Chapter II
"You can wear this while your dress is drying," I said as I handed Bella one of my old t-shirts.
She held it against her chest. "Where may I change?"
"There's a bathroom right down the hall to the left."
She nodded then slowly left the room.
I sunk back into my bed and pulled fiercely at my copper hair. I had to find a way of telling Bella, very smoothly, that she really had to get going by the morning.
In a way I knew there wasn't a chance she could stay here with me; I didn't even know who she was for fuck's sake! But on the other hand, for some twisted, fucked up reason, I didn't want to let her go.
Maybe it was my solitude getting to me. It never bothered me before, but now that Bella was here, with all of her glory and despair, all I could think about was what my life would be like if I had... someone.
No. I couldn't afford that. And I wouldn't make the same mistakes all over again. Not because of a pretty little face. Well, Bella isn't just any pretty little face...
I got up and went to the guest room to prepare the bed for her. I had to be strong. First thing in the morning I would wake her up, give her some breakfast and take her back to the main road. I was sure she had somebody waiting on her. She had to have a family somewhere worried about her. It didn't seem like it, though. She almost got on her knees and begged me to stay. But why? Why would anybody want to live here? With me?
I heard the floor board creack lightly behind me and turned around. Bella was at the doorway wearing my black shirt, which looked huge on her. It was a sight to behold.
"Oh. Hey um... You can stay here for tonight. I'll be in my room if you need anything."
Bella was still standing in the doorway and when I walked past her, she grabbed my arm.
"Thank you, Edward. For your kindness," she whispered, and her face is so close to mine that I can smell her intoxicating sweet breath. I blinked furiously. How did she do that?
"No problem," I mumbled and headed to the bathroom.
After my shower, I went to my room and closed the door after me. Bella's probably sleeping . The house was utterly silent, and I couldn't help but remember the weird storm before Bella's arrival. Perhaps that was what made her get lost. Oh well, I supposed I'd never know.
I lay in my bed and turned off my lamp. I rolled over on my back and stared up at the ceiling for what seemed like hours until I heard the door creaking softly. I lifted my head and saw a little dark figure peeking from behind the door.
"Bella?" I whispered.
She said nothing; just slowly stalked foward, almost like she was afraid of coming closer. She reached the foot of the bed and bit her lower lip.
"Is something wrong?" I tried again.
"Will you let me... sleep here with you? I don't wanna be alone."
"Sure, I'll take a pillow and you can have the be-"
"Please, don't. I just... I promise I don't snore," she stated with a smile. I tried to smile back as she crawled into bed with me.
I went to the further end of the bed, as far from her as possible. I didn't know if she had any idea of the effect she was having on me. Bella remained still for a few minutes, and I wondered if she had fallen asleep.
But then I felt a small, soft hand touching me underneath the blankets. My breath hitched as her whole body got closer to mine until she was pressed firmly against my back.
"Bella, I don't think..." I began, but I lost my focus when she straddled me and put a delicate finger over my lips.
"Shh. Just feel it," she told me in a barely audible whispered, and I closed my eyes.
She leaned down and attacked my neck with her hot mouth, covering it with open mouthed kisses as her right hand traveled down my chest. It was wrong; I shouldn't be doing this with a girl I know nothing about and was probably underage, but when her hand snuck inside my pants and grabbed my hardened dick, I lost it.
My arms snaked around her slim waist, locking her in a vise grip as my hips bucked upwad, and we became a mess of entwined limbs and bodies in the dark. Her skilled hand started to shift up and down my member, and I felt her teeth brush against my neck. My heart started pounding loudly in my chest at the feeling, and that confused me a little; it was like my body knew I was in danger and the adrenaline rush hit naturally.
But she didn't give me time to think much about that; she brought her lips to mine and kissed me deeply. I immediately opened my mouth and pushed my tongue into hers. She tasted oddly sweet.
Bella let out a moan as our tongues caressed each other and reached for the waist band of my sweatpants, pulling it down. She wasn't even wearing panties anymore.
"Bella, stop. I don't have any protection."
She looked up at me with hypnotizing yet innocent eyes. "Don't need to worry about that," she whispered as she lowered herself onto me.
My eyes rolled to the back of my head, and I groaned loudly at the feeling of her wet, warm core enveloping me. It had been a long time since I'd felt the warmth of a female body.
Since she left.
I shook the memories away and grabbed Bella's hips, rocking her into me in a way that made us both moan in unison. The whole time Bella kept her face buried in the crook of my neck. Our movements became frantic, and she moaned louder and louder with each thrust.
"Please don't let me go, Edward. Don't let me go," she breathed into my ear, her walls clenching tightly around me as she reached her climax. I could feel my own orgasm building, and when I felt her sucking harshly on the pulse point on my neck, it brought me to the edge. I could feel the spasms wave through me as I filled her with my warm fluids, my grip on her tightening.
Her body collapsed limply on top of mine, and we tried to catch our breath.
We stayed clompletely still in the dark room, as Bella rested her head on my chest. I didn't dare to move a muscle, afraid that I'd wake up any moment. So I just held her close to me, feeling my eyelids getting heavier with time.
Bandit was barking loudly outside.
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked out the window. Then all the events from the night before came rushing back into my head. What the hell had happened? I should have known better when Bella came into my room in the middle of the night and asked to sleep with me. I should have told her no; she was a big girl all right and all I could provide her was a warm bed and food, not emotional comfort.
But who was I to resist her? I was just human after all. And she... well, she was something else. Bella had this innocent, sweet aura around her and it made her extremely sexy. The way she talked, the way she moved; everything about her would pulled you in. Who was I kidding; I wouldn't be able to resist her even if I wanted to.
And the smell of her skin. The taste of her mouth on mine. The feel of her soft, warm skin under my fingertips. The way she sweetly moaned my name...
I shook my head to get rid of the haunting thoughts. And the tent in my pants wasn't helping either.
I looked to the left side of the bed and noticed it was empty. "Bella?" I called out, my voice hoarse from sleep. I was met with silence.
I got up from the bed and went to search for her. As I walked down the hall, the smell of pancakes filled my nose, and it was good. Really good. When I entered the kitchen, the sight before me made me freeze in my spot.
Bella had her back turned to me, facing the stove. She was wearing her short white dress, exposing her ceamy, long legs. I just stood there, staring at her as she worked. I already knew I'd never forget this girl for as long as I lived, but it was time for her to go.
Before I could say anything, Bella turned around holding a pan with a pancake in it. She smiled shyly when she saw me.
"Oh, good morning. I made you breakfast, I hope you don't mind," she said as she dropped the pancake on the plate that was set on the table. There was a glass of orange juice next to it, along with some scrambled eggs and some toast.
"You made this all for me?" Why would she bother to wake up early just to make me breakfast?
"Yes, I did. And I've already fed Bandit."
I looked at her in awe . She was just too good to be real. I had to get her out of here, and soon.
"Look, Bella, I really appreciate everything you've done but-"
"I've also done a little cleaning, laundry and washed the dishes from last night," she said, grasping at straws.
"Bella," I said as I walked slowly toward her. "I think we need to talk."
She nodded weakly. "Okay."
We went to the living room and sat side-by-side on the couch." I took both of her delicate hands in mine, trying to find a way to approach the subject.
"Um, Bella, about last night... I just want you to know I never meant to take advantage of you or anything, and it was wrong."
"You didn't like it?" She sounded hurt.
I looked up at her, startled with her question."What? No! No, I didn't mean that. What I'm trying to say is that I shouldn't have let it happen because we barely know each other. And that's why you have to go."
She stared at me like I had a third eye. "You can't do that. You can't make me go back. You can't..." she chanted on, not even talking to me anymore.
Her eyes were focused on something distant, something that surely terrified her.
"What is it, Bella? Where did you come from?"
She looked back at me, her lips slightly parted. "I don't remember. I mean, it's all very confusing and blurry in my mind. All I know is that I don't wanna go back."
"But how did you end up-"
"I ran away," she interrupted. "I had to. But if you don't want me to stay, I'll leave. I don't want to be a burden." Her voice as dead as she stood up and slowly made her way to the front door.
I was out of words. A part of me wanted to stop her, to ask her to stay, to do something. But the other part was telling me this is what I wanted the whole time, and now she was leaving.
I watched her as she opened the door and left. So that was it? No tears, no begging, nothing? Yeah, well, this was for the best. She was not my responsibility after all. It wasn't not of my concern if she was out there all alone with no place to go, wandering aimlessly...
Not my problem.
I stood up and went to kitchen. A breakfast like that couldn't go to waste. Bandit came barking in moments later. He seemed agitated.
"What's up, boy? Is something wrong?"
He bit on my shirt and started pulling at it.
"Oh, so you wanna play, huh?" I stood up and put the dishes away. I knew it was silly, but I didn't want anything that reminding me of Bella around.
We spent the whole morning playing catch outside. Bandit looked so much more carefree today. I had barely seen him around last night. Right before Bella arrived, he just took off and stayed away until... well, until now.
At noon, we went back inside and had lunch. After that, the day passed by quite normally, except Bella kept haunting my every thought. She'd said she didn't have anywhere to go, and that was some serious shit. The worry and guilt were slowly consuming me.
I tried to keep my mind busy for the rest of the week. I looked for house chores, took Bandit for a check-up at the vet, anything to keep my mind off her.
You could say my life had returned to normal after that night, but the ghost of her was always there. I could act like nothing ever happened, but something had happened, and I couldn't just erase it.
The mysterious attacks continued. At some point during the week, two more victims were found dead in the woods with the subtle detail of not having any skin or blood on their bodies. And they still hadn't found the murderer. I guessed I'd have to watch my back.
I parked my truck in an empty spot and stepped out. Mrs. Cheney turned to me when I entered the diner and smiled warmly. I smiled back and went to my usual table next to the window.
Mrs. Cheney brought me my coffee . "Anything else, Mr. Masen?"
"No, I'm good."
She nodded and walked away. I looked out the window at the night sky out the window. You could barely see the stars in this town; the clouds never allowed that to happen.
As I stared, a single, tiny drop of water fell on the window. Then another one, and another, until it was fully raining outside.
I watched as people came into the diner bundled up to spend the Saturday night out with family, boyfriends, girlfriends. Ordinary people in an ordinary town doing ordinary things. Not even the rain or the cold would stop them from hanging out with the people they loved, and it wouldn't stop me from having my weekly coffee.
As the minutes went by, the diner got more and more crowded, and that was my cue to leave. I paid for the coffee and stepped out into the torrential rain. I picked up my pace so I wouldn't get too wet, but before I could reach the truck, something caught my eye.
It was shrunken on the ground, against the wall, shaking as the wind blew and the rain poured relentlessly. My curiosity got the best of me and I carefully walked towards the figure. When I got close enough to see what it was, my brows furrowed in disbelief.
It was a girl. I couldn't see her face with her head bent down, her long soaking dark hair covering her features, but she seemed very familiar.
"Excuse me," I called through the rain, and the girl shot her head up abruptly, startled by the sound of my voice. Her eyes widened when she recognized me.
"Bella," I whispered into the rainy night.
Before I could do anything else, she jumped up and started running in the opposite direction.
"Hey!" I yelled and took off after her. She ran pretty fast, but my legs were longer, and I reached her before she disappeared into the woods next to the parking lot, grabbing her by the waist.
"Where do you think you're going?" I panted into her ear. Her breath was even, as if she had made no physical efforts at all.
"I thought you didn't want me." She struggled to get away from my grip, but I wasn't having any of that.
"I never said that. And you don't expect me to leave you out here to fend for yourself, do you?" I tightened my hold around her torso, and she became limp in my arms, giving in. Then her entire body started to shake, and her head fell forward.
"I don't know what else to do," she whispered weakly between sobs, her voice fading with the sound of the rain.
I had no other choice. If I didn't bring her back with me, she would live on the streets, in the cold, in the rain, in the dark. That simple thought drove me insane.
So I did what I had to do. I picked her up in my arms, put her safely inside my truck and drove us back home.