Fran betas, Dani, Ariel, and Gemma preread, and you all amaze me! Especially Mary, who has been incredibly knowledgeable and helpful in making sure I get these lessons written accurately! Edward may know his stuff, but I REALLY do not HAHA

"Someone's coming for you, Bella?"

His tone is even; more like stating a fact rather than asking me to expand on what I've said. Cursing myself, I tilt my head back to the sky, sighing loudly in exasperation at my stupidity.

I've said too much, and I can't take it back. I've crossed the lines I've set for myself, and internally I'm scrambling back towards the lines like my life depends on it.

"No," I sputter eventually before just shaking my head in defeat. It's too much effort to cover my tracks now, and I'm beyond over watching what I say and how I say it. "I don't know for sure."

Edward studies me for a second, the expression neutral on his face as I watch him process the words I've said, and more importantly, all the words I've left unsaid. I watch the way his jaw sets in a firm line, his brows deepening as he takes a small inhale before accepting I won't be able to give him any more than that.

For now.

"Then I have to teach you how to kill."

There's a finality to his voice I haven't heard until this moment, and in just a few words, he's lifted a layer of himself that instantaneously makes me crave more. He's confirmed he knows more about guns than I had originally thought - but I'm not scared. Instead, I'm filled with an overpowering sense that something had led me here. Something bigger than myself had led me to this cabin, to this man, who I know without needing proof that he will follow through with his words. Just by looking at him now, as he stands tall and broad in the open meadow, I know his confidence behind the barrel of the gun is a puzzle piece to my own life I didn't know I needed.

I take a small intake of breath to process what he's said. "To kill."

He nods slightly. "This isn't some movie where you aim the gun at a guy's kneecap and hit him exactly where you want it to go. You'll be fighting your own body - adrenaline, breathing, nerves - you get one shot to get it right." He turns to face me, his eyes exploring deep into my own to see if he can find the answers I'm not ready to give just yet. "Tell me I'm wrong, Bella, but when it comes down to it, it's going to be a matter of his life versus your life."

I close my eyes, unprepared for the feelings that wash over me, when I realize how perceptive he's been of me this whole time. He knows enough.

And I know he'll be here to make sure nothing like my life in Rhode Island happens to me again. Tears fill my eyes, and I brush them away hastily, overwhelmed by how he's made me realize just how many of my own walls I've had to build up over the years to protect myself in any way I could.

"I wish you were wrong," I admit. "But when he finds me here, he's going to kill me."

The firm clench of his jaw appears again, and when he shakes his head, I believe what he says next.

"No," he states. "He won't."

Edward wouldn't let that happen, now would he?

See you tomorrow!