8

It wasn't until someone cleared their throat that Bella and Alice pulled away from each other. She felt her cheeks warm as everyone looked between her and Alice, smirks on their lips and joy in their eyes.

"Sorry," Bella whispered, feeling embarrassed.

"Don't be sorry," Esme said with a smile. "You've done nothing wrong, Bella. Nothing."

"Why don't we head to bed? It's late, and it's been a long day for everyone," Rose suggested, wrapping her arm around Esme, who almost seemed to melt into her embrace.

As Bella looked around, she noticed the way Carlisle and Emmett held hands, or Edward and Jasper stood so close you could barely tell who was who. They loved so openly, freely, and Bella envied their ability to be true to themselves. She'd hidden who she was for so long. Could she really be as open and free as them?

"Great idea, sweetheart," Emmett said with a smile before looking over at her. "Get some rest, Bella."

"Thank you," she whimpered, feeling her eyes fill with tears. "For helping me, for . . . for everything."

"We take care of our own," Carlisle said, leaning down and kissing the top of her head. "And you are one of ours. Don't forget that, okay?"

She nodded and watched as Carlisle, Emmett, Esme and Rose headed down the hallway behind the stairs, to where their bedroom was she assumed. Edward and Jasper smirked before hurrying upstairs, leaving just Alice and Bella in the living room.

"You can stay in my room, with me," she murmured. "If you want."

"I want," Bella whispered, bringing her hand up to her cheek again. "I really want."

Alice laughed as she slipped her hand in with Bella's and led her upstairs to the bedroom on the left, the one that faced the room Charlie had kept her locked away in for the last two weeks. Had it only been fourteen days since she boarded a plane and moved to Forks? Had her father really set her up to be brutalized by a predator rather than accept that his daughter was a lesbian? Had Renee known that Charlie would do that to her? She wanted to believe she wouldn't, that Renee had loved her enough to not want to see her daughter raped straight, but she couldn't help but think about what Renee had told her when they were standing in the airport.

"You can't just live your life so freely, and if you won't listen to me, maybe you'll learn from him."

"So, this is my room," Alice said, turning to face Bella. "Oh, beautiful, don't cry."

"How could do that to me?" she sobbed, her knees giving out on her and she crumbled to the floor. "My parents set me up, Alice. My mom sent me here knowing what he was going to do!"

"Oh, beautiful, I'm sorry." Alice knelt next to her, placing her hand on the side of Bella's face. "They don't deserve you."

"Why am I not good enough just the way I am?" she whimpered, shifting her eyes to Alice. "Why?"

"You are," she insisted, smiling. "They're the ones that aren't good enough, Bella."

"How'd you end up here with them, Alice?"

Alice inhaled a sharp breath before she stood up, pulled Bella to her feet, and settled both of them on the side of her bed. "I met them officially six months ago, when they were living in Mississippi. They'd been there a few months, though. Edward and Jasper went to the same school as me, and I would watch them, Bella. Be so free, so open. I was so jealous because while I knew I was a lesbian, I couldn't tell anyone."

"Why not?"

"Because like you, like all of us, my parents didn't understand. My father was a lot like Charlie, Bella. He had a heavy hand, and not just with me, either. With my mother, my little sister. Nothing we did was right, and he felt a strong hand would keep us in God's favor." Alice frowned. "Six months ago, he . . . Well, he came into my room one night, figured he'd . . . teach me what a real man feels like."

Bella gasped.

"See, it wasn't Jacob Black that tried to fuck me straight, Bella," Alice whimpered. "It was my own father. He held me down and . . . I didn't have an Edward and Jasper to stop him from raping me. When he was done, he left me laying there, and said now I'd learned better than to defy him, to defy God. I climbed out of my window that night," she continued through her tears. "And walked until I found myself standing on a bridge. I don't know how long I had been standing there when I heard a car pull up behind me. When I looked back, I found Carlisle and Emmett standing there, their eyes so full of love and acceptance. They . . . Well, they talked me out of killing myself, convinced me to go back to their house with them. Said they'd keep me safe. Esme and Rose got me clean clothes, and Jasper and Edward made me hot chocolate," she laughed through her tears. "And then they offered me the same deal they did you. Said they'd protect me, keep me safe."

"And did they?"

"For the most part," she said with a smile. "When my father realized that I was gone, he called the police, who started this huge search for his runaway daughter, but when they found me, when I'd told them what my father had done, they called me a liar, Bella. Said the good Reverend Brandon would never rape his own daughter; that I must have been covering for Edward or Jasper. Or even Carlisle or Emmett. But not him. Never him. Because I was only sixteen, they tried to force me to go back, but Carlisle filed an injunction and helped me become an emancipated minor. We moved the day after the judge signed off on my paperwork. We've been here in Forks, Washington ever since."

"So they just let him rape you?"

Alice smiled. "The courts yes; Carlisle and Emmett, no. The night before we left town, they paid my sperm donor a visit and beat him within an inch of his life, Bella. See, they don't let anyone hurt their family."

"And I'm a part of their family now, too, right?" she asked.

"Yes, beautiful, and we won't let anyone hurt you again. Nobody puts their hands on my girl and gets away with it."

"Your girl, huh?" Bella smiled. "I'm your girl?"

"For as long as you want to be."

"Forever sounds pretty nice."

Alice laughed and stood up, reaching for her hands. "Come on, beautiful. Let's go to bed."

Bella climbed into bed next to Alice, feeling her arms wrap around her, her hand coming to rest just under her breast. For the first time in her life, she found herself with people who loved her for who she was. But something told her, Charlie Swan wasn't going to let her go without a fight.

Thank you for all the amazing reviews!