moment, probably listening to my heart beat.
"But jealousy... it's a strange thing. So much more powerful than I would have thought. Much more powerful than I did think. And irrational! Every time you look at anyone. Every time anyone looks at you. All the time! Just now, when Charlie asked you about that vile, pedestrian Mike Newton... " He shook his head angrily.
"I should have known you'd be listening," I moaned.
"Of course!" He giggled.
I rolled my eyes. What was Fredward even talking about?
"I'm new at this; you're resurrecting the human in me, and it's getting messy."
"But honestly," I teased, "for that to bother you, after I have to hear that Rosalie—Rosalie, the incarnation of pure beauty, your sister—was meant for you. Emmett or no Emmett, how can I compete with raw beauty? Even if she is dating your brother, how can I compete with your sister?" I sighed, slumping onto the bed and feeling unpretty.
"There's no competition." He drew my trapped hands around his back, holding me so tight and pressing my face against his chest. I kept as still as I could, struggling to breathe.
"I know there's no competition," I mumbled into his cold skin, feeling sorry for myself. "That's the problem."
"Of course Rosalie is beautiful in her way, but even if she wasn't my sister, even if Emmett didn't belong with her, even if she is objectively more attractive, well-dressed and interesting than you are, she could never have one tenth, no, one hundredth of the attraction you hold for me." He was serious now, thoughtful. He scooted my head closer to his neck and face, putting his lips in my ear. "The truth is, I have absolutely no interest in eating her. For almost ninety years I've walked among my kind, and yours... all the time thinking I was complete in myself, not realizing how incomplete I was. And not finding anything, because you weren't even alive yet."
"It hardly seems fair," I whispered, my face still resting

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Chapter 14

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