My house phone beeps and I pick up. "Mr. Cullen, there's a Ms. Hale here saying she has an appointment?"
"Yes, send her up, please," I say and then hang up.
"Bella, Rose is on her way up," I say poking my head out of my room to see Bella has done the same.
"I need another ten minutes, could you show her in?"
"Will do; I'm ready just need to put on my shoes." Bella nods pulling her head back in her room. I feel a little put out having not seen what she's wearing.
I pick up my shoes making my way into the living room. I put the right foot on and pick up the left. Only it feels wet. I pick it up and tilt it, seeing the dog's pee run out of it. I look around at Twilight who is lying on the floor covering her face.
"Did you pee in my shoes?" I ask her as my elevator opens.
"Hi," Rose says looking at me, and then to my shoe that still has the pee dripping out of it.
"I need to change my shoes; clean this up, and then I'll tell you what we will need for you to do." Rose nods biting her lip clearly amused by what she sees.
"Twilight, you and I will be having words soon." Twilight whimpers and covers her eyes and I shake my head at her.
I grab another pair of shoes checking them first before putting them on. I walk out shrugging on my jacket seeing Sasha is now sitting with Rose.
"Beebee look pretty, Teddy."
"Does she now?" Sasha bobs her head.
"How do I look?" I ask her and she pats my hair down.
"Like a Prince." I grin at her and she rubs her nose on mine.
"Are you going to be a good girl for Rose?" She nods in confirmation "Twilight sleep with me again?" I sigh knowing every time Bella and I say no, or put Twilight in her own bed, the next morning we always find them snuggled together.
"We'll see."
I stand and look at Rose who has tilted her head, and her eyes keep going between Sasha and mine. "She's had her bath, and as you can see is ready for bed. You can let her watch cartoons till around eight, but give her a ten minute warning, then at five after, give her a five minute warning. After she gets tucked in, read a story till she falls asleep. I have asked Emmett to come up at eight to take Twilight out and he should drop her back off just as your story is done."
"Okay, that sounds fine," Rose says with a little smile.
"There is plenty in the kitchen to eat and drink so help yourself."
I hear movement behind me and I stand up turning as my mouth drops open at Bella. She has on what I think must be the sexist blue dress ever made, and her heels are screaming at me to fuck her.
"Do I look okay?" Bella asks with a shaky voice.
"You look amazing," I say picking up her jacket and moving to her. "Are you ready?" Bella bobs her head at me as she puts on her jacket.
"Sasha, baby, you remember what I said?" Sasha nods and hugs Bella to her. "I'll be back soon, baby." Bella kisses the side of Sasha's face.
Bella spends a few minutes giving Rose the rundown I had just given and then gives her all the numbers where she can reach us. I lead Bella to my car and we set off with Jasper trailing behind us.
"Do they always follow you?" I look to Bella and then to my mirror.
"Yes, and I am thinking of hiring a few more men so Sasha and you will have more than one man on you."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want anything to happen to you?" I make it sound a little like a question.
"Do you have anyone watch your parents?"
"I do have a few men watching my mom and some of the security at the hospital work for me. My mom is more used to it because she has always been a part of it through Aro."
"Aro?"
"My godfather. Aro's father, was my mom's, mother's brother." Bella just looks at me. "He's family." She gives me a nod.
"Can I ask something?"
"Sure," I say with a smile, happy that she wants to get to know me.
"Why do you, Emmett, and Alice look so different?"
I park my car as I start to answer her. "My mom had some problems when she gave birth to me." I stop talking and face her. "She was unable to have any more children after having me. She adopted Emmett; his parents died during a camping trip. Two years after that, Alice's whole family died in a house fire; my dad was her doctor."
"You see them as your brother and sister?"
"Yes," I reply. Bella turns to get out of her door and I lean over and stop her.
"Stay here, let me open the door and do all those old gentlemen stuff like the way I was raised." She just looks at me and I sigh. "If you allow this of me, then I will say please and thank you for the rest of the night."
"You could have just said please to me, you know." I chuckle, she was right.
"But where would you find the fun in that?" I get out and walk around opening Bella's door. I smile as her small hand goes into mine.
I walk us into the restaurant with my hand on the base of her back. The host leads us to the private room I booked, and I help her to sit before taking my own seat.
I sit looking at her and smile when she blushes dropping her head.
"Tell me, Bella, what do you really want to do?"
"What's the point? It's not possible for me."
"Anything is possible if you put your mind to it."
"High school dropout, remember?"
"There's this big building that helps people further their education."
"Yeah, and they said thanks but no thanks to me. Besides, I didn't have money."
"Well, I'm here now," I say and she looks at me.
"If college is what you want, let's make it possible for you. If it's your own business, I'll get it up and running for you, just don't sell yourself short."
"I would like to work in helping people. Like at the women's center. It felt good to help out there."
"Okay, my mom already said you could go and help out, and I'm sure she could talk to you about some courses that would help you out."
"What about you – did you always want to run a hard men's club?" I raise my eyebrow at her and chuckle a little when she gives me her bitch face.
"Good evening, I'm Matt and I will be your sever tonight; what would you like?"
"Firefly?" I say directing Matt's attention to her so she can go first.
"Can I have the steak well done, salad, mashed potatoes, and a glass of lemonade, please?" Matt nods and writes down her order.
"I'll have the same, but I'd like my steak to be rare, please." Once Matt is out of the room, I place my hands on the table.
"Me being the hard man, as you put it, was never in my dreams. I used to—when I was young—want to be a doctor. But my life changed when I was sixteen."
"What happened?"
"I found out my father was not my father. A few other things came to light then as well." I clear my throat. "I did something that changed my outlook. And well, as time went on, I became this person." I wave my hand up and down my torso.
"This may not have been my choice path as a boy, but it is who I am. I'm mostly happy with my life and my businesses."
Bella nods in understanding. "Have you dated much or had many girlfriends?" I shake my head at her as I chuckle.
"Will you answer the question on boyfriends and dating?" She shakes her head no. "Maybe we should stick to only asking questions we will answer ourselves?"
Matt brings in our drinks setting them down and walks away without a word.
"What are you most afraid of?" I ask and Bella's face falls a little as she clears her throat.
"Sasha passing away before she's had a chance to live her life." I swallow as I look at Bella. "There's been a few scary moments in her short five years of life." She looks at me and I know that's all I am going to get from her.
"Finding out I'm more like the monster that made me, makes me want to be better."
Matt comes back in carrying our dinner plates and places them down. "Just call if you need anything else, and please, enjoy your meal."
"What are yours and Sasha's beliefs?"
"I don't believe in god."
I swallow looking at her. I know she doesn't say grace, but I never took her as a non-believer.
"Why?" I ask cutting up my steak.
"Because of what I have seen and been through, more so because of Sasha. She..." Bella stops, shaking her head. "She's amazing, more amazing than you know, yet he makes her feel pain, and there are these evil monsters in this world that feel nothing or go through life not even knowing half of what she goes through. So no, I don't believe in him."
I cover her hand with mine. "I believe in him, and I know that I have a one-way ticket to hell. There's nothing I can do that will redeem me." Bella looks at me and I remove my hand looking down at my plate.
"Who's your best friend?"
Bella looks down and shrugs. "I don't have any friends. There's really has only been Sasha, Mike, and me. You?"
"In my line of work, having friends is not the best thing, but Jasper is my best friend and has been for years."
"He's dating Alice, how did that come about? Aren't you upset about it?"
"No, why would I be? I love her. She's my baby sister and Jasper, as I just said, is my best friend. I know..." I stop and chuckle. "I learned recently that he liked her and had for a bit, but wasn't going to ask her to date him because of our friendship. I told him he was stupid and if he cared for her, I shouldn't factor into it. He asked her out and, as they say, the rest is history."
"You did that for them?"
I nod and look to the side of the table and I jump up moving to her.
"Dance with me," I say holding out my hand.
She takes it and I lead her away from the table. I wrap my left hand around hers and clasp my right hand into hers. I move us slowly around the room keeping my eyes on hers.
I try not to breathe or do anything as we seem to move closer to each other. The whole time my mind is saying the same thing over and over again. 'I could be so much better than Mike for you, firefly'. Bella stops moving and I know I have spoken them aloud. Her hand shoots out slapping me across my face.
"Firefly," I say as her hand comes up again, but I catch it and the other's holding them above her head as I press her against the wall. I stare as her breathing picks up.
Soundly, she moves forward and her lips press to mine. It takes me seconds to respond to her, as our mouths move on instinct with each other. I let her wrist go moving my hands slowly into hers and interlock our fingers. I let my fingers run up her arms until I clasp her face.
I feel her arms go around my neck and into my hair as she pulls herself closer to me. I run my hands down her body cupping her ass. Just as I am about to lift her, the door opens. Bella and I pull apart looking at Matt.
"I'm sorry," he says walking out. Bella pulls further away from me and moves quickly back to her seat. I take my seat again and watch as she eats the rest of her meal, but every now and again she touches her lips and makes me wonder if her lips are still tingling, too.
"What are we doing tomorrow? You said you'd give me my do's and don'ts," Bella says with her head down.
"Look at me," I say, but she keeps her head down. "Look. At. Me." I meant to make it sound like a command, but comes out like a dying man's plea.
She looks up and I see the worry and fear in her eyes. "I told you at the beginning that you control the kisses on the lips. I meant what I said, but I will not say sorry for jumping at a chance when you give it to me." She nods as she touches her lips that are still swollen, and begging for me to kiss them again.
"We'll be having dinner with Aro and his wife Jane. It will just be the four of us. But, you must act like my girlfriend in front of him. He will not hurt you because you mean something to me, but he'll worry if he thinks this is a lie," I say waving my hand between us.
"You have any requirements about what I wear?"
I move a little and look her up and down "No, you look amazing always. But at the ball, the charity thing that we have to attend next month, I will need you to wear a ballroom gown, which I'll, of course, pay for."
The rest of dinner goes by smoothly and by the end, the awkwardness the kiss created had disappeared.
I walk her back to the car, but stop when I have only opened it a little. "Would you like to go for a walk and get some ice cream or something?" I grip the back of my neck and Bella bites her lip, but nods. I close and lock my car and we start to walk to a nearby ice-cream shop.
"Wait," I say pulling her to stop. I take my jacket off holding it open for her to slide on. Once she has it on, we start to walk again.
"I love this time of day," I say.
"Why?"
"It's quiet; most people are home with their families. The stars are shining in the sky. There is just something simple, but magical about nights."
"I like sunrise and sunset." I only turn my head a little hoping she's carries on. "When…" She stops talking and clears her throat. "I went..." Again, she stops talking almost as if she's trying to find the right words to say. "There was a time in my life I was glad that the day was over. It was really a couple of days that ran into one because I couldn't sleep. I was just numb watching the sunset. The next thing I knew the sun was rising again, like nothing happened the day before, wiped clean, forgotten. It made me get up and carry on. Sometimes when I feel down and sad, I will watch the sun set, say goodbye to it, and when the sun rises again, I take that as my sign to move on."
"Have you ever spoken to someone about why you get sad?" I ask.
"No, I don't like to tell people about me."
I nod at her. "I understand. My dad and my mom often say they think I would benefit from speaking to someone. At the end of the day, telling some quack that is paid far too much with his head up his own ass is not going to make me change my mind about how I feel about myself."
We seem to fall into silence on the rest of our walk to the ice-cream shop. We both get a cone and start to walk back to the car.
"Why me?" I hum as I look at her.
"You're a good looking guy, and have money. Most of the girls that work for you may be a little afraid of you, but most would jump at the chance to be your girl, so why me?"
"They're more than a little afraid of me, Firefly and you know it." She doesn't say anything, so I keep talking. "Truth? No bullshit?" I ask and she nods. I close my eyes knowing if she is to ever trust me, then I have to give her something honest.
"I had girlfriends when I was in my early teens, nothing big, but the shit hit the fan. I spun out of control. I was angry, really fucking angry and it changed me, not for the better. From then on, women took a backseat, I would date them but nothing came of it. I was sick of their moaning and shit; they hated me, and they took great delight in saying I couldn't fuck them right. Out of all the lousy lays they had, I was their number one. So I moved on knowing that love and relationships weren't meant for me. Then you came along and something sparked – so that's why you."
"For a minute there, I thought it was for my charming personality."
I chuckle and grin at her. "Oh, Firefly, that's what keeps me hooked."
The drive home is quiet, as we listen to the soft music. When we arrive home, I find myself once again holding my breath as I slide my hand into hers. We walk into the apartment finding Emmett and Rose chatting away on my couch.
"I'll check on Sasha," Bella says moving out of the room.
"Thank you, Rose," I say handing her the cash. "Emmett, will you please see that Ms. Hale gets home safely?"
Emmett grins and nods. I wait till they have left before moving to look in on Sasha myself finding her asleep with Twilight hugging into her.
I wrap my arms around Bella placing my chin on top of her head. "They are so cute together."
"I know," Bella says with a soft sigh.
"Come on, bedtime," I say walking Bella to her own room.
I wait till she closes her door before heading to my own room. I get changed setting my shoes down next to my others finding chew marks. I shake my head knowing I will have to deal with it in the morning. I open my drawer to get a white tee and find it has been dyed pink. I move it and chuckle shaking my head seeing they all have been dyed pink. I look through my shirts finding six have large iron burn marks on them as well.
"Well played, Miss Swan, but you will need to do better. And Twilight, you're going to know whose side you should be on." I smile heading to my bed starting to think of what I could do as payback. You will not get away with this my feisty Firefly.