We Three Witches (Twilight)

Chapter 14 - Batter's Up!

Quick disclaimer/warning: Neither of us know anything about baseball, so apologies for the thousand baseball errors you're gonna find. 

Emmett's POV
February, 22nd , 2003

"I'm beggin' you, please don't take my man. Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. Please don't take him just because you can."

"Can we please listen to something else?" Edward moaned. "Anything else."

He reached for the radio and I leaned down to slap his hand away. "Don't mess with Dolly Parton, idiot." I turned the radio up louder just to spite his moody ass. "Besides, if we put on your music we'd be listening to that sad crying crap."

It was Saturday morning, and as Alice had promised, there was a storm brewing. Eddie Boy and I were waiting outside the Swan house, and I was getting antsy to play some ball. Jasper had gone in—lucky bastard—to properly greet Charlie Swan and bring the sisters out, while I had to sit here listening to Eddie whine.

"Shut up," he grumbled.

"Oh, I'm sorry—have you not been whining about Bella the entire time?" I stood back up so I could see their front door over the roof of my car.

"Here they come." Edward—clearly ignoring me—turned to the closed front door, listening to whatever Jasper was thinking.

The moment Rose walked out the door, I swore my heart stopped. The light seemed to halo around her and nearly brought me to my knees as I watched her walk closer. There wasn't even a flicker of hesitation in her as she made and kept eye contact with me.

Everything about her was divine. From the way her hair fell in perfect curls over her shoulder to the way the sun kissed her gorgeous blue eyes—I was in love.

I jumped down, giddy to be closer to her, and flashed around to the other side of the jeep. As she walked towards me, I took the moment to check her out. She had on a fitted t-shirt and those jegging things girls were raving about nowadays, paired with a brown leather jacket and low-heeled boots to match. And damn did it look fine on her.

I pulled Eddie out of the front seat—ignoring his indignant squawk—and held the door open for Rose. "My Queen."

She hesitated for a moment, watching me as I watched her, and my mind flickered back to our conversation a few days ago.

"I'm not going to run. I'm not going to walk away," I said, thinking back to all the lady at the relationship hotline had said. "I'm not going anywhere—not unless you want me to."

It had been a few days since the disastrous end to our fantastic date and since then I'd hardly seen her. And it was driving me crazy. Bella told me it was because she'd come down with a cold, but I couldn't help feeling like she was avoiding me.

The other end of the phone was quiet before, with a raspy voice like diamonds, Rose said, "I won't let anyone hurt me again."

"Never," I swore, clinging tighter to my phone. "If there's even the chance I'll hurt you, I'll hand myself into Bella for a slow death."

The silence stretched again, long enough that I pulled back to check she hadn't hung up. It made me uncomfortable standing in the silence, waiting for her response, but as much as I wanted to say something, I knew I had to wait. It was what the lady at the relationship hotline had said when I called. Rose had been through a lot and the only way forward was if she trusted me.

"I'm not Vincent," I whispered, finally breaking under the silence, hearing the hitch in her breath. "I'm not Royce. Let me prove it."

Nothing. But then...