Author Notes: Well, readers, here's your first taste of my baddie Edward, also known as Assward. In my opinion, he's scrumptious. Even if he is a complete jerk. ;)
EPOV
My penthouse overlooked the city. Top floor, floor to ceiling windows, no blinds or drapes for my windows in the living room. If I wanted to sparkle in the daylight in my own place, I would fucking sparkle. No one would know or see my secret way up here, in my home away from home. I sought a haven here whenever my little human wife became an annoyance with her neediness, her weak desire for love.
I didn't love. I only wanted. The things I had said to her in the past to get her to love me hadn't meant much to me, but they'd meant everything to her. That had caught my sweet-scented little butterfly in my web, keeping her drug-like blood in my presence, and assuring that I didn't need to keep up the pretenses to keep her snagged once my wedding ring was on her finger.
I had my cake, and I could eat it too, so to speak.
Bella Swan was mine. As well as anyone else I wanted.
It turned out that I wanted Tanya the past couple of weeks, and I had Tanya. At the expense of my wife. Standing in front of one of my windows, staring down upon the unknowing world, I sneered. She'd been gone for over a week now, having ran away to Forks, or maybe even La Push.
Yes, I knew very well where she fled each time she took her little "vacations", and I knew exactly who she fled to. It was laughable that she ran to the dog in her moments of weakness, but what could I or anyone else expect from a spineless human like Bella? If she hadn't smelled so good or met my bedroom standards when the need arose, I would have left her long ago to run back to her canine pal.
The poor mechanic, Jacob Black, was not my competition. He was more like the trash can, waiting hopefully and fruitlessly for the day that I decided to severe my ties to Bella Swan and toss out the trash. Unfortunately for Black, that day would never come. His affections for my wife would never be returned, because I was addicted to her like some sort of toxic drug. Which meant that, no matter how far or often she ran from me, I would always bring her back, though I knew I would never have to do so by force.
Bella loved me. She would come back in due time, once she realized yet again that Jacob Black was not the answer to her problems. Maybe, by then, I'd be done with Tanya, and I could spare the poor mortal a bit of my affections to hold her over.
That was as long as she didn't push her luck, as long as she returned to me within the time I had allotted in my head. Otherwise, she would have to be punished with neglect, because there were a few people outside of the human world that were aware of Bella and I, of my… condition, and of our "forbidden love." Like the Volturi.
Senator or not, I still had to answer to them, and they weren't too keen on Bella's mortal soul, not wanting any human to live with the knowledge of our existence. As long as she was under my roof and my thumb, I didn't hear much of a peep from them, but they always seemed to know when Bella wandered away. It was annoying, but they could be held at bay for a period of time. That was the time I had designated for Bella to return to me. After all, I was already pushing my luck in their books by being a senator. Though I covered my tracks well enough by my fake admittance of a skin condition I didn't really have, there were still risks.
Risks I was willing to take, and odds that I knew I could beat.
"Edward."
I turned. Tanya had finally grown bored with waiting on me to return to the bedroom, and had sauntered out with the bed sheets wrapped around her gloriously naked body. I stood without any such hindrance on my body, completely at home with nudity. I watched Tanya drink me in—though she'd seen me naked plenty of times before—and her eyes darkened. I felt my own arousal stir as I caught the lust in her eyes.
"You said you wouldn't be long," she reminded me. "I waited."
I smirked at her as she stepped into the sunlight spilling into the living room. Her skin immediately reflected with the same diamond-like quality of my own. Together, we looked like two pale, ghostly lights. Almost pure in our perfection and gleam. I nearly laughed. My soul—if I even truly had one left—was anything but pure. It happened when you lived in the world of politics and bloodlust.
Speaking of blood, there was a smear of it on Tanya's chin. The venom pooled reflexively in the back of my throat. I'd thought we'd drained the homeless victim in my bedroom dry, but it seemed that Tanya had missed the last little trickle that had dribbled down her chin.
I hungered for it. I wasn't docile like my family. I rejected and rebuffed the ideas of vegetarianism as a resource for the spineless. Human blood was the only filling meal we could ever receive. Feeding off of animals was cheating ourselves. I didn't like to be cheated, though my family openly would have preferred if I did. That was why we'd been forced to severe ties long ago. They couldn't hold me back anymore.
Tanya's pretty head cocked to the side, her chin jutting forth almost thoughtlessly.
Or maybe she had done it on purpose to lure me in. That was like Tanya. That was what Bella lacked. She couldn't share this with me. Not unless I wanted to lose the sweet scent of her blood forever.
"Let's not keep you waiting any longer," I spoke softly.
Tanya's lips split into an expectant smile as I closed the distance between us. I hissed happily as our cold, marble flesh met, and the swell of Tanya's breasts pressed against me. Her hand immediately went between us. Mine went to her chin, cupping it, and drawing it upward. My tongue snaked out, catching the blood on her chin as I trailed my tongue across it, cleaning her, tasting her and the victim we had murdered together. Tanya shuddered in response, gasping softly.
I pressed a kiss to her lips only once, and then, forcefully, I turned her, shoved her over the back of the couch, and took her for the fifth time that day. Something that would have broken my little porcelain Bella.
~!~!~!~
Tanya remained sprawled, naked, across my bed as I dressed for the evening. Sliding into a suit, a tie, and combing my hair into a messy wave, I admired my physical beauty in the mirror in my bedroom, allowing Tanya to enjoy me as well. The bed sheets were tangled around her legs now, and she looked like a perfectly delectable image in my bed, but I had other things to do now. Other things that were more important than women and sex. Sadly.
"See you tonight," I told her, as I left my place, my sweet haven of secrets.
When I stepped out into the hall, pressing the button to call the elevator up, I received an unexpected and unpleasant surprise. As the elevator doors slid open, I was greeted by the sight of a young girl, looking deceivingly powerless and innocent. I stiffened in reflex at the sight of her, but forced myself to step into the elevator beside her without hesitation. It was a matter of pride, and it was, I was sure, a test on her part.
"Jane," I acknowledged her tonelessly.
"Edward," she replied, her voice tinged with pleasure. "How's your wife?"
I kept my face completely smooth, cold, and aloof. As the elevator doors slid shut, closing me into a small space with a wicked, malicious vampire, I held my own. There was much to fear from Jane and her power, but I wasn't going to be the first one to break into a cold sweat. I wasn't going to give this little girl that sort of satisfaction. That was what she wanted most, I knew. That was what she craved.
"She's perfectly fine," I answered.
I kept my gaze straight ahead as the elevator lowered us down into the belly of the building. I could feel Jane's eyes flick up toward me, watching my face. I had a feeling I knew where this conversation was going, and I was disappointed that I was going to be in such an unpleasant mood for the meeting I was headed for to discuss a variety of important city policies. A shame, indeed.
"And how's Tanya?"
Jane's voice was like ice.
"She's enjoyable," I responded without pause.
Jane laughed. In contrast to the monster that she undoubtedly was, Jane had a girlish, tinkling laugh, almost like bells ringing. Yet another deceiving quality for a vampire of her status.
"You should enjoy her while you can, because Aro grows increasingly displeased the longer your real bride is gone," Jane informed me. "You know well the consequences you will face if she is not soon reigned in."
My mouth formed a thin, white line despite my best intentions to remain impassive. If there was one creature to get under my skin, it was Jane. Though the entire group of Volturi vampires might be the equivalent in the ability to do the same. It was their unbreakable hold over me that infuriated me the most. I, a man of power, wealth, and prestige, could not disobey the orders of a clan of vampires hidden in Italy, watching my every move, dictating how I lived my life as well as what I did with my own wife.
"I am aware."
"Good," Jane spoke. "See that you see to it soon, Senator Cullen. It will be in your best interest, though I myself would enjoy our next meeting if you do not."
I gritted my teeth so hard it was surprising they didn't shatter like glass. All in the name of restraining myself from saying something vile and dangerous to little Jane. It was a stroke of luck that the elevator found our designated floor at that moment, chimed, and slid open. Jane sent me a small, dark smile before she stepped off ahead of me. I waited until she disappeared into the crowd, and then I stepped out as well.
Bella's flight to Jacob Black was far less amusing to me now.
~!~!~!~
I was late to the meeting, just as I had suspected that I would be, but there wasn't a suit in the room that would hazard pointing it out to me as I slipped inside the room into the meeting that had already commenced. I took my seat with a frown on my face. Those situated around me sent me brief, curious glances but remained tight-lipped.
A woman to my left leaned slightly toward me. I would have smirked if I hadn't been so furious, but it wasn't anything unusual anyway. Like all the other harpy females in the room, she couldn't resist my naturally compelling aura that fucked with her brainwaves, overrode her basic survival instincts, and told her to go to me willingly. Too bad I wasn't in the mood.
I sent her a long, dark look anyway, despite my annoyance. Maybe I could slightly relate to her. As helplessly as she was drawn to me, I was equally compelled to take advantage of prey that flocked to me. I spared her business attire that one look, envisioning tearing into her jacket and blouse, popping buttons, tearing her bra, and tasting the flesh of her generous swell of breasts in my mouth. I could imagine driving her to that peak with just the flick of my tongue.
I'd let her hit that first wave, and then I'd tear through the rest of her clothing, pump myself into her, and then hit my own climax while simultaneously sealing my orgasm by sinking my teeth into her neck and drinking her dry.
I felt the stirring of my arousal in my own pants, straining against the black material, and I pursed my lips. The woman beside me must have been reading my face, or perhaps just feeling the secondhand effects of my own sexual desires, because her eyes had gone completely dark, and I caught them glancing toward my crotch. She was practically salivating beside me.
I turned away from her, denying myself the gratification I was yearning for, and closing her off from what she wanted as well. I heard her whimper behind me, and I nearly snorted as I refocused my attention on the man at the end of the table that had resumed talking from when I had interrupted him moments before. He seemed oblivious to what had just passed between the mortal and me, or he'd chosen to ignore it. I couldn't tell. I didn't care.
At the moment, I didn't care what he had to say either. The meeting didn't need my input so much as it did my approval, and I was appreciative of that fact. At the moment, I didn't care about the transportation issues—or whatever it was that I'd forgotten this meeting was about—any more than I cared about the fact that the woman beside me had began to rub her leg provocatively against mine.
Imbecile. Couldn't she tell that she'd been rejected?
Ignoring her and the urge to snap her neck, I mentally returned to my meeting with Jane. What she had spoken of posed several problems to me.
One, I was never the one that crawled back to Bella, so it was really impossible for me to go and retrieve her without looking like the needy one.
Two, I simply didn't want Bella back at the moment. With her return, my fun with Tanya would become strained or nonexistent. It wasn't that I minded if my wife knew about or witnessed any of the actions I would engage with Tanya in, but Tanya was as female as she was vampire, and she was jealous. It took the spirit out of her when Bella's depressing presence was near. I couldn't have that. I needed to be sated, and I needed Tanya to be the one to make me so while I still thirsted for her like this.
That left me with a problem. The Volturi were warning me of a time frame in which I had to return Bella to my side before they acted, and I wasn't ready for her return. The only pleasant medium I could arrive at was the idea to leave Bella for the time being until the Volturi's allotted time ended.
Certainly, I was testing their patience, but I knew they wouldn't act until the time they had promised me had ended. Even if I waited until the last day to retrieve Bella, they couldn't do anything, and I was open to a little more fun with Tanya before everything was spoiled.
Until then, Jacob Black could exhaust himself trying to fruitlessly seduce my wife, and my wife could continue to hopelessly pine for me.
I was drawn back to the present by the hand of the woman next to me. In a determined sort of way that I almost lowered myself to admire, she had wrapped her fingers around my erection through my pants. I vaguely heard the city Mayor complaining about something to do with parking violations before I turned a raised brow to that woman beside me. Her thumb slid up and down my length once underneath the table as she returned my gaze.
Maybe I would make a slight detour before returning home to Tanya.
