Eye Of The Tiger

Chapter 16

"So, did you pick this car out yourself? Or was it handed down to you by a family member?" Alice asked Bella while Rosalie was doing something to what she thought was the engine of the car,but she didn't really care about that.What Alice cared about was finally having a chance to talk to Bella. She felt like it had taken years to get this point with all the waiting she had done. Now she just had to be nice and normal and not scare Bella away.

"No my dad got it for me as a welcome home gift." Bella replied.

"That's so nice of him. Do you like it or would you have preferred something else?"Alice said proud that she was keeping her cool.

"I love it. I'm not sure what I would have picked out. I never really thought about it. My grandfather loved cars and had quite a few. He left them to me when he died but they are still at the estate. It didn't feel right driving them." Bella stopped herself from saying more. Talking about her grandparents was natural but when it came to her shifter heritage she didn't want to tell to many details.

"You're grandfather left you multiple cars? And they are at an estate?" Rosalie asked Bella who nodded in reply. That was interesting. She couldn't even get Bella to talk about her family but she had let that slip quite easily. She had to remind herself to calm down and not spout off the dozens of questions she now had in her head.

"Is that where your mother lives?" Alice asked.

"No, my mother has a town house in downtown Phoenix. The estate was my grandparents and when they died they left it to me." Bella looked down at her feet avoiding eye contact hoping they would change the subject.

Alice not noticing Bella's discomfort forged on with more questions. "Is it a big estate?"

"Um, I guess it is pretty big, a couple hundred acres about two hours outside Phoenix and an old house that has been in my family for generations." Bella told her.

"Why didn't your mother inherit it when they died? Why you?"Alice asked.

"Alice!" Rosalie hissed. She was also interested in the answers but this wasn't the right way to go about it. Bella was obviously uncomfortable and Rosalie didn't want Alice's nosiness offending Bella.

"What? I'm just asking. It's interesting, Bella's interesting.I just want to know."Alice said defensively.

"Maybe she doesn't want to talk about this with two virtual strangers. What did I tell you? Why don't..." was all Rosalie got out when Bella cut in.

"It's fine Alice I don't mind your questions." Bella said hoping to stop the fight. "My mother and her parents didn't get along very well. They raised me until I was ten. So they were more like parents to me than she was. When they died they left her some stuff but I got the majority."

"Your mother didn't raise you?" Rosalie asked incredulously. What kind of mother didn't raise their own child she thought.

"Rene wasn't really that interested in being a mother. I only lived with her because my grandparents were dead and I honestly didn't know who my father was. I found out a year ago about Charlie. The custody arrangement was only finalized about a month ago. As soon as I was legally able I came here to live with him."Bella explained.

"Jesus" Rosalie muttered to herself. No wonder Bella didn't want to talk about her was tragic. She hated knowing her mate was so alone in the world. But then a thought hit her."Why were you homeschooled?"

"I shifted for the first time three months before my grandfather died and two months after that my grandmother died. I was still learning how to control it. I initially stayed home to practice being safe but then I just decided it wasn't worth it to go every day. It's hard being different and I was sick of the stares and whispering. Also people knew who my grandfather was so I had a lot of attention on me after he died and not all of it was positive.I wanted to be left alone until I could leave and have a life of my own."Bella still wanted that but selfishly she wanted Rosalie to join her.