Hello and happy Friday evening to all my friends out there. Once again you all blow my mind! Fifty comments! Sixty-three favorites! And ninety-eight followers! You are all so amazing and I hope that the rest of the story lives up!
This will be the last update for this week. I will be updating the story on a Monday thru Friday basis (as long as the material is there and it is good). The weekends are pretty busy for me. It is really the only time I get with the hubby so we are usually off having fun with our daughter. So, I will miss you all, but I promise to be back on Monday evening. I am thinking about creating a facebook page for my stories. What do you think? Would any of you like that? Maybe I would give out a few teasers, post some photos? Just a thought. Let me know what you think.
Once again I give a big hats off to hapakids for awesome job as beta! You rock my world girlfriend! A big hats off to the amazing Stephanie M. who owns all of Twilight. Thank you for letting me play with your characters.
BPOV
Beep...Beep...Beep. Gah! What the hell was that annoying low beep that keeps going off. I move my hand to try and turn off my alarm clock when a slight pain radiates through me. I wince and open my eyes. Why am I in a hospital? And why the hell do I hurt so badly? Turning my head my eyes fall on a mop of messy bronze hair sleeping on the side of my bed. His arms are folded on the bed and his head lay face down on top of them. Edward. Then it all came back to me. Leaving work, the cold air, getting grabbed from behind, the kicking, the punching.
I feel tears pricking my eyes and run down my cheeks. I reach my hand out to touch him, to make the panic go away, he always makes it go away. When my shaky hand reaches his hair he moans a little and rubs his eyes on his arm. Then his eyes go wide as he looks up at me. "Bella!" I hear the relief in his voice. He stands and take my head in his hands and my tears begin to fall. "Bella, don't cry. I got you. You're safe." He says as he leans his forehead to mine. Always calming me down. I feel him shutter and then I feel something wet drop onto my face. He's crying. He never cries.
"Ed...Edward? You're crying."
He just stays where he is for a moment then pulls back and sits on the side of the bed to look into my eyes. "When I got to the diner, I was so scared. I thought I lost you Bella." He sobs now."I was so scared. You were..." he shakes his head like he is trying to get the image out of his mind, "...and you looked so scared."
"Shhh, I knew you would come for me." I say to him and try to hug him, but I wince and he notices.
"Don't move baby. Let me get the nurse. Do you need some more pain medication?"
"No! Dddo'nt leave me. Please" I cry out. Not knowing where that came from.
"OK, OK, Bella I'm here. I won't leave. I need to call the nurse though." He says as he reaches over the bed and pushes a button.
"How long have I been here?" I ask holding onto his hand for dear life.
He looks down at his watch. "It's about five am now, they brought you in at around midnight...so five hours. Not long, but long enough to scare the hell out of me." He says stroking my knuckles, something he only does when he is nervous. "Why are you working at that diner Bella?" He asks. I try to keep my face as straight as possible, trying to think of a lie. How the hell did he find out I was working there? I didn't have on my uniform. "Don't lie to me Bella, you can't lie to me and you know it. Plus, I already know you work there." Shit, I am busted. He lets out a big sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose. "If you needed money, why did you just come to me or dad? You are family Isabella. We take care of family. You know that." He says with such a serious tone.
"Edward," I sigh, "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I don't need to sponge off of you and your family. I am..."
"Isabella! That's bullshit and you know it!" He yells out as he walks away from the bed. Just then the nurse comes in. I remember her from the ER.
"Hi, Isabella." She says as she walks in, looking concerned at Edward and then back to me. I just nod that everything is fine. "I'm Angela Webber, your nurse from the ER, do you remember me?" She asks.
"Yes, I remember you. How are you?"
"Oh, I'm fine. I'm not the one with three broken ribs. How are you honey? How is your pain?"
"It is fine. It still hurts to breath, but not as much as it did."
"I am scheduled to give you some more pain medication. I just want to check your vitals first." She says as she walk to the bed and begins pulling out her stethoscope. As she performs her examination of me I keep my eyes down, occasionally stealing a glance at Edward who seems to be seething in the corner of the room staring at me which causes my heart to pound out of my chest. "It seems your heart rate is accelerated, are you feeling light headed?"
No, just nervous as hell that Edward is going to kill me. "No, just...just nervous about everything that has happened." I reply.
"Sam and Seth are outside the doors Bella. No one is going to get in here." Edward says taking a step closer, his face softening. I nod to him, letting him know that makes me feel safe. He lets out a sigh. I know better than to argue about guards, that is one compromise that Edward is not willing to budge on.
"OK, I'm going to go and get your pain meds now. I will be back in a few moments." Angela says as she leaves.
The room is silent for a few minutes after she leaves. "Edward..."
"Don't, Bella." He lets out a huge, frustrated breath. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. But, you have to see where I am coming from. Just because your last name isn't Cullen, doesn't mean you aren't family. What is ours is yours, Bella."
"Look, I really was under the impression that my scholarships covered everything, but once I got to NYU I found out that they didn't. I decided that I wanted to have something that I still loved to do to fall back on. I know that I may not make it anywhere in dance, and even if I do, time is limited. I wanted to be safe when my dancing days were over. So, I enrolled in photography classes. I have always loved taking pictures and I wanted to improve my skills. So, I had to pay for a quarter of my tuition, my fees, books, lab fees, photo editing software, and then my camera went and died on me so I had to try and get it repaired."
"All things, I could have taken care of Bella." He walks over to me and cups my face with his hands. "Don't you understand that you are my world? I thought I lost you tonight. All because of your pride. Bella. I...I can't lose you."
My eyes widen, and I suck in a shaky breath. I see him looking at me. His usual green sparkling eyes are now dark and they are searching mine for something. I see his tongue sweep over his bottom lip. He is moving closer to me, and then, his lips are on mine. Soft and sweet. My best friend is kissing me. WHAT!? My best friend is kissing me, and I'm kissing him back. I let out a moan. Where did that come from? His tongue glides over my bottom lip and I open my mouth to him. This feels weird and right at the same time. I painfully bring my hands up to him and run my fingers through his hair and I get a moan from him in response. Our tongues intertwine and dance a slow, sweet dance with each other. He is the first to pull back, resting his forehead against mine. "I've wanted to do that since your prom night when I seen you in that green dress." I giggle softly, and bite down on my bottom lip, a nervous habit I have had since I can remember when. He takes his thumb and pulls my lip out from my teeth and leans in and sucks on my bottom lip and then kisses me once more on both lips.
Angela decides at that exact moment to come in with my pain meds. Edward lets go of my face, but grabs onto my hand. He and I keep staring at each other. Sensing that she has interrupted something, she quickly walks over to my IV pump and injects the meds into the IV and excuses herself.
Not knowing what to say I simply ask, "Since prom huh?"
Edward gives a low chuckle. "I blame that green dress!" I smile as he says this. "I can honestly say, it was the first and only time I have ever been jealous of Riley fucking Beirs."
"Ha!" I roll my eyes. "You and Carlisle scared him so badly that he didn't even dance with me the entire night."
"What? What a dumb ass! He had the best looking girl on his arm and he didn't even dance with her? I knew that ass didn't deserve to take you that night. I should have went with my original plan."
"And what was that?"
"I was going to meet him in the drive way, point my gun at him, and tell him to leave and don't look back. Then come to your rescue and take you myself." I laugh out loud and it hurts causing me to wince and grab my ribs. "Shit, I'm sorry Bella." He says
"It's ok." I lean my head back on my pillow. Where do we go from here? What do we do now? "Edward. I...I...I don't know what to think. What to feel. I...this...I...I...need to process this." I see his face fall, shit. "No, no, no. I feel something for you. I think I always have, but I just pushed it down. Scared of what it was. What you would think. What it would mean for us, our friendship. I'm just asking for a little time. Just let me process this." I see his worry ease.
"Of, course. I..." He hesitates to finish his thought, but then says, "I know I have always loved you. It was always there, masked as friendship to build a foundation that is rock solid for whatever we decide to make of our feelings. I think the fact that we have been such great friends for so long makes this transition to more, so much better. We know each other in and out. We have seen each other at our worst and our best." He cups my face again and gently kisses my lips. "I don't have to hide who I am with you. That is what matters the most to me. You know me like no one in this world knows me. I don't have to be Edward Anthony Cullen, mafia Prince with you, I'm just Edward."
With those words he has sealed the deal in claiming my heart because I feel the same way with him. With him I don't feel ashamed of my past. He knows every page of the book that is Isabella Marie Swan. "Lay with me, please." I ask. "Please, just hold me." A smile comes over his face and he gently climbs into bed with me. As gently as I can I move to my side to lay my head on his chest, like I did for so many years when I needed to feel safe. He was my haven, he was my home. He was my heart too. I felt the medicine take over and soft soothing words of comfort from Edward as I drifted off to sleep.
So what did you think? Again, I love you all, thank you so much for reading. And if you spirit moves you, leave me a little love. Have a great weekend everyone!