Twilight: But it's a Thriller and I Never Read Twilight

Chapter 34: Severed Ties

My heart was still racing when I arrived at the Cullen house. The sun was long gone as I parked my truck behind Edward's Volvo and stepped out, heading down the long path to the front steps. Before I even got to the door, Edward was opening it, his eyes wide and filled with worry as I kept toward him. I wanted to cry still, but I hadn't. There was no way I could cry now after all this. I'd made a choice, another one that defined everything. I stood up tall as I reached the top step and I owned it.

"Bella, what happened?" Edward asked. He stood stiffly before me like he could hear my blood pumping angrily through my body.

I swallowed all the guilt I felt for leaving Charlie, for choosing this. I shouldn't have felt guilty, but I did. Charlie was losing his only daughter after only just getting her back and I was the one taking her away.

"I can't go home," I told him. "I fucked up. I told my Dad about us, and..." I nearly broke into tears, but no. I wasn't going to cry again.

Edward grabbed hold of me before I could steady myself and dragged me into his tight, cold arms. They wrapped around me like a vice, squeezing away all the worrisome thoughts in my head. I closed my eyes and let myself sink into him. This felt like a death, but I had been banking on it being a new life.

"Let's go inside," Edward said. "You can stay here for as long as you need. You can live here until the end of high school."

Until we were married and then we would live anywhere and everywhere. I nodded as he pulled away a little and ushered me into the house, his hand around my waist. Inside, Alice was waiting for me like she had been expecting the whole thing. I didn't quite meet her eye as Edward motioned me further into the house. It was too embarrassing to know that she had seen all of that.

"What a surprise," Carlisle said as I stepped into the living room. He was sitting with Esme up close to him, his hand on her leg while he smiled at me with shiny teeth. She wasn't smiling and I wasn't sure she ever really did. Even her smiles, the ones she gave each of the Cullen children didn't feel real. Looking at me now, she was a blank mask.

"Bella is going to stay here tonight," Edward said. "She's having a disagreement with her Dad."

"That's too bad," Carlisle said. "You're welcome to stay as long as you need." He turned to Esme, that wide smile still plastered on his face like it was painted there. "Esme, we must have something to eat for our guest. She must be starving."

Esme simply nodded her head and stood up to head into the kitchen. It felt like that place was her domain, the only place that was hers and not the vampires. It was as if they'd cornered her into the kitchen and made it her only place of respite. I watched her disappear and when she was gone, I couldn't help but think of the plane ticket she'd given me.

"You smell like fish," Edward said as he stepped around me toward the circle of couches that occupied the living room. "You can take a shower if you want."

I bit my lip. If it wasn't him, I would have thought the comment was rude, but I was sure he actually could smell me from across the room. Most of the occupants of this house would be able to tell where I'd been.

"I'll show you upstairs," Alice said. "You can use Esme's shower." She reached for my hand and dragged me along with her up the glass steps and into the upper level of the house where she'd once styled my hair for the prom.

Before we got to the bathroom, however, I caught the glare of headlights shining outside one of the many windows in the hallway. I glanced out to find a police cruiser driving up the long driveway and stopping just behind my truck. Alice tried to pull me along, but I stopped there and let go of her hand as Charlie stepped out of the cruiser.