Something was stabbing me, sharp and blunt, like the bones to my hips were being Roto-Rootered. The pain was accompanied by pressure, and blinding nausea, but it was too black for me to tell what it was. The goading, throbbing stabs receded temporarily, allowing my body to relax. Just as I had got comfortable again, it was back and far more insistent. Jesus, what the fuck was going on? It felt like a massive, pissed off beetle was burrowing into my muscles.
Wrenching my eyelids open, excruciatingly bright white lights blinded me. I tried to jerk my arm up to cover my eyes but realized it was bound by a leather belt. Summoning whatever strength I had in me I yanked my arm again, making the cool metal table I was laying on shudder. A flurry of noise started at about the same time, voices contorting and blending into a near-indecipherable hiss.
"Hold his fucking arm down, I've almost got it." That sounded like Alice. Weird.
"Didn't you give him something to keep him under?" Jazz this time, his quiet voice jagged with accusation.
"I only gave him a local, Jazz. You know how he feels about that shit." Fucking tell him, Allie. I had lived numb long enough. I couldn't crawl back out of that hole a second time.
"You didn't numb it enough. Jesus, what the fuck are you doing, Al, trying to neuter me?" My voice was cracked and groggy, the last couple hours finally coming back to me.
Passing out on the plane. Being dragged, then carried, barely coherent, to the car and promptly passing out again. The sudden disorienting light when we'd got back to the house, where Alice was now apparently trying to dig the buried bullet out of my flesh.
I heard Alice's sharp intake of breath, trying to sound offended at my disparaging remarks and failing. Again I tried opening my eyes, slower this time, ready for the assault of the industrial lighting.
"I think the last time I crashed that hard was on the way back from Moscow. Shit, now that was a good time. Hey, Jazz, if you wanted to get kinky you could've just asked, I got a ball gag somewhere." He stiffened at my jokes, but the fucker couldn't fool me. For some stupid reason, he'd been worried about me.
"I'm glad to see you're all fucking chipper now Mr. Just-Get-Me-The-QuikClot. Allie said it just barely missed your fucking intestines."
I tried to imagine what that would have entailed, but found it hard to give a shit. I craned my head up, staring at the top of Alice's head as she continued to dig around inside my body. She'd extracted bullets from me before, and I knew that it did not take this long. Frowning, I turned to look at Jazz in earnest.
"Fragments?" He nodded, eyes blazing. "How bad?"
"She's almost got them all, just one more, but it's near an artery or a vein or something like that. Just fucking stay still."
Groaning, I threw my head back onto the table, making a loud clunk. I wanted to ask them to free my hands, but I could still feel every small movement her forceps were making as they dug around, and thought better of it. Now that I was awake, I was definitely aware of the surface-level anesthesia, but she was so far down the medicine hadn't penetrated that far. It fucking burned, twisting my hands into fists and clenched the muscles in my thighs.
She hit a spot more sensitive than the others, making me hiss, then shout. "Mother FUCKER!" My arms strained against the belts that bound them, one of which was mine. I ground my teeth together, trying to bear down against another wave of agony.
A gentle knock came from the door as I shouted another expletive. Jazz went to answer, but I didn't pay much attention. Alice's 'chop shop', as we called it, was in the basement of Carlisle's Star Island residence; even though my screaming was likely echoing through the whole house, I at least knew it had to be family on the other side.
The feminine voice came from behind Jazz's body sounded familiar as Alice shifted the forceps, trying to grip the last fragment. The newcomer's voice was drowned out by my shouting cries of, "FUCK. ALICE!"
Jazz jumped to the side as Bella thrust her way through, looking hotter than sin with her brown hair loose and wavy, wearing a white bikini top under a black, floor-length spaghetti strap cover up.
Her voice was panicked when she called my name, rushing over and acting like I was on death's doorstep. Granted, I probably looked a lot worse than I felt if the massive pile of blood-soaked gauze at Alice's elbow was any indication. I sucked in a breathy laugh, flinching as Alice shifted the tools again.
"Oh, hey, Bella. I know I look good with my shirt off but you don't have to yell about it; even Jazz likes me for my body, he just won't admit it."
That earned me a smack on the arm, which she promptly withdrew after seeing I was leashed to the table.
"What the hell happened to you, Edward?! Is that..." She paused, sucking in a breath, "Did you get shot?" Her tone nosedived, barely a whisper now.
I laughed, stronger now that Alice had finally extricated the last piece. "It's just a flesh wound. Good thing those dumb fucks in your hubby's crew can't aim."
"Fiancée, by technicality only. Although I don't think that counts anymore since you took the ring." She retorted, voice scathing. God, she was still as feisty as I remembered. That made me feel stupidly happy.
I didn't answer, exhaustion tugging at my subconscious now that the pain had abated. Bella stood, alternating between watching Alice and staring at my face.
"I don't know why I'm surprised you're hurt. I mean, I'm used to this shit, right?" Somehow I was pretty sure it was a rhetorical question. "It just feels different when it happens to someone you actually care about, I guess."
Her comment was so off-the-wall from what we expected that Alice and Jasper shot me synchronized looks. All I could do was shake my head, keeping my mouth shut. No fucking way was I having that conversation when I felt like a fucking sub in some BDSM novel.
I turned to Bella instead, wanting to pry. "Define 'actually care about' for the class, please?"
Her face turned a delicious shade of crimson as she diverted her eyes to the floor like she was trying to see through the tiles. "All I meant was that I know you. You're not like, some random stranger or whatever."
As I was snickering at her evasiveness, I felt the bonds holding my arms disappear. Sitting up, I ran my now-free hands over the four stitches over my hip while Jazz freed my legs. As far as injuries went, this was by and far not the worst. The shittiest part had been Alice digging around in my worn body like she was looking for dinosaur bones.
Swinging myself off the gurney put me directly in front of Bella. Without her shoes on, she had to crane her neck to look at me since I was a good head taller than her. As her eyes ran over my bare stomach and chest, the scarlet flush grew more pronounced.
I laughed, the sound emanating from deep in my chest. "Like what you see?"
Jazz gagged from behind me, causing Allie to smack him in the back of the head.
"Do not overdo it, Tone, or you can stitch your own ass back up." Her voice was gently reprimanding.
I conceded and brought my hands up, palms forward, like a cornered criminal. "Yeah, yeah, mom, I got it."
Al always hovered around like a fly after shit like this, buzzing and driving me nuts. Usually it drove me nuts, but that was before I had a Bella around to smooth all my rough edges. Without any more motherly cajoling she turned to leave, dragging Jazz along behind her.
That left me alone with Bella and an ocean of desire; I could have tread those waters endlessly, if only to see her look at me like she was looking at the ground. Snorting, I turned and grabbed my bloody shirt to pull it over my head. As much as I enjoyed this dance, I was conscious enough to not want her to feel uncomfortable.
"We don't have to keep standing here, you know. We can go whenever. I'm not dying - pinky promise." I tried to keep the tone of my voice light, wanting to underscore I was about as concerned for my wound as I was about the weather.
Without waiting for an answer she turned and stalked off, the heat of her shame creeping up her neck. That wonderful flush pulled me forward with all the allure of a siren, the heat of it warming me from the inside out like a personal sun.
She had just mounted the stairs when I wrapped a hand around her wrist, pulling gently. She stopped, automatically stepping back with the loss of momentum, and turned. Our eyes collided, the effect on her instantaneous; her breathing became a shallow pant, her breast rising and falling rapidly. I had no idea why I'd grabbed her. I fumbled with an excuse in my head, trying to cover my impulse.
"There's an elevator, you know." Fuck, that was stupid. Of course there was an actual elevator, but I'd just sentenced myself to isolation in a small, confined space with this woman who was unknowingly driving me insane.
Her eyes darkened, pupils flashing in the now-setting sun, as her tongue ran along her upper lip.
If I hadn't been a goner before, I sure as fuck was now.