Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Edited by Sjdavis84 and StillDreaming85.
WARNING: This story contains mature themes and is intended for mature readers.
ISABELLA SWAN
I felt different and yet I didn't. I felt as if the world around me had changed, yet nothing had shifted at all.
I can't deny and say I didn't feel a level of regret for what had happened last night, but I wasn't going to cry rape, or even blame Edward, because I had played my part as well.
I could have stopped it, but I didn't.
I could have told him no, but I didn't.
The truth was, I wanted it, I wanted it as much as Edward had wanted it last night. I don't know if it was because of the heat of the moment, or if it was because of something more.
This morning, Edward had breakfast brought in. We ate together in the most uncomfortable silence before he said he had to leave, he had business to take care of, whatever that meant.
Edward had always confused me, but now, more so than ever.
Did I ask him what was going to happen to me now? Did I ask him what I was supposed to do here? I knew Garrett was outside the door. I still wondered about James. I wondered where he was? Was he okay? Was he safe? Would I ever see him again?
No matter what direction my mind wondered now, it only added to my confusion. With every answer came another question.
Edward wanted a wife, no, Edward wanted me as his wife.
How would that work?
Does that mean he was going to let me go on the condition I marry him first? And if that was the case, if I ever saw my father again, what would I say to him? How could I ever look at him the same way again when I know the truth, the real him, the lies?
The bedroom door swung open in a rather dramatic fashion. It bounced off of the wall only to be stopped by his hand.
All blood drained from my face when I saw Anthony leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest.
"You look better than I had expected," he said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. "I should kill Garrett and Victoria as well for not letting my plan come to fruition. But, I think I should thank them more for protecting you."
"Why?" I frowned.
Anthony shrugged, not bothering to offer me any sort of answer, not that I had expected him to.
With each step Anthony took towards me, I took two back until I had nowhere to run.
"Will you stop moving away from me. I'm not going to hurt you," he said.
If I could have stopped myself from laughing in his face, I would have. The look he gave me was murderous, it was a look I was accustomed to seeing on his face. What I wasn't accustomed to and what shocked me, was him reigning in his anger.
With his hands balled into fists by his sides, he took a few deep breaths and calmed himself.
"Put something nice on, I'm taking you out of here," he said.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Change your fucking clothes, little lamb. I promised I wouldn't hurt you, that's not an invitation to try my patience," he spat the words out while grinding his teeth together.
"I don't have anything to wear," I said.
He groaned, rolling his head around and cracking his neck. He stormed over to the walk in robe, pulling the doors apart. He walked in, I kept my distance, waiting at the foot of the door.
I watched in silence as he ran his fingers along the fabric that were perfectly hung up and assorted by length and color.
He picked out a short dark blue dress. "Put this on," he said, taking it off the hanger and throwing it at me. "What are you waiting for?" He asked impatiently.
"Can you turn around or go outside," I said, biting my lip, waiting for him to snap at my request.
He growled, pulling my hand, he dragged me into the walk in and stepped out, closing the door. I breathed out a sigh of relief, that hadn't been what I was expecting from him.
I quickly changed my clothes, glad to discover that the dress was nowhere near as short on me as it looked on the hanger. I picked out a pair of shoes, a pair of black ballet flats.
I couldn't hide in here all day, as much as I wanted to. I knew it would only be a matter of minutes, if not seconds, before Anthony stormed in here and dragged me out.
With that thought in mind, I opened the doors and stepped back into the bedroom.
"Don't you look...Cute," he smirked, licking his bottom lip.
"Cute," I repeated his word. He held his hand out to me. I stared at it, not knowing what I should do. It was as if his offered hand was mocking me, laughing at me, silently telling me that if I took it, who knows what Anthony would walk me into. His brother wasn't here, there was nothing and no one to stop him from doing whatever he wanted with me right now, and Anthony didn't care for the consequences that his actions might bring.
"Fuck," he sighed. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along side him out of the bedroom. He locked the door and took us out into the main part where I had been the first time he had brought me here, Garrett followed behind us.
We sat at a table in the furthest corner of the room. From here, we had the perfect view of the whole room. The place was nowhere near as busy as it had been that night.
"What time is it?" I asked.
"Three in the afternoon," he said, snapping his fingers at someone. Moments later, a young woman appeared wearing some provocative lingerie, a black and white babydoll with matching panties. Anthony mumbled some order to her and she was quick to run off.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Garrett walk off. He stopped half way, meeting a man dressed in a dark charcoal suit, who slipped something into Garrett's hand.
Anthony, the whole time, stared at me, making me feel more uncomfortable than I already was.
"Why did you bring me out here?" I asked.
"I'm stuck here for awhile , the same way that you are," he said.
The young woman returned, placing a drink in front of me, and another in front of Anthony, along with the bottle.
"Your food will be ready shortly, sir," she said, before scurrying away.
Anthony threw back his glass, swallowing the entire contents, before pouring himself another.
"Drink it, you'll like it," he said, motioning to my full glass containing some blue and green liquid. I stared at the glass as if it were the devil itself. No matter what, I would refuse to drink it. I would not fall for this again. He wants to get me drunk again.
"No thank you," I said, pushing the glass away from me.
"Suit yourself," he shrugged, grabbing the glass and downing it himself.
"Here," Garrett said, holding out a bottle of water and blister pack containing one white pill in it. I looked at it suspiciously and then up at Garrett.
"What is it?" I asked, taking the bottle and pill from him. Garrett leaned in close and whispered in my ear low enough for only the two of us to hear. "It's the morning after pill, Edward sent someone to get it for you."
"Oh," I said, feeling my face flush red.
"What the hell is that?" Anthony asked, pointing to the pill. I quickly opened the bottle of water and swallowed the white tablet. How the hell could I have been so stupid as to have not realized he hadn't used anything? How could he have been so stupid as to not use protection?
"What the hell did you just swallow, little lamb?" Anthony asked, grabbing my hand in his, squeezing it painfully tight.
"I…" I can't tell him what it really was. I can't let him know what happened between his brother and I last night.
"It was for her panic attacks. She has been taking one every day for the past few weeks," Garrett lied. Starring Anthony straight in the face, he lied so convincingly.
"That's still going on?" Anthony asked.
"Did you expect it to go away?" I asked, happy that he had bought the lie. I would have to thank Garrett later.
"I can't break that attitude of yours no matter what, can I? Or do you think because my brother has staked some sort of claim on you, you can talk back to me?"
"I don't think anything, and I don't know about your brother staking any claim," I lied. I didn't want to make him mad, I didn't want him to snap because I knew that Garrett would be powerless to help me against him.
"Hmm...I didn't think it would be this hard to see you again," he admitted, downing another shot. By the time he was almost through the whole bottle, his eyes were glassed over, his cheeks were rosy and he had demolished a whole steak.
"You know what, little lamb, you confuse me. You confuse the fuck out of me," he said.
"I'm sorry," I said, not knowing what else to say. He has been going on and on like this for the past half hour. Everything that he says makes no sense.
"If I had met you like a normal person walking down the street or in a bar, if I asked you to dinner, would you have said yes, if I offered to buy you a drink?" He asked, although his speech was slurred.
I looked at Garrett hoping he would give some help here. He shrugged and turned the other way. Why was Anthony asking me this?
"Don't ignore me, answer me," he slurred.
"I don't know. I guess that's something you and I will never know." His question had me thinking, if I would have met either one of them under different circumstances, would I have given one of them the time of day? I really don't know, because I can't imagine them as anything other than the monsters they are.
I had to look away from him. I didn't like the way he was looking at me right now, like he was sizing me up, trying to figure out my expression, to see if I was lying to him or telling the truth.
"You remind me of her," he said, taking another swig from the bottle.
"I remind you of who?"
"She had a smart mouth like yours," he chuckled. Although he was physically present here, his mind was a million miles away. "She had me fooled. So wrapped around her finger that I never saw it coming. She betrayed me and you know what, little lamb?" He said, leaning over the table close to my face, I could smell the alcohol on him.
"She fucked me over, but I won't let you do the same to me." He kissed me. It was sloppy and disgusting and he wouldn't take no for an answer. I stayed as still as I could and hoped he would stop sooner rather than later.
"You want my brother, but, little lamb, I'm the nice one. I'm better," he said, before his head slumped down on the table.
~DINY~
Anthony's drunken actions last night as well as his words still played over in my head. He was a confusing man, I thought I had him all figured out, but I was wrong.
Edward didn't come back last night. I didn't know where he was, but I was thankful that I got to be by myself.
It would have been a perfect day, had Anthony kept away. He waltzed into the bedroom and threw a garment bag on the bed. He told me to be ready in twenty minutes or else. There was something about him today, something different, something I couldn't put my finger on. He wasn't happy, far from it, but I couldn't make what emotion it was that he was feeling.
I was shocked, somewhat surprised when I saw the tutu and en point shoes in the garment bag.
It was almost a mechanical, robotic instinct that I slipped the costume on. This was something familiar to me, it was comforting and I didn't give it a second thought.
But when Anthony reappeared in the room, that's when dread filled me. He never did anything without a reason. What reason could he have behind this?
He hasn't spoken a word to me as he led me out of the room. Again, we went down the same hallway, only now we turned right and not left. When he opened the double doors, my mouth fell open.
There was a strip club down here. There were women giving private lap dances on the ground. There was a woman on the stage swinging around the pole to some hypnotic melody.
"I don't think they would appreciate ballet," I said. Taking in a few deep breaths.
"I think they would," Anthony said, his mouth close to my ear sending a shiver through me.
"Anthony please, I don't want to take my clothes off for these men," I begged.
"Why not, it's what whores do," he spat the words out as if they were venom pooling from his mouth. "I think you need to give me a private show," he said, dragging me away from that room, and locking us in another.
The leotard and soft tutu Anthony had brought me were beautiful. The fabric felt soft and very, very expensive. The attention to detail of the embroidery was like nothing I had seen before, not even in the school's costume room.
I stood in front of Anthony, my whole body was trembling. Why was he doing this to me? Why was he making me wear this? He wouldn't make me go back out there like this? Those men didn't want to see a ballerina, those men were here for an entertainer, someone who would take their clothes off not keep them on.
"Don't you look a vision, little lamb," he said, licking his lips. He picked up a small remote from the coffee table in front of him. The melody filled the room, I recognized it as L'aurore, from Coppelia, it was a dance I had practiced many times before. But as the music started, I couldn't move a muscle in my body, I was frozen in this moment in this spot. Why was he doing this to me? Isn't it enough that he has already taken so much from me, why did he continue to torture me?
"Dance," he demanded.
"Please," I begged.
"Either you dance for me or you dance for them, don't think that I will not put you back out there. You should know me better than that by now," he said, pointing to the door with a raised brow.
I closed my eyes and willed myself not to cry, I wouldn't and couldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing he was breaking me, more than he already has. It didn't matter what he had said to me, it didn't matter how many times he had hit me, but this, this would ruin me.
I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. I mentally took myself to another place, somewhere else, away from this room and away from him, from all of them.
My feet started to move, my body moved to the soft music. I was shaky, I knew that. I hadn't danced in so long, combined with his eyes on me, it made me slip and fall.
I slapped my palms against the solid wooden floors. I was frustrated with myself, angry that I could no longer find joy and happiness in something that I was once passionate about, that I loved. I sobbed quietly on the floor, refusing to stand up, refusing to continue. What was the worst he could do, hit me? Send me out on that stage? Send me back to Victoria? Did he even have the power to do any of that anymore?
"Come here," he said.
I looked up at him trying to read his expression, wanting to know how much trouble I was in before I faced it.
But it was something I didn't expect. His face was soft, almost caring, yet pained. I swallowed the lump in my throat, he's never looked at me that way before and it made me uneasy because I knew how easy his mood shifted.
"Come here, Isabella," he said again.
I stood up carefully, patting my skirt down and went over to him. I stood in front of him, with my eyes closed waiting for it, waiting for whatever pain he would inflict on me.
He grabbed my wrist and pulled me down to him until I was straddling him. With his other hand he cupped my cheek and leaned closer to my face, placing a gentle kiss on the corner of my mouth.
"You're a beautiful dancer," he whispered.
"Please, Anthony, don't do this."
"Am I not allowed to touch you, little lamb?" He smiled, ignoring my discomfort, letting his hand drop from my face to my exposed thigh.
"You don't mind when my brother touches you like this, little lamb, why is that?"
"He hasn't..." I trailed off. How did he know? He couldn't know, Edward wouldn't have...
"You think I don't know, Isabella, but I do," he said, kissing a trail from my cheek and my neck.
"I know you let him touch you. I know you let him fuck you"
"Well, well, well, what are you doing brother?" Edward said, appearing out of nowhere.
I tried to climb off of Anthony, but he wasn't having any of it. He held onto my hips, holding me down in his lap. I didn't want to turn around to look at Edward, I didn't want to know what had to be going through his mind seeing me and his brother like this.
"Mind if I join you, brother?" Edward asked.
"By all means." Anthony smirked, biting on his bottom lip.
I felt Edward's hands on my shoulder. I felt his head dip and his mouth descended on the right side of my neck and then Anthony on the left.
The sensation between the two was like nothing I had ever felt, not even the night I shared with Edward. This was something new, something foreign, welcomed, yet unwelcome. No matter what, I knew that I could never do this, not with the two of them.