A/N: Thanks so much for all your wonderful thoughts.
Heading toward the finish line here.
Most characters belong to S. Meyer. The rest belong to me. All mistakes are mine.
Seven Nights – Chapter 13
For the first minute, it's all like a strange shit show, one of the cruise ship's spectaculars, an off-Broadway production at sea or an entertainment event created by the cruise line and set to pulsating music and flashing, freeze-frame strobes.
My hand instinctively swings and connects with a cheek, and in the quivering lights, I watch almost in slow motion as Quil's face jerks sideways.
In the next moment, I'm no longer part of the action. Someone's manacle-like hold pulls me out of the spotlight, and no matter how hard I struggle against this person, I'm relegated to a part of the audience. Yet, instead of a spacious stage and stage lights, the two main players in the act have a packed dance floor and a colorful spectrum of pulsing energy lights.
In the surrounding darkness, the lights flicker mesmerizingly across both of them, only fractionally illuminating first one taunting face then the other outraged one. The obscurity in the background and the blinking in the foreground invite the audience to use their imagination; they highlight and freeze first a mocking, curled-lip sneer, then a livid, square-jawed glower. The pounding music mimics the hammering in my heart and in my temples. It also makes the players' furiously-spoken lines inaudible, but the intense flare above them clearly traces the snarling lips of one shouted, "FUCK YOU!" then flits to the resoundingly-howled, "MOTHERFUCKER!"
Back and forth the blazing light travels across stiffening shoulders, tightening fists, and threatening crouches. It pauses only momentarily on each, just long enough to make the audience hold their collective breath.
Then a group of black-tee-shirt-wearing bouncers appear and grab Edward and Quil, bending their arms behind their backs as they shove through the gathered audience and haul the two main players out of the club. Edward's friends and I follow.
Once outside, the bouncers stand between Edward and Quil, holding them back while hissing furiously into their two-way radios. Another audience forms around us, spectators who've followed from inside the club as well as those fortunate enough to have been walking by out here or waiting to be allowed entry.
And all the while, bellowed words fly.
"How fucking dare you touch her, you piece of shit!"
"The fuck do you think you are! I can touch her whenever I want!"
Among the spectators, Jake and Leah stand behind Quil, phone cameras out and pointed at us. A bunch of spectators do the same. Whispered murmurs carry in the air. A couple of times, I think I hear Edward's name between those murmurs, but I have no time to wonder while Emmett, Garrett, and the rest of us stand behind Edward.
A handful of ship security appear, the lead who swiftly takes command and stands between Edward and Quil, barking out orders.
"All right! You all need to shut the hell up and dispel right this instant or you'll get thrown off the ship!" he tells the crowd.
Once most of the crowd does as told – though a few brave or stupid souls shuffle about – he turns to Edward and Quil.
"And you two, there's a zero-tolerance policy for fighting on this ship, no matter who you are. If you all continue, your entire group will get kicked off at the next port in the morning!"
I lay my shaking hands on Edward's stiffened arm, feeling the chords of muscle straining against my palms, aching to release all that built-up tension. Angling my head sharply upward, I move to his side and wait for him to meet my gaze because out here in the relative light and in the visibility and audibility of the deck, my sense has returned.
"Edward," I say clearly and evenly, "Edward, let's go."
But Edward appears lost in a haze of fury.
"You rat bastard, you don't touch a woman without her permission!"
Quil expels a bitter laugh. "Yeah, motherfucker, I had to remind you of whose girlfriend she was."
"Enough!" the security guard shouts.
"He put his fucking hands on her!" Edward howls.
The security guard looks at me. "Is that true, Miss?"
Without taking my eyes off of Edward, I nod.
"She punched me in the face!"
"Because you groped her, you fucking asshole!" Edward hisses.
The security sighs. "Are we pressing charges here?"
"No. I just want to drop this and go," I snap.
"Bella-"
"Edward, let's just go."
I hear Quil's laughter ring out, but my gaze remains steady on Edward.
"I won't press charges either then, baby." I hear him blow me a kiss. "It was a lover's quarrel."
"Motherfu-"
"Edward, ignore him."
"All right, buddy," the bouncer says, "she may not be pressing charges, but you're off the ship when we dock in Puerto Rico in the morning. We have a zero-tolerance policy toward groping. 'Til then, you're confined to your room. Let's go."
"What the fuck?" Quil yells. "But I paid good money for this cruise!"
Edward slowly pivots his head toward Quil, upper lip curling in a snarl. "It's not fucking enough. I should've beat the shit out of you when you pulled that shit a few days ago."
"Fuck you, asshole," Quil snickers. "And what I pulled a few days ago? Who the fuck has been fucking my girl since we boarded this ship?"
My breath hitches sharply. I feel my face flame while the remaining spectators gasp.
"Asshole, she hasn't been your girl since before she and I got together! And even when she was, what kind of a fucking man would-"
I grab Edward's jaw before he can continue, and I force his eyes to mine. Instead of his usual sea-green gaze, I find a dark, glowering forest alit in a fiery blaze.
"Edward, stop, and let's go!"
Meanwhile, the verbal sparring around us continues.
"I saw how he looked at your girl from the moment we boarded this ship!" Jake says.
"Yeah, I saw it too!" Leah agrees with her boyfriend, both of them egging Quil on. "And you should've seen how she smiled when I told her - fucking bitch."
"Hey, what the hell?" Charlotte says. "What kind of backward thinker calls another woman that name in this day and age?"
"And why don't you two just stay out of it?" Pete calls out.
"Why don't you mind your fucking business?" Leah retorts.
"They're our friends; it is our fucking business!" Carmen yells back.
"Guys, don't get yourselves in trouble too for this," Irina says.
My nostrils flare, but she's right. "Guys, let's just go!"
"Bella is right; let's go." Emmett sets down the order, standing behind Edward, his hands curved in a vice grip around Edward's shoulders. "You're making this worse for both of you," he murmurs close to Edward's ear. "Let's go."
Nostrils flaring and chest heaving, Edward begins a slow turn. Emmett walks directly behind his brother, and I flank him on the right while Pete walks to his left. The rest of the group trails behind us somewhere. The ensuing argument with the security guards follows us.
"What the fuck do you mean we're getting confined to our rooms too?" Jake yells. "What the fuck did we do?"
"Ship rules, buddy. The entire group gets locked down and put off the ship at the next port."
"That's not fucking fair!" Leah exclaims. "What about their group?"
"They're walking away, Miss, and besides, your friend admitted to groping. We have a zero-tolerance policy on those sorts of things on this ship."
"That's not fucking fair!" Jake continues griping. "What, because he's a shitty, half-assed, music producer, he and his group get to walk away?"
My brow furrows in momentary confusion, but I have heftier concerns at the moment.
"Nice, Bella," Quil shouts at our retreating backs. "Looks like you're one of the groupies now, huh? You faithless bitch, you went and found yourself one of the rich boy's and-"
Edward is already halfway back to Quil when Emmett and Pete manage to physically subdue him and push him to his knees.
"DON'T YOU EVER CALL HER THAT AGAIN OR I'LL KNOCK OUT EVERY LAST ONE OF YOUR-"
"EDWARD, STOP!" I shout, cradling his face, my heart hammering in my chest.
"I won't let him talk about you that way!"
"Whatever he says is meaningless! Ignore him!"
"Hold him the hell back!" the head security guard growls as he stands between Edward and Quil once more. "Now, you all need to come with us!"
"What? This is ridiculous!" Irina shrieks.
"Irina, shut up," Carmen hisses impatiently.
Meanwhile, Quil laughs while the security guards take him away. Two more follow Leah and Jake close behind, and a couple of others follow behind us, leading us all in the same direction.
"Boy, you ain't even all that! You're the type whose pretty face flashes onscreen at the music awards, and only the assholes know who the fuck you are! But go ahead, Bella; go have your fun. Either way, you're going to have to get back on that plane home in a couple of days and return to your real world! And your little asshole 'll forget all about you and move on to the next groupie!"
"Don't acknowledge him, Edward," I say tiredly, squeezing his hand. "There's no point. He's goading you, and acknowledging him will only make things worse."
Edward shuts his eyes and locks his angular jaw so tightly the bones protrude.
"At least control that asshole's mouth," Garrett counters, waving a hand toward Quil, "because that's seriously some low fucking shit he's spewing. Jesus."
"Sir, shut the hell up," one of the security guards shouts at Quil in frustration. "You are already getting kicked off. Keep it up, and we'll add jail time to that, and you won't be flying home to anywhere in a couple of days."
Quil is finally silenced.
Surrounded by security guards, we're all escorted to a part of the ship I've never seen and down looping stairwells, then further down to a deck most cruise passengers will never step foot on. It's bland white on endless white – white banisters, white walls, white-uniformed officers. There's no music following us down here, no shows or buffets and no hint of sunrise or sunset.
And all the while, Edward walks beside me stiffly, still fuming.
"Calm down. There's nothing we can do now," I say, giving his hand another stoic squeeze. I'm trying not to be too upset even though I told him to ignore Quil. Instead, I attempt to take it all in with a sort of detached sense of resignation and interest because there's really nothing we can do now other than wait and see how this shit show ends.
It's then, once immediate fear subsides and is replaced by resignation for our current predicament that it hits me. And it's accompanied by a sense of either needless panic or ironic foreboding so powerful that I stop in my tracks.
"Edward, where's my phone?"
Edward stops and instinctively checks his pockets, his eyes growing wide.
"I don't have it, Bella."
"But you had it."
"I…I must've left in the room."
"Sir, ma'am, you have to keep walking," one of the security guards behind us orders.
"Can I please just go back upstairs to our room and get something?" I plead.
"No, ma'am," the guard says clearly and succinctly. He jerks his jaw forward. "Please keep walking."
"But I forgot my phone. I promise I'll be right back."
"Ma'am, you can get your phone later."
"But you don't understand. I need that phone now."
"Ma'am, no," the guard repeats impatiently. "No one is going back to their room right now. You were warned to walk away, yet you all kept going."
"That wasn't her, that was me," Edward says. "Just let her go. Let her get her phone, and you can kick me off at the next stop and do whatever else you want."
"Mr. Masen, the ship's policy and protocol instruct us to collect the entire group present when there's an incident. If you needed that phone that badly, you should've walked away when you had the chance."
"My mom is sick, and I need that phone."
"Ma'am, I'm sorry," the guard says with a bit more feeling, "but I have to follow protocol. Once we get downstairs, and we speak with the head of security, you can ask if there's some way to retrieve your phone. But now, we have to move forward."
The guard jerks his jaw forward once again.
I squeeze my eyes shut, and when I reopen them, Edward's eyes are on me, all his fury of a few moments earlier burned away and replaced by embers of guilt and self-reproach.
"Bella, I'm so sorry."
I take a deep breath and walk ahead of him because all I can think of right now…all I can feel is that I should have that phone with me.
A/N: Thoughts?
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