“Well,” I interrupted. “What if I did? What if I told you to take me to Vegas now? Would I be a vampire in three days?”
He smiled, his teeth flashing in the dark. “Sure,” he said, calling my bluff. “I’ll get my car.”
“Dammit.” I muttered. “I’ll give you eighteen months.”
“No deal,” he said, grinning. “I like this condition.”
“Fine. I’ll have Carlisle do it when I graduate.”
“If that’s what you really want.” He shrugged, and his smile became absolutely angelic.
“You’re impossible,” I groaned. “A monster.”
He chuckled. “Is that why you won’t marry me?”
I groaned again.
He leaned toward me; his night-dark eyes melted and smoldered and shattered my concentration. “Please, Bella?” he breathed.
I forgot how to breathe for a moment. When I recovered, I shook my head quickly, trying to clear my suddenly clouded mind.
“Would this have gone better if I’d had time to get a ring?”
“No! No rings!” I very nearly shouted.
“Now you’ve done it,” he whispered.
“Oops.”
“Charlie’s getting up; I’d better leave,” Edward said with resignation.
My heart stopped beating.
He gauged my expression for a second. “Would it be childish of me to hide in your closet, then?”
“No,” I whispered eagerly. “Stay. Please.”
Edward smiled and disappeared.
I seethed in the darkness as I waited for Charlie to check on me. Edward knew exactly what he was doing, and I was willing to bet that all the injured surprise was part of the ploy. Of course, I still had the Carlisle option, but now that I knew there was a chance that Edward would change me himself, I wanted it bad. He was such a cheater.
My door cracked open.
“Morning, Dad.”
“Oh, hey, Bella.” He sounded embarrassed at getting caught. “I didn’t know you were awake.”
“Yeah. I’ve just been waiting for you to wake up so I could take a shower.” I started to get up.
“Hold on,” Charlie said, flipping the light on. I blinked in the sudden brightness, and carefully kept my eyes away from the closet. “Let’s talk for a minute first.”
I couldn’t control my grimace. I’d forgotten to ask Alice for a good excuse.
“You know you’re in trouble.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I just about went crazy these last three days. I come home from Harry’s funeral, and you’re gone. Jacob could only tell me that you’d run off with Alice Cullen, and that he thought you were in trouble. You didn’t leave me a number, and you didn’t call. I didn’t know where you were or when—or if—you were coming back. Do you have any idea how...how . . .” He couldn’t finish the sentence. He sucked in a sharp breath and moved on. “Can you give me one reason why I shouldn’t ship you off to Jacksonville this second?”
My eyes narrowed. So it was going to be threats, was it? Two could play at that game. I sat up, pulling the quilt around me. “Because I won’t go.”
“Now just one minute, young lady—”
“Look, Dad, I accept complete responsibility for my actions, and you have the right to ground me for as long as you want. I will also do all the chores and laundry and dishes until you think I’ve learned my lesson. And I guess you’re within your rights if you want to kick me out, too—but that won’t make me to go to Florida.”
His face turned bright red. He took a few deep breaths before he answered.
“Would you like to explain where you’ve been?”
Oh, crap. “There was...an emergency.”
He raised his eyebrows in expectation of my brilliant explanation.
I filled my cheeks with air and then blew it out noisily. “I don’t know what to tell you, Dad. It was mostly a misunderstanding. He said, she said. It got out of hand.”
He waited with a distrustful expression.
“See, Alice told Rosalie about me jumping off the cliff....” I was scrambling frantically to make this work, to keep it as close to the truth as possible so that my inability to lie convincingly would not undermine the excuse, but before I could go on, Charlie’s expression reminded me that he didn’t know anything about the cliff.
Major oops. As if I wasn’t already toast.
“I guess I didn’t tell you about that,” I choked out. “It was nothing. Just messing around, swimming with Jake. Anyway, Rosalie told Edward, and he was upset. She sort of accidentally made it sound like I was trying to kill myself or something. He wouldn’t answer his phone, so Alice dragged me to...L.A., to explain in person.” I shrugged, desperately hoping that he would not be so distracted by my slip that he’d miss the brilliant explanation I’d provided.
Charlie’s face was frozen. “Were you trying to kill yourself, Bella?”
“No, of course not. Just having fun with Jake. Cliff diving. The La Push kids do it all the time. Like I said, nothing.”
Charlie’s face heated up—from frozen to hot with fury. “What’s it to Edward Cullen anyway?” he barked. “All this time, he’s just left you dangling without a word—”
I interrupted him. “Another misunderstanding.”
His face flushed again. “So is he back then?”
“I’m not sure what the exact plan is. I think they all are.”
He shook his head, the vein in his forehead pulsing. “I want you to stay away from him, Bella. I don’t trust him. He’s rotten for you. I won’t let him mess you up like that again.”
“Fine,” I said curtly.
Charlie rocked back onto his heels. “Oh.” He scrambled for a second, exhaling loudly in surprise. “I thought you were going to be difficult.”
“I am.” I stared straight into his eyes. “I meant, ‘Fine, I’ll move out.’”
His eyes bulged; his face turned puce. My resolve wavered as I started to worry about his health. He was no younger than Harry....
“Dad, I don’t want to move out,” I said in a softer tone. “I love you. I know you’re worried, but you need to trust me on this. And you’re going to have to ease up on Edward if you want me to stay. Do you want me to live here or not?”
“That’s not fair, Bella. You know I want you to stay.”
“Then be nice to Edward, because he’s going to be where I am.” I said it with confidence. The conviction of my epiphany was still strong.
“Not under my roof,” Charlie stormed.
I sighed a heavy sigh. “Look, I’m not going to give you any more ultimatums tonight—or I guess it’s this morning. Just think about it for a few days, okay? But keep in mind that Edward and I are sort of a package deal.”
“Bella—”
“Think it over,” I insisted. “And while you’re doing that, could you give me some privacy? I really need a shower.”
Charlie’s face was a strange shade of purple, but he left, slamming the door behind him. I heard him stomp furiously down the stairs.
I threw off my quilt, and Edward was already there, sitting in the rocking chair as if he’d been present through the whole conversation.
“Sorry about that,” I whispered.
“It’s not as if I don’t deserve far worse,” he murmured. “Don’t start anything with Charlie over me, please.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I breathed as I gathered up my bathroom things and a set of clean clothes. “I will start exactly as much as is necessary, and no more than that. Or are you trying to tell me I have nowhere to go?” I widened my eyes with false alarm.
“You’d move in with a house full of vampires?”
“That’s probably the safest place for someone like me. Besides . . .” I grinned. “If Charlie kicks me out, then there’s no need for a graduation deadline, is there?”
His jaw tightened. “So eager for eternal damnation,” he muttered.
“You know you don’t really believe t
hat.”
“Oh, don’t I?” he fumed.
“No. You don’t.”
He glowered at me and started to speak, but I cut him off.
“If you really believed that you’d lost your soul, then when I found you in Volterra, you would have realized immediately what was happening, instead of thinking we were both dead together. But you didn’t—you said ‘Amazing. Carlisle was right,’” I reminded him, triumphant. “There’s hope in you, after all.”
For once, Edward was speechless.
“So let’s both just be hopeful, all right?” I suggested. “Not that it matters. If you stay, I don’t need heaven.”
He got up slowly, and came to put his hands on either side of my face as he stared into my eyes. “Forever,” he vowed, still a little staggered.
“That’s all I’m asking for,” I said, and stretched up on my toes so that I could press my lips to his.
EPILOGUE—TREATY
ALMOST EVERYTHING WAS BACK TO NORMAL—THE GOOD, pre-zombie normal—in less time than I would have believed possible. The hospital welcomed Carlisle back with eager arms, not even bothering to conceal their delight that Esme had found life in L.A. so little to her liking. Thanks to the Calculus test I’d missed while abroad, Alice and Edward were in better to shape to graduate than I was at the moment. Suddenly, college was a priority (college was still plan B, on the off chance that Edward’s offer swayed me from the post-graduation Carlisle option). Many deadlines had passed me by, but Edward had a new stack of applications for me to fill out every day. He’d already done the Harvard route, so it didn’t bother him that, thanks to my procrastination, we might both end up at Peninsula Community College next year.
Charlie was not happy with me, or speaking to Edward. But at least Edward was allowed—during my designated visiting hours—inside the house again. I just wasn’t allowed out of it.
School and work were the only exceptions, and the dreary, dull yellow walls of my classrooms had become oddly inviting to me of late. That had a lot to do with the person who sat in the desk beside me.
Edward had resumed his schedule from the beginning of the year, which put him in most of my classes again. My behavior had been such last fall, after the Cullens’ supposed move to L.A., that the seat beside me had never been filled. Even Mike, always eager to take any advantage, had kept a safe distance. With Edward back in place, it was almost as if the last eight months were just a disturbing nightmare.
Almost, but not quite. There was the house arrest situation, for one thing. And for another, before the fall, I hadn’t been best friends with Jacob Black. So, of course, I hadn’t missed him then.
I wasn’t at liberty to go to La Push, and Jacob wasn’t coming to see me. He wouldn’t even answer my phone calls.
I made these calls mostly at night, after Edward had been kicked out—promptly at nine by a grimly gleeful Charlie—and before Edward snuck back through my window when Charlie was asleep. I chose that time to make my fruitless calls because I’d noticed that Edward made a certain face every time I mentioned Jacob’s name. Sort of disapproving and wary...maybe even angry. I guessed that he had some reciprocal prejudice against the werewolves, though he wasn’t as vocal as Jacob had been about the “bloodsuckers.”
So, I didn’t mention Jacob much.
With Edward near me, it was hard to think about unhappy things—even my former best friend, who was probably very unhappy right now, due to me. When I did think of Jake, I always felt guilty for not thinking of him more.
The fairy tale was back on. Prince returned, bad spell broken. I wasn’t sure exactly what to do about the leftover, unresolved character. Where was his happily ever after?
Weeks passed, and Jacob still wouldn’t answer my calls. It started to become a constant worry. Like a dripping faucet in the back of my head that I couldn’t shut off or ignore. Drip, drip, drip. Jacob, Jacob, Jacob.
So, though I didn’t mention Jacob much, sometimes my frustration and anxiety boiled over.
“It’s just plain rude!” I vented one Saturday afternoon when Edward picked me up from work. Being angry about things was easier than feeling guilty. “Downright insulting!”
I’d varied my pattern, in hopes of a different response. I’d called Jake from work this time, only to get an unhelpful Billy. Again.
“Billy said he didn’t want to talk to me,” I fumed, glaring at the rain oozing down the passenger window. “That he was there, and wouldn’t walk three steps to get to the phone! Usually Billy just says he’s out or busy or sleeping or something. I mean, it’s not like I didn’t know he was lying to me, but at least it was a polite way to handle it. I guess Billy hates me now, too. It’s not fair!”
“It’s not you, Bella,” Edward said quietly. “Nobody hates you.”
“Feels that way,” I muttered, folding my arms across my chest. It was no more than a stubborn gesture. There was no hole there now—I could barely remember the empty feeling anymore.
“Jacob knows we’re back, and I’m sure that he’s ascertained that I’m with you,” Edward said. “He won’t come anywhere near me. The enmity is rooted too deeply.”
“That’s stupid. He knows you’re not...like other vampires.”
“There’s still good reason to keep a safe distance.”
I glared blindly out the windshield, seeing only Jacob’s face, set in the bitter mask I hated.
“Bella, we are what we are,” Edward said quietly. “I can control myself, but I doubt he can. He’s very young. It would most likely turn into a fight, and I don’t know if I could stop it before I k—” he broke off, and then quickly continued. “Before I hurt him. You would be unhappy. I don’t want that to happen.”
I remembered what Jacob had said in the kitchen, hearing the words with perfect recall in his husky voice. I’m not sure that I’m even-tempered enough to handle that....You probably wouldn’t like it so much if I killed your friend. But he’d been able to handle it, that time....
“Edward Cullen,” I whispered. “Were you about to say ‘killed him’? Were you?”
He looked away from me, staring into the rain. In front of us, the red light I hadn’t noticed turned green and he started forward again, driving very slowly. Not his usual way of driving.
“I would try...very hard...not to do that,” Edward finally said.
I stared at him with my mouth hanging open, but he continued to look straight ahead. We were paused at the corner stop sign.
Abruptly, I remembered what had happened to Paris when Romeo came back. The stage directions were simple: They fight. Paris falls.
But that was ridiculous. Impossible.
“Well,” I said, and took a deep breath, shaking my head to dispel the words in my head. “Nothing like that is ever going to happen, so there’s no reason to worry about it. And you know Charlie’s staring at the clock right now. You’d better get me home before I get in more trouble for being late.”
I turned my face up toward him, to smile halfheartedly.
Every time I looked at his face, that impossibly perfect face, my heart pounded strong and healthy and very there in my chest. This time, the pounding raced ahead of its usual besotted pace. I recognized the expression on his statue-still face.
“You’re already in more trouble, Bella,” he whispered through unmoving lips.
I slid closer, clutching his arm as I followed his gaze to see what he was seeing. I don’t know what I expected—maybe Victoria standing in the middle of the street, her flaming red hair blowing in the wind, or a line of tall black cloaks...or a pack of angry werewolves. But I didn’t see anything at all.
“What? What is it?”
He took a deep breath. “Charlie...”
“My dad?” I screeched.
He looked down at me then, and his expression was calm enough to ease some of my panic.
“Charlie...is probably not going to kill you, but he’s thinking about it,” he told me. He started to drive forward again, down my stre
et, but he passed the house and parked by the edge of the trees.
“What did I do?” I gasped.
Edward glanced back at Charlie’s house. I followed his gaze, and noticed for the first time what was parked in the driveway next to the cruiser. Shiny, bright red, impossible to miss. My motorcycle, flaunting itself in the driveway.
Edward had said that Charlie was ready to kill me, so he must know that—that it was mine. There was only one person who could be behind this treachery.
“No!” I gasped. “Why? Why would Jacob do this to me?” The sting of betrayal washed through me. I had trusted Jacob implicitly—trusted him with every single secret I had. He was supposed to be my safe harbor—the person I could always rely on. Of course things were strained right now, but I didn’t think any of the underlying foundation had changed. I didn’t think that was changeable!
What had I done to deserve this? Charlie was going to be so mad—and worse than that, he was going to be hurt and worried. Didn’t he have enough to deal with already? I would have never imagined that Jake could be so petty and just plain mean. Tears sprang, smarting, into my eyes, but they were not tears of sadness. I had been betrayed. I was suddenly so angry that my head throbbed like it was going to explode.
“Is he still here?” I hissed.
“Yes. He’s waiting for us there.” Edward told me, nodding toward the slender path that divided the dark fringe of the forest in two.
I jumped out of the car, launching myself toward the trees with my hands already balled into fists for the first punch.
Why did Edward have to be so much faster than me?
He caught me around the waist before I made the path.
“Let me go! I’m going to murder him! Traitor!” I shouted the epithet toward the trees.
“Charlie will hear you,” Edward warned me. “And once he gets you inside, he may brick over the doorway.”
I glanced back at the house instinctively, and it seemed like the glossy red bike was all I could see. I was seeing red. My head throbbed again.
The Twilight Saga Collection Page 80