chapter┊ ✦. :: eleven
♡ ﹙bella swan﹚ ❋ ˚ ݂ ꛒ

The Cullen house was truly impressive. Carlisle parked the truck in the garage and took Lydia's hand to lead her through the house in a hurry.

"I'll give you a proper tour next time," he said calmly with a smile.

She smiled, not letting go of his hand. "That's fine. There are more important things to deal with right now."

They climbed some stairs, and outside it was already dark, so they could barely see through the large windows. They reached a room, and the blonde closed it once they were both inside.

"This is my room," he explained, starting to take off his shirt.

Lydia lost her breath for a moment but reflexively turned away and tried to look at anything other than the man undressing.

The room was simple to a certain extent. Very tidy, and without a bed, everything seemed more spacious. A wooden bookshelf covered one entire wall and was filled with books. The opposite wall was a wooden wardrobe that also covered the entire wall. Another wall was actually a window with a view of the forest, and the last wall only had a couple of paintings that seemed very old and probably worth a fortune. Besides that, there was a sofa and a nightstand. Carlisle had mentioned having a home office, so she imagined he used that space to spend time alone or something similar.

Carlisle smiled when he noticed Lydia had turned her back while he changed. He didn't mind if she looked, but if it was the other way around, he would have turned as well. He put on a new shirt along with a black jacket and again wore the scarf he had on earlier.

"Ready," Lydia turned around.

"At least you could have warned me," she teased, though without any real annoyance.

"You know I don't mind if you look, right?"

She blushed and didn't know what to say. Although it wasn't necessary, Carlisle frowned.

"Stay here for a minute. Someone is in the house."

"Okay."

The blonde quickly left, and Lydia had the chance to take a closer look at Carlisle's room. She approached where Carlisle had left the shirt he had used. The man didn't sweat, so he always smelled very good, plus he used cologne which made him smell even better. She took the shirt and inhaled its scent for a moment. She could do that all night.

She decided to leave the garment in place to avoid seeming like a stalker in case someone appeared, and she looked at the bookshelf, running her fingers over the book spines. Many of those books seemed ancient, and they were in different languages. Most were about medicine, and a few were about various topics. Carlisle had probably read them all, which made a lot of sense to Lydia, as the man knew basically everything.

"Carlisle is a reading fanatic," she startled to hear that voice, "sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

She looked at Evander with a smile. He was leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed.

"Is everything okay?"

"More or less. Laurent showed up and is talking to Carlisle. He wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I am, although I'm trying not to lose my mind. I'm worried about Bella."

He nodded. "I understand. But we'll do whatever it takes to protect her," he straightened up, "come, would you like some coffee?"

"I'm begging for one right now."

Evander laughed and led Lydia through the house to the kitchen. Carlisle and Laurent were in another room, so nothing would happen. Esme was also in the kitchen and smiled a little when she saw the girl.

"We have coffee with flavors like chocolate, vanilla, and caramel. Which one would you like?"

Lydia frowned. "I thought you didn't drink coffee."

"We don't. Carlisle asked Esme to buy them because he planned to invite you to the house soon. Don't tell him I told you."

"I won't," she suppressed a big smile, "vanilla is fine."

Evander handed her a cup of coffee when it was ready, and she thanked him. It was just what she needed to stay calm. Evander approached his wife and kissed her head; they looked really cute together.

"The others have arrived," Esme spoke up after almost ten minutes, "we'll wait here until Laurent leaves, and then we'll see what the plan is."

"Maybe... I should go back home. I don't want to get in your way."

Esme approached the girl and gave her a tender look.

"What are you saying? You're part of the family now too, and Carlisle and all of us feel better knowing you're safe until all of this is over."

"You'll drive Carlisle crazy if you leave," Evander added, "believe me when I say he'll feel better knowing you're nearby."

Lydia felt strange. She liked being part of that family, and she was grateful they included her. She didn't say anything, but it wasn't necessary.

They hurried down the stairs, and Lydia followed at her own pace. They were all gathered, somewhat worried and rushed, perhaps defensive.

Carlisle approached Lydia with a worried expression, silently asking, "are you okay?" Lydia simply nodded.

But then her phone started ringing; both looked and realized it was Charlie's name

on the screen.

"He must be worried," she murmured, "I'll talk to him to reassure him a bit."

"Okay. I'll see you in a moment."

Lydia stepped away from the noise and answered the call. She couldn't see Charlie, but she knew perfectly well he was nervous or maybe worried.

"Charlie?"

"Lydia... I... sorry for calling you. It's just... I didn't know who else to turn to."

"Don't worry, Charlie. Tell me what's going on."

"It's Bella. A few minutes ago, she came home very upset and just packed her things. She said she would drive all night to go to her mother's."

"I understand. Don't worry," she sighed, "I can talk to her and try to reason with her. Maybe she needs a girl-to-girl chat."

She heard Charlie release a bit of air.

"I appreciate it, Lydia. And I'm sorry for causing so much trouble."

"Don't mention it, Charlie. I'll call you later."

"I understand. Thank you."

The call ended. Lydia felt bad for Charlie; he was a good man and only worried about his only daughter. Any parent who felt even a little love for a child would be like that.

Then she heard a car driving away and some other murmurs. Then she saw Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett leaving the house.

"They're going to try to throw the tracker off a bit," Carlisle explained as he reached her side, "how's Charlie?"

"Worried. I told him I'd try to talk to Bella."

He nodded. "I didn't think everything would happen this way, but I'm glad you're safe."

He looked at her worriedly, placing both hands on her hips. Carlisle placed both hands on the girl's cheeks.

"Maybe I should go home. I'll be safe, and surely you have a lot of things to do."

Carlisle didn't want that. He didn't want to be separated from Lydia for even a second, but he wasn't sure how to ask for it.

"I'd feel safer if you stayed here... with me. Right now, I'm very worried, and knowing you're by my side makes me feel calm."

Lydia's eyes shimmered for a moment, but she finally nodded. Honestly, she also felt safer being with Carlisle.

"Okay. Is it alright if I use the bathroom?"

The man laughed and kissed Lydia's forehead.

"Of course. Up the stairs, first door on the right."

"I'll be back in a minute."

The next few hours were very tense for everyone. And it was even more tense over the next two days. The tracker, James, found out he was following the wrong trail, and apparently, it was easy for him to find Bella. Carlisle, Edward, and Emmett went to Phoenix to reach Bella, Alice, and Jasper, but when they arrived, James had already bitten Bella.

Lydia didn't know much about it because Carlisle didn't want to talk much about what happened. The important thing was that Bella was going to be okay, and fortunately for Charlie, she was going to come back home.

Alice had managed to arrange everything to make it look like an accident due to Bella's clumsiness, and since Carlisle had many acquaintances in the medical circle, a few calls were enough for them to attend to Bella and not ask questions when the report was altered.

James had definitively died, and everything was fine. That was until Lydia remembered she still had to attend her sister's wedding.

: ‹𝟹 all the votes and
comments are very
appreciated. they encourage me
keep updating!