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AS I DROVE HOME, I WASN’T PAYING MUCH ATTENTION TO the road that shi about the flood of infor to sort it out, to force it all toJacob s all the secrets thrashed outit didn’t ht to have gone Jacob needed lare, there was no danger
It cahway inoff a silver Volvo right onover But I was tooon so Charlie nearby as a buffer At least that would force him to keep his voice down
The Volvo followed inches behind h and through, I drove straight to Angela’s without oncea hole in my mirror
He followed me until I pulled to the curb in front of the Webers’ house He didn’t stop, and I didn’t look up as he passed I didn’t want to see the expression on his face I ran up the short concrete walk to Angela’s door as soon as he was out of sight
Ben answered the door before I could finish knocking, like he’d been standing right behind it
"Hey, Bella!" he said, surprised
"Hi, Ben Er, is Angela here?" I wondered if Angela had forgotten our plans, and cringed at the thought of going hoela called, "Bella!" and appeared at the top of the stairs
Ben peered around me as we both heard the sound of a car on the road; the sound didn’t scare ine stuttered to a stop, followed by the loud pop of a backfire Nothing like the purr of the Volvo Thisfor
"Austin’s here," Ben said as Angela reached his side
A horn honked on the street
"I’ll see you later," Ben proela’s neck and pulled her face down to his height so that he could kiss her enthusiastically After a second of this, Austin honked again
"’Bye, Ang! Love you!" Ben shouted as he dashed past htly pink, then recovered herself and waved until Ben and Austin were out of sight Then she turned tothis, Bella," she said "Fro my hands fro hours of a plot-less, badly dubbed hed in relief
"Happy to be of service" I was feeling a bit less panicked, able to breathe a little ela’s easy hu It was nice to know that life was norela up the stairs to her room She kicked toys out of the way as she went The house was unusually quiet
"Where’s your family?"
"My parents took the twins to a birthday party in Port Angeles I can’t believe you’re really going to helphe has tendonitis" She made a face
"I don’t ela’s rooasped Angela turned to look at ies in her eyes I could see why she’d been putting this off, and why Ben had weaseled out
"I thought you were exaggerating," I admitted
"I wish Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Put ela divided a pile in half and put her mother’s address book between us on her desk For a while we concentrated, and there was just the sound of our pens scratching quietly across the paper
"What’s Edward doing tonight?" she asked after a fewon "Emmet’s ho"
"You say that like you’re not sure"
I shrugged
"You’re lucky Edward has his brothers for all the hiking and ca I don’t knohat I’d do if Ben didn’t have Austin for the guy stuff"
"Yeah, the outdoors thing is not really for me And there’s no way I’d ever be able to keep up"
Angela laughed "I prefer the indoors ela rolled her eyes at h
She sighed "See you"
I was jumpy on the way out to lancing anxiously in all n of the silver car
His car was not in front of the house, either, though that meant little
"Bella?" Charlie called when I opened the front door
"Hey, Dad"
I found hi room, in front of the TV
"So, hoas your day?"
"Good," I said Might as well tell hih Besides, it would make him happy "They didn’t need me at work, so I went down to La Push"
There wasn’t enough surprise in his face Billy had already talked to hi to sound indifferent
"Good," I said, just as casual
"You get over to the Webers’?"
"Yep We got all her announcements addressed"
"That’s nice" Charlie s that there was a galad you spent some time with your friends today"
"Me, too"
I a for busy work Unfortunately, Charlie had already cleaned up his lunch I stood there for a few ht the sun made on the floor But I knew I couldn’t delay this forever
"I’lumly as I headed up the stairs
"See you later," Charlie called after ht to myself
I shut my bedroom door carefully before I turned to face ainst the wall across from me, in the shadow beside the openHis face was hard and his posture tense He glared atfor the torrent, but it didn’t cory to speak
"Hi," I finally said
His face could have been carved from stone I counted to a hundred in e
"Erso, I’rowl rue
"No har
He e of his nose between the fingers of his right hand
"Bella," he whispered "Do you have any idea how close I ca the treaty and coasped and his eyes opened They were as cold and hard as night
"You can’t!" I said too loudly I worked to modulate the volume of my voice so Charlie wouldn’t hear, but I wanted to shout the words "Edward, they’d use any excuse for a fight They’d love that You can’t ever break the rules!"
"Maybe they aren’t the only ones ould enjoy a fight"
"Don’t you start," I snapped "You made the treaty - you stick to it"
"If he’d hurt you -"
"Enough!" I cut hi to worry about Jacob isn’t dangerous"
"Bella" He rolled his eyes "You aren’t exactly the best judge of what is or isn’t dangerous"
"I know I don’t have to worry about Jake And neither do you"
He ground his teeth together His hands were balled up in fists at his sides He was still standing against the wall, and I hated the space between us
I took a deep breath, and crossed the room He didn’t move when I wrapped my arms around him Next to the warh the , his skin felt especially icy He seemed like ice, too, frozen the way he was
"I’hed, and relaxed a little His arms wound around my waist
"Anxious is a bit of an understate day"
"You weren’t supposed to know about it," I reer"
I looked up at his face, at his defensive eyes; I hadn’t noticed in the stress of the s under them were deep purple I frowned in disapproval
"When Alice saw you disappear, I came back," he explained
"You shouldn’t have done that Now you’ll have to go away again" My frown intensified
"I can wait"
"That’s ridiculous I mean, I know she couldn’t see me with Jacob, but you should have known -"
"But I didn’t," he broke in "And you can’t expect me to let you -"
"Oh, yes, I can," I interrupted him "That’s exactly what I expect -"
"This won’t happen again"
"That’s right! Because you’re not going to overreact next ti to be a next time"
"I understand when you have to leave, even if I don’t like it -"
"That’s not the sa my life"
"Neither aree"
"I’ this, Bella"
"Neither aainst htlessly "Is this really just about my safety?"
"What do you ela’s theory seeht "I ht?"