Chapter 25: Hospital Visits and Seeing Stars

Chapter 25: Hospital Visits and Seeing Stars

BPOV

            Sitting around the dinner table, I watched Charlie and Emmett eat like wolves—seriously, are they even breathing?—and I couldn’t help but think about the worst possible thing that could happen at that moment. In my mind, Aro’s guys break down the door with their guns cocked and before Charlie can even throw me to the ground or grab for his own gun, they shoot him and Emmett. It’s completely dramatic, I know, but it’s the only image my brain can conjure. After my father and brother are shot and bleeding out on the floor, blood everywhere, so much blood, I’m taken, dragged out of my house kicking and screaming, but they have to gag me because I’m so hysterical. That’s where my nightmare of a day-dream ended. I was entirely too freaked out to ruminate on my bad fortune any further than the point of abduction.

            My situation was surreal. I didn’t understand it. It was too dramatic, almost as much as my messed up thoughts about what could happen. Mainly, what I felt was confused. Why me? Why was I suddenly involved in this bullshit? Once again, my life had taken a one-eighty.

            I tried distracting myself with the dinner dishes. Didn’t work.

            I ate two of my brownies. Didn’t work.

            I lay in bed instead. Band of Skulls drifted through the airwaves from my iPod dock as I watched my memories of the day on the back of my closed eyelids.

.::.

Emmett opened the front door and shuffled over to sit next to me, shifting the swing I sat on. Putting his arm around my shoulders, I leaned into his. We didn’t need to say anything. We knew. We knew that we were both struggling with this. Me, with letting others play-guard with my freedom, and him with me possibly being in any sort of danger while he was powerless to solve my problem.

Ever since we were kids, Emmett was always there to save me, to help me, to fix my shit. Every time I fell off my bike, Emmett would be the one to pick my crying self off the sidewalk and carry me into the house, putting a band-aid on my scraped knee. If someone bullied me at school, Emmett would simply be Emmett and scare the piss out of them.

Before Charlie and Renee divorced, there was lots of screaming matches. Emmett would sing and dance with me in my room, music on loud enough to drown our parents out.

Emmett was always there for me when our parents weren’t. It was true that Charlie and Renee were better off separated, but that meant that Renee took us with her wherever she moved, and it was a lot of different places at first before settling in Phoenix, making outside friends almost impossible. She held down many jobs just to make ends meet even though my dad paid child support. Emmett and I understood that she had to work, and we were fine with just each other, we were.

It was Emmett and me against the world until my mom met Phil. Emmett hated him instantly, while I remained ambivalent. This time, Emmett had to save himself and move to Forks with dad. I didn’t need saving—not this time—so I tried to be happy with him going. It’s funny how things end up: us back together in Forks where our family started.

From outside, I heard the piano being played somewhere within the house, close enough to hear bits of it through the walls. It brought me out of my thoughts of the past and into the present.

“None of this feels real,” I admitted. Emmett Nodded.  I continued, “It’s all so dramatic, and too ridiculous. It’s like a bad lifetime movie.”

“I’m drowning in this, Emmett. It’s like the sun has set on us and we’re stuck in this dusk, this darkness the sun left behind and I’m drowning in it. We all are,” I observed. I didn’t really feel like thinking about the possible gravity of the situation and I didn’t really feel like talking about it, but how could we just not acknowledge the shit-storm into which we were heading?

“I feel we’re in an episode of Scooby Doo,” he chuckled after a beat, “like, were going to catch up with these assholes and lift off their masks and ta-daaa! It’s our parents pranking us for having house parties when they’re gone, or sex on their sofas.” Emmett was really laughing now, and so was I.

This was Emmett saving me again. He was making me laugh by telling me something so ridiculous that only he could have thought of it.

“You’re such a bone-head!” I teased. “But I know what you mean.” We swung in the quiet again for a few moments more, both of us laughing softly at the mess we found ourselves in.

“Wait, Emmett do you and Rose have sex on our couch!?” I half-yelled and half-laughed in disgust, punching my tiny fist into his hulking arm. Gross.

His laughter boomed and went straight to my bones, vibrating out the chill that was ever settled within them. The chill was always there, always has been since the accident, but it left me for the time-being. Emmett could do that for me sometimes with his laughter.

Edward, though, did it by his mere existence.

“Woops!” He guffawed again. I looked to him and saw that his cheeks had turned a shade of pink not dissimilar to the color mine turned when I blushed.

“I love you Big-Bear,” I said softly, snuggling closer into his side.

“I love you too Belly-Bear,” he replied, kissing my forehead. His improved nickname showed respect to the new me and I was even gladder that I had come back to Forks. I had missed Emmett so much more than I had realized.

.::.

            Edward’s ringtone brought me out of my meditations. My fingers clicked the answer key without my eyes opening.

            “Mm, baby,” I half slurred, my voice thick with my deep musings.

            “Sugar? What are you doing?” He sounded better than he had before, but not fully himself.

            “Tingling,” I sighed, “and listening to my Thinking Bitch playlist,” I added.

            “What are you thinking about?” His curiosity dripping through his velvety tones.  Mmm, I’m high, I thought.

            “Nothing…and everything. Mainly about chocolate at this point.”

            “How many brownies-deep are you?” He chuckled. I smiled because he knew me so well.

            “Two… and a half. Plus another half,” I admitted through my own guilty smile.

            “It was a three brownie day, huh? That bad?” I couldn’t get a read on his thoughts.

            “Edward,” I breathed, “It was a three brownie day after a ten brownie and five bottles of Jack weekend, following a brick-of-coke-four-months. Or… something like that.”

            “I’m sorry sugar, I know shit’s pretty fucked up right now but—”

            “—I don’t want to talk about how shit’s fucked up. It’s ok. Let’s just be.”

            “What do you mean, Sugar?”

            “Let’s just ignore this crap, yeah? Let’s just forget that I might be in trouble with some scary apparently not-so-small-town dude, and be teenagers,” I pleaded. “I need … normal. I had normal.  I used to be so painfully plain; my life was so nauseatingly routine. I used to long for excitement, for adventure, and then I get stuck with this?  This is not normal! This is not healthy. I am going to drown in this shit—” and suddenly I couldn’t breathe. I bolted up straight in my bed gasping for air. Fear trickled through my veins and my eyes went starry, then black, then back again.

            “Sugar? Bella, breathe. I’m coming over. Just breathe.” I could hear the jingle of keys in his hands.

            “No!” I gasped, “Charlie’s still awake. I’ll—,” gasp, “—be fine.”

            Panic attack. It wasn’t my first and it certainly wouldn’t be my last. With the realization of what it was, I remembered what I ought to do to make it go away. Leaping of the bed, I fumbled with the drawer to my nightstand, fingers clumsily scanning for that orange plastic Rx bottle. Two pills did the trick.

            “Bella,” Edward threatened. He didn’t understand that I had been suffering through these for months now. He always worried too much over me.

            “Promise,” I said after a deep breath, “it was just a little thing…I took my medicine, I’ll be fine.” I hoped he would be placated, but one never knew with Edward.

            “You not being able to breathe is not just a little thing. Fuck, Bella! I nearly had a heart attack, what was that!?” he all but screamed into the phone. I could practically see his fists clenched at his sides, knuckles turning white, jaw snapped shut. It was an all-too-Edward-when-pissed-off image.

            “A panic attack. I’m fine. I’ve gotten them a few times since the accident. Totally not worth even talking about,” I huffed, breathing almost back to normal while my traitorous heart still beat all-too-fast.

            When he spoke next, the pain was audible in his voice. “I hate it that you suffer.”

            It shattered.

            It melted.

            It healed.

            It made me wish I wasn’t so hell bent on pretending to be tough and strong. But my lies were my lies and they were what I lived by now: pretending to be alright. It hurt to lie to Edward.

            “Well, I mean,” I started, feeling guilty. “I’ll be ok… eventually. You make me feel better.” I offered some truth. I hadn’t let him into my despair in a while. We had been in his, but mine remained selfishly within me, unshared for the time being.

            We sat on the phone for a while talking about inconsequential things and simply being comforted by the sound of each other’s breathing. Eventually I drifted off into an overly medicated slumber.

.::.

            Dawn’s light had been too harsh that morning, unclouded by rain for the first time in weeks. Edward was over-protective that day at school. Too cautious, looking over his shoulders every few minutes, watching for the slightest hint of ensuing chaos.

            Nothing happened, of course. Edward’s paranoia was starting to irritate me towards the end of lunch when I all but snapped completely at him.

            “Edward,” I seethed through clenched teeth, squeezing his hand that was holding mine like a boa constrictor squeezes the life out if its prey. “Enough. No one is going to gank me in the middle of a crowded High School Lunch Room. You’re giving me anxiety. Cut. It. Out.” Edward exhaled loudly, massaging his hand when I released it.

            “Trouble in paradise?” Emmett interrupted. I returned his verbal jab with a tight, try-me smile. Apparently he saw the hell-fire in my eyes because he immediately whispered sorry before Rose even had the chance to pop him on the back of the head. Turning back to Edward, his eyes met mine. A sheepish smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Even though his over-protectiveness of me was reminiscent of eras long before when chastity belts weren’t a thing of humor, I couldn’t completely fault him. He was stressed. We all were. This was how he dealt with his.

            With a brief hesitation on his part, a sort of request for permission, he snaked his hand to thumb one of the fire-red streaks in my deep chocolate hair. His sheepish smile lilted into his signature crooked one.

            It spiked my heart rate for a beat.

            “There’s my girl, the little spit-fire I fell for,” he whispered in my ear, raising little goosebumps where his breath tickled. In truth, I didn’t mind this sort of excitement… just the near-death kind.

            “I’m sorry, E, but you really have to chill,” I apologized, taking his aching hand in both of mine, massaging my damage away. He took my apology and offered his own. Lunch passed into biology class, Edward refusing to release my hand as we sat in our usual seats in the back. Mr. Banner had us working on typical partner activities, completely ignoring the class with his nose in some thick text on human evolution.

            “Edward,” I whispered, garnering his attention, “I want to see Victoria after school.”

            “No,” he responded before his face could even register his annoyance.

            “Yes. I’m going to see her.”

            “Bella,” he almost hissed, pinching the bridge of his nose with the hand that wasn’t holding my own. “I understand your need to feel as though you’re not like a fucking sitting-duck, but perhaps we should concentrate on things that we can control, or rather attempt to control. We should call some of those people from the list we made.”

            “Edward, that shit is in the past. This is our present future. I’m going.”

            “No, you are not.”

            “Yes. It wasn’t a request. I was telling you. I’m going to go visit Victoria and you can go with me or not,” I looked at him pointedly. Sighing in exasperation, he shrugged his shoulders, knowing when to pick his battles with me.

            “Fine, but you bet your ass you’re not going alone. I’ll go with you.” I smiled with my easy victory, suddenly nervous as to what might come out of her mouth.

            After Edward double, triple, quadruple checked both parking lots and after deciding that we were safe, he let me go into the hospital. Luckily, Victoria was in a privet room.

            “Bella!” Victoria croaked, “what the—” she stopped in a coughing fit.

            She looked like absolute shit.

            Red, frizzy hair flying in every direction.

            Deep purple, bruise-like bags under her eyes.

            Red scratch marks all over her chest and arms: everywhere we could see.

            She looked so… frail. She had always been a thin girl in my memories of her, but sitting in that bed she looked so helplessly tiny. It made me wonder if I had looked like that, if it was an effect of the bed. No, I inwardly admonished myself, don’t think about that. I tried, in vain, to rarely if not ever think about the accident. It only seemed to consume all of my positive thoughts like fire to oxygen. It was toxic and dangerous. A waste of my time.

            “I wanted to see how you were doing,” I told her, taking a cautionary step towards her.

            “Bullshit,” she cackled. “Don’t worry little girl. I won’t tell the authorities on you.”

            “What!? Why would I worry about that? I didn’t do anything!” I almost yelled. Almost.

            Victoria laughed at my flustering. “Joking. But seriously Bella, you shouldn’t be here…” she paused cryptically. Looking around. The door was closed, Edward acting as sentinel next to it. We were safe. “Caius was here. They could be watching the room,” she warned with a clarity that amazed me. She was, after all, coming down from a pretty serious cocaine addiction.

            “No one’s watching the room. I made sure of it,” Edward spoke for the first time. Relief was visible on Victoria’s face.

            “Who’s Caius?” I asked after a beat. The name was unfamiliar.

            “Aro’s business partner. He was here making sure I wasn’t dead. Or spilling my guts. He left satisfied knowing that I wasn’t…but…” She paused, nearly shaking. Her bone-thin fingers wound their way up her arms, nails dragging along the skin leaving behind even more angry, red trails.

            “But what?” I questioned, walking closer to the bed, grabbing her hands to still the destructive movement.

            “He left threatening my life,” she swallowed hard. “I said that these people didn’t even know my name, how could they think that I was involved in anything worth questioning, you know? He seemed … like he accepted it, but… shit! I can’t handle all of this shit, Bella! I need some C. Do you have any? Could you get me some? I’m going crazy. My skin is crawling,” she complained through tears. Then she started shaking.

            “Calm down, V. You’re okay,” I cooed, “you’re okay.” I held her for a bit, until her breathing slowed. “How well do you know these guys? Do you know a lot about them?” I asked once I figured she could handle the questions. When she was silent, I looked to Edward for help. He looked uncomfortable, and shrugged.

            “Everything that’s important,” she startled us by talking. “James was one of the delivery guys, Aro controls the supplies, Caius has the protection connection.”

            “Protection?” Edward and I chimed in unison.

            “Guns. Intimidation so people don’t get ideas about taking over the supply area. James was in charge of distributing … the goods in the Olympic Peninsula… well most of Washington really. I have no idea how Aro got started. All I ever knew is that he’s from Forks but hooked up with the right people in Seattle years ago. He came back here because he’s from here. Aro thought Forks was small-town enough to go unnoticed as his base of operations and now he is the main supplier of drugs. Virtually the only one,” she huffed so quickly.

            The quasi confession left her weak and exhausted. Her grasp on consciousness was tenuous at best. Her eyes closed, looking as if she was about to fall asleep. Almost as instantly as she slumped into her pillows, she bolted up straight, eyes open and face tinged with green.

            “Oh my god! I shouldn’t have told you that, now they’re going to kill me,” she said hysterically before ripping her hands from my grip, reaching to the garbage can next to her and emptying the contents of her stomach. Watching her was saddening. An asshole boyfriend and a serious drug addiction made her this way: fearful, out of touch with reality, and hopelessly ill in mind, body, and spirit. Victoria was like a light switch turning on and off as she flipped between a sort of calm, collected demeanor and a manic hysteria.

            I was at a loss as to how I could comfort her. I had zero experience dealing with addicts. I half-stepped backwards from the bed to give her some space. Biting my bottom lip nervously, I turned my gaze to Edward and shrugged showing my confusion. His strong-as-steel expression that he had been wearing melted into a mixture of emotions and knowing. He was at my side in an instant, his hand wrapped around my waist protectively.

            “Victoria, I understand this is very difficult for you with the withdrawal and shit, but you need to get a grip. Have you ever considered rehab?” Edward asked after Victoria had collected herself.

            “Why would I go to rehab, I don’t have a problem,” she huffed.

            Denial was a powerful thing.

            Edward took a breath to speak just as Victoria’s eyelids fluttered closed.

            “We should go,” I whispered. I hated hospitals and had had enough for the day, week… lifetime really.

.::.

            “Bellaaaa, I’m hooooome! FEED ME!” Emmett shouted as he got home from his workout.

            Giggling, I turned my head to Edward’s perch on the kitchen counter snickering told ya as he shook his head. Emmett lumbered into kitchen immediately after.

            “Smells so good Belley-Bear!” he exclaimed as picked me up by the waist, and hugging me with his colossal arms before setting me down at the stove again. “Hey man!” he greeted Edward. Edward nodded his hello.

            “Emmett, you stink,” I wrinkled my nose.

            “Yeah, woops! I’ll go shower. Then you can feed me!” Emmett called as he trudged out of the kitchen, leaving Edward and me alone once again.

            Turning my concentration back to the stir-fry on the stove, I got lost in the therapeutic action of cooking.

            “Bella,” Edward whispered after a few minutes, garnering my notice once again. Slightly turning my head in his direction to show that he had my attention, he spoke again.

            “Come here.”

            Setting down the spoon and sesame seeds that I was holding, slowly I turned my body toward him, taking measured steps until I stood in-between his knees. One of his hands found its way around my waist, and the other trailed across my cheek leaving behind a trail of tingles. Every time he touched me it was this way. I could never get used to it. Every time was as exciting as the first.

            “You’ve hardly said two words since we got home,” he observed. Intense green eyes bore into my muddy-browns. “Maybe,” he sighed, “maybe it was a mistake going to see Victoria.” His hand cradled the back of my neck, thumb lightly rubbing circles on my cheek.

            I shook my head to show my disagreement.

            “I hate it when you’re quiet. It scares me.”

            “I’m sorry, E,” I said while taking a breath. I blinked slowly, gathering my thoughts to put into words I wasn’t aware that I was thinking until Edward took me out of my own head. “I’m just… I don’t know. Scared myself, I guess. She was just so… so… helpless and scared and small and sickly and…” my words caught in my throat as a sob threatened to overtake me. Edward pulled me to his firm chest immediately as his protecting arms held me close.

             “It reminded me of… after.” It was all I could manage but it said everything. He knew. He understood.

            “You’re healing, Bella. You’ve come so far,” he cooed into my hair. Silent tears left wet trails down my cheeks, onto his shirt and I was thankful that the sobs stopped after the first one. It felt so good to be understood. It didn’t erase the unknown past, but it helped to heal the scars it left in its wake. I nodded into his chest. He held me like that until we heard Emmett’s clumping footsteps moving around upstairs.

            As he released me, Edward wiped away the last remnants of my tears and I gave him a watery smile in return.

            “Thanks.”

            “Don’t mention it.”

            Leaning upwards on my tippy-toes, I kissed his cheek, and went back to the dinner I had yet to finish.

            “We should probably call people from our list,” I said to the stove after a beat, suddenly nervous to admit it to Edward’s face.

            “Yea. Tomorrow or something.” Although he said it nonchalantly, I could hear the smile in his voice. Emmett joined us in the kitchen soon after.

.::.

           

            Days passed, as they always do. Work the next day wasn’t the same without Victoria being there. Even though I had agreed to resume the search for information on the night of my accident, Edward, thankfully, had waited until the next week to bring it up.

            “MOTHER FUCKER!” Edward screeched as he slammed down the phone. “Could Mr. Mallory have been any less fucking helpful? Christ! What kind of asshole doesn’t have time to help piece together something that occurred right after you left his house?”

            “I hate to say it, but I told you so. Edward, these people… they’re too much into preserving their image. They’re all about being normal, suburban, and tan. It’s easier for them to think that I just went nuts and did what I did.”

            “Sugar, you are not fucking nuts! I won’t stand for people to think of you that way.” Edward pulled me up from sitting next to him on the couch to sitting on his lap. He needed me closer. “It eats me that people will not help you.” He clenched his jaw, the skin over his bones taught in anger.

            Stroking the stubble that ran along the sharp angles, my fingers drifted along his jaw. His anger awoke a hunger in me that never quite slept. He growled as I nipped at his chin, kissing my way to his hear, nibbling on his ear lobe just the way he liked it, until his anger melted and he lost control over himself in another more carnal way. In a swift movement, I was on my back on his couch as he hovered over me, barely able to contain his anger-turned-lust. I bit my lip to keep a moan of satisfaction from escaping me. My hands found their way to his chest and roamed south, but his hands grabbed my wrists, pinning them above my head.

            “Careful Sugar,” he replied grittily, “or you might just get what you wish for.” At hearing his dark words, a little whimper escaped. I tried to arch my hips into his for a little friction or incentive to continue on. “Naughty Bella,” Edward whispered against my lips before tracing his tongue along the bottom lip I had just released from my teeth before sucking it between the two of his.

            “Edward, please.” I begged for something I was not entirely sure I knew. He released my wrists and dragged his hands down my arms and along my ribs before grabbing either side of my hips, thumbing along the exposed flesh covering the prominent bones. I laced my fingers through his messy copper hair and pulled him closer to me. When our lips met, I kissed him will full abandon, showing him my need for him. He released my mouth before I was ready, whining as he leaned back.

            “Don’t worry Bella, I’ll make you see stars,” he whispered in low tones making my legs shake in anticipation. His thumbs hooked into the rim of my jeans eliciting a red hot flame to erupt in my lower abdomen. He lowered himself to kiss at the naked flesh exposed there before his dexterous fingers popped open the top button of my pants. My hands, frenzied with excitement, reached for his own button on the top of his jeans, but his hands stalled mine again.

            “Let me make you feel good, Sugar.” His voice melted and sparked. His eyes hooded in desire, mirroring my own.

            His hands picked up where they left off and slid the zipper down. Leaning back, he hooked his hands at the waist of my pants, lifted my hips and slid them down my legs and rubbed his way back up to the edges of my hip bones. His nose grazed a path between each peak against the sensitive skin there before heading lower to even more sensitive skin. He nosed at the hem of my panties and chuckled, breathing the words so sweet, tickling my skin. In the same motion as before, Edward removed my panties, and I lay there exposed in both body and soul. Tingles erupted over my flesh and Edward made good on his promise.

            I saw the whole damn universe.

.::.

            “Dad, could I talk to you for a minute?” I asked after gathering the courage to do so for the last two weeks after talking to Victoria. She knew more than she thought she did and as she recovered, that information was sure to make itself known to her. She needed to tell the police, I needed her to. Her testimony could keep James in jail and possibly take Aro and the rest of them with him. In time and therapy, hopefully Victoria would be able to see what scum James truly was.

            “Sure Bells, though I don’t think I’m any good at homework help,” he chuckled as he joined me at the kitchen table where I had spread out my books.

            “Oh, thanks, but uh… it’s not really about that. I have more of a hypothetical question, sort of…” I picked at the sleeve of my olive green sweater.

            “Well, shoot!”

            “Uhm, how credible is a former drug addict’s testimony in court?”

            “That’s a sort of specific question, Bells! Why do you ask that?”

            “Well I saw on Law and Order that they had this recovering drug addict giving state’s evidence about some drug lord’s stuff in court… and it made me wonder if that was real or just some Hollywood thing grasping at straws or whatever.” Nervous as I was, I thought my query was coming out as a plausible question.

            “Depends. If the addict got themselves clean and had enough concrete information then sure it could be very useful. If it were murky at best, then no, likely not.”

            “Oh, ok. What about if the addict knew about the identities behind a drug … group or whatever. Like, they knew about higher-ups in the group that even the police didn’t know about.”

            “Yes, that would be very helpful! Stopping those sorts of things by getting the leaders of organizations behind bars is essential. It’s sort of the icing on the cake. That must have been some episode, huh?” Charlie chuckled. My father was a bright man, but I was excellent at keeping secrets. I had a lot of practice, after all.

            “It sure was, dad,” I smiled and turned back to my homework. Charlie confirmed everything I had been thinking for the past two weeks. The next day after my shift at the diner I needed to visit Victoria and somehow convince her to make a statement to the police. That would be no small feat.

            Edward was not thrilled at my desire to head back to the hospital after my shift the following day, but I convinced him otherwise. It was for the best, and even he saw what it would lead to: our freedom and safety with Aro and his assholes in prison.

            My nerves were at an all-time high the next day through school and work. I was cut a little early, it was slow for a Tuesday and decided to wait for Edward to come get me outside. It was neither raining nor snowing and I could use the fresh air to calm my nerves. It was temperate for the middle of November, only two days away from Thanksgiving. My mom was giving me grief for not flying out to be with her and Phil, but honestly! A hotel Thanksgiving? No way. Planes work both ways, she could easily fly up to see me and Emmett.

            A car engine revving in the parking lot caught my attention. It was a black SUV, one of five vehicles in the parking lot. It sparked a spine-tingling fear. My fears were confirmed when seconds later, two guys quickly got out. I instantly recognized them from the security feed at the Cullen’s from Halloween and ran back inside the diner to the Employee’s bathroom through the office, bolting both doors. My fingers were shaking as they dialed Edward’s number as tears blurred my vision. I knew I had mere seconds before they would be pounding down the door.

            SHIT! I should have called Charlie, he’s a fucking cop for fuck’s sake!

            “I’m almost there Bella, did you get cut early?” Edward answered.

            “They’re here! The guys from Halloween, they’re fucking here! I’m hiding in the Employee bathroom! Edward, I’m fucking terrified!”

            “I will be there in TWO SECONDS! I love you. Stay there, don’t leave with anyone except me, got it?”

            “Yes,” I sobbed into the phone, hearing tires screech on the other end of the line. I had never been so terrified in my life, including when I woke up without a memory in the hospital, and again outside the hospital after Victoria’s cryptic warning. The next few silence-filled minutes were the worst I had ever endured, abruptly cut short by pounding on the office door.

            Oh my fucking god, they found me, I cried inwardly, covering my mouth so they couldn't hear me cry.

            “Bella! Bella, Sugar, it’s me open the fuck up!” Edward called through two locked doors. Relief flooded my veins as I ripped open the bathroom door and again the office door, slamming my body into Edward’s. “Let’s go,” he said, cradling me to his body and leading me out the back through the kitchen. Bonnie and the Liam were in the kitchen, presumably incredibly confused. Once in Edward’s car, he grabbed for my hand and took off driving, constantly looking over his shoulder. He drove us around for almost twenty minutes without stopping before I could breathe normally again.

            “Edward,” my scratchy voice questioned, “where are we going?”

            “I had to make sure we weren't followed. Then we’re going back to my house. Emmett is picking you up there.” His voice was eerily calm.

            “Hospital… have to… Edward, I have to talk to Victoria still.”

            “No FUCKING way. I have to keep you safe! They’ll find you if we go there.”

            “This has got to stop. The only way is for Victoria to testify! Edward, you know we need to do this right now. This has to end. I can’t… can’t feel this fear any longer!” I sobbed out.

            When I was able to compose myself again, I looked at him and the expression on his face ripped out my heart and crushed it. Tears were streaming down his face as emotions warred within him. His protective instinct was going to kill him if he didn't relax.

            “Edward, I love you. You know we need to convince her. We’ll all be safer in the long run, please. Please.”

            A gush of air expelled from Edward’s lungs as he resigned some of his inner turmoil.

            “Fine, but you never leave my side. I can’t lose you too.”

.::.