WHERE I BELONG [P. LAHOTE]

[17]

"Bella!"

Skylar sprinted down the stairs, searching around the house vividly trying to find her sister. "Bella, where the hell are you?" Skylar caught them just as Alice and Bella were heading out of the door, slamming it shut behind them. "Shit!"

Rushing forward, Skylar opened the door furiously. "Where the fuck do you think you're going?"

Without stopping, Bella looked over her shoulder, blindly following Alice. "I have to save him, Skylar. I have to."

"He left you!" Skylar shouted. "He doesn't care!"

"If he didn't care, why would he go and kill himself over me? Huh?"

Skylar snorted. "Bella. Think for a second on how twisted you sound. He left you – he said he didn't care about you. Please. Just use your brain for a second."

Bella shook her head frantically. "You don't understand, Skylar. You've never had someone love you like Edward loves me."

Stepping back, Skylar's eyes widened before wiping all the emotion off of her face. Nodding, she began walking back towards the house but turned around when she reached the door. "He's just going to leave you again... hurt you again. I've tried to help you Bella, but you're always just going to go straight back into his arms. You promised me that you would never see him again. If you do this... if you pick him over me... don't expect anything to be the same. Ever."

"I wasn't expecting it to."

Drawing in a sharp breath, Skylar furrowed her eyebrows before nodding slightly. "Just think about what you're giving up for what you're getting."

"I want Edward," Bella firmly stated.

"Fine," Skylar breathed out. "Don't come back home. Don't come back to me."

***

"Why would she do it? Why would she leave everything she had here to go and save that asshole?"

Skylar sat on Paul's bed, the two of them laying together. Paul had one arm supporting his head and one arm softly stroking her arm, trying to calm Skylar down.

"I really can't say anything bad towards Bella in that sense. If you were away, even if you had left me, I would still go anywhere to save you," Paul quietly spoke, not meeting the young woman's eyes.

"Really?" Skylar whispered.

"Really," Paul confirmed, finally glancing up at her.

Sighing softly, Skylar continued. "It's just different between us, you know. Like, you're a werewolf, and I'm your imprint. It's different between us," she repeated.

"I would hope it would be," Paul agreed. Lifting his hand up, he brought two fingers to her chin and raised her hand to meet his eyes again. "I won't ever do that to you, Skylar. I promise. I would sooner die than leave you."

Skylar simply curled up closer to his bare chest, wrapping her arm around his waist.

***

Later that night, Skylar walked into her house, tensing when she noticed how quiet it was. Spotting a couple dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, she figured that Charlie had already eaten and went to bed for the night. For the past couple of days, he hadn't been himself – but Skylar couldn't blame him. If she had a daughter who had suddenly disappeared without a moment's notice, she would be worried as well. The only reason he hadn't filed for a missing person was because of Skylar's reassurance that she was eighteen and would be back.

Sighing and running a hand through her hair, Skylar headed up the stairs to her room. Walking in, she threw her bag down and went to her closet to change clothes.

"What the fuck?" She gasped, spotting a person standing in the corner of her room. Placing a hand to her chest, Skylar felt as if her heart was about to pound out of her chest. However, her mood turned from surprise to a raging anger when she saw who it was. "So. She saved you."

Edward stepped out of the shadows, revealing the daunt look on his face. Simply nodding, he gazed upon her as she shook in anger.

"And you think you have the audacity to come into my room. Get out." When she saw that he was about to speak, she repeated. "Get the fuck out. Get out of my room. Get out of my house. Get out of my life."

Edward cleared his throat, holding both hands up in surrender. "I know you're angry at me." Ignoring the human girl's scoff, he continued. "I know you're furious on how I left Bella and the way I came back. But I promise you Skylar, I will never hurt her again for as long as I live."

"You think that a simple apology will fix this? Will make me like you? News flash, Edward. I will never like you. I will never tolerate you. You broke my sister in two. She went through months and months of feeling nothing – because of you. She was numb, had a freaking hole in her chest because of you. I would rather see her with anybody, and I mean anybody else, in the whole freaking world then end up with you. But we don't always get what we want because now I have now lost my only sister who has ended up with the biggest asshole the world has ever known." By the end of her speech, Skylar was in hysterics. "You will never do anything for me to like you. To like your family. I despise you on a cellular level. You and your family. So get the fuck out of here."

Edward stood silent and still for moments before nodding. "I understand. I will not push you and I'm sorry for causing a distance between you and Bella." Walking past a seething Skylar, he paused. "But I promise you. I will never cause any harm to Bella again – physical, mental, or emotional."

Skylar simply stood, looking down and trying to blink back tears.

"I will leave you alone. But I will not leave Bella."

Skylar waited until he was at her door to let the thought cross her mind.

Bella would be better off with Jacob than she ever would with you.

He froze in the doorway, whispering. "I have thought about that nonstop since I've gotten back. Trust me, I know, but I am never going to leave Bella's side until she orders me to." Hearing the said girl scream out from her sleep, Edward glanced back at her one last time and raced back to Bella, leaving a crying Skylar alone in her room.

Skylar stepped out her room the next morning, half expecting to see Edward and Bella together, but was surprised when she didn't. Sighing she walked down and the stairs and smiled at Charlie in the kitchen, waving smoke away from the stove.

"How did you survive all of those years here by yourself, Dad? You can't cook anything," Skylar chuckled, pulling the cartoon of eggs out of the fridge.

"Like you have any room to speak, Sky. I don't know," Charlie replied, turning the stove off. "Sheer dumb luck. I guess it's lucky that we have Bella here."

Breath catching in her throat, Skylar froze for a second, making Charlie sigh. "Look, Sky. I know that you and Bella disagreed about disappearing, but don't you think you should forgive her? Hell, I'm still angry, don't get me wrong, but she's home safe-"

"She's came home with Edward," Skylar interrupted. "So it's not fine. I won't forgive her for dropping everything she had here to go get him. I told her what would happen if she did, and she went anyway."

Sighing at his daughters' fighting, Charlie simply nodded. "Okay... Then what's this I hear about you dating some boy on the reservation?"

Smiling softly at the mention of Paul, she glanced at Charlie before looking back at the stove. "I guess you could call it that."

"Is it Paul?" When she nodded, he smiled a little. "Yeah I could've guessed that." Noticing her questioning glance, Charlie continued. "When he came over I could tell that he liked you. Speaking of that, do you wanna head over to the reserve? I'm going to see Billy and watch the game."

"Sure. Just let me go get changed!" She rushed up the stairs, oblivious to Charlie's smile at his daughters infatuation.

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