CBWR? Chapter 43

Chapter 43

I don’t know how long I held on to her as she screamed and cried into my shirt, leaving little dark spots where her tears soaked into the fabric. I had never really cared when I pissed off other women – they would call me out on my shit, and I would just agree with them, because largely they were right. It didn’t matter that I didn’t have the right words, because I just didn’t care enough to try to convince them not to leave me. I knew it wouldn’t work, anyway.

But this time – with Bella – I wished so much that I knew the right kinds of things to say. I would have fucking sold my soul at that point just to be given the right words to calm her down, or at least offer her some kind of solace. But I was an idiot when it came to such things, and considering how badly I had failed recently, I opted to keep my mouth shut and just let her cry. The thing was, I knew it was going to be worse later. Right now, she still needed me. She needed me to get that chip out of her, to take out the rest of Aro’s associates, and to keep her in hiding until the heat wore off. After that…after that she wouldn’t have any reason to stay.

And she hated me.

Eventually I couldn’t ponder the sheer suckiness of what was to come any longer, because I knew we needed to leave.

“Bella? Bella, please,” I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed her away a little. “I know you’re…you’re mad at me, and you should be, but we really, really need to go. Those fuckers are dead, but you still aren’t safe yet.”

She looked up at me through bleary eyes and nodded once, but as she stepped back, she started to fall. As her legs simply gave out under her, I caught her and lifted her up, carrying her like a small child up both sets of stairs to the large, open foyer where Alice was pistol whipping our one and only captive.

“What did you do?” Alice looked over to me and snarled.

“Nothing recently,” I grumbled back. “You all good here? Because I need to get her to the hospital so we can find her chip.”

“Yeah, we’re good. I was about to kill this one.” Alice pulled up a leg and booted him in the chest.

The guy tied up in the chair started bawling like a baby, blithering and promising to tell us anything and everything we needed to know. I felt Bella stiffen in my arms, and figured it was best to make our exit before Alice decided to do something seriously grotesque.

“It’s okay,” I told her. “We’re getting out of here.”

I started out the door when Bella spoke.

“I remember his voice.”

“Whose?”

“The man in the chair.”

I felt remnants of the rage that had encompassed me before trying to return.

“Did he…did he…” I couldn’t fucking say it. If he had touched her, I was going to go figure out a way to make whatever grotesque thing Alice came up with look PG-13.

“He was in the van,” she said quietly. “He’s the one that took us.”

My stomach dropped down to my feet, and I turned back around screaming.

“Alice! No!”

“What the fuck, Cullen?” Alice, only lowered her Beretta ever so slightly. “I thought we were done with him?”

“Don’t kill him – not yet!”

“Why not?”

“Ask him about Renee first!” I told her. “He’s the one that took her and Bella off the street.”

He had to know where she was, right?

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Chapter End Notes:

A clue! A clue! I think he found a clue!

A lot of people apparently forgot the hostage.

"Suckiness " is a word, I swear it. Not sure why spell check says it's not.