38

"I am so fucking bored," muttered Bella.

"Me too," I laughed.

Bella and I were laying on her bed. We had just finished the last bit of make-up from our week long hiatus from school. The rest of our week at school had been pretty tame compared to our first day back. Mrs. Owens went back to ignoring us. Well, actually all of our teachers went back to ignoring us, except for Mr. Taylor. I mean, Marcus. It still felt weird to call him by his first name.

Bella and I had started eating our lunch in his classroom with him, since Lauren and her army of skanks wouldn't leave us alone. I swear, the bitch was looking to get another broken nose. She was just that stupid. Marcus was nice and let us eat in there with him. Bella didn't really talk much, especially about her parents, but at least she felt safe enough in that room to nibble on her food.

I sat up and moved so that I was sitting in front of her. She was still exhausted. She never complained but I knew she wasn't sleeping. The dark circles and bags that hung under her eyes made that painfully clear. As much as I wanted to be, I couldn't be here every night. Would she ever be able to put her fears behind her?

"Close your eyes," I said. Bella cocked an eyebrow at me. "Just trust me and close your eyes."

"Fine," she muttered, sitting up and closing her eyes.

I leaned across the bed and brought my lips down onto her left eye. She giggled but didn't open her eyes. I loved the sound of her laughter. I leaned over and kissed her right eye next, getting her to giggle again. Pushing her back on her bed, I moved my lips down the right side of her face. I reached the corner of her plush lips and pressed my lips down there again. I moved my lips to the other side of her face and started up next to her left eye again and kissed my way down until I reached the other corner of her mouth.

I slid my lips over and pressed them down on her closed lips. Bella sighed and opened her mouth to me. I slipped my tongue into her mouth as she reached up and gripped my hair in her hands, weaving her fingers in. I loved having her hands in my hair. I slipped my hand down to her waist and pressed my body down on top hers.

"Edward," moaned Bella, breaking her lips from mine. "Fuck, I love your fucking hands on me but my brother is in the other room."

"I know," I murmured, moving my lips down her neck to her collar bone. "I can't help myself, though. Your body calls to me."

"Yeah?" she asked, pulling my head back by my hair. "What does it say?"

"It's telling me to worship you," I smirked. Bella rolled her eyes and pushed me onto my back. She quickly moved so that she was straddling me. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," she smiled. "I'm just listening to what your body says now."

"What does it say?" I asked, moving my hands to her slender hips. Inwardly, I frowned. She had lost weight.

"It says that we should go running," she said, seriously. I scrunched up my face.

"I think it's saying that you need to eat more and run less," I whispered. Bella sighed and climbed off of me, pulling her knees up to her chest. I sat up next to her. "Bella."

"I am just not hungry," she muttered, shaking her head.

"You're losing too much weight," I said, slipping my hand in with hers. "You're going to get sick."

"I know," she frowned.

"How about if we compromise?" I asked. "We go run but when we get back you have to eat. I mean, really eat. Not just nibble. We'll order a pizza and some breadsticks. Maybe eat a pint of cookies and cream ice cream while we watch movies."

"Scary movies?" asked Bella, looking up at me.

"Duh," I snorted. "Deal?"

"Deal," agreed Bella.

Bella leaned over and pecked me on the lips before she climbed off her bed. We pulled on our running shoes and dug our iPods out of our backpacks before we headed out into the living room. Carlisle and Esme were laying on the couch, kissing when we came in. I'm pretty sure I threw up a little in my mouth.

"Gross, Car," whined Bella, shuddering. The two of them broke apart and looked back at us. Their lips were swollen and their hair was a mess. "I don't need to see that shit."

"Where are you two going?" asked Carlisle, running his hands through his hair. Like that was going to help.

"Running," muttered Bella. Carlisle sighed and looked over at me. I knew what he was thinking.

"But after we run, Bella and I are going to order a large pizza and some breadsticks," I added, nodding my head. "Because we are both going to be starving and need a big dinner. Right, Bella?"

"Yep," she mumbled.

"Good," said Carlisle, looking back at her. "Be careful on your run, ok?"

"We will," murmured Bella.

"You two can go back to your kissing now," I snorted, pulling Bella out of the apartment.

Bella burst out laughing as Carlisle and Esme called us smartasses. We were smartasses and we were quite proud of that fact. We headed down the back steps and put our iPods on. I kissed Bella once more before we took off running through town. As soon as we took our first step, I could feel Bella begin to relax.

Over the past week, Bella and I had thrown ourselves back into our training. She told me that it was the one part of her life that she felt in control of, other than her relationship with me of course. I understood what she meant. She told me that when she was in the ring, she felt like nobody could hurt her. She needed to feel safe somewhere. We ran through town before we turned and headed back down to the gym. However, when we got about a block from the gym, Bella and I saw Nolan and Corrine climbing out of their car. These two were never going to learn.

"Fuck," muttered Bella, pulling out her cell phone. She quickly dialed Carlisle. "Car, they are there….Nolan and Corrine, that's who…no…I don't want to talk to them…ok, we will…I promise," muttered Bella. She shook her head as she closed her phone. "Looks like we are eating that pizza at your place."

"Yep," I muttered.

Bella and I waited until they were inside before we snuck down the block and climbed into my car. I didn't blame her for not wanting to see them. They had called everyday since we had gotten back and just couldn't seem to get it into their heads that she wasn't ready to speak to them, much less see them in person. She needed time and they weren't giving it to her.

Bella and I headed down to the local pizza joint and headed inside. Like it wasn't enough to know that her shitty ass parents were the gym, we saw Charlie and Renee sitting at a table in the back of the pizza parlor. Bella muttered a heated "Fuck" as they both stood up and made a beeline for us.

"Hey, Bell," said Renee. Bella ignored her and Charlie as we stepped up to the counter. "Bella-"

"We would like a large pizza with everything but anchovies and a double order of breadsticks," said Bella. "To go."

"Ok, that'll be twenty-six fifty," said the tall girl with long blond hair. She went to school with us but I wasn't sure what her name was. Hannah, maybe?

"Here I've got this," said Charlie, tossing a fifty on the counter. I picked it up before the girl could grab it and tossed it back at him.

"We don't need or want your blood money, Charlie," I said, shortly. I tossed the girl a couple of twenties. She quickly handed me back my change and went to turn our order in.

"Bella, please talk to us," pleaded Renee. Bella sighed and turned around.

"For the last fucking time, Renee," snapped Bella. "I have nothing to say to you or Charlie or those sons of bitches who think they are my parents. Just leave me alone and let me fucking deal with this on my own."

"Bell-"

"I'll wait in the car," muttered Bella, looking up at me.

"Ok," I said, quietly. Bella wrapped her arms around her body and headed out to my car. I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. Charlie and Renee sighed and looked back over at me. "Just fucking leave her alone."

"We're trying to make it right," huffed Renee. "But she won't let us."

"You can't make this right," I snapped. "You can't force her to talk to you. You can't try to get her to understand the fact that you lied to her and your brothers for two fucking years, Renee. She will never understand how you could just turn your back on her when she needed you the most. Never. Just fucking leave her alone."

The girl from school, set our order on the counter. I grabbed it and headed back out to my car, leaving Charlie and Renee standing there with their mouths hanging wide open. I climbed back into my car. Bella had her knees pulled up to her chest as she looked out the window. I knew just where she needed to go. I started the car and headed out of Forks and down to First Beach. I parked my car in the lot and grabbed the food from the backseat. I held onto Bella's hand as we headed down the beach and settled in the sand.

"How'd you know to come here?" asked Bella, taking a slice of pizza.

"Cause I know you," I said, smiling. I pulled myself out a slice. "This is kind of like our spot."

"Why can't she just leave me alone?" asked Bella, biting off a small piece of her pizza.

"I don't know, love," I sighed. "I just don't know. I guess a part of her feels like she needs to explain why she did what she did."

"Yeah, well, she's an idiot," muttered Bella.

"That she is, baby," I laughed. "That she is."

Bella and I sat on the beach for another hour or so, eating our pizza and breadsticks. I was happy when Bella managed to eat three big slices of pizza and two breadsticks. Compared to what she has been eating, that was quite a feast for her. As the sun started to set, Bella and I grabbed our trash and headed back to the car.

I drove us back to the gym. Luckily, her parents car wasn't there anymore. I could feel Bella relax. We climbed out of the car and headed up the back stairs to the apartment that she shared with her brothers. We walked in and found everyone sitting in the living room. My parents, Carlisle, Esme. Emmett, Rose, Jasper, and Alice. They all looked up at us and we knew something was wrong.

"What's going on?" asked Bella, looking around.

"Nolan and Corrine are trying to get custody of you," said Carlisle.