Chapter 06
It wasn’t difficult to admit that his heart had missed a few beats when Bella proclaimed her love for him in her drug-induced state. He did realize that it could have been the drugs talking and that he shouldn’t get his hopes up so much, but at least things were progressing in the right way.
When Rebekah came home after helping the wolves take care of Esme, he started to make tea with the herbs that he had his sister get for Bella. He bashed up the vervain, lemon, sarsaparilla, sage and dandelion – healing and cleansing herbs. He then poured the hot water into the pestle and mortar so all the moisture out of those herbs could infuse with the water. And then transferred it to a mug. Rebekah hadn’t been too pleased when she heard she had to pick up vervain and said it was useless for Bella anyway as she couldn’t be compelled as a witch. Kol had to remind her that vervain always had started off as a protective herb, and that’s what she needed right now.
His sister had huffed and put on a movie while she had settled on the other end of the couch, keeping an eye on Bella. It had been promising that she had showed a little bit of herself after her shower, but he was still worried. It was unclear what she had got dosed with apart from the Rohypnol, but he knew that once Bella was back to her usual self, she was going to see red. He expected them to be back in New Orleans by the end of the week.
“Alright, scoot,” he told his sister as he approached the girls with the tea in his hand. With a sigh, Rebekah moved to the chair, and Kol was able to sit down on the sofa. He placed the tea on the table and gave a soft squeeze on her arm. He didn’t want to disturb her in her sleep, but he had to. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”
“I’m still sleepy,” Bella muttered as she refused to move. “How long was I asleep?”
“A couple of hours.”
“Liar.”
“I’m not. I’ve watched two and a half reruns of Toe The Line. So that’s at least 2 and a half hours.”
She opened her eyes to look at him. “Liar.”
“Okay, it was some old TV show of the 1980s but still, you were asleep for a couple of hours.”
Bella huffed as she slowly sat up. Everything felt a little fuzzy around the edges while her head was pounding and wanted to kill Kol for waking her up. “Okay, I’m up…”
“How are you feeling, little dove?”
She looked at Rebekah and blinked. “When did you get here?”
“About half an hour ago,” she smiled at Bella. “The wolves and I had some business to take care of. Oh, and Elijah called. He’s flying in tomorrow evening and will stay at a hotel in town to see us graduate.”
“No,” Kol whined as he handed Bella the mug of tea that he brewed. In all fairness, he had liked the last few weeks because they were sibling light. Elijah was alright, he supposed, but he was a self-righteous prick. “Why? I mean we’re going back to New Orleans soon anyway.”
“It’s all about appearances, brother,” Rebekah grinned at him. “The story is that our older brother sent us here to deal with the loss of our parents, so yes, when we graduate in two days, he’ll be with us.”
“Two days?” Bella said confused and then sniffed her tea, it smelled awful. “Don’t you mean four days?”
“You went missing for nearly four days, little dove, Esme made it very hard to find you.”
“What? No…”
“I’m sorry, Cuddles, but she did. She knew exactly what to do for us not to find you that easily.”
“Nope. I don’t believe it. That’s ridiculous. You’re just trying to scare me, and that won’t work. Esme wouldn’t do something like that. I would remember. And I only remember one night. And food once.” She said as she shook her head. She took a sip of her tea and tried hard not to throw up.
“I know it’s an acquired taste darling, but you need to drink that.”
She defiantly put the mug back down on the table and looked at Kol. “Why? So you can poison me?” Maybe she had made the wrong decision of going with Kol. But she hadn’t, because Kol was in her home. He had reheated a chicken for her; he had given her food. She liked Kol, very much. But she couldn’t help but wonder if Esme had been right. That being with Kol and Rebekah made her sick.
Kol opened his mouth to say something, but his sister hit him with a pillow and shook her head. Maybe Rebekah was right, and Bella had to figure things out on her own – again. He couldn’t help but feel cheated. Everything was going so well between him and Bella. Bella was getting her confidence back and then she disappeared, because he and Rebekah weren’t paying attention. Oh yes, Elijah was going to be so happy when he’d get to hear that. Not to mention his brother Niklaus. Kol had been daggered for less in the past.
He took the mug of tea and took a few swigs of it to show Bella that it was perfectly fine and set it back down again before getting up with a sigh. This whole situation was frustrating. Yes, Niklaus was right in wanting to protect the girl from the Cold Ones, but frankly, he wished it was over. He hated it that the instructions were that Bella was going to get her revenge on Edward but if Rebekah had killed him the moment they set foot in Forks, maybe things wouldn’t have been like… this.
Bella looked up at him with fear in her eyes. “Where are you going?”
“Out,” he muttered. Before I do something I will regret, he added in silence.
“I’m sorry,” she quickly grabbed the mug of tea and drank it, it was vile but she had to please him, she didn’t want him to leave because she was difficult. If it truly had been poison, Kol would be showing signs of it, and he wasn’t. He seemed upset, that’s all. “Please don’t leave.”
Kol groaned as he ran his hands through his hair and kept walking towards the door. “Rebekah, keep an eye on her. Make sure she sleeps,” he said as he pointed at the confused looking Bella.
“Don’t do anything rash, brother,” Rebekah reminded him. She had stayed out of the taking care of the human girl upon her return as she knew how much he had taken a liking to her. She could understand his frustration, there was an end to Kol’s patience, and he had reached it.
In all honesty, up until the point that Bella went missing, he had been a good man, and when Bella went missing, something inside of him snapped. He had been angry, frantic and had been trying different spells to locate her and had barely slept. It was a good thing that he chose to remove himself from the situation instead of having things escalate. Maybe he’d be back in time to take a long nap himself. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to poke a mountain lion,” he said and closed the door behind him.
Rebekah sighed as she settled on the couch and had Bella snuggle up against her. The girl was still very much out of it, had her brother thought that she’d be alright after just a couple of hours of sleep? Who knew what that horrible bitch of an ex-mother in law had done to her.
“Is he angry at me?” Bella asked softly. “I didn’t mean to anger him…”
“It’s alright, little sister,” Rebekah said as she caressed Bella’s hair. “Kol is just extremely tired and impatient, but he is also very happy that you’re back in relatively good shape. He will be back.”
Bella nodded as she pulled the duvet over her.
“I’m going to finish watching this movie, how about you go back to sleep?”
It was a good couple of hours before Kol returned to the house, and Rebekah was glad that Bella was asleep as her brother was covered in blood and scrapes. There was a particular nasty gash at the side of his torso, and she was amazed how he had survived the trip back. “Bloody hell,” Rebekah let out a sigh as she carefully lifted Bella up and gently placed her down on the sofa again so she could feed her brother some blood. “What have you done?”
“I told you,” he said with a crooked smile as he used the table for support. “I was going to poke a mountain lion.”
“That doesn’t mean you should actually do it!” she scolded him as she bit her wrist and held it up for him to take her blood. “You could have been killed!”
“Relax, sister, I’m alright!”
“No, you’re not. Drink or I will kill you myself.” When Kol had his lips around her wrist to drink, she spoke again. “Who knew that Kol Michaelson, the arrogant, self-absorbed prick could care about someone else?”
Kol grumbled for an answer as he drank his sister’s blood.
“I like her too and I’m glad she’s finally back.” She ruffled her brother’s hair and watched his body’s progress of healing. “But I meant what I said; do something like this again, and I will kill you myself.”
Kol huffed as he let go of his sister and wiped his mouth. He then looked at the sleeping Bella and sighed. “I’ll go take a shower and get changed. Will you order pizza?”
“You’re welcome,” she replied to Kol’s retreating backside and picked up her phone.
Bella woke up in the middle of the night in her bed, no – Kol’s bed, but he was nowhere to be seen. Sitting up, she found him sleeping on the floor, and she wondered why that was. The need to visit the bathroom was more urgent though and she hopped out of bed before nearly sprinting to the toilet.
Upon her return, he was still snoozing away on the floor, and she decided to grab her duvet and pillow to join him there. She felt as if she had been drinking too much the previous night or as if she was on painkillers; she wasn’t quite sure what. She did know that Esme had taken her, but other than that, the details were fuzzy.
She smiled when he put his arm around her in his slumber as she snuggled up against him and softly brushed his hair out of his face. She couldn’t help but to quietly giggle as she looked at him. Kol looked angelic in his sleep and if there was one word that didn’t quite sound like him was that. Bella was pretty sure that once he would be back in a place he felt more comfortable; he’d be quite the opposite.
And strange enough, that excited her. Yes, she had chosen to move to Forks because Bella felt that she was restricting her mother to become truly happy, but Bella had never liked Forks. It was cold, damp and downright depressing. Rebekah and Kol were doing everything they could not have Forks dim their spirits but Bella could tell that even they were miserable, albeit probably not as miserable as she was.
Which was why Bella made the decision to go to New Orleans with them after graduation. Not because of Edward or because of her heritage, but because she wanted to stop sacrificing herself so much. It was time for her to become the person she wanted to be. No more of going out of someone’s way to make them happy, no longer staying with someone because her family could get hurt. Soon, all of that would be over.
If Edward and the remaining members of his family decided to follow her because they were obsessed with her, then they’d be in for a surprise. No more meek, little Bella.
“Will you please stop thinking and go back to sleep?” Kol muttered sleepily the moment she was gently tracing his jawline with her finger, and she felt caught. He then snapped open his eyes and looked at her. “Hey, you’re awake.”
“Of course I am,” she smiled at him while blushing furiously. “What are you doing on the floor?”
“I didn’t want to disturb you while you were sleeping off the drugs.” Kol flicked his hand to switch on the light and was pleased with what he saw. “You’re blushing.”
“Stop it,” she giggled before realizing what he had said. “Esme drugged me?”
“You don’t remember anything that happened in the last… oh… days?”
“Days?”
“Yep,” he said with a yawn. “But it’s alright, you’re here now.”
“Tell me.”
“In the morning, alright? I haven’t slept in days,” Kol whined when Bella smacked him on the chest. “Alright! But we’re going downstairs, and you’re going to drink some more tea.”
Bella thought for a moment, the thought of going downstairs in the middle of the night and having her body cool off wasn’t one of the most fun ideas right now. “In the morning,” she said with a nod.
“Good. Then you can call Charlie to come home too.”
“Huh?”
“In the morning, Cuddles,” Kol grinned as he waved his hand to switch off the light again and pulled her closer.
Bella was quiet for a while and then shifted a little, the hard floor was uncomfortable. “Hey, Kol?” she whispered.
“Yes?”
“Are you still awake?”
“What?”
“Why are we on the floor?”
“You joined me.”
“Yes, but why were you on the floor in the first place?”
“You got drugged by Esme, Cuddles, you weren’t actually yourself…” he kissed the top of her head. “I didn’t want you to end up doing something against your will nor bring myself in the position to have the responsibility to deny you what you’d want.”
“Like what?” She had an idea of what he was referring to, but she wanted to hear him say it.
He shrugged for an answer.
“Kol.”
“I don’t know,” he said with a sigh. “I guess I was afraid that if you’d wake up and still under the influence that you’d try to…”
“What?”
He groaned and rubbed his eyes. He wasn’t going to get any more sleep, was he? “Seduce me.”
Bella grinned as she gently brushed her lips against his. “What’s so bad about that?”
“Nothing,” he said with a whisper. “It’s just that I prefer you doing it when you’re not under the influence.”
“Like now?” She purred as she brushed her lips against his again.
“I’m not entirely sure the drugs are out of your system yet, darling.”
“I’m me. I’m fully aware of everything and I really want to kiss you right now.”
“Are you sure? How can you be sure?”
“How can you be?” She had countered before she decided just to shut him up and tenderly kissed him.
Kol gave into her as he shed his duvet to be able to touch her as he made the kiss grow. She was right, how could the both of them be sure that she was back to normal? He had to believe her word for it, although he wasn’t quite sure if he should take it. This situation was exactly why he had chosen the floor instead of the bed. He might not always walk the straight and narrow – this certainly wasn’t the case when he was still an immortal vampire – but he respected Bella too much to give into… this. “Bella, stop,” he breathed after he broke off the kiss. “I can’t.”
“Kol…”
“No, I can’t. Not when I’m not sure. I like you too much to even begin to entertain the idea of continuing this with you right now.”
“It’s just a kiss, Kol,” Bella said, feeling rejected.
“I know, Cuddles, but you’ve been through a lot in the last few days. We don’t know what Esme did to you, or if the drugs are truly out of your system, which I doubt,” he said clearly, making sure that she understood. “I’m fine with you and I sharing the floor – well, I suppose we could move back to the bed – to sleep.”
“But…”
“End of. Tomorrow you’re going to have a few more cups of tea, and then we’ll see.” He said sternly before feeling her move, grabbing her duvet and pillow and going back to the bed. “Want me to come with you?”
“No,” Bella said angrily. While she could understand his reasoning – and it was sweet -, she was certain that she was fine and for him not to take her word for it was frustrating. Then again, it showed how much he cared about her. Edward would have led her on until he had made her feel all hot and bothered and then decide not to proceed. Asshole. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down. It was only sweet that Kol thought of her like that. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s alright, darling, go back to sleep.”
Bella hadn’t been able to sleep for the rest of the night. She felt as if she had slept for days and was bursting with energy. However, considering she didn’t want to let Kol down, she stayed in bed and took the moment to reevaluate everything. The thought of Esme taking her – according to Kol it had been a couple of days, sickened her. The thought of having been drugged angered her. But she supposed now with Jasper gone, they had to resort to desperate measures. What had happened to the Cullens that made them so obsessed with her?
It wasn’t as if Bella was something special because they and the Volturi, had insisted she’d turn into a vampire so the part that made her special would never surface anyway. Bella still had issues with calling herself a witch, because she was just Bella in Forks. They had wanted a mate for Edward, and she had wanted to be that right to the point when he left her to rot in the forest. Because he was weak. He was a scared little boy who didn’t trust himself – or his family – to keep her safe and instead he dumped her and made things worse.
Bella suspected that Esme was dead for what she had done, and probably another Cullen that Rebekah and Kol had tortured to get their information from after their methods in finding Bella didn’t work out. She snorted; it was likely that that was exactly the case.
The mere thought of so many bodies piling up should sicken her but deep down, her mind already made the connection that the Cullens weren’t real people. And if they’d stay alive they’d keep coming for her or even worse; find someone else to manipulate. Death was the only solution for these supernatural beings although Bella wished she had been able to save Jasper. He was a victim too, and she had realized that too late.
She had always thought that the supernatural life was ridiculous when it came to death and killing. Jacob had spoken with ease about it, the entire wolf-pack did, and so had the Cullens. They had no problem with killing one of their own. Humans was an entire different story. Then why did they keep harassing her?
She hopped out of bed the moment the world outside her bedroom window started to brighten. She nearly tripped over the sleeping Kol when she left the bedroom to go downstairs, and she was somewhat shocked by seeing the kitchen, in particular, the kitchen table. Empty blood bags were scattered all over it, and Bella visibly shuddered as she turned to pick up the bin and started to throw the bags away.
It wasn’t as if she could get angry with Rebekah for enjoying the few days away from Charlie after having sent him away when Bella went missing. She could understand the energy it took to pretend to be someone else so why bother? But, if Charlie would come back today, she’d better make the house look like as if nothing had changed.
When she had cleaned up, including – presumably – Kol’s herbs, she started on breakfast. Luckily there was enough in the fridge to make breakfast with, pancakes with bacon, and she was already thinking of what to make for dinner. They always could go to the diner if she couldn’t come up with something. She switched on the water boiler and the coffee machine and then started to stack her pancakes.
It didn’t take long for the smells to wake up the siblings, with Kol nearly tripping over his own feet as he made his way downstairs. ”No, no, no! Bella!” He whined.
“Good morning to you too,” she snorted as she flipped another pancake on the platter.
“I knew it; you’re still affected by the drugs, aren’t you?”
“I’m making breakfast like I normally do. I’m famished. Since you thought it was more important to find me than to do groceries, it’s pancakes.” Bella eyed him with a raised eyebrow. “I’m not doing this for you. I’m just making enough for all of us because I’m not selfish.”
“And you cleaned up!”
“It was a mess and this is my house?” Bella countered as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him. “And I still remember everything we talked about last night.”
With a slow nod, Kol started to prepare tea for Bella to drink. She might appear to be back to normal, but another cup couldn’t hurt.
“Did I pass your test, Kol?” She asked as she leaned back against the counter and watched him fuss with his herbs.
“You did, with flying colors,” Rebekah said with a grin as she sat down at the table. She had heard the two of them speak last night, and she had admired her brother’s restraint. Humanity suit him, and it was quite difficult not to be jealous of him, he was going to get everything Rebekah had wanted. He didn’t want to break Bella, and that was adorable, but she could tell that Kol was going to have his hands full once she’d feel a lot more confident than she currently felt. In any case, Rebekah was going to make sure that her brothers weren’t going to mess with Kol’s happiness.
“See?” Bella said with a wide smile on her face. “I passed. Now you two can fill in the blanks over breakfast.”
Bella couldn’t believe the story Rebekah and Kol told her about what happened, how long she’d been gone, what Rosalie had done, what Esme had done. She wasn’t surprised that Rosalie, even though she had been helpful in telling them where Bella was, had been killed; Bella had already thought as such.
Kol had brewed an awful tasting tea, and Bella spent the entire day drinking all of it, even while Jessica came by – unannounced – so that Bella could help her with her graduation speech. Or, in this case, making Jessica feel confident about her kick ass graduation speech while Rebekah went to the supermarket to get some shopping done.
Bella had been surprised by Jessica’s visit. It wasn’t as if they had been besties for the last couple of months. Bella had been under the Cullen’s strict supervision and upon her return too caught up in her mess. Personally, Bella didn’t mind seeing as she loved being around Kol, but from a social point of view, she had been a very bad friend. She hadn’t even noticed that Jessica had taken a liking to Kol since he started school with them, and she allowed Jess to ramble on for a while when Kol was out of the room.
When Jess started to tell Bella about the fantasies she had of her and Kaleb, she just had to stop her friend right there and put her in her place. He was hers. Not anyone else’s, but hers, and she wasn’t planning on sharing. Jess left at that point, shocked at the way Bella had spoken, but she didn’t care. Kol was hers.
But maybe she could have responded differently and not that territorial.
Didn’t she have a good reason, though? She finally liked someone so much, and Bella had given up so much in the past, wasn’t she entitled to a little bit of jealousy and claiming of someone?
No.
It wouldn’t be fair towards Kol. Besides, claiming was what the Cullens had done to her so if she was doing it; something was wrong. It was wrong. Frustrated, she took out her phone and texted Jessica to tell her that she was sorry. That she had had a rough couple of days and that if Jessica wanted, she could come back to ask Kol if he wanted to be her date to the party. The decision was his to make, and Bella was going to have to live with it.
Bella sat at the kitchen table sipping Kol’s tea when Jessica came back in. “Sorry,” she sulked as an apology and Jessica beamed at her in return. “Kaleb! You have a visitor!” Bella called out and took another sip of the horrible tea – punishment for her being a possessive bitch and taking away someone’s decision-making.
“Okay, so it’s not Elijah,” Kol said as he rounded the corner and stopped. “She’s your friend,” he said to Bella as he pointed at Jessica.
Bella shrugged, taking another sip of the tea. Maybe it was growing on her; it didn’t make her feel as if she had to vomit after swallowing it. She eyed Jessica, who had turned beet red upon Kol’s arrival, and she looked at a loss for words. Sighing, Bella grabbed the nearest fork and poked Jessica in her side, making her jump up with a squeal. She took another sip of the tea to hide the smirk on her face.
“Hi,” Jessica smiled at him as she played with a strand of her hair. “Uh… I really like you, Kaleb, and I was wondering if uh… you’d go to the party with me tomorrow night?”
Kol looked at Bella and raised his eyebrow in confusion. Bella tried to look anywhere but at him because suddenly, she felt like the biggest practical joker ever. Of course, she had every right to claim Kol as her own. Just because the two of them hadn’t plastered labels all over each other – yet – didn’t mean that they weren’t together. Guilt was a funny thing, sometimes.
“You like me?” Kol replied with a smug look on his face and leaned against the doorpost with his arms crossed over his chest. “Really? In what way?”
“You’re totally hot,” Jessica spoke without thinking.
“I know I am, darling.”
“And I’m valedictorian of this year and kinda hot too…”
“She fantasizes about you,” Bella piped up, looking at the leafy contents in her mug. “Like… what’s it like to be kissed by you, or get hugged by you…” She lifted her head and saw that Kol was looking at her. Smiling at him, she continued. “About what it would feel like if your hands were on her body…”
“Bella!” Jessica hissed at her. “You already took one guy away from me and I’m not going to let you take another!”
Bella rolled her eyes at Jessica. “Be grateful Edward never showed an interest in you, he’s nothing but trouble, but he’s free now if you’d still want him.”
Jessica let out a frustrated whine before turning back to Kol. “Please, be my date? Even though Bella just completely embarrassed me in front of you? I promise it won’t be weird.”
Kol snorted before making his way over to the table and leaned on it with his arms to look at Bella. “Why didn’t you tell her that there was no use in asking?”
“I did,” Bella said with a shrug as she smiled at him. “But then I felt guilty about taking away your decision about the matter, so I had her come back.”
“Oh, admit it, Cuddles,” he said before looking at Jessica, who looked crushed. “You just wanted to crush the girl who only wanted to be friends with you because you hung out with the popular crowd.”
“Not at first,” Bella said, her voice barely louder as a whisper as she reached out to ruffle Kol’s hair. “I genuinely wanted it to be your decision and not mine because I know what it’s like when you don’t get the chance to make one.”
He smiled at her. “Alright then, have it your way.” He pushed himself off the table and walked over to Jessica. “I’m sorry, darling, I have to decline your invitation. I’m already taking the prettiest girl I’ve ever come across to the party tomorrow night.”
Jessica had huffed before she turned to Bella. “I can’t believe you’ve just humiliated me!” She sneered before marching out of the door, bumping into Rebekah on her way out.
“Excuse you!” Rebekah rolled her eyes at the girl and closed the door. “I leave you two alone for a bit and this happens?”
“She started it,” Kol grinned as he started to unpack the bags that Rebekah brought in. “Wow, Bekah, what’s all this?”
“Everything that Bella put on the list, I think she’s preparing for a feast.”
“Yes,” Bella said as she shot up from her chair. “With Charlie coming back and your brother arriving as well, I figured to go all out on the food, that way, Charlie has his mouth full and can’t interrogate your brother.”
“Even if he would and Elijah would tell him something he shouldn’t know, it can be fixed,” Rebekah countered.
“Yeah, well… I’m not completely happy still with what we’ve had to tell Charlie in the first place and how you did it.”
“It’s harmless!”
“How many times can you compel a person without their brains getting scrambled?”
“A lot!”
“Have you tested it?”
“I’ve compelled a lot of people in my day.”
“That wasn’t my question. I want Charlie to stay sane. He’s my father, and he’s the chief of police.” Bella said as she placed her mug in the sink and started to pre-heat the oven with the flip of a switch. “I know I’ve been reluctant about it since the start of all this but could you at least humor me? I’m probably wrong and simply worrying about everything too much and you’ll have to do your thing anyway.”
Rebekah grumbled. “Sometimes you’re such a bore,” she noted as she left the unpacking to Bella and unceremoniously set herself down on one of the kitchen chairs. “Brother, please hand me a blood bag, you’re closest to the fridge.”
Kol huffed and tossed a blood bag at his sister. “You’d better hurry up, I’m sure that Charlie will come back soon.”
Rebekah mirrored her brother’s huff before tucking into her food.
Bella was cleaning some potatoes, and Kol moved behind her to lean into her and took the utensils out of her hands. He liked it that she had no place to go while he continued peeling the potatoes. “Just so you know,” he whispered in her ear. “It was a turn on to see you so possessive of me and then proceeding to take the piss out of Jess.”
Bella let out a small whine as Kol slightly pressed her into the counter after taking over her job. If he had left room for her to move, she could have gone and moved on to something else, but he stayed put. She could feel the blood rush through her body and to her cheeks as he remained and whispered in her ear. Feeling bold, she managed to turn around and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him down a little to her level and looked up at him through her lashes. “It felt good, but wrong at the same time…”
“Oh, but Cuddles,” he smiled at her. “You have my permission to be all bossy when it comes to what you think might be competition. It’s hot.”
Bella licked her lips as she kept looking at him. “Keep peeling those spuds,” she eventually said before kissing him and burying her fingers in his hair.
“Oh please,” Rebekah whined after a while. “Could you two stop? I’m trying to feed here…”
Kol grinned as he gently broke off the kiss. Maybe it was a good thing to stop right now because he wanted more. He wanted to take Bella right there and then on the kitchen counter, or even on the table his sister was sitting at. Bella would look so beautiful on that table. Naked. On display. He wanted to know if the real thing was as good as in his dreams, her expressions, and little noises as he’d kiss her all over or fuck her.
Realizing that he was working himself up, and that blood was rushing to parts of his body that would become too painful if he continued, he dropped the potatoes. At first he tried to calm himself down, he never had an issue with self-control, not that he can remember, not even in the body. He probably never met the right person. He fleetingly kissed Bella before spurting off to the bathroom, leaving behind a baffled Bella.
Bella held onto the counter, feeling weak in the knees. That kiss had been something alright, and Rebekah had to spoil the moment. But what was it with boys running away from her like that? Edward had done it, making it all about him, saying he was stronger than he thought and then wanted to leave. And now Kol had run off, at least she got a goodbye kiss first.
Rebekah must have seen the look on her face because she snorted. “Speak your mind, Bella, what’s going on in that head of yours?”
“Am I repulsive?”
Rebekah blinked as she got up from her chair to throw away the blood bag. “What makes you think that, little sister?”
“Well, apparently I have this gift of making boys run off,” Bella pointed towards the stairs to prove her point. “Kol just ran off, and the first time Edward and I kissed – before everything became weird – he nearly knocked out a wall when he jumped off the bed.”
She smiled in return and started to pick up the job that her brother had abruptly left. “You are not repulsive, Bella, you’re quite the opposite. You should feel flattered.”
“By Kol running off?” She couldn’t believe what Rebekah was saying. People ran for reasons; one of them being sick and they had to empty their stomachs.
“Oh dear god,” Rebekah muttered under her breath. “I know that sex ed at school is ridiculously lacking but haven’t you had the talk with your parents?”
“What talk?”
“The birds and the bees?”
“Yeah, sure,” Bella said with a nod. “Safety first and all that, but what does that have to do with Kol running off?”
“No one ever told you about the feelings and emotions?”
Bella once again pointed at the stairs. “Emotion: repulsed.”
Rebekah pointed at the stairs as well and countered; “Emotion: seriously turned on because of his gorgeous girlfriend and in need of a release otherwise it turns quite painful.”
She looked at Rebekah with a blank look on her face, not believing a word. “You’re just saying that because he’s your brother.”
“Bella…” Rebekah sighed as she looked at the girl and realized something. “You haven’t had a lot of boyfriends, have you?”
Bella shrugged. “Nobody was interested in me, until Edward.”
“Yeah, but you and he didn’t have sex, did you?”
“Oh, god, no,” Bella said quickly and then turned to unwrap the beef just to have something to do while she tried to hide her embarrassment. “He was afraid to break me because he said he probably couldn’t control himself. Puny, little human that I am. He promised he’d try once we got married.”
“Oh, it’s one of those.” Rebekah groaned. “Yes, well, there’s nothing wrong with feeling sexy or feeling as if you’re about to float or explode. And I know you have experienced those feelings for my brother, your house has thin walls, and I have a great hearing. Your heartbeat is a great lie detector.”
Bella nodded as she blushed.
“Regular boys, men or even vampires for that matter… have a cock. Penis. Dick. Whatever,” Rebekah said unashamedly and started to cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces.
“I know that,” Bella said maybe a little too quickly as she blushed furiously and started to season the beef. “Biology, remember?”
“Quite right, but did they teach you that men are fickle and easily aroused? When you experience arousal, you don’t show it. Yes, flushed cheeks or your nipples become erect…”
“Rebekah!”
Rebekah pretended not to hear Bella’s objection. “When guys get aroused, blood flows to their cock, making it grow. Imagine it not being able to do so freely because it’s tucked away in a pair of pants and the arousal keeps growing… it can get quite painful. The solution is a pressure release and that’s what Kol’s doing right now. Giving himself a hand,” she continued as-a-matter-of-factly. “He thinks you’re hot, sexy, gorgeous, and he can’t lie about it because he has an appendage that’s quite the lie detector.” Rebekah smiled then, thinking of something else. “He’s quite literally a wanker right now.”
Bella’s jaw fell open. “We’re preparing food here and you’re giving me a crash course on how men work?”
“Yes. You’re in need of it. Desperately,” Rebekah said, not looking up from her chore. “It also explains why you’re dressing the way you do.”
“And now we’ve come to insulting me, great,” Bella sighed as she transferred the beef onto an oven dish and put oil over it before throwing it in the oven.
“Not an insult, darling,” she smiled at the girl. “Just an observation. It all makes sense now.”
“Fine, okay,” Bella said after looking around in the kitchen. She needed to do a lot, and she didn’t have a lot of time and she knew that Rebekah was only going to be in the way and distracting her from her task. “Please, leave my kitchen.”
Rebekah nodded and turned around to wash her hands. She was well aware that she needed to give Bella her space right now, and she was going to inform her brother of the knowledge she had just learned. He sounded about finished anyway. She was worried that he might do something irreparable to the girl and push her away. Then again, her brother didn’t drag Bella off to ravage her so maybe he knew he had to be careful.
She waited for him on the landing with her arms crossed over her chest. “We need to talk,” she said the moment he walked out of the bathroom and dragged him into the bedroom before closing the door. Sometimes it was useful that humans didn’t have supernatural hearing.
“About?”
“Bella.”
Kol sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Rebekah, we were just messing about, that’s all.”
“I had to console her because you left her like that.”
Kol shrugged as he looked at his sister with a look of ‘what do you want from me?’
“The girl was clueless, she didn’t know why you ran off like that.” Was her brother as thick as the girl downstairs?
“I’ll explain it tonight… wait, did you say was?” Kol said with a groan. “Rebekah…”
“What? Someone has to tell her about sex when it’s not been done properly! She’s a bloody virgin!”
“I know that!” Kol shot at her. “It’s pretty obvious, innit? She’s oblivious to some things, takes other things too far, and I was going to talk to her about all this,” he said as he pointed to his groin. “No doubt that that wanker of an Edward didn’t take the time to explain it to her. And now, she’ll probably be too scared to touch me again.”
“She would have been scared even without me filling in some blanks, brother. You should have taken a moment to explain yourself before selfishly running off.”
“I would have if I could! This body hasn’t been intimate with someone since mother put me in here, Beks. Who knows? It could still be a virgin too. If I had the time to explain myself to Bella, I would have,” he threw at her. “I’m not a complete tosspot, you know. I know when to stop, it’s just that my mind has a mind of its own.”
Rebekah let out a huff and crossed her arms over her chest while she kept looking at her brother.
Kol narrowed his eyes on Rebekah and ran a hand through his hair as he let out a breath. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“I think it’s sweet how you want to be all gentle and sweet about things concerning her, but she needs to man up. Not just random bursts. Her fluctuating self-esteem gives me a headache. Niklaus won’t like it, either, he will try to push all of her buttons and tear her apart.”
“I won’t let him.”
“I won’t either, but you know our brother.”
“She won’t let him.”
Rebekah thought of that for a moment and nodded. “You’re right. She’s learned enough from this whole ordeal with the Cold Ones that she’ll become defiant when she gets pushed a little.”
“Jake, what the hell!” Bella cried out as she opened the door, revealing her friend carrying her unconscious father. “What the fuck!”
“Yeah, I know I should have called ahead…” Jake said as he brushed passed her into the house to put Charlie down on the couch. It only took a fraction of a second for the wonder twins to come downstairs to see what was going on. Blondie already had her vampire face on. Awesome, Jake thought. “Look, before you kill me or something… I didn’t do it, okay?”
“What happened?” Bella made her way over to her father to check him over for obvious marks and to check his pulse. “Did they do this?”
“Sue, actually,” Jake said, somewhat proud.
“What?!”
“Relax,” he chuckled and pointed at Charlie. “He shot Paul.” Bella blinked at Jake with an incredulous look on her face, prompting him to continue. “We always have two of us guarding your father; Paul took a step out of the bushes just as your father was walking to his car to come home to you. He thought he saw a real wolf and shot him in the flank.”
“He saw Paul turn?” Bella gasped as she felt around her father’s head with her fingertips, feeling a bump forming. “Sue hit him over the head?”
“Yeah,” Jacob scratched his head as he shrugged and turned his attention to Rebekah. “I drove him here in his car; I figured you could do something about it.”
“I will,” Rebekah said with a nod before Bella could object. “Once he wakes up, I will.”
“Just so you know,” Bella said as he looked at Jacob. “There’s another Original Vampire coming in town tonight. He’s their brother.”
“What? Why? Why do you bring more vampires to Forks?” Jake said with a slight whine. “You’re like this vampire magnet or something.”
Bella reached for the nearest object next to her and threw it at Jake’s head. She cursed his reflexes when he caught it just in time not to hit him. “We’re graduating tomorrow, Jacob. He has appearances to uphold seeing as – what Charlie and most of the school believes – he sent his younger siblings away to Forks to deal with the loss of their parents.”
He groaned. “Do you like living in a lie?”
Bella sighed as she got to her feet. “No, I don’t. I don’t like it that Rebekah needs to scramble Charlie’s brain for her to stay here. I don’t like it one bit, and she knows that and I can’t wait to live a simpler life without my friends having to hide their true selves.” She then chuckled and shook her head as she suddenly realized something. “This is also exactly why you and I would never, ever, work out, you see. I’d be living a lie if I’d be with you too because Charlie can’t know you’re a shifter.”
“Yeah, but I could stop shifting and live a human life.”
“As if,” she huffed. “You like being a wolf too much.”
“I like you more.”
“No, Jake. After graduation, I’m done with Forks. Charlie won’t like it, but I’m done. I need my freedom and not my friends… former friends, thinking that I’m going to do something stupid again.” She then marched towards the door and opened it. “Don’t bite Elijah. Get out.”
He shook his head stubbornly as he stared at her. “Bella… You’re already leaving with them. How is that not stupid? I’ll leave, but I’ll still be here when they leave you hanging,” he whispered to her. He then took off for the woods, shifting into his wolf form and looking over his shoulder at her.
Bella angrily slammed the door, waking Charlie in the process and walked back into the kitchen to finish making dinner. She grabbed one of the knives out of the drawer and placed it on the counter. The next person who was going to interrupt her work was going to get stabbed.
By the time she had calmed down, Charlie had been thoroughly compelled. She could tell because she could hear him talk to Rebekah and Kol about his days with Sue. He genuinely seemed to like her, and that felt good; at least Charlie wouldn’t be alone when she’d leave. She reached into the fridge to fetch a can of beer for her father and brought it over. “I’m glad you had fun, Charlie,” she smiled at him.
“Did you guys have fun on your camping trip?” Charlie stared at the can for a moment, shrugged and opened it to take a sip of it. “They say to cure a hangover is to keep drinking, right?”
“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “They say that.”
“So, how was your trip?”
Bella could hear the kitchen timer go off and got to her feet. “I’ll let Kaleb and Rebekah tell you all about it, I’m needed in the kitchen.” She placed a kiss on her father’s cheek before going back to the kitchen to get the beef out of the oven.
There was some polite knocking on the door sometime later. “I’ll get it,” she said as she walked to the front door to open it, revealing the vampire sharply dressed in his suit and greeting her with a smile.
“Ms. Swan,” he smiled at her. “Good to see you again.”
“Hey Elijah, come in,” she replied as she took a step to the side to make room for him. “How was your trip?”
“Uneventful, thank you,” he stepped inside the house. “I am proud of my siblings and yourself for graduating tomorrow.”
“You sound fake,” Bella whispered to him as she lead him to the living room. “Charlie, this is Elijah, Kaleb and Rebekah’s brother. Elijah, meet my dad, Charlie.”
“Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Swan,” He said as he shook Charlie’s hand. “Isabella couldn’t stop talking about you in New Orleans.”
“Oh,” Kol playfully cooed as he stood up from the couch to make room for his brother. “He’s using your full name, Cuddles, my brother must like you.”
“He arrived just in time; dinner’s ready in fifteen minutes. Would you set the table?” She asked Kol as she looked up at him.
“Depends, am I still on your shitlist for what I did earlier?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Let me set that table for you.”
“No, hold on,” Charlie stopped his daughter and Kaleb from walking away. “What happened earlier?”
“Nothing, Dad,” Bella ran her hand through her hair. Why did he have to be nearly as observant as she was?
“Well, we were snogging earlier and…”
“Kaleb!” Bella hit him on the back of his head. “That’s between you and me.”
“And Rebekah.”
“Whatever,” Bella grumbled and headed for the kitchen. “He doesn’t need to know that.”
Charlie turned to Rebekah – usually the voice of reason – with a confused look on his face. “What happened?”
“I walked in on them while they were snogging,” Rebekah lied as she casually shrugged. “A typical case of teenage hormones, nothing to worry about.”
“She has a boyfriend.”
“Oh, no, she’s passed that already,” she said quickly. “Edward’s a complete tool, she finally realized that.”
“Good, I never liked him,” Charlie said appreciatively.
“I hope my siblings have behaved themselves, Mr. Swan,” Elijah intervened so that Bella and Kol could continue their chores. “They must have been a handful.”
“Oh no, they have been on their best behavior,” Charlie said dismissively. “Kaleb and I went fishing together and the both of them have been a tremendous help around the house and helping Bella a lot.”
“That’s surprising and good to hear,” He replied with a chuckle.
Bella was glad about Elijah being a distraction for Charlie. Dinner went well, although she could feel how tired she was the moment she sat down to eat. So much had happened during the day that she felt drained, and she wanted to sleep for months. It was quite early when they finished up the dishes and found Charlie asleep on the couch. She covered him with a blanket and planted a kiss on his forehead before grumbling a ‘goodnight’ to the siblings and went upstairs to get some sleep herself.
