AN: Hi everyone and welcome to my new followers! Thanks for all the reviews and sorry for not replying. My real life is still crazy but I've managed to find a moment to post this chapter. I'll still be posting another chapter on Sunday evening.
Good news! Fortune Favours the Bold has been nominated for The Lemonade Stand's Fic of the Week! Absolutely huge thanks go to Evilnat for doing the nomination! Big virtual hugs being sent your way! Please vote!
www *dot* tehlemonadestand *dot* net
Big virtual hugs also go to my wonderful pre-reader and beta, SunflowerFran3759, who has been a total rock! Thank you lovely lady!
I do not own Twilight or any of the wonderful characters that Stephenie Meyer created to bewitch us all. I also do not own Jane Austen's Persuasion. I am merely her humble admirer, and in borrowing plot points from her final published work, I mean only to honour her memory. This story is rated M for language and lemons. Please do not read if you're offended by either of these. The song lyrics in this chapter come from the mesmerising Jessie Ware track, Sweet Talk, from the album Devotion. I borrowed them because they're awesome.
Thank you muchly!
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Chapter Fourteen
Late June 2012
Five days had elapsed since the awkward meeting between Edward and Bella, and her acceptance of a trial-run as resident lyricist for AJE Records. Today was her first day on the job.
"How are you feeling?" Rosalie asked, as she pulled into a parking space. They had put Gemma and George into the school's Breakfast Club and gotten to The Elizabeth Studios at 8 o'clock so Rosalie could show Bella around.
"OK."
"Sure?"
"Rosie."
"Sorry."
"It's fine. I've spent the week psyching myself up for the awkwardness."
"Maybe he'll be nice. Pleasant."
"He'll be civil, but Edward can't do fake niceness. And from the look on his face when we met, he's still bitter about how things ended."
"But when he finds out about what really happened...?"
"Rosalie, you didn't see his face when he saw me in Esme's kitchen. He's just going to tolerate me enough for us to write tracks together. Right now, I daren't hope that we'll ever get to the position where we can sit down and just talk, and I'm not going to push it. I'm leaving it with him. If he approaches me, of course I'll tell him, but I'm not going to make things more difficult for both of us by initiating this massive, painful conversation which lays us both bare."
Rosalie wanted to disagree. She wanted to shake both Bella and Edward and tell them that they were both being idiots, that they needed to talk things through and resolve the past. For that matter, she wanted to shout from the rooftops her apologies for fucking up their relationship, so that all of them could move on. If I'd known how much I was going to like Emmett, I'd have put Bella on the plane with Edward myself. As if on cue, her phone beeped.
"All right, let's go inside. I think we've got about half an hour before everyone else comes in."
"Including Jessica?"
"Yes." Jessica was staying in the on-site staff accommodation, and it was her first day at AJE as well.
They exited the car and Rosalie ushered her sister inside. Bella's jaw dropped as she took in the old brick walls juxtaposed against modern glass and striking contemporary lighting features. And this is just the reception area?
"Holy wow, this place is so plush!"
"Yep."
Whilst Bella took in her new surroundings, Rosalie surreptitiously checked her phone.
Morning, gorgeous girl, how's things? In court today but call you at lunch? Miss sound of your voice. Em x
"Interesting text?"
"What, yeah, it was just Vera." Rosalie tucked her phone into her jacket pocket. "Let me show you the offices."
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Edward hadn't slept very well. He had stayed up the night before to go over the music he had written for Bree, and then he read the small collection of Bella's poetry about a hundred times.
I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.
At half past eight, he left his cottage on the studio grounds and started walking towards the main building.
"Edward! Hey, Mr Cullen!"
Edward turned around to see Jessica bounding towards him. She was dressed in tight black jeans, oversized, red silk shirt, spike-heeled, grey ankle boots and copious amounts of black and silver jewellery. Her platinum blonde curls bounced in a high ponytail.
"Good morning. Excited for your first day?"
"Yes! I have such a good feeling! It's going to be ace!"
"Glad to hear it," he replied, grinning at her energy and extraversion. "You're going to spend this morning with Charles and Makenna learning about the ins and outs of the recording studio, and then you and I can catch up at lunch."
"Sounds good. I'm sure my cousins won't mind."
"Your cousins?"
"You know, Rosalie on reception, and Bella, your new lyricist!"
"They're your cousins?"
"Yeah!" Jessica exclaimed. "Cool, huh? See you later!"
"See you later." Edward murmured, waiting until she disappeared before rolling his eyes to the skies.
Someone up there really hates me.
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Bella was already in the AJE Records' 'brainstorming room,' re-reading Bree Tanner's artist profile, when Edward came in with Mike, Alice and Eric, as well as Tia and Benjamin from his production team. Unlike her cousin, she was dressed simply, in a thin, navy blue, wraparound cardigan over a long cream t-shirt and tight dark blue trousers. She wore simple cream ballet pumps on her feet. The outfit was designed to be subtle and demure, but it only emphasised her long legs, narrow waist and pert cleavage, which, close up, looked a little larger than his memory. The only jewellery she wore were a pair of simple, small, silver filigree hoop earrings. Fuck, I gave her those. Her dark hair fell down her back to her waist, constrained into a French braid.
Edward's heart pounded in his ears and he nearly ran back out of the room.
No.
This is a means to an end. Bree's album. High quality track production. AJE needs her. I don't. Even if she looks so unbelievably beautif... stop it Edward!
Bella wasn't faring much better with the nerves, but was managing to keep a lid on them. She wasn't at all surprised that her body had a visceral reaction to the sight of him walking through the door. Edward at nineteen had been a very good-looking kid, but Edward at thirty-one was a mouth-droppingly, stomach-tighteningly, thigh-slickeningly handsome man.
"Bella."
"Edward."
"Right! We all set?" asked Alice, gesturing for everyone to sit down at the table. Bella felt a shock of despair as Edward waited until she sat down and took a seat as far away as possible from her.
"I've preloaded the tracks," replied Mike, adjusting the settings on the sound system.
"Great, before we do that, though, let me do some introductions. Everyone, this is Bella Swan, our new lyricist. She is an experienced freelance features writer, but also a very talented poet. Some of you have had the privilege of reading her sample poems so you can appreciate how lucky we are to have her." Alice ignored Bella's blush and proceeded to introduce the rest of the people around the table. "And of course you know Edward."
"Of course." Bella turned towards him. "So, um, how do you want to do this?"
"We thought that we would play you one of my pieces a few times, and see what you come up with," answered Edward, forcing himself to look at her instead of the table. "We'd like to get a feel for how you work, I guess." As Bella looked back at him with her doe-like dark brown eyes, Edward felt the familiar pull to her immediately.
Yes, I know how you work. I doubt it's any different.
"Sure. It's also possible that one of my existing poems could be adjusted or adapted," she agreed. She picked up a folder in front of her. "I brought my collection."
"Great!" enthused Alice. "Mike?"
Mike hit 'play.' Bella heard the whole piece and then asked to hear it again. On the second run, she started making notes on the rhythm and beat, and how the piece made her feel. On the third, she started writing down words that came into her mind, and on the fourth, she started linking them up.
"Sorry to be a pain, but one more time, please?"
"That's fine, Bella. Nobody expects you to come up with something today. We just wanted to get a feel for your creative process."
"Thanks Alice." She snuck a glance at Edward, who was making notes of his own on his jotter.
On the next play of the music, Bella wrote furiously to bring together the words on her page into a song.
"Again, Bella?" asked Mike, when the music came to an end.
"No thanks. I've got something." Edward looked up sharply, startling her slightly. "Um, it's just a rough draft but let me know if you like it, if you think it will fit the artist. It might need an extra verse or two, but I can add those later."
She pushed her notepad towards Edward and Alice, who were sitting next to each other.
I thought you knew,
I had to stay away from you
I thought you heard,
Yeah still you have the power
You can't be here
How long 'til you disappear
Don't wanna be the last one here
But you give me the sweet talk
And it works for me
And it's the sweet words that pull me in
I know I'm the weak one, and I won't say no
You give me a reason, so I never go
Don't keep me with the kisses,
There's never any doubt when I need you
It's just that you can always make me feel like I am slipping in way too deep
And let the shadows hope to hide or break the dreaming, dreaming of us
And if I keep slipping in, just keep up with the talking
Know that I'm with you, I'm not about to go
But you give me the sweet talk
And it works for me
And it's the sweet words that pull me in
I know I'm the weak one, and I won't say no
You give me a reason, so I never go
So many moments we waste
Too many heartbeats away
So many moments we waste
Too many heartbeats away
Edward and Alice read the words twice, looked at each other, looked at the page again and then, finally at Bella, who was gnawing at her bottom lip anxiously.
They both had the same thought. If this sounds as good as it reads, we've hit solid gold.
Alice was grinning, but Edward couldn't bring himself to do the same, still struggling to get his head around just being in the same room as Bella.
"Alice, would you mind singing it out? I'd like to see how they go together."
"Sure, Edward. Mike, please start the track? I'll start on four."
Alice took a deep breath, and Mike started the track; on four, she began to sing. The rest of the room was silent as she went through the track. Edward kept looking down at his page to make notes, but nothing came to him. It didn't need to. It was perfect.
When it came to an end, Edward had a lump in his throat.
"So, um, what do you think?" Bella asked. "It sounded all right to me on the run through, but of course I'm not the expert..."
"Bella, it's exactly what we're after! Thank you!" Alice gushed, sitting next to her and hugging her.
"Edward?"
Bella wouldn't believe it until he agreed.
"Alice is right. Thank you..." he had to stop himself calling her 'love.' "...Bella."
"Boss, sorry, but we've got those new artist meetings in ten minutes," Eric reminded Alice.
"Yes, and we've got that conference call, Edward." Mike added.
"Bella, are you all right to do what you just did with the next two tracks, and email us your ideas?" asked Alice.
"That's fine. It may take me longer, depending on the tracks, their complexity, whether I can get a feel for it or not."
"Whatever you can do would be fine, Bella," Edward echoed coolly before getting up. Everyone else apart from Bella followed suit. It was only when they left that Bella allowed herself a small smile at her success, but the feeling went away as she recalled Edward's impassive face.
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Rosalie's mobile phone rang at exactly midday. Her heart leapt into her chest. Emmett. The reception area was quiet so she picked up the call.
"Hi gorgeous."
"Hey yourself. I can't talk for long though. Bella's going to be done any minute for lunch."
"I just wanted to hear your voice. I missed talking to you over the weekend."
"Um, me too. Sorry, but George had a football tournament on the Saturday and Gemma had a spelling competition on Sunday, and..."
"Rosalie, it's OK. Of course the kids come first. I'm just happy for what I can get."
"Emmett..."
"Look, um, fuck, I'm just going to ask... is there any way we could meet up? I just want to see you, even just for a coffee or a drink."
"I'd love to..." Rosalie sighed. He hadn't asked since their first meeting. He hadn't been pushy in the slightest. They had spoken every night, and found that they had so much in common.
"But...?"
"I'm not ready to share this, us, with Bella yet so I don't want to ask her to babysit."
"It's her first day today, right? How's she doing?"
"Nervous. How was Edward?"
"He wouldn't talk about it, which means he's nervous as fuck," Emmett replied. "Rosalie, one day soon, will you tell me what happened? The Bella I remember, she was as head over heels in love with Edward as he was with her. They were so happy. They had this intense bond. I never really got it, you know, until I met you. Why didn't she come that day?"
Rosalie felt regret rise within her. She was still coming to terms with Bella's revelations and the guilt over her role in initiating her sister's misery.
"Honestly, Emmett, I can't tell you yet. Bella only told me the details last week and I can barely get my head round it." Plus, I'm sure you'll never want anything to do with me when you find out what I did.
"I get that. But maybe one day? When we're closer?
"One day," she agreed.
"Now, about that drink?"
Let me think of something, all right?"
"All right. Talk to you tonight?"
"You can count on it, handsome." She heard footsteps in the corridor behind the reception area. "I need to go now though."
"OK, Rosalie. Bye, love."
He hung up and Rosalie shivered.
He called me 'love.' I used to think the term sounded bourgeois, but, God, how wrong was I. Bella rounded the corner and smiled softly as she saw her sister. How very, very wrong.
"How was your morning?"
"Good. I've managed to write two complete songs and am well on my way with a third."
"Great! And how was...?"
"Civil. Polite. As I expected."
"You OK?"
"Yes. It was hard, but I'm fine. I think that it will get easier the more time we spend together."
"Maybe it's not too late for you guys. Once you get talking, you never know..."
Jessica's loud giggling interrupted their quiet chat, followed by a low chuckle.
"Hi ladies," Edward greeted them as he and Jessica walked into the reception. "We're going for lunch at the pub. See you later."
Edward held the door for her and Jessica turned and gave her cousins a big grin before allowing him to usher her out, a hand in the small of her back.
"What the hell does he think he's playing at?!"
"He's taking her to lunch."
"He's rubbing it in your face, trying to make you jealous."
"He's not. Rosie, don't make this a big deal. I have no claim to him. I haven't for twelve years. He's free to take whoever he wants to lunch."
"Aren't you jealous?"
"I don't have the right to be jealous."
"That's not what I asked; she's our cousin, for fuck's sake! He's being an asshole!"
"Don't call him that!" Bella cried. "Look, I don't want to talk about this anymore. Not here." Bella hugged herself to stop the trembling. Of course I'm jealous; I'm heartbroken. But Jessica's a great looking girl. Fun, bubbly, everything I'm not. What did I expect? "Look, I'm hungry. Can we eat now?"
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Over the next few days, Bella wrote like a demon. She tended to spend the mornings at The Elizabeth Studios writing and showing Edward and Alice her words. They would then adjust and modify the lyrics as necessary. Edward and Bella never spent any time alone together, which was deliberate on both their parts.
Bella would then return home in the afternoons, writing for her creative blog, especially her serial story 'Arden's Delights,' which was gathering more and more readers every day. She would then pick up the twins and spend time with them until Rosalie returned home. And if she wasn't working in the pub, she would then spend the evenings writing poetry, lyrics and short stories. Her generous salary from AJE Records meant that she could give up working at The Stag, but she promised her boss Harry that she would stay for a month until he could train up another barmaid.
Edward continued to show Jessica a lot of attention. When she spent time with Rosalie and Bella, Jessica gushed about how handsome Edward was, how sweet he was acting and that she was sure he was going to ask her out on a proper date sometime; she remained oblivious to her cousins' sour expressions. When it was just the two of them, Rosalie tried to talk to Bella about it, but was repeatedly shut down.
Rosalie was still trying to work out a way to meet Emmett surreptitiously, when circumstance helped her out.
"Angela and I are going to have a girls' night in at her house tonight," Bella told her sister on Friday lunchtime. "Want to come? She's said we can crash in her spare room so we can both have a drink."
"Huh? What about Gemma and George?"
"Have you forgotten? They're sleeping over at Vera's tonight. She's taking them to the zoo first thing tomorrow morning with Henry, remember?"
"That's this weekend?"
"Yeah.
So? Girls' night?"
"No Jessica to entertain?"
"She's going to some music festival in a field in Wales for the weekend. She's bought new hot pink Welly boots especially."
"To each their own." Rosalie couldn't thing of many things worse than spending the weekend knee deep in mud. "You know, I think I'm going to take advantage of the house to myself. Hope you don't mind?"
"No, of course not, enjoy. I'm going to head out now, pick the kids up and after I've taken them to Vera's, I'll go straight to Angela's, so I probably won't see you until tomorrow."
"OK then." Rosalie leant over the reception desk and kissed her sister on the cheek. "See you later."
As soon as Bella was out of sight, Rosalie picked up her mobile phone.
Free tonight? R x
Sure. Call you at 10ish? Em x
Not call. To see me. Kids and Bella at sleepovers. R x
For real? Time and place, gorgeous, time and place! Em x
My house. 7pm. Address to follow. R x
I'll be there. Can't wait. Em x
Rosalie's stomach fluttered and tightened with anticipation.
Me neither. R x
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Edward sat on his office sofa with a beer, listening to the tracks that the collaboration with Bella had produced so far. In Alice's voice, they were tremendous, even in rough form. He had played the first track, Sweet Talk, to Bree and her manager Diego in Northern Ireland, and both had squealed down the phone in excitement. They had agreed to come over in a few weeks to do some preliminary recording, and Bree had begged to meet Bella.
Despite the ongoing whirlwind of feelings that he had to deal with each time he saw her, it was getting easier to work with Bella. She was her usual quiet, polite self. She didn't make any reference to their past history or share any information about her life over the previous twelve years, nor did she ask him anything personal.
She's moved on and so have I.
Edward thought about Jessica. She was so different compared to Bella. Outgoing, confident, fun, impulsive, light, but bright too. She had grasped the tasks she had been given easily. He liked her, and wondered if, in time, it might lead to something more than just flirtation, although for the time being, he didn't want to take things further.
Just then, Mike walked in carrying a stack of paperwork, and deposited it on the coffee table.
"What are these?"
"Quarterly reports, production agreements and royalty logs. You need to go through, check and approve them all," replied his assistant tersely.
"Tonight?"
"By the 8th of July."
"Damn it Mike! Five working days? It's going to take me fucking ages. You couldn't have given them to me earlier?" Mike shrugged.
"When exactly, Edward? You've either been in meetings, in the brainstorming room with Alice and Bella, in the recording studio or out to lunch..." Mike didn't add the 'with Jessica,' although he thought it, over and over. Jealousy simmered inside him, for Mike adored the vivacious, pretty new intern, and it was finally seeping out in his lack of patience and snappy attitude, both highly uncharacteristic of him.
"Mike?"
"Sorry, it's been a long week."
"You're right. Go, chill out. I'll see you next week, minus the attitude, OK?"
"OK, Boss."
Mike departed quickly, and Edward shook his head in confusion at Mike's unusual behaviour. He picked up the first report, opened it and then flung it across the room.
"What did that report ever do to you?" Alice asked, walking in.
"Mike just dumped them here. He must have been holding onto them all week. So I'm pissed, probably more at his brusque manner than anything else."
"God, you're such a douche."
"What?"
"Firstly, it's not Mike's responsibility to remind you to review those reports. It's your responsibility to remember and have him sort your schedule out to give you time to review them. You know this, Edward. Nobody ever had to remind you before we moved here."
"I suppose. And what else is making me a douche, Alice?" he sighed.
"Jessica? You said when we hired her that the flirting in the interview would be the end of it. But this whole week, you've been all over her. Long lunches, giggling in the coffee room, the little touches."
"It's harmless, Alice. It doesn't mean anything."
"I can guarantee you that Jessica is in that mud pit in Wales telling all her friends and everyone who can listen that famous producer Edward Cullen is 'like, totally hot for me.' She's twenty-one. She's your ex-girlfriend's cousin, and our intern. Surely you can appreciate how fucked up this could get."
"It's absolutely nothing; it's just a bit of banter. I like Jessica. She's fun."
"God, I've never met anyone who excels in denial as much as you! You like Jessica because she's the antithesis of Bella, just like all those other bubbly blondes. It's really mean Edward, to flirt so blatantly in front of Bella, especially if you're not really into Jessica. It's like you're going out of your way to make Bella suffer."
"You done with the psychoanalytic bullshit?" he muttered, trying to contain himself from lashing out. He knew better than to escalate an argument with Alice. She would always win.
"I'm done. But you're playing with fire if you keep up this thing with Jessica."
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By the time 7pm rolled around, Rosalie had tidied up the house, changed her outfit five times before settling on a seemingly-casual cobalt-blue sleeveless jersey maxi dress and denim waistcoat, put wine in the fridge and reapplied her make-up.
At 7.01, the doorbell rang.
"Hi." Emmett stood at the door, still in his suit from work. "You look gorgeous, gorgeous." He stepped forward and kissed her on the cheek, softly.
"Thanks."
Rosalie showed him inside and they settled on the sofa with glasses of wine. Rosalie suddenly felt very nervous, and Emmett picked up on it.
"Hey, are you all right?"
"Yes, um, just... it's been a long time since I did this' the dating thing."
"I told you, I can do slow, although it still astounds me that nobody has managed to snap you up."
"I haven't let anyone get close since my ex. I've been asked out plenty, but I've never really been interested enough before to actually follow through. Most of them were idiots, guys I'd never let round my kids. And any that I might have considered decent, ran away when I told them about Gemma and George."
"Their loss, my gain; I hope!" Emmett took her hand.
"You're doing all right so far..." she murmured, turning their joined hands over and tickling his palm.
"Glad to hear it. Rosalie, this past couple of weeks I've felt closer to you just talking and texting than I have to any girl in a very long time, perhaps ever. And even though you've not spoken about him at all, it doesn't take a genius to work out that your ex hurt you really badly," Emmett spoke tentatively but edged closer. "I can't imagine that any man who could leave you and your babies is a man worthy of you anyway."
"He wasn't. And he certainly doesn't deserve to be the father of such wonderful kids. I'm so blessed to have them, Emmett. They are my world, so you can understand why I need to be careful," Rosalie explained. "And, God, I don't even want to start on the situation between Edward and Bella, and how complicated and messed up that is."
"Too right it's complicated, but I don't want it to cloud this thing between us. Whatever happened between them is between them," he responded, although another barb of guilt hit him. I should have told him about Bella turning up on 9/11. "And as for Gemma and George, it makes you even more appealing in my eyes to see that you're an amazing mother who's brought up two kids alone whilst working, sacrificing so much for them."
Rosalie looked away, finding his attention a little overwhelming. He leaned forward and tipped her face up with a finger before brushing her loose hair back a little.
"I wouldn't have been able to do it if it weren't for Bella. When my husband left, she gave up her dream of a prestigious creative writing course, and moved back to help me raise them."
"That sounds like the Bella I remember," he reflected. "Who knew that she had such an amazing, gorgeous, stunning, beautiful sister? I wish I'd met you then."
"Me too..." Rosalie's words tailed off as her hazel-brown eyes locked with Emmett's blue-greens. Her breath hitched and she heard his do the same. Caught up in each other's gaze, they both suddenly closed the distance between them.
Emmett's hands closed in around her waist, and Rosalie pulled him closer by his shirt so that their mouths collided in a messy but delectable mash of lips and teeth and tongues, which ended with Rosalie on top of Emmett and both of them gasping and panting.
"Holy fuck! That was..."
"I know!"
"Not exactly what I meant by slow, but awesome. Wow!"
"Again?"
"Yes please!"
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AN: The next update should be on Sunday evening.