"I'll send in the nurse." The voice sounded very bored.
"I won't take it," I promised.
He looked toward the sack of fluid hanging beside my bed. "I don't think they're going to ask you to swallow anything."
My heart rate started to climb. He read the fear and excitement in my eyes and sighed in frustration.
"Bella, you're a pain. You need to relax so you can heal. Why are you so difficult? They're not going to put any more needles in you now."
"I'm not afraid of the needles."
"Yes you are."
Then he smiled his crooked smile, and took my face between his hands. "I told you I'm not going anywhere. Don't be afraid. Not of the needles, not of being alone, not of nothing. As long as it makes you happy, I'll be here. To push your buttons, to hold your face in my hands, to tell you everything will be alright, even when it won't."
I smiled back enormously, ignoring the ache in my cheeks, the feeling of his fingers digging into my sore flesh. "You're talking about forever, you know."
"What?"
"Forever. That's how long I want you to push my buttons and stuff."
"Oh, you'll get over it—it's just a crush."
I shook my head in disbelief—it made me dizzy. "I was shocked when Rénee swallowed that one. I know you know better."
"That's the beautiful thing about being human," he told me. "Things change."
My eyes narrowed. "Don't hold your breath."
He was laughing aloud when the nurse came in, brandishing a syringe.
"Excuse me," she said brusquely to Fredward.
He got up and crossed to the end of the small room,

479

Chapter 24

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