Chapter 8...i think
I froze at the sight of the bear. It came closer. My heart pounded in my chest, against the protective shell of my ribs. I inhaled sharply as it sniffed me, and then cringed, as it shied away, as if I smelled bad. It howled into the night air and retreated into the forest. I exhaled heavily into the air, letting my head fall back with relief. Why is it, I thought to myself, I always get singled out by dangerous things?
I began to walk toward the city lights, hoping to find a phone there to call - I cut myself off. Oh, wait, there is no one to call. Why? Because the vampire who lives next door decided it would be better for my safety, if we didn't meet anymore. I scowled into the darkness, but silently prayed that somehow, help would come.
Finally, I made my way to the lit up town. I went up through the streets, and past a small restaurant, but it was busy, and I didn't feel like waiting. I went back out, and began to walk toward what looked like a book store. A sudden movement caught my eye. I noticed four guys walking about forty paces behind me. They'd been following me since I'd entered the town.
I took a sharp right, and instead of going to the tiny store, I made my way down to the busy streets.
They were still following me.
Silently, I cursed myself for allowing Heidi to buy my wardrobe, and packing for me. I was wearing a short, denim skirt, a blue cami, black ballet flats and a denim jacket as opposed to my preferred jeans, tank top and sweater. I made a left this time, and found my doom at a long street lined by warehouses.
It was a bad move on my part.
"Hey!" one of them calledat my back.
"Hello." I replied out of habit. I mentally kicked myself for it. At that moment, I never hated myself more. There was a small opening to my right, and I hurriedly took it. The same guys whistled at me from in front of me. My eyebrows pulled down. How could they be in front of me and behind me.
They weren't.
I was being headed off.
I began to walk faster, trying to escape my stalkers. I walked a little faster and, made another blind turn. I swore, cursing every god I knew of. Ahead of me lay...
... a dead end.
"Well, well, well. And here we thought you had run off!" One of them from the second group chortled at me, making my heart beat erratically in my chest, my legs spun me around before I could think. They were closer than I would have liked. They stepped forward in unison, forcing me to back into a corner. One of them, the one who was talking, and who I assumed to be the leader, reached out to touch my cheek. I shrunk away. This can't be happening. My mind screamed.
"Oh, come on, Sugar! We won't hurt you." He stopped for a second, appearing to be thinking. "Not after the first time, anyway." The other three snickered behind him. Fear coursed through me as they started forward at me again. Things like this don't happen to people like me…! A sick part of my mind disagreed with me.This only happens in news papers and on t.v. I wanted to cry.
One of them reached out and grabbed my jacket. He slipped one end off my shoulder, startling me into a quiet whimper as I tried to shrink away from his big hands. It didn't really help when my back hit the wall. Tears threatened to fall, so I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping it would all just go away.
And then, just as I thought it would happen, I heard the screech of tires and felt the man let go of my jacket. I opened my eyes to see...;
A shiny Volvo.
Epov-
I saw her in their minds, backed up against the wall. They were making it their sick pleasure to see her squirm. I sped through the maze of streets, desperately searching for the one she was in. It took all I had not to pull the steering wheel right out of the dashboard as I twisted into the narrow road. My Volvo barely fit. They backed away from Bella, shielding their eyes from the glare of the head lights.
I stepped out of the car, and sighed in relief when I saw her, untouched, and against the wall. I made eye contact with her and motioned toward the car.
"Get in." I said apathetically, keeping my anger under ropes as much as I could. She obeyed silently, walking to the car, getting in and locking the door. I took a step toward the men. They took a step back.
"If you ever touch another girl in a manner to her dissatisfaction, I will personally huntyou down, and kill you," I growled menacingly at them. They barely questioned me as they scrambled away, running toward the lights. I got back into the car and glanced at her shaking form.
"I'm taking you home." I said deliberately, my anger still simmering, barely under control.
Bpov
The lights of the city dimmed alarmingly as we sped away from the small town. The only sound was that of the engine, and the tires as they raced over the cool cement. Our ride, so far, had been entirely silent, ruptured only by Edward's cell phone's melodic call, to which he had answered in an irritable voice.
I was afraid that if I said anything, he would bestow upon me the fury of his irritation. I really, really didn't want that.
Eventually my heart slowed to an exemplary pace.
I waited, counting the seconds as they rolled by, while idly staring out the window in a drunken stupor. My lids felt heavy, tired, like I'd stayed up until three in the morning, only to find out that I'd gotten three hours of sleep and had a Maths test in the course of the morning.
Gathering all the courage I had, I turned to face him.
He kept his eyes on the road as he drove, fury in plain sight on his features.
"Edward?" I called his name, cautiously, softly. His hands gripped the steering wheel tightly at the sound of my voice. The skin stretched thin, making the bones evidently known.
Then, his voice broke the silence. It was taut, weary, and something else... exhausted? "When I first saw you," he started. "All I was doing was saving you from falling. I didn't expect your scent to be like it did. It was overpowering me, making me crazy. Right then I could have killed you in an instant." We both cringed as the word slipped out of his mouth. But without breaking flow he continued. "But something stopped me. The look in your eyes, the trust you put in my hands - mine!" He declared, as if he couldn't believe it. "Mine out of all people's. All of that amounted to the absurd idea that I had started to like you. The emotion surprised me."
He cast me a sideways glance, but I knew my face showed no reaction. I had practice after all. He looked back at the road, sighing resignedly. "That same day I had decided to go back to Carlisle and Esme's house. But you turn around and surprised me again. There you were; sitting on the hood of your car. Singing." He said incredulously. "I don't know why I stopped, but I did." He took inhaled loudly as we lapsed back into silence.
"I did everything to avoid you." He confessed, the words rolling off his tongue in a sad sound. I found myself narrowing my eyes at him. "I even brought you back your car. Finally, when you came back to my doorstep I had realized avoiding you was impossible. So, I took the last and final option. To break it off." He hesitated, and the silence slipped back into place. We arrived at the cabins but he didn't move to unlock the doors to let me out.
"Then you pulled another trick. You knew my secret. It baffled me. How was that possible?" He looked at me, his golden eyes burning into mine. I had to look away.
"I sat there thinking to myself. How could such an insignificant creature disrupt my self control, cause a rift in my family, and seem to have me doubting myself by the first time I laid eyes on you? Then, and only then, I realized what it was. It was that finally, after years of thinking I was complete within myself, never had I thought I would have met my match." He looked at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to say something.
My eyes stayed glued on the trees outside the window. I couldn't look at him. I couldn't. Seeds of panic blossomed in my stomach, pushing against the walls of my sanity, and made my hand twitch nervously. What was I supposed to say? What did he want me to say?
My eyes shut upon their own accord, and my fist balled in my lap. Carefully, I replayed everything he said to me in my head. Every word, I stumbled over to understand what he meant. He couldn't like me, I'd only met him two days ago!
With every second that I failed to answer him, a gap formed. It consumed the silence, the awkwardness, leaving a gaping hole between us.
"Bella?" He asked uncertainly. I turned towards him, my eyes flying open in surprise. What would I say to him? What could I say? I opened my mouth to say something, but the only sound that came out, was the shrill ringing of my cellphone muffled by the fabric of my purse.
I sent him an apologetic look, before flipping it open.
"Bella." The person on the other end addressed me before I could greet them. Her voice was urgent, not carefree like I had come to know.
It was Jane.
Hola,
So sorry that it took so long. You want to thank someone? Thank my beta Smog. Without her, all my chapters would be a jumble of mess!
read and review
kisses-
Cassie