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Thank you to Mari and GeekChic for checking this chapter out.


Chapter 7

Present

Edward's POV


I'm more than aware that I'm not allowed to touch her anymore. Yet, I reach for her.

She steps away just a second before I reach for her hand in a move so graceful it hurts. Just as it is second nature to me to touch her, it's become second nature for her to avoid my touch.

I want to be upset, but I have no right. "What are you doing here?"

"A friend invited me," she says, swirling red wine in the glass she's been holding. Before my jealousy has time to bubble to the surface, she chuckles. "When I saw this place was so close to the office..." She shakes her head. "There was just no way you wouldn't be here, was there?"

I don't say anything.

"Anyway, it was a good scene, right?"

I can't breathe. "What?"

She stares at me as if I'm an alien. This whole encounter feels out of this world.

"My friends, Victoria and James? Their scene was good. Intense."

I narrow my eyes at her. "Those are your friends?"

She takes a sip of her wine and nods. Everything about her behavior screams condescending. She's regarding me like the moron I am. I deserve it.

There are a million questions in my head, fighting my self control. Since when does she drink red wine? Is her hair lighter? How is she?

None of those questions are mine to ask anymore.

"Bella," I say, defeated. "What are you doing here?"

She places her glass on the table behind her and takes her purse. The owner of my heart takes a deep breath and looks at me dead in the eye, no fear in her expression. "I came to watch."

I don't know if she realizes there's sex in her voice, arousal in her eyes. It gets me hard. I don't know who she is anymore, but this, I recognize. This is mine—ours.

Bathing in fake confidence, I step closer to her and delight in the way her breathing picks up. I can smell her perfume. It burns and revives me.

"And will you play?"

She shakes her head and inches closer to speak in my ear. "There's a ring on your finger now."


For the first time during our marriage, I arrive home at 3:00 AM.

Tanya's awake.

"I heard Isabella's back in town," she says after I've joined her in bed. For a moment, I consider denying it but realize there's no point.

I look at her, trying to see past the circles under her eyes and her dry skin, trying to see the person she used to be. "Where do you hear these things, T?"

She laughs, but the sound is more pain than mirth. "I know people."

She plays the "I'm dying" card to everyone until she gets what she wants, is what she means. "Right."

Silence falls between us, and I let myself enjoy it. Tanya's breathing is loud, as usual, and my heart skips a beat every time it falters.

When I think she's fallen asleep again, she speaks. "Don't cheat on me with her, Edward. Please."

She stares at me, begging me with her eyes. When she reaches for my hand, I let her, flinching when her cold wedding band brands me.

"I won't," I say, even if it feels as if I already am.


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