Alright, so I've said this a few times now, but sorry for being late on the posting, again! Hopefully you'll forgive after reading this next chapter...
Chapter 25
BPOV
"Ouch," I said, after I ran smack into someone's chest.
"Bella?" No way! Out of all the people I could have run right into, it had to be him. Don't get me wrong, any way I could touch him I'd take, but this was just humiliating. I did not want to look up right away as I knew my face was red from the embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going. Are you alright?"
"Yes," I said with a low tone, but then, out of nowhere, I felt a tear fall down my face. Why was I crying?
He wiped it away with his hand. The skin was smooth and warm making me want to lean my face into his hand for comfort. The tears kept coming, but I couldn't understand why.
"Come with me," he said and turned me toward the hallway to the right. We were back in the room we'd been in this morning. He closed the door and wrapped his arms around me. His manly scent filled my nostrils, reminding me of the night I fell asleep with his lab coat, which I needed to retrieve. "I know," was the only thing he said while he brushed my hair away from my face. The comfort he provided helped cease the tears. His arms tightened themselves around me as he kissed the top of my head, just barely touching the skin from my forehead. The impulse it gave me was incredible.
Without even thinking, I tilted my head up toward his face and connected my lips to his. The softness of his lips sent a hot feeling throughout my body. I slid my hand up his chest, all the way to his neck, his skin burning mine upon contact. I felt my heart skip a beat as he slid his tongue between my lips, my hand reached up to grab a fistful of hair and I lightly tugged at it. I wanted to bring my other hand up and do the same thing, but with the stupid cast, I couldn't do it.
"Oh, Bella," he managed to mumble. My body was burning up from the pleasure he gave me and the way my name fell off his lips. I tugged his hair a little harder and made sure there was no space left between us, which I doubted there was, but I was just making certain.
The heat radiating from him through his scrubs made me shiver, spreading goosebumps over my skin. He broke away from me and asked, "Are you cold, Bella?"
I felt like saying, 'now that you stopped kissing me, yes,' but I just replied, "No."
"You've got goosebumps all over your skin." He rubbed his strong, warm hands across my arms, sending shocks throughout my body. The goosebumps had disappeared and he wrapped me in his arms again.
There was a light knock at the door. "Hello, is there anybody in there?" someone whispered from the other side of the door.
Edward sighed and responded, "Yes. You mind giving me a few minutes?" I noted he hadn't said 'we'.
"Alright, I'll be back in five."
He cupped my face in his hands and brought his lips back to mine, kissing me passionately. "We have to go," he said after he'd, unfortunately, taken his lips away from mine. His hands came down to my shoulders as he turned me toward the door. My body shivered again, but this time it was from the loss of heat he'd provided with his touch.
He stopped me right before we stepped out and placed himself in front of me. "Bella, do you have someone to go home with tonight?" he asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"I actually hadn't even thought about it, but no. Alice already left, although Phil's still here. I can go with him unless he decided to stay here. Yet he might not be able to, right?" There were visiting hours, which ended in the evening. "Why?" Then my mind clicked. Duh! Was he asking me because he wanted me to go home with him again? I hoped that was why.
"Well, for one thing, you can't be alone in your condition and secondly, you have no keys to get in." He ran his hand through his hair, which made me want to do the same thing.
"Right, maybe I should go see if they have my stuff at the police station," I said. He had mentioned something about that, didn't he?
"Oh, about that. Emmett told me that they do have your stuff. He wanted to bring it, but they wouldn't give it to him without your consent."
"Well, that was nice of him. At least I'll be able to give Rose her clothes back, if they have it that is," I said, hopefully.
"I can bring you if you want. I'm finished with my shift and I was going to go retrieve my things from my locker. Do you want to come with me? I really don't mind..."
He was cut-off by another knock at the door. "Are you still in there?"
"Can you please give me a few minutes? I will be out within those minutes, I promise," Edward announced.
"Okay, but after that I'm coming in. I'm really tired and I need to sleep," he said and then we heard nothing else. He must have left.
"Why would he sleep here?" I asked, confused.
"Sometimes people work extra shifts and sleep here in between to get some shut-eye before going back. So, back to the subject. Do you want to come with me?" His gorgeous green eyes were focused on mine as he waited for my reply.
"Okay," I replied right away. He had a surprised look on his face. "Let me just talk to Phil."
From there we walked out and headed toward my mother's room. I was happy the other person had not come back before we stepped out. For all I knew the person could have thought we were making out, which would have been mortifying. Not about the making out part, but them thinking about it.
As we walked down the hallway without a word, which wasn't awkward as it normally would be, his hand lightly brushed mine sending a wave of shock across my arm. I wasn't sure if he felt it too, but I thought I heard him take in a deep breath.
We walked in the room slowly, making sure not to surprise them. "Hey, Sweetheart. Where have you been?" my mother asked as she looked over at me and then Edward. Her eyes filled with curiosity once they met Edward's.
"I went to get something to eat downstairs," I replied to her question. "Are you taking off soon Phil?" I wasn't sure if I should just say that I'd be staying at Edward's again tonight. Although I knew my mother wouldn't say anything from her reaction earlier after I'd told her I was at his place last night.
"Actually, I was kind of hoping to stay here longer. Edward, right?" Phil looked over at Edward with what looked like a pleading expression. Edward nodded in response. "Do you think you could talk to the others around here to let me stay here longer? I haven't seen her in a long time and I'd like to stay with her for as long as I can now that I have the time to do it," he said, practically in one breath.
"I'll see what I can do," Edward replied.
"Oh, you don't have to stay here Phil. I will be out like a light once they give me my medication tonight." My mother smiled at him as she spoke. I could hear it in her tone of voice how much she loved him and how she looked into his eyes. I swear I knew how she felt right there. The same feeling shot through me when I looked into Edward's eyes. Was that possible though? I'd only known him for a few days.
"I know, but I want to stay a little later than visiting hours," he had that pleading expression again as he looked back toward Edward.
"I'll be right back," Edward replied again and walked out the door.
"Mom?" I started to bite my lip, still debating on me telling her about staying at Edward's or not.
"What do you want to say Sweetheart? You don't have to be nervous, you know that," she said as she tapped her hand on her bed again. I went to sit beside her and exhaled.
"Edward asked me to...um...to stay with him...tonight," I finally blurted the last word out.
She started to giggle, although I could tell it was starting to take its toll on her. She was getting weaker and weaker as the time passed. I knew it was something I had to expect, but it was hard to see her like that. "I think you're old enough to decide for yourself, Bella." She had the most beautiful smile, which just about broke my heart as I realized once more how much I'd miss it.
I just about changed my mind about leaving her, but I knew I had to leave for Phil. It was his time and there wasn't much of it left. "I love you Mom," I said sadly as I buried myself on her chest again. I was in an awkward position and it hurt, but I didn't care. She caressed me and kissed the top of my head as I heard Edward walk in the room.
"I love you too. Now go, he's waiting for you," she whispered.
"I'll be here first thing in the morning Mom, I swear." I was holding back tears, which I was surprised I still had any left.
"No need to rush, I'm not going anywhere. Good-night Bella," she said and waved me off. We all said goodnight to each other and Edward told Phil it was alright for him to stay longer. Then he looked over at me as a sign to go. I kissed my hand and blew on it to send it to my mom. Yes, it was childish, but I felt like I had to do it in that moment.
She laughed and did the same thing. I could feel Edward's hand on my back as we walked out the door. My body started to feel all tingly from his touch. Was it normal for people to have all these different reactions from just one person's touch?
Reaching the elevators, I no longer had that tingly feeling, which meant Edward wasn't touching me anymore. I silently sighed. Surprisingly, the elevator doors opened once his finger pressed on the button to go downstairs.
"Oh, I forgot to ask you. Do you mind waiting for me while I go change?" His hand raked through that beautiful hair of his.
"No." I heard him exhale and then we reached the main floor.
We stopped at the front desk for a moment as he asked for a key to his locker. Well, at least he'll have his own key back soon. I couldn't wait to be able to give him his things back. I'd also ask him if we could drop by my place after I'd get my keys to go and get some fresh clothes.
I slightly jumped as I felt a tap on my shoulder as we set off again. "Hey there, little vixen," a voice boomed behind me. Emmett. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He grinned. Yeah, right.
"You didn't scare me," I lied. Well, I wasn't really lying since I didn't jump too much.
"Mmmhmm," was the last thing he said since Edward cut him off.
"Come on, man. You shouldn't be doing that at your age," Edward said, but I could tell he was holding back a grin.
I saw Rosalie out of the corner of my eye coming up behind Emmett. I didn't know if she was going to try to scare him or not, so I didn't do anything for them to know she was there. She pointed her index fingers toward his ribs and poked him. He jumped and started laughing at the same time. "Hey Babe, you got me this time," he boomed.
She looked over at me and said, "He's so ticklish it's unbelievable. If I would have placed my hands on his ribs to tickle him, he would have fallen on the ground laughing like crazy." She smirked.
"No, that's not true," he replied, defending himself.
"Really? Let me show you," she said and her eyes left mine to look at Emmett.
"Um, kids?," Edward smirked. "I'll be back in a few while you guys entertain Bella. I need to get my stuff from my locker."
"That's fine," Rose answered without taking her eyes off of Emmett. She lunged for him, but he was too quick for her. He'd grasped her biceps to keep her in place so she couldn't reach him.
"Oh no you don't," he boomed as he turned her around, her back now against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, locking her in position. I must have missed something because, somehow, she got free.
Emmett kept his eyes on her only. I felt like going around him and tickling him for some reason, but then I thought of the consequences. If he ended up clasping me in his arms like he did with her, I'd be gasping for breath and crying out from the pain. Just thinking about it made me wince.
"They're always playing around like that. You don't need to worry, he's not hurting her," Edward said. I wasn't sure if he was telling me this because he saw me wince or if he was just letting me know Rose was fine. I actually didn't even know he was beside me until he spoke out. Unless he'd just arrived, which was actually pretty quick since I noticed he'd even changed.
"Uh, guys," I said, trying to get their attention. "You might want to take this outside." There was a security guard coming down the hallway toward us. Did he actually think they were fighting? Maybe he was just passing by.
We all rushed outside and burst out laughing before he could reach us. I had trouble laughing from the pain though, but surprisingly it was much better than yesterday. I knew I still had a little while to go before my ribs would heal properly.
"Hey, you bringing her over to your place tonight, Edward?" Emmett asked.
"Let me guess. You want to know if you can come over tonight...right?"
"Yeah. Do you not remember me mentioning it earlier when I told you about Bella's stuff. Did you tell her by-the-way?"
"Yes, I did. We were actually going to go and get it now. I thought you guys weren't doing overtime today? It's passed your hours, isn't it?" Edward asked.
"Well, let's just say we weren't really busy today, except for the end of our shift. There was another huge accident on the highway and they needed extra help," Rose managed to slip into the conversation.
For some reason I got a flashback from my accident and shivered. "I think we'd better go," Edward said. "Why don't you meet us at my place later. I'm not sure when we'll get there since we need to stop at the police station."
"I'm sure Bella will want to go home and get some of her stuff too," Rose said, which made me think of her clothes I had on and in my bag at the police station.
"Alright then, see you later," Edward mentioned as he started to turn around. "Wait, what do you want to eat for supper? Do you want pizza? I know we had some the other night, but you know how I am about pizza," Emmett grinned. Mmmm, that did sound good. My stomach growled and my mouth watered. Emmett must have seen the look on my face because he started to laugh. "Well, I know another person that wouldn't mind some pizza. You should have seen the look on your face Bella."
"Okay, Emmett. You can stop laughing now," Rose said. She looked over at me and started talking again. "Are you okay with chicken pizza or vegetarian? I don't like pepperoni and they do, so what do you say?"
"Really? You don't like pepperoni either?" I blurted out. "Chicken sounds great." Emmett started laughing again.
"We'll get the pizza and head over to your place." Rose was the one to speak as Emmett was still laughing. She rolled her eyes at him and started to walk away, Emmett slowly followed.
The police station wasn't very far, so that was good. At first they were reluctant to give me my things back asking for a photo ID. "Um, about that. I lost everything in the accident, including my wallet, which has all of my ID cards. Can you not open it to see?" I asked, pleadingly.
The officer did as I'd suggested and came back with all of my stuff. At least I hoped it was all there. "I can't guarantee it's all there, but that's what we have Miss Swan." Did he read my mind or something?
"Bella, please, and thank you," I said as I grabbed my stuff and headed toward the exit.
"Well, there's one good thing out of this," Edward smirked.
"What's that?"
"We know it's not easy to recover stuff from the station. Even if it's yours." I had no reply for him except for a nod. "You want to go to your place to get some of your things Bella?"
"Let me just check if my keys are in here," I replied. The first thing I saw when I opened my bag was Edward's lab coat. "Oh, here, this is yours." I handed it to him. "I'm sorry, I didn't have the chance to wash it and it's really wrinkled now." He laughed.
"Do you think I really care about this thing," he said as he took the coat from my hand. "I'm just glad you're okay. This means nothing to me." He had held up his lab coat as he said the last sentence. His eyes looked at me with worry. Why was he looking at me like that?
I went back to digging in my bag for my keys. "Ah, here we go." I pulled them out of the bag, but noticed that it was actually Edward's locker key. Crap! "Well, this is yours too." I handed it over to him and my hand went back in the bag to keep searching for my keys.
After almost giving up, I finally felt the cold metal graze my skin. I couldn't think of anything else that was metal in there, so it had to be my keys. I sighed as I took my hand out with my set of keys. "Got 'em," I said confidently this time and held them up.
We left the police station and headed over to my place, which I didn't even have to explain the directions to get there. He must have a heck of a memory since he was only here once and that was yesterday. To my knowledge anyway.
I invited him inside to what I thought was a clean place, but Phil had thrown his bags around near the entrance. "Sorry, Phil's been gone for awhile and I guess he was too anxious to see my Mom," apologizing for the mess. He waited in the living room while I packed a bag of fresh clothes and toiletries. I silently prayed to myself that I wouldn't start my period, but I discreetly shoved some pads and tampons in my bag in case. The love of being a woman! The worst part is that I get really bad cramps, so I also made sure to grab my pills, which I called my 'witch pills'. My mother laughed when I had called them that. You know, for the PMS. I grinned at the thought.
Closing up my bag with the rest of the things I'd need, I heard Edward walk up behind me. "How are you doing?" he asked me. "Do you need any help?"
"No, but thanks for asking. I've got it under control," I replied as I zipped the last pocket closed. He seized it before I could and swung it over his shoulder.
"You ready?" he asked again and I nodded in reply. "Let's go then. Emmett and Rose are probably waiting for us with some food." Both of our stomachs growled once he mentioned the word food. We grinned at each other.
With that we took off toward his place again. For some reason I had butterflies in my stomach despite the fact that I had stayed there last night.
Once I had stepped out of the car, I took in the appearance of my surroundings again. The beauty of it was breathtaking and I loved to look at it, so much that Edward had to remind me we needed to get inside. "Right," I mumbled from the embarrassment.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders again and led me toward the front door to the building and then to his front door. I realized how much of a gentleman he was when he held the door open for me. Why did Alice think so lowly of him? Hopefully I'd have the chance to ask Edward tonight about that.
"It's about time," Emmett boomed, making me jump, which made him laugh.
"Come on, put that bag down and dig in, it's getting cold," Rose added.
Edward and I looked at each other and grinned. He did as Rose suggested and put the bag down by the door and I went to wash my hand, which wasn't easy I must say. Edward was right behind me and helped me out with that. I blushed while I had a flashback about one of my previous dreams. His hands smoothly rubbed my hand, sending heat waves throughout my body. I don't know if he felt the same way I did when our skin made contact, but it was exhilarating.
He even dried my hand with the towel that hung by the sink. What else could a girl ask for? The butterflies came back and so did the growls. Neither of us spoke a word, but we both had the same intent, which was to go and eat.
"You just can't leave her alone can you?" Emmett stated as we walked out. "The little vixen's got you on a leash," he laughed as he spoke. Rose almost choked on her drink from his comment.
"There's nothing wrong with helping a girl out. She's only got one hand to work with you know." I blushed after he'd said that, of course, and then I heard him mumble, "jackass." I doubted Emmett heard what he said because he didn't say anything else. Although it looked like he was holding back from laughing again. Was I that funny to look at?
"Okay, Emmett, get over it," Rose nudged his bicep.
"Oh no, you didn't just do that," Emmett said mischievously and pushed his chair back.
"Hey, man, don't ruin any of my furniture," Edward informed them as he pulled out a chair for me and waited for me to sit before pushing it back. He sat down in the chair beside me, which I was sure he'd moved closer to mine.
Emmett had Rose locked in his arms again, similar to the way he had at the hospital. I watched as I shoved a mouthful of pizza in my mouth. She got out of it again, but this time Emmett was now on the ground with her straddling him.
"We're eating right now if you don't mind and I'm not really in the mood for porn right now. Especially not between the two of you," Edward smirked. I almost choked on the bite I had in my mouth at his comment. I swallowed it fast and all of us laughed out loud.
While Rose was busy laughing, Emmett had grappled her onto her back and had lengthened his body over hers to keep her down. He started kissing her neck and cheeks, which made her giggle. "You're tickling me Emmett," she giggled again.
I laughed once more, but this time my ribs started to hurt. "Emmett, you're going to make me gag here. Can you at least wait until we're done eating, please?" Edward went for another slice after having said that. "Although you can keep rolling around if you want, it'll help clean my floor," he laughed.
"Ew, gross," Rose almost yelled and squirmed out of Emmett's grasp, somehow. Man, she was strong, unlike me, who was such a wimp. She brushed her hands across her clothes as if she was removing dirt, which I doubt there was any and then sat down at the table again.
Emmett came up behind her, wrapped her in his arms and wiped his chest across the back of her shoulders. At least the part he could touch anyway, since the back of the chair went halfway up her back. "Hey," she said. "Stop it!"
"I thought you liked my chest," he wiggled his eyebrows as he spoke the words.
"Not when it's all dirty," she smirked. "Plus, I prefer it bare."
"Alright, I just lost my appetite," Edward said as he let his slice of pizza drop to his plate.
"Oh, come on bro, we're just playin' around," Emmett chuckled.
I had let my crust fall to the plate, but it was only because I was full. Edward thought differently though. "See you've even made her lose her appetite," he said.
"No, I'm full. That's all," I confirmed before he'd say anything else.
Everyone finally settled down and Rose offered to clean me up again. I felt awkward as she asked me, but I did prefer to be clean, at least what she could do for me anyway. "I'm sorry about Emmett, Bella. He can be such an idiot sometimes," she grinned.
"I actually like Emmett. He makes me laugh, even though it kind of hurts after a while," I told her as she dried my hair with a towel. She talked about other goofy things he'd done and that that was one of the things she loved about him. We giggled more until she was finally done powdering me up. At least it felt like that to me.
"Alright, Emmett, let's go. It's getting late and I'm bushed," Rose pointed out, and he didn't argue. We said goodbye as they left and Edward shut the door behind them, locking it.
For some reason, Alice came back to mind and I didn't even think before I spoke.
"Edward? What happened between you and Alice?"
Please leave me your thoughts and do you forgive me...?