*by Stephenie Meyer*



TWILIGHT - chapter 17 - THE GAME


"So I hear you're getting my girl to watch baseball." Only in Washington would the fact that it was raining buckets have no bearing at all on the playing of outdoor sports.
"Yes, sir, that's the plan." He didn't look surprised that I'd told my father the truth. He might have been listening, though.
"Well, più power to you, I guess."
Charlie laughed, and Edward joined in.
"Okay." I stood up. "Enough humor at my expense. Let's go." I walked back to the hall and pulled on my jacket. They followed.
"Not too late, Bella."
"Don't worry, Charlie, I'll have her home early," Edward promised.
"You take care of my girl, all right?"
I groaned, but they ignored me.
"She'll be sicuro, cassetta di sicurezza with me, I promise, sir."
Charlie couldn't doubt Edward's sincerity, it rang in every word.
I stalked out. They both laughed, and Edward followed me.
I stopped dead on the porch. There, beside my truck, was a monster Jeep. Its tires were higher than my waist. There were metal guards over the headlights and taillights, and four large spotlights attached to the crash bar. The hardtop was shiny red.
Charlie let out a whistle.
"Wear your sede, sedile belts," he choked out.
Edward followed me around to my side and opened the door. I gauged the distance to the sede, sedile and prepared to jump for it. He sighed, and then lifted me in with one hand. I hoped Charlie didn't notice.
As he went around to the driver's side, at a normal, human pace, I tried to put on my sede, sedile belt. But there were too many buckles.
"What's all this?" I asked when he opened the door.
"It's an off road harness."
"Uh-oh."
I tried to find the right places for all the buckles to fit, but it wasn't going too quickly. He sighed again and reached over to help me. I was glad that the rain was too heavy to see Charlie clearly on the porch. That meant he couldn't see how Edward's hands lingered at my neck, brushing along my collarbones. I gave up trying to help him and focused on not hyperventilating.
Edward turned the key and the engine roared to life. We pulled away from the house.
"This is a... um... big Jeep te have."
"It's Emmett's. I didn't think you'd want to run the whole way."
"Where do te keep this thing?"
"We remodeled one of the outbuildings into a garage."
"Aren't te going to put on your sede, sedile belt?"
He threw me a disbelieving look.
Then something sunk in.
"Run the whole way? As in, we're stil going to run part of the way?" My voice edged up a few octaves.
He grinned tightly. "You're not going to run."
"I'm going to be sick."
"Keep your eyes closed, you'll be fine."
I bit my lip, fighting the panic.
He leaned over to baciare the superiore, in alto of my head, and then groaned. I looked at him, puzzled.
"You smell so good in the rain," he explained.
"In a good way, o a bad way?" I asked cautiously.
He sighed. "Both, always both."
I don't know how he found his way in the gloom and downpour, but he somehow found a side road that was less of a road and più of a mountain path. For a long while conversation was impossible, because I was bouncing up and down on the sede, sedile like a jackhammer. He seemed to enjoy the ride, though, smiling hugely the whole way.
And then we came to the end of the road; the trees formed green walls on three side of the Jeep. The rain was mere drizzle, slowing every second, the sky brighter though the clouds.
"Sorry, Bella, we have to go on foot from here."
"You know what? I'll just wait here."
"What happened to all your courage? te were extraordinary this morning."
"I haven't forgotten the last time yet." Could it have been only yesterday?
He was around to my side of the car in a blur. He started unbuckling me.
"I'll get those, te go on ahead," I protested.
"Hmmm...," he mused as he quickly finished. "It seems I'm going to have to tamper with your memory."
Before I could react, he pulled me from the Jeep and set my feet on the ground. It was barely misting now; Alice was going to be right.
"Tamper with my memory?" I asked nervously.
"Something like that." He was watching me intently, carefully, but there was humor deep in his eyes. He placed his hands against the Jeep on either side of my head and leaned forward, forcing me to press back against the door. He leaned in even closer, his face inches from mine. I had no room to escape.
"Now," he breathed, and just the smell disturbed my thought processes, "what exactly are te worrying about?"
"Weel, un, hitting a albero - " I gulped " - and dying. And then getting sick."
He fought back a smile. Then he bent his head down and touched his cold lips softly to the hollow at the base of my throat.
"Are te still worried now?" he murmured against my skin.
"Yes." I struggled to concentrate. "About hitting trees and getting sick."
His nose drew a line up the skin of my throat to the point of my chin. His cold breath tickled my skin.
"And now?" His lips whispered against my jaw.
"Trees," I gasped. "Motion sickness."
He lifted his face to kis my eyelids. "Bella, te don't really think I would hit a tree, do you?"
"No, but I might." There was no confidence in my voice. He smelled an easy victory.
He kissed slowly down my cheek, stopping just at the corner of my mouth.
"Would I let a albero hurt you?" His lips barely brushed against my trembling lower lip.
"No," I breathed. I knew there was a secondo part to my brilliant defense, but I couldn't quite call it back.
"You see," he said, his lips moving against mine. "There's nothing to be afraid of, is there?"
"No," I sighed, giving up.
Then he took my face in his hands almost roughly, and kissed me in earnest, his unyielding lips moving against mine.
There really was no excue for my behavior. Obviously I knew better da now. And yet I couldn't seem to stop from reacting exactly as I had the first time. Instead of keeping safely motionless, my arms reached up to twine tightly around his neck, and I was suddenly welded to his stone figure. I sighed, and my lips parted.
He staggered back, breaking my grip effortlessly.
"Damn it, Bella!" he broke of gasping. "You'll be the death of me, I swear te will."
I leaned over, bracing my hands against my knees for support.
"You're indestructable," I mumbled, trying to catch my breath.
"I might have believed that before met you. Now let's get out of here before I do something really stupid," he growled.