Kiss Me Now, Kiss Me Never

Another Lost

Edward

She was safe in my arms, and yet I couldn't keep the anger and fear from seeping into my voice. "Tell me what happened?" Though she tried to pull away, I didn't let her, tightening my hold on her. "Tell me."

"He showed up," she murmured flatly. And although I should've worried about how she sounded, I needed to know what had occurred. "Paul pounded on my car window, he was angry. Jacob walked up to the car, up to Paul armed with a shotgun. He tried to get Paul to listen, but he wouldn't." Her breath hitched and after a few deep ones, she continued. "Paul broke my window, tried to pull me out. Jacob fired off a warning shot, but he still kept trying to get me out." I noticed the bruises around her wrists then. "And he fired again, just grazing his arm, Jacob's a good shot."

She looked up at me, her bottom lip and chin trembling. "Always had been. By then, I was practically hanging out the window, and I fell out when Paul dropped his hold on me." She motioned to her skinned knees. "It all happened so fast. The next thing I know, he has me a knife point. I thought…oh God, he was going to kill me!" She started to cry again and I held her close for a few minutes as the scene she described to me played out in my head. I held her tighter as anger and fear continued to eat away at me.

"Bella!" A deep voice called out from the waiting room. "Bella, where the hell are you?"

"Sir, sir! You can't go back there without an appointment!" my medical receptionist, Hilda, said.

"Here's my damn appointment card!" He continued to bellow out Bella's name.

"Who is it Bella?" I asked since she had stiffened when he first called for her.

"My Dad."

Oh fuck. I was about to meet a parent. I'd never done that before. Not once. And it was not under the best of circumstances. The office door slammed against the wall as a man filled the doorway. How the hell was that monster Bella's father? He was huge. He stood at least six-two at around two hundred pounds and mostly muscle.

"Get your damn hands off my daughter!" he nearly growled. I mentally went over if I had paid last month's premium on my life insurance, because the murder in the man's eyes was directed at me. "God damn it, Bella," he said gruffly, but it died off when he'd seen the condition his daughter was in.

And the fact that I was comforting her seemed to make his chest deflate. "I take it you're Edward."

"Yes, sir."

"Daddy," Bella murmured, turning toward him. "I'm sorry."

"Aw hell, Bella," he said, pulling her into his arms, but stopped suddenly. "I can't…fuck. Sweetheart, I'm sorry, but I have to go official here. You need to change and give me your clothes."

Her body instantly straightened. She shrugged from his hold on her arms and twisted back toward me. "Do you have something I can borrow?" she asked.

I nodded and led her toward my private bathroom. Handing her some scrubs, I closed the door so she'd have privacy. I was positive that her father wouldn't want me with her while she changed. I turned toward him and found him leaning against the wall, watching me.

"You look familiar," he said, his eyes narrowing. "You haven't been behind bars recently, have you?"

I shook my head. "I've only been there to pick up Bella." I cringed, hoping Bella had told her dad about that incident.

The man's lip curled menacingly. "I wasn't available when that shit went down." His hand ran through his hair, exhaling sharply. "And I wasn't there again. God damn it. If Jacob hadn't been there."