A/N: Hey there friends! Long time…and all that! Here's a chapter I've been sitting on for this little story. I'm thinking one more chapter after this should just about do it. But I like these two so I may add on at some point with some futuretakes or an epi.
For those of you waiting on Stumbling Home updates, they're coming, I'm promise! Things got nutso busy in RL and then I sort of lost my writing mojo for a while there. I've got a chapter nearly finished and the last few should follow weekly. I personally hate waiting for conclusions, so I promise to get it to you asap now that the words are flowing freely again.
Oh and I don't own twilight and all that, but I do own this sweet, fluffy/filthy little plot.
My fingers brushed over her skin again and again in the same spot, tracing the letters and the delicate swirls of ink marking just under her breast. I'd been obsessing over it all morning. She was still sleeping, her head resting on my chest. I'd never really enjoyed this before. The cuddling, the closeness people craved after sex. I never understood why people wanted to linger in bed with someone. Sleeping with limbs entwined seemed impractical and uncomfortable. But I couldn't seem to take my hands off of Bella now that I was free to touch her the way I'd longed to.
I swept the hair from her face and kissed her forehead. Smiling at the gentle snores she was making. Her hot breath fell on my bare chest and her fingers twitched slightly over my heart. That was something new I'd learned about Bella in the last twelve hours. Her hands and occasionally her feet twitched slightly when she was deeply sleeping. I smiled at the idea that I still had more to learn about this sweet girl. I was foolish enough, just yesterday, to think that I knew everything about the girl I loved, but now I could see how naive that was. Before yesterday I never knew that she spoke in her sleep. I never knew that she made soft gasps and breathy moans when she was near climax. Or that she loved when I licked, sucked or even bit the place where her neck met her shoulder. I also never knew that she had this tattoo hiding under her gorgeous breast. But I still didn't know what it meant. It was written in Spanish, but I never learned to speak it. I recognized a few of the words, like love and…okay so I recognized one word, but I'd opted to learn German in high school and then Mandarin in college so…yeah, not great with Spanish. The little elegant letters GGM at the end of the phrase were puzzling me at the moment. It was most likely a quote given Bella's unnatural obsession with literature.
The soft snoring slowed and I felt my girl begin to stir as my fingers continued to trace the GGM on her chest.
"What are you doing?" she asked in a whisper. "Shouldn't you be sleeping? You wore me the hell out. Aren't you tired too?" She lifted her head slightly from my chest and looked up at me with sleepy eyes. Deep pools of brown that had so much power over me it was fucking ridiculous.
"Gabriel Garcia Marquez!" I said suddenly. Excited by my own insight. See, I did know a thing or two about this beautiful girl. Maybe I did deserve to be with her.
She looked up at me with a confused scowl, "Wha-?" she asked, eloquently.
I ran my fingers across her tattoo with slightly more pressure than I'd been using. "What does it mean?" I asked quietly. She took a moment to catch up with me. I can't blame her; she had no idea what madness was spinning in my head.
"Oh." Realization colored her voice. "It's a quote from 'Love in the Time of Cholera". It says, 'Think of love as a state of grace, not the means to anything but the alpha and the omega, an end in itself.'"
"When did you have this done?"
She looked slightly uncomfortable at the question. But she answered, "Last summer, a couple of weeks after your birthday party."
I tried to remember anything strange about my birthday party and I was drawing a blank. I remembered Emmett and Jazz inviting every girl they knew over and getting us a stupid fucking bounce house in the back yard. Really bad idea to have a bounce house and tons of free liquor at your party. Emmett ended the night with a black eye courtesy of Jasper's knee and Alice nearly broke her neck falling out of the thing. Eventually I shut that shit down when Bella busted out the tequila. That girl cannot hold her tequila. She was so drunk she tried to get in my pants when— Oh shit, did she remember that? She was wasted and she'd acted so normal the next day, I just assumed she'd blacked that shit out.
"Baby did something happen at the party to inspire this?" I asked brushing my fingers again on her ink before settling my hand on her breast.
"Mmmm…." she hummed in response to my groping. Probably not conducive to conversation, but it was right fucking there, waiting for my hand to give it some attention. "Umm…" she continued after a minute. "I don't know. Now it seems stupid, but I don't regret the tattoo. It's been a bit of a mantra to me."
"Why?" I was dense enough to have to ask.
"Well, to me it speaks about the importance of love for the sake of love, without the expectation of something in return. I was particularly down on myself after that party, after throwing myself at you and being rejected, after seeing that girl Lauren exiting your room in the morning. I just needed to draw strength from the idea that my love for you was not conditional on it being returned. It was the start of me accepting that you would probably never feel the same about me. That I should appreciate the love as a gift in itself and try to move on." She sniffed as I wiped the tears from her cheeks. What had I done to deserve that kind of devotion? I don't believe I will ever be truly deserving of her, but I will spend every day of my life trying to.
"Bella, that's beautiful. Horribly sad and I wish I could take back so much of the pain I caused with my stupidity. I will forever regret hurting you. I thought you were wasted that night. I would never take advantage of you like that. I didn't even think you remembered it. And as for some chick coming out of my room, that may be true, but I didn't spend the night there. I spent it outside in one of the patio chairs. Just me, a bottle of Jack and a whole lot of self-pity."
"Oh baby, that sounds like a shitty birthday. I must have made it so much more difficult on you, throwing myself at you like that even if I wasn't as drunk as you thought. I might have been playing that up a bit, in case you rejected me."
"I made that situation. I could have talked to you, but I pushed you away like an idiot." I held her face gently, brushing away the few tears that lingered under her eye. "Can you ever forgive me for putting you through that? I'm not sure I'll be able to forgive myself."
"There's nothing to forgive Edward. You were only doing what you thought was right. You were trying to keep your promise." She was so gracious. I could have handled a lot of things better, but she was willing to overlook my callous behavior. I leaned down and kissed her lips softly.
"I don't deserve you. I will be here trying to be the man you deserve and need, until you send me away." I said, watching as her eyes widened at my words.
Just as she opened her mouth to respond a loud banging interrupted our quiet morning bubble.
"Bella-B! Belly! Belly! Belly!" Emmett shouted as he rapped loudly on the door. "Make us some pancakes, pleeeeaaaassee!" he whined through the door.
We both stared at the door in disgust. Emmett could be an ass, but it was so much worse when he was hungry or hungover. I suspected both.
Bella looked at me as she shouted, "Go away Em! There are pancakes in the freezer, but I'm sleeping for another hour!"
"Aww! Please, the fresh ones you make with chocolate chips are the best. I'm sure Eddie would like some too when he gets up. That lazy fucker's still sleeping!"
I watched as she suppressed a giggle. "The ones in the freezer will tide you over for an hour. Now go away or I'm not making anything for you at all!" With that she dropped her head back down onto my chest and tightened her arms around me. Emmett seemed to heed her warning because there was nothing but the sound of his retreating footsteps after that. I pulled her tight and nuzzled her hair.
"I love you so much Bella." I whispered into her hair. I didn't think it adequately expressed how I felt for her, but it would have to do.
"I love you too," she said with a yawn.
"Sleep now, Love. I'll wake you in an hour."
"m'Kay," she muttered, already halfway to sleep.
As Bella slept in my arms, I began thinking about our friends and how I'd let them lead me astray with Bella. I'd let it happen, but I'd also believed my friends were following their own promises too. In reality, it was just me taking that shit seriously and both Bella and I had been hurt as a result. I couldn't help but start to plot some serious payback for those fuckers. Especially Rose and Alice. I mean those two actually took advantage of my girl's feelings for me. They tried to seduce her in a moment of weakness. Em and Jazz are bad, but I think they're just idiots.
No, those assholes all need to learn some serious lessons. Bella would never seek revenge on her own; she's got a gentle soul. She might stew and plot revenge, but never actually follow through. I'll have to convince her that this is a lesson our roommates need to learn. Too bad Rose and Alice are so far away. Late last summer they moved to New York where Alice had an internship lined up. We'll have to be clever in how we deal with them. Mischievous retribution from long distance can be a tricky business.
Bella stirred in my arms and looked up at me with sleepy eyes.
"What's got you thinking so hard? I can practically hear your wheels spinning from here," she mumbled sweetly.
"Just trying to sort out what to do about our friends," I answered, brushing the hair from her face so I can see her fully. God she's fucking beautiful.
She hummed thoughtfully. "They really do deserve some kind of fallout from this fuckery don't they?" she said surprising the hell out of me. I'm sure the devious smirk that grew on my face looked absurd, but I reveled in the sound of her responding giggle.
"Let me think on it a bit," she mused. "I'll be sharper after I've had some caffeine. For now, I think we should keep things between us quiet." I'm sure my face morphed into a harsh scowl because she rushed to explain, "Not because I don't want to tell people, believe me I would love to tell everyone that we're together, but this is a secret we can use to fuck with those meddling idiots. I think it's the best weapon in our arsenal at this point."
"Fine," I conceded petulantly. "I'm not sure I can keep my hands off of you, but I'll try."
Without warning, she hopped out of bed in all her naked glory. I slung my arm quickly around her waist and tugged her back down to the mattress causing her to giggle wildly.
"Where do you think you're going baby girl?" I asked. Her laughter slowed and she shivered as my breath caressed her soft skin, my lips tracing the edge of her jaw.
"I…I was gonna get dressed and make breakfast?" she said, her voice rising in question at the end.
"But I'm not done with you yet, sweet girl." I slid my hand down along her gorgeous curves until it came to rest on the soft mound between her delicious thighs. "They can wait a while longer."
My fingers slid into her folds, finding her warm and wet for me. She arched up, her back rising off the bed as I plunged two fingers into her.
"You've got to be quiet for me. Can you do that?" I teased as my fingers moved in and out of her. She nodded mutely. I made my way down her body, tasting her heated skin as I moved. She whimpered as my tongue circled her swollen clit. I could tell she was trying to keep quiet, but her moans got louder as I brought her body rapidly to climax. I love that I was learning her body this way—that I could drive her crazy so quickly. I watched in awe at the look on her face flush with ecstasy; it was a sight I would never tire of.
As she came down from her high, a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. She sprang up from the bed and shoved against my shoulder with more force than I expected from her small body. Rolling onto my back with a surprised huff, I let me legs dangle off the edge of the bed. She straddled my hips, sending me a coy smile, before slipping down to the floor between my parted legs. Coming up onto my elbows I watched with fascination as she gripped my length in her hand. Her lips parted and she leaned in to leave slow wet kisses on the tip of my painfully hard cock. Before I could stop it a strangled groan left my throat at the sight of her mouth sinking down around me.
"Fuuuck!" I cried out hoarsely.
She pulled her mouth off of me with a small 'pop'.
"Sshhhhhhh!" she admonished playfully before resuming her efforts.
My hands found their way into her wildly mussed hair and she gripped onto my thighs as she moved over my shaft, taking me in as deeply as she could. It took everything in me not to thrust up into her mouth. I had no idea if that was something she would like, but damn if I wasn't desperate to try it. She moved her hand down and gripped the base of my cock, working it in tandem with her mouth.
"Baby…" I gritted out in warning as she hollowed her cheeks around me. My hold on her hair tightened as fought for control. "Shit…I'm gonna cum…baby…"
I tried to pull her off, but she gripped my thigh fiercely as she sped up her pace. I couldn't keep my hips still, my thrusts meeting her movements as I came hard, pulsing into her hot mouth. It took me a few minutes before I could think again. When I finally was able to focus on anything other than my own rapid heartbeat, I looked up to find a very self-satisfied Bella hovering over me. The proud expression on her face was so adorable, I was compelled to pull her down and kiss her deeply.
"Damn baby girl, you're just full of surprises aren't you?" I asked in wonder.
She smirked at me before hopping up from the bed and heading across the room.
"We've only just gotten started," she tossed over her shoulder as she disappeared behind her closet door.
I must have dozed off for a few minutes because when I opened my eyes again I was greeted with the sight of Bella emerging from the bathroom fully dressed. I was vaguely aware that she was speaking to me, but I couldn't focus on the words she was saying. My attention was captivated by the smooth, creamy expanse of skin before me. Her waist was cinched in some retro looking shorts that left miles of leg on display. And her tits were framed perfectly in some red halter top number covered in black cherries. She looked like all kinds of trouble and my brain officially gave up trying to formulate thoughts as I gaped openly at her.
A sharp crack against my face brought me out of my stupor.
"Damn, baby. What was that for?" I asked rubbing my cheek.
Bella rolled her eyes as she kneeled onto the bed beside me.
"You were stuck in some kind of boob induced trance. I had no other choice," she answered.
"Sorry," I mumbled insincerely.
She just rolled her eyes again and said, "I have an idea for fucking with our friends."
I knew she'd come through. "Cool. Let's hear it." I reached up and pulled on the back of her neck, bringing her down for a kiss.
She pulled away, a little dazed herself, giving me a soft smile.
"Well Jasper and Emmett are easy, because they're, you know, here. We can just gaslight them a bit," she stated simply.
At my blank look she continued, "You know make them think they're crazy by slowly changing the norm. I was thinking I can become increasingly flirtatious with them, but super slowly and you have to act like there's nothing odd about my behavior or it won't work. If you act jealous then the whole deal is blown. They each have to think it's all in their heads," she shrugged.
"Uh….Nope." I declared with finality. "I am not watching you flirt with those bastards and pretending it doesn't bother me. That is not a fucking option."
"Well then what do you propose? I refuse to do anything truly cruel. I don't want to have some big argument over it. I just thought it'd be funny to fuck with them a bit."
Her idea was a good one, if I didn't have years of pent up jealousy and frustration brewing. No, I would never survive that. I'm not sure I could even survive pretending I'm not madly in love with her for any length of time. Suddenly the perfect idea came to mind. Only question was: could I get her to agree to a truly crazy scheme…for as long as we both shall live?
"I think I've got something better," I told her. "How opposed are you to skipping classes for a couple of days?"