I'm so sorry it's been so long! Life just took it out of me! We're finally getting to some good stuff, so enjoy, loves!
"Isabella, what a surprise", Laurent's smiles wickedly toward me. His eyes are an unnaturally dark brown, but I notice the hints of red flickering through.
"Do you two know each other?", Tara eyes me up and down, slow and cautious – as if she couldn't believe we'd met before. She glances over to Aneeka, who has a worried look on her face.
"Isabella, shall we speak somewhere more private?", Laurent reaches out toward me as I stand there motionless, feet glued to the spot I'm standing in. Tara tries to pull him back into her by his jacket, but he doesn't notice; his eyes are glued to mine, and his hand is reaching for my arm.
"Bella, move. Now", the voice shouts to me once again.
The scar that James left me with glints under the strobe lights, and Laurent eyes it with a smile.
Fear holds me in place as I feel his arm grab me.
Until, a shout and the sound of glass shattering reminds me to breathe.
We all turn to look, and it's then that I smell the blood; in this moment, I am grateful for my sensitivity to blood.
Laurent releases me from his grasp, his eyes go wide and he flies across the room to the boy who sliced his hand open on a beer bottle.
And I run.
I don't look back, instead, I dash as fast as my legs will carry me through the small door, and back into the main living room. I pass Jess and Angela and yell at them to run.
My head start means that I manage to get to my truck before anyone else. Before I know it, I'm speeding down the highway back toward my house.
I'm surprised I don't get pulled over, but either way, adrenaline courses through my body and drops me back to my front door in a blink.
Pulling up to the drive, I slam my door shut and run inside.
"Bella? Are you okay?", Charlie asks as he hears the front door slam loudly behind me.
I walk into the living room where he's standing next to Billy and Jacob. Their faces all stare at me with concern, a look of anger flits across Billy's face for a brief moment.
"Fine, yeah, fine", I rush out, locking eyes with Billy as I try to disguise the panic in my voice.
"Charlie, will you go grab me another beer?", Billy says, keeping his gaze fixed on me.
Charlie looks to Billy and back to me, I meet his gaze with a tight-lipped smile.
"Buddy, I'm dehydrated over here", Billy breaks our stares.
Charlie grumbles in response and heads to the kitchen.
"Jake, go help him, will ya?", Billy twitches his head in the direction of the kitchen. Before Jake can protest too much, Billy snaps and directs him with a firm 'now'.
Awkwardness descends upon the room as Billy and I stare at each other, with a sigh he wheels himself closer to me – and away from the kitchen.
I can hear Jake strike up a conversation with Charlie, what he's saying I can't make out, but I know Jake caught Billy's hint of distracting Charlie.
"What happened tonight, Bella?", Billy asks me. Jumping straight to the point.
"I don't know what you –", I fumble and fall around my words.
"Cut the crap, Bella. You think I don't know what the Cullens really were? I also know they're out of town – so I'll ask again, what happened tonight?", although Billy was restricted to a wheelchair, the tone of his voice was laced with such intimidation and force that it felt as though he was talking down to me. As though I was a child that had stepped out of line.
I pause and consider the ramifications of what he's implying, so I put the conversation in his court and ask, "what makes you think anything happened?". It's a poor attempt of deflecting but I have to try.
"Bella", he sighs – exasperated. "Listen, the kids down at the Rez, well… they're going through something. And I know that the Cullens are gone, so that means something else is here. So, I'll ask one more time, what happened tonight?".
A queasy feeling floods my stomach and salvia floods to my mouth, I take a deep breath to steady myself.
"Laurent – he", I sigh, trying to find the words to explain. "I was at a party on the edge of town, do you know Tara Abbotts' place? You can't miss it really. Anyway, she brought a boy – and well, he's not a boy, he – we", I take another deep breath and Billy waits patiently, urging me to finish with his encouraging eyes.
"Last year, when I had the… accident, there was a man the Cullens… saved me from, his name was James. Anyway, Laurent ran with James and now he's back, to get revenge, I guess", I let a long sigh.
Billy doesn't say anything, but instead takes the information in.
After a long pause, he looks up at me.
"Hmm… interesting. So, the edge of town, you say?", Billy stares into my eyes pensively.
"Yeah, I only let the party 15, 20 minutes ago. I ran out, I don't know what happened", I ramble. I'm flailing, purposefully ambiguous, but taken aback because why and how does Billy know what I know?
"Let me take of it", Billy begins to wheel himself away from me.
"But how –", I whisper after him.
"Jake, let's go. We're leaving", Billy shouts toward the kitchen.
Charlie rushes in, with Jake on his heels, holding two beers, "but I thought you wanted a fresh one?".
"Raincheck, Charlie. Next Friday night?", Billy nods to Jake to grab their stuff – he duly does.
"Yeah, I guess", Charlie shrugs in response and shakes his head at his friend.
I stand dumbfounded as Billy wheels himself toward the door with Jake in tow. He eyes me warily and gives me a stiff nod.
"See you soon, Bella?", Jake asks me with a wishful tone to his voice.
"Yeah, I'll give you a call", little did Jake know that call would be coming sooner than he thought as I remembered the two humps of metal in the boot of my truck.
The door slams behind them and the silence descends in the room once more.
Charlie and I stare at one another briefly, until I cut the tension.
"Well, I'm going to go to bed", I announce.
"Right, well. Before you go, how was the party?", Charlie asks me with a little too much excitement in his voice.
"Good, yeah. Different", I reply.
Charlie beams toward me. "That's great, Bella. It's good to see you get your life back on track".
"Yeah, sure", I smile and leave him standing in the middle of the room, as I head upstairs. "Night, dad".
"Night, Bells", he calls to me.
Once I get to my bedroom, I shut the door firmly behind me, lock the windows, and grab my pepper spray. I huddle myself under the covers and lie in the dark, considering how close I came once again to dying – and I think of the boy who might have lost his life in my place.
I know it's a little short, but I hope you liked it! I can promise you Edward does come back at some point - and it'll be very exciting when he does!