Chapter 8: Double or Nothin’

He was tense, his body rigid and stiff. His jaw was clinched his eyes were darting back and forth, sweeping over the checkout lines.

Something’s wrong.

Oh God.... What’s happening?

Something’s wrong.

Something’s wrong.

My mind was suddenly racing as adrenaline began pumping through my veins. Something was happening, but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. Edward had been calm (though aware of his surroundings) the entire time we had been here. I had seen him scan people’s faces and bodies, looking for signs of danger, but he had yet to tense up like this. I was positive that he had seen something.

He abruptly came to a halt and I mirrored his actions, pulling the grocery buggy to a stop.

“Edward?” I said in a hushed voice, quietly asking what was going on.

“Leave,” he answered harshly in a low tone that was demanding and assertive.

Panic rushed through my body and I tried to follow his gaze to see what was happening, but saw nothing suspicious, only casual shoppers. “Edward, what’s going on?” My voice was slightly shaky and it sounded distant in my own ears.

“Bella, get the fuck out of here. Leave the cart. Get in the truck and lock the doors.” He broke his stare from whatever he was looking at, his eyes darting to meet mine. I noticed now that they weren’t just a dull shade of green, they were nearly black. He looked almost feral, and most certainly dangerous. “Now,” he ordered through gritted teeth.

I was terrified of leaving him behind in there, unsure of what was happening. But at the same time, I had no gun. I had no way to defend myself. And although I felt as if I hardly knew Edward, I trusted him. I just knew that he was going to protect me. So I did the only thing I knew to do: I backed away from the cart and sought out the exit, immediately evacuating the store.

I left.

CHAPTER 7: BOOT STRAPS

Teaser

Alice sighed loudly before informing me that she was on here way over. I told her that I would be in the barn office when she got here before we hung up the phone. I knew Edward wouldn’t come in here so I felt like I would be safe from him if I just stayed.

I sat on the floor of my office for the next 45 minutes while I waited on Alice. It was one of the few times that I really regretted buying a farm that was so far away from Seattle. But Alice did have a yellow sports car, so I prayed that she would use all that horse power to here a little quicker.

When she arrived, she burst through the door and saw me slumped against the wall. I watched her as she crouched down in front me and gave me a reassuring smile.

“Bella, I need you tell me in more detail about what my brother said.”

I took a deep breath and tried to reign in my emotions. “H-He told me that all he wanted was to have sex with me and that fucking me didn’t r-require talking. H-He h-hates me, A-Alice,” I shuttered, slowly losing my control over my tear ducts. “H-He won’t t-talk to me.”

“He said what?!” she growled. “I’m going to fucking kill him.” She wiped the salty drops away from my face and offered me a pained smile. “We need to teach Edward to respect you, Bella, because right now, he’s just not getting it. So let’s get you cleaned up. We’re going out tonight.”

“W-What? I don’t want to go out!” I objected.

She rolled her eyes at me and grabbed me by my arm, pulling me to my feet. “Bella, don’t cowboys always say dust of your bootstraps or whatever?”

“Do you mean dust off your jeans? Or pick yourself up by your bootstraps?”

“Yeah, whatever, you know what I mean. Get your shit together.”

With that, she practically drug me out off the office. As we walked out of the barn, she spoke quickly in a hushed voice. “You need to stand up to him, Bella. Okay? Just watch me and take notes. Seriously, he’s not as scary as the front he puts up.”

We rounded the side of the barn and approached Edward. Alice let go of my arm and marched up to him without her pace wavering in the slightest. But what surprised me the most was that she grabbed the open hood of the truck, removed the stability bar that held up over Edward’s head, then let the metal drop. With a loud thunk, the flimsy sheet of steel smacked down on the man’s skull.

GO ALICE!

“What the fuck?” he bellowed as he scrambled out from under the hood. He looked over at his little sister, who was standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, and sneered with anger. “Alice! What in the hell are you doing here?”

“You deserved it,” she retorted calmly. “I’m here because of the way you have been treating Bella. It’s absolutely despicable. Our mother raised you better than that.”

“Well I think our mother raised you better than to drop truck hoods on your brother’s head!” he barked.

“I disagree with that. If mom knew how you were acting, she’d condone my slamming a big piece of metal on your big thick head.”

I was amazed at how perfectly composed Alice was with a large 6 foot something man towering over her. I swear, I think Edward was about to combust with anger. He was red in the face and I was just waiting for steam to start shooting out of his ears like a pissed off cartoon character and she was tiny little pixie who didn’t look like she stood a chance against him.

“Get your pointy little nose out of my god damned business, Alice, or I swear to God I’ll....”

“You’ll what?” she cut him off in a threatening tone. He sighed loudly in frustration but she ignored him. “I’m not afraid of you, Edward Cullen,” she said, finishing her statement with a sharp poke in his sternum with one of her little fingers. “You need to stop acting all tough and mighty and start acting like a fucking human being again. Bella deserves to be treated right and you’re doing nothing but digging yourself into a deep ass hole that you’re going to have a real hard time getting yourself out of. I seriously thought you’d have more sense than to get off on the wrong foot with her, especially after everything I’ve told you.”

“What you talking about, Alice? You didn’t tell me anything about her.”

Alice paused of a second before realization washed over her face. “Wait a second, you don’t know do you?” she asked in astonishment.

“Um, no Alice, I have no idea what in the fuck you’re talking about.”

“Seriously? This is fucking unbelievable,” she laughed before turning and walking back toward me. She stopped when she reached me and looked back at Edward.

“Alice, what in the hell are you talking about?” He was trying to stop her from walking away without giving him any answers, but obviously his little sister had other plans.

When she answered, she gave Edward a reply that he obviously wasn’t expecting. “Be ready by 6:30. We’re going out tonight. I want you to meet my new boyfriend.”

I thought his eyes might possibly fall out of his head at that point. If he wasn’t frustrated before, he definitely was now. “Boyfriend? You have a boyfriend? What the hell? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well you haven’t been around for me to tell,” she said calmly. “His name is Jasper and you’ll meet him at dinner tonight. And Edward, you better shower and put on a damn shirt because I don’t want him meeting you when you’re covered in grease in sweat. Got it?”

Then she grabbed my arm and started toting me toward the house.

Q&A

Hey everyone!!!

So... I'm going to address some things that have been commented about in the story in a Q&A type format thing. I DID copy and paste from some reviews, so if you were the one who made these comments, I hope you don't mind me quoting you. You may have already received if you asked a similar question in your review, but whatever, read what you want. lol. I just love rambling on about my story haha.

I'm going to answer the complicated ones first, as well as the most commonly asked ones. The first few questions will receive the longest responses because of that. Sorter, more simple questions are further toward the end.



1. "You aren't just going to break up and never see each other again. You'll be with her until the end. There's no way either of you could really give each other up."
That did not give me a good feeling. I hope that's not some sort of messed up foreshadowing having to do with him dying..

Okay, this has been my most popular question and I'm surprised that you guys paid such close attention to the foreshadowing here. I honestly wasn't sure if you guys would pick up on it! But, since you have, I WILL address it.
First of all, I REFUSE to tell you if Edward or Bella will die in this story. I won't answer either way. I am very adamant about that and for good reason. This story is about Edward's life being in danger and Bella trying to save him from not only himself, but also a big group of killers. SO.. me telling you if they're going to die or not would ruin a lot of the suspense. Therefore, you'll have to wait and find out about that.

HOWEVER.. I AM foreshadowing with this quote. Read this part carefully. Alice and I worded this very carefully because we want to leave you hanging with the foreshadowing without confirming or denying anything. We don't want to lie to you, but we do want to keep secrets. haha. (I love how I'm talking about this like Alice was sitting there writing with me. haha. I'm seriously finding way too much amusement in this)

And I know I told many of you that the passage that this quote was taken from (Edward getting his tatt) contained a lot of foreshadowing and symbolism, but what Alice said was not the only part of it. That was the OBVIOUS foreshadowing. I choose every beginning passage and every detail in them very specifically. DEFINITELY pay close attention to them. And this particular passage was the biggest bit of foreshadowing in the entire story. If you figure this passage out, you can get a pretty good idea of what will happen down the road.

So, in order to help you guys get your brains going.. I'm going to give YOU some questions. (I will eventually also answer these questions for you once I feel that they have been sufficiently answered by the story) ...
A) Why did I choose to depict Edward getting the FALCON tattoo at this particular point in the story? (SPECIFICALLY the FALCON)
B) Alice made a very pointed reference to the bleeding. Obviously, I included it for a reason. Why?
If you reply to this thread with a theory/idea as what all this might mean, I will PM you or reply on the thread to let you know if you are right/wrong/close or whatever. If you don't get it right on the first try, I will offer a hint.



2. Don't you think Bella's feelings for Edward are moving a little fast? I mean, she's already fantasizing about him. Isn't that little weird and unrealistic? (This is a long explanation on WHY Bella feels how she does and an argument for why it IS realistic. It is merely support for my character's emotions and actions. This will not give insight in the future of the story.)

I'm really glad that someone brought this up with me in a message (sorry, can't remember who since I can't find the original conversation).

Here's my explanation: OBSESSION IS NOT LOGICAL.

I'm going to use Rob as an example since he is the subject for many girls' fantasies.
I know that many many girls are completely crazy for him. He's freaking mobbed all the time wherever he goes. But let me remind you of this, 99.9% of those people do NOT know him. Most have only READ articles (equivalent to Alice telling Bella stories and her reading his case file) and SEEN pictures/video (remember, Esme gave Bella pictures), YET Rob is the object of their fantasies and desires, just as Bella has become enamored with Edward. Some of you may find it completely crazy and delusional, but it IS reality and it DOES happen. How can his fans NOT create an image of him in their head when they feel that they know so much about him? THAT is why they're his fans. They FEEL like they know and understand him based on what they see and hear. They like him because they like who they THINK he is.
However, even Rob himself has said that the whole phenomenon is pretty crazy. He has said that if any of the girls sat down and actually got to know him and spent time with him, even for a day, that they would probably be pretty disappointed in what they would see because he knows he can't live up to their expectations. (Much like how Edward is disappointing Bella when he's not what she thought he'd be like).
This response from Rob tells us that the obsession they experience is not necessarily ACCURATE or completely LOGICAL being that they don't know him, BUT it is REAL.

SO.. in conclusion... Bella doesn't really know Edward. She has an image of him in her head, but what she is feeling and experiencing is NOT uncommon. It would be NORMAL to conjure an image of who he is in her mind based on the info that she's given. We do it ALL the time, just usually on a much smaller scale. So don't don't think Bella's gone crazy, it's a normal response for people.

And you have to keep in mind, she DOES know what he looks like (thus, she's attracted to him) and she has spent TWO MONTHS listening to stories about him from Alice. She really genuinely feels like she knows him and it is normal for her to make assumptions about how he would act based on what she's told. (Ex: If someone tried to hit on her, she would be likely to assume that he would protect her based on what Alice has told her about he was protective of her). But also, if you go back a few chapters, you'll also see where I ended one chapter with the statement "and that was the first night I dreamed about Edward Cullen" or something similar. The "fantasies" BEGAN subconsciously in her sleep before they started to invade her daily, conscious imagination. THAT is why she's become obsessed.

I know that was a long explanation, and I hope I wasn't being redundant, but I wanted to try to related to real life and make it a bit more understandable for anyone who is having trouble connecting with Bella and her emotions. SO... please let me know if you are still having trouble with that.



3. I have to say Bella is kinda on my nerves. Way too whiny, and too obvious! She needs to grow a pair and be a little more strong willed- she needs to make Edward work for it, cause right now he's got all the power in the relationship.

Yes, Bella is being a whiny little immature brat. You've probably noticed it... "Edward won't talk to me. Boo hoo." "Alice is making me shop for red undies and I feel awkward. Waaaa!" .. But realize, that I'm writing her this way for a reason. I'm equating her to a naive girl, as she was in Twilight when she first met Edward. She has never been in love, she has never gotten in much trouble, and she's never really had to deal with real life problems. Her biggest worry is whether or not Jake likes her and if her dad is eating right. And honestly, she doesn't understand why Edward won't talk to her. She just thinks it's because he's trying to protect her and himself.. but it's never occurred to her that maybe he's actually been emotionally hurt/scarred because she's never experienced anything like that before. Bella has never really been traumatized or broken, so she's not relating to him.

But like I said, I've written her this way for a reason. Just as she did in SM's saga, Bella will grow up. She'll find herself as she finds Edward. And if you haven't noticed, Bella IS starting to stand up to him a little in the sense that she's being bold enough to ask him questions that she knows he doesn't want to answer. Plus, she DID turn him down when he offered her sex, so she's not completely stupid. Just give her time. She'll get feisty as Edward continues to push her buttons. He's talking shit now, but he won't be for long.

But also, many of you mentioned that Alice walked all over Bella with the underwear thing. That was for a reason. It was another example of how insecure Bella is in saying 'no.' it WAS completely unprofessional and it WAS freaking AWKWARD, yet she gave in to alice without much a fight.
Same goes for Emmett. He calls her names in the office that she dislikes, yet he still does it anyways and she doesn't demand that he respect her request to cut it out. THEN, he also goes blabbing about Bella's little obsession with Edward and she really doesn't fuss at him over it. He just easily distracts her and she lets it go.
Bella isn't just weak around Edward, she's just straight up PITIFUL all around with EVERYONE. She is VERY non-confrontational.



4. Does it seem as though tanya is playing edward? he appeared a little miffed by her dismissal. I don't know, hair appointment or not, I think I could make time for edward! .... I already hate Tanya! We just love to hate her don't we?

First of all, I wouldn't ditch Edward for a hair appoint either. I would much rather let him mess up my hair himself... But that aside, it's time to address the Tanya issue since it's been brought up a few times... Yes, Tanya typically plays a bad guy. And in this story, I think you'll at first hate her guts.

Ok.. I take that back... At first you will definitely hate her guts.

But give it time. I think by the end of the story you won't hate her as much. And honestly, I think most aversion from her is because she wants Edward so she's Bella's competition. The immediate response is to defend our lovely main characters. But I also don't believe SM really ever intended her to be HATED. She never did anything to purposefully hurt Edward or Bella in the stories. So, that being said, go ahead and hate her in the beginning like you're intended to. She's certainly not without merit for dislike in this story; she is not without wrong-doing. But, keep in a mind with her and try to see her side of the story as this goes along. She IS a product of her environment.



5. I'm not sure how I feel about Jake and edward knowing each other. The whole thing seems like an accident waiting to happen. Jake doesn't seem to be in control enough to keep a secret. A little immature. I'm not sure he would divulge the information purposely but i could see it slipping out accidentally. I would think the less people knowing about edward the better.

Alrighty, down to the Jake subject. Whether or not Jake will divulge anything is something I'm not going to tell you. That's for me to know and for you to find out. However, I will say that I don't see him doing anything purposefully. SM never intended him to be a horrible bad guy, so once again, I'm sticking to the original character. Granted, he's not really going to want Bella to be with Edward, but it won't drive him to extreme measures like turning Edward in.

And although it IS best for Edward to stay under the radar, I wanted the main characters to know who he really is. It would difficult to keep it all a secret from Jake. Plus, Bella is going to want and need Jake's support as the story progress, and in order for him to fill that role (as he did in SM's stories), he needs to know who Edward is. SO.. it does serve a purpose.



6. Speaking of people knowing where edward is, will alice be showing up anytime soon?

Short answer for this one.... Yes.

Alice is one of my favorite characters and she will be taking on a main role in this story. Plus, she psychic, do you really think I could hide Edward and Bella from her? She's already seen everything go down. And you KNOW the meddling little pixie couldn't stay away for long.



7. Will you update on specific days?

At this point, I am NOT on a schedule of for updating. I'm a college student so my updating times will vary with what my exam schedules look like and stuff like that. Also, I may or may not write when I'm drunk or hungover. Thus, unpredictable schedule will have to be dealt with. haha.



Alright, that's it for the Q&A. It took me a LONG time to answer all those so I hope you all enjoyed it. Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think. I hope this whole thing facilitates some discussion or deeper thinking into the story.

Let me know if you have anymore questions or comments. I will make another set of Q&As if I have enough questions to warrant that, or I will happy just PM you or reply to you on the thread.

Thank you so much for reading my story! I hope you all have enjoyed it and I hope that you've like my answers to all of your questions. I appreciate each and every one of you and the time you've taken to support me and offer encouragement. You are all irreplaceable and I am SO thrilled that you guys have enjoyed this story.
Please, continue reading and reviewing. I would love to see you all stick with me through this journey Edward and Bella are on.


P.S. REMEMBER, GO BACK TO QUESTION ONE... if you answer the questions, I'll let you know if you're right or wrong OR I'll send you a hint that will hopefully help you figure it out a bit better. Feel free to post on here and discuss the subject with other readers. And if you want to discuss but would rather I not send you an answer as to whether your right or wrong (because don't want the story spoiled or anything), you can do that also. I'll be happy to keep my mouth shut. But I do think that the passage I addressed in question one definitely deserves some more thought from you guys. It's a really crucial scene.... I'm excited to see what y'all have to say about it!


Lots of love to ALL of you,
DixieRose/JustTheGirl