Chapter 10

Within a few minutes I heard Edward get out of his car, so I ran from the bedroom to meet him at the door. I soon as I unlocked it, I flung the door open and Edward's arms instantly found themselves around me to pull me into a protective hug.

I broke down sobbing.

"Bella… love… everything is going to be okay… I'm here now, and I'm not going anywhere." He said in voice that was calm, confident, and smooth as velvet.

"How can you be so sure Edward?" I asked still crying.

"I can't, but I know that as long as I am with you, I won't let anything happen to you… okay love?"

I calmed down and he walked me over to the couch in the living room.

"Wait a minute! You have never called me love before… what's that all about?" I smiled through red, puffy eyes.

"Well, I love you, so that's kinda my nickname for you." He said softly.

"I guess then that it's okay," I teased not really knowing if he was saying that he really did love me like that or if he still meant as a sister. "But honestly Edward, I'm so scared…you have no idea what Jacob is capable of…" I trailed off.

"You know, I think now would be the perfect time to talk about it."

"I can't…" I shut my eyes tightly, trying to keep the memories from surfacing.

"Bella, as long as you keep these things inside, Jacob will always have a hold on you. I know you want to escape him… Let me help you through this Bella… please…" Edward said with such compassion that suddenly all the walls that I had put up were down.

"Okay," I took a deep breath. "At first Jacob was everything I thought I wanted in a man. Handsome, seemingly sweet, and I thought he had his head on straight. He asked to move in with me because his apartment was getting fumigated. Later I found out that he has actually gotten evicted." I scoffed.

"So he just moved in with you like that, with a lie?"

"Yea, then his true colors started to show… He started telling me when I had to be home, and I had to call him all the time and let him know where I was… at first I thought it was cute, you know, him being a little overprotective. But then if I forgot to do one of those things… his temper…he was so scary Edward." I hugged Edward. "Actually, the night that you saved me was the first time he actually hit me, but before that he came close…several times. I thought about running away but it was my apartment… then while I was working he would be out sleeping with a cashier that he hired… that girl from the restaurant Jessica. I still couldn't leave him, he had such a hold on me, and I thought that I would be worse off without him, that somehow he brought structure to my broken life. I know that sounds silly right?"

"Not at all, often times in emotional and verbally abusive relationships, the abuser can make the victim feel worthless and that they would be even worse without them… It's often because the abuser is insecure and that how they assert their authority…abuse." Edward explained stoking my hair.

"The funny thing is that I can look back and see so many chances I had to get rid of him, I can't believe that I was so weak and stupid…my father taught me better than that." I chuckled regretfully. Just then my cell phone went off; it was a call from the boutique.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Bella!" I heard Alice scream into the phone.

"What's wrong?" I said sitting up and away from Edward.

"Me and Rose stepped out for lunch and when we came back the store was trashed! All the money from the registers were stolen! All the clothes have been ripped up!" She kept screaming. I could hear Rose in the back crying. "And the initials J.B. were spray painted in black all over your office! You have to get down here!"

"I'll be there right away, tell Rose that everything will be okay…" I said quickly and hung up.

Edward looked at me with a question in his eyes.

"The Boutique was broken into and robbed…and I think that Jacob Black did it…" I said.

So what do you think? Suspence? Romance? REVIEW PLEASE FOR MORE CHAPTERS!!!!

-Yeseniareddy