Curiosity

Chapter 8:

Before Rose Returns

"Well, I guess I'll let you in on what I know before Rosalie gets here so you can be prepared for her emotional reaction." Esme said quietly.

"Esme, please, I should." Edward said looking at the floor. Why won't he look at me?

Esme replies, "Yes Edward you should, but will you? You have been leading her on thus far."

Leading me on? What did she mean? Did he not love me? Was this why he wasn't intimate with me? Why he is so quick to tell me no to changing?

"Will someone PLEASE explain." I can't stand the suspence.

"I --- well --- umm" Edward cannot complete the sentence again.

"Fine Edward, I've always thought you to be sensible, but we cannot continue this." Carlisle interjects.

Coming towards me slowly with that motherly smile on her face. Esme takes my hands in hers and leads me to the couch. Everyone steps out of the way. Edward moves completely away to stand by the windows lining the edge of the room.

"Now, Bella. What I'm about to say will be hurtful. But you have a right to know. And I have been mentally begging Edward since our return to tell you the truth." She's speaking to me very softly. "Before I tell you what I feel is my duty, make me one promise. What I tell you cannot change the way you feel about Alice, Jasper, Carlisle or myself."

I just nodded. I could tell by the way she was speaking I was going to feel very upset in just a few moments. On the verge of an anxiety attack, just thinking of what could come.

"Since we left after you birthday, Emmett and Rosalie have not had the relationship they had before." She was staring into my face. Gaging my reaction. What this mattered about Edward and I, I didn't know.

She had seen the confusion on my face and continued. "Edward was quite upset, you know leaving you as we all did. But he was not alone the entire time we were absent from Forks. He was with Rosalie. Carlisle was right, they are attracted to each other."

WHAT!? Is she serious? Am I really being told that the person I pined for all those long months was not really morning me as everyone said but instead living it up with BARBIE-VAMP?

I felt anger was over me, just for a second and then calm again. Dang it Jasper. Can't I have more than a moment of anger?

"Rose took it upon herself to comfort him, and in that comfort came what we had always thought would have been. Love. Not just brother-sister, but romantic feelings." Esme was crying. But why. Isn't this what they all wanted their perfect son and perfect daughter together at last.

My mind was reeling. So many thoughts. Jasper had backed off on the emotion control just enough for me to feel. Anger, hurt, pain, sorrow. And worst of all 'The Hole'. The one that had filled my heart for so long after Edward had left, that only my Jake could fix. But he was gone too. No Jake. I felt that awful ache again. What did this mean.

"Bella, I know you have a million questions racing through you mind. However, we want you to know, this is not what we wanted for you or our family. We thought Rose and Emmett were truly happy. And that Edward had found his mate in you. You are our daughter in mind, and were to be in body. Please do not think that any of us wanted things this way." Carlisle said softly from just a few feet away. "You are still my daughter, and Esme's. Alice and Jasper still think of you as their sister. The rest is yet to be figured out. And for this I am extremely sorry."

Just as I was about to excuse myself, Alice and Jasper gasp together.

"She's here."


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Chapter 9:

Rosalie's Return

Oh, shit. I haven't had time for everything to sink in and here comes Miss Perfect.

She comes crashing through the door. Looks around like she's searching for someone. "Ok, where the FUCK is Emmett?" She screams.

"Uh, well Rose, he's upstairs but before you go up I think you should know, Edward and you have been outted." Alice says this with a smug look on her face. She doesn't actually think this will make things better does she. Why does she look so sure. Oh, wait. It's Alice!

Rosalie just smiles like the 'cat that got the cream'. "Oh, great. "So now Bella knows that she cannot take what was supposed to be mine from the beginning." She looks over at me, and sneers. "You know I had been wondering when you would screw up. I knew it wouldn't take long. You don't have what it takes to keep Edward interested. If you had he wouldn't have come to me. Even though I'm sure he now knows that's what he was supposed to do."

I saw red! "Listen here you! If what happened at my birthday party last year hadn't happened Edward would have never left to begin with! So there wouldn't have been a reason for you to 'Comfort' him. However, maybe I'm glad you did. If you have been keeping Emmett's interest maybe he wouldn't have turned to a mere human, for-- well-- I think we all know what." I cannot believe I just yelled at her. She could rip me to shreds! What the hell am I thinking!

She lunged at me. Carlisle caught her before she got close.

"Rosalie, calm down. You know she has every right to be upset. She just found out that the man she was intending to marry hasn't been faithful. You cannot do this!" Carlisle tells her, surprisingly calm. But isn't he always.

She instantly backs off. "Well I can tell you this, what happened here will NOT happen again. Do you really think you can keep Emmett interested, when you couldn't Edward!" She starts laughing. Its a dark, angry laugh.

"Well Rosalie, I have a question for you. Do you intend to keep both men? I mean we all know your selfish, but two of them. Maybe you really are a whore." Oh shit. There's that word vomit. Where does it come from. One minute I have nothing to say and then bam! I've said something I probably shouldn't.

"Yes Rose, please tell us. Do you think to keep both Edward and I strung along? We aren't toys to be played with." Emmett had appeared from what seemed to me out of no where. "Do you think that you can just go back and forth between us, and neither of us will care?"

"Like you really have any reason to be speaking with me at the moment. You slept with the HUMAN WHORE!" Rosalie took to stamping her foot like a three year old.

Emmett just laughed sarcastically. "Yeah I did, several times actually. And she is NOT a whore. It was nice to have someone respond to me. You haven't exactly been hot for my body. Now I know why. I knew you didn't love me the way you said you did. It was Edward all along. I should have known by the way you got so mad he was dating Bella. The way you oh so sweetly went to comfort your dear 'brother', when he forced us all to leave. The way you refused to be in the same room with them when they were together."

He turned on Edward so quickly, everyone was shocked. "AND YOU! How dare you treat Bella this way. She was an innocent bystander in all of this. You made her feel unwanted. She's beautiful and you treated her like she wasn't to be touched. She isn't breakable if you take care. All she wanted was to experience sex as a human. Everyone here kept telling her about all the things she would miss once she was turned. Did you for one second come to think that maybe you should have explained the 'After' to her. Because I can tell you haven't done a good job of it."

Edward look very guilty at this point. "Yes, you are right Emmett. I have no one to blame in this but myself. If I had listened to Bella instead of trying to protect her again this wouldn't have happened."

"Yes, but then Edward, I would have lost my virginity and gave myself to you completely. How long would it have been before you let me know that you were secretly with Rosalie?" My mind was reeling with questions.

"Rosalie and I haven't 'been' together since our return." He wouldn't look me in the eye.

I didn't believe him. How could I? How could I ever trust him again? Did anyone in this room actually think that everything would magically go back to the way it was?

"I don't care when you were together. You left me and I fell apart. I didn't eat, I didn't talk to my friends. I did crazy reckless things just so I could hear your voice in my head tell me not to. And while I was falling apart with heartache, you found your comfort in 'her'. I don't think I'll ever be able to trust you again. How could you do this to us? I know I'm not innocent in killing what we had, but geez Edward." I was sobbing.

My head hurt, my heart was ripped in two.

"Bella, I will take you home. Maybe there we can kind of go over things, and when you've had time to sort through all this, you can talk again." Alice was always so understanding.

I just nodded and started to exit the house, with her hanging on to me.

"Bella" I stopped but didn't turn around. Edward continued when I stopped, "I do love you."

A fresh wave of sorrow and tears came out.

Alice drove me home in my truck.

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