Words to Die By

Chapter Five ~ Protecting the Women You Love

Edward was sitting across from the bed where Isabella was sleeping peacefully. After she had passed out in his arms, he carried her to his car while Emmett took care of the body of scum that had attacked her. Fuck he couldn't believe he had been late getting to her and allowed her to get hurt. He had told Jasper that he would take his watch because he enjoyed following her around and watching her work. The way she twisted her mouth as she read the microfiche, he had wondered what was going on in her beautiful mind. However, she had slipped out of the library in the rain, before he realized she had left. Quickly walking down the street, he hoped that she had decided to take the alley to her car and as he turned the corner his heart stopped. A man was towering over her and kicking her. He saw red, but he had to remain calm and quiet to be able to sneak up on the bastard, afraid of what he might do to Bella if the attacker saw him approach. As he eased closer, he watched as Isabella head-butted the fucker in the groin. Damn, there she was hurt on the ground and she still fought back. She was living up to all the wonderful sexy dreams he had about her recently.

~~

When he first began to read her second book, he had no clue that it was a woman who was writing this unbelievably intriguing mafia story. Fuck, several times while he was reading the story, he wondered which family the author was a member. At the end of the book, loving every word, he flipped the last page and was shocked to find the author's bio. It wasn't a man, but a woman that had written the story. Holy Hell. Checking online to find she had another book prior to this one, he quickly purchased it and began to read. When he finally looked up, it was dark outside and looking at the clock, he realized that he had been reading for five straight hours. Taking a much-needed bathroom break, he grabbed a couple of sandwiches, chips, and an ice-cold beer and headed back to the book. Gobbling down the sandwiches and chugging the beer, he picked up the book and continued where he left off. When he read the last sentence, sighing over the overwhelming feeling of joy that the story had brought out in him.

"Fuck, that was one great book," he said out loud. Laying the book down on the table, Edward stood and stretched his stiff joints. Suddenly, a large yawn escaped and he looked at the clock. It was three-thirty in the morning.

After that, Edward made sure that he purchased every new book that I.M. Swan had written. It wasn't until the fifth book, that she had changed her bio and added a photograph. He couldn't believe how beautiful she was, which led to her being the main character in all of his dreams. He never knew her full name, only her initials, I.M. until yesterday when Emmett told him. Isabella was a perfect name for the beautiful angel.

~~

Driving the town, breaking every speed limit to get Isabella safely back to his home and to Rose who would evaluate her injuries. Edward was blessed by having Rosalie Hale, no McCarthy, as a member of his family. Much like others in the family, she had been a victim of Aro Volturi's family.

~~

She had just finished up her residency in orthopedics and was working in a rehab center. Her patients had many injuries, some would make a full recovery, while others would have to learn different adaptations in order to be able to cope with the rest of their lives. She had one such patient, whose injuries were extremely severe, caused by a drive-by shooting. He was a massive man that looked very intimidating, but she had come to learn he possessed a soft side, he was a teddy bear. While working with him to get back on his feet and back to living his life, however, he was always flirting with her. If she hadn't been engaged, she might have just fallen for those crystal blues eyes and dimpled cheeks. But she was engaged and happy, well kind of happy. Pushing him to walk without pain pills was her objective and at one point, she had even bargained with him that if he ran around the building without being on any meds, she would go out for coffee with him. A few weeks later he was released, but before leaving he reminded her that he would be back to take her up on her offer.