A/N: I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter up. RL has a tendency to get in the way of things. Huge thanks to my beta, Heather, for, not only betaing while on vacation, but fixing my errors and giving great advice. Also, a huge thank you to you all for reading/reviewing.
"I hope to hell your Dad doesn't come home early," Edward murmured against my lips, and I let out a small chuckle as I agreed with him.
We were up in my bedroom, the door shut, and we were on my bed. Our shirts were on the floor, and we'd picked up pretty much where we'd left off at his house the other day.
"We'll hear him pull up," I said as I began pressing kisses to his neck, and he huffed out a laugh.
"We didn't hear him last time," he said, and I nipped at his collarbone. He had a point. We tended to get lost in each other, losing track of time, and it seemed, we lost our hearing as well.
"Relax, Edward," I told him as I straddled him and continued to press kisses across his collarbone and down to his chest. "I set an alarm on my phone for twenty minutes before he's supposed to be home."
That seemed to relax Edward, and I was able to resume my touches and kisses.
While I was busy running my hands over Edward's chest and placing kisses here and there, his hands were stroking my back, and I paused what I was doing when I felt his hands fiddling with my bra clasp.
"May I?" Edward asked, and I took a deep breath as I nodded.
We were entering a whole new level of intimacy, but I trusted Edward, and I knew if I asked him to stop that he would.
He fumbled for a few seconds as he struggled to unhook my bra, and when it loosened, the straps began to slide down my arms.
I sat up, moaning a bit at the feel of Edward hard between my legs, and stopped my bra from sliding off completely. It was one thing for Edward to feel me up over my clothing, but it was a whole other thing for him to feel me up without that barrier between his hands and my skin.
Taking another deep breath, I took my bra all the way off and looked down at Edward's face. There was a look of reverence on it, and he slowly brought his hands around to my front, looking at my face for permission. I nodded my head, and Edward's hands cupped my bare breasts, causing groans from both of us.
He gently squeezed and played with me before taking a nipple between his thumb and forefinger, giving it a light pinch which caused my hips to buck against him.
"God, you're so beautiful," Edward said in a raspy voice, but I was so lost in the sensations he was causing that I couldn't respond.
Edward scooted back on the bed until he was propped up against my headboard, and he brought his lips to mine for a quick kiss before he began to trail kisses down my neck, and I knew where he was headed.
Sure enough, a few moments later, he placed a kiss to the top of each breast, and my fingers wound themselves into his hair.
The second his lips touched one of my nipples, my head fell back, and I felt a wonderful stirring sensation in my lower region. He was invoking the most amazing feelings, and I knew I'd have to take care of things later because I was so worked up. I wasn't quite ready for Edward to help take care of that problem for me.
Edward nipped and sucked lightly on one nipple before switching to the other, and I couldn't help but wiggle a bit against him.
One of his hands dropped away from my breast, and he cupped my hip, holding me still.
"If you keep moving, I'm gonna have a problem," he whispered against my skin, and a satisfied smile crossed my lips.
For the next hour, we touched, kissed, and played, and we were startled when the alarm on my phone went off.
"Guess we should settle down," Edward said, his tongue lightly tracing patterns on my skin.
"Yeah, we should. My dad will be home soon," I commented, climbing off of him and flopping down beside him on the bed.
We laid there catching our breath for a few moments before I grabbed my bra off the floor, putting it on before picking up my shirt.
Moments after we were dressed, I heard a sound from downstairs, and I shushed Edward as he began talking.
"Did you hear that?" I asked in a whisper, and he shook his head.
We stood in my room, barely daring to breathe, when I heard it again. It sounded like glass breaking, and I grabbed Edward's arm when he made a move to open my bedroom door.
"Don't," I whispered, shaking my head. "I'm going to call my dad."
Edward reached out and locked my door before pressing his ear to it, and I was scared shitless because I could hear someone moving around downstairs.
With trembling hands, I grabbed my phone and pushed the button to call my dad. He answered seconds later.
"Hey, kiddo. I'm on my way home now. Did you want to me to pick up burgers from the diner?"
"There's someone in the house," I told him in a hushed voice.
Immediately, Dad was on alert.
"Where are you?" he asked, and I told him that I was in my bedroom with Edward. I knew I'd probably catch hell for that later, but at the moment, that wasn't important, and Dad knew it.
"Stay where you are," Dad said. "Don't leave that room."
I heard him flip on the siren of his police cruiser through the phone, and I opened up my closet, digging around for some kind of weapon. Just because I was locked in a room didn't mean that some crazy psycho killer wasn't going to axe the door down.
"I'll be there in two minutes," Dad said.
"Okay," I replied, watching as Edward grabbed an old bat that was tucked away in the back of the closet. I had no idea that had even been back there, but it would do.
We both froze when we heard the bottom step creak, and I began to hyperventilate.
"Breathe, Bella," Edward said in a whisper, and I nodded. "We're going to be fine. Your dad is almost here."
"He's right, Bells. I'm turning down our street right now," Dad said, and I looked out my bedroom window in time to see the cruiser coming down the road.
Moments later, Dad pulled into our driveway, and I heard heavy footsteps that sounded like someone was running.
"Stay where you are, Bells," Dad said into the phone. "I'm going to search the house. I'll come get the two of you when it's clear, okay?"
"Okay," I told him, and then he hung up.
I heard Dad announce himself as the police when he entered the house, and I waited with baited breath for him to come get us.
A few minutes passed, and I jumped when there was a knock on the door.
"Bells, it's safe. You can unlock the door."
Edward unlocked the door and opened it, and I tossed myself at my dad. He gave me a huge hug and placed a kiss to the top of my head.
"So?" I asked him. "Was it all my imagination or was someone really here?"
Dad led us downstairs, telling me I hadn't imagined it. There had indeed been an intruder in our house, and there was broken glass all over the dining room floor where the person had broken the window.
"Don't touch anything," Dad warned us, and we both nodded. "I've got Ryan coming out with the fingerprinting kit. I want the two of you to go to Edward's house until I feel it's safe for you to come back here."
"For how long?" I asked.
"For the rest of the weekend. I'll call Carlisle, but I'm sure it will be fine," he said, pulling out his phone.
Ten minutes later, after I'd packed a bag, Edward and I were on our way to his house. I was still completely rattled about the break-in, and I felt that my safety had been violated.
"It's going to be okay," Edward told me, reaching over, taking my hand in his, and giving it a gentle squeeze.
"I hope so."
"Your dad and his deputies will find out who it was and arrest them."
I nodded my head, but I wasn't so sure I believed him.
"Do you think it was James?" I asked him, and Edward shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know. Maybe? Would he be so stupid to break into the chief of police's house?"
"Maybe," I replied because it really wouldn't surprise me at all if James had been the one behind the break in. "He did break into the school after all."
"Oh, Bella!" Esme cried as soon as we entered the Cullen house, and she pulled me into a hug.
I held on tight to her as she rocked us back and forth before she gently pulled away.
"Are you okay?" she asked, and I shook my head no, my eyes filling with tears. I really wasn't okay. It had been scary, and I was so incredibly grateful that Edward had been there with me and that my dad hadn't been too far away.
"Of course you're not. Let me make you a cup of tea," Esme said, and I followed her into the kitchen and took a seat at the counter with Edward standing behind me, his hands resting on my shoulders.
"Edward, honey, are you alright?" she asked him as she put water into the tea kettle.
"I'm fine, Mom. A bit shaken up but okay."
About ten minutes later, as Edward and I drank our tea, Alice came bursting into the house, and I barely had time to put my tea down before she threw her arms around me.
"Oh, my God, oh, my God! Are you okay?" she asked, and I told her I was shaken up but fine.
"Dad said you're staying here until Sunday."
I nodded my head, and she told me that we'd have so much fun, I'd totally forget about the break-in. I wasn't so sure about that though. I had a feeling that was something I would never forget.
Sunday afternoon I was watching a ping pong tournament between Alice and Edward in the basement of their house when my dad showed up.
"Bella?" Carlisle hollered down the basement stairs. "Your dad is here."
The game was put on hold as we all made our way upstairs and into the living room where I found my dad and Sue with Carlisle, Esme.
Sue gave me a warm smile and a hug when she saw me, and I returned them, glad to see her.
We all sat down, and Dad began telling us what he'd discovered.
It turned out that the intruder had worn gloves, but the person had left some fabric behind when it had torn on the broken the window. The fabric had been sent off to a lab in Seattle for DNA testing and analysis of fibers, but it could be weeks before we found out the results.
"I asked around the neighborhood, and Mr. Pemberton, who lives down the road, said he saw a young man running through his backyard not long after I arrived home."
"Could he see who it was?" I asked, and Dad shook his head.
"Mr. Pemberton is half blind, but he did say that he'd seen the man around before, and that he thought the guy drove a truck."
"James," I said with a snarl. "It was him!"
"I think so, but we can't prove anything yet, Bells. My deputies are hunting him down to bring him in for questioning."
"Hunting him down?" I asked, trying to quell the panic that was beginning to rise. "You mean they can't find him?"
Dad shook his head as he assured me they would find James, but I wasn't so sure.
"They never should have let him out on bail! He's probably in Canada by now!" I exclaimed.
"Bells," Dad began, but I shook my head.
"If it makes you feel any better, I've had a security system installed, and the broken window has been fixed," he said, handing me a piece of paper with a code on it and told me to memorize it.
"You too, Edward, in case Bells forgets."
Later that night, after Dad and I had arrived home, I found myself listening to every noise the house made. I was beyond paranoid, and I couldn't sleep to save my life. Eventually though, I fell asleep and was rudely awakened by my alarm less than three hours later.
"Morning, Bells," Dad said after I'd stumbled my way downstairs and into the kitchen. "How did you sleep?"
"Like crap," I told him as I poured myself a glass of orange juice and shoved a couple of cinnamon Pop-Tarts into the toaster.
"Well, I've got a bit of good news. James was caught hiding out in an old cabin, and he's been brought in for questioning. We're going to hold him for the next twenty-four hours if not longer," Dad said, and I let out a sigh of relief.
I did feel better knowing that James was in custody. Hopefully, he would confess to breaking into our house, and Dad could keep him locked up for a while.
After I ate my breakfast, I said goodbye and climbed into the jeep and began my drive to school.
Once there, I was immediately bombarded with questions about the break in by all kinds of people, and I shook my head at how quickly news spread in a small town.
"Is it true?" Angela asked me as I opened my locker and grabbed the books I needed.
"That my house got broken into? Yes, that's true. All the other crap that people are spewing, not so much."
In the time that it had taken me to walk through the front door and to my locker, I'd heard at least four different versions of what had happened, none of them being correct. People were saying my dad had killed the intruder while others said that I'd taken down the bad guy with my dad's gun, but the more absurd one was that I'd broken the window myself and then reported it in in a desperate attempt for attention.
"Well, I figured you didn't do it yourself," Angela commented dryly. "Although, you are an attention whore, so I could be wrong."
I let out a laugh at her words.
"Oh, yeah, you know me so well. I just live to be the center of attention," I said with an eye roll.
"It wouldn't surprise me at all if she hired someone to do it," I heard Jessica say, and I just kept walking. I so wasn't getting into anything with her.
"No, she wouldn't, Jess. Just let it go already," I heard Lauren say, and I almost stopped in my tracks.
There was no way I'd just heard Lauren defend me, and I looked over at Angela who looked just as shocked as I did.
"What, you're best friends with her now?" Jessica sneered, and I saw Lauren shake her head out of the corner of my eye.
"Just leave it alone. You're coming across as a major bitch. Just because you fucked up your life doesn't give you the right to take it out on everyone else!" Lauren said in a tight voice before stalking off.
"Whoa," I mumbled with raised eyebrows.
"It must be bad if Lauren's turning on Jessica," Angela said quietly, and I nodded my head.
"Yeah, something is definitely going on there," I agreed before we parted ways.