Chapter Nineteen: Back Off

“Are you absolutely positive that she didn't go back to Phoenix?” Emmett asked as we all nearly sprinted to my garage.

“Why would she go back there?” Jasper asked.

“I don't know? I'm just freaking out that we're gonna get to Italy and she wont be there.”

“She will be there.” I told him.

She had to be there.

When we got to my garage I pressed a button on my car keys to see what car we would be taking‒I had grabbed a random set of car keys. The lights to my Aston Martin Vanquish flashed.

Normally I would have freaked out and refused to take that car but I was in panic mode so I jumped in the drivers seat. I noticed that no one else was in the car.

“It's a nice car but it will be running you over if you don't get inside of it right now!” I shouted.

Everyone got in the car. Emmett was in the passenger seat and Alice, Jasper, and Rosalie were in the back.

Emmett was staring out the window, a few tears rolling down his cheeks. Alice was on my laptop, searching for maps of Volterra‒finding a way for us to get to the clock tower. Jasper and Rosalie were quietly talking about something.

“Edward?” Alice asked.

“Yes?”

“How do you know that Bella will be in Volterra?”

“She told me that she had to do a report on it in second grand and the clock tower fascinated her. She told me that one day she would go to Volterra and just sit under the clock tower all day until someone physically carried her away.”

“Why did you pay attention?” Emmett suddenly asked.

“What?”

“Why didn't I pay attention. When she broke her leg you carried her to the cars.”

“You were carrying Alice.” I reminded him.

“You took her to take her cast off. You saved her from Royce and Jessica. You were the one comforting her when she was upset.”

“What's your point, Emmett?”

“It should have been me!” He exclaimed. “I should have carried her to the car! I should have gone with her to get her cast off! I should have saved her from Royce and Jessica! I should have comforted her! I....I should have saved her from mom earlier.” His voice faded towards the end.

“Did you know that she was being abused?” I asked.

“No. B-but-”

“It's not your fault, Emmett.” I told him. “You're mother and stepfather are majorly messed up and took their problems out on Bella. They will be the ones that will pay for that. It was not your fault at all.”

“Then why does it hurt so bad when I imagine Bella being pushed around and beaten?”

“She's your sister and you love her. Alice feels the same way, I'm sure Jasper and Rosalie feel the same way. You guys love her like a sister.”

“Do you love her?” Emmett asked.

“I am in love with her, yes.” I admitted.

“Edward, if we find Bella don't ever break her heart like we have. I don't think that she can take another thing like this happening to her.”

“I will never hurt her.”

I could never hurt her.

The rest of the trip to Port Angeles was silent, even Rosalie and Jasper had stopped talking. We had made it there in record time due to my driving. Hopefully the drive to Seattle would be the same way.

“Crap.” I muttered as I began to pull off of the freeway.

“What?” Rosalie asked.

“I'm out of gas. We need to stop.”

I wished that I had filled the tank up the last time I had driven that car. Just one more thing was standing between Bella and me. I drove to the nearest gas station and pulled to one of the gas pumps. I got out of the car and began filling my tank up, leaning against my car.

Emmett and Jasper got out and followed my example as Alice and Rosalie went into the gas station. Jasper put one hand on Emmett's shoulder and turned to him.

“I know what you're feeling. I'm upset too, but she's your sister. I've been there.”

“What...what do you mean?”

“I've been through what you're going through, what Edward is going through, what I'm going through. I have been through this before. The circumstances weren't exactly the same but I have been through this before.”

“When?” I asked.

“Before I moved to Forks Rosalie and I–“

“Oh. My. Gosh.” Three voices filled our ears.

We turned and saw Lauren, Jessica, Maria, and Tanya at the gas pump next to ours. They immediately jumped out of their car and ran over to us.

“Great.” I muttered.

“What are you guys doing here?” Jessica asked.

“What do you think?” Emmett snapped.

Lauren, Maria, Tanya, and Jessica looked taken back. We were usually gentlemen and were always polite, no matter what. This was the one exception.

“She meant in Port Angeles.” Lauren said, glaring at us

“We're...uh...” I couldn't think of a good excused.

“We are taking Alice and Rosalie to their favorite store.” Jasper said smoothly, running his hands through his hair.

“What about Bella?” Maria asked, Tanya looking straight at me.

At the mention of Bella, Emmett fell to the ground and put his head in his hands. Jasper and I had to hold back tears in our eyes. It was the way Tanya said it so coldly that made us all so emotional.

“She's...she's...not with us.” I said quietly.

“What is up with you three today?” Tanya scoffed. “You're wearing pajamas, you're emotional, and you look like crap.”

“Bella is sick and Emmett is sick too. It's a kind of sickness that makes you're legs weak and we are sad that their legs are weak. We didn't have time to get dressed this morning because we really want to get to the store.” I lied.

“Okay guys, we're ready.” Alice said in a monotone voice as she and Rose walked up to us. “Oh, it looks like someone forgot to take the trash out this morning.” She said as she saw Maria.

Jasper walked up to Alice and pulled her to the car, not wanting a fight right then. When Rosalie saw Emmett she hurried to him and encircled him in her arms, helping him stand up.

“Have you looked in a mirror?” Lauren scoffed.

“Yeah, and we can do that without having them break.” Rose snapped.

Right then the tank was filled so I quickly swiped my emergency credit card in the slot.

“At least we can keep our boyfriends.” Jessica said.

“No you can't.” Alice said slowly. “Rose has Emmett and I have Jasper.”

“You left someone out.” Tanya said slowly.

As much as I hated to admit it, she was pretty smart. She could figure things out easily and wasn't easily tricked.

“Unless...are you and Bella broken up?” She asked “It's about time that you saw the light. She just doesn't deserve you.”

“Everyone, get in the car.” I said simply to Emmett, Jasper, Alice, and Rosalie, my face set in a beyond furious mask.

As I turned to Tanya, the other three shrunk back. She just glared back at me.

“Don't you ever say anything like that about Bella again. If anything, I don't deserve her. She is everything to me. You need to grow up and learn that there's more to life than making others miserable. So the next time you see me or my friends just remember this and back off.” With that I got in the car and drove off, my hands clutching the steering wheel tightly.

“The one time that you actually tell them off we're to upset to be happy about it.” Alice growled as she looked out the window.

“Jasper,” Emmett, who was now sitting in the back, said. “What were you saying earlier? You know, about you understanding what I was going through?”

Jasper, who was now sitting in the front seat, turned around and looked at Rosalie. “Should we tell them?” He asked.

“Can we wait until we have Bella back? I can't tell this story twice.” She said.

“Can you wait, Emmett?” Jasper asked.

Emmett just leaned his head on the back of the seat and closed his eyes. Rose rested her head on his shoulder and held his hand. Alice was staring dejectedly out the window, sitting in a fetal position, a few tears falling down her face every now and then.

“This is the first time I've seen you cry.” Jasper said.

“I'm crying?” I asked, one hand wiping my cheek.

“You really love her don't you?”

“As much as you love Alice.” I said as I wiped all of the tears away.

For the next few hours it was silent in the car, only the sound of breathing and the occasional sob filled our ears. Finally we were at the airport. I parked my car a random spot and we all jumped out of the car. The silent, though not in any way peaceful, mood was suddenly tense.

We all began running to the main structure of the airport, literally pushing people out of our way. Luckily there was no line at the ticket counter. We were all running so fast that the counter was the only thing stopping us from skidding into a wall.

“How can I help you?” The worker asked us.

“We...need five...tickets to...Italy.” I said while gasping for breath.

“How soon?” She asked, staring strangely at our pajamas.

“The next...flight...possible.”

“There's one boarding right now on the other side of the airport.”

“We'll take it.” Emmett spoke up.

I gave her my credit card as it would be very expensive and grabbed the tickets. We all began running again, having only a few minutes to get to that flight. We got there right before they were closing the doors.

Luckily our seats were next to each other's. I was sitting in between Alice and Emmett while Rose and Jasper were behind us. We all sat back and tried to relax though we couldn't. We had been in the air for about half an hour when my cell rang from my one pocket.

I forgot that I had it and took it out, seeing who was calling me. My eyes went wide in confusion and I flipped it open.

“Hey, Dad.”