Thank you so much Fran for working your magic on my story. I am forever grateful you agreed to help me.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to Stephanie Meyers.
Chapter 14:
Edward Pov
Bella and I have been spending every morning together for the past week. We somehow have fallen into a routine where we meet at Starbucks near Carlisle's instead of the usual spot at Leah's cafe.
We sit and talk for hours about everything, and it just feels good to be with her, near her, even if we aren't touching. We usually part ways a little before noon, and sometimes we meet again later in the day. Today Carlisle spent the afternoon drilling numbers and plans into my head until I was ready to explode. I knew that only one person could help me unwind, and relax. My Bella. So I texted her.
Busy? -E
Out with Alice. What's up? -B
I need to see you. –E
I can get away. Leaving now. -B
After our confession of love, Bella promised to tell Demetri but asked me to be patient with her. It's been a week and still she hasn't broken things off with him. I am learning a great deal about patience dealing with the love of my life. It's only a matter of time before she honors her promise I'm sure of it.
It seems as though she's afraid of Demetri and although I hate that fact, I also understand she is treating this with a certain level of sensitivity. Alice is her best friend and she has grown to love the Cullen family, so I understand. However, I will not go another week without this being handled. I need Demetri to know and understand that she belongs to me.
I can get away. Leaving now. -B
When she arrived at Carlisle's home, I was already standing outside near the end of the driveway smoking a cigarette. Still she honked at me and waved with a huge grin on her face as if I wouldn't recognize the car I have now seen a million times.
Once inside the car, she stares at me for a long time before speaking.
"What?" I ask, wondering why her eyes are squinting at me.
"Do you normally grow your beard so long..."
"I guess you don't like it." I rub my chinful of hair. It's not quite a beard but give it a few weeks and it will be.
Her hand reaches up and into my hair. "No, no, no ... I promise I'm loving the beard, it's just your hair. It's so shaggy. You're looking a bit hippie-ish. I'm wondering if this combination is an all the time thing or are you trying something new?"
"I haven't decided what I'll do. It's just hair, baby." I wink at her.
"Yeah, I know. You're so rugged and manly, and..." She leans closer and bites down on her bottom lip looking down at my lips "... sexy." Her eyes snap to mine and they are smoldering. She has never looked at me with such unbridled lust. Her eyes burn through me almost becoming my undoing.
"Don't look at me like that Bella. That look comes with consequences."
"I'm sorry ... I just didn't expect you to look so different each day." She continues to stare, her eyes search around my face trying to make the connection that I'm striving for.
"Different is good..." I stare back at her and lick my lips trying to reign in my very vivid and lustful thoughts.
"A little longer and your hair can go in a nice little ponytail like mine." She grins in a teasing manner and tilts her head to the side in a very girlie way as she twirls her ponytail in between her fingers.
I can't help the widening of my smile as I watch her. I love when she's just being herself, open and free, holding nothing back from me. When she sees that I am staring at her she looks away staring at the steering wheel nervously.
"The hair puts a few years on you but it's incredibly sexy." She refuses to look my way and I open my mouth to ask her to look at me but I think better of it. She is probably keeping her eyes downcast for a reason. She knows what a certain look does to me.
"Thank you. Now, let's go, baby. I want you to write for me."
"When are you going to write for me?" She asks, finally looking up from the wheel.
"I write songs, love. Not poetry."
"Same thing, love." She mocks me, making a face. Then she nudges me. "Seriously when? I want you to write me something."
Nervously I shift in my seat before replying, "I'm –ah– working on it." I clear my throat and lower my brows staring intensely into her eyes.
She bites down on her bottom lip and moves closer to me with a satisfied grin on her face. My vague answer seemingly pleased her.
"When can I hear it?"
I pause momentarily just watching her and surprisingly she doesn't look away as she often does. I have witnessed just how much my intensity scares her and I would hate for her to run away from me.
My tongue darts out to wet my lips and I watch closely for her reaction as I speak. "When you move in with me." I finally say.
Not that I expect her to move into Carlisle's home with me, but into the apartment that Alice put me in. Recently I have begun taking care of payments and have been fixing it up in order to show Bella that I actually do have a home. I longed to share my home with her and wake up to her beautiful face each and every morning. I wanted that more than anything and I hoped that it showed on my face.
"Edward..." She sighs.
"Not today, not tomorrow... but you're mine now, whether he knows it or not. And I don't want you living with him or sleeping in his bed."
"He's going out of town today, okay. I'm packing my things and staying with Leah for a few weeks. I will tell him the moment he gets back in town."
"I want to be there when you tell him." She starts to protest. "I don't fucking trust him to keep his hands to himself and nothing will stop me from killing him if he hurts you again, baby."
"Edward-" She tries to speak, but I cut her off, annoyed that she thinks doing any of this alone is acceptable. I should even be there when she packs and moves.
"No, Bella!" I don't mean to raise my voice but I'm fucking irate. "Goddamn it! Do you know what that did to me? Do you know what it felt like for me to see you bruised like that?" My voice cracks and I think she notices now that I am not just being an irrational jerk.
Shaking my head with pursed lips and worried eyes, I quickly speak again. "Can't do it again. I won't let anything like that happen to you ever again!"
"I told you it was an accident," She whispers and turns away, not able to look at me.
"It's always an accident Bella. That's how it starts-"
"Can you stop making him out to be such a bad guy?" She shouts, breathing heavily. Then she runs her hand over her forehead, massaging her temples. I'm so pissed I can't even look at her. I want to sooth her, calm her and make her feel better... but how can I when I can't even look at her?
"You're defending him," I state in a low rumbling voice, nodding my head in my own silent confirmation.
"Edward, it's not-" She begins, but I stop her short.
"I love you so much my chest hurts merely at the thought of your name. I love you so fucking much I can't breathe when I see you because you take my breath away. That's why I am patiently waiting for you to completely choose me ... but you haven't."
"Stop, Edward just listen to me okay. I can't forget my good times with him in one week. It doesn't work that way."
"Then tell me. How does it work? How do I get you to fall as madly in love with me as I am with you? Because baby, I am fucked up about you. I am crazy, mad, out of my mind in love you with you."
She looks at me then, her eyes smile, which brightens her entire face. My confession seemingly made her happy.
"I didn't lie when I said I love you. I just-I care for him. I feel like having you there will only cause a confrontation. I don't want to hurt him any more than he will already be hurting when I tell him that I am leaving him and not marrying him in two weeks as we planned because I am in love with you."
Her words cause my heart to leap, but still I am stuck in my own opinion of how this should go.
I take her hands in mine and hold them both to my lips as I look at her.
"There's so much good in you Bella. You're so good and honest, and-"
"I'm not all those things, Edward. How could I be? I have been going behind my fiancé's back for weeks seeing you. I am not good, Edward… and I am most definitely not honest. I am the worst kind of person."
"Don't do that. Don't talk down about yourself. You are good."
"I won't argue." She nods, her eyes wide and sincere. "Honestly Edward, you are the one that is good. There is only good in you. I love you." She takes my face in her hands and kisses me chastely.
When she pulls away she smiles brightly beaming at me. I once again take her hands in mine and give her a very serious look.
"If he even acts like he's getting angry or upset enough to touch you, you get the fuck out of there. You get me?"
She tilts her head slightly and smiles at me. "I do."
I kiss her hands, and then notice that her engagement ring is gone from her finger. I start to point it out but I keep it to myself, and instead I kiss that finger silently acknowledging the fact that I am pleased she is not wearing it.
Edward Pov
When we arrive at our spot, she parks and I run to open her door. Once she's outside, I finally kiss her. I lift her in my arms and mold my lips to hers in a proper kiss.
She wraps her legs around my waist and shoves her hand into my hair, the other grips at my shirt wanting me closer. I know the feeling. Being close but not close enough. Seems that's all we ever get of each other. But I swear soon she will be mine completely.
I sit her on the hood of the car and run my hands up the creamy skin of her legs. The past couple of days have been much warmer, due to the ending of spring. It seems I am being rewarded with Bella's constant need to show her skin.
I rub and squeeze her legs to keep her warm. She moans, and leans back against the car with closed lids mumbling about how good this feels.
"It's still cool out baby. I don't want you getting sick."
"I promise I won't get sick," She replies in a tone that lets me know she's annoyed because of how often I have been saying this to her.
I grab her arms and gently pull her up. I can't explain my need to have my lips on her constantly but it's pretty much all I think about.
I lean forward and kiss her, holding onto her sides as I do. Just as I'm deepening the kiss, she pulls away.
In irritation I say to her... practically groaning, "You've gotta stop doing that." I take a deep breath with the tilt of my head; I implore her to explain herself.
"Doing what?" She feigns innocence in her sugary sweet voice.
I set her on ice, frozen under my stare. "Pulling away from me."
Bella nervously shifts around and blows out a breath. She nods. "I just fear someone will see us and tell him before I get a chance to."
"And ... " I know there's more to her fears.
"And ... I fear he will try to take you away from me." The look she gives me lets me know that by take me away she means she fears he will harm me.
"I wish he'd try." I tell her and peck her lips softly. Having enough of that conversation, I change the subject. "Are you going to read me what you wrote the other day?"
"I don't think I should." She smiles and tries to push her way out of my hold and off the hood but I stop her.
"Why not?"
"Because it sucks." She says. "I'm a storyteller. Not a poet."
"Didn't you tell me writing music and writing poetry was the same? Why isn't this the same for you?"
"It's just not." She shrugs. Then her eyes light up and she smiles. "I have an idea. Let's buy you a guitar and you sing for me."
Shaking my head no, I respond. "Quit stalling," I hand her the notepad.
"Quit pressuring me." She takes the pad angrily, and I chuckle. She's too adorable. I hold back the urge to kiss her.
"Quit being so fucking sexy," I say huskily and watch as she rolls her eyes, and looks heavenward.
"You're infuriating."
"Still stalling." I point out and laugh when she lets out a huff of annoyance.
"Fine." She clears her throat and looks back and forth between my eyes and the notepad several times before she begins.
The first time I saw snow,
I was sheltered away safe in your arms.
Perfectly hidden away from the dark,
But where did you go?
I'm left to fend for myself in this frozen piece of heaven.
This place you left me to stumble around in doesn't allow me to dream.
I haven't daydreamed in a while, what happens if I've forgotten?
My mind is an outstretched, barren field, iced over with snow,
Blazed white, heaped with nothing but cold.
Restless on white feathers, cramped tight into my pillow at night,
Still I'm deserted left in this frosty, alabaster slush, unable to sleep, unable to think.
There's no escaping it because you're not here.
I'm forced to fake it, forced to lie, forced to heal on my own.
Without my guardian. Without my Angel.
Bella Pov
"Can I speak to you, Bella?" Carlisle asks from behind Edward's bedroom door. He's currently in the shower, and I'm waiting for him to get dressed so that we can hang out as we've done every morning this week.
"Sure." I stand quickly and saunter out of his room, following Carlisle to the kitchen. He turns his back to me, fixing a cup of coffee. Once he pours his cup, he holds it up in silent offering and I decline.
He motions to a seat and I take it, he takes a seat across from me.
"Is this about Edward and me?" I ask him and watch his face waiting for a reaction. Carlisle sighs and then looks up at me.
"Did Demetri tell you how his father died?" Carlisle begins, and I furrow my eyebrows and shake my head no. "Of course, he wouldn't, and neither would Alice. It's not her place to say."
Now I'm really confused about where this conversation is going.
"My family has a long history of competing. Rather it's competing for jobs, money, fame, positions, status, possessions, affection, rather it be from parents, siblings, friends, a girlfriend or boyfriend, husband, wife, random people on the street..." He shakes his head in disgust. "We've never ever had boundaries." He says and my eyes widen because I had no clue. They act so normal around each other. Their dinner table is always a little on the quiet side, compared to what I'm used to, but I always assumed that it's how families with money act. I never could have guessed just how deep down and rooted their hatred is for each other.
"We tend to undermind each other, it's something my father did with his siblings, and his father and the rivalry has never ended. I can't stand my great uncle to this day for reasons I'm not completely even aware of. Simply because my father hated his brother and talked shit about him until the day he died."
I shake my head realizing that this must be why Demetri has Alice followed. Carlisle can possibly give me insight.
"My brother, Demetri's father, we liked to place bets, and wagers for large sums of money, or cars, or whatever possessions we had. One day it went too far. We bet on a woman." He looks down sadly, and I can see how ashamed he is. "We were young and stupid, and needed a new challenge, a new way to outdo the other."
"What was the bet?" I ask quietly.
He sighs heavily, and the pause is so long I almost believe he's not going to tell me. "Who could bed her first," He replies. "My wife was a mere bet years ago, something my brother and I played with."
"Who won?"
"I did. My brother was upset because she was an amazing woman, and she was beautiful, it was impossible not to love her. She was sweet, loving, caring, selfless, and I loved her with my whole heart."
"What happened?" I realize that neither Demetri's dad nor Carlisle's wife are alive now, and this must be the story of their death.
"My brother wanted her, he didn't care that we were in love. For years, even after my wife and I married, and he married and had Demetri, he still wanted her and he made sure every chance he got, to let it be known that he would have been the better choice." He took in a deep breath, which led me to believe that this was the hard part.
"My wife left me a few years ago because I worked too much. I know I did, but I couldn't help myself. She went straight to Aro, and it just showed me how fickle love is. But I couldn't live without her; I still loved her so much. I knew she had feelings for him because we both tried to actively to bed her. They had an affair, and I knew about it. But I just put everything into my work, hoping one day she would come back to me and I would have all of this money for us to travel the world."
"His wife found them in bed one day, in her bed, and she went crazy. She shot them both, before turning the gun on herself."
That's awful. I can't believe Carlisle has the strength to go on after that. He lost both his brother and his wife tragically.
"That's the most heartbreaking story I've ever heard in my life."
I didn't even realize that I'd been crying when I felt a tear fall down my cheek. I swiped at it and continued to speak. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because dear, you need to know what you're marrying into." His voice was firm.
"This rivalry thing still goes on." I ask him and he nods. "Demetri and Alice..."
He nods. "They're not the only ones, but yes. My other brother, Caius, has two children, Jane, and Alec."
"Yes, I've met them."
"Bella, this family is cursed. I'm not warning you off, but I'd hate for you to get mixed up in this family." Carlisle warns.
"Is Alice involved?" I ask him because I swear my friend can do no wrong. There's no way she would do anything to harm me.
"Alice is just as much a competitor as the rest of us. I'm sorry if we have led you to believe that we are something else, but I can't sit back and let you be dragged through the mud. This is your one and only warning." He's beginning to scare me.
"What's going on Carlisle?"
He opens his mouth to speak when I hear my name being called down the hall. I stand and wipe away my tears.
One look at me, and Edward knows. He rushes over to me with worried eyes giving me the once over, then he looks at Carlisle.
"What did you say to her?"
Thank you all for reading! :)