I don't own Twilight. What I own is my character's behavior, personality, background, and plot of the story.
Thanks to my Beta MadMooey18 for her constant support and help in making this story what it is today.
"What are you smiling at?" Comes Emmett's question to his right.
Edward drops his phone back in his pocket and returns to separating the guns into different boxes as he tells him that Bella just sent him a message. Emmett nods his head and then they return to working in silence. This work is the kind of manual labor they usually don't do, but since they still have a spy in their midst, it's down to Edward and Emmett to do. You can't know for certain that those men don't have a tracker on them or are in bed with the police or a rival family.
Not for the first time, Emmett sighs as he lifts another filled box and carries it to the truck before he starts the filling of another box. "We would be so done, if that little shit didn't bail on us, and leave us to do all of the work. He is probably in bed being a lazy butt."
Edward smirks stopping himself from telling Emmett that he is worse than some of the popstars he has worked with and instead tells him, "He isn't in bed. He is picking a ring for Alice."
"No way!" Emmett exclaims. The gun he drops makes a loud noise as he turns to face Edward. Edward nods his head but doesn't stop working. He wants this to be done as soon as possible so he can go to Bella's place.
"Wait a minute. How come you know and I don't? It's not like you're his favorite brother or anything," Emmett smirks at the end making Edward roll his eyes at his brother's boasting.
"He hasn't told me either, but he asked Bella to help him pick the ring and Bella told me."
Emmett looks even more surprised as he asks his brother, "Has hell frozen over? Is the heavens gonna fall on us?" He asks his voice ringing in the empty building as he stumbles around while looking above him for extra measures.
Edward doesn't hide his smile as he watches his brother's theatrics. It's rare for him to be a clown. He is so serious all the time. He used to be the biggest jokester around until Carlisle beat that out of him just like he tried to beat out of Edward his love for music. He misses the Emmett that was. This Emmett is precisely why he never wants to succumb to his father's pressure.
"No, but seriously, when did that happen?" Emmett asks him all of the humor of the past minute wiped from his face.
Edward tells him, "You make it sound like Jasper getting along with Bella is a statistical improbability."
Emmett rolls his eyes at his brother's word choices and admonishes him, "I get that she is your girlfriend. You love her and all of that, but don't act like you don't know why Jasper doesn't like her."
Now that Emmett brought it up, Edward decides to take advantage of the chance and asks him, "Why doesn't he like her? I have asked him more than once and he never tells me. Has he told you anything?"
"It's not that hard to figure out. Bella has a backbone and Alice kind of idealizes her. She doesn't want Bella to think she is weak. Jasper loves Alice, but he enjoys taking advantage of her naivete occasionally. Alice having a backbone doesn't work well for him."
Edward is very surprised by Emmett's answer. He always assumed that he is the only one who noticed Jasper's shitty act. He goes back to his work until a couple of minutes later Emmett says something that makes Edward stop.
"That's also why Dad doesn't like her."
Edward snorts then quips back sarcastically, "Go figures! He is invested in his children being shitty people. God forbid he acts like a mentally stable father."
"That's not what I mean. What I mean is that dating Bella has given you a backbone," Emmett clarifies.
Edward frowns at his statement and tells him, "I have always had a backbone."
Emmett simply raises an eyebrow. "No really. I even didn't join the family business."
"Only because he let you to. Everything you ever said no to, you never changed your mind on only because Dad wasn't that interested in forcing you," Emmett tells him.
"I am not a pushover," Edward tells him, not liking what his brother is insinuating.
Emmett asks him, "When did you stop producing Jazz tracks?'
At Edward's shrug, Emmett answers him, "Right after Dad told you that your Jazz tracks sound like dying cats."
"No."
"Those tracks had the critics singing your praise and they were doing very well commercially, and yet you have not produced a single Jazz track since then."
Edward shakes his head in denial. "No, I just wanted to try new things. I don't like to do the same thing over and over again."
Emmett snorts and mutters sarcastically, "Sure, doing 70 pop songs is being diverse, but making a seventh Jazz track is doing the same thing over, and over again."
Not liking the direction the discussion is going, Edward decides to change the subject. "What do you think of Bella?"
Emmett is silent for a moment as he thinks over his next words. He knows how much Edward loves her. He would bet money on him proposing to her, and unlike his father, he doesn't want to push Edward away. Emmett can tell that Bella is good for Edward, and he isn't too prideful to recognize that his family isn't good for Edward. Bella isn't stupid. She probably figured this out, and eventually, she will help Edward figure this out. He fears the day when that happens.
"I don't feel like I know her enough to form an opinion about her."
"But you do know her. You have met her a couple of times," Edward tells him frowning at his brother's noncommittal answer. It reminds him of the kind of answers he gives to business associates he wants to cut off.
Emmett rubs the back of his neck as he tells him, "Yes, but," then pauses for a moment to think before continuing, "She isn't touchable you know. It feels like there is this wall that you can't get through. She's not inauthentic, but she is inaccessible."
At the look of recognition on Edward's face, Emmett asks him, "Is she like that with you?'
"Well, initially, she was like that but slowly she opened up to me once she trusted me," Edward tells him.
"She doesn't trust people easily, does she?"
Edward feels the phone in his pocket vibrate, but ignores it figuring Emmett will give him hell about it, and replies, "When your dad fucks you up the way her dad did, you will find it difficult to trust people."
Emmett is surprised at his brother's answer. "That bad?"
"Her father makes Carlisle look like the father of the year," Edward replies, pausing to put his phone on do-not-disturb mode and putting it back in his pocket before he adds, "You know, I am almost a hundred percent certain that she hasn't told me everything."
"How do you figure that out?"
Edward grimaces as he recalls seeing Bella's wrist for the first time. "She told me about something he did. It was the most despicable thing I ever heard of. I can't imagine something worse than that. The thing is, it happened before she even turned 18. She lived for years under his roof after it happened. A man like him is so far gone, that he is not capable of drawing the line when enough is enough. He has to have done even more things to her between then and his death, and since she didn't tell me what happened after it, I would wager that the other things are worse."
Emmett leans his head to the side and tells him, "You are overthinking this man."
"You don't know the half of it," Edward mutters going back to work.
"Why don't you tell me what happened? Let me the judge of it," Emmett suggests.
Edward shakes his head and tells him, "I can't. Bella would never forgive me."
"Come on. It's not like she would know."
Edward shakes his head and tells him, "You will never be able to look at her the same way, and she will know."
"It's not I see her a lot. I can maintain my poker face for a couple of hours," Emmett tells him persuasively. The more Edward refuses to tell him, the more Emmett finds himself wanting to know. Edward has to be exaggerating. It can't be that bad.
Edward pauses for a moment to think it over. Emmett has a point. How can he know if he is overthinking it, if he doesn't share his thoughts with someone else? No, no, no. He won't do it. He can't betray her trust that way. She has been backstabbed by her father enough to last a lifetime. He won't do it too.
At the determined look on Edward's face, Emmett shrugs his shoulders and takes out his phone that just started ringing.
"Hey babe," Emmett answers with a smile on his face, but that smile soon turns into a horrified look on his face.
"We need to leave. A disaster happened," He tells Edward as he quickly makes his way to the door and drags him with him.
She feels weightless with no worries or fear on her mind, but a voice tells her that this isn't the time to sign out of service or shut down her operations. She has important things to take care of. First, she remembers her name: Isabella Marie Swan. Then she remembers that she is a mother to two children: Adam and Peter. Gradually she remembers other things like the death of her mother followed by her father, her job as a model, her move to New York, and her boyfriend Edward. As soon as she remembers Edward, she remembers Jasper and going with him to get Alice her ring.
The shooting! Oh my god! Am I dead? Is that why I couldn't remember for a moment?
No, that is the impact of the morphine. Gosh, you're dramatic!
Bella tries to move herself, but she can't. She tries hard but nothing works. As if she is weighed down by a ton of bricks. Soon enough she finds herself giving in to the exhaustion and letting go. Until voices wake her up, or to be more specific, a single voice wakes her up since she doesn't give a shit about the other.
"I told you that you were getting weak and you should retire and let Emmett take control of things because people fear him more than they fear you, but no, Carlisle Cullen would never listen to my words." His voice sounded muffled, as if someone placed a pillow over his mouth, or maybe placed that pillow against her ears. It also sounds hoarse, as if those words are the remnants of a screaming match.
"Then tell me why that didn't happen to Alice or Rosalie?" A harsh voice demands from her Edward., Carlisle, yes it's Carlisle.
"I know where you are going with this. Do not give me this shit about people not fearing me. If they feared the family properly, they wouldn't need to fear me," Edward tells his father angrily. Bella's finger twitches wanting to reach out a smooth the frown between his eyebrows that she knows without a doubt is there.
She tries to lift her finger. When she does it she will move on to her whole hand. As hard as she tries to, she can't move her pointer finger. She changes tactics and tries to move her pinky. Maybe since her pinky is smaller, it won't need as much hard work. Finally, after what feels like hours but was probably a couple of minutes, she lifts it and then drops it.
"I already told you what the solution is. You are too much of a fucking coward to protect your girlfriend," the voice of Carlisle filters in followed by the door closing. She must have missed the rest of the conversation while focusing on her pinky.
The silence that follows is suffocating. She hates this. She hates not being able to talk to Edward and tell him everything will be alright. She hates that she can't see him. She knows that he is probably pulling at his hair and she needs to tell him to stop because she knows that if he doesn't, he will go bald.
She hears a door open followed by a voice whispering, "You're dad seemed pissed man. Is everything okay?" She strains to recognize the voice speaking, but before she can hear Edward's reply sleep claims her.
After what feels like minutes, but is much more, the feeling returns to Bella's limps and she moves them before she opens her eyes. She opens them to a white spotless ceiling. she moves her head slowly and looks around to find herself in what seems like a hospital room. She spots a pullout loveseat with a blanket crumbled on it. Of course, she isn't in an ordinary hospital.
As she is trying to sit up, the door swings open and Edward rushes through to her as soon as he notices that she is up. "How long have you been up?' He asks against her hair as he hugs her tightly.
"A couple of minutes," She tells him her voice hoarse from lack of use.
He pulls back and examines her face as he asks her, "How are you feeling? Are you in any pain?"
Bella shakes her head then clears her throat bothered by the dryness she is feeling and tells him, "I think Jasper and I were ring shopping for Alice then we left. Everything after that is supper hazy. There was a loud sound and I remember a guy dressed in black, but I don't remember what happened next. What happened?"
Edward traces slowly a line from her left temple down to her jaw as he answers her, "Someone has been following you and ambushed you and Jasper as you were getting in the car. He shot at both of you. Jasper pushed you out of the way, so the bullet only grazed your shoulder, but you hit your head hard against the cement of the building. You ended up with a concussion. For a moment the doctors were worried that you would get into a coma. Speaking of which, I need to alert the nurses that you are up."
What about Jasper? What happened to him? He can't be dead, can he?
of course not. If he was, Edward would be behaving differently.
What if he is the avoidant kind that likes to pretend that everything is alright?
Nah, that's you.
Her hand stops him from pressing the nurse's button. "What happened to your brother?" She asks him as her teeth gnaw at her lower lip.
Edward barks out a laugh as he presses the button then tells her, "The fucker is alright. He got shot in the stomach."
"How is that alright?" She demands as she quickly slaps his hand away from her face which turns out to be a bad idea as her shoulder is still sore.
Poor Alice. She is probably freaking out.
Edward frowns once he sees her wince then takes her hand in his and tells her, "It's not alright obviously, but it turned out to be a good thing. When he arrived at the hospital, the doctors discovered that his appendix was about to burst. It ended up being a two-in-one surgery."
"But he is okay, right?" She asks him still worried.
"He is more than fine. He was lucid and okay until they had to put him under and he was up as soon as they weaned him off the pain medication. Turns out that even the strongest drugs can't keep him under for long."
Bella opens her mouth to ask him about Alice but is cut off but the nurse coming in. Bella freezes in fear as the nurse checks her vitals and the IV bag. She looks eerily similar to the doctor who treated her in Forks when her dad sent her to the hospital.
I need the boys. I need to see them. The need to be okay.
"Where are Peter and Adam?" She quickly asks him worried that the nurse is coming to take them from her.
Edward gently smooths the frown that appeared between her eyebrows and tells her, "They are safe at home with Seth."
"Everything seems fine. The doctor will be with you in minutes to tell you about your case,' the nurse tells her. She pats her legs gently and Bella flinches pulling her feet inward until they touch the back of her thigh.
The nurse frowns at Bella's behavior but doesn't say anything and leaves. "I don't want this nurse," Bella tells him as soon as the door closes.
"Why? Was she rough?' Edward asks her.
Bella shakes her head and tells him, "I don't like her."
"Did she do anything?" Edward asks her in surprise at Bella's attitude shift. Bella is usually chill and doesn't nitpick at small things. She might seem like a tough nut to people who don't know her, but at heart, she is a people pleaser who doesn't want to inconvenience the people she loves.
Bella rubs her face in frustration and tells him, "Why can't you do as asked Edward? I don't want her. Why can't you afford me this small thing?" By the end, she is demanding as she pulls away from him and scoots back until she is sitting with her back straight.
Edward nods his head silently figuring that she is having a postponed reaction to the incident and gets up and goes to the corner to make a phone call to his mother to ask her to make Bella's request happen. Her reaction worries him and he doesn't want to leave her to do so.
Bella sags into the pillows behind her bringing her knees under her chin as she watches Edward standing in the corner whispering on the phone. She doesn't know what came over her and made her blow up at Edward that way. All she knows is that if she continues to act like a nightmare, he is bound to get tired and leave. Edward loves her. She knows that he does, but there is only so much disrespect that love can make you tolerate.
Edward finishes his call then makes his way back to her and sits on the end of the bed keeping a distance between them. "I am sorry." Her whisper makes him look up at her to find her staring at her blanket and wringing it nervously.
"It's okay. You had something awful just happen to you. I should be more understanding," He tells her folding his arms in his lap and plastering a smile on his face. Her reaction was like a slap to the face, but not because she pained him. She didn't pain him, his responsibility does. His guilt which has been fighting him since he found out that she had been harmed finally made it to the surface. This is all his fault. He did this to her. He did this to them and nothing will ever be the same.
Her hands taking his shocks him and brings him back to reality. "No, it's not. The nurse looked too similar to someone that once harmed me. Seeing her brought me back to that feeling and I acted irrationally. You shouldn't have to pay for my lack of coping mechanism," She tells him forcefully.
Edward returns his eyes to their hands and tells her, "It's fine. I have to pay for endangering your life somehow."
Bella tries to be as empathetic as possible as she tells him, "This is not your fault Edward. You can not account for the action of every psycho that decides to harm me."
Edward shakes his head and tells her, "But I can account for the actions of the ones who harm you because you are dating me."
"Do you know how many women on the internet hate me for dating you? You don't wanna go there buddy," She tells him jokingly but it doesn't land.
Edward exhales loudly then raises his head to look at her pulls back his shoulders and tells her, "It's okay. You don't have to worry. I am fixing it. It's about time I make peace with my fate."
Fear seeps into Bella's bones as she tries to understand what Edward is saying. "Edward, What have you done?" She asks him worriedly.
Edward pulls her into him and hugs her tightly as he tells her, "Everything will be okay," but knows something is wrong, Bella pulls out of his embrace then holds his face in her hands to force him to look her in the eye and asks him again, "What have you done?"
"What I should have done ages ago. I joined my family," He tells her trying to keep his voice steady although even thinking about it makes him want to vomit.
"Oh no," Bella mutters to herself as all of the color in her face drains. "No, you did not. What is wrong with you?" She demands dropping her hands from his face.
Edward squares his shoulders and tells her, "I know that this isn't what you want. You want me to be happy and not do something I don't love, but I can't have any peace of mind with you in danger."
Bella rubs her face as she tells him, "There has to be some other way. I can't let you do something you hate to protect me. I can't live with that."
"I can't live with you dying either, so what I can't live with will have to take precedence over what you can't live with," He tells her shaking his head at the irony of fate. To keep her alive, he needs to kill people.
"Isn't there anything else we can do?" Bella asks wringing the blanket with her hands.
Edward shakes his head. "How about a bodyguard? We can hire one and you won't need to join your family."
Refusing to give her idea any thought, Edward shakes his head and tells her, "Not as efficient as me joining the family."
Bella shakes her head refusing the idea, and tells him, "There has to be another way. No, just no. A bodyguard will do. You won't join your family."
But Edward isn't listening to her and she can tell which makes her take a deep breath before she tells him something that she knows could wreck them both.
"You won't join your family to protect me because if you do, you won't have me to protect."
Hello lovely people,
I know, I know. Another freaking cliffhanger, but in my defense, I want you to be as excited for the next chapter as possible, and I don't want to spoil it for you, but let's just say that the next chapter and the one after it, are the ones I have been waiting to write since before I started writing this story.
I am no planner. I am a pancer, but my head does come up with some plots and themes against my well before I know if a story is worth writing or not, and the events of the next two chapters alongside a couple of other events are what made me decide that I want to write this story.
Tell me your thoughts. Tell me your predictions. Tell me how pissed off you are at me for two cliffhangers in a row.
I want to hear it all in the review section.
Until my next update,
Stay Safe.