Blockbuster Teaser

 I took the computer from Bella, watching her briefly as she went inside. I sat down, balancing the computer on my knees. “Seth, I really mean it when I said that it was nice to meet you. I hope, in time, we’ll get to meet, face-to-face,” I said sincerely, giving him a small smile. “Your mom has become someone very important to me.”

“You must be. You’re the first guy she’s ever showed any interest in,” Seth said. “Uncle Emmett and Aunt Rose tried to get her to date Uncle Jasper, but they’re too different. They’re more like brother/sister.”

“I can see that,” I snickered. “Now, what can I do for you, Seth?”

Seth looked at me. His eyes were fierce and in that moment, I didn’t see a little boy, but a young man who was going to protect his mother. He’d seen all she’d endured, and he didn’t want her to hurt any more. He would do anything for her. “My mom would probably kick my ass for saying this, but you hurt her, I hurt you,” he sneered. “She’s had too many people betray her trust … I don’t want my mom to be sad, to be hurt anymore. She thinks she hides it, but she doesn’t. I see her. I’ve witnessed her getting hurt, injured. I was too little to help, but now I have a say. I can help her now and I will!”

“Seth, I can promise you, on my soul, that I’d never hurt your mom, in any way. It would destroy me to hurt her,” I vowed, holding my hand above my heart. “Like I said, she’s become very important to me.”

“Do you love her?” Seth asked, a child-like innocence on his expression on his face and within his question. “She needs someone to love her. Really love her. And, I’m not talking about the kind of love that my aunt and uncles give her. Uncle Em and Aunt Rose, they give her support and friendship. What did she call it? A soft place to land. We have no other family and they’re it for us. She needs … I don’t know what I’m trying to say. She’s empty, Mr. Cullen. She goes through the motions of life, but isn’t living.”

Fuck, this kid is breaking my heart. And, he’s wise beyond his years.

I looked at Seth, witnessing his raw emotion and the unbreakable bond between mother and son, their undeniable love for each other. They’d fought for every moment, finding a new life, and some semblance of happiness, but even this boy saw how lost and broken his mother was. He wanted nothing more than for her to be happy, protected and loved. I answered him honestly, “Seth, I’m falling for her, but speaking to you, man to man, if I said something to her now, she’d panic.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know if she told you exactly what happened a couple days ago, but she told me everything about her past,” I said. “She’s trying to come to grips with me knowing her history. With me spouting out that I’d loved her? She’d run.” She already tried and I’d found her. I held her as she cried, with her shame becoming a living entity in the hotel room where I’d found her.

“But, could you love her, even knowing what you know now?” Seth asked.

“I could, Seth,” I breathed. To be honest, kid, I already do. I blinked up, watching as Bella came walking back. “She’s coming back outside. I promise you that I won’t hurt her. I couldn’t. To hurt her would hurt me,” I assured solemnly.

Seth eyed me, trying to understand my intentions. “I’ll have to take your word for it,” he clipped.

“Look, Seth, I know that you’re like your mom in your hesitancy to trust. I wouldn’t blame you,” I said quickly. “I’m a stranger and you have no reason to trust me.”

“If my mom trusts you, you have to be a good guy. She’s pretty closed off except with me, Aunt Rose and Uncles Emmett and Jasper. But, the fact that you know what happened to her, to us, says a lot,” Seth murmured.

“I know, Seth,” I breathed.