A/N:
Another longish one :) Not up to last time's standard, but at least there are bigger chunks for you guys!
Had to get a few introductions out of the way in this chapter, the next one also promises to be an epic one :P As always, I hope you like it.
Again, just have to give a shout out to Stephenie Meyer who owns all the rights and shit.
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Chapter Six
Bella POV
Weird, distorted pictures swirled behind my eyelids; giving me no sense of rest even in the darkness that was supposed to be passing out. Wasn't' shit like this meant to be peaceful? So you could recover after stressful events?
Not that I wanted to even spare a second for what had made me pass out... it was all so damn clear that I was having a hard time blocking out anything. But I had to fucking try.
And, try as I might, nothing seemed to work. Newton's leering face cam at me from all angles; blocking out Pretty Boy as he looked on, face the picture of bloody agony. It was almost worse than what I'd been through. Continuing to break my freaking heart and it was only imaginary. I was loosing my already fucked up mind.
I was just glad that, in reality, Edward had been nowhere near me when Newton turned like the rabid son of a bitch he was. Though, that only left one question. A twisted enigma. My saviour.
Who the fuck was it? Something I knew for sure, it definitely hadn't been Jacob. The guy that had picked me up and carried me off was broad, but it wasn't Jake. I hadn't seen a face, but I just knew. There was something... different... about him...
Before I could dwell on it further, I woke up. Typical.
The bed beneath me was soft, with a silky bedspread and pillows that my head begged to stay sunk in forever. Above me was a canopy, a four-poster canopy. The only time I had ever seen one of these fucking things was in the movies, no one I knew had the money to buy one of these luxuries. The room was huge, painted cream, with glass doors leading out onto a balcony.
What the hell? This wasn't making any sense. I didn't know anyone that had freaking balconies. This place was way too swanky for anyone in Forks.
My eyes continued their tour of the room, and came to rest on a very large guy sitting at the end of my bed. Just, sitting there, grinning like a fucking Cheshire cat.
"So, who the fuck are you?"
I didn't mean it to come out that way; but, after just getting away from being fucked by a freak, I wanted to know I was in a better situation. Not out of the frying pan and into the fire, so to speak.
All the big guy did was laugh. Well, more of a guffaw than an actual laugh. And, to be honest, his complacent attitude just pissed me off.
"Who the fuck are you?" I asked again, with more of a bite behind my words.
"Hello to you too."
Big guy kept grinning as his voice drawled. His bass had a slight resonance, reminding me of something growling. Something like a grizzly bear. I mean, I'd never heard a grizzly laugh, but I bet it would sound like this bastard. All I wanted to do was smack the smile right from his face. It felt like he was mocking me. I do not like being mocked. Especially by strangers.
"Are you going to answer my question, or not?"
I attempted to get up from the bed. Either to bail, and run for my life, or to hit the big guy in one of his honey coloured eyes. It was either those shimmering eyes, or his nose. The nose was a bigger target, it seemed to spread when he smiled.
"Whoa, calm down sugar."
He held his hand out, as if to put it on my shoulder, but I swatted him away. Who does this jerk think he is?
"Who are you calling sugar?" I tried to get up once more.
"You." This time, he managed to push me back onto the pillows. "Now keep your pretty head on relaxed and I might just tell you who I am."
The curiosity was too much to bear. Unfortunately, I had to stay fucking still. Just to let him know I was playing along, I folded my arms across my chest and waited. He just carried on with his stupid grin.
As I stared, I noticed he was quite good looking. Almost like the guys I would usually go for but a little broader, which I thought was impossible after the last few...
His hair was floppy, slightly in his eyes, a deep chestnut brown, making his honey eyes stand out and shine even more visibly. His large nose suited him, and his grin made me want to like him. I felt as if I was starting to...
But I couldn't let that happen, even if he was exactly my type. He was a complete stranger, plus I already had my eye on someone. It was then I remembered Pretty Boy, and the fact that we were supposed to be meeting. Quickly, I glanced out of the glass doors leading to the balcony, and noticed that it was starting to get dark.
"So, you wanted to know who I was?" His deep bass reverberated in my ears, snapping me out of another daydream. As my eyes traveled back to his face, he erupted into another wide grin. "My name is Emmett." He held out a hand for me to shake.
"Bella." I took the large fingers in a tight grasp and shook them once. Hard. All he did was smile. As if my attempt had gone unnoticed.
"Nice to meet you, Bella. Are you new here too? My family moved down here a few weeks ago, from Denali."
"I'm not really from anywhere, but I've come home to live with my father. Chief Swan. You might know him?"
I tried to drop Charlie's name subtly into the conversation, to let this guy know that I would be missed. And that my father would have the resources to find me. Though, I couldn't really find it in me to be worried about anything. This fucking guy was too... nice. If that was possible. The only thing I could pick up that was off about him was the way his skin seemed unnaturally pale, and how cold his hand had been after he had offered it to me.
"I know the Chief." He was smiling. Again. This Emmett guy couldn't freaking contain himself. "He is friends with my father, my adoptive father. Doctor Carlisle Cullen, you know him?"
"Can't say I recognise the name..." I was getting bored.
"So, Bella..." his voice gained my wandering attention. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, how are you?"
"No," Emmett laughed. "I mean, how are you?" He emphasised.
"I told you, I'm fine."
A crease of worry appeared suddenly on his forehead as he stared at me. It was as if I'd sprouted another bloody head. What was going on? I'd answered his question...
Then, it dawned on me. This was the big guy who had carried me off, who had stopped the scum that was Newton in his tracks. He must have seen, well, a lot. More than I felt comfortable with. Quickly, I brought my knees up to my chest and hugged them as the memories came at me thick and fast. There were a few sticky situations I had been in before, but nothing like that. Nothing like that...
"It's okay, Bella."
Emmett was suddenly very close, one arm around my back as he rubbed gentle circles and begged me to breathe. A part of me didn't want to be touched, wanted to recoil from the mere memory of the last time; but I couldn't find it in me to shy away from him. He must be my fucking guardian angel or something.
"How..." I gasped for breath as I tried to calm myself. "How did you find me?"
"I, uhm," he looked uncomfortable. "I heard you scream."
"Oh." My sigh was one more of relief than anxiety. "I'm glad." I felt like I had to explain. "I mean, I didn't think anyone would hear. I also thought all that would come from my screaming was fucking Newton braining me with his elbow some more."
Emmett laughed again, seeming more comfortable. It was really easy to like this guy. And I found that, the part of me that resented this likability earlier, was diminishing every second.
"So," he removed his arm from my shoulder and resumed his previous position at the end of my bed. "How are you?"
"To tell you the truth, I just want a shower."
And it was true. Everything else I could deal with, but not stuck with the impressions and grazes Newton had left in my skin. The emotional stuff was manageable, but the physical remnants were enough to make me want to burn my skin in bleach.
"Oh," Emmett laughed once more. With anyone else, it would have been starting to get on my nerves... "Well," he snapped me out of a daydream, "there is a bathroom attached to the guest room. You can use that if you want."
"Really? Wow, thanks."
Emmett got up off the bed and pulled back the sheets. Like a gentleman, he held out a hand to help me from the bed. It was if all the guys with manners had been hiding in fucking Forks all my life, except one that is.
"There should be everything you need in there. Shampoo, soap, towels..."
"Are there any spare clothes I could, you know, borrow?"
"I could ask my sister Alice, or Rosalie. They might have something. If not, I'll try my adoptive mother."
"Christ, Emmett. How many people are there in your family?"
"Well, Carlisle is married to Esme. They are my adoptive parents. When they found out they couldn't have kids, they decided to give homes to underprivileged teens. They adopted Rosalie first, then me, then Alice and Jasper came together."
"What the fuck? Dr. Cullen must be super rich." I hadn't meant to say this out loud.
"Yeah," he laughed, ignoring my embarrassment. "I guess you could say that."
"Hang on a sec," I was picking up on something he had said earlier. "If you are all adopted, how come you didn't call Rosalie your sister? Like you did with Alice?"
"It's kind of... weird. People don't really understand..."
"Understand what?"
"Well," he scratched the back of his head. "Rose and me, we're kind of a couple. The same with Alice and Jasper. I guess people just find it odd... but, I mean, it isn't. None of us are related or anything..."
"Hey!" I interrupted. "There is no need to defend yourself to me! Honest to fucking god, I wasn't complaining big guy! And, if you're happy, then who's to judge?"
"Exactly!" He beamed, obviously overjoyed at my response.
"Right," I wanted to get him back on track. "You go look for those clothes and I'll just jump in the shower. I swear, I won't be long."
Emmett smiled and raised a hand as a goodbye as he made his way to the door. I was just thinking about how I was glad I hadn't made a move on him seen as how he had a girlfriend and everything, when I realised that I hadn't really thanked him.
"Emmett?" I called.
"Yeah, Bella?"
"Thanks... for, saving me I guess."
"Anytime." He grinned, waved and closed the door behind him.
With the weight off my shoulders, I made my way into the en-suite bathroom. And it was nice. Real nice. I guess I needn't have asked if Carlisle was rich, the freaking bathroom answered the question for me.
White tiled floors, baby blue painted walls, state of the art jacuzzi bathtub with an attached shower head and all other modern appliances to boot. Rich? Abso-fucking-lutely.
I switched on the light, closed the door, found a fluffy baby blue towel and placed it over the shower railing. Then, I dared the first glance in the mirror. The glance I was bloody dreading.
And I was right to have been nervous. I looked hideous. It was a wonder how I'd remained confident when my face was this messed up.
I had one black eye, plenty of fingernail marks and a fucking abundance of blood. Mostly from my nose. Luckily, it looked like I had just been bleeding heavily and my nose wasn't at a funny angle. I tapped it gently, it didn't hurt too much. I was guessing it wasn't broken. Success.
Then, I looked at the backs of my legs. Crap. There wasn't much I could do about them. They were scraped pretty badly. The most I could hope for was to get rid of all the gravel stuck amongst the bastard scabs. This shower was going to be a painful one.
I was right. As always. I had to peel the dried blood off my face, and scratch at the wounds on my legs until they bled clean. The nail marks on the insides of my legs weren't too bad, but there was some mud from the prick Newton's dirty nails. I had to gouge that out too.
I scrubbed and scrubbed at myself in the shower until the blood ran clean. Then, I picked up the towel and was thankful for the softness against my freaking raw skin. I also knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that I would owe Dr. Cullen and Emmett one towel. There was no way they were getting this crap clean again.
As I trudged out of the bathroom, I opened the door to a little black haired girl sitting on the bed I had previously been laying in. Taking a more friendly approach than I had with Emmett, I decided to speak.
"Hey, are you Rosalie or Alice?"
"I'm Alice. And could you, ummm, please close the bathroom door?" Her face was extremely pale.
"Sure." I turned around and closed it gently behind me. "So, you afraid of blood or something?"
"Something like that." She trilled a bird-like laugh. "I brought you some clothes." She pointed to a pile in front of her.
"Thank you so fucking much."
"It's no problem," she smiled. "But, do you always swear like that?"
"Pretty much." I nodded.
I couldn't exactly lie to this pixie-like creature sat before me. If I was to continue to talk to her, she would find out the truth anyway.
"Get dressed, then, and I can take you home."
"Actually..." I hugged the towel closer to my body, brushing up against the bruises and causing me to wince. "There's somewhere else I need to be."
"Oh, right. Where?"
I could tell she was finding it hard to repress her curious side.
"Tell you what, if I tell you about this and sate your curiousity you let me swear as much as I godamned please."
"You, Bella, have yourself a deal."
"Right, well I have to be at Forks High. You see, there's this guy..."