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Chapter 21

Bella-

I held Alice against me, rocking her as she cried, rubbing her chilled skin hoping to calm the tremor raking her slight form. "It's okay, you're with me now, and I'm not going anywhere."

My mind was racing trying to figure out what could've caused such a disturbance. If Edward hadn't just had me pinned to my bed, I would've thought this was possibly him haunting the house. Since that wasn't the case, I wondered briefly about Emmett but dismissed the idea. According to Rose, Emmett was as scary as a teddy bear.

Wiping the tears off of Alice's cheeks, I combed her hair away from her sweat-soaked brow. "What happened? You must've been having a nightmare, honey. Do you want to tell me about it?"

Alice's whole bed shook with the force of her shudders. Her eyes were wide, her lips trembling as a fresh wave of tears cascaded down her cheeks. "It was horrible … I kept hearing gunshots …"

As Alice started to explain, Rose came barreling into the room followed by Jess and Jane. Concern etched the brows of my sisters, and they all climbed up in her bed. "Is she okay?" Rose wanted to know, settling on her opposite side and wrapping her arm around Alice's waist.

"She was just getting ready to tell me what her nightmare was about." I kissed Alice's temple and urged her to continue, "We're all here for you, Ally. Tell us what happened."

Alice swallowed, shaking the images from her head. "Someone was stomping through the house. I could hear him coming, and then, there were several gunshots. I was sitting up in bed trying to figure out what to do when he slammed into the room." She sniffled, terror filling her stricken eyes. "He had just pulled the trigger and all I could do was wait for the bullet to hit me. Then I woke up."

Rose and I looked at one another over Alice's head. What she was describing was so similar to the murders that had taken place a century ago. If Edward and Emmett followed us in the room, they too were hearing the chilling tale, yet it was even worse for them because they had actually lived it. Returning my attention back to Alice, I held her, whispering all the reassuring words I could think of.

Jess was the first to offer help. "Do you want a glass of cold water, Al? I can grab you one of my pm pills if you need help sleeping."

"The only thing worse than dreaming that, would be not being able to wake up from it." Alice quivered, as I adjusted her pillows behind her and urged her to lay back. "I will take a glass of water, however."

"Okay," Jess mumbled, slipping from the bed and hurrying down the hall.

Jane patted Alice's leg as she slipped from the bed. She eyed me as she went to the door. "Do you have her, Bella?"

When I nodded, Jane slipped from the room, saying, "Everything will be okay, Al, call me if you need anything."

Alice slugged half of the glass of water Jess brought, and once she was finished I sat the rest on her nightstand. "Do you want me to stay with you tonight?"

Rose immediately offered to stay as well, and when Alice frantically nodded, "I would love that. I don't want to be alone." Her whole body shook, and she rested her head on my shoulder. "It was so horrible. I can still hear his footsteps echoing in my mind."

"Nothing is going to happen to you, sweetie," Rose stated, sliding under Alice's blanket and hugging her close. I followed suit, laying opposite Alice, I kissed her nose. Rose whispered, "We're right here. Go back to sleep, Ally."

Twenty minutes later, Ally and Rose were sound asleep, and I lay there staring at the ceiling, reliving every moment of Alice's dream as if I were the one with the night terror. Pushing the troubling images from my mind, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, and tightened my hold on the woman next to me.

While I was here for Ally there was another reason I decided to stay with her. If I went back to my room, Edward would undeniably be there. Over the last week, our relationship had progressed into a friendship of sorts. I thought over what transpired before Alice's scream, and I couldn't ignore the connection I felt toward my ghost.

Just thinking of him had my blood heating, and being attracted to an entity was absurd. Where could that possibly go? Why was my body reacting with an addicting sensation associated with Edward? I definitely needed to create some distance from my ghost before things progressed too far.

Not only was the idea of having sex with a ghost ridiculous, but there was a cost to continuing a relationship with him. Every word I spoke was a lie of omission. He didn't really know who I was and I had a feeling once he found out, he would never be the same.

Behind closed eyes, my sexy phantom waited for me, and as I drifted off to sleep holding Alice tight, l felt fingers drift through my hair.

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