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We don't speak as we fly down the streets, weaving in and out of traffic far too quickly, the wind pulling at my sweater and tugging at the ends of my hair, the warmth of his body burning against mine. Edward takes a sharp turn down an alley and pulls up near a garage door before turning off the ignition. He enters a code on his watch and the door starts to raise. He doesn't turn to me until the door is shut behind us and I'm trying to take in the room despite it being cloaked in pitch darkness, save for the burning glow of Edward's eyes.
"Are you okay?" His hands are wrapping around my elbows, pulling me closer.
"I'm fine," I say automatically. "Just a little freaked out. How did you…"
"I don't know," he admits. "I just knew you were scared and had to find you. It was instinct."
"I think they know where I live," I tell him quietly. "Whoever they are."
"Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck."
And then he's stepping away from me, swallowed by the darkness of the room, muttering to himself.
"I'm so fucking stupid, I knew this would happen and I let myself do this anyway. Goddammit."
Metal clangs against the floor as if he's kicked something out of his way.
"Edward?" I ask softly, tentatively. "It's okay, really. I'm sure it was nothing."
And I know that it wasn't nothing, but if he leaves me, if he cuts off contact with me...I can't even begin to think about it.
I'd say anything to make him stay.
"Seriously," I say louder now. "I'm fine, I can just go home and I'll see you at work tomorrow and-"
He's in front of me in an instant.
"If you think I'm letting you out of my sight now, you're absolutely insane."
I fight an inappropriately giddy smile, because even though it seems like the last thing he wants is me hanging around, he has to let me stay.
"Stop being so happy about this. These people could kill you," he seethes.
"I'm not," I say too quickly. "What do we do now?"
He lets out a long suffering sigh before he says, "We'll go home."
I follow him through the dark, down a seemingly never ending hallway. As we go, he peels off his mask and his shirt and I wish more than anything in this moment that I had his incredible eyesight. By the time we reach a heavy metal door, he's balled up the discarded clothing and stuffed it in his back pocket. I squint into the bright light of the room beyond the door, eyes adjusting slowly to watch the way the muscles in his back flex as he moves ahead of me to grab a clean shirt off a shelf.
"What is this place?" I ask, taking in the tiny room. Empty, save for some gray t-shirts on shelves and a small first aid kit.
"Kind of like a halfway point. I can't go straight home after doing...Vigilante things."
"Ah," is all I can think to say.
We go down another long, dark hallway that spits us out onto a street three blocks from where we started. Edward pulls a key out of his pocket, and an average looking sedan flashes its lights.
"Don't look so surprised," he smirks, noticing my raised eyebrows. "This is just the decoy. I'll show you my real car collection someday."
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We go back to his house on the quiet suburban street and I stand awkwardly in his living room as he checks to make sure we haven't been followed and that the house is locked up with his fancy security system.
"Are you hungry?" he asks. "I've got a frozen pizza I can bake."
Startled laughter escapes me and a confused smile forms on his perfect mouth.
"What?" he asks and I shake my head.
"You just keep surprising me," I tell him. I guess I always imagined Edward Cullen eating steak and caviar for every meal, not stuff I ate growing up.
As he's cooking, I explore the kitchen, finding a wine rack near the table, the bottles
gathering dust .
"These look fancy," I observe, fingering a Bordeaux from 2005.
"They're all award winners," he says like it's embarrassing. "My friend, Rosalie, buys one for me for my birthday every year."
"You don't drink them," I say and he laughs.
"Drinking wine alone at home always seems depressing," he admits. "Like I said, I don't really bring anyone here. Do you want some?"
"While you tell me what the hell is going on? Yeah, it might help."
I might be grinning, but he is not.
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