"Ugh." I winced.
"Bella, what is it?" he asked anxiously—distracted, but not enough. The bleakness did not entirely leave his eyes.
"Needles," I explained, looking away from the one in my hand. I concentrated on a warped ceiling tile and tried to breathe deeply despite the ache in my ribs.
"Afraid of a needle," he muttered to himself under his breath, shaking his head in amusement. "Oh, a sadistic vampire, intent on torturing her to death in her childhood ballet studio, sure, no problem, she runs off to meet him. An IV, on the other hand... "
I rolled my eyes. I was pleased to discover that this reaction, at least, was pain-free. I decided to change the subject. "Why are you here?" I asked.
He stared at me, first confusion and then hurt touching his eyeballs. His brows pulled together as he frowned. "Do you want me to leave?"
"No!" I protested, horrified by the thought. "No, I meant why does mom think you're here? I need to have my story straight before she gets back."
"Oh," he said, and his forehead smoothed back into marble. "I came to Phoenix to talk some sense into you, to convince you to come back to Forks and be in love with me." His wide eyes were so earnest and sincere, I almost believed them myself. "You agreed to see me, and you drove out to the hotel where I was staying with Carbomb and Alice—of course I was here with parental supervision," he inserted virtuously, "but you tripped on the stairs on the way to my room and... well, you know the rest. You don't need to remember any

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Chapter 24

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