I must apologize for wrongly titling the last update as, 'Chapter 22'. It was in fact only Chapter 20. Don't worry, you didn't miss anything.

My Beta is Mullet86. Please join me in wishing her a complete recovery as she battles a nasty bout of bronchitis. Feel better lovie!

Special announcement at the end of the chapter. Please read.

Disclaimer: We know who owns Twilight and we all know that it's not me. *sad panda face*

Tailspin

Chapter 21

"This is Bella Swan. Please leave a message after the beep." My groan of frustration echoed in Vanessa's otherwise silent interior. When Bella left my apartment her plan was to head back to the apartment that she shared with Taz. I'd hoped to catch her with a phone call and beg her to hold off on the conversation with the little spikey haired harpy, until I could speak to her.

Emmett's advice was right on. I should have told Bella everything when I had the chance.

You can't move forward until your history has been truly buried. And that meant I needed to tell her about Angela before Alice did.

"This is Bella Swan…"

"Damn!" I threw my phone into the passenger seat without leaving a message. After the second message, I figured it wasn't worth leaving another one.

Vanessa hummed quietly as I drove along the slushy roads to Bella's apartment. The sunshine that had been out earlier was now hidden behind thick, gray clouds. The heavy snow we'd gotten last night had stubbornly decided to stay in half water, half ice state, making the roads messy and causing everyone to drive slowly which in turn was slowing my progress to Bella's.

Needless to say I was a bit cranky.

Several shaky lane changes and one quick 'bird' flip later, Bella's apartment building came into view.

I pulled into the parking lot and let out a small breath upon spying that hideous oval Bella drove and pulled into a spot several cars down from 'Eddie'.

She was still here.

Bella and Taz shared an apartment in a building not unlike the one I lived in. It was more upscale than normal student housing, but not so ritzy that you'd get thrown out for one or two loud parties and a homecoming incident of streaking in the parking lot, courtesy of Emmett.

Where she lived made more sense now that I knew she shared with my fashion forward cousin. I'd only been in the apartment that one time, but it was long enough to get the feeling that the décor was not Bella.

Bella was all warmth, comfort and understanding. Alice was not someone I would consider, 'warm' or 'comforting', and in my experience I've never known her to be particularly understanding, especially when it came to me.

I walked into the lobby giving the short blond dude behind the desk a half wave and walked with purpose toward the elevators.

"Excuse me!"

I stopped short at the sound of his high pitched demand and turned around to face 'squeaky'.

He eyed me suspiciously as he pulled up his pants and waddled up to me. "Do you live in this building?" His cheeks puffed out when he spoke. He reminded me of one of a puffer fish documentary I'd seen on National Geographic. I had to stifle a laugh when he pulled out a clip board from behind his back and made a big show of ruffling the pages while he waited for me to speak.

I could tell right away that this guy was a classic example of someone having 'Little Big Man's' disease. His size and stature were not in scale to what I'm sure was an elevated idea of his position, which from what I could see consisted of wearing an ill-fitting uniform and guarding the front desk of an apartment building with the misplaced tenacity of a rabid dog.

I was so not in the mood for his crap.

I turned on my heel and looked down at him from my considerable height advantage. "No, but my girlfriend, Bella, does." My heart thrilled at my words. Girlfriend

His eyes narrowed as he spoke. "I know Bella; and I know she doesn't have a boyfriend, buddy." He reached for my arm, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave." I easily side stepped his chubby fingered hand and poked the elevator button.

The way he said, "I know Bella" had my hackles raised.

I leaned forward so that I towered over the chubby little Ewok. "You have old information, buddy, because I can assure you that she does have a boyfriend. And I'm that boyfriend."

His eyes fell slightly at my insistence that Bella was taken. I almost laughed at the dejected look on his face, but then again, hadn't my face been wearing the same look for months as I waited for Bella to relent and give me a chance to explain?

Despite that fact that this guy obviously had a crush on my girl, which incidentally irritated the fuck out of me, he was also just doing his job. Part of me was happy that he was here keeping low life scum from entering the building and possibly putting Bella in jeopardy.

I decided to make it easy on the little guy. I reached into my back pocket, grabbing my wallet and produced my driver's license. "Look, here's my I.D." His little 'Hobbit' hand snatched it out of my palm and stared at it for several minutes.

"Edward Cullen, 3800 Westbrook Drive, six foot-two, one hundred and ninety eight pounds …"

I reached out and snatched my license back before he rattled off my blood type and whether or not I was an organ donor.

For the record, I was.

I shoved the license back into its plastic sleeve and smoothly slipped the wallet back into my pants pocket. "There, now you have my name and other vital information," I pushed the button on the elevator again, "remember it for later because I don't want to get hassled every time I visit my girl." The elevator door opened and I hustled in giving 'Frodo' a wink as the door shut on his little round face.

The bravado I had in the lobby quickly dissolved as the elevator quickly climbed to Bella's floor.

I kept replaying Emmett's earlier assurances that Bella was on 'Team Edward' in my head like a mantra. Hoping that it would help keep me calm when I faced the shrew. Neither one of us pulled any punches with each other in the past, but I didn't want to give any more credence to whatever crap I'm sure Alice was spewing to Bella by adding fuel to the fire.

I needed to keep my temper under control.

The doors opened and with a deep breath, I stepped out into the hallway. It wasn't thirty seconds before I heard their voices echoing in the empty hallway.

The shrill sound of Alice's voice tore through me like an electric shock right to my central nervous center.

For a moment I could swear my legs actually buckled at the nails on a chalk board like sound, but I gathered my wits and hustled down the hall towards the horrible screeching noise.

I reached Bella's door as the very words I was afraid to hear, filled the hallway..

"He's nothing but a womanizing manwhore!" Alice's words hurt, but it's not as if I wasn't expecting to hear them.

My fists clenched tightly as I waited outside their door for Bella's reply.

"You don't know what you're talking about. Besides, he told me everything and I understand why he did what he did." Bella's voice was just as strong but nowhere as fucking irritating as Alice's.

My heart swelled at hearing Bella coming to my defense.

"Understand? You understand? For fuck sakes Bella, what the hell excuse did he feed you?"

"It doesn't matter Alice. What matters is that I know everything and there's so much more to him than you or even he thinks there is!"

She thought there was more to me?

"Everything? He told you about my dorm roommate?"

Bella's reply was strong and even. "Yes."

"What about my freshman RA and…"

"Yes and the others. I told you it doesn't matter and besides, I understand what drove him to be that guy. What matters to me is that he's not that guy anymore." I smiled picturing Bella standing there pleading my case to Taz. I bet her little fists were on her hips looking all bad ass and sexy.

"Oh please. All he cares about is getting his rocks off." I imagined fire coming out of Alice's horns as she listed off my major character flaw.

"That's not true!" Bella's voice rang out loudly with her denial.

"OK then, what did he tell you happened to turn him into such a user?" Alice demanded, snootily

My forehead hit the door with an audible 'thunk'. I placed my palms on the smooth surface, trying to hold myself up. Shit! I didn't want Bella to lie, but I also wasn't willing to have her spill all of my secrets either.

Bella's voice was softer as she spoke, the same conviction was evident, but her voice had taken on a less argumentative tone. "I know about Tanya."

I expected my heart to do that clenching thing it usually does whenever her name was spoken, but this time I didn't feel the pain or panic that the mention of Tanya usually evoked. Instead, there was calmness, a kind of peace.

Not that I was at peace with the shit that bitch did to me. No. I knew I was more screwed in the head than that. However, knowing that Bella had chosen to be with me, despite everything I'd done, and that someone as wonderful as her wanted to be in my life, made the worthlessness that lived in my soul dim several degrees.

That peaceful feeling was fleeting as Alice continued her tirade. "So let me get this straight, getting dumped in high school is all it takes to earn a get out of jail free card to 'fuck and dump' any female within a thirty mile radius? Grow up Bella. Who hasn't gotten dumped? It's happened to both of us and you don't see me whoring my way through the student listings."

"You know what Alice, first, I am a grown up. A grown up understands that people make mistakes and are able to forgive and move forward. Secondly, he didn't just get dumped. It was a hell of a lot worse than that."

"Bullshit!" I briefly wondered what my aunt would say about her 'precious' daughter's filthy mouth. I didn't have much time to reflect on that thought as they continued their discussion.

"It doesn't matter what you think. I know the truth and that's all that matters."

"You don't even know him Bella."

"I know him a lot better than you think."

I heard the not so delicate tone of Alice snorting. "One night of hard fucking doesn't mean you know him! Otherwise half of the coeds on campus know him just as well as you think you do!"

That's it! I'd had enough of her heaping that shit onto Bella. And I wasn't going to put up with her degrading the beautiful night we'd shared.

My fist came down heavily on the shiny door. "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

"Who the hell is that?" Alice asked loudly, clearly pissed off by the interruption. I knew that once she found out it was me behind the door, her mood would definitely not be improving.

"I don't know Alice. Maybe we should answer the door and find out?" My angel sarcastically fired back.

I heard a shuffle of feet before Bella asked, "Who is it?" through the door.

I took a deep breath and attempted to keep the anger that was directed solely at my cousin out of my voice. "It's me baby, open the door."

I smiled when I heard the familiar and comforting sounds of several locks being released as she rushed to open the door.

Bella face shone brightly as she flung her arms round my neck and tugged me into her body. I gladly returned her hug and breathed deeply in her sweet scent.

"What are you doing here?" She asked softly in my ear, before pulling away to look me in the eyes. Her beautiful brown eyes were filled with both the warmth and kindness I knew ran deep within her soul. I could also see the toll that the argument with Alice was taking on her physically. Even though her eyes were shining brightly at me, she looked weary.

Her face was creased and the smile that was currently on her face didn't quite make it all the way to her eyes.

I ran my thumb gently across her cheek bone, delighting when her smile deepened at my touch. She breathed heavily and leaned into my hand. The weariness weighing her slender shoulders slowly eased as we reconnected.

"I'm glad you're here" she mouthed. Smiling, I leaned in and took he lips in a gentle kiss, cupping her face gently between my palms. Her plump lips were pliant under my own. The soft moans she emitted were making my body twitch all over to take our connection to a much deeper level. And if the impatient muscle in my pants, currently straining to break through its jean prison had anything to say about it, the level we'd be at right now would be horizontal. But he'd have to wait. I wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Bella and I had to start our relationship out right and that meant my cock would have to wait until the 'upstairs brain' put everything back to right.

And then he would have his time.

I broke our kiss and whispered into her ear, "I couldn't let you do this alone and…" I paused and leaned my forehead onto hers while I gathered my courage. "there's more I need to tell you."

"I don't need to know anymore. I've heard all I need to hear." Her words warmed my heart even if I knew she was wrong.

I smiled at her, pushing a lock of hair away from her face

"Well, aren't you two cozy? Come to fuck another of my friendships up Edwhore?" Bella tensed at Alice's words, determined to take as much of the brunt of her anger as possible, I turned so that Bella was now somewhat shielded by my body. I knew the motion was empty as Alice wasn't attacking her physically, but I felt better having done it.

My lips pursed into a tight line as I addressed the little witch, "You know what? From the sound of the shit you were spewing, I think you were doing a fine enough job of destroying the friendship yourself Alice." I didn't come here to fight with her, but after what she'd just said to my girl, I wasn't going to play nice.

Bella tensed at my words and hid her face into my chest. I knew I'd just made the situation worse, but damn it, if I was going to allow her to say those things to Bella and not answer for them.

Alice made a disgusted sound and dropped heavily into the burgundy leather couch, her arms were crossed defiantly over her chest. "Like it even matters, she's already under your spell; nothing I say will make a difference." Her voice dropped as she muttered her next sentence, "Just like always."

If it hadn't been for the slight sound of honest pain in her voice, I'd been tempted to fire back an equally hateful statement. As it was, I wasn't just here to come clean with Bella. This was also my chance to make amends with a member of my family that I'd unintentionally hurt more times than I could count.

I smiled down at the tense woman in my arms and began kneading her shoulders soothingly while placing soft kisses on her forehead and around her eyes. Slowly, I could feel her body start to relax.

She breathed heavily and leaned into me. "I didn't want to fight with her, but she wouldn't give me a chance to explain and when…." She took in and exhaled another deep breath, "when she brought up all those other women, I didn't know what to say to her to explain why you felt that casual sex and single nights of intimacy were all you felt you were good for."

"It's your story Edward. " Her deep eyes bored into mine, willing me to understand "You have to tell her or she'll never forgive you. And you'll never be a family again." She paused and cast her sorrowful eyes towards the couch where Alice was sitting, stonily. "I don't want to lose her if I can help it." Those deep brown eyes bored back into mine and I nodded, pecking her lips once more with a soft kiss.

I understood what she meant. If Alice couldn't accept us being together, Bella would choose me over her. And once again, I would've cost Alice another friend. The hurt reflected in my girl's eyes shot through me like a knife.

I relinquished my hold on Bella. With what I hoped was an encouraging smile, I twined our hands together and gently tugged her towards the couch where Alice sat. Taz's eyes never left the spot on the carpet she was staring at as I maneuvered Bella to sit beside me on the matching love seat, across from my cousin. Bella's grip in my hand tightened as she stared at Alice.

I was used to seeing fire in my cousin's eyes. I was alarmed at the blankness that was reflected in them now. For the first time, I understood I had put that look on her face and the bile in her heart.

"Alice, I'm sorry." I could feel Bella's smile from her place at my side. "I know I've screwed up."

"That's an understatement." Alice huffed. I bit back my retort.

I ran my free hand through my hair and tugged harshly, working out what I was going to say.

"And I understand that my actions have hurt you. I also understand why you don't want someone you love to be with me. But I love her too." Bella laid her head on my shoulder and gently squeezed my hand when I said I loved her. I looked down at her and smiled. It's not how I wanted to proclaim my feelings, but they just rolled out naturally, as if I'd been saying it every day for years. It was a sentence I was hoping Bella would give me the chance to repeat on a daily basis.

"Are fucking kidding me? You don't know what love is." Her shrill voice seemed to bounce off the walls to hit me straight in my gut. I couldn't yell and scream at her, proclaiming how wrong she was, but part of me knew that she was right.

I thought I loved Tanya.

I was wrong.

What I had with Tanya was a bastardized version of love. Love was about give and take.

With Tanya there was only taking.

It's wanting more for your partner than you do for yourself and being willing to give up your ego and selfishness in order for them to have what they need. In my case, it meant that I had to open up the wound that Tanya left on my heart and let everything I'd been bottling up inside spill out for her to see, in order to make amends so that the woman I cared for more than my own life didn't lose someone she loved.

Alice was wrong. I knew what love was.

"You're wrong Alice," I kept my voice calm but still strong so that she had no misunderstanding regarding my meaning.

Her eyes shifted to Bella and me. They were narrowed in disbelief and her posture was still very stiff and unyielding. I hoped her heart would be more pliant. I had one thing going for me and that was the knowledge that despite what Alice had said to Bella, I knew that she cared about her and that nugget of truth was what spurred me to say my next sentence.

"If you care about Bella as much as I think you do," Alice's eyes seemed to soften a bit. "you'll listen with an open mind."

Alice looked away. She grabbed a pillow, hugging it tightly to her chest.

With a quick kiss on my cheek, Bella moved away from me to go sit next to Taz.

I felt empty the moment she left my side.

Bella put her arm around my cousin and spoke gently. "Alice, there are things you don't know and if you give him a chance, Edward just might make you see things a little differently." Alice snorted at Bella's words, but didn't pull away from her touch.

That has to be a good thing right?

"Alice, you're my best friend and I love you like a sister," Alice nodded in agreement at her statement. "please listen to him. I want us to all be friends."

"Friends? You want me to be his friend?" Alice pulled away from Bella, getting up and pacing in front of the two couches, the heat was back in her words. "I may have to accept that my best friend is giving her heart away to someone who will end up breaking it into a million pieces and I may have to accept that you will end up blaming me when he does exactly that, but I do not have to be his friend while he does it." Alice's legs and hands were moving rapidly as she paced around the room in a fit befitting a Tasmanian Devil.

I half expected her head to start swiveling around and large drops of drool to begin falling out of her mouth.

Bella sat stunned on the couch, watching Taz throw her little fit. While I'd been hoping for an easier conversation, I'd seen her pitch these types of tantrums since she was kid. If it wasn't because Emmett cut her Barbie's hair it was that I'd inadvertently sat on and smashed one little bitty diorama of To Kill a Mockingbird in seventh grade causing her entire GPA to drop three points for the semester.

These fits were not new to me. I knew from experience that the best thing to do was let her burn herself out.

"Alice, please…"

"No!" she interrupted. "He gets away with everything and the rest of us have to just sit back and clean up his messes. He doesn't care who he hurts!" She pointed a well-manicured nail in my direction.

"Alice that's not true," Bella jumped up to defend me. "you don't know what his life is like."

Alice twirled around and started to open her mouth for another run at my girl, but I couldn't allow Bella to take any more heat for my mistakes.

I motioned for Bella to let me take over. She nodded, wiping her eyes as she sat back down on the couch.

I got up and walked over to where Alice was standing, briefly stopping to give Bella an encouraging squeeze on her shoulder. She gave me a small smile before turning her eyes to the floor.

Alice's eyes narrowed as I approached her. I knew I had one shot at this. She either would listen to me or tell me to go fuck myself. Either way, I'd be okay, because I'd already won the bigger prize, Bella.

I took a deep breath, looked Alice in the eyes and dove in.

"Alice, I owe you an apology," I sincerely stated. Her eyes widened for a moment before she gained control and was once again looking at me with disdain. It was okay, I wasn't expecting her to welcome me with open arms the moment I spoke. I knew I'd have to work harder for her forgiveness.

Now, where do I start?

A/N: I've signed up to contribute a story to the fandom for Oklahoma cause. There are a lot of really talented authors, Betas and banner makers who are contributing their time and talents to raising money for the people who lost so much when Mother Nature was being such a b*tch. Please stop by the webpage and consider donating. .info

As always, thank you for reading.

ruinedbyrob