Posting a day early because a) it's ready, b) I'm kind of anxious for your reactions, c) I'm busy all day tomorrow.

Bella backed away slowly until her calves bumped against the couch. Edward was shaking, tiny tremors that rippled from his wrists up to his shoulders and across his chest. Bella watched him swallow as if he was just about to speak, but his face remained rigid, his lips pressed together, bloodless and unmoving.

Several minutes ticked by before he looked up at her, his face unreadable.

"What is this?" His voice was as cold and distant as the look in his eyes.

"A ring," she replied, her voice a tense whisper.

"Yours?"

She nodded once. Her vocal cords were immobilized by dread. His eyes flicked down to her left hand where the faint tan line confirmed what she couldn't bring herself to say aloud.

Edward placed the ring on the center of the coffee table. He stepped back, wiping his hand against his shorts, his expression as unreadable as a foreign tongue. Light passed through the diamond solitaire, glittering and splitting it into a spray of tiny rainbows on the shiny surface.

Edward's eyes were icy when he looked at her. If he felt pain she couldn't tell. If it was there it existed behind an impenetrable layer of disdain. Bella stood in silence, wishing he would speak. Yell. Anything. When he finally did she only wished he would stop.

"Is this what you had planned with your girlfriend from college all along? Is this some game you two play? Hide your ring when you get off the plane and then fuck the first poor sap who falls for your innocent, girl-next-door act? You thought because you were in a different state that it wouldn't matter? As long as he was in the dark you could have your fun, right? You're disgusting. I hope your fiancé finds out what a whore you are and runs for the hills before he's stuck with you for life."

Bella flinched before his verbal attack. Surprise, anxiety and guilt had thrown her completely off balance. She was speechless. As much as she wanted to cut him off and set him straight, as much as she wished she could just tell him the truth, her pride kept her jaw clamped tightly shut. How would it improve his opinion of her if he knew she had rebounded straight from heartbreak into his bed? At least this way he didn't see her as spineless and pathetic. A selfish bitch, maybe, but not somebody to be pitied. She stood up straighter and raised her chin in defiance.

"You don't know the first thing about me," she retorted coldly when he finally stopped speaking.

"You're absolutely right. I don't. You've been pretty tight-lipped about yourself haven't you? Didn't want to get caught in a lie?"

Fury quickly displaced guilt and Bella took three angry steps toward him. "I never lied to you."

"You lied to me when you kissed me. When you made love to me. When you cried and told me you wanted to see me again. You lied with every breath and every single fucking word!" Edward advanced toward her as he spoke, his voice rising, his eyes flashing, his face taking on the terrifying cast of an avenging angel.

Bella wanted to cower before his anger. She wanted to back away and cry. She wanted to confess the truth and beg for him to see how much she wanted him, needed him, how much she already cared. That part of her desperately needed him to wait, to give her a chance to explain.

But another part of her was swelling and fighting for air, hungry for justice. She had stood back and watched her future with Mike stripped from her with zero warning. When she opened up to Edward, she had only wanted something for herself. Something good. Something beautiful and untainted. Edward had offered it to her freely. She hadn't sought him out. She hadn't tried to take anything. He had offered it and she had accepted. He had no right to lash out at her, no right to call her a whore. Like a cornered creature, her instincts demanded that she strike back.

"I didn't ask for your help. I didn't look for you to swoop in and save me. How do I know you've never done something like this before? You've played up the good guy persona so much there's no way it's real. You just decided to bring some random stranger home to feed and entertain for days? Who does that? If I wasn't a young, moderately attractive woman you wouldn't have even considered offering to help me!"

"How dare you turn this back on me? I haven't done anything wrong. I'm not the one fucking around when I'm supposed to be getting married. Don't judge me by your own twisted sense of morality. I would have offered you a place to stay whether you were a dude or an old woman, or any other random stranger. I sure as hell wasn't trolling for easy sex. If I wanted emotional baggage I wouldn't have turned down every woman I've ever met for the last five years."

"Well, you're awfully humble aren't you," Bella cut in sarcastically.

"You're just angry that I found out the truth before you got tired of using me. Tell me, how would it have played out? Would you have ignored my calls? Now that I mention it, I don't even have your phone number, do I? Would you have invited me over and screwed me at some cheap hotel while your fiancé was at home completely in the dark? What's his name, anyway? Jimmy? Stephen? Max? Am I getting close?"

Tears were burning in her eyes. She clenched her hands in fists feeling her nails cutting deep into her palms. She was shaking as she paced towards him.

"Shut up. Just shut up. You don't have a fucking clue. You can take your perfect conscience and superior ego and shove them up your ass!"

Bella came to a stop in front of him, her face flushed and her eyes wild with rage. Edward's lips were quivering, his fingers curling and uncurling as if he wanted to wrap them around her neck and squeeze the life from her body. The coffee maker gurgled and spluttered in the background, a cheerfully domestic sound amid the cataclysmic emotions.

Their eyes were locked, their faces wiped clean of all tenderness and affection. His breath washed over her face with every exhalation.

"You're disgusting," he hissed, the words and his tone conveying clearly his absolute hatred.

"Fuck you," she shrieked, her right hand whipping out to slap him.

The sound of her palm smacking his cheek was like a thunderclap. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it behind her back.

"Bitch," he growled. His left eye was watering, but he towered over her, unflinching.

With a pained cry, Bella swung with her left hand, but his reflexes were faster and he caught that hand, too. He held her hands against the small of her back, crushing her body against him. They panted hoarsely, standing chest to chest and quaking with emotions spinning far out of control.

Bella shook in his arms, remembering suddenly that he was a man, a powerful man, and she was completely at his mercy. She hadn't truly believed any of her accusations. But now, feeling so vulnerable, she sensed the first tendrils of fear creeping up her spine. He could do whatever he wanted to her. She couldn't stop him if she tried. Already her wrists and shoulders were screaming in protest. She wriggled ineffectively and tried to pull away.

Rather than release her, he pulled her tighter against him, his eyes hard and his jaw clenched. He looked down at her mouth, her lips still red and swollen from a night filled with heated kisses. With an angry cry his mouth crashed against hers. When she tried to pull back he pinned her wrists with one hand and held her head still with the other. His kiss was brutal and animalistic. His tongue forced its way passed her lips and his teeth clashed against hers.

Bella fought him at first, enraged by the intrusion, furious with her helplessness. But, despite her fear and hurt, she couldn't help the way her body responded to his. The taste of him was just as sweet. The feel of his muscles flexing against her still made her want to melt. She found herself kissing him back, almost against her will. She whimpered and pressed against him, desperate for him to erase the last ten minutes, to take them back to the bliss of their night together.

His hands released her suddenly and he stumbled backward. He was shaking his head, his mouth twisted with anguish, tears streaming down his too-white cheeks.

"Go. Please, just go. . ." he cried.

Edward tripped as he turned, then disappeared down the hall to his bedroom. The door closed behind him with a muffled thud.

Bella sat down on the floor, shaking violently with shock. She watched her hand rise up of its own volition, reach out and pick up the ring. She slipped it back on her finger. It still fit perfectly. With a low and agonized moan, she curled into herself and cried.

A/N: As always, thanks for reading, whether you leave a review or not. I'm glad you are enjoying these two!