The Hunted

Chapter 11

N: thank you all for the reviews!  I love hearing what you all have to say. Big thanks to Gigi Scott and gatorgrl91 l for helping with commas and word errors.  Without these lovely ladies, my chapters would be comma-less and a mess.

"So, we'll see you in two days. I can't wait! I've missed you so much!" Alice squealed in my ear, and I nodded even though she couldn't see me. The Spanish crossword puzzle in front of me held me captivated, and it took a moment for my brain to catch up to Alice.

"Wait. What?"

"Seriously, Bella? Haven't you heard a word I said?" she asked, sounding a bit put out.

"Uh … no."

"Put the crossword puzzle down and pay attention to me. The two of you are going to Forks on Tuesday to visit Esme and Carlisle. Jasper and I will be there as well. It's been too long since we've seen each other."

"I don't recall making any decisions to visit Forks," I told her, frowning a bit. Sometimes, I really hated her ability to see things. It made me feel as though I couldn't do anything without her seeing, and that was slightly unnerving.

"Well you did, or Edward did. One of you did, and I saw it, so now you're going. Don't you want to see me?" she asked, and I could just see her pouting on the other end of the phone.

"Of course, I do," I told her. "I just—"

"Great!" she interrupted. "See you in a few days."

And then she hung up. I stared at my phone for a few seconds before tossing it on the coffee table in front of me. I felt like I had just been run over by a steamroller. Oh, wait. I had. A steamroller named Alice. She'd never been that assertive before her change, and while it wasn't a bad thing, it annoyed me a little.

"Forks?" Edward asked, leaning over the back of the couch, and I caught a whiff of the Axe body wash that he used.

"Apparently, we're going on Tuesday," I said, tilting my head back so he could drop a kiss on my lips.

"Sounds good. I've been missing the family," he told me. I frowned at him because I'd been dying from cabin fever. We'd been holed up in the cabin for weeks since the close call with my singer, and anytime I had mentioned going somewhere, he'd told me he wanted to stay home. It had caused a small amount of tension between us, and I'd begun to feel that he didn't trust me out in public. Sure, I was still a newborn, but I'd done a fucking good job at controlling myself except for a handful of times.

"Oh, so it's okay for us to visit the family, but I can't go into town to get a new book?" I snapped, getting up from the couch. "I'm so fucking tired of being trapped in this cabin! I need to be doing something, not sitting here solving crossword puzzles! I could be out there hunting down and taking out child killing vamps!"

Edward stood there staring at me, a look of disbelief on his face. "You had an extremely close call, and I felt that keeping you away from humans was the right thing to do for the time being."

"You had no right to make that call! I've been doing just fine around humans with the help of my shield, and you know that I rarely go out in public without it!"

He ran a hand through his hair, anger emanating from him. "Well excuse me for wanting to keep you from making any more fucking mistakes!" he roared back.

I stared at him, unable to believe what he'd just said. I hadn't made any fucking mistakes. Had I come close? Yes, of course I had. I was human aft—well, I was a newborn still. But, I hadn't killed anybody. Human blood had never touched my lips, and it never would. If I had to keep my shield wrapped around me twenty-four/seven then, I would.