Hey all, sorry this chapter took a few days! I'm a silversmith by trade, and although my mind is on this story 24/7, my hands tire of keyboards and dream of hammers.
Just wanted to throw this out there, I am ALL for constructive and/or negative reviews. I think honest opinions are the best way to develop yourself as a writer. However, I did receive an anonymous review from my last chapter where someone said they "couldn't be bothered" with this story because Jacob and Bella did not immediately forget about Edward and have sex. Never did I claim that this story was a oneshot, or that it would it would contain any type of sex at all (wink). Personally, I can't stand stories where there is NO type of character development and people just fuck and keep going at it the whole time. Get back to me once you've had real passionate, desperate sex after a slow burning buildup and fucking TELL ME it's not better. Anywho, here's the next chapter :)
I was awake but the pounding in my head stalled any urge to open my eyes. My body groaned as I stretched my muscles experimentally beneath the blanket. Did I run a marathon yesterday? A deep ache had cemented itself every limb, like a tell tale sign of an oncoming flu. I thought seriously about drifting off for a few more hours until an eerie sensation gripped me. Someone was here... someone was watching me.
A barely cracked a lid revealed a blur of pale porcelain. He stood, unmoving, golden eyes fixed upon the creamy pink sunrise through my window. Without the well-rehearsed rise and fall of his chest, it was easy to remember that he wasn't technically alive. Some small part inside of me that had never surfaced before recoiled at the thought. I pushed the feeling down as soon as I recognized it, immediately overcome with guilt and confusion that it was there at all.
I over exaggerated a yawn, hoping Edward would think I had just woken up instead of having just spent way too long staring at his unblinking eyes.
He turned toward me, lips pressed together in an uncharacteristically grim line.
"Did you sleep well after your tiring night?
My heart stopped in my throat and I constricted my facial muscles in a vice, praying they wouldn't give any emotions away.
"...What?" I replied, trying to pretend like I didn't hear him the first time.
"You know, with Angela?" His eyes locked onto mine, searching them for something.
"Oh yeah... I slept okay. I kept waking up throughout the night, so I don't feel very rested right now."
Edward released a long sigh, his head fell into his open palm and he scraped his fingernails against his scalp. Without lifting his head he turned his neck to look at me, disappointment flooding his features.
"You know, I had really hoped you would have come clean on your own. But I can see now that's not going to be the case." He kept his face neutral as he walked to my window, pushing it closed with a single finger and twisting the lock.
"I know that you've always had a soft spot for our young wolf." He looked directly at me, but his stare pierced right through my body, eyes glassy and sort of... crazed. "I've ignored it for too long. I know it wasn't your fault, that you were overcome by your human emotions." He pet the side of my hair and pouted his bottom lip out at me. "I can smell his scent all over your body, Bells." I flinched as he tried to pass Jacob's name for me as his own.
A desperate panic crept up my spine. "Edward wait, no, nothing happened. We didn't—"
"Shhhhh, shhh darling." He pushed a hard finger over my lips and I felt them scrape against teeth. "I don't blame you. It must have been scary having someone using their strength to influence you like that." He cooed like I was a small child.
I pulled my head backwards to escape the clamp he had on my mouth "Edward, please. Yes… I saw Jacob at the garage yesterday. The truck was making a strange sound and he looked over the engine. He gave me a hug goodbye. That's it, I swear."
He stared at me with a blank, unreadable face. After a few moments the painful silence was broken as he turned his head all the way to the right, neck cracking, all the while keeping his gaze transfixed on me. A dark chuckle escaped his cold lips and I noticed how his posture shifted into something... predatory.
He pushed himself closer to my ear as he whispered in the lowest hiss I'd ever heard from him "It's not just his skin that I smell on you, Bella. You reek of that dog's cum."
I froze in terror briefly choked on my tongue. I tried to block it out but my mind immediately replayed the guttural sound from Jake's mouth as he felt my walls slip around the head of his penis. I should have known that a washcloth wouldn't have been enough to mask the scent from Edward's keen senses.
A gnash of his teeth shook me from the memory. I knew he could read the blush spreading hotly across the plane of my cheeks. His upper lip curled into a sneer and his clenching fists tore a hole in my sheets.
"HOW COULD YOU?!" He spat, equal parts screech and whine. "I can't believe you let that DISEASED FUCKING MUTT infect your purity!" His expression contorted in disgust. "I've waited a hundred years for you! You were MEANT for me alone. Your virgin cherry was destined to be mine on our wedding night! You've soiled everything now, you lying whore!"
For the first time I saw Edward in a different light, like a veil had lifted, revealing his true self. His once smooth and glittering looked a sickly gray and the his entrancing breath, although sweet like candy, held hints of putrid decay, like a dead body right as it starts to turn. I wanted to beg him. Beg him to listen, beg him not to hurt me. Beg him to be the man I knew...
My body shook and Edward stilled himself, sending a tortured, menacing glance my way.
"You'll both pay for what you've done, for what you've… taken from me." Without another word he unlocked and lifted my window and propelled himself forward with lightning speed, sending a gust of wind through my hair to seal his departure.
I grabbed the pillow nearest to me and shoved my faced deep into its comfort. I sobbed for the severed trust between Edward and myself. The trust he had in our partnership now shattered along with my trust in the fact that he was anything other than a fearsome beast. Just yesterday he had been my world... my soul mate, my… better half. And now? A shudder twitched through every muscle as I remembered how quickly his anger bubbled to the surface. How violence had clawed from his skin, desperate for release.
I spent the next hour straightening my bedroom, purging all evidence that it had hosted any visitors that weren't me. The shredded sheets I folded tightly and shoved into my backpack. I retrieved a clean set from my closet and dressed the mattress, lifting the heavy comforter back over the top and smoothing the wrinkles with my palms. I almost laughed as I thought about placing a "Humans Only" sign on the outside of my window, if only Charlie wasn't so perceptive.
Speaking of my dad, his signature three-rap knuckle pattern tapped the outside of my door as he pushed it open. I wish he would knock and THEN come in like a regular person, but regular wasn't exactly Charlie's parenting style.
He stood dressed in his full sheriff uniform with an exhausted expression. I was surprised to see him awake so early, by the time I had finally fallen asleep around 2am, I still hadn't heard the familiar sound of his cruiser coming down the block. "Morning Bells." His voice scratchy with sleep and another emotion I couldn't quite discern.
"Heading to the station already?" I questioned.
"Two backpackers were just found murdered at the north hiking entrance of Bogachiel Park. Must have happened less than an hour ago."
"Oh my god! That's just outside of town, dad." A special kind of fear gripped me as my instinct started connecting dots my mind hadn't caught up to.
"I know. I'm heading there now to assess the scene and take statements from the guy who spotted 'em. I would feel a lot better if you weren't hanging around the house by yourself today. I just got off the phone with Billy. He's expecting you there within the hour."
Jacob had been clear pretty clear last night about needing some distance from me. He wanted to make sure that he knew what was going on with his Alpha before we got caught up in any more... compromising situations.
"Dad, I don't think—" I spoke, trying to find a way around his request.
"Bells, just... humor me." I pitied his look of pure exhaustion. "I can't focus on the job if I'm distracted worrying about your safety. As far as we know this creep could be on his way into town and I don't want you anywhere near it. Not sure how long I'll be working on this one today. Just spend the day hanging with Jake. Spare your old man the heart attack, will ya?"
"Okay, dad. Let me just get a bag together and I'll head that way. Please be careful."
He reached over and kissed the top of my hair. "Always am."
The cotton candy sunrise from this morning was long gone, replaced in the sky by rolling purple clouds. They looked angry but I didn't mind; they matched my mood. The frigid air hurried my movements toward my truck and I just knew that something ominous was brewing. I could feel it...in the weather... in my life. How I ached for the times before the supernatural guided my fate. Back when my days felt so painfully ordinary and I wished for something... anything interesting to happen. I prayed Jake would be absent from the reservation today. I needed time to think, to slow the rabid swirl of chaos in my head.
I hauled myself up into the cab of my truck, and twisted to hug the seat. The scene would be comical to anyone looking in, but I realized in that moment that she had been the only real constant in my messy life the past year. Unchanging and sometimes frail. Like a plain human in magic world... like me. Together we started our slow and bumpy journey toward La Push.