CHAPTER 7: BOOT STRAPS

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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.