The gentle hum of the engine stopped when I put on the brakes in front of Bella's house. She turned her gorgeous brown eyes on me, and I noticed that they were clouded with fear. I cupped her cheek in my hand and began stroking her face. Such soft skin she has . . .
"What's wrong?" I asked her. Seeing her in such a worried state unnerved me.
She hesitated, but then said, "News goes around Forks pretty quick. I have a feeling that Charlie might not want to you with me because he heard about you punching Mike, even if it was because you were protecting me. He could say something you being a bad kid and then not letting us see each other. It's just a feeling, but-"
I lowered my lips to her ear. "Even if he forbids me from ever seeing you again, that certainly won't stop me. I'll be with you every minute possible," I whispered. She grinned and pressed her soft lips to my cheek for one second, then hopped out of the car cheerfully. Once at the porch steps, she turned and puckered her perfectly full lips, blowing me kiss. I ran out of the car at the fastest speed I could muster and grabbed her divine face in my hands. Passion emanated out of my every pore as I kissed her, my lips moving in rough, fervent movements. Her delicate hands traced lightly over my face and seized fistfuls of my hair. My hands cupped her cheek and stroked the silky skin. From my face to the back of my neck, Bella's fingers were making an exquisite feeling flow through my veins by rubbing my skin with her fingernails. She let out a soft sigh, making my desire swell dizzyingly. We broke apart, gasping for some much-needed air.
"Mr. Masen, what was that for?" she gasped in a fake state of appall.
"I'd rather kiss you for real." I whispered against her skin, diving back into her full lips.
I heard someone clear their throat very loud and conspicuously, and turned to see Charlie standing in the door with his arms crossed. "Hello, Edward. I'm Mr. Swan," he grunted. He glared at us, and I realized that Bella's hands were still in my hair, and my hands were still clinging to her waist. I disentangled us quickly, seeing Bella's face turn five brand new shades of red.
"Nice to meet you, sir," I said politely. I put my hand out for him to shake, but he simply glanced down at it and ignored the gesture. His eyes narrowed angrily at me.
"Did you have a . . . fun afternoon?" he said, addressing Bella this time. With the way he stressed the word 'fun', I could easily tell he thought we had been groping behind a building.
"Yes," Bella said quietly.
Charlie smiled at her and turned to frown and say (more along the lines of snarl) to me, "I heard you got a detention, Masen."
I dropped my eyes to the ground, letting shame take over my body. "Yes, sir," I murmured.
"You listen here," Charlie growled. "I don't want my little girl hanging around any juvenile delinquents! So if you plan to keep up this criminal beha-"
"Dad!" Bella snapped, interrupting his rant. "You don't even know why he was in detention, so don't accuse him of anything. You were about to tell him what a bad person he was, when he was only in detention because he was protecting me."
"From who?" Charlie scoffed.
"Mike Newton. He tried to, err, injure me," she answered without hesitation. His jaw dropped and his eyes bugged out so far that I thought they'd fall out.
"Mike Newton?" cried Charlie once his jaw was up.
"Mike Newton," she said again.
"Bella, honey," Charlie said, his mood changing from shocked to understanding. "I know you've been through a lot these past months, but now is not the time to lie just so that your criminal friend won't get hurt."
"I'm not lying about what Edward did! He's a good person, dad. He's loving, smart, funny, clever, and he cares about me," she protested. I felt warmth spread throughout my palm as Bella slipped her hand in mine. I gave it a gentle squeeze of reassurance.
"Why don't you get inside, Bells?" Charlie said, ignoring what she said before. "I want to chat with Edward."
When Bella glanced at me, I nodded to signal that she could leave. Once he heard the click of the door, Charlie turned to me. His slightly hairy hands were clenched into tight fists and his eyes were shut tightly.
"If you ever come near this house while my daughter is in it again, I will castrate you!" Charlie managed to growl through clenched teeth. "Better yet, never come near her again. Never. Again," he barked, enunciating each syllable.
"But sir, if you could give me a minute to-" I started to explain.
"NO!" Charlie bellowed. "Now leave my property!"
I hurried to my car, not wanting to anger him anymore. Instead of speeding off, I settled for a normal pace so that my arrival back at the house wouldn't some so soon. My thoughts crashed and collided with each other. Throughout the whole conversation with Charlie, it was all I could do to not start screaming at him that he was doing this wrong.
"But I love her!" I wanted to shriek in his face. "And she loves me!" Err, I hope . . . Either way, I love Bella and want to spend every minute of the rest of my existence with her. And somehow, I'd get Charlie to let me.
~!~!~!~!~!~
"Good morning, Edward," Bella said cheerfully. Strands of brown hair clung to her pale cheeks, wet from the ever persistent rain. Since the crash, she had no car, and since last Saturday, she had no ride. But though six days ago Charlie had banned me from ever seeing or interacting with Bella again, we hadn't stopped. She was like some sort of drug that I couldn't get off of. So alluring and addictive she was. I was always surprised that she didn't realize it. How could someone so angelic and kind not see themselves that way?
"Hello, beautiful," I murmured into the crook of her neck, breathing in the flowery scent of her skin. I felt her giggle.
"You certainly know the way to greet someone. I feel right at home, and I'm in only in front of the school," she laughed.
"If you feel at home when I do that, you'll never want to leave once I do this." My lips caught hers in a passionate kiss, every single pore exhaling desire. After firmly planting my hands on her waist, she deepened the kiss, her tongue gliding perfectly over my bottom lip. My knees felt weak, almost like I couldn't sustain the passion.
From behind me I heard a very conspicuous clearing of a throat. When I took my lips of Bella, I turned to see Mike Newton with an angry look on his face.
"She's still mine, you know," he hissed, looking at Bella with, not love, but raw, disturbing lust.
"Leave. Now!" I growled at him, pulling Bella close to my side, making sure that Mike couldn't see or get to her.
"You think you're so amazing. With your hair and eyes and clothes. And everybody says to be nice to Masen because his retard of a father died," Mike whined.
"My father was no retard!" I shouted, steeping towards Mike.
"You know he was, Masen. Word on the street is that you're mom is loopy and hooking up with any guy she can get. Rumor is that so far she's hooked up with Bella's dad, too," he announced smugly.
"Listen here, you stupid heathen!" Bella snarled. "Edward's father was no imbecile, and his mother is no prostitute! I suggest you leave before I finish breaking the rest of your face."
Mike's eye grew wide with fear before he scampered off like a dog that had done something naughty, muttering something like 'hot, but crazy'.
I turned to Bella, a proud grin emerging on my face. "Would you care to show me what we were doing before being to rudely interrupted, my lady?"
"Why of course, good sir. I believe we were just about here." she growled playfully, leaning into my lips once again. The weak feeling came back, so I broke the kiss momentarily to press her against the brick wall. Her delicate hands gripped my shoulders, pulling me forward. My hands played with her silky locks as my tongue moved up and down the length of her lips.
"ISABELLA MARIE SWAN." yelled someone from behind me.
Assuming it was Mike, I hissed angrily, "Mike, get out of here! I have business to finish with Ms. Swan here. Kissing is an art, my friend, so therefore you should not interrupt my practicing."
"Maybe I should practice my punches." the voice shouted again. I looked up to see none other than our beloved Charlie.
"Oh." was all I managed to choke out.
"Bella-- car. Masen-- Siberia." he commanded.
Being the brilliant problem-solver I am, I was only able to squeak out, "Oh crap."
~!~!~!~!~!~
Anyone remember the life lessons figures on TLC? The tiny statues with random people in awkward situations that say things like, 'If he wants you to be his mom, you don't want to be his girlfriend.' They're all colorfully painted and have mildly entertaining saying that will supposedly help you fight through life. If they had actually gone on the market, there would have been a chance that there would have been some money made. Helpful and catchy; who wouldn't want that? What TLC never included was the lesson about not making Charlie Swan excruciatingly mad.
Because he can shout. Loudly.
After ushering Bella into the car, Charlie turned towards me with an fuming, red face. "Did I not tell you to stay away from my daughter?" he spat into my face.
"Yes." I squeaked.
"So why did I see you two getting so touchy-feely over there?"
"I- I love her." I said quietly.
"You love her?!" Charlie screamed. "You're a kid! You don't know what love is! This is just a stupid crush that you both will get over! You're just using her as a toy in some sick game that you enjoy playing. She's only entertainment for you."
I gasped. "Entertainment?!" I shrieked just as loudly. "Bella is everything to me! I need her, and want to be with her forever!"
"Do you really mean that, Edward?" Bella asked quietly from behind Charlie.
"Get in the car!" Charlie barked at her.
Ignoring him, I answered truthfully, "Yes." She ran forward and hugged me tightly, only to be wrenched away by her father.
"Isabella, I said to get in the car!" bellowed and angry Charlie. She narrowed her eyes at him and then walked off.
"As I was saying, stay away from her. Your groping and kissing won't help her at all! She has a fresh mind and I would rather you not corrupt her. I want her to start off with love and being cherished. I can do just that."
"You call that cherishing?" I protested, referring to him practically dragging her to the car. Cherishing was gentle, intimate touches, not pushing and shouting. If that's what he called love, I was scared about what he called discipline.
"I actually love her." Charlie defended. His eyes were bulging out so far that I feared they might fall out of their sockets.
"Mr. Swan, I don't know if you understand-"
"NO! It's you who obviously doesn't understand. If you did understand, then you would realize that you should stay away from Bella!" he screeched. With that, he stomped off unhappily to his car. Before he closed the door and drove off, he added, "And if you really love her, you'll stay away!"
Chapter End Notes:
I don't why, I just have a thing for bashing Charlie. He irks me and I have no idea why.
I won't beg, but I really do love it when you review. They just make my day so much nicer. :)