The Whispering Woods
Chapter Twenty-Two
Edward replayed his last conversation with Bella all through English, then he imagined her naked after cracking open her textbook. She wasn't kidding about more interesting reading material. Inside were a few pages of some sexy as fuck excerpts from her own writing.
He cleared his throat at least five times while reading it. His teacher asked if he was all right and if he needed some water. He could only shake his head, because getting up in the middle of class with a hard-on was not an option.
Bella was evil.
He kind of loved that about her. Considering the creepy woods haunting his dreams and calling out to him, it wasn't exactly a good thing. Still, he knew he couldn't stay away from her anymore. Then there was the fact that he had touched her several times and nothing from her past had come to him in a vision. What he did know was due to her father and that moment in the cafe.
He usually had control of his curse, like he had with Jessica in the hall, but in certain situations, he did not. The incidents with James and Bella's father were rare, and he wondered why. It also took considerable time to filter through what he saw considering they were lifetimes. Bella's explanation of just "knowing" when it came to her gift, made some sense with the rare cases. Could it be that he was given all the information, but only recalled it when the situation called for it?
The insignificant thoughts he could pick up from anyone only came to him if he opened himself up at that precise moment of his touch. Try as he might, he hadn't gotten one from Bella.
Did that mean something? Was she like him? They had to talk and he had to stop running away when things got freaky. Something told him it was only the beginning.
Trying to shake away the ripples of fear crawling down his spine, he focused instead on Bella's A+ reading material. She called it Dreams. The girl had a vivid imagination; it put his fantasies to shame. Did she write such tantalizing love scenes from experience or the desire to experience them?
He hoped the latter, though he knew it was unfair. Back home, he hadn't been a monk. Until he nearly beat a former fellow student to death, then he was a social pariah.
The hair on the back of his neck started to rise, as if he was being watched. "Protect-or. Protect-or."
No. That wasn't it.
He closed his eyes and focused on opening his mind—his limited abilities that required touch expanded.
"Protect her. Protect her."
Suddenly, hundreds of internal voices and images bombarded him, too much and all at once. A sound escaped him, his hands reaching up to cover his ears. It was relentless and all-consuming. He hit the floor, rolling into a fetal position as he begged for the voices to stop.
AN: First, thanks to Midnight Cougar, I added a few things here and there, so any mistakes are mine. There will be no update until Tuesday unless I get more chapters done before the end of the weekend. Trying hard to be at least 10 chapters ahead, I'm on 32. I posted early since I have an early doctor appointment and from there, off to the cafe to write (I hope) for a couple of hours. I started a theory thread in my Facebook group for this and there's a couple of good ones. Thanks to everyone that has been really supportive and understanding about my recent RL drama of stolen craft supplies (pricey Copic markers and other pretty things) that really messed up my mojo. I need more than one outlet for my creativity. See you all soon!
OH! And the whole 666 thing in the last chapter was a coincidence, I swear. lol