It had to be Jessica

Chapter 16

3rd person POV

Edward slipped on a pale blue v-neck shirt after drying off his body from the snower. He technically didn't need to but Jessica was complaining about him... smelling? He stopped questioning his lady's logic since before they started dating. He paused when he faintly heard her mind yell out "shit!" along with some other choice words. There wasn't anyone in the room and she wasn't in immediate danger, so it must be something else.

Edward stepped out of the room, drying off his still dripping hair and observed Jessica.

She was in the middle of throwing on a thin, white cardigan. Her eyes wide and Edward could hear her heart rapidly beating in her chest like a sudden march.

"I'm going shopping, I'll be back in a little while." Jessica said frantically as she flung her crossbody purse over her head.

'Odd, I thought she packed everything," Edward thought to himself, gently prodding through her mind to hear her thoughts. His body slowly tensed up like a cat about to be put in a bath as he recognized the thought pattern in her mind, she was singing in her head. It was to some children's tune that he was unfamiliar with, telling him to get out of her head immediately.

She did not need to tell him that twice to listen. Edward knew when he was beaten.

"Send me a text when you reach the store and when you are on your way back!" He told her as the door slammed figuratively in his face. He snuck a glance at his hoodie, draped uselessly over a chair from yesterday's date night to a local festival. He had worn it because of how crowded it would be, didn't want to risk someone brushing against his skin.

"No... that will just make her upset," He said while shaking his head, taking a seat back on the couch. He picked up his book on the coffee table and opened the book to his marked page. Edward made a mental note to himself that he'll need to ask Carlisle to rotate out his book in his room, he's running out of reading material.

(linebreak)

An hour and a half has passed since Jessica's left and Edward has yet to receive any text messages from her. He had migrated to the dining table, tapped his fingers and was not really noticing that he was beginning to make the dark, polished wood crack under his index. He shot out of his chair, briskly walking over to the window and scanning the people below to find Jessica, not hearing her thoughts or seeing her figure. After another 20 minutes and no sign of her presence anywhere, Edward decided to try calling her.

The phone rang 3 times before Jessica picked up.

"Ed... Got.... ped.... Gone.... While.... Don't worry." Edward could barely hear her between the static and often muted voice. She sounded scared but obviously trying to hide it, she always does this.

"Jess.... Tell me what happened." Edward calmly stated to the speaker, trying to keep his grip loose so he doesn't break another phone. Esme already said this was his last phone this year unless broken by other means than his own strength.

"Can't... Talk.... Later... Love you..." and then the phone call ended, just like that.

Edward stared down at the phone in his hand and tried to think of all the places she could possibly be. If she wasn't at the store, or distracted by some kind of festival that this town keeps having... Then the only thing coming to mind is Aro and his brothers.

Rubbing one side of his temples a bit, Edward sighed heavily. 'Of course they waited until Jessica left without me to get her, I should have seen this coming.' Edward hissed in his head. 'But I'm not Alice, I wouldn't see this coming unless she saw it before me...'