In the Heat of the Night

Chapter 6:

Paul snarled, his lip pulling back and his eyes narrowing. His heart palpitated so loud that he could feel his pulse throbbing in his ears. His vision was fuzzy around his eyes, and he felt like his whole world was spinning in anger. How dare Edward come back now, after all of this time, and act like he owned the place? Like he owned Bella? Like there was something special about him? Paul was nearly frothing when he spit out his sentence. He set her down gently, being careful to not hurt her, even unintentionally with how angry he was.

"Don't even look at her, you filthy leech-" he moved to stand in front of Bella, positioning himself to block off Edwards view of her. Edward cocked an eyebrow, looking at him, perfectly sculpted face betraying scorn. "Don't try me, dog-" he sighed, "I didn't come here to fight with you. Though I remind you that you are outside of the territory designated to you in the treaty." His lips pursed into a thin line, "I'm not responsible for anything that happens to you here."

Paul's scowl deepened, and he growled, his voice low. Bella wrapped her hands around his arm, trying to shake him out of it. "Paul, just take deep breaths. Ignore him, don't fight with him-"

It wasn't helping though, Paul's eyes set firmly on Edward. "What gives you the right to come back here, just fucking pop out of the woodwork and come back like anyone gives a shit about you?" His eyes were stormy, and the veins in his neck stood out.

Edward tipped his head to the side. He had classically beautiful features, a chiselled jaw, strong nose, and high cheekbones. "I was unsure of why you were here-" he told the werewolf, and this time it was Edward's lip that pulled up into a sneer, "But I can tell in your convoluted thoughts that you think you love her-" he gestured his hand at Bella.

Paul almost jumped forward at Edward, Bella holding onto his arm. "Paul!" Bella begged, "Don't fight with him!" She was terrified that Edward would rip him apart. She knew that Paul was strong, but she was worried.

"I do love her-" Paul bellowed, "We imprinted. It's more than you can say. Running off and leaving her by her fucking self. What the fuck do you care? We're happy without you-" He felt Bella's hands on his bicep and it was actually calming, he took a deep breath.

Edward in turn snarled, "I do love her. That's why I left. To protect her. So that Victoria wouldn't target her and Charlie, and so that she wasn't endangered by us. I was protecting her!"

Paul scoffed, "That's a cheap cop out. If you loved her you would have given everything to protect her. Like I will." Paul ran a hand through his charcoal coloured hair and brushed it off his face. Bella was breathing heavily, looking back and forth between the two men.

"Edward, please just stop this-" her voice was cracked, and she sounded stressed. "Please. I love Paul."

Edward cocked his head to the side, and looked straight at her. "That's what he's made you think-"

Paul bristled again, "Just because you're desperate for her affection doesn't mean that you have to take it out on us. She loves me, I love her, get over it." He was feeling pretty good about how this conversation had gone so far. Edward didn't really have anything, and Bella had told Edward that she loved Paul.

Edward smirked a little, which Paul thought was odd, but he brushed it off. It was starting to drizzle a little bit, a fine mist falling on them as they stood in the dampening grass outside of Bella's house, street light falling on them all. Somehow Charlie still hadn't heard their racket. Bella shivered a little, and Paul turned to her, and pulled off his sweater. He wasn't wearing a shirt under it, and he stood, impressive chest bare, scowling at Edward.

"Are we done here?" He asked, not really sure where this was going. He passionately wanted to kick Edward's ass. Just bite him and tear him, and rip his stupid leech body all apart. It would feel so, damn, good, but he knew that Bella didn't want that. He was showing remarkable restraint, and he breathed through his teeth.

Edward crossed his arms over his chest, his demeanor threatening.

With a slight sigh, his expression betraying no emotion he finally spoke. He ignored Paul, he didn't think he was important enough to speak to, really. Instead, he made eye contact with Bella, looking her in the eyes over Paul's shoulder, making Paul seethe in anger.

"I came back for an important reason. Alice had a vision of you, Bella." For a split second, it looked like something like love flashed over his face, but he dismissed it quickly.

Bella was curious, she couldn't help herself. "What was the vision?" She asked over Paul's shoulder. She'd written to Alice so many times while Edward had been gone, none of her emails had been replied to. She could kind of forgive Edward for cutting her off, but Alice? They were supposed to be friends. She had a lot of loathing and disappointment tied up in the Cullen's leaving. She could feel it squeezing around her heart like a gloved fist.

Paul was even curious, and as much as he didn't trust the leeches, he'd heard that the one that could see visions was usually accurate. She was like a witch, but her powers were interesting

Edward waited, letting the anticipation build up, before he looked at Paul.

"She's going to have my baby-" and when Edward said those words, Paul's whole world spun around, and he felt like his world was going to collapse.