Ahh I gotta finish this before summer ends in a few weeks!
Bella's laughter made Edward relax and catch his breath. He spun around and shook his head before planting a kiss on her lips.
Out in the living room they heard Esme's somewhat concerned voice with regards to the absence of half of the staff.
Edward kissed Bella once before she towed him out of the room, "Come on."
The two of them entered the living room and Carlisle and Esme stopped talking as he turned to face them.
"Do you think we should-" he began, but everyone jumped when a loud crash came from the porch again.
The four of them stood frozen for a moment until Bella breathed heavily. "The shutter." She swallowed hard and looked at Edward; her unspoken request she made with her eyes was begging him to go out there with her to make sure.
Edward made his way to the front door and then peeked outside, confirming the noise was the shutter. When he stepped back in, Bella stared at him.
"Aren't you going to hang it back up?" she asked.
He shook his head, "That thing has startled us like fifty times already. It's just going to fall again, especially with this wind."
A light tapping sound drew their attention back to the porch. Edward was the closest, but Carlisle followed him out with the girls not far behind.
On the far end of the porch one light was exposed to the elements, a dented metal cone that protected the bulb. A light rain began to pelt it, each drop leaving it's own musical 'ding' when it landed on the metal.
"Well," Carlisle looked at Esme, "It's starting to rain so I would assume everyone would be heading back this way soon."
Esme looked around the darkness that extended beyond the illuminated porch. "Hopefully."
He placed an arm over her shoulders and used his head to motion that they go back inside.
"Oh, what's that now?" Edward asked aloud to no one in particular.
There was a third noise, this time coming from the back of the house.
He didn't wait for everyone this time, appearing a little impatient in his walk. Edward crossed past the room he shared with Bella and Jacob and curled around the back hallway toward the back door.
Bella hurried after him, and Carlisle and Esme strolled lazily behind them.
"Back door," Edward's voice called. There was a quick slam and the click of the lock.
"It was open?" Esme called back, now looking at Carlisle.
He could see the alarm on her face. "Someone could have left it open earlier and the wind flung it open farther."
"Yeah..." She glanced up as Edward and Bella rounded back into the hallway near their room.
"That was weird," Edward said with a shrug. There wasn't much alarm on his face as he looked at Bella.
"Did anyone come back?" Bella asked, looking around. She then called out "Jake? Leah?"
There was no response.
"I'm sure it was left open when people left earlier," Edward told her, piggybacking on Carlisle's theory.
Carlisle nodded in agreement and then glanced around the room again when no one said anything farther.
"I'm going to change," Edward said. He looked at Bella, "Get ready to just lounge the rest of the night."
She nodded back and looked up and down the hall. "Yeah... that sounds like a good idea." A mild amount of worry lingered on her face, but she shrugged it off.
Carlisle lead Esme toward the living room and plopped down on the couch as Edward and Bella made their way back into their room.
She went to reach for the light, but Edward pushed her hand away and closed the door behind them before locking lips with her in the darkness.
A light giggle left Bella's mouth and she gave into his advances, pulling him toward her onto the bottom bunk they'd been sharing.
"What if Jacob comes back?" she whispered.
"We'll hear him," he assured her, removing his shirt.
Bella could tell he was grinning in the darkness despite not being able to see his face clearly.
"Besides," he whispered again, "We may not have the opportunity to be alone for awhile after this."
"True," she said back, giggling again as she did so.
Edward brought his lips back to hers and the two of them slid under the covers.
Had they been more aware of their surroundings, or if Bella had simply gone ahead with turning on the light they would have noticed Mike Newton's lifeless body in the top bunk.