Kiss Me Now, Kiss Me Never

Find the Lost

Carlisle

"No!" she gasped as her eyes closed.

I captured Bella in my arms before she crumbled to the floor. Her body went limp as I swept her off her feet. In a few strides, I reached the bed and carefully placed her in the center. Her pulse thrummed quickly at her throat when I checked her.

She appeared to only have fainted, but she likely hadn't eaten, so that may have contributed a little. Covering her with a blanket that smelled like Edward, I waited for her to come to. I didn't have to wait long. Her eyes fluttered open, fell on me and she clenched them shut again.

His name sobbed from her throat as tears started to fall.

"We can't jump to conclusions," I whispered, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. "They're running a test on the blood to see if it's the same type as Edward's."

"You're right, but why?" she choked but shook her head as words seemed to fail her. "Why would his car be down there?"

"I don't know, Bella." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair in a poor attempt to gather myself. To see her so broken and with more guilt in her eyes, made my heart ache. The poor woman didn't need to add worry, too.

"We're checking out his credit card transactions and we believe he went for a drive. Most likely to –"

"The beach house," she murmured, sitting up abruptly. She clasped her hands for a moment on her head and took a deep breath. "He told me when he got some time off work that he'd take me to this beach house he rents every year."

"The problem is I'm not sure where it is and I can't seem to find any information at his place."

She scrambled off the bed, revealing that she was in a lot less clothes than I thought. I looked away quickly and felt like ass. Though I had been far from a monk since Esme left me, it had been quite a while since I'd been with a woman; finding a solution to the curse had been consuming me for over a year.

"Let me get dressed," she grumbled. And I thought she'd break down completely with the information I'd given her. After her initial reaction, she seemed ready to do anything she could to find Edward.

She ran into her closet, grabbing her cell phone from the nightstand. From inside, I heard her curse loudly. "He's not answering my phone call either," she called out. "Call Charlie and tell him to get a rush on the blood sample."

"Already done," I said as I made my way out of the room.

She poked her head out, thrusting a pair of jeans on. "Where are you going?"

"I'll wait for you in the kitchen," I said.

"Oh please," she said with a roll of her eyes. "I can't wait that long for the details. Tell me everything while I get cleaned up."

I stared at her a moment too long that had her tossing me a glare over her shoulder. She disappeared into the bathroom, and a moment later, I heard the water running in the sink.

I ran a nervous hand through my hair as I loosened my tie. "Um, from what we gathered so far, he left on Sunday – "

"It's fucking Wednesday!"

I breathed deeply to calm my chaotic thoughts, since I felt guilty. I knew I should've called Edward earlier. "I know, I know. But he was angry at me, so I hadn't gone over or called like he asked."

"And you listened!"

"I thought Alice had been checking on him."

She opened the door to the bathroom wide enough for me to see her spit in the sink. "But she wasn't. Fuck! Jasper stopped eating on Monday, she probably forgot because she had a lot on her mind."