"Yo, dude, you wearing Disney Princess jocks?" Emmett bellowed from the living room as he looked up to the second floor where Edward was hanging over the railing staring down at him as though he was a madman.

"What on earth are Disney Princess jocks?" Edward asked, falling right into Emmett's trap.

Every other occupant of the house winced as he asked the question. They were used to Emmett, Edward was not.

With a grin Emmett told Edward what he thought was the world's best punch line, "You know, undies, with Disney Princesses on the front. You wearing the Belle ones? She taming your Beast?"

Emmett all but collapsed in on himself at his own joke but Edward scowled. "You're so bloody childish," he growled over the railing.

Here, here thought every other Cullen.

It had been twenty-two days since Edward had moved in and he still wasn't endeared to Emmett the way Emmett expected him to be. Everyone loved Emmett.

But nothing he'd tried, or said, seemed to make the guy smile or laugh. It got on his goat that everything Bella said or did worked, every time.

As the sun began its rise over the sea the complications of getting out of the water and changing his clothes in front of Bella began to swim through Eddie's mind. He wasn't hard, thankfully, but that may be because he couldn't see her body with it pressed up against his chest as it was.

"We should head back," he said softly into Bella's left ear.

Nodding, but staying silent, Bella turned again in his arms and gave him a gentle smile before slipping free and diving back under the waves and heading for the shore.

With a start Eddie realised that if Bella hit the sand before he did he'd have to watch her change in front of him, while he waited, with nothing to occupy himself other than to watch her do so. He couldn't have that.

Kicking like a penguin with a killer whale on its heels Eddie swam past Bella as fast as he could've run past her. He was on the sand, running full tilt for where he'd dropped the towels, before Bella had reached the edge of the water.

Wrapping the towel around his waist he peeled off the shorts and his underwear and threw them both into the plastic bag. Pulling his trousers up over his thighs was difficult because they were still wet, but it was a better option than trying to change with her near him. His shirt gave him no such grief. Males being bare chested was nothing new so he pulled his t-shirt over his head and discarded it the same way as his shorts. Using the towel he wiped his torso down and ran it through his hair. It was then that he noticed Bella.

Sightly behind him and to his right she stood stock still, her lips parted and her eyes huge in the first rays of the morning sun. The pale pink tip of her tongue sat between her clenched teeth as she panted. She was panting!

Bella, for her part, had no clue that she was. It was involuntary as she looked at Eddie's back and shoulders, and those hip bones above the waistband of his dad- pants. Droplets of water shined on his skin making him shimmer in what there was of first light. Braced as he was, feet spread to the same width as his impressive shoulders, he looked massive and he looked strong. Really strong. His strength had been hidden behind his dowdy clothing but now, standing there naked from the waist up, she could see it. Muscles rippled across his neck and shoulders. His thighs were straining against the material of his pants and the backs of his calves were clearly defined through the wet material of his trousers. He was strong.

The thought struck her first in her belly and then in her sex. He was big. Tall. He'd seemed willowy to her before, hidden under the baggy pants and the shapeless shirts. But now he seemed so tall, so manly. It seemed as though he'd grown in stature as his confidence had grown. Had he always been big? How did she not notice? And his hands...his hands were big too. Long, slender fingers on big hands. Short squat nails on those long, nimble fingers. She was chewing her bottom lip without realising.

"Bella?" Eddie asked carefully, approaching her with caution not because she looked dangerous but because she looked vacant. "Are you alright?" She nodded and Eddie let out a small sigh of relief, but her eyes were glazed and she hadn't met his while making the gesture. "What's wrong? Can you smell something I can't?" he asked, slipping into a crouch and throwing the towel onto the sand at his side.

He sniffed the air and came up with salty water and sand, some hint of pine needles and the feint whiff of something herbivorous. Nothing frightening or out of place. He ranged his hearing out next and came up with the waves, the wind and the sound of whatever was munching on leaves in the trees. Again, nothing frightening. Even what he could see wasn't much. Just the sun the water and Bella.

He wasn't equipped to deal with whatever was wrong with her. She'd been the one to take care of his freaks outs as she liked to call them. He had no experience for anything else. So he tried again. "Bella, please won't you tell me what's wrong?"

He knew from his own recent experiences that she couldn't cry but when she finally did meet his eyes it looked as though she was going to try. He reached out a hand for hers and she did seem as though she was considering putting hers into his, but at the very last second she shook her head and ran. Just like that. She ran. Leaving him standing there alone on the sand, half dressed and with her own clothing in a heap in the bag she just took off through the trees.

Cursing, for a record third time, Eddie threw on the undershirt she'd packed for him and then raked everything else up into the bag and stood staring into the tree line where she'd disappeared. What now he thought as he began to shake.

He had no idea where he was, she'd led him there even though he'd been running ahead of her at the time. There'd be no whistles and soft calls for a change of direction if he headed back on his own.

And what if he crossed the scent of a human on the way? He shuddered at the thought. How could she run off and leave him there on his own?

Not knowing what to do, and cursing her for leaving as she had, he looked up and down the beach uselessly. Standing there wasn't going to help so he took off after her. He slung the bag over his shoulder and headed for the trees himself. He gave only a slight thought to his having bare feet but as his soles hit the dirt track he forgot about it and set his mind to chasing her down.

Never having tracked anything in his life he had no clue how to follow her fast fading scent as he ran, so he didn't notice that her scent had peeled off to the north as he kept running east, back along the path they'd used to cross the highway. Stopping by its side he could still smell her, but he didn't know that it was her original scent he smelled and not realising it he simply crossed over the empty highway and headed further east until he hit the national park.

Once inside it his panic really began to rise. He couldn't smell her anywhere. The scent of animals and leaves and moss flooded his nose and he couldn't find her scent. It had just stopped. If she'd run this way, or anywhere near it, he couldn't find the proof of it. He'd lost the path they'd come down by this time and as he whipped his head from side to side to see if he recognised anything – a rock, a particularly large tree, the shape of a clearing – he roared into the forest in frustration when he didn't.

Following the sounds of the highway he ran in the general direction he thought Forks was in.

For the first and only time in his whole life he wished he had a cell phone.

Had luck been his friend he'd have come out of the forest at the top end of town instead of from the east. Coming in from the north he would've crossed her scent as she made her way to the Cullen house, but Eddie had never been lucky so he'd come out at the edge of what he knew to be Fern Hill Road. He slowed to a walk, and he was frantic. He was only a couple of streets back from his own so he made his way there slowly even though he was seething inside.

Switching to a casual jog he approached his home without caution. He flung the back door open and began screaming her name as he ran through each room. It was empty but he'd known that before his futile search. If she'd been here he'd smell her clearly. He couldn't.

Snatching the handset to the house phone off the floor in the hall he called the number on Carlisle's pristine white business card for the Cullen residence.

"Cullen residence, Esme speaking," the lady of the house answered cheerfully.

But Eddie wasn't feeling social, or cheerful. "How do I find you?" he growled down the handset.

"Um, Eddie, is that you?" Esme asked shakily.

"Yes," he hissed. "How do I find you?" he asked again gruffly.

"Oh, right. Well you take Whittcomb Road and turn right onto Flemarski Road and we're a mile beyond the sealed part..." she managed to get out before Eddie disconnected the call.

Not bothering to shut or lock the doors Eddie hit the ground running, heading back down Spruce Drive and going back into the forest. Turning due north he followed as straight a path as he could whilst avoiding the trees and when he'd estimated he'd gone three miles he went west, coming out of the trees onto a dirt road.

He hadn't listened to Esme's directions long enough to glean a house number but he was working on pure rage and adrenalin by this stage and his basic, natural vampiric instincts had well and truly kicked in. He picked out Carlisle's scent first as his feet pounded down that dirt road. Next came Esme's and finally Bella's. There were others but he hadn't been close enough to any of the others to say with any surety which scent went with whom.

All the scents led to one property. A monstrous, glass fronted house hidden from the road by a row of tall pines at its frontage. Not stopping to admire the details Eddie bounded up the front stairs and banged angrily on the front door.

"Eddie, so lovely of you to come," Esme said with her usual aplomb. Sweeping her hand wide she ushered the now shaking Eddie inside. "Are you alright dear, you look..."

Eddie didn't let her finish her sentence because he could smell her. The roar that escaped his lips was deafening even to his own ears, and it made Esme cower by the door. "Isabella!" he roared again when no sound came from within the house. Spinning on his heel he rounded on Esme, "Where is she?" he demanded.

Esme pointed up the stairs and as soon as Eddie hit the bottom rung she dashed to the kitchen for her cell phone. She was alone in the house with an obviously upset Bella – who hadn't stopped to tell her what was wrong despite her having asked repeatedly as she'd run up the stairs and into her bedroom – and a distraught Eddie. All the others were either at work, school or college. She dialled Carlisle at the hospital and got his voicemail.

Eddie went up the two flights of stairs at a run, following the strength of Bella's scent. He didn't know it, but an upset or angry vampire's scent was potent, and it was this that led him right to her. Outside her door he knocked firmly once, called her name just once, and when he got no answer he put his shoulder to it and busted it in.

She was on her feet by the time he came barrelling in the door and was in a crouch by the time he was in his.

"How dare you!" he roared so loudly the floor to ceiling windows shook. "You fucking left me there!" he roared again, wincing at his own choice of language.

Bella didn't want to fight and she saw no reason to. She'd left him there, sure, but there'd been nobody around and he knew his way back well enough. He'd gotten to the Cullen house so his sense of direction had kicked in at least. What his problem was with that was a mystery. But something about seeing him like that, frothing at the mouth, hair sticking out at odd angles and his clothes torn and filthy made the fight work its way into her system fast. He had no right to be angry at her. So she'd run. Big deal. He was fine, nothing could hurt him. And so she got defensive and angry. So very fast. It flooded her very cells and had her venom flowing and her fists clenching at her sides just as his were.

This was why she liked being alone. This was why she didn't want anyone. She didn't want to have to explain herself, or her feelings, to anyone. She didn't want to be responsible for anyone else's feelings either. If she was honest she didn't want to have feelings of her own. She liked the freedom of coming and going as she pleased and she hated the idea that if she was part of a pair she'd have to give up that freedom.

But most of all she hated that she'd wanted him at all. And she had. Watching him on the sand she'd wanted him. She wanted to throw his body down to the ground and straddle him. She'd wanted his tongue in her mouth, his hands on her body and his flesh inside her flesh. And she hated herself for it.

She. Would. Not. Give. Up. Her. Freedom.

"I don't answer to you," she spat at the mountain of angry vampire fronting her. "I'm not your keeper and you aren't mine."

Scoffing at her Eddie flexed his fists and swiped his tongue angrily over his bottom lip, "You volunteered to be my keeper," he hissed. "You've reminded me of it often enough. You can't pick and choose when you are and when you aren't," he roared.

"Don't you dare tell me what I can and can't do," she growled. She rolled her shoulders and craned her neck and she looked, to Eddie at least, about ready to tear into him.

That was fine with Eddie. He was so angry, for the very first time he was truly angry at someone and it felt good to have the balls to stick up for himself. Nothing and nobody could hurt him now and he intended to make himself heard. "You," he said as he advanced on her position by the bathroom door, "you have told me what I can and can't do from the off," he growled menacingly as she backed up slightly. "You," he said again, punctuating the statement with a flick of his finger toward her, "you have never once asked me what I wanted. You've dictated my every move for a week and a half, Isabella."

The use of her full name shocked Bella more than what he'd said. Nobody ever called her that. Not even Charlie when he'd been alive. But this guy, this boy who knew nothing about her and who'd turned her head and her gut inside out he used her name as though it were a weapon.

Of course, if Bella had've been thinking clearly she'd have come to the conclusion that she'd been wielding Eddie's full name – and quite a few colourful nicknames too – as a weapon herself. But she wasn't thinking clearly. She was fuzzy and she was angry and she was aroused and she had no idea how to deal with any of those emotions. They were foreign to her. She'd lived a nice, quiet life as a human and had transitioned into a nice peaceful life with her new family right after.

But this man made her feel and she didn't like it. She wanted simple. She wanted calm and she wanted alone. Alone suited her and she knew that alone suited him too because he'd drummed that into her for the last week and a half too. "If I thought you were capable of looking after yourself I wouldn't need to dictate to you!" she shouted back but it was half hearted. He was right and she knew it. She had lorded over him the whole time and she had never once asked what he wanted for himself. His independence was important to him, as hers was to her.

His sneer made him impossibly hotter and she mentally kicked herself for the errant thought as he moved yet another step closer to her. She could smell the anger on him, feel the heat of rage coursing through his body radiating out towards her and she liked it. And she hated that. She was a seething mess of contradictions.

When Eddie was right up in her face he swiped at his teeth and growled, low and deep from the centre of his chest. "Why did you run?" he asked simply.

Bella lowered her eyes. She couldn't tell him the truth. She didn't want to believe the truth herself, so she did a foolish thing, she lied. "I was testing you," she whispered.

"Testing me?" he bellowed right in her face, making her shiver. "You've made it very clear to me the danger I am to others and yet it was you who left me at the beach just now. It was you who left me alone to run home on my own. If I'd have crossed the scent of a human and hurt them it would be on you, Isabella."

Again the use of her full name made her bristle but under the circumstances she knew she had to suck it up. She couldn't tell him the truth so as a pay off she didn't call him on the use of her name. He'd spoken the truth, anyway. It would be on her if he hurt someone this time. "Did you?" she asked, eyes still lowered.

"No, I didn't," Eddie answered quite calmly, considering. Backing away from her a little he raked his hand through his hair and sighed long and hard. Turning back to face her again he squared his shoulders and looked her dead in the eye. "I don't think I'll be needing your babysitting services from now on, Isabella."

Bella's gut clenched. He was ditching her? Him? The guy who hadn't wanted her help in the first place? The guy who balked at everything, who resisted every suggestion she made and every ounce of help offered? He didn't want her anymore? That wasn't how this was going to go down. She couldn't be near him anymore. But it would be her decision, he didn't get to cut her off, she wanted it to come from her. She needed it to be from her. She couldn't let herself get swept up in 'feelings' and her need to be in control made her say something stupid. "You want out of our arrangement?" she taunted, suddenly angry that he didn't want her help anymore. "You got it big guy. Consider me done," she retorted without thinking, immediately regretting the words as his eyes flashed.

Eddie retreated a few steps and turned his back to her. The panic Bella felt at the thought of him just leaving like this, leaving everything unfinished, unresolved, made her stomach lurch. If he left and she never saw him again she'd...well, she didn't know what she'd do exactly. But the thought hurt. And that was idiotic. She couldn't be near him without wanting him, but the idea that she might not ever be able to be near him at all hurt like the sting of a thousand wasps.

She was about to beg him to change his mind. She was about to tell him that she didn't mean it. She was about to tell him the real reason she'd fled the beach but then he turned and she saw the true vampire inside him. His normally serene, accepting face was hard, his eyes dark cherry red and flashing his pain like a beacon. His grin was cold, callous and she could see that he meant every word as he spoke. "I'm moving in to the room opposite in a few hours time, I doubt we'll see much of each other, but that will not bother you in the slightest, will it you unfeeling bitch?" And with those as his parting words he left the room and a few minutes later the house.

Bella was left standing alone and uncertain, just as she'd left Eddie on the beach.

His anger was palpable. His scent so strong it infected her every pore. There were drops of his venom on the floor and his fingerprints in the door where he'd pushed his way in to get at her.

Blinking rapidly Bella stood there, backed up against the bathroom door and shook.

Their agreement was over, just as she'd wished all along. He hated her and would never see her as anything other than annoyance, just as she'd wished all along. He was going to move in and ignore her, leaving her to go back to her nice, quiet life. Just as she'd wished all along.

So why did the thought hurt so much?

Because no matter how much she hated having feelings she did have them. Because no matter how much she wanted to ignore how she felt about him she did feel it. And because nobody had ever made her feel before like Eddie did. And because, after everything was said and done, she wanted him. All of him. Whether he changed or not she wanted him. Modern or old fashioned. Fastidious or relaxed. Vampire and man. She wanted him as her own.

And that was bad. The thought of him leaving and never seen him again might have made her feel ill, but the thought of him snarling and sniping and being just across the hall and hating her was far, far worse. She'd made him hate her. She'd missed her chance. He might never have felt for her what she felt for him but the chance to find out was lost and she'd done it herself.

How was she going to live in the same house as him knowing he hated her? How was she going to return to the nice quiet solitary life she no longer wanted and make him believe she was happy?

And how in god's name was she going to keep him at a distance when all her body and brain wanted her to do was stick her tongue in his mouth and demand he fuck her?

A/N: What a complicated web we weave when first we decide to deceive.

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