I woke to the feel of someone stroking me cheek. The cold, gentle fingers were soothing to me and I didn’t want to open my eyes but I heard his velvet voice speak to me.
“June 20.”
“Hmm?” I murmured. I was still half asleep. I had no idea what he was on about.
“June 20,” he repeated softly. “My birthday.”
I was wide awake now. “Your birthday?”
I looked up into his golden eyes and saw them full of some kind of emotion.
He nodded.
“When were anda born?” I asked. “What year?”
“1901,” Edward said, quietly. “In Chicago. I was seventeen when Carlisle changed me. I was dying of Spanish influenza. My mother and father had already died.”
I sat up. It was dark in my room. Not hari yet. Some time during the night. Edward was lying seterusnya to me. He was still stroking my cheek, not noticing that I had moved.
“I was all alone. There was that many people in the hospital, sick and dying, that they wouldn’t miss one person.”
I hugged him, pulling him close to me. He shifted and laid his head on my chest. It was always the other way around. I usually sought comfort from him.
I stroked his soft bronze hair as he listened to my hati, tengah-tengah beat. This was the first time Edward had spoken about his life before Carlisle. He hadn’t berkata much but it was a lot considering he never really spoke about his human life.
“Carlisle berkata I had her eyes.”
“Whose eyes?” I asked, quietly. I don’t know why but it didn’t feel right to talk loud.
“My mother’s. She was called Elizabeth. She was worried about me being drafted. They had lowered the age to 18 and I was only a tahun away from it plus World War 1 was going on, so anda can imagine how scared she must have been. She must have loved me.”
“Of course she did,” I said. “Every mother loves their son and you’re no different.”
“Would she have still loved me if I was a vampire?”
“Yes,” I answered. “Without a doubt. Even if anda were deformed with six eyes, three noses and no legs, she would still Cinta you. You’re her son.”
“Yes, I was,” Edward murmured.
“No,” I shook my head. “You are her son. No ‘was’ about it.”
I kissed his hair, something he usually did to me. Was it role reversal time atau something?
He took my hand, the one that was stroking his hair, and kissed it.
“You are truly amazing, Kayla,” he said. “Do I deserve someone as wonderful as you?”
“That what I keep asking myself,” I said. “Do I deserve someone as wonderful as you?”
Edward was suddenly gone. The movement was so fast I hadn’t noticed he wasn’t seterusnya to me until I was stroking thin air. I looked up from the angkasa he was in only half a saat lalu and saw him in the corner.
“I’m not as wonderful as anda think,” he said, quietly. His face was shrouded in darkness and I could only see the glint of his golden eyes. “I’ve done some terrible things in my past. I’ve killed humans.”
I watched him carefully. Was he trying to scare me off him? Was he trying to break up with me sejak saying he wasn’t worthy enough of me? I hate it when he did this. It was like he was speaking in riddles.
“I only killed the bad ones,” he continued. “Only ones that truly deserved not to live. I used my ability so I didn’t kill any innocent humans.”
“You were a vigilante?” I asked.
“You could say that,” Edward nodded.
“Why are anda telling me this?” I was confused. “So anda killed a few people but anda had a reason, didn’t you?”
“I thought it was justice. That the killings were justified. He had done wrong, he needed to be punished. But was it really my decision whether the person should die? Maybe a few years in prison, some rehabilitation would have corrected whatever was wrong in his brain but was I right sejak taking his life?”
I crawled to the end of my katil and sat there. He was still covered in darkness and it was only his eyes that told me he was there.
“That happened years ago,” I said. “You’re not really a killer. Not now. I know that.”
“You’ve only known me a short time.”
“True but I know you. You’re not like that. anda wouldn’t kill anyone but anda would go to Carlisle and get Nasihat from him.”
“How did you...?”
“You forget, Edward. I see lebih than the thought that is running through your mind. I see everything.”
He watched me now. It was a long time before he came out of the shadows. I was sitting there watching him and seterusnya thing I knew I was flat on my back, my head on the bantal and he was laying seterusnya to me.
“You should go back to sleep,” he whispered.
“I’m not that tired,” I said. “I went to sleep quite early tonight.”
“I know anda did.” He chuckled. “You were out cold when I climbed in through anda window. Still in your shoes, as well.”
I looked down at my feet then and saw I wasn’t wearing my shoes.
“I took them off,” he explained. He began to stroke my cheek again. “I wanted anda to be lebih comfortable.”
“Why didn’t anda take my clothes off as well?” I asked. I tugged at the pale blue baju I was wearing. It wasn’t really comfortable to sleep in.
He snatched his hand away from my skin, as if I had burned him.
“What?” I said.
He was staring at me, his eyes wide. It was only then that I realised what I had berkata could have been taken in a different way.
“Oh.” I laughed. It was hilarious the way Edward took things like this. “I didn’t mean it in any sexual way.”
“What about in the car?” he said.
“Can’t anda take a compliment?” I asked. “When someone says that, it doesn’t always mean they want to jump anda right there and then. Keep up with the times, Edward.”
He began to stroke my cheek again so I took that as he was satisfied I wasn’t making any sexual advances on him. But that made me wonder if he could actually have sex atau if he has had sex before.
“Do not even think about it.” his voice was low and dangerous in my ear.
“Don’t think about what?” I tried to sound as innocent as I could.
“My Cinta life has nothing to do with you.”
“I am your Cinta life.”
“Before anda then.”
“Have anda ever had anyone before me?”
Edward went quiet then. He continued to stroke my cheek but he didn’t say anything. When I did reach out to his mind I found nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was like there was a dinding blocking me from Membaca his thoughts atau seeing into his mind. How did he do that? I would have to ask him.
“Fine then, don’t answer me,” I huffed, folding my arms across my chest. “I just won’t tell anda about my sebelumnya relationships.”
I heard him chuckle.
“Don’t laugh at me!”
“I can’t help it,” he chuckled. “You just do funny things.”
“You think I’m funny?” I sat up and tried to get away from him but only succeeded in falling off my bed. I landed with a dull thud.
“Ow,” I whimpered. I stroked my backside which I had hurt in the landing. I heard Edward trying to stifle his laughter. I picked the right times to do stupid things.
“Are anda ok?” he asked. He was lying on his stomach across my bed.
“I’m fine.” I stood up. “I meant to do that.”
“Of course,” he said, not at all believing me.
“I swear, Edward Cullen, I am going to make anda regret laughing at-” I didn’t get to finish my threat as he had pulled me onto the katil and kissed me. He was lying on bahagian, atas of me atau rather just hovering above me. He daren’t put his weight on me for fear he would crush me. My hands knotted in his hair, pulling his face closer to mine so that his lips were crushed against mine.
His hand moved slowly down my arm and across my chest and over my waist. His fingers lightly caressed my thigh before he hitched my leg up around his hip. His lips moved away from mine and he kissed my cheek. His kisses began a trail down my neck down to the hollow of my throat. Although his lips were cold, wherever they had touched left a burning mark.
“I can see the benefits of a bed,” he whispered against my skin. “I might have to get one.”
“Beds are great,” was all I could think to say. He had never done anything like this before and it had quite literally taken all my concentration just to remember to breathe. He chuckled and his cool breath blew against my skin, making me shiver, but not from cold.
He rolled over, onto his back, taking me with him.
“I guess anda like this?”
“Very much,” I answered. My leg was still around his waist and he was holding it there. I was not objecting. I was lying on bahagian, atas of him and his marble chest was moulded against mine perfectly. My hati, tengah-tengah was hammering against my chest so loud he must have both heard and felt it. His lips were back on my throat, tracing back up to my lips. He had only just lightly kissed my lips when we heard the creak of a door open. We both went quiet, not daring to breathe. Footsteps sounded across the hallway, heading to my door. Edward gently and quickly lifted me off his chest and lay me down on the bed. I sat up and he was gone, probably out the window.
My door opened and Charlie peeked his head in.
“You ok, Kayla?” he asked me, sounding sleepy. “I think I heard anda fall out of bed?”
“Yeah, I did,” I replied. “I’m ok though.”
“Good.” He closed my door quietly and padded back to his own room.
I slid down my katil until my head was back on the pillow.
“I hate you, Charlie,” I muttered in the darkness.