Disclaimer: Twilight and its characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. This storyline and all original characters belong to the author. No copyright infringement intended.
Massive thanks to MauiGirl, Cared and Midnight Cougar, as always.
WARNING: There are scenes of violence towards the end of the chapter, so if you think this may upset you, I'd advise that you skip to the next chapter after Edward and Bella fall asleep. In which case, you can PM me and I'll give you a synopsis.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Friday 12 – Tuesday 16 August
True to his word, over the next two days Edward and Bella talked… really talked, for the first time. About their feelings, about their mistakes and about what they both wanted. There were many tears, but there were also kisses and tender, lingering touches, which calmed and grounded them both.
As they talked, they realised that, despite the somewhat farcical start to their romance, and the obstacles put in their way—not the least of which was their age difference—the one constant was that they truly loved each other. Edward conceded that his initial concerns about Bella's age and perceived lack of maturity and experience were misplaced, and that these things should not in any way invalidate her feelings for him.
"I know I'm young, Edward, and yes, I'm inexperienced when it comes to relationships, but you can't just write off what I feel as the adolescent crushing of a teenage girl. Aren't my feelings just as valid as yours? You, yourself, admit that you've never been in love before, so why should your feelings be imbued with more substance than mine?"
He wanted to say that, at seventeen, she would probably grow out of it, but he knew that would be patronising in the extreme and, in all honesty, he really didn't want to believe that it might turn out to be true.
But he did feel that he needed to reiterate that, after years of single-sex schooling, it was likely that the less structured, co-ed environs of university would lead to her discovering that there was more to life—and love—than Edward Cullen.
"But don't you see, Edward? There are no guarantees in life, no absolutes. Your parents presumably loved one another when they got married, but it didn't stop them divorcing after little more than five years. My parents adored one another, but were killed in their forties in a stupid accident. Knowing that there's a chance it won't work shouldn't be the reason not to try—on the contrary, it should make us try harder. Otherwise, no one would ever let themselves fall in love, marry, have kids or do anything with their lives. I want to take the chance, Edward. I want to take the chance that I might get my heart broken, but equally… no, not equally… more likely, I won't. I want to take the chance that we'll live a long and happy life together… don't you?"
And he discovered that, yes, he did want to take that chance. That after what he'd experienced with Bella, there was no way he could return to the cold, empty relationships he'd had in the past. That, yes, a short time with Bella, if that was all he was granted, was better than no time with her.
He ran his fingers lightly along her jaw and across her cheek, smiling ruefully. "When did you get so wise and I became so stupid?"
Bella laughed lightly. "Oh, Edward, I think me nearly dying lent us both some wisdom. Because, let's face it, until you married me, you'd always been stupid about women!"
"Ouch, that's harsh. Remind me again why I love you." He scowled playfully at her.
"Because I've got fantastic tits, a phenomenal arse and a mouth like a Dyson!"
Said mouth was suddenly covered by Edward's as he attempted to kiss the face off her.
~o0o~
On the fourth day, instead of talking about the past, they started talking about the future, both in the short-term and the long-term.
They talked about Bella's plans for university, and started looking seriously at properties for her to rent or buy, especially as time was getting short. They talked about a holiday, once Bella was fit enough, which Edward couldn't help referring to as their belated honeymoon, much to Bella's delight. They went online and looked at ideas and destinations, finally settling on hiring a yacht to sail round the Mediterranean.
They talked about America and the company and, yes, they even talked about Jane and the investigation.
"I'm not going back to New York until Jane's been arrested, Edward, I just… I know I'm being a scaredy cat, but I just can't."
"Hey, you are not being a scaredy cat. Jesus, Bella, the crazy bitch tried to kill you; no way will I let you go anywhere near where she might be."
He pulled her into his arms, ever careful of her wound, and kissed the top of her head. Over these last few days, he'd worked hard to control his urges and limit their physical interactions to little more than affectionate but relatively chaste kisses. But it was hard… as was he… all the time.
Bella sighed in his arms, holding him tight and wishing the time between now and her doctor's appointment would pass a bit quicker. She was optimistic about getting a clean bill of health, as every day she was improving. She could hardly feel it now, except a little twinge from the stiches when she stretched. Edward had assiduously changed her dressings each day and they could both see that the wound was healing cleanly and remarkably quickly. He had told her he would take her to see his step-mother's plastic surgeon when they eventually returned to New York, as he would be able to eradicate the scar completely, he was sure.
"I suppose it does make me look ugly," Bella mused, looking at her abdomen in the mirror as Edward peeled away the old bandage, preparing to replace it with a clean one. "I won't be able to wear a bikini ever again," she said sadly.
He straightened up, and stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders, capturing her gaze in the mirror.
"You are beautiful, Bella. Do you hear me? Quite the most stunning woman I have ever laid eyes on, and nothing—absolutely nothing—will ever detract from that. I'm not suggesting cosmetic surgery because I think it's made you less attractive, I just don't want you to have a constant reminder of what happened to you. I want you to be able to move on and forget about that bitch and what she did. And I really fucking want to see you in a bikini again." Her hair was pulled into a messy bun with the ever-present chopsticks, and he bent to kiss her exposed neck, making her shiver, even in the heat of the August afternoon.
"Okay," she whispered.
~o0o~
Edward was equally—if not more—keen for Bella's doctor to give her the all-clear. The nights, of course, were the worst. Neither of them wanted to wear much due to the heat, and lying next to Bella in her tiny little camisole and knickers, when he was only wearing his boxer-briefs, was pretty torturous; he discovered very quickly that a half-naked Bella worked better than Viagra when it came to giving him a permanent erection. And whenever they awoke, no matter how hot it was, and how careful Edward tried to be, they always seemed to have migrated towards one another in the night, and Edward's hard-on was always pressed firmly against some part of Bella's anatomy, much to his chagrin and her delight… and their equal frustration.
Bella's Wednesday morning appointment with her private consultant couldn't come quick enough, and on Tuesday night they were both excited that by the same time the following night they might be able to do more than cuddle. Bella had tried, in vain, to persuade Edward that she was good to go, but he was determined to wait, terrified of hurting her, despite her protestations to the contrary.
The night was excessively warm, and they had all the windows open. Earlier, they had eaten dinner out on the deck, sitting outside until well after dark, drinking wine, talking and laughing and kissing, until it was time to come indoors and head upstairs to bed. They started carrying stuff inside, but gave up because they were both a little tipsy, and were having trouble keeping their hands off one another. In the end, they simply pulled the door closed and stumbled a little up to bed.
Neither of them had been drunk in a while, and Edward was wary of letting his guard down with an increasingly… frisky Bella.
Up in the bedroom, he had waggled his finger at her. "Okay, Mrs Cullen, let's get one thing straight—if there's any funny business, I'm going to be out that door and straight into the spare room. Do I make myself clear?"
Bella gave him a Girl Guide salute. "Absolutely, sir! I promise that I will do my best to love my God, to serve my Queen and my country, to help other people and to keep the Guide Law... and to not fiddle with my husband's todger… much. There, will that do you?"
Edward laughed. "Shit, Bella, come on now, don't do this to me. It's just one more night, okay?"
"Well, what's the difference between tonight and tomorrow night?"
"Getting your stitches taken out, and being given the green light—or not. That's the difference. Now promise me, Bella… properly."
"Okay, okay… God, it's like living with a Cistercian monk!" she grumped, going into the bathroom to brush her teeth.
Once they were in bed, lying side-by-side with just a sheet covering their lower bodies, Bella turned her head towards Edward in the dark.
"How about a hand job, then? You surely can't object to that."
"Bellaaaa—holy fuck!"
Before he could stop her, Bella had pushed her hand inside his boxers, wrapping her hand firmly around his hot, rigid cock. She moved her fingers up and over the head, gathering up the evidence of his arousal and then sliding back down to the base. Then she started to pump him… slow at first and then harder and faster.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, oh, Jesus, Bella…" Edward bucked his hips into her hand, thinking he should stop her but utterly incapable of doing so. It had been so long… too long… longer, in fact, than he had ever gone without a woman's hands on him since he'd lost his virginity, and her hands… Oh, God, having her perfect hands on him was beyond amazing.
He knew he wouldn't last, not after such a hiatus.
"Shit, Bella, I'm gonna cum… oh, fuuccck…."
She felt his cock swell in her hand and become momentarily harder, pulsing and throbbing, until great spurts of thick, hot spunk exploded out of him, splashing over his stomach, her hand and up her arm.
"Ahhhhh… oh, Jesus…" Edward gasped for breath and then lifted his head to look down his body to where Bella was still gently stroking his softening dick.
"Fucking hell, B, that was embarrassingly quick." He dropped his head back on the pillow and expelled a huge sigh.
Giggling, Bella climbed out of the bed and disappeared into the bathroom, emerging a moment later with a dampened wash cloth, with which she proceeded to clean herself and Edward. When she'd finished, she dropped the cloth on the floor and snuggled back in beside him, kissing his chest and smiling triumphantly to herself.
"Don't think I'm unaware that you've got a massively smug smile on your face right now," Edward said into the darkness. "But in my defence, it's been a very long time and you, my love, have magic hands."
Bella sniggered, drawing formless patterns on his stomach with her index finger. "Don't worry about it, Edward… although maybe we should get some more practice in before tomorrow night, just so you can work on your… stamina. I know older men can struggle with that sort of thing, and I'm happy to do my bit for Help the Aged." She couldn't suppress the giggle which erupted from her as she felt him tense beside her.
The giggle turned to a gasp, though, as she was suddenly rolled onto her back, Edward hovering above her on his hands and knees.
"Oh, sweet girl, I'll show you stamina," he practically growled, as he pushed her silky camisole up to reveal her chest.
And then his mouth was on her left breast, his tongue flicking and circling her nipple, before transferring to the right one and repeating the action. She moaned long and low as Edward worked his way down her body, kissing and sucking and nibbling on her skin, until he came to rest between her legs.
Pushing her knees apart, he hooked his thumbs into her tiny G-string and peeled them off her, before dipping his head and kissing her lightly, just above her pubic bone. Then, without further ado, he shuffled down a little and settled between her thighs, an intense and determined look on his face.
"If you wriggle or do anything which will pull on your stitches I will stop immediately, so the only way you're going to get yours is if you lie absolutely still. I'll teach you to take the piss, you little minx." He glanced up at her, eyebrow arched, his skin bleached by the silvery illumination cast by the full moon through the window.
In that ethereal light, Bella couldn't help thinking that he looked, for all the world, like an incredibly hot, sexy vampire poised to bite into her femoral artery and drink his fill whilst pleasuring her into a blood-pumping frenzy. She moaned loudly at the erotic imagery her thoughts were conjuring up, the sound merely serving to drive Edward insane with desire. Moments later, he had his mouth on her, the sweet taste of her arousal coating his lips and tongue as he feasted on her dripping and swollen sex. He held on tightly to her hips, pushing them back down onto the mattress when they threatened to buck up into his face. Her cries and moans escalated to a point where she was no longer able to articulate a single sound, other than a rhythmic intake of air until, with one explosive exhalation, she let out a high-pitched scream. Her orgasm hit her like a tornado, making her feel like she'd been sucked a mile into the air before being flung down a giant helter-skelter, going one hundred miles an hour.
"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!" she gasped, incapable of anything more profound.
Edward raised his head to look up at her, his nose, lips and chin glistening with the juices he'd wrung from his wife.
"So—what do you think of your old man now, eh?" He grinned at her as she propped herself on her elbows and looked back at him.
"I think," she said, pausing to draw in another much needed lungful of air, "that when you pop your clogs, I'm gonna have your tongue preserved in formaldehyde for posterity."
She dropped back down on the bed with an audible sigh, as Edward barked out a laugh, before crawling back up Bella's body until their faces were on a level. He kissed her, pushing his tongue into her mouth so that she could taste herself fully. Pulling back slightly, he looked intently into her eyes.
"The doctor better say we can have sex tomorrow, because I wanna be inside you so bad I think I might have a stroke if I can't get in there."
"Oh, Edward, don't worry, I'll give you a stroke," she said, slipping one hand to the back of his neck to pull him down for another kiss, whilst reaching down with her other hand to rub his thick, solid erection through his boxers.
Gasping into her mouth, he pulled back to look at her.
"Christ, Bella, you're going to send me to an early grave, I swear."
Reluctantly, he grabbed her hand and dragged it off him, then rolled to her side and onto his back.
"We should get some sleep, B—I do not want to be late for that appointment," he told her firmly, leaning over the side of the bed to retrieve her underwear, which he handed to her.
Bella giggled, pulled them up over her long legs and rolled onto her side to snuggle up next to him, neither of them bothering to pull the sheet back up from where it had slipped onto the floor.
A soft noise from downstairs briefly captured Edward's attention as he hovered on the cusp of sleep but when he heard nothing else, he quickly submitted to his exhaustion, helped on his way by Bella's already even breathing beside him.
~o0o~
In the living room, the door to the deck, which hadn't been shut properly, finally clicked open under pressure from a gentle gust of warm air nudging against it. Midges and moths quickly migrated to the opening, drawn to the cooker hood light, which neither Bella nor Edward had remembered to extinguish.
And, as the summer night turned into that witching hour before the cloak of darkness is cast off by the pre-dawn awakening, a shadowy figure flitted across the rooftops, aided by London's cheek-by-jowl housing, finally dropping on silent feet to the garden deck of No. 5 Jay Mews. It seemed that the gods were on the side of the black-clad roof-surfer, who smiled at the sight of the open door and guiding light, slipping silently inside.
~o0o~
Bella was having a really horrible dream. It had started so well, with her and Edward making out on a sort of giant chaise longue in a massive, Baroque palace. His hands had been all over her and she was panting and gasping for more, but when she looked down she could see that the hands weren't Edwards… they were just random disembodied hands and now they were pinching and squeezing her painfully. She looked over at Edward, but he had his back to her, and when she called his name and tried to reach out for him, he shrugged her off.
Bella knew this was a dream and fought to wake herself up, at the same time trying desperately to kick out at and push away the dozens of hostile hands.
"No… no…gedoff…" she mumbled, one foot jabbing sideways and making contact with Edward's leg, where he lay on his back beside her.
"Wha—" Edward was jolted awake by Bella's furious struggle, his eyes flickering open. "Bella?"
He was momentarily confused by the fact that, although he could feel her moving next to him, she also seemed to be standing at the side of the bed.
His confusion turned to horror as she raised her arm and he could see the glint of steel in the partial glow cast by the night sky's half-moon, and clarity crashed down on him.
As the apparition leaned forward and brought down its arm with a blood-curdling screech, Edward roared a warning and hurled himself on top of his wife, rolling them both across and off the opposite side of the bed.
He felt pain bloom like fire in his right biceps, and then they were on the ground, Bella's scream reverberating in his ear.
Above them, the figure stumbled slightly as the knife caught in the mattress, eliciting a high-pitched expletive. With adrenaline pumping through his system, Edward rolled himself and Bella back and under the bed, thanking every deity he could think of that he had chosen this modern, cantilevered frame rather than a divan. There wasn't much room, but it gave them a modicum of cover, while he tried to think.
"Edward…!"
"Shhh. Stay here and don't move," he whispered, letting her go and climbing awkwardly over her to go back the way they'd come.
"You bastard!" shrieked a familiar voice, as Edward emerged from under the bed and pushed himself up. Bella's phone was on the bedside table and he grabbed it and tossed it on the floor, kicking it under the bed.
The sinister, black-clad form turned, stalking around the end of the bed, and Edward knew he had to move or risk being backed into a corner, practically naked and without any kind of weapon. He also needed to draw the attacker away from Bella.
Jumping up on the bed, he scrambled across it and hurled himself at his dressing room door.
"I'm gonna kill you, you lying bastard, and then I'm gonna kill that stupid cunt you married," their assailant yelled, and now there was no doubt who it was.
He wrenched open the sliding door and dashed inside, as she came running back around the bed. He pawed at the wall to turn the light on, knowing he had only seconds to find a weapon. If he'd been alone he could have locked himself inside to gain a little time, but he couldn't afford to leave Bella unprotected. He prayed she stayed under the bed and that she had grabbed her phone.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh." The unholy scream turned his blood to ice as she lurched towards him, knife raised above her head, like something from a Hitchcock movie.
Edward lunged towards the back wall as he felt the knife slash at his upper back. Ignoring the searing pain, his eyes lit upon a pair of wooden shoe stretchers sitting atop his dresser and he reached out to hook two fingers in the loop of one of the turning handles. Another sudden burning flash in his shoulder caused him to gasp out loud, but he managed to turn, swinging the hard, maple-wood shoe stretcher in a wide arc, hoping to make contact with her head.
He missed his mark, and the foot-shaped wooden block glanced across her jaw with a sharp crack which caused her lip to explode with blood, and she let out an inhuman squeal, like a pig in a slaughterhouse.
But it didn't stop her, and not only was Edward now up against the wall, but the force of his swing meant that he was off-balance. With his shoulder and ribs exposed, the diminutive woman, who Edward now knew to be Jane, dived under his arm and thrust the knife again.
At the last second, Edward twisted away, so that it slashed open his flesh without going deep. He knew he was running out of options and that, if he didn't take her down, she was going to land a potentially fatal blow.
She danced back, out of his reach, wincing as she wiped blood from her chin. "Does it hurt, you fucker? I hope it fucking hurts!" she screamed.
Again, she raised her arm, and Edward tried to lunge towards her with the wooden block, only to slip in his own blood and go down on one knee.
He thought he heard the sound of breaking glass coming from the bedroom, but had no time to process it. His only thought now was that Bella must survive, that he must hold out until the police got here.
He went to push himself up as the malevolent troll, once again, lurched towards him, but his bare feet could get no purchase in the slick blood pooling round him. Throwing up his hands, he could only hope he would be able to grab the blade as it came down.
The sound of the dressing room door sliding back hard on its runner with an explosive crash drew his attention and caused Jane's head to whip around.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU BITCH!"
Edward gasped at the sight of his wife standing inside the doorway, legs apart and hair wild around her head. She had in her hands the long base of the tall floor lamp from the bedroom, and was holding it in both hands like a lance, the shade and bulb smashed to shards of jagged glass and metal.
She was magnificent.
And she was fucking livid.
For a moment, Jane was confused, and then she swung fully towards Bella, a triumphant grin adding to the maniacal gleam in her cold, blue eyes.
Bella's heart pounded in her chest, but she stood her ground—she'd achieved her goal of distracting the ghastly hobgoblin from her attack on Edward. Planting one foot firmly in front of the other, she held the broken end of the lamp defensively, pointing it at her attacker.
"Just give me an excuse, you fucking psycho!" she snarled.
"Bella, no, get back," Edward yelled, trying to push himself up and gasping in pain.
But Jane had a new mission, one she was going to enjoy. She would eviscerate the limey whore and then she'd cut Edward's dick off.
Jane took a step towards Bella, grinning from ear to ear as she saw the determined look in Bella's eyes falter slightly. Encouraged in her belief that the scrawny Brit would turn tail and run, presenting her with the perfect target, she lurched menacingly, but frowned when Bella stood her ground, despite her obvious fear. Screaming like a banshee, Jane hurled herself forward, clearly expecting her adversary to withdraw, her momentum taking her straight into Bella's improvised weapon, the broken glass of the shade and metal base of the light bulb driving deep into her chest, halting her progress and causing the knife to drop from her twitching fingers.
She looked at Bella and then down at the long metal shaft protruding from between her small breasts, as blood spurted out and drenched her long-sleeved, black top.
Bella gasped in horror as Jane dropped to her knees with a look of wide-eyed surprise on her doll-like face, and then just crumpled to one side, pulling the lampstand out of Bella's unresisting grip.
"Bella!"
She raised her eyes from the body on the floor to meet Edward's wide, horrified gaze, as he was finally able to push himself upright, using his right hand to hold his left arm to his chest. She took in the blood pouring down his arm and oozing from the slash in his side, and her hand flew up to her mouth.
"Edward? Oh my God, Edward!"
She started to move, but he held his hand up, and for an awful moment she thought the look of horror was because he was disgusted with her and what she'd done. But then he pushed himself off the wall and stepped over Jane, walking towards where Bella stood inside the door.
When he reached her, his hands came up and cupped her cheeks, his eyes roaming all over her face. And then he was pulling her to him, wrapping his arms tightly around her and ignoring the pain from his wounds. Relieved beyond measure that Edward was alive and that he wasn't appalled by her actions, Bella threw her arms round his waist and clung to him equally tightly, as he buried his face in her neck.
"My sweet girl," he whispered against her skin. "Oh, my brave, beautiful girl, I love you so much."
A sob shook him, as shock and pain finally took hold, and he squeezed her even tighter.
Bella pulled her arms from around his waist and reached up to wrap them around his neck. She, too, was crying now, and they clung to one another for several minutes, as if afraid to ever let go.
"I love you too, Edward," she whispered.
The sound of police sirens cut through the silence of the night, and they finally pulled apart just enough to be able to look at each other.
"Oh my God, Edward… there's so much blood." Bella stepped back further and looked at him, aghast. She pulled her hands away and saw that they, too, were now covered in blood, and she tried to turn him around so she could see where it was coming from, but he resisted.
The sirens were now deafening, and they could tell the police were in the Mews. As if to confirm their thoughts, there was suddenly a loud banging at the front door.
Bella looked up at Edward and then turned and walked out of the dressing room to gather up the white terry robe from the bench at the foot of the bed, bringing it over to Edward and holding it for him to put on. He gasped at the pain in his shoulder, but let her help him. She guided him out of the dressing room and over to the bed, where she made him sit. Then, as the banging downstairs got ever louder, she went over to the window and called down.
"Hang on, I'll be right down. We need an ambulance, my husband's been stabbed." Bella's voice hitched on the last word, and she had to take a deep breath. Then she went into the bathroom and found her own robe, which she slipped on before leaving Edward to go downstairs to let the police in.