The Heat of You
by Wizardtho
Chapter 14:
Trigger warning: Mild descriptions of choking in 2 paragraphs during this chapter. Mild descriptions of abuse, inflicting pain, and biting.
Bella POV:
I woke with a gasp, sitting straight up in bed, the feeling of Rosalie’s fingers around my throat -her cold breath against my face- still too real to ignore. I quickly felt my throat as I frantically looked around the room.
Thankfully, the only thing I found was a peacefully-sleeping Paul. I didn’t want to wake him up just because I had another nightmare, so I quietly got out of bed. I changed into my favorite rose pink and white athletic set, grabbed my iPod and air buds from the top of the dresser, then quietly left the room before closing the door.
I always liked cleaning when my head was a mess, and it was definitely a mess. My head, that was. Cleaning didn’t work well if you were constantly adjusting baggy clothes, hence the athletic set I was currently wearing.
Looking in the cabinet under the kitchen sink, I found a stack of rags, a large bottle of Mr. Clean multi-surface, Pledge, and a Swiffer duster. I pulled everything out, then went to the closet in the laundry. I was happy to find both a broom and a mop that I took back to the kitchen. Pleased with my finds, I set about filling the sink with water and about ½ cup of Mr. Clean.
As the water was filling in the sink, I popped my air buds into my ears, loaded a playlist, and went to one of the spare bedrooms. By the time I had the bed and pillows stripped and brought the linens out to the laundry, it was time to turn off the water.
In the next spare bedroom, I did the same thing, stripping the linens from the bed. In the spare bathroom, I took the two larger towels, the washcloth I found, and the hand towel. I stopped in the hall to pick back up the bed linens, then hauled all that to the laundry.
Once the first load was started of just the sheets from both rooms and the towels, I took the broom back to the furthest spare bedroom.
Billie Eilish filled my ears while singing ‘Lost Cause’, so I sang along softly as I swept this side of the house. I continued as Halsey sang ‘Bells In Santa Fe’, then Rag’n’Bone Man and Pink sang ‘Anywhere Away From Here’.
The house was pretty clean, and I only got a minimal amount of dirt and debris from the floors in the spare rooms. I probably didn’t need to mop them, but I was still planning to. I was able to get the whole main area swept in no time, then I stopped to transfer laundry.
I was singing ‘Stressed Out’ along with Twenty-One Pilots, starting one of the blankets in the washer, when I felt a hot hand on the back of my waist. The only thing that stopped me from jumping out of my skin was the temperature and feeling of that hand.
I quickly turned and pulled the air bud from my right ear, “Jesus, Lahote. Warn a person!”
He shook his head, “I tried to, actually. Twice. Nice choice with the tunes, though. Next time you feel the need to clean the entire house from top to bottom, wake me. I’ll help you.”
I let out a breath and hugged him, saying, “Sorry. I always clean when my head’s a mess… and you were sleeping so peacefully, I didn’t want to wake you. I had another of those memory nightmares.”
Paul rested his cheek on the top of my head, asking softly, “What this time?”
I shook my head and rubbed my throat, “Rosalie was choking me… had me pinned to the wall with my feet like 3 feet off the floor, her hand around my throat. I could still hear her growling in my mind when I woke, so I decided to fill my mind with music instead.”
Paul’s arms tightened around me comfortingly. After a minute, I asked, “What time is it?”
He hummed, “It’s only 4:30, Swan. You want to come back to bed, or do you want to continue your cleaning frenzy?”
I let out a breath, then decided, “I don’t want to waste the solution in the sink. I was going to wash all the counters down, then mop the house. I already swept everything but our suite.”
He nodded his head, “Want help? I can sweep our suite and bring our laundry out. Then maybe once we’re done, we can curl up on the couch and find some cartoons.”
I chuckled, “As long as it’s SpongeBob.”
He nodded, “Deal, but I have my own stipulation. Dock that iPod and share the tunes, Swan.”
After he showed me where, I docked the iPod, and soon Hozier was coming at me from all directions singing ‘Movement’. It was incredible how good music sounded from his system. It was also a powerful song. I hummed, then couldn’t help but sing out loud as my hips swayed to the music, “When you move, I’m put to mind of all that I wanna be. When you move, I could never define all that you are to me. So move me, baby. Shake like the bough of a willow tree. You do it naturally. Moooooove me, baby.”
I turned back around, only to see Paul with the most beautiful smile on his face. I shook my head, then said, “Let’s get to work, Lahote. We’ll never finish if we keep lollygagging.”
I wiped all the counters down, mopped the whole spare bedroom side of the house, then came back out to find Paul switching the laundry for me. I went to hug him from behind, so he turned to wrap his arms around me as he rested his lips against his mark.
I hadn’t realized how much I needed that small action until right then. My head tilted slightly to give him more room as my hands both rested firmly on his back. I actually hummed when he gave the mark a lick, then a kiss.
In response, Paul asked while his breath caressed my neck, “How much more cleaning needs to be done?”
I replied, never letting go of him, “The rest of the laundry, and I need to mop all but the spare wing. I was going to dust, too, but the house really doesn’t need it yet.”
Without a pause, Paul offered, “I’m shit at doing laundry, but I can move a mop like nobody’s business. Let me take over the mopping, please.”
I finally loosened my hold on him, then he looked down at me with a smile when I said, “Deal.”
By the time I was able to redress both beds, Paul was finished mopping the whole rest of the house. He was standing in front of the refrigerator when I came back out to the kitchen. I chuckled as I called, “It’s breakfast time, huh?”
His eyes completely lit up, asking, “Breakfast?”
I laughed, then pointed him to the bar stools as I started gathering the items for pancakes, cheesy scrambled eggs, and Paul’s favorite. Bacon.
I was mixing the pancake batter when Paul swore, “Crap, I forgot. Swan, there’s one other thing to do before cleaning is done.”
My eyebrow rose, so he said, “Last night, while you were setting the table and finishing up the fries and bacon… your dad said something to me. He said to throw out anything in that blue color that the mind reader liked you wearing. Something about how it was another way they controlled you. He said I could tell you or just throw the stuff out, but I thought you should know and be a part of making sure it was thrown.”
I shuddered slightly, then a flash hit me of Edward biting my wrist as Carlisle yanked my head back by my hair and growled menacingly in my face. I gasped as my legs felt like they gave way underneath me, pancake batter splattering to the floor. Paul was right there to catch me before I hit the floor, asking, “What the fuck was that?”
I shook my head, trembling as I looked up at him. “That was a new memory that you just triggered… and yes, every fucking piece of blue needs to go.”
Paul pulled me up to my feet, then held me as he asked, “The memory?”
I let out a shaky breath, “They didn’t want me on the rez too close to any of their experiments. They caught me heading toward the rez the day after one, after I’d been told not to leave my house. Carlisle had Edward put me in that fog, then bite me as Carlisle told me he would let the Volturi have me as a snack if I ever disobeyed again. If I was ever in blue, I wasn’t to come to the rez, and only one of them could tell me when I could wear another color. They let the burn of the change take me for almost 10 minutes before they drained the venom-tainted blood from me, then gave me a transfusion. It’s why my bite mark seemed like it wasn’t healed right.”
I shook my head, then said, “The thing is, I don’t think they would have. They broke vampire law, Paul. I don’t think the kings would let Carlisle get away with flouting their laws right under their noses, especially while spouting off that they are great friends.”
Paul hugged me to him, then said, “For now, let’s worry about getting this cleaned up. We can eat breakfast, then we’ll deal with the closet. I think after that, we really need to talk to Old Quil. Sam was going to let him know we wanted to see him.”
I could only agree. There were more questions than answers right now, and we really needed some of the latter.
Trigger warning: Mild descriptions of choking in 2 paragraphs during this chapter. Mild descriptions of abuse, inflicting pain, and biting.
Bella POV:
I woke with a gasp, sitting straight up in bed, the feeling of Rosalie’s fingers around my throat -her cold breath against my face- still too real to ignore. I quickly felt my throat as I frantically looked around the room.
Thankfully, the only thing I found was a peacefully-sleeping Paul. I didn’t want to wake him up just because I had another nightmare, so I quietly got out of bed. I changed into my favorite rose pink and white athletic set, grabbed my iPod and air buds from the top of the dresser, then quietly left the room before closing the door.
I always liked cleaning when my head was a mess, and it was definitely a mess. My head, that was. Cleaning didn’t work well if you were constantly adjusting baggy clothes, hence the athletic set I was currently wearing.
Looking in the cabinet under the kitchen sink, I found a stack of rags, a large bottle of Mr. Clean multi-surface, Pledge, and a Swiffer duster. I pulled everything out, then went to the closet in the laundry. I was happy to find both a broom and a mop that I took back to the kitchen. Pleased with my finds, I set about filling the sink with water and about ½ cup of Mr. Clean.
As the water was filling in the sink, I popped my air buds into my ears, loaded a playlist, and went to one of the spare bedrooms. By the time I had the bed and pillows stripped and brought the linens out to the laundry, it was time to turn off the water.
In the next spare bedroom, I did the same thing, stripping the linens from the bed. In the spare bathroom, I took the two larger towels, the washcloth I found, and the hand towel. I stopped in the hall to pick back up the bed linens, then hauled all that to the laundry.
Once the first load was started of just the sheets from both rooms and the towels, I took the broom back to the furthest spare bedroom.
Billie Eilish filled my ears while singing ‘Lost Cause’, so I sang along softly as I swept this side of the house. I continued as Halsey sang ‘Bells In Santa Fe’, then Rag’n’Bone Man and Pink sang ‘Anywhere Away From Here’.
The house was pretty clean, and I only got a minimal amount of dirt and debris from the floors in the spare rooms. I probably didn’t need to mop them, but I was still planning to. I was able to get the whole main area swept in no time, then I stopped to transfer laundry.
I was singing ‘Stressed Out’ along with Twenty-One Pilots, starting one of the blankets in the washer, when I felt a hot hand on the back of my waist. The only thing that stopped me from jumping out of my skin was the temperature and feeling of that hand.
I quickly turned and pulled the air bud from my right ear, “Jesus, Lahote. Warn a person!”
He shook his head, “I tried to, actually. Twice. Nice choice with the tunes, though. Next time you feel the need to clean the entire house from top to bottom, wake me. I’ll help you.”
I let out a breath and hugged him, saying, “Sorry. I always clean when my head’s a mess… and you were sleeping so peacefully, I didn’t want to wake you. I had another of those memory nightmares.”
Paul rested his cheek on the top of my head, asking softly, “What this time?”
I shook my head and rubbed my throat, “Rosalie was choking me… had me pinned to the wall with my feet like 3 feet off the floor, her hand around my throat. I could still hear her growling in my mind when I woke, so I decided to fill my mind with music instead.”
Paul’s arms tightened around me comfortingly. After a minute, I asked, “What time is it?”
He hummed, “It’s only 4:30, Swan. You want to come back to bed, or do you want to continue your cleaning frenzy?”
I let out a breath, then decided, “I don’t want to waste the solution in the sink. I was going to wash all the counters down, then mop the house. I already swept everything but our suite.”
He nodded his head, “Want help? I can sweep our suite and bring our laundry out. Then maybe once we’re done, we can curl up on the couch and find some cartoons.”
I chuckled, “As long as it’s SpongeBob.”
He nodded, “Deal, but I have my own stipulation. Dock that iPod and share the tunes, Swan.”
After he showed me where, I docked the iPod, and soon Hozier was coming at me from all directions singing ‘Movement’. It was incredible how good music sounded from his system. It was also a powerful song. I hummed, then couldn’t help but sing out loud as my hips swayed to the music, “When you move, I’m put to mind of all that I wanna be. When you move, I could never define all that you are to me. So move me, baby. Shake like the bough of a willow tree. You do it naturally. Moooooove me, baby.”
I turned back around, only to see Paul with the most beautiful smile on his face. I shook my head, then said, “Let’s get to work, Lahote. We’ll never finish if we keep lollygagging.”
I wiped all the counters down, mopped the whole spare bedroom side of the house, then came back out to find Paul switching the laundry for me. I went to hug him from behind, so he turned to wrap his arms around me as he rested his lips against his mark.
I hadn’t realized how much I needed that small action until right then. My head tilted slightly to give him more room as my hands both rested firmly on his back. I actually hummed when he gave the mark a lick, then a kiss.
In response, Paul asked while his breath caressed my neck, “How much more cleaning needs to be done?”
I replied, never letting go of him, “The rest of the laundry, and I need to mop all but the spare wing. I was going to dust, too, but the house really doesn’t need it yet.”
Without a pause, Paul offered, “I’m shit at doing laundry, but I can move a mop like nobody’s business. Let me take over the mopping, please.”
I finally loosened my hold on him, then he looked down at me with a smile when I said, “Deal.”
By the time I was able to redress both beds, Paul was finished mopping the whole rest of the house. He was standing in front of the refrigerator when I came back out to the kitchen. I chuckled as I called, “It’s breakfast time, huh?”
His eyes completely lit up, asking, “Breakfast?”
I laughed, then pointed him to the bar stools as I started gathering the items for pancakes, cheesy scrambled eggs, and Paul’s favorite. Bacon.
I was mixing the pancake batter when Paul swore, “Crap, I forgot. Swan, there’s one other thing to do before cleaning is done.”
My eyebrow rose, so he said, “Last night, while you were setting the table and finishing up the fries and bacon… your dad said something to me. He said to throw out anything in that blue color that the mind reader liked you wearing. Something about how it was another way they controlled you. He said I could tell you or just throw the stuff out, but I thought you should know and be a part of making sure it was thrown.”
I shuddered slightly, then a flash hit me of Edward biting my wrist as Carlisle yanked my head back by my hair and growled menacingly in my face. I gasped as my legs felt like they gave way underneath me, pancake batter splattering to the floor. Paul was right there to catch me before I hit the floor, asking, “What the fuck was that?”
I shook my head, trembling as I looked up at him. “That was a new memory that you just triggered… and yes, every fucking piece of blue needs to go.”
Paul pulled me up to my feet, then held me as he asked, “The memory?”
I let out a shaky breath, “They didn’t want me on the rez too close to any of their experiments. They caught me heading toward the rez the day after one, after I’d been told not to leave my house. Carlisle had Edward put me in that fog, then bite me as Carlisle told me he would let the Volturi have me as a snack if I ever disobeyed again. If I was ever in blue, I wasn’t to come to the rez, and only one of them could tell me when I could wear another color. They let the burn of the change take me for almost 10 minutes before they drained the venom-tainted blood from me, then gave me a transfusion. It’s why my bite mark seemed like it wasn’t healed right.”
I shook my head, then said, “The thing is, I don’t think they would have. They broke vampire law, Paul. I don’t think the kings would let Carlisle get away with flouting their laws right under their noses, especially while spouting off that they are great friends.”
Paul hugged me to him, then said, “For now, let’s worry about getting this cleaned up. We can eat breakfast, then we’ll deal with the closet. I think after that, we really need to talk to Old Quil. Sam was going to let him know we wanted to see him.”
I could only agree. There were more questions than answers right now, and we really needed some of the latter.