Chapter 3
The growling started low in Edward's chest, his black eyes fixed on me. His head leant closer to me, where his hand was still clamped across my mouth, as he deeply inhaled again. His body pinned me to the wall, pushing me even more firmly against it when I made a token attempt at fighting him. Putting down my small resistance was so easy for him that I wasn't even sure he was aware he had done it. I could neither move nor scream - only passively wait to see if he was stronger than the bloodlust that currently consumed him. I couldn't even plead with him.
I felt the tears well up in my eyes, felt one splash down my face to his hand as I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't want to watch the love of my life give in to the pull to destroy me.
Suddenly, the growling stopped abruptly. The silence was worse, as I held my breath and waited for the piercing pain of his teeth through my skin, whimpering when it took longer than I expected. Was he toying with me? I didn't dare open my eyes to find out.
But the pain never came.
An agonized sound suddenly ripped out of his throat. He still had hold of me the same way, but his voice sounded farther away. Daring to open my eyes, I came face to face with his tortured expression. His frighteningly black eyes weren't looking at me, per se. They were fixated on a tiny drop of liquid on his hand - my tear - as he leaned as far away from me as he could while still maintaining his grip on me. I knew without having to ask that he wasn't breathing. His struggle for self-control was all too evident.
"Bella..." My name was partly groan, partly pure horror, and I knew the danger wasn't entirely over yet. He didn't have to tell me what he was thinking; I already knew. During the two days I'd been sick, his thirst had increased to a dangerous level, something which neither of us had paid as much attention to as we should have. But now he was so close to killing me. I knew how'd he take it later - not well. Strangely, in that moment I was more worried about him than I was myself.
But before I could even blink he tensed again, moving rapidly back toward me. I almost panicked until I saw that something else had caught his attention this time. His eyes had grown wide, unfocused, his face lined with heavy concentration. And then suddenly instead of pushing me against the wall, he was pulling me against him. He kept his one hand clamped over my mouth, but the other arm that had been pushing me up against the wall was suddenly around me, holding me against him, shielding me. His eyes darted around wildly. In a heartbeat his actions had gone from aggressive to protective.
His eyes were still haunted and blacker than coal when they met mine, and I thought he was going to say something else to me - beg my forgiveness, or even yell at me about Charlie's credit card. But without warning, the wall was suddenly no longer at my back. My feet were off the ground as he swept me up in one arm. Everything was a blur until suddenly I was standing in our hotel room. Edward himself was almost still a blur as he swiftly gathered my clothes, toiletries, and the medicine he'd bought for me. I stood frozen in place, watching him dumbly and trying to keep up - near paralyzed in shock. As he threw things in the bag, he seemed to be looking for something.
Finally, he looked straight at me and spoke, his voice sending a shudder through me as he glared at me, seeming annoyed that he had to stop moving so quickly and ask.
"Where is it?" he asked darkly. "Tell me quickly, Bella, there's little time."
I didn't have to ask what he was talking about. Meekly, I pointed at the chair where I had hid Charlie's credit card just before passing out for two days.
Fingers ripping through the cushion in his haste, he found the card quickly - almost as quickly as he snapped it in two between his fingers and shoved the pieces in his pocket.
"We have to go. Now." His voice was hard, cold, impersonal, and I felt myself finally begin to tremble as I went into what was probably near-dangerous shock. Had I pushed him too far?
Or had he pushed me too far?
As surely as the plastic card that had represented my independence, I snapped completely in two, backing away from him.
"No! I'm not going! I can't do this anymore. I want to see my dad. I'm going to see Charlie!"
Foolishly, I turned toward the door; I should have known Edward was too fast for me. He was already packed, so he just grabbed my arm and allowed my forward motion to continue, half dragging me out the door behind him.
"No!" I protested. "I said I'm not..." That was as far as I got before he let go of my bicep to grab me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and clamping his hand over my mouth again. Before I knew it, he was pushing me in through the driver's door of the Jeep, dropping me into the passenger seat. Firm though he was, he had still inflicted no pain other than the brief moment outside the store when he'd pushed me too hard against the wall as he almost killed me. Vaguely, it struck me just how much control he must be exercising, to manage not to hurt me at the same time that he was manhandling me.
He let go of my mouth as soon as the door closed behind him, and didn't seem too worried about the noise level as I completely lost it and started screaming for him to let me go. He just firmly gripped my left wrist in his hard, cold hand as he cranked the Jeep and spun out of the parking spot and onto the road so fast it made me dizzy. He didn't even blink when I screamed for Charlie at the top of my lungs, beating on the window with my free hand as we flew past the store onto the main highway. It occurred to me that since their vehicles were modified in every other way to be as strong as the vampires who owned them, they were probably practically soundproof too. Maybe even bulletproof. And missileproof. Though why they needed any of the above, I couldn't be sure.
Desperate not to be taken away when Charlie was so close and in obvious pain, I fought desperately to escape. It was useless, of course. When I used my right hand to try to open the door, Edward simply let go of the wheel long enough to reach over and capture it with his left, quickly transferring it to his right with my other one so that he now held both of my wrists easily in one hand. He accelerated quickly, and was soon driving one-handed faster than I'd seen him drive yet.
"No! Edward, please! Please take me back! We have to go back!" Tears streamed down my face as I pleaded with him.
Everything seemed to hit me at once, including fear that I'd seen my dad for the last time. And what a horrible way to remember him - face drawn and pinched with worry, but desperately hopeful that he would find a clue at the store where someone had used the credit card he'd given to his daughter.
And then there was the fact that in the span of five minutes I'd gone from happily imagining myself on a romantic getaway with my boyfriend, to being confronted head-on by my dad's grief, to having said boyfriend almost kill me, and now I was a prisoner again.
"Please...please...I need to go home!" I was openly sobbing at this point, no longer fighting him - just breaking down completely. "I have to go home, Edward. Charlie needs me. And Mom...please!" At the thought of Renee's free spirit being broken by my disappearance, I was completely overwhelmed and only sobbed harder. "Oh God...I'm going to be sick. Please stop!"
His hands tightened slightly on my wrists, in a way that told me my pleas were affecting him. His voice was as tight and drawn as I'd ever heard it.
"I can't, Bella. We can't stop." His eyes stayed on the road, but his voice began to sound strangled. "Please stop begging me...please." The last word was whispered. "You don't understand."
"Yes, we can stop!" I begged anyway, completely past any point of reason. I'd reached my limits and could take no more. "I need to see Charlie. It's okay. We can explain it to him. He'll understand," I babbled incoherently, crying more desperately by the second. It was a miracle he could make sense of what I was saying.
"Bella, you don't understand!" Edward was practically shouting, but not from anger. I dazedly recognized the same panicked frustration I'd seen in him right before he took me. "You led him right to us!"
My head shook back and forth frantically, my heart pounding faster by the moment. "No - no, just to the store. He didn't see us. But please, Edward, you've got to let me at least talk to him!"
"I'm not talking about your father, Bella!" Edward's frustration and fear boiled over; he hit the wheel for emphasis, terrifying me that he would lose control of the Jeep at 150 miles per hour. He didn't, of course, but I did suddenly notice how closely he was watching everything around us. "That's why we haven't seen James. He's been tracking Charlie, and he followed him here. You led James right to us!"
Suddenly all I was aware of was a roaring sound inside my head, like a white noise that enveloped me in a tunnel and could only allow one thought: Charlie. James had followed Charlie. My father was at the mercy of a vampire who would stop at nothing to find me - including torturing or killing my dad. And instead of protecting him, Edward was driving in the opposite direction, with me as his prisoner.
Charlie was going to die.
And then, mercifully, the white noise was joined by blackness as I mentally shut down and knew nothing more, passing out and slumping over against the passenger door.
ooo
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Eventually, I became aware of a rhythmically repetitive sound, coming from far away - maybe from some deep, dark tunnel.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The noise was coming closer, but I didn't want it to. I was happy where I was. I didn't even know where I was, but I liked it: nothing was there. It was comfortingly empty.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Slowly, against my wishes, I felt myself pushing my way to consciousness - almost as though I was fighting through layer after layer of thick wool surrounding my brain. It would be so much easier to simply stay wrapped in the wool, but something was pulling me toward awareness. I knew without a doubt what that something was:
Edward.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
I was consumed by the desire to see him, to know that he was okay. I couldn't remember exactly why as I pushed my way up through the fog, but I had the sense that he had been in danger. Something danced right at the edge of my mind, but I couldn't grasp it.
I only knew I needed to wake up.
So I did.
And the tapping stopped immediately, before I ever moved - as though it knew.
I found myself on a very, very soft bed - a huge bed, solid wood and four-poster. No, actually, I wasn't on the bed. I was definitely in the bed, tucked in with soft, warm blankets, my head pillowed on what must be very high-quality pillows. It was close to what I imagined resting on a cloud must be like.
But that wasn't what captured my immediate attention.
No, the very first thing I noticed was so much more important than that...
I was alone.
Edward wasn't leaning over me, murmuring into my ear or brushing hair off of my forehead. My hand wasn't in his, and his arms weren't around me.
"Edward!" I called out and sat bolt upright, panicked, suddenly remembering why I had been afraid for him. James. James was looking for us. Had he hurt Edward? He must have, if he wasn't with me. But then, if that was true, why was I...alive?
"I'm here, Bella," I heard, so quietly that I almost thought I'd imagined it. Looking around wildly, I finally found him. He sat against the far wall, as far as he could be from me in the spacious, opulent room we occupied. He sat on the ground, one leg straight out and the other foot planted flat with the knee facing the ceiling. His head was thrown back against the wall, as though holding it up was too much effort. One arm rested across the one upturned knee, and the other arm hung casually down his side to the floor beside his hip. His expression was anything but casual, however. I sucked in a sharp gasp as I took in his appearance.
"Edward?" I asked him tentatively. His face looked haggard, if such a beautiful face can. He had clearly had his hands in his hair, pulling and running through it many times in frustration or agony. His shirt was partially untucked, the laces of one shoe untied. But nothing struck me more harshly than his empty, haunted eyes. Dark circles stood out under them, in stark relief to his pale skin. He didn't respond this time, now that he'd let me know where he was. He simply dropped his head sideways, staring down at the one hand that was on the floor.
It was then that I saw the source of my strange tap, tap, tapping sound: he held one of the pieces of Charlie's credit card in his hand, where he'd been idly tapping it against the floor - the type of nervous gesture I wasn't used to from him. I wondered what thoughts had tortured him as he held it: had he been wondering if I'd been trying to lead Charlie to us? Was he angry with me? No, I concluded...he wasn't angry at me. He was worried about me. How long had I been out?
Needing to reassure him - and myself - I spoke softly. "It's all right, Edward. I'm okay. I'm fine now."
"I know," he told me, again too quietly. "I've been listening to your heartbeat. To your...breathing." His voice broke twice...once on the word heartbeat, and once on the word breathing. Both seemed to bother him. Something danced on the edge of my memory - something that I felt like I should remember but simply couldn't - something that would explain why the thought of my heartbeat seemed to suddenly cause him pain.
Rhythmically, maddeningly, he began tapping the broken piece of plastic against the floor again. "I'd apologize for waking you with this, but...well, I wouldn't mean it. I'm certain that was my intention." He sounded too dead, too empty. "I finally realized that the sound of my voice and my presence was only driving you farther away. This was all I had." He still wouldn't look at me.
"Edward..." Carefully, not trusting my limbs, I pushed the covers back and shakily stood. I crossed to his side, trying to kneel in front of him. But as soon as I got too close, his hand shot out and grabbed my arm, holding me at arm's distance. The card in his hand clattered to the ground, forgotten.
"Stay back, Bella," he warned darkly.
Suddenly, that memory came flooding back as well, and I knew what was bothering him.
Outside the store. Edward, deeply inhaling to calm himself and instead getting a lungful of my scent. He'd very nearly killed me. Accepting his boundary, I sat on the floor a few feet from him but didn't retreat any further.
"It wasn't your fault," I whispered, and he scoffed bitterly, a humorless combination between a grin and a grimace contorting his handsome features.
"Wouldn't have made much difference, would it?" Shaking his head, he squeezed his eyes shut. "I almost killed you today, Bella. You have no idea how close..." His voice trailed off, his eyes opening to search mine. Without warning, suddenly his restraining hand on my arm disappeared and I heard a loud crack. I jumped and flinched away from him, realizing seconds later that he'd punched the ground by his leg. The beautiful hardwood floor in what I could only assume was the highest priced hotel suite imaginable now had a hole in it from his fist.
When his eyes met my face again, I wished I'd kept my startled reaction to myself. He only added frightening me to his list of crimes, a bitter smile of resignation ghosting across his lips as he shook his head minutely. "I was kidding myself, Bella, to ever think that I could be anything but poison to you."
Suddenly, I didn't care about his boundaries. Pushing closer to him, I threw my arms around his neck recklessly. "No! Don't you do that! Edward, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me! You're..."
"Shhhh..." Gently, he pried me off of him, laying a finger across my lips to stop my stream of panicked speech. His eyes were bottomless in their sadness. "Don't worry, love. I'm still going to make you safe. I'm not going anywhere until you're safe."
I wasn't entirely reassured by that word 'until', but he was here now and his reference to my safety brought up more pressing concerns as one more memory jolted through my overtaxed brain.
"James! How - what - did he - you said he was behind us! Where..."
Edward nodded slowly, studying my face warily as though wondering how much more I could handle.
"He was. He came into range where I could read his thoughts just after Charlie entered the store."
"Charlie!" I gasped. My mind must have shut that part out, but it hit me with even harder force the second time around. "Oh, God, my dad! Did he..."
Edward shook his head, dark eyes locked to my face, but I noticed that he made no move to physically comfort me as he normally would. "No. He has no intention of harming Charlie. He's rather enjoying stretching the game out, taking his time - letting your own father do the work. The irony appeals to his sadistic senses."
Edward's lips curled back, baring his teeth, and I knew exactly what he thought of James' sick pleasure with the idea of my own father being the one to sign my death warrant by finding me. I saw the effort it took to get control of himself before he continued.
"And there's something else there too, but...he didn't think clearly enough of it for me to be sure. Like something's chasing him as well. I can only assume that my family's been tracking him, shadowing him; and then when he got too close to Charlie they made a move. I would assume that's why James broke off following us from the store so abruptly and then disappeared again: he must have sensed my family was close, although they never got close enough for me to hear."
"Or maybe we just outran him," I offered, trying to calm the rapid beating of my heart and the panic that threatened to overtake me.
The overly careful way that he searched my face, gauging my ability to handle what he had to say, made my blood ran cold. This was the worst of it, I was sure.
"What?" I asked, not sure I wanted the answer.
His lips pressed into a thin line, and ever so briefly he reached toward me before dropping his hand without ever touching me. His voice was grim. "Bella, we shouldn't have been able to outrun him. Not like that. He was almost on top of us by the time I got you in the Jeep. I thought he would attack at any moment. He intended to."
My breath caught in my throat, as my subconscious began to debate whether or not to give back in to the seductive pull of unconsciousness. Knowing James had been so close was nearly enough to shove me back over the edge. But then Edward abruptly switched gears.
"I'm so sorry, Bella. That's the reason I couldn't stop when you felt sick. And then when you..."
His hands came up to his face, his head dropping into them as he groaned, no longer touching me. "I had to drive for an hour with you unconscious, before James finally disappeared. I drove another 30 minutes before we got here. It still seemed too close to stop, but you..."
I pulled at his hands, and he allowed me to remove them from his face, gratefully taking hold of mine and gripping them in his own. He brought one to his lips, closing his eyes as he kissed it. Relief flooded me as he allowed that contact, and then again when he continued to hold my hand and rested his forehead against it. "Bella...these have been the longest two hours of my existence. I called your name so many times, but you just...you wouldn't even look at me. You just..." He bit his lip, shaking his head, and then ever so gently released one of my hands and brought a finger to my face to trace it down my cheek. If he'd been able to produce tears, I was certain he'd be doing so.
"My Bella...where were you? Where did you go?" he finally whispered, his voice breaking.
I didn't even know the answer to that one. Clearly, I'd been in worse shape than I thought. To me, it'd been nothing more than a pleasant sleep. I couldn't help wonder what Edward had seen. Had my eyes been open? Had I stared wordlessly, sightlessly at him? Vaguely, I thought that perhaps I remembered him calling my name; remembered the sound of crashes and growls and pleas and whimpers of agony. Everything had just been too much - I had just shut down to protect myself. But I could hardly ask Edward what had happened, not in his condition; he didn't need anything else to feel guilty for.
"Nowhere," I reassured him breathlessly, still unsure about how much I should touch him at his current level of thirst. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here. I'm fine." Taking a deep breath and gathering my courage, I volunteered for the last thing I wanted to do - getting back in the Jeep. "We can even go, if we need to. I'm fine. We can get back on the road right now."
If anything, Edward looked more miserable. He turned his head, looking sideways past me. I followed his gaze, gasping at the gorgeous view in front of me. Almost one full wall of the huge room was made of glass, looking out into one of the most magnificent forests I'd ever seen. I hadn't noticed it before - I'd only been looking for Edward. But even in the midst of our horrifying situation, the beauty made my breath catch in my throat.
"Oh...Edward...it's beautiful."
Again, he looked at me with those eyes that seemed to be trying to assess just how much I could deal with. "It's one of Carlisle's many real estate holdings," he told me carefully. "I've lived here many times. The property backs up to the forest, and it's very secluded. Nothing for miles."
Slowly, I began to catch up with why we were still here. Suddenly, I sat a little straighter. "Oh."
"I have to hunt," Edward confirmed hoarsely when he saw my understanding, sounding as though he was confessing to a crime. "Leaving you is incredibly dangerous, but I can't risk this anymore either. I should be strong enough to stay with you, but Bella I'm not. I'm too weak, and yet still a thousand times stronger than you. I'm as dangerous to you as James at this point."
"So you're...taking me with you?" My voice shook, suddenly unsure if I wanted to see Edward on the attack after coming so close to being a meal myself.
His eyes closed, his shoulders falling. "You know I can't. You have to stay here."
The idea of being left alone when James had been so close earlier was frightening, but I wasn't about to ask Edward to stay when he so clearly needed to go. "I'll be fine here," I assured him, trying very hard to mean it. "I won't try to leave."
Edward exhaled deeply, opening his eyes with a new look of firm resolve in them that was almost frightening. More frightening was the fact that that firm look was focused on the ground in front of him. He refused to meet my eyes, and he looked like a prisoner on his way to the gallows. His voice sounded strangely dead when he spoke.
"I know you won't leave, Bella. I'm going to make sure of it." Finally, he met my eyes, but what I saw there was no comfort. "You may never speak to me again after this, and I regret that more than I can tell you. But you've left me no choice. Your safety is more important."
I inched backward away from him a little bit. "What...what do you mean?"
He leaned away from the wall now, beginning to close the distance between us. His eyes burned into mine.
"I can't hear your thoughts, Bella. If I could, it wouldn't be an issue. Even if you ran, I could find you before James could. This wouldn't be necessary."
In a sudden panic, I scrambled to my feet, backing away. What the hell wouldn't be necessary? A shiver ran down my spine when I saw how dark his eyes were. A sudden panic ran through me that maybe he intended to feed from me...
Edward sprung lightly to his own feet - seeming very much the stalking predator all of a sudden - but still with that same look of dread on his face. He seemed desperate for me to understand, but I still had no idea why. I couldn't make my throat form words; fortunately - or unfortunately, depending on your perspective - he was still talking.
"But I can't hear you. I can't know what you're planning, or what you're doing when you're out of sight. I can no longer afford to simply trust you in this situation, Bella. Doing so has already endangered you once. I can't let that happen again."
Okay, I knew what that part meant. Wincing, I glanced down at the pieces of Charlie's credit card, abaondoned on the floor when he had jumped up.
Like the victim in some kind of slasher movie, I decided to try bargaining. "Edward...I wasn't trying to lead Charlie to us. I just hated the idea of you paying for everything. Really. It's okay. You can trust me."
His eyes closed. "Stop, Bella," he cut me off, and it occurred to me that he'd probably heard similarly ineffectual pleas from humans in his past - most likely ones he'd killed. The thought was a chilling one. "I do trust you, with everything but this. You didn't intend to endanger yourself. But you did. Surely you understand that with a monster like James after you, I can't take that risk again. I have to know you'll be where I left you when I return."
He had gone eerily still, but I continued backing away...for all of another 3 steps, before his eyes snapped open and his body tensed. He must have been building his resolve...
"I'm so sorry, Bella. I'll understand if you can't...but I'm begging you to forgive me for this."
I opened my mouth to scream, but never got the chance.
Suddenly, I landed on the bed, flat on my back. There was no oomph to it...I had been picked up and then set down as gently as a carton of eggs, which was nothing short of miraculous considering the speed with which it happened. But before I even had a chance to ponder what I was doing there or why, I felt what I thought was the icy cold of Edward's hand settling around my wrist and pulling it over my head.
But it couldn't have been his hand, I realized quickly - because his hand closing around my wrist wasn't usually accompanied by the sound of metal ratcheting shut, click by rapid click. Being the police chief's daughter I should probably recognize that sound, but then again I'd never really accompanied Charlie on many arrests, either...
But I still thought I had a pretty damn good idea of what it was.
My sudden suspicion was confirmed when I realized that the icy coldness was still around my wrist, despite the fact that Edward had now backed several paces away from the bed, looking incredibly nervous and uncomfortable.
Holy freakin' crow...Edward had just handcuffed me to the bed - specifically, my right wrist to one of the tall posts of the headboard, with my arm stretched out over my head. I was so shocked I didn't even move at first.
"Edward! What the hell!"
He winced, but didn't back down. "I don't like this any more than you do, Bella, I assure you. This is strictly for your safety. Please don't be concerned that I have any less than honorable intentions."
I just stared at him, and very nearly rolled my eyes as I finally translated that one into 21st century English. He thought that I thought that he...oh. Riiiight. Yeah, like that was on my list of worries.
I'd never heard him babble before, but that was definitely what he started doing as he backed another step away, misconstruing my silence for doubt of his intentions. "You have my word that I won't take advantage of you. I'll be back very soon, and I'll release you immediately. I don't intend to venture very far. I'll be listening for James, so if he comes anywhere near I can be back almost instantly."
As only one wrist was secured, I quickly realized that I could twist sideways and sit up or even stand by the bed, albeit awkwardly. I quickly maneuvered so I could sit up, my face turning brilliant red - from fury, for once, rather than embarrassment.
"Dammit, Edward, where the hell did you get handcuffs, and what makes you think you have the right to use them on me?" was all I managed to splutter, noting absently that my language was deteriorating rapidly.
He sighed in embarrassment, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Does it matter where I got them? The sooner I leave, Bella, the sooner I can return and release you."
I just glared at him, so he dropped his hands to his sides in frustration and answered me. "Fine. I got them here. All of our homes are incredibly well-supplied, with anything you might imagine. Carlisle's had centuries to accumulate all manner of antique collections, most with some functional use in an emergency situation. While living here, he maintained a collection of military antiques. These are from that collection."
My gaze finally turned to the cold steel around my wrist. They were nothing like the ones Charlie wore on his police uniform. Much heavier and darker, they looked antique - and military - but still very, very functional. My pale wrist looked tiny in the bulky dark metal. I felt my eyes grow huge as I looked up at him, all the color washing out of my face. We stared at each other for a moment, and his features filled with even more concern as he took in my pale appearance. A flicker of doubt crossed his features, as though he was seriously beginning to question the wisdom of this decision.
"Bella? Please, please say something," he begged, his voice strained.
"Please, please tell me you have the key," I whispered in return.
He actually almost grinned at that one, just a ghost of an expression across his face. "I hardly need one. Those may be very sturdy, but they're no match for me. But to answer your question, yes, I have the key in my pocket." I relaxed, and he followed suit, his tone turning conversational. "I'm simply relieved that I remembered Carlisle's collection stored in the garage. When I realized a few days ago that I'd eventually have to leave you to hunt, I had planned to use the ropes in the back of the Jeep to secure you. This will allow you to be much more comfortable."
A few days ago? A few days ago? He had planned?
My jaw fell open as reality slammed into my chest. I'd been angry enough when I thought I'd brought this all on myself by going behind his back with Charlie's card. I could almost accept his reasoning on that. But suddenly I realized that this had absolutely nothing to do with that. This was what he'd meant when I'd originally brought up the topic of him having to hunt and he had reacted so strangely - this was the thing he'd dreaded. He'd never intended to leave me unrestrained even before I broke his trust.
"You've been PLANNING this all along?"
Unhelpfully, he froze into place.
I just stared at him for all of two seconds. And then, for the second time in one day, I completely snapped.
"NO! No, no, no, no, no!" Without even thinking about it, I started viciously yanking my hand in an effort to free myself. Sharp pain registered, but it wasn't enough to make me stop. Twisting so that I could stand by the bed, I began to put all of my weight into trying to pull my hand free, grunting and pulling over and over again as hard as I could. There was no give at all, but still I pulled, oblivious to the pain.
"Bella!"
Suddenly, my hand was immobilized in a firm grip, stopping me from pulling anymore. He managed to grab both my wrist and the handcuff chain in the same hand, so that there was no longer a possibility of me injuring my wrist any further by straining against the bindings. When I continued to fight, strong arms wrapped around me from behind, pinning my upper arms to my sides, with the bottom part of the cuffed arm still stretching toward the bedpost below the point he gripped me.
"Bella, stop! You're hurting yourself!"
Still holding me from behind, one of his hands tenderly lifted my cuffed wrist, turning it easily but carefully despite my struggles so that he could see the damage.
"Oh, Bella..." I heard him sigh. I felt cool hands gently touching the skin around the cuff, examining it. That stopped my tantrum long enough to look up and over my shoulder into Edward's guilty eyes.
"What?" I snapped.
He made an unhappy sound. "Look at this. You're going to hurt yourself if I leave this on you."
I felt a little victorious. At least he realized that. He had seen reason and wasn't going to leave me restrained.
Or so I thought...until Edward suddenly disappeared from the room and then reappeared before I could even panic about the fact that he'd left me cuffed to the bed after all. And then without warning I was flat on my back again on the bed, my still-cuffed right arm stretched back over my head. In a panic I tried to push myself up, but came up against solid resistance.
That was the moment I realized that Edward was now kneeling above me on the bed, straddling my waist. He put no weight on me - didn't even touch me unless I bucked up into him - but his solid bulk effectively prevented me from rising to a sitting position. His arms reached up over my head, doing something to the headboard.
I didn't know what he was trying to do, and I didn't care. The feeling of being trapped took over, and I started bucking, kicking, twisting, and doing everything I could to escape. Something cold wrapped around my free wrist, and for one outraged moment I thought he'd put another cuff on me before I realized that this time it was his hand.
"Edward! Whatever you're doing, stop it and get off of me!"
My struggles intensified...and that was before I saw the loops of rope in his hand...
Before I could even question him, my 'free' left hand was securely wrapped in soft rope and tied to the post behind me on my left side.
As I stared at him in shock, Edward raised up and reached into his pocket, his eyes grim. I bucked wildly fighting my bonds, and his hand shot out to grab the handcuff chain before I could hurt myself again. Before I knew it, the steel cuff was falling empty to the bed and my right wrist was free. But not for long. Before I could even pull away from him, something soft wrapped around it - to protect the skin I'd chafed, I realized later when I'd calmed down some and was thinking more clearly - and then more rope looped around and over that padding as my right wrist received the same treatment as the left, and soon was tied to the bedpost behind my right shoulder - slightly looser around that wrist, but no less secure. The knots were all positioned perfectly out of reach of my questing fingers, my arms well separated so they couldn't reach the knots on the opposite arm. I was there until he decided to untie me. Great. One more thing Edward did well.
This time, with both wrists tied, I couldn't even sit up - despite the fact that Edward had quickly got off of me the moment that both wrists were fully secured to the headboard. So that was what he meant about the handcuffs being more comfortable; with the ropes he felt compelled to secure both hands so I couldn't untie myself while he was gone. I would have been better off with the cuffs. I was getting really, really tired of making my own situation worse.
Still he leaned over me, adjusting things here and there, for almost another minute. With a disgusted sigh, I eventually relaxed into the soft bed, closed my eyes and stopped fighting him. I was so angry I couldn't even look at him.
Eventually he must have been satisfied, and I heard him slowly back away. I knew he had intentionally let me hear him, to let me know where he was. It certainly wasn't as though he couldn't move silently.
"If anything should happen, Bella...just yell my name. I'll hear you. I can only imagine what you think of me right now, but I'm still safer than the alternative. Please, please call me if you need me. I'll be close."
My eyes and mouth both opened at the same time, but before I even got a word out I saw him disappear out the large glass window into the forest.
The last thing I heard was one more whisper of, "Forgive me."
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author's Note:
So...before anybody tells me Edward would never tie Bella up even for her safety, I bring into evidence page 537 of Eclipse...Edward, speaking to Bella when they're on top of the mountain as the big battle begins: "If I didn't truly believe that, I would be down there now - and you'd be here, chained to a tree or something along those lines."
So yeah, it's in character. Not saying I think it's the best idea, but the whole point is sort of how far he's willing to go...
And also...c'mon, guys! Hardly any of you who have alerted or favorited have reviewed. If you had any idea how many times a day I check the review count, you'd take pity on me and review. I'm eternally grateful to the ones who have reviewed, especially the couple of you who review each chapter. You are my heroes. :)