[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
like a little girl around him. We avoided the elephant in the room- Edward's absence. When
we got back to mine, I tried to offer him a place to sleep, but he declined. He merely got his
things and turned to leave.
"Thank you," he said, and kissed my cheek as he left.
Cue the return of the giddy schoolgirl.
As I woke up the next morning, I couldn't stop smiling. Not only had I got to see the Cullens
all happy and together, which was a heart warming sight, but I had gotten that little kiss off
Edward. Even though I knew that my thoughts were about as sophisticated as a six year old, I
was practically giddy about it. Heck, there was no 'practically' about it, I was just plain giddy.
I decided to go to work for a while, even though I did feel like crap. I was tired and bruised.
Despite feeling good about the whole Edward situation, I was still tense about my attack and
my sleep had been fitful at best. I made myself drink copious amounts of coffee, so that I
would be at least coherent for the day, before going out.
I made it to my studio in one piece, unlocking and opening up some windows. The weather
was grey but warm, and it made the air humid. As well as doing photo shoots for clients, I
sold some of my work, so my shop was both an exhibition of my work and a sale room.
Business had been good lately, I was making more money than I needed and I was happy
about that, but I didn't want to get lazy.
Business was slow today, so I decided to call it a day at around three o'clock. I was just
locking up when I heard somebody cal my name. I looked around only to see Alice hurtling at
me at full speed. She reached me still going as fast grabbing my waist and tackling me.
"It's nice to see you too, Alice," I chuckled once I had my breath back.
"I'm sorry, I just wanted to thank you for last night," she said. "I can't believe that you got
him to come and see us."
"Alice, he asked me to take him to you," I said.
"What?" she whispered.
"He missed you, Alice," I smiled. "He damn near cried when I told him you were married to
Jasper. He said that he should've been there."
"He was such a good brother to me," she reminisced. "He was so happy as a kid. After the
first few months of course, he was sad about his parents' deaths. I remember when he was
sixteen he wrote this song about our goldfish. Something about having no memory, but
enjoying it. He was such an optimist."
"Do you want to go somewhere and talk?" I asked.
"No, I have to go, but I just wanted to catch you," she said.
She smiled at me over her shoulder as she walked away from me. I was beginning to realise
that Alice was a very eccentric person. Rosalie had said that she had no personal boundaries,
but I just saw that that was just Alice. It was true, but it suited her perfectly.
I went home, but the oppressive atmosphere was getting to me. Living in Seattle I wasn't used
to the humidity. At least it wasn't as bad as visiting my mother in Florida. Still, I was restless,
or as my grandmother would have said, I had ants in my pants. I couldn't just sit and do
nothing.
I looked at the wall and saw it was only seven o'clock in the evening. Sighing, and shaking
my head at myself, I grabbed Jake's lead and yelled 'walkies' through the apartment. Jake
hurtled into me and I laughed. I grabbed my rarely used iPod and pushed the ear buds in my
ears. I liked the way that the music helped to push the rest of the world away.
I made it to the park and there weren't many people around today. That was nice, because it
meant I could let Jake off the lead and not worry about it. I looked around, wondering if
Edward was here today, and I saw his familiar form on the bench. I smiled and went over to
him, to say hi and chat for a few minutes.
When I got closer to him though, I could see that he wasn't as I'd last seen him. His beautiful
face was marred with an awful bruise, his lip split and his knuckles were torn and bloody. My
smile faltered and I stopped dead in my tracks as I looked upon him.
"What in god's name happened?" I shrieked at him.
His head shot up and fell as he saw me stood there. He looked a little guilty and ashamed, but
most of all he looked like a boy caught in the act.
"Eh, I had a little disagreement with someone," he said, waving his hand in a dismissive
gesture.
"This is serious Edward," I snapped. "What the fuck happened to you?"
"I just told you," he said. "It doesn't take a lot out here for someone to try and get the upper
hand by clocking you in the face."
I just looked at him. Was he honestly telling me that someone took offence at him for no
reason, enough to hurt him? And then I began to berate myself, because even though I had
known he was homeless, had I ever stopped to ask myself what that actually meant for him?
"Edward," I said quietly, "This isn't healthy. You were offered a bed in three separate houses
last night, and you still chose to sleep out here and you got hurt. It could've been avoided."
"Yes, but it wasn't," he smiled. "I chose to stay out here because those beds were offered to
me out of pity."
"No they weren't," I snapped. "They were offered out of love!"
"Even yours?" he smirked.
I blushed bright red, and opened my mouth, but he had me there. Why had I offered my home
to Edward? I did pity him sometimes, but I was being honest when I said I hadn't offered him
out of pity. In a panic, I blurted out the first excuse I could.
"It would've made me feel safe," I said. There was truth in that enough. I did feel safe around
Edward.
"Bella& " he groaned, grasping at his hair. "Why didn't you say something? You are not
going to get hurt."
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]