A/N: Thank you for continuing on this journey with me. I feel that my writing has improved since I wrote this, so there are some minor word and grammar changes, but it isi still the same story as before, just a little better! I want to thank all the people reviewing and sharing their thoughts. I smile whenever I read them. They make me happy. Even if you are reading and not reviewing, know that I love you as well. Taking the time to read my words means a lot to me. This chapter had a little bit of everything, so off we go!

Bella POV

I'm frightened by what I see But somehow I know That there's much more to come Immobilized by my fear And soon to be Blinded by tears I can stop the pain. If I will it all away- Whisper by Evanescence

The first thing I did when we got back to Seattle was to call Alice. She had sent me a million messages to call her when I got back. Edward and I sat on the couch relaxing while I called her. "'Bout time, I thought you'd never call."

"We literally just got back."

"Not literally if your home already."

"We live five minutes from the freeway, Ali. So, what's so damn important?"

"Duh! When are we going out?"

"Tomorrow, Rose works tonight, and I am wiped. Traveling sucks."

"It was a four-hour drive at most."

"Tell that to my ass, which is asleep."

"Ok, put it on the phone."

"You're such a dork."

"You love me. So, tomorrow we can go out? We're going to go do karaoke."

"Cool, so how was Thanksgiving?"

"Good. Jazz's family loves me so that's good. Makes the holidays pleasant."

"Everyone loves you, Ali."

"I know! I will let you go, you sound like you're about to fall asleep. Love your guts."

"Love your face." I hung up. Edward was next to me, and I realized he had fallen asleep. I put my arms around his waist and snuggled into his chest then fell asleep myself.

Edward and I were on the couch kissing. It was getting pretty hot and heavy. I took my shirt off and he did as well. We continued to kiss, and he started kissing down my throat to my chest. He licked me all over my chest. We took the rest of our clothes off, and then he was hovering over me. He aligned himself with my entrance and slammed into me. It kind of hurt. He was being pretty rough, and it was starting to freak me out. Then I heard that voice. "You feel so good, Bella." I opened my eyes and saw Riley on top of me. I pushed him off me. I jumped off the couch and tried to cover myself up. "You always were a tease!" He launched himself at me and slammed me against the wall. "You want me, Bella. I can tell." He moved his hand to where I was wet. I whimpered.

"Please, stop! Don't do this Riley." I pushed him away from me again. "I wasn't strong enough to stop you last time, but I am now."

"Wrong again, Bella." He had that evil smile and slammed my head into the wall.

I woke up screaming and sobbing. Edward woke up and instantly gathered me into a hug. He made soothing sounds, but I could tell by his voice he was completely freaked out. I continued to cry and he stroked my hair. Once I got the crying under control, he asked the million-dollar question.

"What happened?" I shook my head violently. I couldn't tell him I was dreaming of sex with him and he turned into Riley! "You can't remember?" He asked.

"No, I can't tell you."

"Why? You know you can tell me anything." I shook my head again. He stopped me and looked me straight in the eyes. Damn those eyes! "Please."

Shit! I sighed. "You and I were making out and having sex then…" I closed my eyes. "When you said how good I felt, I realized it was Riley's voice. I opened my eyes and it was him, not you anymore. He kept pushing me, so I told him I was strong enough to stop him this time, and he bashed my head into the wall, then I woke up." I waited and opened my eyes.

He had a few lone tears on his face. I wiped them away. He grabbed my hands and looked at me intensely. "Are you ok, Bella?"

"I'm ok. Shaken and freaked out though. "

He put his head in his hands. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do or say, Love. I feel so helpless."

"You're here. You comfort me. It's ok, Edward. You do what you can, and it really helps for you to be here when I have a nightmare. Don't beat yourself up, this isn't your problem."

His face snapped up, and he looked mad. "You're my girlfriend. It is my problem if anyone is trying to hurt you!" He looked so mad and intense it kinda scared me. I kinda shrank away from him. His face softened and fell. "I didn't mean to scare you. Sorry."

"Just a little intense. It's ok, I know you'd never hurt me."

"Never." He said and kissed my forehead. I sighed and leaned into his chest. I laid there for a while until I realized I wasn't sleeping again. I got up from the couch. "You ok?"

"Can't fall back asleep. It's still early so it's ok." Edward sat up and got off the couch. He looked tired. "You're tired. Go back to bed. You can go crash in my room."

"No, Love, I'm fine. I'm not tired; I'm just worried about you."

"I'm fine, Edward. Not made of glass, year and a half of practice." He gave me a small smile and wrapped his arms around me. I closed my eyes and felt his warmth. His smell enveloped me. I was home, I was safe. I felt Edward stiffen, and it surprised me. I pulled away from him. "What's wrong?" He spun me around and pulled me behind him.

"There's someone out there."

I peeked out from behind him. "Where?"

"There in the trees." Our house had those bushy trees lining the fence at the front of the house. Where the gate opened, there was also an opening in the trees. I tried to see what he was and couldn't.

"I don't see anything, Edward."

"Something was moving out there, and I saw someone."

"What did he look like?" I almost knew the answer before he told me.

"Tall, like six feet tall. Dirty blond hair, creepy smile."

"Shit." I was up the stairs and heading to my room with Edward behind me. I went to my closet and pulled out a shoebox at the very back of the closet. I rifled through all the pictures in it and pulled out one of the very few pictures I had of Riley. I handed it to Edward. "Like this?" He took the picture and looked at it. I saw it in his eyes before he said anything. I was instantly mad. I picked up the phone, and I was about ready to dial when Edward stopped me.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling the cops, Edward, he is here now."

"We have no proof, Love. He'd be gone by the time they got here."

The phone in my hand started ringing. I sighed and answered it. "Hello?"

"What's wrong, Lover? You sound like you've seen a ghost." He chuckled. "It's too bad your boyfriend saw me, that was meant for you."

I looked at Edward with wide eyes. "Kinda stupid of you to be prowling around my house, Riley. What if I decide to call the cops?"

"I will make you look like the girl who cried wolf so fast, Isa. You know that. I'm going to become your waking nightmare. I've watched that Neanderthal touch you and kiss you. You are mine, he needs to watch himself."

"I'm not yours, you psychopath! You're sick and pathetic. I swear to god, I will make you regret it if you ever try to touch him." Edward tried to take the phone and I swatted him away.

"Oh, Isa." He chuckled. "Your anger is delicious. You always were feisty, and it still turns me on."

"Go away, asshole!" I hung up the phone. That laugh of his, and him being turned on by me, made my skin crawl. I looked at Edward.

"That was probably not the best way to handle that." He said, looking weary.

"It was the best way to handle it. I will not let him think that he can control me by scaring me. I'm not scared, he's just calling me. Not scary at all. He wanted me to see him, and not you. He threatened you."

Pissed Edward was back at those words. "What did he say?"

"That you needed to watch yourself. He won't do anything, and even if he did I doubt he'd be able to hurt you."

"I'm not worried about him hurting me, but if he touches you…"

"Stop! Going all cavemen on me is not helping the situation." He looked a little hurt. "Sorry, we just need to stop going at each other every time Riley decides to show up. Let's just have some dinner, watch TV, and then go to bed. Ok?"

"Sounds good." We went to the kitchen and warmed up some leftovers Esme had forced on us before we left. "I think my mom gave us enough leftovers to eat for two weeks."

I smiled. "Yeah, I think she gave us almost a whole turkey." We grabbed our plates and went to the living room. We watched Netflix. I made Edward watch Glee with me. He whined at first, but after a couple episodes, he started getting into it. We watched it for a while but too soon decided to go up to bed. We made out for a bit, but both of us were too tired to take it any further.

I woke up to the sound of rifling through my closet and frustrated sighs. Edward was no longer in the bed, and I saw a little pixie in my closet. I was so happy to see Alice, I didn't care she was going through my clothes. "Alice!" I jumped out of bed and rushed over to her. I grabbed her in a huge hug. She hugged me back, and then we broke apart.

"Hey, Bella!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I was trying to help pick out an outfit for tonight, but you got nothing. Good thing I foresaw that and brought something with me." She motioned towards a messenger bag she had that rested against her hip. I was worried to see what was in there.

"Let's see it, Ali." She smiled at me. She pulled out a dress I knew I was gonna refuse. "Ali…"

"That one is mine, chill." She then pulled out a dark purple and lavender dress. It looked alright. She un-folded it and it was a two-piece handkerchief dress. It was modest, but also very sexy. She also pulled out a pair of cute black boots with a chunky heel.

"I love it, Ali!"

She squealed and clapped her hands. "Yay! It's sexy but not too short right?" I nodded. I looked at the dress and it had a tank-like top. It came into a v at the bottom so triangles of the sides were gone. The skirt was the same. It showed some skin, but not too much. It was a deep purple color and had swirls of lavender. I hung it up on a hanger and hung it on the doorknob of my closet. I had the perfect earrings and necklace to go with the dress. Alice sat on the bed and crossed her legs. "So, Edward told us what has been going on around here."

"Really, what's that?" There could be two things she was referencing, or she could be baiting me. Either way, I wasn't giving up anything. She didn't need the stress.

"Riley."

Shit, she knew! I played dumb. "What about him?"

"Creeping around the house, leaving notes, calling, Bella! What the hell are you doing? Why aren't you calling the cops? He's a past violent offender."

"It doesn't matter, Ali. We have to have proof."

"Really? You ask your dad?"

"No, I don't need to give him a heart attack for something I already know."

"So, which is it, Bella? It's either so harmless that you can ask your dad, or it's really dangerous and in that case, you need to tell him."

"He'd freak about Riley sneezing around me. It's not dangerous, he's just trying to scare me."

"Bella, I don't want to see you get hurt so don't think I'm throwing this in your face, but I'm trying to get you to think." She pulled me to sit next to her and grabbed both my hands. She looked me in the eyes. "He raped you. He forced you to do something you didn't want to do. Then, he beat the shit out of you. No one, including you, saw it coming. He is dangerous."

Tears had started to run down my cheeks. "He was drunk, Alice. He wasn't the same when he's drunk."

"Bella, he's been stalking you, calling you, leaving notes. He threatened Edward! He thinks you are his. He has a very unhealthy obsession with you. This isn't about revenge. Em hasn't heard from him at all, this is about getting you back."

I got up from the bed, away from her. "Stop, Alice! That's not what this is about!"

She got up too. "Do you still have those feelings for him?"

I just stared at her. How the hell could she ask me that? She must be losing it herself. "What kind of question is that?"

"A very valid one. Stockholm syndrome, Bella."

"What the hell? I'm not a hostage, nor have I been kidnapped. We dated and he was in my life for three years before we dated. We were friends first. I can't just shut all feelings, good or bad, off."

"You will be his hostage or kidnapped if you keep trusting him."

"Wow. I don't trust him, and I don't want him back at all. Look, I'm done talking about this with you, Alice." I left the room and went downstairs. Alice followed me. Edward and Jasper both were standing up from the couch as soon as I came downstairs, and that is when it clicked in my mind. I stalked towards Edward and poked him in the chest. "You. You put her up to this? Why couldn't you just tell me yourself?" He opened his mouth to speak. "No, Edward. I never figured you for a coward, but it seems that anyone can change." I grabbed my keys. He stopped me, as I tried to leave. I wrenched my hand out of his grip. "Don't grab me!"

"Where are you going?"

"Away."

"You can't go alone."

"Don't treat me like a child, Edward!" I turned around and left the house. I heard the front door slam and spun around only to find myself face to face with a pissed Edward. He grabbed my keys.

"I will treat you like a child when you're being one. You wanna throw a tantrum and scream and yell? Well, then you need to have a reason. When you feel wronged, you can't keep attacking people. You assume way too much. I understand what you have been through, but this is happening to me now as well and I'm not content to just sit back and take it." I opened my mouth to say something, but he cut me off. "No, Bella. It's my turn. I didn't put Alice up to anything. I said that I was worried, and she asked why, so I told her. She decided to talk to you. Jazz and I could hear you two talking, loudly, upstairs before you came down. Get over the fact that people care about you, more than you care about yourself sometimes. So, you are not leaving alone. If you need to go somewhere I will go with you." He folded his arms and waited. I just stared at him. I was stunned. He just called me on all my bullshit and stood up to me. No one did that. Everyone tiptoed around me since Riley came back. Call me screwed up, but I so wanted him. I flung myself at him and started kissing him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. He kissed me back and grabbed underneath my thighs to hold me up. I needed air, so I broke away, but Edward kept kissing me down my neck. He slammed me into my car and kept kissing me. We heard someone clearing their throat loudly. I saw Alice had come outside and was standing with Jazz. Edward stopped kissing me and let me go. I untangled myself from him. I felt embarrassed at getting caught.

"Well, it seems we need to give you two some alone time, which is good because Bella barely has any make-up here, so I need to go to Jazz's and get my stuff. We'll be back later."

Edward and I both nodded. Alice and Jasper got into Jazz's car and left. I looked at Edward.

"Well, I need to take a shower. Care to join me?" He said. I ran to beat him to the door and run upstairs. Edward caught up to me and started kissing me. Then we finished what we had started outside by the car.

Rose and Emmett were always late, and we had set up plans to meet them at the karaoke bar. Imagine our surprise when we got there, that they were already there. They had a table and drinks ordered. They flagged us all over and we all went.

"Ow, Bells! Looking hot." Rose yelled.

I smiled and hugged her. "You look drop-dead gorgeous as always."

We all gathered around and talked about our week. It'd been a while since we had all got together, because of the last few weeks I was going for the numb feeling, and drinking a lot. Alice talked me into singing a song. I was just buzzed. I got on stage and said: "This song is for my boyfriend, Edward. You have been there for me and I love you very much." The music started and I sang with everything I had

My hands are searching for you My arms are outstretched towards you I feel you on my fingertips My tongue dances behind my lips for you...I'm alive, I'm alive I can feel you all around me Thickening the air I'm breathing Holding on to what I'm feeling Savoring this heart that's healing My hands float up above me And you whisper you love me...Take my hand I give it to you Now you own me All I am You said you would never leave me I believe you...Savoring this heart that's healed

I was greeted by explosive clapping and whooping, mostly from my table. I curtsied twice and headed to my friends. Edward had a glorious look on his angel face. He gave me a fierce hug and a fiery kiss when I got to him.

"I love you." He said.

"I love you too," I replied. He kissed me on the tip of my nose and I scrunched it up. He smiled. We all hung out and sang karaoke. At one point Ali, Rose, and I all got up and sang Don't turn around by Ace of Base and Barbie Girl by Aqua. It was fun and it felt great to just let go with my friends. Sadly, it had to come to an end. We left at 1:45 am. Alice was sloshed and whooping and hollering. We had said goodbye to Rose and Em, On our way to the cars Alice grabbed Edward by the front of his shirt.

"You better take care of my best friend, Edward. If anything happens to her I am holding you responsible."

Jasper loosened her hold on him. "He will, babe. Let's go home and get you in bed."

"Oh, sounds like a solid plan Jazzy. Naughty things are done in bed."

"Yeah, they are pixie." He was leading her away from us.

"Wait, my Bella. Bella?" I came over to her with some difficulty as I was almost as drunk as her. "I love you, Bella." She gave me a hug and I hugged her back. She kissed me on the cheek and smiled at me. "Don't do anything stupid, Bella."

I nodded at her. "Yes, ma'am." We all said our goodbyes. Alice got into Jazz's car and I got into Edward's. I held his hand the entire way home. I was starting to fall asleep in the car. I faintly remember Edward carrying me into the house and up to my room. The rest is just blank.

A/N: So, Riley is still around and crazy. Bella still resides in denial from time to time, and Edward is still hot and adorable, and apparently won't walk on eggshells around Bella. Thanks again for lending me your eyeballs and minds. Continue to show me love and review. Plus, bonus, this is a double posting day! See you next chapter. Love you all!