Midnight Sun (The Twilight Saga #5) - Stephenie Meyer Page 0,217

my introduction. But as soon as I turned onto her street, it was clear that my expectations for the afternoon were thwarted.

A 1987 Ford Tempo that had seen better days was parked in Charlie’s usual spot. And under the meager protection of the porch roof, a boy stood behind a man in wheelchair.

Bella beat him home, the old man thought. That’s unfortunate.

Hey, it’s Bella! The boy’s thoughts were much more enthusiastic.

I could think of only one reason that Billy Black would be unhappy to see Bella arrive before her father. And that reason involved a broken treaty. I would have confirmation soon enough; Billy hadn’t seen me yet.

“Has he forgotten who the treaty actually protects?” I hissed.

Bella glanced up at me, confused, though I doubted I’d spoken slowly enough for my words to be intelligible.

Jacob saw me in the driver’s seat just a second before Billy did.

Him again. So she must be dating him. His enthusiasm vanished.

NO! Billy’s thought was a shout, and then a mental groan. No.

I heard his half-articulated fears—should he tell his son to run? Was it already too late?—and then his guilt.

How did it know?

I saw that I was right, that this visit was no innocent social call.

Parking the truck against the curb, I locked eyes with the frightened man.

“This is crossing the line.” I enunciated clearly this time. I hoped he could read my lips.

Bella understood immediately. “He came to warn Charlie?” She sounded horrified by the idea.

I nodded, not breaking away from Billy’s stare. After a second more, he looked down.

“Let me deal with this,” Bella suggested.

As much as I would have loved to get out of the truck and stalk up to the helpless duo—to lean over them, intimidating, close enough that all the little signs of what I was would feel like they were screaming at the old man, to bare my teeth and snarl a warning in a voice that would sound anything but human, to watch his hair stand on end and hear his heart splutter with panic—I knew it was a bad idea. For one thing, Carlisle wouldn’t like it. For another, though the boy was well aware of the legends, he would never believe them. Unless I got in their faces and flaunted my less human side.

“That’s probably best,” I agreed. “Be careful, though. The child has no idea.”

Annoyance flashed suddenly across her face. I was confused until she spoke.

“Jacob is not that much younger than I am.”

It was the word child that had offended her.

“Oh, I know,” I teased.

Bella sighed and reached for the door handle, no happier about separating than I was.

“Get them inside so I can leave. I’ll be back around dusk,” I promised.

“Do you want my truck?”

“I could walk home faster than this truck moves.”

She smiled for a second, and then her face fell. “You don’t have to leave,” she murmured.

“Actually, I do.” I glanced at Billy Black. He was staring again, but he looked away quickly when he met my gaze. “After you get rid of them…” I felt a smile spreading across my face, a little too wide. “You still have to prepare Charlie to meet your new boyfriend.”

“Thanks a lot,” she moaned.

But while she clearly worried about Charlie’s reaction, I could see that she would go through with this. She would give me a label in her human world, something to let me belong there.

My smile softened. “I’ll be back soon.”

I appraised the humans on the porch one more time. Jacob Black was embarrassed, thinking caustic thoughts about his father for dragging him out to spy on Bella and her boyfriend. Billy Black was still suffused with fear, expecting me to suddenly begin butchering everyone in sight. It was insulting.

In that frame of mind, I leaned over to kiss Bella goodbye. Just to mess with the old man, I pressed my lips to her throat rather than her lips.

The agonized shouting in his head was nearly drowned out by the sound of Bella’s heart racing, and I wished the irritating humans would disappear.

But her eyes were on Billy now, appraising his distress.

“Soon,” she commanded. After one short, forlorn look, she opened the door and climbed out.

I sat very still as she jogged through the light rain to the door. “Hey, Billy. Hi, Jacob,” she said with forced enthusiasm. “Charlie’s gone for the day—I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

“Not long,” the man said quietly. He kept glancing at me and then away again. He held up a brown paper bag. “I