Enjoy...
Chapter Nineteen
"You Isabella Swan?" He asked.
"Y-yes," I said as I looked through the cracked door. I was glad I had left the chain on because as soon as I opened the door, I regretted it. Something wasn't right.
The man charged the door before I had a chance to react. He broke the chain right off the door and slammed me into the ground. I yelped when my back hit the hardwood floor. I had dropped the phone as the man tackled me, but I knew it was close by because I could hear Edward yelling through the phone.
The man slammed his forearm into my windpipe, cutting off my screams. He stared at me with his steely, cold grey eyes. I started to shake as he reached over and grabbed my phone.
"Hello old friend," The man said on the phone to Edward, who was yelling so loudly I could hear it. "You sound scared. Is it because you're stuck in jail and there isn't anything you can do?"
Edward yelled something else, causing the man to laugh.
"Please do. By the time anyone gets here, I'll have your girl cut up into a million pieces."
My eyes widened and I stared struggling. The man had a decent hold on me, but he hadn't pinned down my knee. There was just enough space for me to nail him right in the groin.
He groaned loudly, dropping the phone, and forcibly relaxing his pressure on my throat. I took the opportunity to headbutt him in the nose and force him off me.
I was out of the door before he even got off the ground. I ran as fast as I could. By the time I made it to the end of the hall, he was storming out of my apartment, chasing me down, his once cold eyes now burning with anger.
I opened my mouth to let out a scream to alert the neighbors, but, when I remembered all of my neighbors were mostly elderly or disabled, I clamped my mouth shut. I could outrun this guy. I was pretty fit.
When I made it to the front doors of my apartment building, opening the doors slowed me down just enough for this guy to almost grab ahold of my hair. Almost. I slipped out of the door before he could successfully grab me.
I started running down the street in nothing but my bare feet and my towel. I was surprised my towel hadn't fallen off when this guy tackled me. For a moment, as I was running, I criticized myself for not getting dressed before answering the phone because this might not have happened. But, right now, being in a towel was the least of my worries.
You would think seeing a young woman running down the street in nothing but a towel being chased but a man would prompt people to help, but everyone just stared. Anyone in the way would simply move aside and raise their hands as if they didn't want any trouble.
My heart started beating faster but not from running, but because the possibility of being killed just became realistic to me. The only thing I could think of was my dad. In my head, I kept calling out for my dad to show up and rescue me.
As I made it to another street, the sight of a familiar SUV caught my eye. I gasped as I spotted my salvation. I ran to the SUV and started beating wildly on the window to get his attention.
When a pair of hands grabbed my shoulders, I screeched as loud as I could and started swinging on the person behind me.
"Bella chill! It's me! It's me, Jasper!" He cried as he dodged my swinging fists.
"He's right behind—!" I started yelling before I realized that the man was no longer behind me. I blinked several times, my head spinning on a swivel to find my attacker. Standing behind Jasper was the man I remembered as Emmett, Alice, and some blond woman I had never seen before.
"You're safe, you're okay," Jasper said.
I let out a sob of both relief and fear. Tears streamed out of my eyes. Jasper pulled me against his chest, holding my head closely and rubbing my back soothingly.
"It's okay. You're safe now." He said gently. "You're safe."
I clung desperately to his tuxedo, shivering, and crying. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I had escaped. I also couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I was attacked.
"You're going to need stitches," Jasper said as he gently pushed my head away from his chest to look at my bleeding forehead.
I was still shivering as Emmett took off his large suit jacket and wrapped it around me.
"Come on, let's get you inside." Emmett murmured as he placed his hand on my back and started to lead me towards the large building.
"Jasper carry her," Alice said, looking me over with concern. "Her foot is bleeding.
I looked down at my bloody foot then felt the pain. I hissed as the pain hit me. Jasper lifted me off of my feet and carried me towards the building.
I clung to him tightly, my hands shaking. I didn't really look around at the building we walked into. I felt like I was going to pass out, so I just focused on trying to keep my breathing under control.
We had to take an elevator to get to the apartment on the highest floor. Alice moved in front of the door to unlock it and I realized that this was Alice's apartment. I remembered Jasper said she lived near me.
"I'm going to call Edward," Emmett said as we walked into the apartment. "I know he's freaking out. Rosie, can you call the doctor?"
"Yeah," The blond woman said as she pulled her cellphone out of her sparkling bag.
Jasper took me to a tan couch sitting on top of a white carpet. I started to panic again.
"I'm going to ruin the furniture!" I gasped as he started to sit me down.
"It's okay," Alice said, chuckling very lightly as she pulled a blanket off the couch. "I was really starting to hate this furniture so now I have an excuse to buy a new living room set."
Jasper sat me down and Alice placed the blanket around me. Once the blanket was around me, I realized how cold I was. I thought I was shivering because of the fear but now as the blanket covered me, I felt the chill from the cold night as well.
Jasper sat down beside me to look at my forehead again. "Did you headbutt him?"
I nodded, "D-did Edward—?"
"I was just answering his call when I saw you at my car."
"Can I get you some water?" Alice asked as she lifted my foot off the ground and placed it onto a pillow, so I wasn't baring down on my wounds.
I shook my head. "I-I don't know w-who—,"
"It's okay," Jasper said. "We know who it was. He made a huge fucking mistake."
"W-why did h-he—a-attack—,"
"Because he's a fucking psychopath who hates Edward and is trying to fuck everything up in his life." Alice said with so much venom before looking at Jasper. "You should go out there right now, track him down, and blow his fucking brains out."
I gasped. Even though this man attacked me, I couldn't fathom the thought of Jasper actually killing someone.
"N-no, d-don't." I gasped as I started shivering again.
"I'm going to grab you some clothes," Alice said as she walked down the hall towards the open door.
A feminine gasp from behind me made me jump. The woman Emmett called Rosie was looking at my head.
"You're bleeding back here." She said as she gently placed her fingers on the tender spot.
"I-it's okay," I said as I moved my head away from her. I didn't know what kind of injury I had, and it wasn't wise for her to touch it. "Do you have a rag I can put over it? I need to stop the b-bleeding."
"Of course," Rosie walked into the kitchen and pulled a rag out from a drawer. She balled it up and gently placed it against my head. "I'll hold it. Is this okay?"
"Yes." I whispered. "T-thank you."
Alice returned with clothes. It was nothing but a very big t-shirt.
"Jazz, why don't you take a walk with Emmett? Just look around."
Jasper nodded and got to his feet. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a Glock. I shuddered, but I knew it was safer that he had it. A very sick part of me hoped he found the guy who attacked me and blew his brains out.
"Are you using the dishtowels my grandmother gave me?" Alice asked.
"Yep," Rosie said. "Maybe next time she'll think twice before suggesting that I was gaining relationship weight."
"I love it." Alice giggled before looking at me. "Let's get this on you before the doctor comes."
"O-okay," I said as she and Rosie helped pull the blanket and the towel off me.
Usually, I didn't like flaunting my naked body around strangers. Of course, I had only ever done it twice when I was in college, but everyone had to sign an agreement, no pictures or inappropriate behavior. However, right now, I didn't really care about being naked in front of these women.
Alice very carefully pulled the shirt over my head. "Edward left this the last time he was here. Thank god I saved it."
I nodded and thanked her for the shirt. It covered enough of me so that I didn't feel so naked. I felt much better with clothes on.
A new blanket covered me now. It felt weird, like it had cords running through it. But when I saw Alice turning a dial on that was connected to the blanket, I realized it was a heated one. Then I had another realization that I was probably going into shock. Not because my injuries were significant enough, but because my emotional state was extremely vulnerable right now.
I needed to ground myself, so I looked at Alice and noticed she was wearing a very fancy, sparkly dress.
"W-where were you going tonight?" I asked.
She looked down at herself and cracked a smile. "Oh, we were going to my parents' house for dinner."
"D-dressed like that?" I asked.
She laughed. "We were kind of teasing them. We like to dress up sometimes for our family dinners just to mess with our parents. One time we all dressed up in unicorn onesies. My mother loves it. It always makes her feel better."
I jumped when someone knocked on the door and reached out to grab Alice's hands in a panic. Alice smiled gently and patted my hand.
"It's just the doctor." She told me gently. "Rosalie will you get that?"
"Hold this for me," Rosalie said as she left to get the door. Alice reached forward and held the rag to my head.
A man with a doctor's tote bag walked into the living room. He placed the tote bag onto the coffee table and started checking my head first. He checked the back of my head, then my forehead. He then sat beside his tote bag on the coffee table and pulled out a medical sewing kit.
"I'm going to stitch your forehead first," He said as he then pulled out a needle and Lidocaine. "This is going to sting a little bit."
I winced as he stuck the needle into my forehead. It was in the same spot where I had gotten stitches from my mugger attack. I had just gotten those stitches removed not too long ago.
The doctor moved fast on my forehead. Once that was finished, he then moved onto the back of my head. The wound on the back of my head wasn't deep, he declared as he looked it over, but to be safe, he was going to stitch it up.
"Can you lift your foot up?" He asked. I nodded and lifted my bleeding foot towards him. He made a face. "Glass. I'm going to need a bucket of some kind to wash it."
Alice got to her feet and retrieved a bin. She then grabbed a large pitcher of warm water and gave it to the doctor.
I hissed as he slowly poured the water over my foot.
"I know," He said, "I'm sorry. I want to get as much glass out as I can."
I winced again as he pulled more water over it. As the doctor let the water wash over my foot he looked back at Alice.
"Will you grab a light for me?" He asked. Alice grabbed her lamp and pulled it over, shining it directly onto my foot. Alice made a face when she caught sight of the condition of my foot.
"I'm going to have to pick these pieces out." The doctor said as he pulled out a large pair of thin-nosed tweezers and rubbing alcohol. He doused the tweezers in the alcohol before starting to work on my foot.
"Bella?" Rosalie said, "Edward's on the phone. He wants to talk to you."
"O-okay." I didn't have any particular feelings about talking to Edward on the phone. Right now I was still kind of in shock and my initial fear had worn off to numbness. "Hello?"
"Bella!" Edward sighed loudly in relief, "Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine." I said.
"Jesus, I am so sorry. I…I don't even know what to say. I just… I'm so pissed and worried." He said. "When I heard you screaming on the phone I didn't know what to do. I couldn't… I'm just so glad you're okay. I'm so sorry."
"W-why did that man attack me?" I asked quietly.
"I don't know. He's fucking crazy."
"Don't worry this will not happen again. I swear to you it won't." He said firmly. "I am so sorry. I promise you I'll find him and make him pay for what he's done."
"He did this because of you?" I asked quietly.
He was quiet for a moment before answering. "Yes. I believe so."
"I don't understand… you and I aren't even… How would he know that I even know you?"
"I don't know Bella, but I promise you this, he will pay for this. I'm not letting him get away with it."
Just then, Jasper and Emmett walked into the room, holding several bags. I frowned when I realized that the bags of things they were carrying were mine.
"What are you doing with that?" I asked.
Emmett laid my purple duffle bag by the couch. "Your apartment was ransacked. Tore up from the floor up."
I felt my mouth go dry; my hand was shaking as I held the phone out to Alice. I couldn't talk to Edward anymore.
"We grabbed anything that looked important." Jasper said. "We figured you wouldn't want to go back into your apartment just yet."
"I want to call the police." I said.
"We already did," Emmett said, "They're heading over to your apartment, but we told them that you might not want to talk directly to them tonight. They understood."
I couldn't pull my knees to my chest as the doctor was working on my foot, but I wrapped my arms around myself. I closed my eyes and tried to force the tears away, but they started flowing. My cheeks were stained with my tears.
I felt a tissue gently dab my cheeks. I opened an eye to see Alice, dabbing my tears.
"It's okay," She said softly.
"I don't know what I'm going to do." I sniffled. "I-I have work tomorrow."
Alice chuckled. "You can just stay in my guestroom. Jasper will give you a ride tomorrow. But I think you should call out."
"I can't."
"Okay, it's fine." She said. "I have a shower in my guestroom. Once your foot is all fixed you can go right into my guestroom and do whatever you want. Shower, sleep, watch TV. Whatever you need to do."
I nodded, taking her offer. I really didn't have a choice. I couldn't stay in a hotel because I couldn't afford it right now, and I couldn't afford plane tickets to go home to my dad's. And if I did call my dad and tell him, he'd freak out and be on the first plane to New York. I couldn't have him here rampaging through the city to find my attacker.