A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed/favorited/followed! All mistakes are mine. I hope ya'll like this chapter! Disclaimer: I don't own anything. TISSUE WARNING. See you at the bottom! Edward is not an idiot in this story. He is very naïve. He didn't want to believe what he heard his dad saying. He believes that Bella would tell him if things were that bad at home. He believes that she trusts him enough to tell him if things were that bad.

"I'm gonna fly like a bird through the night, feel my tears as they dry." – Sia

Chapter 25

BPOV

November 2009

I know what I have to do. He's becoming too suspicious. I'm becoming too distant. I saw the hurt in his eyes when I wouldn't tell him what happened at the hospital. He tried to hide it, but I saw right through his façade. I broke his heart when I refused to tell him. I don't think I could bear it if I saw that look on his face again.

Currently, I am pacing back and forth – well, as good as I can pace on my crutches – in my bedroom, waiting for Phil and Renee to leave for work. I'm trying to build up the courage to tell Edward everything, but I don't want to think of his reaction to hearing it.

"I have to tell him. I have to tell him." I whisper my mantra to myself. "I have to. It doesn't matter the consequences. He deserves to know."

Suddenly, I hear something slam shut. I spin around a little too quickly and almost lose my balance in my crutches. One of them falls to the floor, but I am able to keep ahold of the other. As gracefully as I can, I bend down to pick the crutch up on my good leg. I turn to where I think was the source of the noise. It's my neighbor's house. I've lived in this house for almost twelve years and I have no idea who lives in the house next to mine. I have no idea who would slam the window across from mine shut either.

Slightly freaked out by the entire situation, I grab my things for school and hurry down to the front porch. Thankfully, Phil and Renee are gone to work now so I won't have to deal with them until later tonight.

When I get to the porch, I continue my pacing. I have to find the best way to approach the subject. I can't just walk up to Edward and say 'Hey, I've been abused for my entire life. Sorry for not telling you sooner.' That would probably raise some questions. How am I supposed to tell him this? I know I have to do it, but where am I supposed to start?

I hear someone come up from behind me, but by the time I try to turn around with my crutches, the person wraps their arms around me. The stranger puts one arm around my waist to keep me still and the other on my mouth to keep me quiet. I facing the door to my house and he's got me completely trapped in his embrace from behind.

"It's been too long, bitch." His voice is right in my ear. This is someone different. This isn't the same guy that's been stalking and threatening me out on the football field. This guy is someone new.

"You didn't think I forgot about our sweet times together, did you?" He's talking right inside my ear now. His hot breath that blows in my ear makes me very uncomfortable. "I have a message for you, girl. Tell your little boyfriend, Edward, the truth about your leg, and Phil pushing you down the stairs will be the least of your problems."

I freeze. How the hell did he know about that?

As if he read my mind, he leans down to whisper in my ear, "I know everything, slut. The only way for me not to tell everyone I know this information, is for you to keep your mouth shut." He looks around and lets go of me. When I turn around to try and see who the stranger is, I feel my crutches come out from under me. My legs buckle under the sudden weight and I instantly fall to the ground.

Thankfully, I don't bang my bad leg very hard on the way down. My arms take most of the brunt of the fall. I try to roll over to see if my stalker is still near me, but I can't seem to find him anywhere. Just like all the other encounters I've had with the other stalker, he is gone before I have a chance to regain my composure and look for him.

Ten minutes pass and I'm still on the ground, struggling to get up and back on my feet, when I hear a car pull up. I turn towards the sound of crunching gravel and find Edward rushing out to find me. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees me. I have some idea of what I must look like – on the soaking wet ground in pain, white as a ghost, frightened, on the verge of tears, and soaking wet.

"Bella? Oh my God, what happened? Are you alright?" He rushes over to me. He helps me get up off of the ground and sets me on my feet. He picks up my crutches and helps me retain my balance on them once more. His hands reach up to cup my face and he takes in my disheveled appearance.

I shake my head no. I'm not alright. I've just been threatened by some other stranger who is stalking me and I can't tell the one person I trust about it because I don't want to put him in harm's way. I don't think I could live with myself if Phil ever got his hands on him.

"It's okay. Nothing happened. I just fell on my way out here." I lie as best as I can, but it doesn't work.

"Why are you lying to me about this, Bella? Why do you lie to me at all?" He sounds irritated. His hands drop from my face to his sides.

I was going to tell you everything, Edward, but I can't now. I can't do it and I'm so sorry.

Those words are on the tip of my tongue, but I hold them back. I look away from him, I don't want to see his expression.

"Bella, is there something you want to tell me?"

I shake my head no, but heart is screaming at me to say yes.

"Are you sure? Bella, please, baby, you know you can tell me anything. I'm here for you. I'm always going to be here for you, babe."

I don't respond. I don't move. I can't even look at him. I'm too scared. He can't find out the truth. He won't look at me the same anymore, but what is worse is what would happen if Phil ever found out that Edward was suspicious of something. I shudder at the thought of Phil ever coming around Edward.

"Bella, please." Once again, I don't respond. I don't know how. I can't tell him anything anymore.

Edward takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Bella you have to tell me what is going on in your house. You need to tell me so I can help. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"I know, but I can't." I hear him sigh. "Believe me, you have no idea how badly I want to tell you, how badly I need to tell you…"

I see his calm façade snap. His entire demeanor goes from understanding and helpful to angry in an instant.

"So why don't you fucking tell me?" Oh shit, he's pissed. I've never seen him this angry or this loud before. "I tell you every little fucking insignificant thing that goes on in my life, so why don't you tell me anything about yours?"

"Edward, I –" My voice is small now. I don't know what to say to him. He's right and he knows it.

"You what, Bella? You can't tell me? Tell me what? You've never told me anything about yourself! I tell you everything!"

"Edward stop, please." My voice is small and timid and it's no surprise to me when he keeps raging on.

"You know what, Bella? For once in your life would you be honest with me? Everything you have ever told me was a lie! Why can't you tell me the truth for once, Bella? Just one time, that's all I ask."

"You don't understand!"

"You know why I don't understand, Bella?" His voice is eerily calm, just like Phil's is when he's completely livid. "I don't understand anything! I don't understand you! I don't understand why you won't tell me a damn thing about you! You won't tell me where the mysteriously bruises you get come from. You won't tell me what the hell goes on behind the locked doors of your house. You won't even tell me when your fucking birthday is, Bella! How the hell am I supposed to love you if you never talk to me?"

I can feel everything inside me freeze. "Do you? Do you love me, Edward?" My voice is so low I don't even know if he heard me.

Edward's eyes snap up to meet mine. "Bella, that's not what I – that didn't come out right. I didn't mean it like that."

"Then what did you mean? Because it sounded like you said that you didn't love me."

"Bella I didn't say that!"

"No, but that's what you meant."

"Bella, no. I didn't mean that. I –"

"Then what did you mean?" I practically spat out at him.

He takes a deep breath and continues, "What good is it if I'm the only person you speak to if you never tell me anything that is going on with you?"

My heart breaks at his words. "What are you trying to say, Edward? I thought you loved that I spoke to you! Now you think it's no good that I'm talking to you?"

"Maybe if you would tell me something every once in a while about yourself then I wouldn't feel this way!"

I don't know what to say to that. He's right. It's all my fault. He just doesn't understand. I can't tell him anything. If I tell him, Phil would come after him, my stalker could possibly go after him, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if Edward got hurt because of me.

"You're seriously not going to tell me anything?"

I don't respond. I can't risk it. He'll just have to hate me for it.

He scoffs. "Jacob was right." He storms off to his car. I follow him as fast as I can with my crutches. He doesn't say anything when I get in and neither does he.

The entire day goes by and I don't speak to Edward once. He doesn't try to talk to me either. He's still fuming and he's not hiding it very well.

Maybe not talking to Edward is for the best. Maybe if he hates me, he'll stop looking into what's going on in my house. Maybe it'll be easier if he hates me. He has every right to. I guess everything happens for a reason.

**TCWT**

In the last week of November, I go to the hospital to get my cast taken off. Edward doesn't offer to pick me up and take me. He's still too angry. Charlie offers to take me instead.

The one thing good that has come out of this school year, is Charlie. I have him in class again and I love every minute I'm with him. I never expected to be so close to someone so fast, but Charlie makes it so easy. It took me months to welcome Edward into my life. It hardly took Charlie a couple of weeks. The best part of being close to Charlie is the fact that he knows about me and what goes on at home and he doesn't look at me any differently.

I wish I could say the same for Edward, but he just wouldn't understand. I hate the fact that I am slowly tearing us apart because of my secret, but I don't know how else to stop it. I can't tell him. I won't put him at risk.

Which brings me to the fact that I spend as much time with Charlie as I can. I don't tell him or confirm his theories about Phil and Renee, but I enjoy the comfort he provides me because he knows. It's different from the comfort Edward provides me. Charlie is what I think of when I think about what a family should be like. Our relationship is past student – teacher. It's more of a father – daughter bond.

If I were able to go back in time and pick a father, I would pick Charlie.

December 2009

Weeks go by and I can feel my relationship with Edward begin to crumble. I rarely speak to him anymore. Ever since the fight we had about me never telling him anything… things just haven't been the same. It just doesn't feel right talking to him anymore. Things have changed between us and I don't know if things will ever be like they were before. That kills me. The comfort that I've always felt when I'm in his presence is now replaced by awkwardness.

I never thought Edward and I would have these problems. He's the perfect gentleman. He's the guy that every girl dreams about having. He's my knight in shining armor and I'm pushing him away.

I'm the problem, I know I am. I know I have to be the one to fix our relationship, but I don't know how. I can't tell him. He just wouldn't understand why I didn't tell him before. He doesn't know what kind of person Phil is. He doesn't know what Phil is capable of. He won't understand. No one does. I can't risk him finding out.

Our relationship is tense, to say the least, and it's all because of me. You're not supposed to have to try hard when you're with the one person who means everything to you, but that's exactly what mine and Edward's relationship has become. I hate it. I hate feeling this way. I hate the fact that I am the only one who can stop this from happening, but I can't because I'm too scared of the outcome.

When Edward pulls into my driveway Friday morning, I see his smile. This is the first time in weeks that I've seen him genuinely smile and I immediately want to know the source of it.

"Why are you so happy this morning?" I whisper. My voice is hoarse from not talking for so long. I never realized it would be this easy to fall back into my silent routine.

Edward's smile doesn't faze. Instead, he walks over to me, grabs my hand, and pulls me to his car. "Emmett and Rosalie are back in town for Christmas vacation." My face lights up. "And Em is throwing a party tonight and wants to make sure we go…" He says hesitantly. We haven't really hung out outside of school in a while. I can feel the awkwardness in his car and I know he feels it too.

Wanting nothing more than to try and save our relationship, I nod my head in acceptance.

"Okay, great. I'll pick you up after I get out of football practice, okay?"

I nod.

The school day goes by quickly. I find myself turning in my assignment for Charlie's class and heading to my locker before I know it. Edward must have come up behind me at some point because the next thing I hear is him whisper - yelling.

"What the hell are those, Bella?"

I freeze. What is he looking at? I slowly turn around to face him. He's livid, it's written all over his face. He must have gotten angrier at my lack of response because he grabs my hips and lightly presses me against the lockers. He slips his hand under my shirt and lifts the material as he goes. He points at the finger shaped bruise right above my hip.

"Where the hell did this come from?"

I tense and he notices. I can't tell him about it. I can't tell him that Phil tortured me again last night by squeezing me so hard until I couldn't breathe. I can't tell him. He wouldn't believe me.

When Edward realizes that I'm not going to respond, he sighs angrily and pushes himself away from the lockers, away from me.

"You know what? I'll just get Rose or someone to pick you up for the party tonight around 7. I've got to get to practice." And with that, he walks away from me. He leaves me to take the bus home for the first time in over a year, and I can't help but feel a little betrayed by his actions.

I sigh in defeat and rush to catch the bus before it leaves. When I get home, I walk to my room and sit on my bed just thinking about what I could say to him. I have to tell him something to placate him. He's not going to stop asking for answers and I can't give them to him. I'm too scared.

I'm terrified about what Phil would do if I ever told someone about him. I'm terrified for Edward. If he keeps snooping and Phil finds out, I can't imagine what he would do to him. I don't want to imagine what he'd do to him.

True to his word, Rose rings the doorbell at precisely seven o'clock. When I open the door, she embraces me.

"It's so good to see you again, Bella! I can't tell you how much I've missed you. Oh, and Emmett too. Come on! Let's go to the party."

I make a face. I really don't think I should go to the party. Edward is angry at me and I know I can't spend the entire party with Emmett and Rose.

"Oh come on, Bella! I haven't seen you in months and neither has Emmett! Don't deny us your presence. We're only in town for a few weeks anyway." She gives me a puppy dog face and I feel my resolve weaken.

I sigh. Deciding that I should probably face Edward sooner rather than later, I take Rose up on her offer and get in her car to drive off to the party.

When Rose and I get to Em's house, the party is in full swing. People are everywhere. Despite the pouring down rain, people are still outside drinking and talking. Beer and bottles of vodka surround the yard. Rose and I carefully make our way to the front door of the house and walk in.

My first instinct is to find Edward. I need to apologize for everything that happened earlier. He doesn't deserve to be left in the dark. I know that, but he just doesn't understand what would happen if I told him the truth. No one understands and it kills me.

I tug on Rose's shoulder and mouth, I'm going to find Edward. I need to talk to him, apologize.

She nods. "Okay, I need to find Emmett anyway. We'll all catch up later, okay?" I nod and we both take off in our own directions. The first place I check is Emmett's room, but it's empty. I go back downstairs and I find a crowd of people surrounding the couch in the middle of the room. Curious, I go see what everyone is so interested in.

I stop dead in my tracks when I see the pair on the couch. I see a pair of long legs matched with long blonde hair and a fake tan grinding on top of a pair of muscular legs and bronze hair.

It can't be him. It can't be him. He wouldn't do this to me. He cares about me. He's told me he loves me.

After a few more minutes the pair basically dry–humping on the couch pull apart. Tanya gets off of Edward and sees me standing there, gaping.

She smirks and gets off his lap. "He's mine now, bitch." She walks over to me and whispers in my ear, "He was always mine. He just wanted to toy with you. He made you fall for him, give your virginity up to him, and open up to him just so he could shatter your little heart. Everything he said to you was a lie, sweetie. He's been with me since he first walked into Forks High. You were only a game to him." She walks away, into the crowd of people, with a sick smile on her face.

I recoil as if she'd slapped me. It probably would've hurt less if she did. I look to Edward, praying that this is all some misunderstanding. I hope that he'll tell me that I didn't just see him and Tanya making out in front of everyone. I know we had a fight earlier, but he wouldn't do this to me.

Edward finally meets my gaze, but doesn't say anything. He just glares at me with an empty expression on his face. I can see his eyes are glazed over, as if he'd been drinking. I shift my attention to the person sitting next to him: Jacob. I thought those two had a falling out of some kind? Edward hasn't mentioned anything about hanging out with Jacob in months, so why are they sitting together right now?

Completely devastated by the one guy who I thought would never hurt me, I lash out. I glare at him and keep eye contact as I spit my words out. "If this is how you treat the people that you love, then I am so fucking happy no one gives a damn about me." The entire room goes quiet and I soon realize my mistake. I just spoke. Out loud. No one in this room, save Edward, has ever heard me speak before and I just shocked the hell out of everyone, including myself. I didn't even know I had it in me.

My words have no effect on Edward. He keeps staring at me, in his clearly drunken state. Jacob on the other hand, has this shit eating grin on his face. He looks like he just won the damn lottery because of what Edward just did to me and my reaction to it.

Completely torn that he could do this to me, I rush out the door. I hear laughter behind me as I exit the house. I accidentally run into Rose and Em when I get outside. Noticing my distressed state, Emmett being Emmett, tries to help me.

"Bella? What's wrong? What happened? Where's Edward?"

I stop running and look up at him. I stare at him in the eyes for a long time trying to convey everything I'm feeling right now.

He gets the message and steps forward, reaching out to me. Knowing this is the last time I will probably ever see these two amazing people, I speak to them. "Thanks for being there when no one else was, Em, but it's just not enough anymore."

He looks upset for a split second before it becomes confusion. "What are you talking about? Why does it sound like you're saying goodbye?" I can see the hurt form on his face when I back away from him.

"Because it is." Despite the ever present stinging sensation that I have in my right leg from breaking it, I turn around and run away from them as fast as I can. I can hear their shouts of protest getting softer and softer as I leave them further behind.

The rain still hasn't let up from earlier, so it's no surprise when I slip on the road about twenty minutes after I left Emmett's house. I land on my knees, but get right back up. I start running again. I can feel blood trickling down my legs, but I can't feel the pain. I'm numb. I've blocked everything out. All the emotions, all the heartache, all my physical pain from leg, it's gone. I can't feel anything. It's completely blocked out. I can't feel the wind and water slicing at my skin as I walk the ten mile hike back home.

When I finally get to my house, I walk straight to my room. I don't check to see if Phil or Renee are still up. I don't take off my soaking wet clothes as I crawl into bed. I don't do anything.

I lay in bed for hours doing the thing I swore I would never do, I cried. I cried harder than I thought was possible. I cried for Edward, for what I thought we had. I cried for my friends Emmett, Rosalie, and Seth. I know none of them are going to ever speak to me again now that Edward is done with me. I cried for the family that I thought I had with Carlisle and Esme. They are not going to want to have anything to do with me now that Edward is through playing his games with me. I cried because everything I thought I had is now being ripped away from me. I don't have anything or anyone anymore. I cried because I finally did the one thing that I swore I wouldn't: I gave someone my heart. Now it's shattered into a million different pieces.

Sobs continue to take control over my body as I fall into a dreamless, sleepless sleep.

A/N: And here it is, the big heart breaker. I'm going to go hide under a rock until next week. Did you guys expect that? What do ya'll think is going on in Edward's mind? Next up: Edward's point of view of the party.