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A Cinderella of Sorts
Jared POV
When Kim pulled back from the kiss I moaned in protest. I had gone two weeks without her and I didn't want to be apart from her any longer. She smiled up at me as I gazed into her beautiful, milk chocolate eyes. She has the prettiest eyes I have ever seen, framed by thick, black lashes. I watch as several emotions pass through her eyes, but there is one that shocks me the most; love.
I already loved her, but I never expected her to love me back, not until she got to know me better at least. I feel very warm inside as I watch her high cheekbones flush a beautiful pink. She breaks the gaze and looks down at her feet in shyness. That's one of the things I find adorable about her, how shy she is. I put two fingers under her chin and tug it up so I can see her gorgeous eyes again. She flushes even brighter at my gesture.
"I take it you aren't afraid of me?" I ask her.
She clears her throat and it sounds as if maybe she can talk now. When she speaks her voice is scratchy and hoarse.
"No." she replies simply, with conviction evident in her voice.
"Why not?"
"You saved my life. I don't know why, but you did. I trust you." She explains.
I frown. "You believe me?" I ask in disbelief.
"It all makes sense. Your extremely hot temperature, the growth spurt, it all fits." She tells me.
I gape at her. No one had ever taken it so calmly.
"Don't you need to see some proof or something?" I ask her. She shakes her head. Wow, how can she trust me this much? I think amazed.
"There is more. Maybe you should hear the rest of the story, before you form a final opinion about me," I tell her. She frowns at me and waits patiently for me to continue. "The…man," I struggle not to call him something I'd rather not have Kim hear, "that kidnapped you, was a vampire."
She looks contemplative for a moment and then nods to herself as if this makes sense to her. I just frown in confusion again.
"He was so incredibly strong and so very cold. His eyes were blood red- a vampire trait I assume- and he was so pale. Elaine was like that too. Come to think of it, so was Dr. Cullen." she says, thinking out loud.
I nod at her. "Yeah, Carlisle and the other pale people you saw with him are all vampires. They are good vampires though, vegetarians if you will, they only drink animal blood." I say confirming her observations.
She nods and then looks like she realizes something. "Why me? Why did they pick me?" she asks with a look of dread in her eyes.
"Well apparently you are special. You hold this powerful thing in your body called The Phoenix. It is the power to control fire and it's sought after by many vampires, because it makes them immune to fire. We still don't know how he knew you had the Phoenix, but I guess how he knew doesn't matter." I explain the whole thing to her.
Now she looks like she might faint. She slowly sinks to the ground and sits down on the grass. I sit down next to her, keeping a little distance. I didn't want to crowd her. Much to my pleasure, she scoots over closer to me and rests her head on my shoulder. I tilt her head up to look me in the eyes. "Are you okay?" I ask tentatively.
She sighs heavily. "Yeah, I will be as long as I have you." She says, her face blooming into a smile. I smile back at her. I am about to kiss her again when she speaks up. "Why do you like me?"
I clench my eyes shut. I was dreading telling her about the imprint. It is not always thought of as a good thing. I open my eyes and take a deep breath. "It's called imprinting. It's part of the tribe legends. It's where a wolf finds his soul mate. He sees her for the first time after the wolf change and as soon as he looks into her eyes his world shifts," she looked a bit disbelieving so I continued, "Everything else no longer matters: his family, school, friends. Everything revolves around that one girl. She is his perfect match. That's what you are to me, Kim, my world." I tell her, staring her in the eyes so she knows I am not lying.
Kim looks down at her lap and contemplates what I said. After the longest two minutes of my life, she finally raises her head and she has tears in her eyes. I panic for a second, worrying that she is in pain or something, before realizing they are happy tears. She smiles a watery smile at me before leaning up and kissing me passionately. I can feel the joy she pours into the kiss. I smile into the kiss and kiss her back happily. We pull apart after a minute of pure heaven and Kim is no longer crying, but glowing radiantly. I stand up off the dirty ground and pull her up with me. She pauses for a second to brush the dirt off her shorts and that's when I realize she has been wearing the same outfit she was wearing when she was kidnapped.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Kim! I didn't realize you have been wearing the same outfit for weeks! Come on let's head back to Emily's. She might have some clothes you can borrow until later." I apologize while pulling her in the direction of Emily's house.
"It's okay Jared. I didn't notice either." She says, giggling.
I can't help but smile at her. Her giggle is so cute. "Your giggle is so cute." I say out loud.
She stops giggling and blushes brightly. I shake my head in amusement and keep leading her back to Emily's. We reach it a moment later and I hold the door open and bow deeply.
"Ladies first." She giggles again and walks into the house. I follow and we walk into the living room together. I catch a whiff of blueberry muffins and see that Emily is in her natural habitat, the kitchen. "Has anyone else ever cooked in your kitchen?" I tease her.
She looks up from mixing something and grins toothily. "Over my dead body!" She jokes back.
Her smile brightens as she spots something over my shoulder. I turn around and see Sam. He is smiling at her and they look like they are in their own world. The rest of the pack members are filing into the house and finding places to sit. I sigh, it looks like they lost. When Sam pulls away from his embrace with Emily and turns to look at me and Kim, I can tell I am right.
"We lost her."
Kim sucks in a quick breath and I can hear her heart speed up, using my super hearing. I pull her into my arms and whisper soothing words into her ear. She shudders and then calms down as I place a gentle kiss on the top of her head. I glare at my alpha over her head. "What do you mean you lost her?" I growl at him.
"We followed her all the way to the treaty line. You know as well as I do we cannot fight over the line. The Cullens took it from there." He retorts, giving me a warning look not to start something.
I sigh and look back down at the angel whose head is buried in my chest. As if sensing it, she peeks up at me through her thick eyelashes. I give a small smile at her and then look back up at Sam. "Find her." I tell him. He nods at me. I turn to Emily who is filling up a muffin baking pan with the batter she was just stirring. "Em, can Kim borrow something to wear? She has been wearing the same thing for the last two weeks."
"Oh! Of course! I'm sorry I didn't even notice. Here follow me." She says holding her hand out for Kim to take.
Kim hesitates so I lean down and whisper in her ear. "It's ok. Emily is cool, trust me."
She nods at me and hugs me before walking off with Emily. I don't look at Sam the whole fifteen minutes that she is gone. When she comes back she is wearing a pair of blue-jean shorts, darker than the ones she just had on and a bit bigger. She is also wearing a white short-sleeved blouse that fits her to a T. On her cute size five feet are some white foam sandals. She is blushing fire-engine red when I look back up to her beautiful face.
Oops, busted checking her out. "You ready to go home?" I ask her.
She stops blushing and appears to think about it. "I'd rather not, but it has to be done, so let's go." She mumbles turning around and walking at a slow pace to the door.
I frown at her reluctance then I look at Sam. "Could you guys talk to the police for us? Tell them she is back?"
Sam nods. I smile appreciatively and then follow Kim who is waiting for me at the door. Together we walk outside and I realize I left my car at home. So instead, I turn to Kim and swoop down to knee level. I throw my arms under her knees and lift her up into my arms for the second time tonight. She gives a surprised squeak and looks up at me with wide eyes. I almost laugh at the look on her face.
"What are you doing?" she asks.
"I forgot my car." I say simply.
She frowns.
"Are my legs broken?" she asks me.
I bark out a laugh. "No! No, they aren't." I gasp between laughs.
She looks confused. "So why are you carrying me?" she persists.
"Because I want to," I tell her. I can feel her eyes on my face. I just look straight ahead. After a minute or two, she stops scrutinizing me and snuggles into my chest. I smile and keep walking along the side of the road to her house. We spend the next few minutes in comfortable silence before she breaks it.
"Ever since I was little I used to wish, more than anything else, for attention. And not in the superficial 'I –hope-he-likes-my-hair-and-I-become-popular' kind of way, but I wanted somebody to notice me. I wanted someone to ask me how I was doing. Someone to help me when I needed it," she told me quietly.
I knew she needed to get this off her chest, so I stayed silent. She paused for a long moment and a quick glance down at her confirmed she had tears in her eyes. I wanted so badly to comfort her but I could tell she had been bottling up her feelings for the last seventeen years. I pursed my lips together and listened supportively.
"I remember how, if I had a bad day, I would lie in my bed and chant as hard as I could to myself, 'one day it will happen, one day I won't have to live in an attic. One day some wonderful guy is going to sweep me off my feet and I will never feel ignored again. One day I won't be treated like a slave and I will be treated like a princess instead'. I never really thought I would get my wish." She finished looking up at me.
I am rendered speechless at her confession. I would say I looked like a fish with my mouth opening and closing and nothing coming out. Kim giggled at my expression, but then was instantly serious. "I thought you'd never come," she says blushing like crazy.
Again I don't know what to say. When I don't say anything for a second she looks down at her lap. "Hey." I whisper to her. She looks up at me shyly. "Sorry I made you wait." I apologize grinning and lean my head down to kiss her.
She blushes scarlet but meets me in the middle. This kiss is different than the others. It's sweeter somehow. I softly brush her lips with mine for several seconds and pull away. Kim slowly opens her eyes and then smiles widely at me. I smile back. We spent the next few minutes talking about my life because she didn't have much to tell, which made me sad. When we started talking about my parents I remembered hers and how they acted when I told them she had been kidnapped. Her mom didn't even try to act like she cared. When I thought about her dad I remembered what he told me. I stopped talking as the memory hit me.
"I know I haven't always treated her right, but I do love her. She's-…, she's my little bumblebee, and she always has been," he starts, and my eyes widen at his request, "So if you see her before I do, can you…can you tell her I love her?"
Kim noticed I had stopped talking and looked up at me. I shook my head and stopped walking. I need to tell her what he said, I decide. I gently set her down on her feet and steady her. She is looking at me confused. "I forgot to tell you something your dad told me to tell you." I explain. Kim gets a confused look on her face. "He told me, if I saw you before him, to tell you that he loves you and that you're his little bumblebee and you always have been." I say.
Her eyes widen and she gasps before I finish the sentence and then she starts crying. For a second I couldn't tell because she didn't close her eyes and her face didn't contort to one of pain. Tears just rolled out of her eyes and down her expressionless face. "He hasn't called me that since I was seven." She says, her voice breaking several times.
I reach my hand out and place it on her cheek, before wiping away her tears with my thumb. She leans into my hand and sniffles. After a moment, her tears completely stop and her face is dry.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask tentatively.
She nods. "Not right now though. I need to see him." she whispers. I nod and we walk the rest of the way to her house in silence, her tucked into my side. We reach it and I knock on the door, her mother's head popping out a second later. When she sees me she smiles flirtatiously, and I swallow back the bile in my throat. A second later she looks over my shoulder at Kim and the smile falls off her face, a sneer replacing it.
"So, you're back, huh?"
Kim looks down at her feet and lets out a meek 'yes'. Her mother smirks and turns around leaving the door open, inviting us in. I put a reassuring hand on Kim's elbow, when she hesitates. She looks up at me and smiles dazzlingly. I smile back and nod my head in the direction of the house. She nods, her smile fading in brilliance. She takes a deep breath and steps inside, me following her. Her mom is sitting on the expensive suede couch in the middle of the living room and her dad has just walked out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee in his hands when he spots us. His eyes snap open wide and the mug slips through his fingers, falling to the floor and shattering into pieces. "Kim." he whispers almost as if she is an illusion.
"Hey daddy." Kim whispers back. In the next second her dad has crossed the room in several strides, and taken Kim into his arms.
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