CHAPTER THREE

The last thing Bella wanted to be was a victim. She tried her best to suppress the thought of Jacob on top of her, the way his hand felt wrapped in an unbreakable grip around her forearm. Sometimes, however, that was hard. It was hard to keep up a façade when you were newly divorced and newly raped. If she could stay wrapped up in the purple comforter on the top floor of Charlie's house in the bed she slept in for years, she would, but she knew that life went on, and if she didn't want to play victim, she would have to go about her daily life as normal. Work, passing Edward his milkshake without her normal smile, tucking the dollars she made into her apron, then home. Every day.

Edward knew something was up, but he didn't want to mention anything. Maybe Bella was overwhelmed from getting a divorce at 20. Maybe she was worried that people would talk now that she wasn't wearing her ring. It was just odd to him that she wasn't as warm and bubbly as before.

Hey. Edward texted her on a Thursday night, about three weeks after her divorce. They had continued to talk every day, but the conversations were surface level and dry. He was beginning to worry. After he sent his greeting, he followed up with a second message. Can I make you dinner tonight? My place?

It took a few minutes for her to reply, but the reply made his heart skip.

Sure.

Bella was walking into his apartment with her head hung low less than half an hour later. She looked nice, but she always did to Edward. Even in the most casual outfit, she was the most beautiful thing to him.

"Hey, girl." Edward said from his kitchen, seeing her walk in through to opening from the living room. "Make yourself comfortable."

Bella flashed him a sweet smile, then walked to the couch and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"I've been missing you," Edward said as he handed her a plate with a grilled chicken breast, broccoli, and a small serving of mashed potatoes. He had never cooked for her before, aside from the few pizzas he had thrown into the oven. She was happily surprised.

"Sorry," Bella mumbled, thanking him as she took the plate. "I'm having a hard time right now."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Edward asked as he took his normal spot on the couch, next to her. Their knees just barely touched, just like normal. Everything was normal to Edward- except Bella.

"Not really, not right now." She shrugged, picking up the fork. "This smells really good, Edward." Bella said, giving him a well-deserved smile. When she was with Edward, it was like nothing bad ever happened. He grinned back at her, and they made small talk while they ate.

Bella stood and collected Edward's dishes from him, then walked to the kitchen in order to load them into the dishwasher. He stood and watched her with his shoulder leaning against the door frame, thanking her as she went.

They were quiet that night, Edward keeping his arm around Bella's shoulders. She didn't let him get too close, though, for her own peace of mind, and he seemed to oblige without a problem. She left at a reasonable time, then found herself crying in the middle of her bed by midnight.

Bella wished things weren't different, but they were different for her. She hadn't talked to Jacob since he… signed the papers, but she couldn't get him out of her mind. Why did he do that? Would he have done that before if she told him no? She used to be so desperate for his attention that she would jump if he said so, so sex came easy for both of them. Her mind went to Edward. The most they had done is kissed, and he was insistent on that. He wouldn't do anything like what Jacob had done- would he? No, Bella shook her head, wiping her fallen tears from her cheeks and onto her blanket. Edward wouldn't do that. He's my best friend. Jacob was upset and wanted to hurt me. She knew that Edward wouldn't hurt her, and she wished that thought never came to her head.

Fuck you, Bella, Jacob had hissed at her. No, Bella thought, Fuck you, Jacob. Fuck you for making me second guess everything.

After Bella left, Edward found himself staying in his spot on the couch, scrolling through his phone. He had plenty of texts from his little sister, Alice. She was a petite girl, not much bigger than Bella, with short black hair and the same tawny eyes as him. That was the only thing he had in common with his two siblings. Emmett, his younger brother, matched Alice like a carbon copy, if carbon copies could be three times someone's size. He was quite the brawny man, if you could call him a man. Emmett was just shy of 18, almost three years younger than Edward and Bella, and Alice was 16 and just got her own car; a Porsche. That was what she was texting her eldest brother about, sending pictures of the beautiful silver machine with the gold logo on the hood. He smiled at the pictures, then shot a text back; Cool, looks great! Don't wreck it! He knew that text would make her smile.

He hadn't seen Alice in over a year, since he moved to Forks. He hated leaving his siblings behind, especially his young sister, but it was necessary for him. If Emmett had been old enough to leave, he would have offered to take him with him, but he didn't want any more trouble with his parents. Scrolling through the pictures that Alice had sent, Edward could see just how much his siblings had changed in the last year. Alice was growing into the same womanly figure that their mother had, and he could see Emmett taunting her in the back of one of the pictures. He was still a big goof, Edward could tell.

Edward only told Bella the surface of his family problems; he didn't get along well with his father, he didn't want to follow in his footsteps, so he took his own initiative and left Sacramento to the furthest place he was comfortable leaving to. Forks was a small town, nothing ever happened there. He was far enough away from his dad, but close enough to his siblings, just in case they needed him.

Edward texted with Alice for a little while, catching up on how she was doing in school and what not. She had mentioned that her father had set her and Emmett up with people in their line of business, but they weren't so bad. Edward began to worry about that, but thought that maybe they were just kids that were stuck in the same situation as his younger siblings. He told his sister goodnight, then went to bed, his mind on a brunette that lived 16 minutes down the road from him.