VIOLENT DELIGHTS | Rosalie Hale

CHAPTER FIVE

AMERICAN IDIOT

"I have a question." I interrupt Bella from the backseat as Edward accelerated much too quickly down the quiet street. He didn't seem to be paying any attention to the road.

He sighed.

"One." He agreed. His lips pressed together into a cautious line. He seemed to have a lot less patience for my questions than he had for Bella.

"You said you knew Bella hadn't gone into the bookstore, and that she'd gone south." I point out, and Bella blinked at me in the rearview mirror, clearly having not caught that in the restaurant. She had a habit of being distracted by his face. "If she's the exception...then it couldn't have been her thoughts you caught. How'd you know she went South?"

He looked away from the rearview mirror, deliberating.

"You answer, I answer." I level with him.

"Fine, then. I followed her scent." He looked at the road, giving me and my sister enough time to compose ourselves. It had thrown me. I couldn't think of an acceptable response to that.

"And then you didn't answer one of my first questions..." Bella took over. He looked at her with disapproval. "Which one?"

"How does it work — the mind-reading thing? Can you read anybody's mind, anywhere? How do you do it? Can the rest of your family...?" Bella's voice trailed off with an air of shame, confusing me.

"That's more than one." Edward dodged. Bella just waited, gazing at him.

"No, it's just me. And I can't hear anyone, anywhere. I have to be fairly close. The more familiar someone's... 'voice' is, the farther away I can hear them. But still, no more than a few miles." He paused thoughtfully. "It's a little like being in a huge hall filled with people, everyone talking at once. It's just a hum — a buzzing of voices in the background. Until I focus on one voice, and then what they're thinking is clear."

"Most of the time I tune it all out — it can be very distracting. And then it's easier to seem normal" — he frowned as he said the word — "when I'm not accidentally answering someone's thoughts rather than their words."

Can you hear me now?

Again, nothing. "Why do you think you can't hear me?" Bella asked curiously. He looked at her.

"I don't know." He murmured. "The only guess I have is that maybe your mind doesn't work the same way the rest of theirs do. Like your thoughts are on the AM frequency and I'm only getting FM." He grinned at his own joke, suddenly amused.

"My mind doesn't work right? I'm a freak?" The words tumbled from Bella's mouth. I snort.

"I hear voices in my mind and you're worried that you're the freak." Edward laughed, "Don't worry, it's just a theory. Your father's hard to read like Grace, too. I only get bits and pieces, like a distant radio station. Which brings us back to you."

Bella and I shared a look in the rearview mirror. I sighed. As usual, it would be me.

"Aren't we past all the evasions now?" Edward repeats, eyes finding mine in the rearview mirror. But Bella distracts us both.

"Holy crow!" She shouted. "Slow down!"

"What's wrong?" He was startled.

"You're going a hundred miles an hour!" Bella was still shouting. I relaxed, rolling my eyes. She shot a panicky glance out the window, seeming to have only noticed Edward's driving skill. I wasn't worried, despite the racing speed. It was actually kind of nice. "Relax, Bella." He rolled his eyes too, still not slowing.