CBWR? Chapter 31

And...here's number two for the day! One more to come!

"Did he fuck you?"

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Chapter 31

"Come on, Alice – please?"

"No fucking way, Cullen. I don't do malls. Haven't you heard of the fucking internet?"

I was getting nowhere. Rose had only communicated to me in finger gestures, and Alice would rather cut off a tit than walk into the mall. I couldn't wait on the internet entirely, though it might be a better long-term solution, I wasn't letting Bella go anywhere by herself, and Bella needed clothes today. She only had two outfits, and she had to wash those this morning to have anything to wear at all.

"Look," Emmett said as he popped open a can of Coke and slurped the fuzzy stuff off the top. "We've got the action for Aro's place all ready, and we have a few things to go over on Laurent's. Why do you take her, and we'll see you back here later?"

I ran out of reasonable arguments and female acquaintances, so…I gave up. Yeah, I probably should have sucked it up and taken her somewhere, even to fucking Wal-Mart, but I just couldn't cope with another scene like that. Instead, I got her on the computer with my credit card and made sure it was next-day shipping. Tomorrow was Saturday, but since it was before noon it would still get here in time.

One less thing to worry about.

Back to the killing, which made me a lot more comfortable.

Over the next day and a half, the plans were made, studied and practiced. Jasper was like a fucking drill sergeant about the whole thing, and would quiz us over and over again about strategy, positions, who was targeting whom, and all this other shit that was about to make my head explode. The entire entourage that made up The Pack was also there – ten huge motherfuckers with shoulders that made them remind me of Sasquatch. They didn't talk much, and if I had to guess I would have said they were sharing a brain cell between the ten of them.

Bella took it all in stride.

During the attack on Aro, she'd be armed, but it was mostly just to keep her safe. She'd stay right behind me until we had the front of the house cleared, then she'd stay with Jasper while Alice and I lead The Pack to the lower level to eradicate whoever else doesn't give up and free anyone we found there.

It was nearly three in the morning on Sunday when we finally decided we were ready. We would hit them Monday afternoon, because really – who the fuck has the energy to wake up early and plan an attack on Mondays? Element of surprise and all that shit.

"Where did Alice and Bella go?" I asked. They had been sitting on the couch together not too long ago.

"I think they went back to the office to order something else," Jasper said. "Alice said something about clothes for Paris?"

I walked down the hall, trying to keep my eyes open, but I was getting really tired and hoping a hot shower would help me relax enough to sleep. I wasn't really sleeping much at all. Mostly I just…watched Bella sleep.

I heard them talking as I got close to the door, which was ajar.

No it wasn't…it was a door. I snickered a bit.

"…never showed him any love when he was a kid," Bella was saying. "I can understand how he ended up not knowing how to even function properly."

I couldn't help it. I knew they were talking about me, and there was no way I wasn't going to listen in.

"I always knew he was fucked up," Alice responded. "I kind of figured his home life had to be shit. I mean – they all are, aren't they? I've never know anyone who should have been allowed to breed. Not my mom and dad, that's for sure."

"My parents are wonderful," Bella said. "We didn't even have a ton of money, but we had enough and everyone loved each other."

"Well, it's good to know there's hope out there, I guess."

"Edward said he didn't think about what he was doing," Bella said. "When he bought me, I mean."

"He never does," I heard Alice say in the most un-Alice voice I had ever heard. "I think you got more out of him in a couple nights than anyone else ever has. But still…"

I could hear a chair scrape across the floor and the rustle of clothing.

"That doesn't give him a free pass, Bella. And some shit just isn't forgivable. Given that, I have one question I want you to answer."

"What's that?"

"Did he fuck you?"

Oh shit.

I heard the tone in her voice, and there was no doubt in my mind what it meant. My hand reached around to the handle of the Heckler and Koch stuffed behind my back.

"Um…no, Alice," I heard Bella answer. "He didn't."

"It's a good thing," Alice said with a huff.

About thirty second of silence later, I started hearing the distinctive sounds of a keyboard clicking about.

"There ya go!" Alice suddenly said. "All set to be delivered to your hotel in Paris."

"Thanks, Alice."

I decided it was probably time to show myself, so I pushed the door open the rest of the way.

"You two about done in here? I think Jasper's ready to go."

They both popped up, and Alice shoved her way past me. After a few more exchanges of words, I closed the door behind the last of them, and once again Bella and I were left alone.

At least she had clothes to wear now.

"I'm going to take a shower," Bella said, and she headed off down the hallway and to the guest bathroom. I took my own shower with the hope that the hot water would relax me enough to sleep. I kind of doubted it, though. I tried to think about how in forty eight hours, Aro would be dead and Bella and I would be on the way to Paris to finish off the last of them.

All was going quite smoothly, right?

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Chapter End Notes:

Hrmmm...if I can pick on my character, I can pick on me too, right? Kind of a boring chapter. I'll do better with the next one.

But...and Alice vs. Edward stand off would have been interesting, huh?