Chapter 58- Ella's POV
At around 4pm, the key turned in the lock and I looked up. It was Edward. I'd given him a key when I got home from hospital for ease of access so that I wouldn't need to get up, due to my injured back. My lips automatically curved into a smile when he approached. I had been waiting for him to come back home all day, and when he called to say that he would be late, I was more than disappointed. I had some news to break to him regarding PC Michigan. I shuddered at the thought.
"Hey, love, good afternoon," Edward said, putting his bag on the ground. He sat down next to me and lifted my face up to meet his gaze. "How are you?" he asked me.
"I'm good," I answered, after my lips met his in a soft kiss. I smiled. "How was your first day?"
Edward leaned back on the sofa and exhaled. "Pretty great, actually. I can't complain, everyone's really nice, and the art room's great as well." He grinned. I was glad to see him look so content. It had been quite some time since I'd seen him smiling.
"I'm glad it's great," I said.
I recalled that we had not talked about our fight before all of the drama with John began. But we could talk about it later, and I think we were probably past it too. The love between us was greater than our past. This was why I had to tell him about PC Michigan's threats today, because from now on, we had to trust each other, and we had to confront this together. We should have began doing it a long time ago. But it was better late then never. I knew that from now on, I could never let him go.
"It is," Edward said, gazing at me. He sat up and took my hand in his. "I didn't tell you where I went after school," he said slowly.
I lifted an eyebrow. "I know. But you don't have to tell me everything." Then, as an afterthought, I added, "Where did you go?"
Edward chuckled. "I was going to tell you anyway. Beth texted me to meet her during break, and she gave me a flash drive." He paused to see my reaction, but there was nothing registered on my face. I just wanted him to go on. "She had set up a camera in John's basement, and a voice recorder on his phone, so she knew what he was doing most of the time, as a sort of precaution. The files were a video of when you were in the basement with John, and an audio file of when you two were in the car. So, apart from it being evidence, it was also vital information to me."
I nodded as I took this in. "And how do you feel about it?" I asked cautiously. So much had been said when I was with John, it must have been hard for Edward to listen to.
"I'm fine. Shocked and angry at him, but okay. That's why I went to see him after school. I went to the hospital and had an argument with him."
"What did he say?" I asked cautiously.
Edward looked away from me for a second, then focused his gaze back on me. "He said a lot of things, but in the end he apologized to both me and you for what he did. And he gave me the keys to the cottage."
I almost jumped in relief. "That's great! I need some of that footage for PC Michigan!" I exclaimed. Edward looked at me worriedly and I realized my mistake. I had not mentioned anything to him about Sean, as he wanted me to call him, yet. In the midst of this I also realized that John had apologized for what he had done to us. Wow.
"Oh, that's the downside of it. He was there today... and he said he spoke to you..." He waited to see what I would say about it, but I just nodded, and he took it as a cue to continue. "He also overheard... well, more like eavesdropped, on my conversation with John, so he kind of knows every illegal thing both of us have done. And he also knows that there is incriminating evidence in the cottage." He sounded quite ashamed of himself as he said this. My heart sank.
"Awe, Ed, you should have been more careful," I said with a pout. It was just what Michigan needed to get me to do what he wanted. He had more to threaten me with now.
"I know, I just-" Edward shook his head. "I have to go and destroy everything before he finds out the location of the cottage."
I frowned. "Are you going to go today?"
Edward bit his lip as if in thought. "No, I'll need some help with that, there's too much stuff to deal with on my own. Besides it's 4pm already and I have to work tomorrow. It's a long drive there. But maybe I could go tomorrow, I finish at noon... and if I get help... we could be done by the evening." He seemed to be thinking out loudly.
I nodded thoughtfully. "But who could you ask for help? I would help you, but I can't really leave the house with my back injury. And who could you trust enough to let them see all that stuff about us?" I asked. Even though the photos and videos were going to be thrown away, I didn't want anyone else to see them before they did. It would be a self-incriminating move.
Edward exhaled and stopped to think, until a smile came onto his face. "Obviously, your brother and Nathan."
I raised my eyebrow for the second time. "That's actually a great idea!" I said in relief. "They already know everything about you and us, and they definitely wouldn't say no." And they basically were the only two people I trusted to do this. How hadn't I thought of them before?
He grinned. "Great!" His smile faltered a little. "But Ella, I'm going to need you to do something for me at that time."
"What do you need?" I asked. "Anything for you."
Edward chuckled nervously. "I don't think you'll be too happy about it though." He paused. "I need you to keep Officer Michigan busy."
My smile faded. "Oh," I answered, a knot tightening in my stomach. "Why?"
"I knew you wouldn't be too happy. The thing is, he's smart, and he'll figure out where the cottage is immediately. But if you say that you need to speak to him, he wouldn't say no, definitely. He sounded quite keen to speak to you earlier."
It was my turn to bite my lip. I turned away from him. "That's because he is keen. That's what I wanted to tell you," I said meekly. Edward's look was very tense as I started recounting everything that had happened, starting from the hospital to the events which occurred today, when he practically forced his tongue into my mouth. I shuddered when I finished. Edward looked angry.
"So that's what he meant by you being rigid, the stupid..." he trailed off, probably figuring that it would be better if he didn't continue with the insult. I didn't understand what he said regarding being rigid, but decided that now was not the time to ask. "Why didn't you tell me?" Edward said pleadingly.
I shrugged. "I didn't think much of it at the hospital. I mean, he did threaten me but I thought it was a spur of the moment thing. And I didn't want to tell you, because I know you'd want to make him pay."
Edward forced a smile. "You know me all too well. So what did you mean about the evidence that you had about him?"
I grinned and pointed to the television screen, where the red light from John's camera was still beeping. "That camera shot the whole thing. If we get access to it, we have the evidence that we need and Michigan wouldn't be able to threaten anymore because we'll have something against him."
"That's great!" Edward managed to really smile this time, and he exhaled in relief. "Awesome. I'll try to get access to it tomorrow. But Ella... I'm still going to need you to keep him busy tomorrow." A worried look crossed his handsome features. I nodded.
"It's fine. I'll call him and manage my ways around him," I said, even though my heart was thumping loudly in my chest just at the thought of seeing him again.
Edward reached over and hugged me. "Thank you. This will be the end of all of this," he said, putting his arm around me. I cuddled up to him and hugged him back. I never wanted to let go of him.
That evening, Edward got into touch with Malcolm and Nathan, who both said that they would help him clear out the photos and retrieve the video out of John's cottage. Nathan offered for Jessica to keep close by to my house, just in case I needed anything while PC Michigan was there. Since I was still without a phone, my brother offered to leave his behind just in case I needed anything. And we made plans to record the conversation I would have with Michigan on the phone, and also record on a video my actual time with him, which would supposedly be an interrogation, just in case he made a move on me or the first video would not be able to be retrieved from John's system. We had everything planned out, now all we could do was hope that it would go well.
At around 11am the next morning, I called Edward to see if everything was okay, and he confirmed so, saying that they would be leaving in an hour's time. I decided to leave until 12pm to contact PC Michigan, and hoped that he would be available, not having gone to the quest of finding John's cottage already. I retrieved his number and dialed it, heart beating loudly in my chest., and put on the voice recorder. He did not answer the first time, so I decided to let a few minutes slip by and call again. This time he picked up by the second ring.
"Hello," His voice came on the line, making my heart miss a beat. "Who is this?"
"Um, hi," I said. Do not stammer, do not stammer, I thought to myself. I was surprised at the way he's answered his mobile phone so suddenly.
"Yes, who are you please?" his voice sounded confused, as if he hadn't recognized me.
"It's Ella," I said simply. He did not answer immediately, but when he did, his voice sounded almost hopeful.
"Ella Campbell?"
"Yes."
"Wow. You called. And so soon." He sounded surprised. Then he cleared his throat and continued, "So, what do you need, then? "
"I, um, was wondering if I could meet you to umm..." I stammered and gulped. "I'd like to meet you, to continue our discussion."
"Great." His voice filled with warmth. "When do you want to meet?"
"Whenever you want," I said too quickly.
"Awesome." He chuckled. "How about you come over at my place instead of meeting at yours? You know, change of scene and all," he said in his husky voice. My blood ran cold. This was by far the one of the strangest things I had ever done.
"You're forgetting something," I said with a laugh. At least I'd managed to calm down a little.
"What? Oh no, I live on my own. Riley's off for a conference in London... she's cooped up there most of the time, anyway," he said in a bitter voice. I presumed Riley was his girlfriend, but didn't comment about it.
"No, that's not it anyway. I'm not allowed to leave the house," I said.
His voice turned back to the humoristic one I had gotten used to. "But I haven't put you on house arrest yet," he replied, and even though I wasn't seeing him, I knew he was raising his eyebrow.
"That's not it either," I answered. "I can't leave the house because I'm kind of injured, remember?"
"Ohh, right," PC Michigan said. "Damn, I would have liked the thought of you on house arrest because of me," he murmured. The way he said it gave me goosebumps. I noticed that he always started out very formally in our conversations, then he would start flirting slowly. I'd started getting used to him now.
Silence followed in our conversation for a short while, before he exhaled and spoke. "Okay, babe, so do I come over at your house sometime today? I think we should continue that interrogation."
"Yes, sure, I'm going to be here all day today."
"Mmm. Okay, so I'll see you very soon," he said. "Oh and Ella?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you gonna be on your own?"
"Yeah..."
"All day?"
"Yes."
"Good." The line went dead.
I gulped. I couldn't wait until all of this was over. I wonder what PC Michigan had in store for me.
Hello guys :) I'm happy that I've managed to update like 4 or 5 times in two weeks! I hope you enjoy this, it's sort of the bridge from the last chapter to the next chapter. Please vote and comment and tell me what you think!
What do you guys think will happen in the next chapter?
This book is seriously nearing the end, I'm thinking that there will be 2 or 3 more chapters plus an epilogue :) I don't want the story to be too long and I've had suggestions to not exaggerate. I hope you like it :)
Once again, I'm mentioning the facebook page I created for the story because almost nobody liked it :( please click on it and like. :)
https://www.facebook.com/howtomakeyourteacherfallinlovewithyou?ref=hl
Dedicated to GiaGiaLe :) thank you for your support!!!
The photo on the side/top is of gorgeous Edward ;)