“Why the fuck should I care what happens to the Cullens?” I roared into the lonely room. They were the ones that had gotten me into this screwed up mess and then left me to deal with it on my own.

I pulled back the heavy damask drapes and pushed open the window, the sun pouring over my body infusing me with a small measure of calm. “God, I hope I don’t have to see them again,” I whispered into the sunny afternoon. Seeing Alice had been difficult. So hard, that I’d convinced myself that she’d been a figment of my imagination. Seeing Edward would almost certainly break me. I prayed with everything in me, that Aro did not bring them here.

The door closed and I whipped around to face the intruder only to come face to face with Dylan.

“Get out,” I snapped, my eyes blazing as I remembered my little chat with his lover. I could still feel her hands wrapped in my hair and the bruise on my hip.

He ignored me and walked further into the room, his eyes watchful, but otherwise void of all expression. “I know you’re angry, Bells.”

“Bella. To you, I’m just Bella.” No more pet names from the lying bastard. “You son of a bitch!” I screamed, my hand having a mind of its own and landing a solid smack right across his sexy face. “Get out! I have nothing to say to you!” I kept swinging at him, tears streaking down my cheeks as he stood there and let me pummel him.

He wrapped his arms around my trembling body and pinned my arms down by my side. “Hush, woman. Just hear me out. Please.”

His lips feathered across my cheek, his tongue lapping at my spilled tears and damn if my body didn’t fill with want and desire. It was all a lie, I kept reminding myself. Just his natural gift that would bloom into a full blown power if he was ever turned into a vampire.

“Let me go, Dylan.”

“No,” he replied, his lips hovering over mine. “You are going to hear me out. If you still want me out of your life, then I’ll go, but you will listen to me. I will not have you condemn me based on a jealous vampire’s accusations.”