Impulse

Chapter 3

Louis prepares himself for the performance of his life.

"I missed you, Petal."

*LOUIS' POV*

Of course the voice hasn't changed and there isn't a party of twenty people admitting they pulled the greatest prank ever on me jumping out. It was a sliver of hope anyway. The pet name of sorts sends unkind chills racing down my back where sweat has begun to gather and slide down my skin.

Performance, right.

With the guards taking a stand near the door, I swallow what nervous bile I had outside and look up from the floor. The first thing I see is Edward, standing closer than I'd like him to be with a smug little smirk tugging the corners of his mouth.

"I missed you too."

My four words manage to get Edward to do a once over, surprise evident in his face. His dark eyes lighten with humour but there's still an imminent presence of a defiled, foul shadow lurking behind a curtain of mossy green.

Harry's laughter is sudden and loud. It frightens me into almost squeaking and just running back outside to my car. Even one of the guards clear their through, questioning my mental stability. Turns out Harry is seated on the cold floor and gets to his feet after my rather unorthodox and unpredicted response.

"You were right, H." Edward kills the space between us by extending it, sauntering off towards a table with bolted benches for chairs.

I'm torn between throwing that comment out the window and giving in to the bait. "What was he right about?"

I somehow convince myself to sit opposite Edward at the table, my legs crossed and hands on my lap to keep from touching anything. Edward studies everything I do and whether or not it's an act, it will always be the most unnerving feeling.

"I said you'd come back before we came for you." My decision to sit blown to unsatisfactory standards when Harry sits on the same bench I'm on, a tiny space between our thighs.

"How did you guess-"

"You're wearing a scarf." Edward points out with a nudge of his chin in my direction. "Take it off."

I frown. "No."

"It's not cold in here and what you're hiding under it isn't something I haven't seen before." Edward leans forward but doesn't touch me. The brush of his warm breath on my cheek makes my skin crawl and hairs stand to attention. "Take it off, petal."

Ah. There's my objective. "Why do you call me that?"

Harry scoots closer and I shift towards the edge, nearly sending myself over the edge because he knows no boundaries.

"You remind me of a petal." Edward simply explains, thickening his cryptic response with a flash of his vampiric teeth. "Soft and warm."

I struggle to keep the distasteful glare from bursting onto my features. Feeling a reward coming on for Edward since he answered my question, I untie the knot of my scarf and swallow hard enough for it to hurt on the way down while I fold the scarf on my knee.

Harry's the first to speak after his examination of the bandage encasing my neck is complete. "It's still raw, isn't it? There's no way it healed."

Here goes nothing. "Considering I'm not removing the bandage in here for it to get infected, you'll have to wait for the rest of your sentence to find out."

Two beats of silence pass before hoarse laughter breaks out. This time it's not Harry but Edward, amusement on full blast as he claps his hands and reveals all his pointed teeth in a haunted grin. Harry is staring at me without blinking, his creepy gaze flickering from my neck to my eyes.