I was originally gonna post this like two days ago, but my internet's been out for a few days so I guess that original plan got delayed. Hope you can forgive me?
So I love you all. And I'm pissing off my sister by keeping her up and typing this, so guess that's all I have to say for now. . .
Like, really love you.
Edward - Soyez Coffre-Fort
I lazily flipped through TV channels as I laid sprawled out across the large couch in our suite. I wanted my futon. I missed that fucking thing. My mind wandered to nothing particular as I let my eyes droop shut.
I yawned, adjusting my position to a more comfortable spot. It had been a long night.
I mean, usually I didn't get that much sleep in the first place, but I was lucky to have gotten even only a mere sixty-minutes. Every hour Bella would wake up either crying or screaming in her sleep. It was unnerving and never-ending.
When she would calm down and fall back to sleep, I would try myself, only to be interrupted shortly into my slumber by yet another round of crying. Was I mad at her? Fuck no. She had absolutely every right to be in mourning about all of this.
The fact that we were locked inside this room all day and night wasn't even half of it. Because trust me; I could handle being alone with Bella 24/7 as long as needed. In fact, that's what it was basically like before we even checked into this place anyways.
It was the fact that everyone just. . .knew about everything now.
Well, Charlie at least. In my book, he sure counted as everyone.
Needless to say, sleep was on the top of my list of priorities at the moment. It even managed to surpass my undying need to shamelessly fuck the ever-loving-shit out of my lovely girlfriend. Huh. Who would have ever thought that was possible.
Fact was, I was in need of sleep. Badly.
I glanced over at Bella – who had been doing extremely better than last night – and rolled my eyes. Her intense gaze was focused on the hot pink nail polish she was applying to her toe nails. "Shit," I heard her curse as she quickly dabbed awake the mistake she had made.
"The fact that you actually managed to obtain nail polish in the last twenty-four hours is beyond me," I muttered in amazement.
"Why, Mr. Cullen," she looked up and grinned. "I have to have some way to occupy myself all day. I mean, what else is a girl to do, alone in a hotel room with her boyfriend? . . ." she trailed off suggestively.
"Not my fault I'm trying to stay on Charlie's good graces," I responded warily.
"Not my fault you should just rename yourself Gandhi." She snapped back.
I rose an eyebrow, amused.
"I think you two have a lot in common," she explained with a nonchalant shrug. "First man to try and establish a war based around non-violence." She paused, shooting me a very pointed glance. "First man to try and establish a relationship based around non-sex."
There was a long moment of serious silence between the two of us.
Suddenly, I bursted out laughing.
"Holy shit," I accused breathlessly, "Aren't you little miss kinky."
"You did not just use the word kinky," she scoffed.
"So lemme get this straight," I frowned. "You can compare me to Gandhi – an old, dead, Indian man, and I'm not allowed to say kinky?"
The smile she gave me let me know that in her mind, there wasn't a single ounce of flawed logic in my statement.
"But seriously. We're being watched around this place like hawks. Who's to say Charlie hasn't already set up some surveillance camera in the room to keep an eye on things?"
Her face paled.
Eventually I went back to trying to get some sleep – a little anxious from the previous conversation – and Bella went back to painting her nails.
Outside the room came muffled voices. "Sir, I'm afraid we can't let you in there."
Holy shit. He had people standing outside the door and monitoring our room now too?
"To hell I can't," responded the loud, familiar voice.
"Sir, who are you?"
"Look," Emmett's obnoxious voice wasn't hard to miss. "I don't know if you know this or not, but I'm kind of a big deal."
"Oh lord. . ." I heard presumably Rose mutter.
Getting up, I walked over to the door and swung it open. Sure enough, a small gathering of people had formed in the hallway. Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, two security guys, a bellhop, and. . .Jacob?
I grinned nervously at the eight of them.
They all stopped what they were doing to stare at me. "Uh, hey guys?"
"Edward, my good man," Em quickly walked over to stand beside me, throwing an arm around my shoulder. He glared at the two men in suits. "Last time you fools doubt my superiority." I rolled my eyes.
This would have been perfectly acceptable and completely non-awkward had Jacob Black not been there. Honestly, he had been the last person on my list of expectancy visits. Hell, Jessica Stanley was before him.
"So, do you guys, uh, wanna come in?"
"No, I wanted to stand out in this hallway all day and shoot spit in the air," Rosalie commended acidly.
Before I could respond to her lovely sarcasm, she pushed past me and into the room. The others followed. Everyone except Jacob. He stood hesitantly at the door, contemplating internally with himself on whether he should come inside or not.
"I don't wanna hold the door open all day," I didn't want him in our room either, but I wasn't going to go out of my way to make him feel unwelcome. Honestly? There wasn't really much hostility left in me after the past few days.
"I was, uh, kinda hoping to talk to Bella alone. . ." he muttered, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
"And?" I rose my eyebrows with an implied 'what do you want me to do about it?'
He sighed. "I guess I'll come in."
I grudgingly stepped aside, allowing him to enter. How in the hell did he even know we were here? Confused, I shut the door and walked back over to my spot on the bed, now occupied by Jazz's lazy ass.
Bella was already mid-conversation with Al and Rose as Em sat next to her on the ground with an arm draped lazily around her shoulder. "Been way too long, Hells Bells." he commented with a grin before turning to me. "You too, Peter Pansy. Seriously. When's the last time we've seen each other?"
"Three days ago, Emmett." I responded dryly. Jacob was leaning awkwardly against the wall, unnoticed by Bella. I cleared my throat, getting her attention. "Someone's here to see you," I nodded my head in his direction.
Her eyes widened a bit before a confused look spread across her face. She quickly removed herself from Emmett's grasp, standing up. "Jake?" The surprise in her voice wasn't hard to detect. "What are you doing here?"
"Bad timing, I know," he muttered under his breath. "I've been actually needing to talk to you for a while, but you haven't exactly been around."
"Sorry," she responded apologetically.
"Listen, can we talk? The three of us." He quickly confirmed. Jesus, did he really think I was that big of an overprotective, controlling dick? I trusted my girlfriend enough to let her talk to whatever guy she wanted.
Even guys who happened to be ex-boyfriends.
See? I was chill.
"I don't have to co–"
"Come." He quickly ordered.
Emmett, who had been listening in, let out a loud laugh. Immature prick. I flipped him off before walking out onto the balcony behind the two of them, shutting the large glass doors.
Bella was was leaning against the railing with her lips pursed, arms crossed, and a soft expression on her face. Jacob was leaning against the railing opposite of her so that they were facing each other. I went and sat down on one of the patio chairs.
I mean, I'd feel like a complete douche if I walked up to her and basically rubbed in the fact that she was mine and not his. I wasn't that clingy and over-bearing. Besides, I had respect for the guy. He did have good taste in women.
"I'll make this quick," he began with a nervous smile. "So I basically wanted to come and apologize to both of you for being such an ass the other day." The other day? That had been weeks ago.
Bella's thoughts mirrored my own. "That was a long time ago, Jake."
"I know," he frowned. "But like I said, you haven't really been around."
"Apology accepted," she grinned at him. Honestly, I didn't know what he was apologizing for in the first place. I would have probably done the exact thing, had I been in his shoes. I sent him an agreeing nod and half-smile. He looked relieved.
"One more thing," he added quickly. "I needed to do this in person because it was important, in case you're wondering why I didn't just call," the look he gave me was clear that what he had just said had been for my sake.
"Bella, I wanted to tell you that you have my sincere condolences regarding your mom. I am so sorry."
"Thanks, Jake," she whispered quietly, dropping her gaze to the floor.
It was blatantly obvious that he wanted to say more; that he wanted to ask millions of questions concerning what the hell was going on. Why waste a perfectly good conversation on that particular subject? Especially since it really had nothing involving him in the present or future.
Shortly after, Bella showed him to the door as I plopped back down on the bed next to Jasper. He eyed me suggestively, making me roll my eyes. "Dude, what I would give for a bed like this. . ." he paused as a wicked look crossed his face. "Is it sturdy enough?"
"Fuck you, prick," I swatted my hand over the top of his head.
The five of them ended up staying well into the night, leaving just after eleven with the assistance and protection of the lovely escorts we had acquired throughout the day. Charlie was hard at work sorting this shit out, and apparently hadn't liked what he had found so far.
It had been a surprisingly refreshing day. Besides the whole 'not getting any sleep the previous night', the weird encounter with Jacob, and the fact that we were locked in this damn place, it had been a pretty good day.
Admittedly, it had been extremely nice getting to see Al, Rose, Jazz, and Em. It seemed like forever since all of us had all just chilled together. I missed that.
After a decent ten minute make-out session, Charlie entered the room and checked in on us. After he left, there was another make-out session, followed by bedtime.
Honestly, I probably would have given into Bella's earlier pleas from before had I not been so damn tired. Maybe tomorrow, I promised her and myself silently in my head. Tomorrow sounded like a good day.
God, why did I feel like such a perv trying to decide when the next time I was gonna fuck my girlfriend?
"I don't think this is a good idea," I expressed out loud for the billionth time. She rolled her eyes. I loved the woman to death but in all honesty, half the time I wanted to strangle her.
"I'm not gonna fail the last four weeks of school," she told me, sliding on a pair of black skinnies. "And I need something to do around here." I ignored her pointed glance, still feeling uneasy about all of this as I slid on a hoodie.
"So lemme get this straight," I began. "You don't want to fail your last month of school, but you do want to risk getting killed in the process? I mean honestly, Bee. Call Charlie. Have him give us an escort. I dunno, just something other than this."
She pursed her lips. "Look, Edward, I know you're probably right, but I hate being so dependent on other people. I like to do some stuff without the help of others. We got by before on our own, so what's the problem? We're going to school. What is the worse that can possibly happen there?"
I was going to regret trusting her. I always did. With a defeated sigh though, I nodded, confirming myself into her plans.
"Besides, we'll be in and out of that place before anyone can blink. Just long enough to get our homework, then we'll be right back here. Charlie's got more than enough on his mind to deal with, and I don't wanna make him have to go out of his way for our sake again."
"Fair points," I gave her that. "But still. You better believe I'm not gonna let you out of my sight." She sighed with a happy smile and nodded.
I'm not sure how exactly we managed to slip by security, but we did. Which did worry me a little bit, but I refused to dwell upon it. After all, it could have just been our ninja skills.
Since we didn't have a car we could hijack – at least, none of them suitably shabby enough in the parking lot of a 5 star hotel – we ended up opting for a taxi. Good plan? I wasn't exactly sure. Being with Bella made it extremely easy for the line between good judgment and bad judgment to blur.
In other terms, before I met Bella, I always knew a right decision from a wrong decision.
The taxi driver dropped us off at the front doors and told us we'd have to call for another cab because someone already had called and was waiting for him.
The whole process took over an hour. Since we didn't exactly have a legitimate excuse we could tell teachers, it took a little longer to convince them that our families were starting the summer together earlier and leaving town to somewhere in Hawaii. Especially since it was senior year.
Our last stop was to talk to the principal and confirm it all.
Most kids were in the middle of classes so the hallways were fairly empty. While walking through the third corridor, some lone kid turned the corner and started walking directly behind us. The only reason I noticed this was because us three were the only ones in the hallway.
Also, he was wearing sunglasses and a beanie. Who wore that inside a building? Some teacher who was standing outside her door, looking out for skippers no doubt, smiled at Bella in recognition as we walked by but stopped the kid behind us.
"Excuse me, Sir," she began. "But we do not permit the usage of hats in the school, or sunglasses, unless it is a medical requirement. Please remove your extremities."
Curious for some odd reason, I slowed down our pace to hear the rest of the conversation. I heard the shuffling of clothes followed by a short silence. "Ah, Mr. Bates. I expect you've been having a good first week here."
I stopped, mid-step. First week as in just started here? No one started a new school with only a month of the year left. I couldn't help but glance behind me out of curiosity.
The exact same time I glanced, so did he.
The familiarity of the eyes I stared into was so startling, it almost knocked me over. Without a second look back, I wrapped an arm around Bella's waist and tugged her quickly forward, around the corner.
I stopped, facing her as the both of us leaned against the wall as soon as we were hidden by the confines of the concrete. "Edward, what's going on–"
"That guy back there? Definitely not young enough for high school," I knew this had been a bad idea right from the start. "I recognize his face. He was one of the guys who was in the room that day." She gave me a look of confusion. "I remember him from the day the Volturi caught us."
Her eyes widened. "Oh."
I frowned. "They must've figured out the both of us went here. Aro must've sent him to keep an eye out for us." I pursed my lips in thought for a moment. "Here's what we're gonna do. Go out back and find a car – any car. If there's anything wrong, call me. I've gotta find out what this guy wants."
"Edward, what if that's not the best idea?"
"It probably isn't," I agreed, "but I'm gonna save your dad some work."
For once, she didn't argue. Instead, she quickly reached up, pulling my face down to hers and placing her lips fiercely against mine. "Be careful," she ordered softly. "Please?"
"Everything will be fine," I promised, squeezing my arms tightly around her before letting go. "I'll be out front in a few minutes. Don't let anything happen to yourself. Soyez coffre-fort."
She nodded; her big brown eyes full of worry. After she ran off in the opposite direction, I slowly walked back from where I had come from. Sure enough, he was just starting to walk away from the teacher who had stopped him before.
I leaned against the wall as he noticed me and picked up his pace. Moments later we were standing feet away from each other, face to face. He wore a victoriously refrained smile as I held my hand out. "Edward Cullen."
He shook it, somewhat confused by my approach. "James Tracky."
I held back a pleased smile, beyond smitten that I had just gotten this man's name that easily. Charlie would be thrilled. Well, not really. If I had to explain to him how I got the name. . .
"Nice to meet you, buddy," I grinned. What the hell was I doing?
He ignored me. "I was wondering when you two would finally show up."
My smile quickly turned into a frown. I was starting to seriously worry that my plan hadn't been the most brilliant. What if there were others here? Surely the school's security was better than that. I hoped.
Shit.
"I was originally suppose to just wait and report to them when you two finally came, but, you know, what's the fun of that?" With a threatening smile he opened his jacket up just enough to reveal a small part of the gun he was hiding.
I gulped, keeping my facial expression completely blank.
"Now if you just tell me where your little lady friend ran off to, we can be on our merry way. Peacefully."
I couldn't help but laugh. "What the hell are you on?"
"Gentleman," the same teacher lady from before stepped out of her room once again. "There is no loitering here. Get out of my hallway or get to class."
"I mean it," he gritted through his teeth. "Come with me, and there won't be any trouble necessary."
"Is there a problem, Mr. Bates? Mr. Collins?" She asked sternly.
"Yes, ma'am, there is a problem. It's you." He told her angrily. I wondered how long I could stand here and stall. I was just waiting for a good sprinting leeway, and the front doors were farther away than I would have liked.
She crossed her arms. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
I watched the two of them back and forth, slowly inching backwards. At this point, I didn't know what I should be expecting. For all I knew, he could have already called up Aro, Marcus, and Caius and told them we were here. It was obvious that people were either already here or on there way. His evil smile told me we were only seconds away from being joined by a couple of friends.
"Now you listen to me, young man. I have half a mind to–"
I didn't stay long enough to hear the rest of her speech.
"Hey! Cullen, get back here!" He began shouting things frantically into a cell phone. "I wouldn't do that if I were you!" I heard him yell loudly at me.
As of lately, there had been many instances where sprinting was extremely necessary. I made a mental note that if I got out of all of this alive, I'd start doing more cardio in my spare time.
Out of no where, Demetri jumped out into view. Guess I would be lying if I said I was surprised. Lunging towards me, I quickly darted around his huge frame, stumbling just a little before forcing my legs to carry me faster.
I finally bursted through the doors, frantically sprinting down the front stairs of the building and to the street, whipping my head around to look for Bella. Where was she? I began to seriously worry.
They should have been busting through windows with guns, or maybe even through buildings with cars. Hadn't they been right behind me? I was starting to regret trusting myself when I had said it would be a good idea for us to split. . .
Suddenly, a loud engine came revving out of no where. I looked to my left to see Bella speeding down the street on some 'borrowed' motorcycle. I ran to the road where she pulled up to me in a screeching halt.
"Get on!" she ordered loudly.
Just then, more loud engines sounded in the distance, along with the peeling of car tires. As I jumped on behind her, wrapping my arms tightly around her waist, I glanced over my shoulder to see three black Mercedes in hot pursuit coming directly toward us, along with both James and Demetri coming out of the building as well.
Bella kicked the kick-stand up and in one swift motion we were back on the road. Even though I was fairly positive she had never driven one of these things in her life, she sure as hell looked like she knew what she was doing. It would have been quite the incredible turn-on had the situation been different.
Buildings and cars flew by us as we narrowly avoided the busy traffic at such high speeds. I looked behind us once again only to find them getting closer. This certainly was a new tactic for them.
She swerved sharply to the right onto another road, shooting straight through a red light and just barely missing the front end of a semi. If the Volturi didn't kill us by the end of this ridiculous car chase, I was fairly positive her crazy-ass driving would.
"Call Charlie!" she screamed to me over the loud engine.
Ignoring the fact that I saw guns being stuck out their windows, I quickly obeyed, reaching for the phone she had stashed tightly in her jean pocket. I pressed 2 for speed dial, and he answered on the second ring.
"Charlie," I spoke loudly and urgently into the phone. I didn't have time to explain what had happened. Just the current situation. "We're being chased. They have three black Mercedes, and we're on a motorcycle. They're pulling out guns. What should we do?"
"Where are you at this exact moment and where are you headed?" I barely heard him cover the phone with his hand and bark orders at people in the room with him.
"We're in the heart of downtown, past the high school," I responded quickly, just as Bella did another one of her ridiculously sharp turns, causing me to almost fall off the bike. "We're heading south."
"Hang in there, kid," I he instructed, "It's best not to panic. . ." he paused for a moment. "Of course, Bella is driving, so I take that back. . ." For a brief second, I thought I was talking to Emmett.
Charlie inspired me because of many things. One of them was for his ability to remain calm in a situation. Another was his ability to make jokes when his daughter was in jeopardy of being killed. If only I could have laughed.
"Got it," I responded before I hung up.
Just then, the sound of gunshots filled my ears. Bella continued weaving recklessly through the traffic, now swerving back and forth to make us a harder target. I refused to look back, knowing how close in proximity they were to us.
I heard the sound of both breaking glass and metal from the bullets straying into other cars. I prayed with everything in me that no one would die because of this.
We suddenly came to a one way road with a limited space to dart and swerve like we had been before. She kicked up the speed another twenty miles and hour and suddenly we were only on one wheel.
I clung on to her tiny body for dear life. I knew she would be the death me.
More gunshots sounded. I was just waiting for a bullet to hit me; my back, my head, my leg. I knew it was only a matter of time before their aim actually became valid. So instead of panicking to keep myself safe, I acted as a shield for Bella, preventing anything from hitting her.
A bullet flew by the side of my face. When I say 'by the side', I mean 'millimeters away from fucking killing me.'
Our whole bike almost rolled as we flew back onto a city road. I dared a glance behind me. One of the cars had disappeared. I wasn't sure if it was because they were trying to corner us or if there had been trouble along the way.
I wasn't even sure if Aro, Caius, or Marcus were even in any of the vehicles. These people could have just as easily been some undercover loyalties they had acquired over the years through their persuasive business.
It was a miracle itself that we were still in one piece. Usually, going at speeds over eighty in a thirty mile zone on not even a car would have fatal consequences.
Not for us I guess. Apparently today, luck was finally on our side. . .At least for the moment.
Suddenly two police cars and one of those big trucks without walls on the sides turned out in front of us. Bella sped up so that we were next to the truck. I looked over to see Charlie and some other man standing in it, gripping on to the poles in the center of the vehicle for balance.
The police cars slowed down, providing a temporary wall from the gun fire. At first we couldn't hear what Charlie was yelling to us, so Bella steered us in closer so that we were only feet away. There were more gun shots and more broken glass. I shivered.
"Bella, I want you to stay in front of us!" he yelled over the loud noises. "Don't hit anything either!" He instructed quickly.
"Gotcha, chief!" she yelled back.
"Edward," he directed his yelling towards me. "I want you to jump on to here when Bella gets closer," he told me. I kind of just stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds. He noticed my hesitation. "You'll be fine," he quickly assured me.
Now why did I doubt that?
"Um. . ." I wandered out loud, "Are you sure?"
Bella, already hearing what she was suppose to do, began inching closer and closer to the large vehicle. I judged the distance, concerned at my jumping skills being a problem. Also factoring in being on a fast, moving vehicle with hard concrete below me and death machines when I didn't make it, I was a little more than concerned.
"You have to," he told me, already waving his hands toward where I was suppose to jump.
"Go, Edward," Bella urged as she did another one of her deadly swerves at the next four way. I almost thought we lost Charlie and the rest of them but they still remained hot on our tracks. More gun shots sounded from behind us. I gulped.
I didn't want to leave Bella completely unprotected, but by the options they were giving me, it looked like it was unavoidable.
"Hurry!" Charlie ordered once again with a frantic expression.
Bella moved the bike closer than before, almost hitting the truck. There was a little over two feet's distance between the two vehicles. I carefully brought my right leg over the seat so that I was sitting, facing the opening the the truck.
Holding onto Bella for balance, I slowly began getting up into a stand-up position. "Now!" both Bella and Charlie hollered in sync. Holding my breath, I did a quick little prayer in my head before jumping.
Charlie grabbed onto me and kept me from falling as I landed successfully from my epic leap. It took me only a few seconds to adjust where I was before I was eagerly keeping a close eye on what Bella was doing.
"Does she know what she's doing?" I asked him loudly over the noise.
"Not a clue," he yelled back. Well that was assuring.
The two police cars behind us remained in their positions as we made another sharp left. It was a miracle that there hadn't been any crashes yet. Bella stayed next to the vehicle, darting and swerving every now and then to avoid being a still target in case any bullets got through to her.
My stomach lurched when I noticed the black car make its way back into the picture. I leaned over the side so that I had a good view of what was going on behind us, keeping a tight grip on one of the poles in the center of the vehicle for support. When thought about for a moment, this was the kind of vehicle you'd think had been modernized from some sort of Star Wars movie.
We were beginning to exit the busier parts of the city, and I waited anxiously for Charlie's call on what the plan was. Every now and then Bella would glance my way and shoot me an assuring smile, giving me the false hope that she had a clue what she was doing.
I was a nervous wreck. How could I not be? My girlfriend was driving a motorcycle without a helmet for her first time in her life, going at speeds well over eighty, all while being shot at. I could hardly blame myself.
It actually got to the point where I picked up a gun from the floor and began shooting back. It's not like I was successful in hitting my targets – I had never used a gone before. Though I felt oddly powerful. . .
The other man who was with Charlie and I put a hand on my shoulder, pulling me backwards with a pissed expression. "What the hell are you doing?" he scolded, "We're here to protect people, not kill them, kid."
I glanced over at Bella as I watched another bullet narrowly fly by her head. Charlie saw it as well. I looked at him with questioning eyes. He shrugged. "He's right," he told me. "But technically I can't arrest someone who doesn't exist."
With a large grin on my face, I leaned my head out of the side once again, gun in hand, and began wildly firing that motherfucker like there was no tomorrow. Like I said – it felt good. Especially since this was something I had been wanting to do for a long time.
"We need to get you and Bells outta here and try and get these guys arrested."
I nodded. "Right!" I yelled back in agreement.
The gunshots all of a sudden stopped. In confusion. I leaned my head out the side to check behind us. All three shiny black cars had disappeared very abruptly.
I shot my head in the other direction out of instinct to check on Bella.
My whole body froze the moment I realized the black Mercedes weren't the only vehicles we had lost.
CHAPTER SONG: With You - Linkin Park
FRENCH TRANSLATION: Soyez Coffre-Fort - "be safe"
Reviews are better than a sarcastic Rosalie.