Chapter 30: Get Away From It All
Bella POV:
"Bella no!" Alice grabbed my waist harshly, to stop me from lunging. Why did she stop me? As if reading my mind, she whispered quietly into my ear. "He wants to apologize. Also I don't think Esme would be too happy if you wolfed out in the middle of her house." I didn't realize how badly I was shaking until she pointed that out. I took a deep breath, willing myself to calm down slightly. But I couldn't get the image of Edward hitting my mate out of my mind. A deep growl was coming from me, Alice just kept running her hand soothingly across my back with one hand firmly pressed on my wait to hold me in place.
"Well? Go on then!" My already small patience with the man before me was wearing thin.
"Oh! Yes of course I'm sorry." He jumped in surprise at my outburst. Edward was eyeing how Alice and I were positioned, but kept a very wary eye on me. For good reason. I was ready to go. "I wanted to apologize for what I said and how I acted when I found out about Bella. If I'm being completely honest, I acted out of jealousy. But I've spent some time thinking and realized how immature it was. I'm sorry." Although his words sounded sincere, I was still on edge. Alice made a move to reach out for his extended hand but I stopped her. My growling was getting louder and Emmett was contemplating the two of us. Everything about Edward was making me incredibly agitated, I did not want my mate near him at all.
"Bella he's being honest." Jasper's voice called from behind me as he put a hand on my shoulder. Alice squeezed my hand assuredly and reached over to shake Edward's. He then turned to face me with his hand extended.
"I will take your apology into account, but I will not shake your hand." He nodded understandingly at my words and went to greet the rest of his family.
"Hey. He's not going to hurt us ok. Everything will be fine." Alice had turned her attention back to me, trying to calm me down.
"You couldn't have given us a little warning sis?" Emmett asked while rubbing his knuckles, watching Edward like a hawk. I had a sudden rush of gratitude towards Emmett for taking this seriously.
"Sorry. Being around Bella so much messes with my visions a bit. Not that I'm complaining!" She looked horrified at what she said. My pixie was so concerned about not insulting me. I'd smile if I could at the moment. Still sensing my tension she led me upstairs. "Come on, let's get out of here."
The shower was not calming me down like it usually did. I felt exposed and on edge with him in the house.
"Maybe we should stay at your place tonight. How does that sound?" Alice asked while washing my hair. She loved doing that for some reason, and my stupid wolf loved when she touched my hair. It was quite embarrassing when a purr would let slip sometimes. But it wasn't nearly as relaxing this morning. I merely nodded to her question. She sighed and continued her work.
I dressed quickly, wanting to get out of this house as fast as I could. Alice and I didn't say much on the way to school and we parted ways awkwardly when it was time for class. Jasper kept stealing worried glances at me during the lecture. My knee was bouncing up and down in aggravation. I needed a smoke. I haven't needed to smoke in weeks. There was no way in hell I could stay here for the next six hours, especially with Edward's return. So as soon as the bell rang, I bolted. Abandoning my car and going for the forest to run off some steam.
Alice POV:
"What do you mean you haven't seen her since first period?" I yelled angrily at Jasper. Apparently my mate was missing and everyone had failed to inform me.
"She looked really on edge Alice." Jasper said while sending a wave of calmness as me. I waved my hand around trying to fan it away like a bad smell. "Sorry. Look she probably had to phase or something. Carlisle said it's really hard for wolves to be near a known enemy. I'm sure she's fine. She knows how to handle herself remember?" Right. She is strong, I do forget that. But her control around me is always so perfect that I forget she could easily beat me in a fight. Hell she beat Emmett. And here I am destroying her back in one night. What restraint I have.
But still, she's my mate. I'm allowed to worry about her. My eyes scanned the lunch room once again, hoping that Bella would magically appear this time. But no luck.
"Dammit! Well I can't stay here then. I'm going to lose my freaking mind!" My siblings tried to protest, but they knew how stubborn I could be. Edward was looking particularly guilty and he wasn't my favorite person today with how Bella has been, so I rounded on him. "You! You should be feeling guilty. If you hadn't been such a dumb ass then none of this would have happened!" And with that, I left.
I followed Bella's scent deep into the forest. Luckily my mate connection made her scent much stronger to my nose. Eventually I found my little, well not so little, wolf sitting next to a small creek. Her presence immediately melted away my worry. I approached her slowly, letting her know of my company. The second I sat down by her side, her tail started wagging and she plopped her head onto my lap. I giggled and stroked her head lovingly.
"What am I going to do with you?" I whispered and lightly butted my head against hers. She responded by licking my face. "Ew! Bella that's so gross!" I pushed her head away from mine while wiping my face and laughing. "You know, I was really worried about you?" I looked at her seriously. Her eyes fell downcast and she whined pathetically. "Just don't scare me like that again ok? Next time send me a text or something. Anything really." She nodded and whined more until I continued petting her head again, letting her know she was forgiven.
We sat there for while in peace and quiet. Bella had actually fallen asleep with her head in my lap. She looked so serene that I decided not to wake her for a while. I just watched my little wolf sleep on me and continued to stroke her soft fur. But eventually I had to wake her up and we had to go back to reality. She got up and stretched her limbs from slumber. We started walking slowly back to where Bella's house was. Apparently wolf Bella was very clingy and grabbed my shirt with her teeth to pull me closer towards her.
"You better not have ripped this shirt." I laughed and continued walking right next to her side for the rest of the way. What started out as a pretty stressful morning, turned into a rather enjoyable evening.