A/N:
Are you ready?
Title: The Perfect Partner Program
Author: MarieCarro
Beta: EdwardsFirstKiss
Pre-reader: brwneyedgrl01
Genre: Angst/Hurt&Comfort/Romance
Rating: NC-17
Summary: The summer of 2005 was the summer that changed Bella Swan's life forever. Sent to Ohio by her mother to attend a school for debutante girls not quite up to par, she meets Edward Masen, an apprentice. But is that really all he is? AH
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter Word Count: 3, 319
CHAPTER 19 SHOCK AFTER SHOCK
It was October, and of course, it was raining outside as I cruised through the aisles of my local supermarket and scanned the shelves for the items on my list.
My cart was already half-full, and I had just spotted my final item when I passed the candy section. I just couldn't resist buying something small to satisfy the sugar craving my baby was causing, so I steered to the right and looked at the brightly packaged candy bars that all seemed to be calling to me.
When I finally saw the brand of chocolate that I wanted, it was placed too high for me to reach, and my shirt rode up to expose my swollen belly when I tried.
My predicament caused people to smile as they passed, but none of the jerks offered to help until a tall teenage boy with an unfortunate acne issue came up behind me.
"Do you want some help?" he asked with amusement coloring his voice, and I looked over my shoulder at the kid gratefully.
"Yes, thank you! I'm trying to reach the Butter Fingers," I said, and he easily grabbed a couple for me with a smile. "You are a savior."
"Don't mention it." The kid reached out for a Twix for himself and turned to leave. "Have a nice day."
I placed the chocolate in my cart and found myself being unable to wipe the smile off my face. I couldn't remember if teenage boys used to be as kind as the kid had been when I was their age, but it was nice to be treated with respect.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and the display told me that it was Dad calling; it caused me to shake my head with an amused smile.
"Yes, Dad?" I answered, and his chuckle on the other end of the line made it obvious that he knew what my reaction to him calling had been.
"Hi, doll! How's it going for you?"
"It's going fine. I wasn't going to search for an alternative fuel source, you know. I'm only twenty minutes away."
"Are you buying a lot? Do you want me to meet you and help load it all into your car?"
I snorted. "I can do my own grocery shopping, Dad. I'm five months pregnant, not terminally ill."
"I'm just worried about you. I don't want to hear anything bad happening, that's all."
I pushed my cart toward the registers and got into line. "Nothing bad will happen. Both you and the guys at the station have to back off. I have at least another four months left before this little kicker is ready to come out, so you can tell them to stop treating me as if I will pop any second, okay? Demetri has already assigned me to the desk until I start my maternity leave, so you all have to stop worrying."
"I still don't like that you want to continue to work until your due date. You heard Sue. She said you should start your leave when you're eight months along. Why won't you listen to her?"
I sighed as I began to place the items on the conveyor belt and the cashier started to scan everything. Dad refused to understand that it was perfectly fine for women to work during their third trimester, as long as they didn't perform strenuous work, and since Demetri had put me on desk duty, already, I was more than fine. "Because I will go crazy if I go a month without anything to do. Why exactly are we talking about this again?"
"I'm not just your father, Bella. I am also your boss and Demetri needs to start looking for someone who can take your position while you're on maternity leave. He's asked me if I know someone in a different department because that would be much easier than hiring someone new. I was thinking of Felix Cato in Narcotics. He's been asking for a transfer for years."
I very nearly dropped the carton of milk when I heard that name, and I had to take a few deep breaths to calm down before I could load things up on the belt again.
I absolutely hated Felix Cato in Narcotics. The arrogant prick never passed up the opportunity to belittle women in front of me He didn't think women could handle jobs in law enforcement, and he'd been after my job ever since I had started. He would have a field day if he found out he would replace me because I was going on maternity leave.
"As long as you make it known to him that it's only temporarily, then I am fine with it," I said with a passion, but my father was very much aware of my opinion of Cato, so he didn't react to the venom in my voice. "That chauvinistic dickhead has been after me for years, and it will be over my dead body that he will get full time in Homicide just because I'm having a baby. When I come back, he can crawl back to Narcotics on all fours for all I care."
The cashier looked at me without saying anything, and it was obvious the girl was rather uncomfortable, and so I did what I could to calm down, and reached for my purse to pay for my groceries.
Dad laughed in my ear and after he had given me his word that Cato would know that it was only temporary, we hung up, and I handed the cashier my card.
As she was ringing the total, I had the feeling that I was being watched. I looked over my shoulder to see if I could spot anyone staring at me, but when nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary, I tried to shake the feeling away.
Suddenly, a commotion by the entrance of the store caught my attention, as well as most of the people close by, and they all strained their necks to see what was going on.
A woman close to her fifties was spitting and hissing at a man for having walked into her cart. She was being very dramatic with big hand gestures, and even though the scene was entertaining, I was staring intensely at the man.
And he was staring at me just as intensely.
It had been years since we had last seen each other, and time had obviously changed him, but I could never forget his penetrating eyes or the color of his hair.
We were completely locked in each other's gazes while the world continued to spin around us, but the upset woman's voice spilled back into his awareness and he broke our eye contact long enough for me to come back to myself and hurriedly begin to pack my things in bags.
I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could, and while I knew that I would have to pass him on my way out to the parking lot, I would at least not feel as cornered out there as I felt in here.
When the last item was in the bags, I felt his presence come closer, and I refused to lift my eyes off the floor and pushed my cart with the bags toward the exit.
I should have known that he wouldn't just let me leave.
He blocked my path, and despite my attempts to go around him, he wouldn't allow me to escape.
"Bella," he said, but the tone of his voice was confused as if he wasn't sure how to continue.
At first, I refused to look at him, but eventually, I lifted my eyes and met his. "Hello, Edward." I crossed my arms in a defensive manner and glared at him. "What are you doing here?" I asked coldly which caused him to laugh nervously.
"I was just about to ask you the same thing," he said with the lopsided smile that used to bring me to my knees. His entire body language screamed that he was very uncomfortable with the situation despite the fact that he was the one who had stopped me.
I frowned. "I live here," I retorted angrily. "I was born and raised in this city, and I have a legitimate reason to shop in this supermarket. Do you?" My words were sharp and unforgiving, and I wasn't going to feel guilty for it. With our history, I had every reason in the world to hate him.
"I'm here to do a job," Edward admitted, although it looked like he would have preferred to have kept that detail a secret. Why he didn't was a mystery to me.
I opened my mouth to voice my dislike of his reason for being in Seattle, but I decided against it and shook my head. "Never mind," I mumbled and tried for the exit again, and this time he let me pass, but he didn't leave me alone either. Instead, he walked next to me as if we were good friends.
"You don't have anything against that?" he asked, and I refused to look at him. I locked my gaze forward as I steered my cart across the parking lot toward my car.
"It's not exactly my business, now is it?" I replied to his question, but inside I was boiling, and I sympathized with the poor bastard that was Edward's target. I had been there myself, and I knew all too well how it felt being played by the man next to me.
"I guess not," he agreed quietly, but he still followed me all the way to my car.
I felt very frustrated when I began packing my bags into my trunk with Edward just standing there without saying a word. I wanted him to leave me alone because I couldn't handle being close to him for much longer. When I looked at him, all of those old feelings surfaced. I didn't want to feel what I had felt all those years ago, so as a defense mechanism, I took to sarcasm to hide how absolutely vulnerable I was.
"I suppose business is going well then. Is your aunt expanding?" I asked with an evil smirk, but I was startled when the question caused Edward to laugh; a truly genuine laugh.
It triggered a memory in me of a time years ago when I thought that whatever had been between us had been real. He had laughed a lot then, too, but I couldn't be sure that those happy times hadn't all been fake.
Now, he looked at me with his emerald-green eyes, and they were filled with relief. "You have no idea how glad I am that I didn't completely break you. I was afraid that I'd caused lingering damage, but you're still as feisty as ever," he said, and then his eyes wandered down to my protruding stomach. "And you seem to be doing quite well," he stated with his smile still happy and bright.
That smile caused my anger to rise, and I wanted nothing more than to slap it off his too-handsome face. He just had no idea what he'd caused, and he had the nerve to presume that I was fine just because I was pregnant.
"Who's the lucky guy?" he asked, and it was such a cliché question, it took me a moment to gather myself enough to reply.
"No one," I said and pushed past him so that I could open my car door. I didn't want to talk about my baby with him because he didn't have the privilege to have knowledge of that part of my life.
He frowned. "What?" he asked, not getting the hint. "I don't understand."
"Clearly, but I don't want to talk about it with you, so just leave it." I got in behind the wheel and closed the door, but before I could start the engine, Edward tapped on my window with his knuckle. I sighed because there was just something in me that was unable to ignore him. I lowered the window and looked at him. "What?"
He looked sad as he leaned against my car door and met my eyes. "I'm sorry," he said, but I was confused with what he was apologizing for, and he must have seen that on my face because he continued. "I didn't mean to upset you, but I guess that's the only thing I'm good for when it comes to you."
His entire demeanor was defeated, but I was not going to accept his sad excuse for an apology. I shook my head in disbelief and wondered how he could possibly be that dense.
"You're unbelievable, do you know that?" I asked, and his expression changed into one of confusion. "Do you actually believe that one 'I'm sorry' erases everything? Everything you put me through? You have no idea how much damage you have caused in my life." Tears started to gather in my eyes as a reaction to the complete rage I felt. I had always hated that my tear ducts seemed to be in direct contact with every emotion I felt because people rarely took my anger seriously since I always started to cry.
"I don't trust men because of you," I continued, and those treacherous tears were just as apparent in my voice as they were in my eyes. "You have absolutely no right to feel relieved about anything when it comes to me. Don't fucking stand there and tell me that you're glad you didn't break me because that's exactly what you did."
Edward looked completely crestfallen, and he opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish as he tried to find the words he wanted to say. "Bella, I don't know what to say," he eventually got out.
My hold on the steering wheel tightened, and I looked away from him. "I don't want to hear anything from you. I want you to leave me alone." Once I had said that I started the car and drove away as fast as I could, and I hoped that it was the last time I ever saw Edward Masen.
I drove home much too fast, but at the moment, I couldn't care less. I needed to put as much distance, and as fast as possible, between Edward and me because I could feel how my carefully constructed mask was slipping. I was only minutes away from breaking down completely, and I preferred to do that in the comfort of my own home.
When I pulled onto my driveway, Becca immediately came outside—she must have understood that something was wrong since I hadn't slowed down—and ran up to me with a look of worry on her face. "Are you okay?" she asked, and then she saw my distraught expression. "Babe, what's wrong?" She yanked the car door open and hugged me against her impressive bosom.
I tried to talk and explain, but my breath was high in my throat and a lump was forming there as well, so it only came out sounding like gibberish.
"Okay, just calm down, honey. Let's go inside. You can explain it to me later," Becca said helping me out of the car and allowing me to lean on her shoulder as we walked toward the front door.
Once inside, Becca led me to the living room couch and placed a blanket around my shoulders because even though it was in the middle of the summer, I had begun to shiver.
"Do you want me to get you anything? Do you want some tea?"
I shook my head with jerky movements and inhaled deeply in order to calm down. The shock of seeing Edward again had hit me harder than I had thought, and I was worried my emotional state would negatively impact my baby. I leaned back and placed my hands on my stomach and waited to feel a kick or any kind of movement. It took a few minutes, but I finally felt it, and it helped me to further calm down.
Becca looked at me and waited for an explanation, and I finally felt like I had myself under control again. "He was at the supermarket," I said, but Becca didn't understand who I meant. "Edward."
I softly caressed my stomach and watched as Becca's face morphed from worry to surprise to pure rage.
There was no one in this world that Becca hated more than Edward Masen. Even though she had never met him, she had been there to pick up the pieces of my heart after that summer so many years ago. What he had done to me was unforgivable.
"What happened? Did he talk to you? Did you punch him? Please, tell me you punched him."
I chuckled, but my amusement with Becca couldn't wipe away my sadness completely. "He was disgustingly polite, and he gave me this fucked up apology that was the saddest I've ever heard. He actually believed it would make everything better."
"What a dumbass." Becca shook her head and then thought of something. "And what the fuck is he doing in Seattle, anyway? Didn't you say he was from Chicago?"
I nodded and hugged myself. His reason for being here made me increasingly more uncomfortable as time passed because I was paranoid that he was here to finish the job he had started that summer. "He said he's here to do a job."
Becca slumped and looked at me with sympathy. "Are you kidding me?"
"No, that's what he told me."
"Is his psycho aunt here as well?"
I shrugged. "He didn't say. But I didn't exactly ask either. I was too angry to care, and I didn't really want to know, but now I wish I did."
"Maybe it's better this way," Becca suggested. "The less you know, the less you'll think about it." She knew that was the opposite of the truth, but I appreciated her effort.
I looked at her with blank eyes. "Sis, I'm scared. What if I'm the job?"
Becca leaned forward and grabbed my hands in hers. "I will never let him get the chance to hurt you again," she vowed with fire in her eyes. "Do you hear me? He'll have to get past me first."
The tears in my eyes fell down my cheeks, and I smiled appreciatively at my friend. "Thank you," I whispered out, and we embraced each other in the manner only best friends could. It gave me strength, but the emotional roller-coaster I had been on for the last hour had taken a toll on me. I felt drained and exhausted.
"I think I need to take a nap," I said, and Becca helped me to stand up and led me to the stairs. That was when I remembered the groceries in the trunk of my car. "Shit, I forgot about the food in the car," I said and made a move toward the front door, but Becca stopped me.
"I'll take care of it. Just go lie down. You need to relax, for both of your sakes," she said, and it was the most effective thing she could have said because the last thing I wanted was to stress my baby. It was the most precious thing in my world. If anything were to happen because of Edward Masen, I didn't know if I would be able to dig myself out of that hole.
I nodded. "You're right. Thank you."
"Don't worry about it, darling. I'm here for you. I always will be."
It took only seconds for me to fall asleep once I lay down on my bed, but my dreams were nightmares and filled with memories from the past.
A/N:
She isn't going to just give him a new chance off the bat ;-) Okay, so, readers of previous version, here is where things are once again gonna be completely different! You'll notice themes are the same, but other than that, this can be seen as completely new story. You'll also notice that Edward's character will have more depth and development compared to the first version
I hope you enjoyed this.
There won't be an extra chapter this weekend because my sister is home from Norway for a few days and I want to spend as much time with her as I can :)
See you Monday!
Stay awesome