AN: This is still Bella's story. It's where she finds out "gasp" Avery's a vampire but I'm sure we all knew that already w/ the pale skin and topaz eyes description plus if you didn't notice Avery chuckles a little when he hears her heart speed up. I hope you like Avery, it's hard writing her with someone else because to answer your questions it IS an ExB love story but if we didn't have a few bumps on the road to their happy ending wouldn't it be a little boring !?!? Towards the end of the chapter it gets a tad steamy, PG 13ish I guess & just so you know when Bella's telling her story to the Cullen's she's reminiscing at the same time so even though they're getting a pretty good play by play of Bella's past when more intimate details pop up their playing out in her head while she's giving them the less detailed version….because her saying some of this stuff out loud would just be kind of wrong. But it's detailed enough to upset Edward at times which was another question I got. Edward's reacting to Bella's story this way because of reasons he can't figure out yet he just knows that he's never felt what he's been feeling since he met her and his emotions are out of control ~ and that's about all I can say right now, Enjoy!

I don't own Twilight, but I bought a new Twilight Key Chain yesterdayJ

BPV

Close Calls and Confessions

It was a slow night at work so I was helping Josh the bus boy bus tables, not my favorite thing to do but it helped pass the time. When my mind wandered to Avery like it always did at inopportune moments I dropped a tray of glasses. I blushed a deep crimson and peeked out from under my eyelashes for Avery, he was giving me a sympathetic smile which was now my new favorite smile of his. I was so caught up with him that I wasn't paying enough attention to what I was doing and I grabbed a jagged piece of glass and it sliced open my finger. I looked down and gasped, I instantly tried to breath through my mouth as the smell of blood invaded my senses and made my stomach do flip flops. I had to get rid of the smell of blood before I blacked out and hit the floor so I did the only thing I could think of, I stuck my finger in my mouth and sucked off the blood. A sharp intake of breath caught my attention and I looked up to see a very rigid, very possessed looking Avery. Even the first night I had laid eyes on him he didn't look this menacing. I met his eyes before he spun on his heel and stormed down the hall to the back crashing through the door as he went. All I could wrap my head around was how black his eyes were.

Josh came into my view to get my attention because I was still staring at the hall Avery exited through and I guess I hadn't acknowledged his other attempts to get my attention.

"There's a first aid kit in the store room, you should go clean that up before it gets infected, plus I don't think the customers would appreciate you bleeding in their food, but that's just me," he laughed to himself.

As I opened the door to the store room trying to figure out what the hell just happened I jumped when I saw Avery standing in the corner of the closet sized room breathing heavily with his thumb and forefinger pinching the bridge of his nose. His eyes were closed tightly and his body was still hard and rigid. I could see his muscles clenching and unclenching in the dull light.

"Bella , you need to leave!" his voice was strained and deeper than I'd ever heard it.

"But……..," I started on the verge of tears, but he interrupted.

"NOW Bella," he practically growled out his words now, "you need to get away from me, don't make me tell you again!"

He had never spoken to me like that before, the tears flooded out and started to flow freely down my face, but they weren't tears of fear, and they weren't even fully from his hurtful words, I cried for him. I had never seen him in so much pain and that hurt me. I wanted, no needed to help him, to take the pain away. I closed the door behind me and took the few steps that closed the space between us. His erratic breathing picked up and he stepped back half a step until his back was fully pressed up against the wall.

"Bella." This time his voice was more broken and pleading.

I took a calming breath and closed the space between us again. He dropped his hand to his side and balled it into a fist to match the other one. It got quiet all of the sudden and it took me a second to realize his erratic breathing had completely stopped and he wasn't moving at all now, he was completely still, he must be holding his breath. His eyes opened to reveal his blacker than black eyes that I had seen only a few minutes ago, but he wasn't looking at me, he was looking past me like he wasn't even seeing me. I couldn't take it anymore. My hand moved on its own accord slowly up until it was placed on the side of his face cupping his cheek. It wasn't until it was placed there that I realized it was my injured hand I had put on him but the blood had dried so I didn't think it would hurt anything. Avery's dark eyes closed as he leaned into my palm, he moved very slow like if he moved too fast he would break at any moment. I was surprised by the coolness of his skin and it was smooth, marble-like. It was incredible. Even in this odd situation I couldn't help but notice when our skin made contact every nerve ending in my body went off. He slowly moved his face until he was nuzzling my palm, his lips lightly brushing my skin as he went. My breathing hitched and my heart threatened to burst from my chest.

Avery groaned as he kept nuzzling my palm. "Bella, you don't know what your doing to me?"

After a few moments of quiet except for my now erratic breathing echoing through out the confined space, he reached up and placed his hand over mine, he brought my palm to his lips, and kissed it. My eyes closed and when they opened again he was grinning at me with relief in his now topaz eyes.

"We need to talk," Avery whispered in defeat, "It's too dangerous to be around you without you knowing, and staying away from you isn't an option."

**************

After going back to work and going on like nothing epic had just happened mere feet away, the night came to a close fast and before I knew it Avery was standing in front of me at my truck. He was leaning in much closer than our unspoken boundaries of the last few weeks had previously allowed.

He had a look of determination on his face, "Can I come by your house tonight?"

Tonight? Of coarse one of the few nights my mom and Phil were actually home he'd ask to come over and after mid night non the less……what was I supposed to say?

"Bella" he interrupted my mental freak out, "I know its late, but I meant I can sneak in through your window if its ok," he looked anxious for a minute, "if your not too tired that is."

He was cute when he fumbled on his words, I don't think I've ever seen him do that before.

"Bella?" he ducked his head to meet my eyes pleading for a response.

"O right." I said. "Of coarse you can, I'll leave my window open. Do you need directions?"

He grinned from ear to ear, " I think I can manage."

************

Not even fifteen minutes after I got in my room and changed out of my work clothes into a cami and matching shorts Avery slipped in through my window. He froze and his eyes roamed up and down my body, I could feel my blush spread as he went.

When he reached my eyes he swallowed hard, "I've never seen you out of your work clothes before."

After an awkward silence with him still looking me up and down, I moved to my bed and he pulled over my desk chair and sat directly in front of me.

"Bella, I need you to hear me out and if at any time you want me to leave just say the word and I'm gone and when I'm done if you want me to go I'll leave and I won't bother you ever again, understand?" he said looking directly in my eyes.

"Yes." I whispered, not really sure what to expect after all his cryptic messages he was sending me tonight.

He took a deep breath and then went on to tell me his secret.

He would tell me something new and then stop to gauge my reaction. When I didn't react like he expected he would shake his head then continue with a little less stress in his face. I took everything in stride, I had already promised myself whatever he was about to tell me it wouldn't matter because I loved him and now that I knew what he truly was it was no different. I trusted him and I knew he wouldn't hurt me.

Avery was a vampire. But he was so much more to me it just seemed to pale in comparison.

Afterwards, when he was finally convinced I wasn't going to run from the room screaming he stood up to excuse himself to leave but I grabbed his hand, "Please don't go. Stay. Please."

He looked down at our intertwined hands. When he broke loose and stepped back I thought he was going to leave but he only stepped back enough to remove his jacket and shoes and then he crawled in bed beside me.

He laid down and held out his arm, "Well, are u going to join me?" he teased.

My heart skipped a beat as I turned around and laid back into his open arm. He hesitated for a moment and then wrapped it around me pulling me to his chest. I felt him put his face in my hair and breath me in.

We laid in comfortable silence until he broke it with a question I wasn't expecting, "Bella," he paused, "have you ever been……kissed..before?"

"No." I murmured into his chest not wanting him to see my face blushing bright red, even though after what he had told me earlier he could probably feel it, I know my heart was giving it away.

"Is it stupid of me to ask you if you have?" I asked him quietly, knowing deep down I probably didn't want to know the answer, he had just got done confessing to me he was a 180 year old man in a 22 year olds body, What was I thinking?

"Bella," he started, " I've been on this earth for a very long time. I've seen things and ….done….things I'm not proud of. I was the worst kind of monster. I've only followed this diet, this new way of living for only a short time but I've vowed to be better and everyday is a struggle. "

"But, this…..," He hugged me tighter to him and rubbed circles on my back, " this with you, is all new to me though because I've never felt like I do when I'm with you before."

I looked up at him and he leaned down and kissed me on the forehead, then on the nose, and then he froze only inches away from my awaiting lips.

"I don't want to hurt you," he whispered.

"You won't, I trust you! I begged him with my eyes to believe what I was saying.

He searched my eyes for a second before leaning in and touching his lips to mine. He held them there for a second and I stayed perfectly still so I didn't push him. Then they started to move and our kiss deepened. He sucked on my bottom lip begging for entrance which I eagerly complied. Our tongues battled for dominance as his hands slid down from my back across my hips until they rested on my backside. My eyes flew open in shock and I tangled my hands in his hair. He let out a small moan into my mouth and both of his hands clamped down and squeezed as he brought me from his side to on top of him straddling his waist. His kisses became more frantic and he moved down to my neck and then to my collar bone sucking and nipping as he went along. He hands roamed freely and fast on my body, he explored down to my thighs and then trailed back up to my neck several times before he slowed down and paused with his hands on each side of my face. He started to move his hands again but instead of following the path he'd been on before he stopped and brought them forward towards my chest, his left palm pausing at my heart and the right one slowly moving down the valley between my breast. He skimmed the underside of my breast lightly with his fingers and then cupped me fully in his strong hand. It wasn't until I felt his cold thumb through my shirt caress my erect nipple that my body moved on its own accord and I roughly ground my hips into his. He moaned again and stopped moving, his hands moving to hold my face.

With his forehead against mine and eyes closed he took unnecessary deep breaths trying to calm himself, he gave a small chuckle, "Well, I guess that was a little more than a first kiss?"

I panted out, "Ya, you could say that." Giving my own little nervous chuckle.

He opened his eyes and they were filled with passion and something else.

"Baby, I love you." he said with such determination in his voice that it took my breath for a second. "I shouldn't, I don't deserve you and it's not right, but I love you Bella. I want to do this right. I want to give you the world." His breathing was still erratic but calming down.

"Breath Bella." his cool breath caressed my face.

Love. That's what else I saw in his eyes, they were overflowing with passion and love, my heart soared.

"I love you too, Avery, so much." I confessed back.

He moved me back to his side and wrapped his arms around me. With the adrenaline pumping through me from tonight's events I didn't think I would be able to sleep but not long after, my body gave up and I drifted off to sleep feeling at peace and safe in the arms of my love, my angel, and I was in heaven.

- "THAT'S ENOUGH!" An angry growl pulled me back from my old bed back in Phoenix to the reality of the Cullen's living room. -

AN: hmmm, I wonder who that was. Two more chapters I believe until we get past the drama and move onto Bella and Edward unless we're loving Avery and we want some light hearted dating and such in between, let me know.

The next two chapters are going to be dark, so be warned. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW I know a lot of you are reading and not reviewing....it helps me so please do!!!!!