me. "I will only do the same thing to you. I will learn your buttons, and I will push them."

I jumped down off my place on the bench and walked around in front of her. I would be damned if she was going to do this to herself in front of me. "Brown Eyes, you may have made him mad, you may have made him mad on purpose, but that doesn't mean his response to you is what you deserved."

"Edward, why?" She was on the verge of tears. I heard her voice crack.

"I can't tell you the whys, but I can tell you with me, there will be no more hitting. I will not hit you. We will fight, I can already tell we are going to fight something fierce, but I will never hit you." I saw a small light in her eyes reappear. "Don't worry, you're safe with me, Bella."

I kissed her. I kissed her with every ounce of feeling in my heart. I wanted her to believe that she was safe with me. There was something about this girl that made me want to protect every inch of her. I ran my fingers through her hair. When I finished our kiss, I pulled her to my chest and held her. I breathed in her scent and let it become a part of me.

"We better head back," she said into my chest. "Next time you come, we can catch the sunrise together." She was planning for another trip, and that told me two things. She had decided she wasn't going back with me, and she wanted to see me again.

"You wanna drive?" she asked. God, I love driving. I loved driving with my girl. She handed me the keys.

"Are you not tired?" I asked her, suppressing my own yawn.

"Riley used to make me stay up late to talk to him, so I have gotten used to living on pretty little sleep. My dreams have been so intense the past two times I tried to sleep, I just don't know what to do. Granny won't care if you sleep with me, if we sleep in our clothes on top of the covers," she said matter-of-factly. "Although she barely let Riley in the door."

"I love Granny," I said to her with a huge grin.

"I know she likes you too, Edmund." We both chuckled. "What time are you guys headed out tomorrow?"

"My parentals want me home for dinner, so probably just after lunch. Bella, I want you to think about coming to work with us early. Let Renee take care of Granny, it's not your job. If you start early, we can hang out all summer before school starts. We can go to the concerts and go camping in the mountains and have fun."

"I will think about it, Edward. I need to get stuff done here first," she said, as we pulled into Granny's.

She led the way into the house. I followed her straight to her bedroom and sat on her bed. She walked back out to the kitchen and came back with two glasses of water. I watched her medicate herself again. She needed to stop, but not tonight.

I watched her brush her teeth and take off her shoes, but she didn't change out of her clothes. I brushed my teeth and laid down beside her. She turned on the TV and as I watched, I heard her breathing even out. She thrashed and whimpered in her sleep, and I lifted her head to rest in my chest. I could feel her tears wetting my shirt so I gently stroked her hair.

Would I be able to handle this? I hadn't wanted a serious relationship right now. After what had happened with Irina, I'd planned to just have fun. I wanted to go to college, drink a little – or a lot - and get laid. I stumbled onto this. This was intense, but then again so were my feeling for her already. I'd already told Jasper that she was my girl. She had so many issues and one screw up, just one screw up, and it could push her too far. What if she went back to Riley?

I stayed with her and went over my thoughts until I drifted into a fitful sleep. I woke up every time Bella moved or cried out. I was already tired of this girl feeling pain, and I had only known her for a week. I couldn't imagine what else I could feel for her.

We slept in. I was surprised Granny didn't come in to shoot me. It was ten when I woke up and Bella was still asleep. I wanted to stay there but I needed to get up because having this beautiful girl laying on me all night had me harder than Granny's walking cane. With that thought, my problem was gone.

I took care of my morning business and opened the bedroom door, which I knew we had left open last night.

"I closed the door so not to wake you," Granny said.

"Thank you, Granny."

"Son, I know nothing happened in that room. I know she probably wouldn't have slept if someone wasn't in there. You know she is afraid of the dark? She always has been."

I wondered what Bella saw when she closed her eyes. I literally placed my hand over my heart when I considered what demons she must fight. I glanced over to see Jasper and Alice watching me.

"Edward, we got you guys some breakfast and packed up the car except for your stuff," Alice told me.

I nodded to her. "Hey, Jas, you wanna give me a hand?" I walked back to the bedroom and quietly got my bag and snuck back out without disturbing Bella. Jasper walked out to the car with me.

"Dude, you could have just said 'I need to talk to you for a sec', you didn't have to pretend we were chicks," Jasper joked.

"You got plans for next weekend?" I asked, ignoring his teasing

"Yep," he said with a grin. "I have a feeling I will be coming to the beach."

"I don't know, dude, but it feels right, right now," I replied.

"Well, E, this girl can't handle you backing out on her any time soon. So you are either in or out. You either tell her you are her friend or more than that. You can't be going back and forth. Any of those brief moments of doubt you have, you come to me. She can't deal with that right now," he said looking me square in the eyes.

"I need a store."

"What?"

"I need to get to a store. I want to buy Brown Eyes something before we leave," I said to Jasper.

"Ok, go tell Granny and Alice. Do you want like a gas station or Wal-Mart?"

"Umm, Wal-Mart?" I asked, knowing he didn't have a clue what I was looking for.

Jasper and I left for Wal-Mart and Bella was still asleep. She needed her rest and she was sleeping soundly, so we left her alone.

I wanted to get Bella calling cards so she could call me. Anytime. I had my own line and I was home when I was not with Alice and Jasper, so I knew I could help her at night. The next thing I wanted was something special. I headed straight for the toy aisle. I wanted to get her something to sleep with. I found it- a brown and white koala with the biggest brown eyes.

I knew she would love it.

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Rec's:

A Question of Time – go… if you love the time frame that MSTS is set in you will love A Question of Time

The Red Eye – Funny as heck Vampward!

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