Red Room ₪ Breaking Dawn Fanfiction

𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐋𝐚 𝐏𝐮𝐬𝐡

Chapter One — 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐋𝐚 𝐏𝐮𝐬𝐡

I pulled the sheet tighter around me even though it wasn't cold. It was the awkwardness that chilled me was raw, humming, and crawling under my skin. The air in the room was too quiet. Still. Naked in the bed, I felt stripped of more than just my clothes. Vulnerable in a way I hadn't planned for.

I heard the faucet turn off in the bathroom. The clink of something ceramic against the counter. A beat. Then the door opened.

Lape stepped out with a towel slung low around his hips, his skin damp and glistening. He didn't speak at first. Just moved in that slow, unbothered way of his. There was a moment, suspended between us, where my breath caught and I hated that he could still leave me wordless with nothing but a look.

He crossed the room and grabbed a pair of boxers from the chair in the corner. I tried not to stare, but I failed. My gaze dragged over the slope of his back, the lines of his arms, the faint scratch on his shoulder I didn't remember giving him.

Lape noticed. He smirked slightly, tugging the boxers on. He didn't bother with a shirt. Didn't need to. He sat on the edge of the bed, so close his leg brushed mine beneath the sheet.

"How long are you in town for?" he asked, his voice low.

"I don't know yet," I replied, too fast, too flat. My words sounded like a door half-shut.

He waited, eyes on me, expecting more. I didn't give it. Let the silence stretch out like a bridge neither of us was willing to cross.

"No one knows I'm here yet," I finally said, my voice firmer now. "No one but you."

His head tilted, just slightly. His hand resting on his knee flexed, but he nodded. "I won't tell anyone, Althea."

Good. That was the answer I needed. Not just wanted but needed.

"I plan to attend Bella's wedding," I added. "Then leave."

"Charlie's daughter, right?" he asked, squinting a little like he was trying to place her face in his memory.

"Yup." The sheet slipped slightly as I adjusted myself. I didn't pull it back up.

"Who gets married right after graduating high school?" he muttered.

I gave a shrug, tried to keep my tone light. "Some people do."

"She's totally pregnant," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Bella would never."

He scoffed, but there wasn't any real edge to it. "You're being naïve."

"Or maybe I just believe that not every girl makes that mistake."

I regretted the words the second they left my mouth. The air shifted, just slightly, like tension pulling taut. Lape didn't move, but I saw the way his expression shuttered.