Assumptions Chapter 2
Forks
I pulled into Forks around two in the morning. Deputy Cullen said that he was on duty tonight so I was to just give him a 'yell' when I got in and he would meet me at Charlie's with the key. A yell was probably all that I needed to reach anyone in this town.
As I drove through town I realized that nothing had changed since the last time I was here, and that was when I was fifteen. I stopped coming here after that. It was also after Mom married Phil and Charlie pretty much walked away from me and let Phil take over being my dad. As soon as I got home from Charlie's that year, Mom and Phil surprised me with a brand new car. I was so excited about it. I couldn't drive it on my own until my birthday in September but it was the best surprise ever. I called Charlie to tell him about it and he grunted that I didn't need a fancy car at my age, and then said he was late for fishing and hung up before I could even respond. That was the day that I stopped trying with Charlie. When the time came to go back to Forks the next summer, he told me not to come. I had a boyfriend and a summer job and told him that I didn't have the time anyway. I never went back to Forks after that.
He didn't bother to come for my high school or college graduations. He did manage to send a card with a check inside. They were checks that I never even cashed. I just left them in the cards and packed them away. I couldn't even tell you why I was keeping them or why he even bothered to send them to me.
I pulled up to one the few stop lights in this God-forsaken town and waited for the light to turn green. I pulled my phone out of my purse and put in on the seat next to me. I knew that I wasn't far from Charlie's house and needed to get ready to call Deputy Cullen. As soon as the light turned green I started to go through the intersection.
I heard the squeal of the brakes long before I saw the headlights or heard the crunch of the other car ramming into mine.
EPOV:
I was lying in my bed reading when I heard the crash outside. One look out of my window showed two people about to get into a massive fight. Actually, it showed a very pissed off woman who was about to beat the crap out of one drunk man. I ran down the stairs, hoping to stop the woman from committing murder. I reached her just in time to pull her off the guy as she attempted to strangle him.
"Let go of me asshole! I'm going to kill this idiot!" The girl was fighting to get out of my arms.
"No! Michael Newton might be drunk most of the time, but his wife is a friend of mine and she's pregnant. I really don't want her to become a young widow with a baby to take care of, and I really don't think that you want to go to jail for murder tonight."
She finally stopped struggling in my arms and calmed down enough that I felt safe letting her loose. I walked to the front passenger side of the car to inspect the damage. The front fender was all torn up and would have to be fixed before the car was drivable.
The woman walked up beside me and started to get pissed off again as she inspected the damage. I walked over to Michael's car where he was leaning and took note that his car had not sustained as much damage as hers had. He would have been able to drive his home, if he'd been sober.
"My dad bought me this car when I turned sixteen. I never had so much as a scratch on it and in five seconds of being in this hell hole I get creamed by Otis, the town drunk."
I looked at the girl and then took a good look at the license plate. Arizona. This was Chief Swan's daughter. "Your dad did not buy this car for you."
"I was there when he gave it to me and I don't remember seeing you, so how the fuck would you know?"
"Because I know Chief Swan and I know that this is not the car that he bought for you. This is the car that your rich stepfather gave you to buy you and apparently it worked."
Her head shot up in surprise. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Edward Cullen. I'll call my brother, Emmett, I know he's been expecting you." I turned to return to my apartment, which was right above the bookstore that I owned here on Main Street, when I heard Bella screaming.
"Oh my God! Help!" I turned to see Bella standing over Michael, who was slumped on the ground. I ran back to them, "Is he dead?" She asked with a panicked voice.
I got down and leaned over Michael until I could hear the light sound of him snoring, "No, he just fell asleep."
"You have got to be kidding! Who falls asleep on the street like this? Unbelievable."
"I'll be right back." I ran up to my apartment and called down to the police station.
"Hey, Tyler. It's Edward. Is my brother around?" Emmett had been the acting Chief of Police ever since Charlie was killed. At least he would be until a special election could be organized. Rose and I were trying to talk him into running for the job when the time came. He was popular around here and had an excellent chance of winning.
A minute later my brother came onto the line, laughing, "Isn't it a little late for you to be awake? Don't boring nerds like you go to sleep early?"
"Em, shut up. You are never going to believe what just happened." Emmett was hoping to make a good impression on Charlie's daughter. I don't know why he cared. Wait. I take that back. I know why and he's married to her. Rose was one of the few people in this town that knew that Charlie's daughter was a famous author and she was a huge fan of her books. Rose was intent on getting to meet Bella and spend time with her while she was here. I think she had her hopes up on becoming best friends with the woman. Unfortunately, she obviously didn't care about anything but money and Rose was destined to get hurt in all this. This accident was not going to help them out in befriending her at all.
I walked back outside and found Bella sitting on the hood of her car talking on her phone, "yeah, Jamie, I'm sure that I'm alright and I don't need a hospital. I don't even have a scratch on me. Fine. Here's Edward, he saw the crash happen. He'll tell you that I'm fine."
She handed the phone out to me with a pleading look on her face. I grabbed the phone out of her hand and sighed, I did not want to talk to whoever this Jamie girl was. "She's lying about not having a scratch on her. She has a small cut over her left ear but that appears to be it. She's probably in a little bit of shock over the accident, too." Her hand flew up to her face and searched until she found the cut that I was talking about.
"Are you sure she'll be fine? I can be there in a few hours if she needs me." I was shocked when it was a male voice that responded to me.
"I'm sure that all she needs is a band aid." I handed the phone back to Bella to fight it out with her boyfriend while I checked on Michael again and then I called Angela. By the time I was off the phone with her, Emmett was here and standing over Michael shaking his head.
"I'm going to have to have a bus take him to the ER to be looked at, then I'm going to have to book him, Edward."
"I know." I sighed. "Ang said that she'd meet you at the hospital."
It was a half hour of Emmett trying to be professional about everything, taking statements and photographs before he finally declared that we were done and let us go. Ben Cheney, showed up with his wrecker and started moving the cars back to his shop. He promised Bella that he'd get her car done as quickly as possible but would need a few days to get the parts in.
Emmett gave Bella Charlie's house key and she thanked him before turning to grab her bags and walk away. "What on earth are you doing, girl?" Emmett yelled at her.
"Walking to Charlie's," She said with a definite 'duh' tone to her voice.
"Oh no you're not. It's over a mile to his house, Edward will drive you." I was going to kill my brother for this. "He'll take care of that cut for you, too." She looked like she was about to argue with him for a minute but didn't. Those bags of her were heavy. I should know since I helped her get them out of her car before Ben towed it away. I guess the Arizona dessert hadn't completely fried her brain yet. Not that I was at all happy about having to spend more time with the woman.
Bella followed me up to my apartment and waited in the living room while I went to the bathroom to retrieve my first aid kit. I cleaned it and put some antiseptic ointment on before putting a band aid on it.
"I'm surprised that I don't need stitches. I usually do."
"I remember."
"What?"
"I said, I remember. You were always getting hurt as a kid. My mother watched you a couple of times for Charlie when he had to work."
"I don't remember anyone but the Black's keeping me and the creepy Jacob Black stalking me every time I was there. He always freaked me out with the way that he'd hide behind the trees and just watch me. Oh God! He's going to be at the funeral isn't he?" She shuddered.
"Nope. He's in prison. I thought for sure Charlie would have mentioned it."
"I haven't spoken to Charlie for a while. What is he is jail for?"
"Murder."
"Wow. Somehow I can believe that he would be capable of killing."
"I was sixteen when it all happened; I'm sure that we're the same age. I thought for sure that he'd told you about it. Huh." I sat there lost in thought for a minute before she thanked me for taking care of her cut. "I know who you are, by the way." I blurted out.
"Yeah, I think that we've established that."
"No. I mean, I know that you are Marie Dwyer, too." She paled.
"Tell me that no one else in this town knows that."
"There are a select few of us. Rose is one, she Emmett's wife and is a big fan of yours. So is Jessica Newton, a fan, I mean. But Jess doesn't know. Charlie asked us to keep it quiet for your sake."
"I didn't know that he even knew."
"He was your number one fan around here. I always made sure that he got the first copy. He was really proud of you and your success. Not that you ever cared."
She looked like she was about to start arguing with me so I cut her off, offering to get her home. She was a spoiled brat and I really had no desire to keep this conversation going. I was tired and wanted to get her home and get back here with time to get a couple of hours of sleep before I had to open the store.
She never cared about Charlie and had no regard for how badly she'd hurt him by excluding him from her life. Charlie only knew about her writing career because Bella's mother had called him to tell him. She'd hurt him deeply with her attitude towards him and it irritated me that she was the one that got to make all the decisions about his memorial service and his estate. She didn't deserve to have that honor.
The drive home was quiet. She seemed lost in her own world and I let her stay that way. I really didn't even want to drive her home; I would have let her walk. I parked the car in the driveway and started to get out of the car, "You don't like me but you're walking me to the door?"
"Emmett forgot that the key sticks. There is a trick to unlocking the door and if someone doesn't show you, you will be stuck outside for hours and its going to start raining soon."
"You know this how?"
"Because unlike you, I actually spent time with your Dad and helped him out." I let us into the house and marched into the kitchen. On the refrigerator were the keys to the truck that Charlie had bought for her before she completely dropped him from her life. I don't know why he kept it but he did. I handed her the keys and told her that if she needed anything to call Emmett and Rose, they'd be happy dote on her, and then I walked out of the house slamming the door behind me.
A/N:
Happy Saturday! Thank you to Sweetpea123 for betaing this for me, you are amazing dear. Thank you to all that reviewed or added this to your alerts and/or favorites. I love seeing so many familiar names.
Chapter 3 is done and off to Sweetpea so I should be posting next weekend but we'll see how far I get on Chapter 4. I have a busy week ahead of me. If you want a teaser for Chapter 3 let me know in a review.