The Breakers Chapter 18 Pic Tease and Teaser

I stand up and pace. My hand immediately goes into my hair and I squeeze my eyes shut. I try to remember the breathing exercises that Carlisle taught me all those weeks ago, the ones I've hardly had to use, because it seriously feels like a Mack truck just rammed into my chest, but it's not working.

Pressure spreads. I gasp for breath, struggling to get the oxygen I need. Starbursts of white explode behind my eyelids followed by flashes of red. Everything is muffled, like I'm underwater. I know Wayne, Carlisle, and Esme are saying my name, but if they're saying anything else, I can't decipher what it is. Every muscle in my body locks in place and I briefly wonder if this is what it feels like to be paralyzed.

Jesus Christ, I scream to myself as I try to get my body under control.

Thoughts of Bella and Peyton swim around in my head. I try to focus on their faces, try to hear Peyton's giggle and Bella's breathy voice when she tells me she loves me. Anything, everything I can concentrate on to keep the other dark, sinister thoughts from becoming any more concrete.

My fingers tingle and I can feel the blood start to flow again. A horrible, raspy sounds fills my ears and I look around to find the source only to realize a few seconds later the sound is coming from me.

Fuck.

Carefully, slowly, I open my eyes. I don't look to my left or right because I know when I do, the three of them will be looking at me. I don't want to see the worry or worse yet, the pity, I know I'll see. Instead I gaze at the trees and take a few deep breaths, letting the humid, salty air calm me down.

"Edward?" Carlisle asks quietly.

I shake my head, not ready to answer him yet.

An hour ago I didn't think I could be any happier. An hour ago I kissed Bella and told her I loved her. An hour ago, Peyton jumped into my arms and told me that we had a date the following day.

An hour ago I thought my past was truly in the past.

Until Wayne reminded me that it wasn't with just one word.

Aleksei.

The Breakers Chapter 17 Pic Teases - Set Two

The Breakers Chapter 17 Pic Teases - Set One

The Breakers Wordle and Swans Island Lobster Spread Recipe

Swans Island Maine Lobster Spread Recipe - It's an appetizer!!

And YES - there really IS a Swans Island near Corea!!  Enjoy!

The Breakers Chapter 17 Pic Tease and Teaser

The Inn at Southwest

BPOV~

"Emmett," I sigh and flop down into a bar stool beside the island in the center of the kitchen, "you can't keep doing this." My voice is tight as I try to hold back a lifetime's worth of frustration.

He looks at me, his blue eyes full of questions. This conversation is obviously years overdue.

I reach out and grab an apple from the fruit bowl, not hungry in the least but needing to do something with my hands so I don't wrap my hands around his freakishly large neck and strangle him. It's times like these when I truly realize how much of a saint Rose really is.

"I love you. You're my brother and you always will be, but that doesn't mean you know me or know what's best for me," I tell him and feel like shit when my words reach him across the kitchen.

His shoulders slump, he sucks in a sharp breath, and he literally looks like he might be sick. I feel awful hurting him, but he needs to finally, really hear me for a change.

He opens his mouth but I hold my hand up to stop the words before he can speak them. I know, or I can hazard a damned good guess at what he's going to say, and it will be more of the same. "Bella, I'm only trying to help," or "Bella, what were you thinking?" or even worse, "Bella, I really think you should ..." I don't want to hear it anymore and I sure as hell don't want to hear it in regard to Edward.

I'm twenty-seven years-old and it's way past time for him to stop treating me like I'm still that knobby-kneed, pig-tailed, little girl that used to try to keep up with him when he ran down the beach. I haven't been that girl for a long time. He's just refused to acknowledge that.

I think it's high time he met the Bella I've become.

The Breakers Chapter 16 Pic Tease - Peyton and Edward

The Breakers Chapter 16 Pic Teases - Set One

The Breakers Chapter 16 Pic Tease and Teaser

 

EPOV
"Bella, come on. Let's go!"

I spin her keys around my finger, anxious to leave.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say someone was in a hurry," she teases, walking into the living room as she winds her hair in a ponytail. I almost hate for her to put it up. My fingers have spent an awful lot of time over the past twenty-four hours buried inside of it, but one glance at the creamy white skin of her neck has me not minding so much after all.

I swallow nervously and run a hand through my hair, suddenly afraid of what is about to happen.

"Hey," she says softly. Her hands reach for me, wrapping comfortingly around my forearms. She squeezes and then steps even closer, chest to chest, and wraps her arms tightly around my waist.

I lean down and press my nose into the top of her hair, letting her citrus and fresh from the shower scent work its magic until I feel like I can breathe again.

"I miss her," I whisper. There's a longing in my chest that's been building for days. It's been over a week since I've seen Peyton and it literally feels like a part of my heart has been missing.

Bella's arms tighten and she tips her head up to look at me. "She's missed you, too. So much. I hate that it's been so long."

She lowers her head again and presses her nose to my chest. I hold her there and take a few deep breaths. As far as Bella and I have come already, as much as we've talked about and shared, this last hurdle seems almost more daunting than anything.

"What if she hates me? What if she's scared of me now?" I ask. My hands still, my heart races, and my body shakes. "Telling you about Boston was so fucking hard, how can I tell her? She'll never understand ..." My voice cracks and I have to close my eyes again to stop the images of Peyton running away from me, screaming in terror as she tells me she never wants to see me again, from flooding my mind.

"Edward, she won't." Bella tells me fiercely, her eyes burning with conviction. "She loves you. She'll understand, and if she doesn't, we'll help her to. She'll be fine, trust me."

I take a deep breath and let her words soothe me before nodding my head. "Let's go get our girl."