A/N: First off, I want to give a shout-out to some of my fellow wolf-girls! These ladies are some truly talented authors, and if you're not familiar with their fics, you should hit their links and go check their stories out. They are all not only extremely talented, but I consider all three of them friends.
First, light4dawn who has saved my butt with this story a few too many times to mention. Her current fic is called Every Rose Has Its Thorn.
One of the first people I met on Twitter and TATS: exquisite_ugly and her fic, Picking Up the Pieces.
And finally, Miss astrid244 Her current WIP is a J/B/P triangle called Broken Black Heart.
Last Chapter: Edward had the secks with Tanya, hoping it would make him better prepared to make love to Bella -without killing her, that is. Bella is not interested in sex with Edward, as she has met her match with Mr. Jacob Black. Which works well for Tanya, who asked for a secret meeting with Bella, to see what was holding her up in her request for an annulment from Edward. Tanya was more than happy to offer to take care of Edward while Bella went off to make puppies (eventually) with Jacob. So the ball is in Bella's court. All she has to do is ask for the annulment. That would make Jacob happy. Tanya also would be pleased, not to mention Bella as well. Everyone except for Edward. He kinda sorta wants his wife back.
Chapter Fourteen
"Idiots!" Charlie yelled at the television screen. "Agh, we don't do it like that." He grumbled, shaking his head, annoyed.
"Why do you keep watching this show if it makes you so mad?" Bella finally asked him.
"There's nothing else on." He muttered. He continued to sigh and scoff throughout the whole show.
Bella stood up from the sofa and stretched, opening her mouth in a wide yawn.
"Ya going up?" Charlie asked, glancing over at her briefly, before staring back at the TV screen.
"Yeah, I'm exhausted." She shuffled for the stairs and headed for her room.
"Oh my god! He already fired six shots! Who the hell writes this stuff – trained monkeys?"
She chuckled as Charlie continued to rant at the TV screen. She turned the doorknob and stepped into her darkened room, reaching over and flipping on the light switch.
The scream bubbled up from her diaphragm and exited her throat in a screech at the sight of him sitting in the chair in the middle of her room.
"Are you alright?" She heard Charlie jump up from the couch and head for the stairs.
She wheezed a deep breath, her throat still tight from the scare he'd given her. "I'm fine," she yelled down the stairs. "I tripped. It's alright."
"Be careful." She heard him say as he flopped back down into the cushions of the sofa.
"Edward," she whispered, shutting her door. "What are you doing here? You scared the hell out of me. How did you get in? The window was shut."
"It was unlocked. I hope you don't mind. I just - I need to see you, Bella. I miss you. I've been waiting to hear some word from you. It's been days, and you haven't called, you haven't come by. I thought after you saw Carlisle, you might…" His voice trailed off. "How is your hand? Does it hurt?" He stood and crossed the room toward her, his hand outstretched, reaching for hers.
All she could think was that Jacob was going to be pissed.
"It's fine," she murmured.
His chilled fingers moved idly over her skin as he stared at her hand. "Bella… Love," he said tightly. "Why did you meet with Tanya behind my back?"
She reflexively pulled her hand back. "I just - I didn't," she began. "How did you find out?"
His mouth turned up into a sad crooked smile. He tapped the side of his head with his finger. "Mind-reader, remember?"
Bella had assumed that Tanya had had a plan to outwit Edward's mind-reading capabilities. Obviously, they fell through.
"I didn't mean to meet with her behind your back. She asked me to speak with her privately and I did. I mean, obviously I assumed you knew about it since you… read minds," she bluffed, lamely.
.
"Did you mean what you said to her?" He whispered.
"Which part?" She whispered back.
"Please give me another chance, Bella." He avoided her question, instead raising his gaze and giving her a pleading look. "Please. I really think I can give you everything you need to be happy now."
His cool pale finger reached for her, tilting her head back, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Everything."
He bent down slowly and she allowed him to kiss her softly. She was surprised when he pulled her in tighter, her body closer than he had ever allowed before.
She pushed gently against his shoulders, pulling back. "Edward. No."
"Please, Bella." His chilled lips moved to her neck, planting soft kisses along her throat. Chills went down her spine as he gripped her arms tightly. Almost too tightly.
"Edward," she sighed. He continued down her neck to her collarbone and his cool mouth was making her shiver. She would have been lying if she'd said it wasn't pleasurable. Edward had always had an almost drug-like effect on her.
But she'd found a better drug. One with no undesirable side effects - like death.
"I can do this, Bella. I can give you what you want. I promised we would try, didn't I? We can finally be together," he murmured. She gasped as his lips dipped down her chest, just above her cleavage.
"Edward, no!"
She pulled back and he dropped his hands.
"What's wrong, love?"
"It's too late, Edward. It's too late, and I can't go back."
"I know I'm a fool, Bella." He took her face in his hands gently. "I know. I should have trusted when something is this right, it would have been okay. It was what you wanted and I should have respected that. I was just so afraid to hurt you, to harm you in some way."
"That's just it. For you, it was always something I wanted. Something you were going to do for me." She shook her head. "It was never what you wanted. It was never mutual. Making love isn't about doing someone a favor. It's about expressing physically how you feel about that person. Expressing your love."
"And Jacob… expresses that?"
"Edward," she shook her head free from his touch. She took a deep breath, looking into his amber eyes. "I want an annulment," she whispered.
The silence was so still you could have heard a pin drop. "Noo," he finally uttered softly. "You don't mean that."
"I do. I'm so sorry. I love you, Edward. I do, but sometimes that isn't enough. I just… I was losing myself. By the time I walked down that aisle, I realized I wanted to please you so badly, that I had lost every part of myself that made me, me. I was sacrificing everything and everyone that was important to me, sacrificing my beliefs. And I'm not blaming you for that. I just wanted to be like you, like your family. But Jacob was right. I was lazy. I didn't want to work at bettering myself, I just wanted an easy fix. I wanted instant beauty and eternal youth and – you. But the price, Edward. How could I spend eternity a shell of what I used to be?"
"No, I wouldn't want that. None of us would want that for you, love. But you were so sure." He stared at her hand in his for a long time. "What if I said you could have everything you wanted? We'll get the annulment, forget about marriage. Forget about forever for now. We'll go away to Dartmouth, or we can stay here and go to university, or we'll go to Alaska – whatever you decide. You can stay here and live with your father, or we can get our own place. We'll make love. I want to be with you, Bella. I do. Anything you want and I will make sure you have it. Could we start over and try it that way?"
She lowered her gaze to escape his earnest gaze. She shook her head slowly.
"You love him?"
"I do."
"It's not just the sex? Because I've been reading up and doing research on the emotional intimacy that women feel when they become sexually involved. It's powerful, powerful stuff. But it fades, Bella."
She continued to shake her head as he spoke. The fact he had been studying female sexuality in his free time made her want to laugh and cry at the same time.
"He could imprint, you know. What will you do then?"
"I'll deal with it, if and when it happens."
He dropped her hands and took a step back, defeated. "You're sure?"
"Yes."
He went to the window and sat against the ledge. "I'll contact the lawyers then. Carlisle said he told you we have people to take care of our legal affairs. Don't worry. I'll take care of everything. All you'll have to do is sign papers. I'm sorry I put you through all this, Isabella."
"Don't apologize." A sob finally cracked through her stoic demeanor. "Please don't apologize!"
"I'll contact you when the papers have been drawn up. We'll be leaving directly afterward."
He turned his body toward the night, ready to escape through the open window.
"Edward, wait! I never wanted it to end this way! Please promise me that you don't hate me! Please promise me that you'll never forget how much I love you!"
She flung herself at him and it was like hitting a solid wall. He stood and held her tight and kissed the top of her head. A surreal déjà-vu breezed over her as he whispered in her ear before he turned and exited through the window.
"Be happy."
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When the papers arrived through the mail three weeks later, Bella signed them and returned them, along with her ring and the keys to the Guardian.
Three and a half weeks later, the Cullens left town. Charlie told her, as he'd heard from someone at work that Dr. Cullen and his family had packed up and moved to Alaska.
No one ever came to pick up the car. The Guardian remained on the street where Bella had parked it, so there would be easy access to it when someone came for it.
It's name was always a reminder of her almost-family and what Edward had hoped the over-protective car would be to her – what it represented.
A guardian to watch over her and protect her from the world. Edward's way of keeping her safe when he couldn't be there.
How ironic.
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A/N: Sorry for the second author's note, but I just wanted to let you know there is one more chapter left. Thank you to those of you who hung in there with me till the end and reviewed every chapter. My appreciation knows no bounds! You know who you are.