Chapter Twenty-Two
Bella woke slowly. She was warm, almost too warm.
She'd slept fitfully, memories plaguing her dreams.
Her mind was foggy and she could barely remember her meal with Edward. She wasn't sure how long she'd been out.
She sat up slowly and ran her hands over her face. Her mouth was dry and she was desperate for a glass of water.
The thoughts of her past were still flitting around in her mind and she wanted nothing more than to push it back down into the dark recesses of her psyche.
"Hey," a soft velvet voice spoke out of the darkness.
Bella released a blood curdling scream as she scrambled further up the bed, clutching the sheets to her as if they could protect her from an intruder.
"Get away, please. Oh God, please don't hurt me," she sobbed, cowering, curling in on herself.
"Bella," he spoke softly, timidly. "It's me, Edward."
He edged closer and Bella blinked her eyes, carefully looking over at him. The voice, the name, breaking through and reminding her that she wasn't in the past any longer.
"Edward?" she asked, blinking furiously as he flicked on the overhead light, her pupils dilating.
"Yeah, hey," he whispered as he settled on the edge of the bed. She flinched slightly at his proximity, the terror of her nightmares still very much present. "I won't hurt you," he assured.
"Where are we?" she questioned, looking around a room which was so similar to her hotel room yet, not quite the same.
"I couldn't find your key card." He ran his hand through his messed up hair, something he'd clearly been doing a lot of lately. "I'm sorry, I didn't know where else to take you so I brought you to my room."
"Your room?" She looked around, his suit jacket lying over the back of a chair and his shoes dropped carelessly by the closet attested to the fact that it was indeed his room.
She was in his bed.
A shudder ripped through her at the thought as her body heated.
"Are you okay?" he asked quietly, edging a little closer. "I was really worried. If you hadn't woken up, I was going to call a doctor. You were breathing though, so I didn't think you were in any danger."
She smiled lightly. She had been in danger but only in her dreams and no doctor, or Edward, could help her with that.
"I'm sorry I worried you." She looked around again, her eyes focused on the window. "How long was I out for?"
He looked down at his watch.
"About an hour, I guess," he responded before standing up quickly.
"Shit, you're probably really thirsty right? I'll get you a drink."
"I should go back to my room." She made a move to get up but Edward quickly shook his head.
"Please, stay. It's late… The couch is comfortable enough."
She settled back against the pillows, feeling slightly guilty for throwing Edward from his bed but she was so tired. She whispered a thank you, yawned and closed her eyes.