Author's Note: Working it out in the aftermath. It's more than simple arithmetic.
Stephenie Meyer owns the Twilight. I'm just taking liberties with it.
Edward
"It'll be OK Bella, just ignore them all."
We're in the Volvo in the school parking lot and Bella's nervous.
I lean across and press my lips to the lobe of her ear, then her cheek, then softly on her mouth. She's tense though and she pulls back, breaking the kiss and clambering out of the car. Sighing I join her, taking her hand, and we walk inside, eyes front, heads up, trying not to notice the occasional whispered comment or snort from the milling crowd as we carve a path to Bella's first period class.
She seems alright when I collect her for the rest of her morning classes, up until lunchtime. I'm waiting outside her final class and students are flooding past me when I hear a muttered "there's pervy Cullen" and sniggers. Sure enough, Mike Newton and Tyler Crowley slouch past, leering. I clench my teeth and hold myself on a tight rein, hoping Bella didn't have to put up with that sort of crap.
No such luck. When she emerges from the room her eyes are a little red and she's collapsed in on herself, clutching some books to her chest, her shoulders hunched defensively. She comes into my arms and stands there, forehead pressed to my chest and I feel her trembling a little as my arms fold round her and I rest my chin on top of her head.
"What? Tell me…"
"Newton. He kept going on about my 'big city habits' and endless pseudo questions about how we 'did it'. Crude crap about what went in where, and in who. Calling me a 'swinger', suggesting a threesome with you, me and him, crap like that. Constant fucking whispers and innuendoes. Half the class could hear him and they were snickering and…and…God it sucked. I feel like I've been pushed in a sewer and held under. And there was nothing I could do but hide behind the hair and hope he'd stop. I wanted to scream and smash his face in, it took everything I had not to react."
I rub her back and hold her tight, trying not to let the rage show. Fucking goddam Newton, he is dead meat. Stroking her hair, desperate that I wasn't there and can't protect her all the time. Newton and his asshole cronies - cheap two-bit bullies attacking Bella and skittering away from me, grinning behind their hands.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'll shut him up…" Kissing her cheek, trying to make my arms a shield around her.
"Don't Edward, don't take Mike on - you'll just get in trouble." She stares up at me, eyes wide, worried.
"Have to do something Bella, I can't let this happen. I'll try, OK? I'll try not to hurt him…too much."
"No, please…you'll just get hurt too…please Edward, let it go, it'll die down in a while. Please."
Not a promise I can make so I just shrug and we go to lunch, neither of us hungry, sitting quietly with Jazz and Alice, Rosalie and Emmett. Newton doesn't show, probably knows I'm aching to pound him to a pulp.
The sibs aren't mad pleased either, of course. Alice keeps giving me dirty looks because Bella's getting hurt, and Emmett looks sullen and uncomfortable about the whole situation. Rosalie's highly irritated and pouting, filing her nails and refusing to talk to me. So at least that's one good thing.
Jasper's his usual laid-back self, Mr Joe Cool with his tunes, but I catch him giving me sidelong glances and he looks a little dubious. We haven't had a chance to talk to them yet and I need to sort a few things out. Might as well get on with it.
"So guys, time for a chat I guess." Damn this is harder than I thought. Bella's looking worried, almost frightened. I reach for her hand and hold it in both of mine, stroking her fingers gently with my thumb.
"Um…the weekend, what happened at the weekend…" I trail off, realising I can't possibly raise this with Rosalie sitting there glowering and touching up her lipstick. "Ah, maybe we should talk outside…or if you'd excuse us Rosalie? Just for a moment."
She gives an exaggerated sigh and rolls her eyes. "Yeah, like I'd want to hear about your sordid goings on anyway." She stands and slings her Gucci tote across a shoulder. "I'll be in our special place Em - don't be too long now." A quick kiss and she strides off, Emmett's eyes fixed on her ass, a hungry look on his face.
"Right then." Fuck fuck fuck, get on with it. "I don't know what you saw or heard, but yeah, Bella and I are together, um, I mean we're going out."
"Staying in's more like it," Alice says waspishly, and Jazz snorts. Emmett looks after Rosalie, impatient for me to get to the point.
Bella's hiding behind her hair, her face crimson. I put my arm around her shoulders.
"Yes, well, we didn't get out much at the weekend, I know. See, it's not just me and Bella, there's Jake too."
"Jake." Alice says in a flat voice.
"Yeah, Jake, Jacob. He's someone I met recently about the same time Bella and I got together, and Bella knows him as well - he's an old family friend." This isn't going quite how I'd imagined - they're all three staring at me, looking doubtful (Jasper), pissed (Alice) and frustrated (Emmett).
"Well, so, Jake and Bella and I, we're, we're…going out, or rather staying in as you more accurately put it, Alice. We're an item. Well, we want to be anyway."
"A threesome? You're making Bella do a fucking threesome?" Alice has gone an odd puce color, which clashes with her salmon pink blouse. I decide not to point this out.
"Jesus, keep your voice down Alice. No, well, yes, but it's more than that, and it's not a one-off thing. And no-one's making Bella do anything…Bells?"
Bella's a similar deep red shade behind the wall o' hair, muttering and not meeting anyone's eyes. "It's OK Alice, I'm fine with it, I mean I want this too. Jake and Edward. I…I love them both."
"Oh for fuck's sake, how can you say that, you hardly know them? Well, maybe you know this Jake guy from before, but Edward…" Alice shoots me a poisonous glance "…you've barely met him. Dammit Edward, this is precisely the sort of sick shit I warned you not to do. I warned you not to fuck Bella over!"
"I'm not." "He's not." We speak at the same time and she glances at me, trying a small smile.
"Alice, really, he's not taking advantage and I'm a big girl, I know what I want. And I want them both."
Emmett huffs out an irritated breath. "Look little bro, what the hell ever weird shit rocks your boat, but Mom and Dad are gonna freak, that's all I can say."
"I hadn't planned on them finding out, Emmett. Think you could manage not to blurt it out during Evening Report at the dinner table?"
We eye each other, bristling. Stupid to antagonise him but I always get defensive with Emmett.
I sigh. "Sorry, just…let it be, OK Em, please don't make an issue of it. They kind of know I've started to see Bella - well, Mom does anyway - and I'd rather just leave it at that. We'll figure out the Jake part of it ourselves."
"Whatever. Right, I'm off to have vanilla fun with Rose. Someone in the family's got to act normal." He strides off, leaving Alice glaring after him. Oh well, it's distracted her slightly from beating on me.
"So how are you going to work this, with the three of you?" Jasper's curious. "I mean, you're still in school, you don't have your own apartments or anything - unless Jake does?"
"No he lives with his Dad. Yeah, it's not easy. That's partly why I wanted to talk, as we need your help. Alice, please…I mean we needed to talk to you anyway because we weren't exactly discreet at the party so we owed it to you to explain. Um…not that there's much I can say. We got a bit carried away on the dance floor, Jake and me, sorry about that."
"It's Bella I feel sorry for, the way the gossip machine's buzzing around the school. That bitch Stanley, and fucking Lauren, they're having a field day."
Bella groans and hides her face in her hands. Damn.
"Yeah, I know, Bella already had a run-in with Newton and Crowley." Whose days are numbered, Newton's especially. "OK, that was stupid - Jake and I were a little…lubricated. The talk'll die down in a bit and we won't give them any more scenes to get excited about. It helps that Jake goes to school on the rez."
"Oh right, Jacob Black, from La Push?" Alice knows everyone of course.
"So what - you and Bella, and you and Jacob, and Bella and Jacob…?" Jasper's still stuck on the logistics of it all. Or possibly he's getting off on it, the bastard. You never know with Jazz.
"Yeah. Well, really it's all three of us in a relationship. But you're right, it'll be hard to manage. My room's the safest as it's away from the main house. Like I said, I want to let Mom and Dad think it's just me and Bella and we'll sort the rest out. But we need your help, Alice."
"Really." She's eyeing me, somewhat less hostile but not liking all this. Which is understandable I guess.
"We need you to invite Bella home for a sleepover each weekend. Make up some excuse - maybe to study together or work on a project, you know. The Chief worries that she's too isolated so he'd go for it."
"And he likes going fishing at the weekend so he'd jump at the chance to get away," Bella adds quietly.
"So you want Bella to 'sleepover' with me, but in fact she'll be with you. And…Jake. But you'll never slip Jake past the parentals, and Carlisle doesn't…he wouldn't…um that is…"
"Yeah, he wouldn't let Jake in the door, because he's Quileute. He's a fucking racist, our dear adoptive Dadddy." I can't help the bitterness in my voice. "Leave that part with me, we'll be discreet."
"Jesus Edward, I don't know. This could so easily blow sky high. And…and…you're all so young. Tell me you're being safe? Using condoms?"
I flush because we haven't been as careful as we should. Certainly not going to admit that bit. "Come on Alice, we're only a year younger than you, don't pull the authority figure crap on us. And yeah, we've got condoms of course, we're not idiots." Making my eyes wide and honest. Aiming for an innocent yet mature expression and maintaining steady eye contact. Usually works.
Alice blows out a breath and pinches her nose, a family gesture when we're stressed. "Fuck. And if I don't help I imagine you'll see each other anyway, in some less suitable place. Shit. Oh alright, but Christ do you owe me Edward. Like home loan deposit and paying my kids' College fees level of debt."
I grab her hand and kiss it, excited. "Thanks Alice, you're my favorite sister."
She snatches her hand back. "Christ on a bike. I'm your only sister, meathead." She stands and Jasper gets up languidly as well, gathering their books. "One last thing. Bella, when you need to talk about…about…all this…then please, please come and find me. I'm worried you're in over your head so just…yeah."
Bella goes to hug her, whispering thanks, and Jasper and I stand around like spare wheels while the girly stuff plays out.
He grins at me. "Ditto man," he says. "Any time." Alice grabs his hand and drags him off, smirking.
Yeah, in your dreams am I giving you any details Jazz.
We sit down again.
"Well, I thought that went well…" I say, deadpanning for all I'm worth.
We're silent for a moment then we catch each other's eyes and lose it, laughing hysterically.
"You are NOT to talk to fucking Jasper about us. He was entirely too keen to be your shoulder to cry on."
Astute girl: I grin at her affectionately. "No problem. He'd probably want to make videos so the less he knows the better."
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The afternoon's bearable with the same nudge nudge wink wink crap but no overt abuse. I'm with Bella in Biology so that helps. Newton still doesn't show. The constant undertone of giggling and gossip wear us down however and we're quiet in the car after school. Bella wants to make dinner for Charlie so we head back to her place and go up to her room to kill some time.
Lying together on her bed and finally I can comfort her properly, pulling her head into the crook of my shoulder and tangling our legs together as I stroke her. It's nice and she sighs, nestling into me, warm under the quilt.
I tilt her face up and kiss her softly, pressing her gently back onto the mattress. Comfort slips inexorably into arousal as she moves under me, making soft noises in her throat. I need to feel her skin so I undress her quickly, stripping my own clothes off and discarding them in a heap. We snuggle back under the quilt and I shudder as I measure myself against her, drunk with the feel of her hot silky skin under my hands as my mouth falls to her breasts, my tongue weaving wet circles around her nipples.
Bella moans and her hands close around the heat of my cock, forcing incoherent noises from my mouth as I curl around her and suck on her breasts. I slide my hand in between her legs as she begins to pump me, grunting to her rhythm as I push my fingers deep inside her until she bucks up whimpering and loses concentration, her hand on me faltering, erratic.
Chastened by Alice I find a condom packet in my jeans pocket and roll the latex on, then I turn Bella, nudging her onto her hands and knees and kneeling behind her. I reach through to squeeze her breasts then run my hand down her belly and into that sweet wetness as I rub my cock against her soft ass cheeks. Then I'm pressing her down on her forearms and guiding my cock into her as she cries out and backs onto me, trembling.
Oh fuck that's good, oh sweet fuck…oh yes. Bella... Bella... Bella... The blood pounds in every part of me as I thrust deep inside her, gripping her hips as I push in hard and fast, then pull back slowly, relishing her slick tightness. Bella whimpers and grunts, pushing her cunt back onto me desperately each time I withdraw.
Too good, I have to move faster, can't hold out much longer. I can tell she's close, her legs shaking under me. I force her knees wider apart and push her chest down onto the bed, snapping my hips into her fast and deep, my balls slapping against her as I grunt. I feel her fall apart around me, writhing and moaning as I fuck her. Pulling me over as she comes and the waves of pleasure pulse through me as I cling to her, quivering. So good, Christ, it feels so goddam good, so utterly right and necessary.
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Lying together afterwards she wants to talk. I'd like to hold her close and sink into sleep, but we can't because Charlie's due home in an hour and she needs to start dinner. I hold her close anyway, nestling my face in her hair.
"Gotta talk with Jake, Edward." She stifles a yawn, setting me off as well. "I mean, this, now, we need to talk about seeing each other like this, in couples, as well as all together. Because it's going to be mostly just two of us together isn't it, except at the weekend?"
"I guess. You mean you're not sure about you and me fucking, if Jake's not here?"
"Yeah. Well, not that I think it's wrong, but I don't know how he feels, or how you'll feel when it's just me and Jake together."
The way she says it - so definite that she and Jake will be getting it on - brings it home to me. Jake and Bella screwing, without me. Hmmm, not quite so easy to handle. But I can't have it both ways, not if we want our three-way thing to work.
"Or me and Jake together. Yeah, I see. OK, we need to talk it over, because I don't think any of us are going to want to just have the occasional threesome and be celibate otherwise."
"No, you horny boys couldn't possibly cope with that!" She swats me on the ass and I grin, biting her neck and getting turned on again until she laughs and pushes me away.
"Enough, Charlie'll be here soon and it'd go a lot better if we weren't naked and humping. Geroff…"
So we pull ourselves together and zip ourselves up all neat and tidy, and I get on my cell and arrange a date to have coffee with Jake after school on Tuesday, three friends going out.
A date to talk about how many times two can go into three, and other permutations and combinations.
Bella's thoughtful as she walks me to the car.
"This thing tomorrow, with Jake. You know, it's our first date. The first with all of us there. We should do the dating thing Edward, because Alice is right - we barely know each other. And so far we've hardly done anything except fuck like rabbits. We need to do normal things, spend time together as well."
I can see her point, and I feel a little guilty that I'm such a sex-obsessed teenage boy, just wanting to fuck her brains out - and Jakes' - at every opportunity. Part of me knows it's insecurity - I need the physical connectedness to be reassured that they're real, that they want me, that I'm OK. Even if I know I'm not. But we do need to talk as well and just muck around doing ordinary things.
So, dates it is. Dinner, or movies. Hmmm, that could be tricky. No make-out session afterwards, outdoor activities being ruled out by Forks' climate most of the year.
And while two may fit several times into three, three definitely won't fit in the Volvo's back seat.
"Dates would be nice. I'll see you in the morning love."
Bending to kiss her. Hoping we can work it out because there aren't any self-help books about this. We're going to have to write our own rules.
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Endnote: More dramas to come as Edward's buttons get pushed. Thanks for the reviews – they push my buttons…