BPOV
It was tempting, so very tempting, to ignore the sleepiness that purred through my body as Edward eased his way between the sheets next to me. He was still naked, still smirking, and still had problems keeping his hands to himself. I grinned when he leaned into me and slid his hand over my ribs and onto my back. Then he kissed the top of my forehead and I frowned. "That's it?"
"Go to sleep." Edward pulled the blankets over us and tugged me closer. "You wore me out."
I snorted softly. "Me? I didn't just bend you over the bathroom counter and-" His fingers moved up my back, tickling as they went, and my voice trailed off.
He continued, grinning, and leaving a featherlike touch against my skin until he'd reached the back of my neck. Then, like I knew he would, his fingers gently curled themselves through my hair. Edward pulled me to him, guiding my lips for his. I was halfway laying on top of him. Instead of a kiss though, he whispered, "I know you're tired. I also know that you know I would gladly distract you for the rest of the day." He finally kissed me. "But I meant what I said earlier. You're going to end up making yourself sick if you keep this up. You have to sleep."
I leaned my forehead down against his and sighed. "I know."
Edward's other arm slipped underneath me. When his fingers carefully moved up and down my back I relaxed into his body and let my hand rest on his stomach. The tips of my fingers curled around his side and my head fell against his shoulder.
"Don't feel guilty, Bella."
I turned my face into him, pressing my lips against his skin.
"We have done everything we can," he whispered against the top of my head. "We have to trust that the police will do their job. We have to believe that Leah is okay and that there is a reasonable explanation as to why she's there."
"I know."
"Then sleep. Close your eyes."
I did, making myself focus on the sound of this breathing and the feeling of his fingers on my back. The circles he traced became slower and slower, his breathing more even, and eventually the detached feeling of falling asleep crept over my body.
When I woke it was dark; dark enough to know that I'd slept well into the later part of the evening. I slid my fingers across the bed, reaching for Edward, but when I hit the edge of his pillow I knew he wasn't there. Sitting up on my elbows, I squinted at the alarm clock on his side of the bed, groaning when I saw it was nearly nine.
I planned on leaving the bedroom after stumbling out of bed, not caring if I was naked or not, to see where Edward was. But when I opened the door and heard the familiar voices of Jasper and Emmett I quickly changed my mind. I was in the middle of pulling on one of Edward's sweatshirts when the bedroom door quietly opened and then shut. A second later it's owner was leaning against the closet's doorframe, grinning.
"That's mine."
I balanced on one leg, pulling on a pair of leggings. "I'm borrowing it."
"I've lost a countless number of hoodies and sweatshirts to that excuse over the years." Edward took a step towards me, wrapped a hand around the back of my neck once I'd straightened, and then leaned down to press his lips against mine. "How are you feeling?"
"You shouldn't have let me sleep so long." He didn't let me go, only smiled, and I didn't pull away. Instead, I wrapped my arms around his sides and squeezed. "And I don't like waking up without you in bed with me." His fingers lifted up into my hair and I leaned my head back into his touch. "But I do feel better. Starving though."
"Jasper brought pizza." He murmured, lips pressed against the top of my head. "If you don't want that I can make you something else."
Although I was hungry, and pizza did sound delicious, I didn't move. Instead I closed my eyes and pressed myself closer to Edward's body.
I hadn't been lying earlier in the bathroom when I'd told him I felt the same something different that he did. I felt it now, too. I'd said it was love because I didn't know what other word could even come close. There had always been a connection I'd felt to Edward but this… this felt like some sort of thread had been tied between the two of us and it was heady and all consuming- maybe even obsessive.
"I can't stop touching you," I told him in a whisper after a quiet moment had passed. "Not even in a sexual way. I just… I just want to feel you next to me."
"Me too," He took a deep breath, his nose buried in my hair. "I guess it's a good thing you don't have to."
I grinned against his shirt. "Why are Jasper and Emmett here?"
Edward reluctantly let me go. "Alice told Emmett about… everything. He was offended." He used air quotes around the word. "So, we are going to play poker and drink beer in an attempt to mend his fragile heart."
"Is he mad?" I asked as I made my way to the bathroom. Scooping my hair up in a bun as I walked.
"No. He was… upset. Is worried, like the rest of us, but he'll be fine." Edward followed me into the bathroom and handed me a hair tie.
"Rosalie isn't here, is she?"
He raised an eyebrow, fighting back a smile, as I yanked on the toilet paper a little too aggressively. "I can tell from the tone of your voice that I'm going to disappoint you when I say she isn't."
I smiled innocently and Edward laughed.
Leaning back against the counter, he watched as I moved to the sink to wash my hands. "She's at her sister's house. Apparently she is furious that they were the last to find out."
"Typical Rosalie," I muttered while taking the towel he offered. "I hate that we hurt him- them. We should have told everyone… It was just so hectic with Emily and then… this…" I turned to him. "Alice didn't tell your parents did she?"
Edward didn't have to verbalize an answer. His face said it all.
I dropped my head, sighing.
"Alice said she only confirmed what they'd already suspected." His fingers slipped under my chin before he gently turned my face so I was looking at him. "It is fine. No one is upset." I opened my mouth but he quickly amended, "Nobody but Rosalie."
Turning my body to meet his, I leaned up into him. Edward released my chin, sighed when my lips met his, and let his hands drop to my waist. We had company; one guest in particular that would love an opportunity to make sex related jokes at our expense. So I pulled away from the kiss that I wanted so desperately to deepen and rested the palm of my hand against his stomach. "I love you."
"I love you." Edward placed another chaste kiss against my lips.
He followed me down the hallway and rested his chin against the top of my head, setting his hands on my hips, when I stopped in the living room. I smiled at the two men who were lazily sprawled out across Edward's furniture. Jasper lifted a hand to say hello but went back to looking at a vinyl album sleeve a second later. Emmett however, narrowed his eyes at the two of us.
"Something you want to tell me, Bella?"
I nodded and cleared my throat. In an entirely serious voice I asked, "Do you have your wallet?"
"What?" My question confused him.
"Do you have your wallet?" I asked again, slower this time. Edward moved his chin to my shoulder.
Emmett uncrossed his arms and sat up. "Of course I have my wallet. What the hell are you-"
"Good. Because I'm planning on kicking your ass at poker and I don't take IOUs." Jasper's obnoxious laugh came out in a loud bark and I felt Edward's quiet chuckle against my neck. "Pretty sure you still owe me twenty dollars from our junior year of high school."
Emmett glared up at me as I walked to the couch he was sitting on. "You're a little shit, you know that?"
I threw myself down next to him and sighed. "And yet you love me anyway."
"Why do even put up with her?" He asked Edward.
"The perks make it worth it," Edward leaned over the couch to kiss me. I grinned and he headed towards the kitchen. "I'll get you some pizza."
Emmett playfully shoved me away from him. "You can't sit here."
I laughed but turned to face him.
"Emmett." The playfulness toned down, he looked down at me. "I'm sorry. We didn't mean for you to be the last one to find out. With… everything that happened over the last three days it…"
"You do remember that I'm your brother, right? Edward told Alice because she's his sister. I don't get the same treatment?"
Sometimes it amazed me that even after all these years he still held on to the step-brother title. Our parents had been divorced longer than they were ever together and it had been when both of us were well into being teenagers- practically adults already. I'd known Emmett my whole life, just like Alice and Edward, but from the moment his father had proposed to Renee, Emmett had stopped referring to me as his friend and started calling me his little sister. I shook my head at his question, still smiling. "Step-brother. For like five minutes."
"Semantics," he muttered, waving a hand.
I pulled a throw pillow onto my lap and sighed. "We told Alice because Jasper already knew. And he can't keep a secret from her."
"So Jasper knew first?"
From his spot on the chair, Jasper released a long suffering sigh. "First of all, I happen to be an excellent secret keeper." He pointed a finger at me, a mocking threat. I grinned. "And secondly, does it even matter, Emmett? Why are you so invested in Edward and Bella's love life?"
"Fuck off, Jasper. Given the past six years we are all invested in their damn love life." He looked back at me, giving me a nervous smile, before quickly adding, "No offense though, Bella."
"None taken." I leaned back against the couch.
"Technically," Edward reappeared, handing me a plate full of pizza and a napkin. "We were going to tell Alice first because we all know she would kill me if she wasn't the first to know. She's my sister but she is also Bella's best friend. That trumps your feelings of entitlement."
He sat down, putting me in between the two of them.
Emmett waved a finger between the two of us. "I'm her brother and your best friend. We should have been told at the same time."
"Good Lord," I muttered around the food in my mouth. Edward chuckled, looking down at me.
"I'm not mad anymore," Emmett said, ignoring Jasper's overly obnoxious eye rolling. He held up is hands, palms facing me. "I'm just saying, next time I should be given the same consideration as Alice. I think I deserve that after putting up with both of you since preschool."
"Okay." I agreed.
He continued, ignoring me. "And after having to endure watching the two of you flirt back and forth with each other, even though neither of you wanted to admit you'd been in love with each other since fifth grade, until Edward finally grew a pair and professed his undying love and affection for you in the middle of the street and finally fucking kissed you."
I shook my head. "That isn't how it happened."
"Eh," Edward shrugged. "It kind of is."
"What are you-"
"We also had to put up with our two best friends basically turning into an old ass married couple overnight." Emmett spoke over me talking. "One minute we are living it up, partying and having fun, and then it's nothing but 'I can't. Bella wants to hang out' or 'I have plans with Bella' all the damn time."
Edward leaned forward, looking around me at Emmett. "Suppressed anger, much?"
Jasper laughed, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of this conversation.
"Okay." I sighed and sat my plate on the coffee table before turning so that I was fully facing Emmett. I took both of his hands in mine, making sure he was looking at me before starting my overly dramatic apology. "I am sorry. I really am. I know it hurt your feelings that you were the last to know and I don't blame you. I am also sorry that you had to endure so much unnecessary hardship as a witness to our teenage romance. I'm sure it couldn't have been easy given the fact that you worshiped the ground Rosalie-freaking-Hale walked on for a good year before finally asking her out on a date."
His lips twitched.
"The next time we have life changing news I will make sure that you're the first person to know. Okay?"
Emmett smiled and opened his arms for a hug, squeezing when I leaned into him. "Okay."
XXXX
"So." Edward drew the word out, making all of us look up at him from our cards. "I wanted to talk to you about something. All of you."
"Now?" Emmett nodded towards the cards he held in his hands. "We're in the middle of a game."
I leaned over to look at his cards. "You would have lost anyway."
"Do you mind?" He pulled them closer to his chest, looking scandalized.
I smiled and sat my own cards down on the dining table. Jasper winked at me while taking a drink from the beer bottle in front of him.
"I figured you'd be interested, Emmett." Edward tossed his cards down as well. "Given that it is news no one knows about."
That definitely changed his mind because within a matter of seconds Edward has his undivided attention. Since I had no clue what he was about to say he had mine as well.
"When Renee died she requested that Bella take her spot as a trustee on the board for Hope House."
Emmett nodded. "I know. Bella told me."
I quickly understood where this conversation was going and leaned back in my chair, spinning the bottle in front of me between my hands.
"Well," Edward hesitated, giving me the chance to tell him myself, but I shook my head. "She decided not to accept the position."
"So… what does that mean?" Emmett looked at me when the realization hit him. "You're leaving again."
"We." I corrected him. "We will leave."
Understanding washed over Emmett's face he turned back to Edward. "Where?"
The play hurt that he'd displayed earlier had been easy to deflect. This, this hurt, was real. And it made me incredibly sad that I had once again made a choice that would end up upsetting him. Emmett would be losing two friends this time- one of them his best friend since childhood.
"We don't know yet." Edward laid an arm across the back of my chair, his fingers automatically trapping the few loose strands that had fallen around my neck. "But when all of this is over... I'll go wherever she goes."
Emmett looked between us for a second and then focused on Jasper. "Alice is going to lose her shit."
"She knows. It's okay." Jasper gave him a reassuring smile.
"But you said no one knew," He looked at Edward again. "Am I the last one to know about this, too?"
The ache in my chest intensified and I reached out and held on to Emmett's hand. "No. You're actually one of the first to know."
"Then… what the hell are you talking about?" He waved a hand at Edward.
"Well." He started. "I… I have an idea. And I want your opinions on what you think it could bring to Hope House."
Even Jasper sat up straighter in his chair.
"With Bella turning down the position, and me eventually stepping down, we'd have to replace two positions on the board of trustees. I was thinking, depending on how all of this ends up, that I would ask Sue to fill one of them."
My mouth actually fell open at his suggestion. "What?"
"Sue?" Jasper asked him. "Sue Clearwater?"
"Swan." Emmett corrected him. Jasper ignored him.
Edward looked at me. "She could help bridge the gap between Forks and the reservation. With someone on the board that has a vested interest in the tribe, and its problems, we could really start to explore ways that we could offer services to help them. Maybe even build a second location on reservation land."
Turning to Jasper he said, "What happened to Emily and Leah, to all those other women, shouldn't have ever been a possibility. They should have had a place to go; someone that would be willing to help them. We can offer that. We can try to break the damn cycle. Pretending that their issues don't exist, pretending that we shouldn't offer any sort of support because it isn't our place, isn't what we founded Hope House on. And it isn't what I believe."
His words, the brutal truth of them, made my eyes burn with tears wanting to spill forward. I blinked, quickly.
Jasper leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. "The board would have to be convinced, wouldn't they? And if this comes with a possibility of funds being diverted from programs already in place they might not be in favor of it."
"Funding isn't an issue. I didn't give that money to Hope House so they could only help people they deemed appropriate. It was given to help anyone that needed it." I shook my head. "And if there is one person that believes we shouldn't help someone just because they live on the reservation then they're on that fucking board for the wrong damn reasons."
"One question," Emmett said. "What money?"
"From a legal standing you can't dictate where the money goes, Bella. You signed the deed over and you aren't a Trustee. And with Edward leaving… I honestly don't know if they'd vote in someone that doesn't even live in Forks and has zero experience doing something like this."
I stared at him from across the table. I knew Jasper didn't believe those things. I knew he was only speaking from a legal perspective and playing the Devil's advocate. But actually hearing the words made a fire rage in my chest. I might not have been here when they'd started Hope House but I damn sure had a steak in it now- not just financially but emotionally. Regardless of why Renee had started it I believed in what the organization did. I believed in what it stood for.
"What money? Deed to what?" Emmett asked again, louder this time since no one had answered him.
I angrily pulled my gaze away from Jasper. "Knowing that Edward was leaving I wanted… I wanted to do something that would ensure Hope House would continue to function and thrive. I already felt guilty about him choosing to leave so I thought that this would make it easier when that time came. So, I signed over the mill to Hope House."
Emmett stared at me, blinking in a shocked silence.
My posture finally relaxed when Edward's hand moved to my back. I took a deep breath before turning to look at him. "Would they really not vote her in because she's from the reservation?" If she even agreed to it at all.
"I don't know. But I'm hoping if my second suggestion, the one on who replaces me, agrees to take the position then they'd be able to help. Be able to continue the vision we've had for Hope House since it first opened."
"Who?" I asked. My mind immediately pictured Carlisle for some reason even though I knew he wouldn't stop practicing medicine to take on the role.
Edward smiled and turned his head. "Jasper."
Emmett's and my gaze quickly shifted to him.
"What?" Jasper slowly lowered the bottle he was about to take a drink from. "Why me?"
"Why not you?" Edward countered. "Do you want a list of reasons?" He held up a hand and started raising fingers as he went along. "One, you've been involved from the very beginning and I know you share the same vision we all do." He motioned around the table and Emmett nodded. "Secondly, after Bella leaves Renee's estate will be finalized and you'll have lost your only client. You're too young to retire. Third, you've been Hope House's attorney for four years."
"Edward, I…"
He continued. "People in this town know you, Jasper. They trust you. I trust you."
"Me, too," I added.
Emmett raised his hand. "Third."
I couldn't help but grin.
Jasper shook his head in disbelief. "I…" We waited, waited for him to process what Edward had just suggested. Finally, he sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I would need to talk to Alice."
As if any of us thought Alice would disagree. She was just as invested in Hope House as the rest of us.
Edward nodded though, understanding, before turning his gaze to me. "So now we have a plan."
I released a breath at his words, knowing exactly what he meant. Now there was something I could do; something I could work towards.
"We can't change what has happened, and we can't rush what is currently happening." Edward's eyes moved around the table to meet Emmett's and Jasper's.
"But we can make sure it doesn't happen again." I finished for him.
