*A/N* O M G, this chapter SLAYED me, you guys. I thought, 'Bella goes to the bar. That'll be a cute, fun little update!' And then this chapter got so far away from me, I don't even know what to say... What you have before you is an utter lack of restraint on my part. So here you have it...the drunken Bella chapter (Or three. It's longer than the wedding chapter was. 🙈 )
*BPOV*
"Hôtel Chez Swann? Is this for real?" I giggled as we entered the swanky downtown hotel through the revolving doors.
"Alice thought you'd like that. Rather apropos, even if itis your maiden name," chuckled Edward.
"Alice and Jasper beat us here. They have our room keys," he explained as we skipped the check-in line in the lobby and went straight for the elevators. One hand held mine while the other carried a suitcase.
As we walked down a long hallway toward the elevator lobby, the walls were hung with giant wall-sized chalkboard panels which were colorfully decorated with incredibly diverse chalk art installations by various local artists.
"Emmett and Rose got here last?" I asked cheerfully as we stepped inside an open elevator. "Amazing." Something to tease him about.
"They got delayed by a moose crossing the road so Emmett pulled over for a snack," Edward said offhandedly, pressing the button for Alice's floor.
"Ah yeah. I've heard about those Canadian drive-through moose. Very convenient." We both faced forward, not looking at each other as the shiny reflective gold doors dinged shut.
In our reflection, Edward's lips were pursed and his chin was dropped to his chest, shaking silently with his laughter. I smiled, loving that I could make him laugh like that.
Reaching our floor, the door opened. This floor had exposed brick walls that were painted white but glowed blue from the lighting. Canvases of monochromatic abstract art hung in evenly spaced intervals along the walls.
Alice opened the door for us before we knocked, obviously expecting us. She yanked me in the room by the wrist, while Jasper was subsequently ejected. "Go play," Alice's tinkling voice was brusque as she tossed Edward a key card and closed the door in our husbands' faces.
Before a single word was exchanged between us, Alice grabbed me up in a bone-crushing hug, figuratively speaking.
"I can't tell you what it meant to Jasper, you trusting him like that back at the house. That meant so much to him, to both of us," Alice gave me one last squeeze before she let me go.
"It was nothing," I shrugged. "I do trust him. Edward didn't always have such perfect control, and I do a lot more than hug him, don't I?" I snorted.
Alice laughed delightedly. "Alright my little drunkard, let's get you dressed for the ball. I mean bar," she pulled me deeper into the room, and for the first time, I got a good look at the place.
It looked like a vampire's hotel room. Everything was antique, gothic, and sort of French-looking draped in black crushed velvet. I half-expected an enchanted talking clock and candelabra to jump out of a closet and sing me a song.
There was a large ornamental chandelier hanging from the ceiling. An antique armoire stood against the wall, and a fainting couch occupied the corner.
But the focal point of the dramatically appointed room was the enormous rectangular shower stall with clear glass walls right in the middle of the bedroom, just feet away from the bed!
There were black velvet drapes tied back at the corners of the glass that could, in theory, be closed for privacy, but I got the sense that they were mostly just decorative.
"They're called peekaboo showers. You're welcome," Alice grinned wickedly.
I spoke an errant thought out loud. "How is Emmett going to manage with all that glass?"
Alice snorted derisively. "Are you kidding me? I'm not dealing with that mess. He and Rose are staying in a handicap-accessible room on the first floor."
I threw my head back and laughed. Now that was fodder for teasing.
"Before you get too cocky, I'd just like to point out that Emmett is not the only one who struggles to coexist with glass," Alice arched a sardonic eyebrow at me as she opened the doors to the armoire and gestured with a wave of her arm to the clothes that hung inside.
But instead of the flouncy, sequin-covered fabrics I would have expected to see, I saw stretch denim, and cotton, and cozy sweaters instead. She brought my clothes with a few new pieces mixed in. I gaped at her.
"What? Don't give me that look. I'm not a total tyrant. It's your birthday. Wear what you feel good in. Besides, if you show up to another bar dressed like a tart, Edward will revoke my stylist privileges."
I nodded emphatically. Now that was definitely true.
*EPOV*
What a difference a year can make, Jasper thought with astonishment as he pointed the remote to the wall-mounted TV from the chaise where he sat in the corner.
"Tell me about it," I said in wide-eyed agreement, taking in the gaudy blood-red room from my seat at the table in an adjacent corner.
It was probably the bedroom Bella expected me to have when she first visited our house in Forks, I thought wryly. The shower, though, now that held promise...Or a trip to the ICU.
"So...any thoughts about how you're going to change her? I imagine that's got to be on your mind more and more the closer we get to the end of the year."
I groaned, tugging a hand through my hair. "I can't seem to stop thinking about it, but no, I don't have a plan, yet. Feels too much like jinxing it." I frowned. "I'm not sure how to bring it up. I don't want Bella to feel pressured, so I've just been following her lead, waiting for her to mention it."
Jasper nodded sagely, flipping through the TV channels and settling on a History Channel analysis of the Civil War. This should be good for a laugh, Jasper snorted to himself.
"Humor me. If you knew without a doubt that Bella was 100% ready and willing to go through with it, how would you want it to go?"
It was something I'd scarcely allowed myself to consider.
I sighed and palmed my face. "That's where I get hung up. This is so very different from the other times. With me and Esme and Rose and Emmett, Carlisle just wanted to save us. He didn't need to think about setting the mood," I moaned in frustration. "It's a completely different context!
"...And I'm sure Bella is going to want it to be romantic and intimate. And ideally private. But I'm not sure I can think of it that way when-"
"When you're going to be shooting her full of morphine?" Jasper interjected, gesturing with an outstretched palm. Leave it to him to think of logistics before romance.
"Yes, and-" Though, Jasper cut me off again.
"The agony she's going to be in the second it's done?"
I flinched. In a weaker voice, "Yes, and-"
"What else is there?" Jasper's brow furrowed.
I heaved a sigh. "And I kind of always thought Carlisle would be there."
"Hmm, yeah. Dads have a way of screwing up the sex vibe. But it's not like he hasn't heard you two before. What does it matter if he's in the next room or next door?"
"I imagine that would matter to Bella a great deal," I frowned.
Didn't Carlisle tag along on your honeymoon without her knowing?
I gritted my teeth. "He was 40 miles away in Rio!" I hissed.
My point is that she didn't know.
"I swore to her I'd never deceive her again. And to scheme up something like that over her transformation, of all times, would be...beyond the pale. I'm not going to lie to her again to give her some false sense of privacy. The last time I did…" I shook my head in regret.
"You're a quick study, Edward. You two are going to do just fine," Jasper nodded approvingly.
Just then we both caught Emmett's scent mingled with that of a moose as he stepped off the elevator.
Let me in guys, the girls kicked me out.
I walked over to the door and swung it open for Emmett who ambled in a moment later.
"Holy shit, I was going to ask to use your shower, but you two would enjoy that too much," Emmett snickered from the other side of the clear glass shower stall, stroking a hand lasciviously down his barrel chest.
Jasper wretched. "I don't know what's worse, the idea of that or the stench of you. What did you do? Ride the poor beast?"
Emmett's eyes glinted mischievously. "Tell me you've never wanted to try, cowboy!"
Jasper just shook his head, astounded.
Taking note of the time, I decided it was best to regroup. "Emmett, go clean up in your own room. Jasper, why don't you and I go reclaim our wives? I need to make sure Bella gets some dinner in her before you hooligans start pouring shots down her throat. Then we'll all meet up at the bar afterward?"
"I bet that felt weird coming out of your mouth," Jasper chuckled.
"So weird," I emphatically agreed
Sending Bella up to your room. You can send Jazz down.
"Nevermind. It would seem you're being summoned and I am to wait here for Bella," I relayed.
"Come on, Em. You can tell me about this moose ride on the elevator ride down," Jasper clapped a hand on Emmett's shoulder and pushed him through the door.
"Later guys," I said behind them but left the door open for Bella.
Moments later, I heard the familiar thump of her heart and felt the flash burn in my throat as Bella stepped off the elevator
"Holy crow, what is that god-awful smell?" Bella covered the bottom half of her face with her hand as she strode in through the door.
I heard the laughter of my siblings from one floor below, and Emmett's loud guffaw echoing up the elevator shaft.
"It must be bad if even you can smell it," I said with amusement, opening a window. "That would be Eau de moose. Emmett stopped by for a minute."
"You never smell like that when you come home from a hunting trip. What did he do? Take it for a ride?"
More laughter filled my ears at Bella's spot-on commentary, some of which was my own.
"You're more right than you know," I smiled, pulling her into my arms. I held her at arm's length to get a good look at her and let out an appreciative grunt of approval.
She wore a fitted blue sweater, in my favorite shade, that had a crescent-shaped cutout exposing the pale, fragrant skin of her decolletage. The tight, long fit perfectly accentuated the slim, feminine curves of her figure as it hugged her hips.
As my eyes raked down her body, I smiled appreciatively at the darker blue of the tight denim jeans that left just enough to the imagination. And on her feet, she wore ballerina flats-very sensible for the night ahead.
"Wow," I breathed. "You are a sight for sore eyes, Mrs. Cullen. I'm not going to be able to take my eyes off you all night if you're going to look so devastatingly tempting."
Folding my arms around her and resting my hands on the gentle swell just above her backside, I pulled her in for a kiss which quickly turned into several.
"I kind of hoped you wouldn't," she whispered with her eyes closed, forehead pressed to mine, in between kisses.
Resting my chin on top of her head, I sighed contentedly into the strawberry-scented locks of her softly curled hair. "What would you like for dinner? You should eat something before we go out," I reminded her.
"Room service," she growled into the skin of my throat, then pressed a line of open-mouthed kisses along the underside of my jaw.
She was making me absolutely insane, in the best way, but if she kept that up, the only person getting drunk tonight would be me off of her.
Bella pouted when I reluctantly pulled away from her. I reached for the black leather binder on the table that held the room service menu and pressed it into her hands.
"Find something to eat, and then you can open your gift from me," I grinned, eyes gleaming with excitement and just a bit of nerves. This seemed like the best opportunity I was going to get if I wanted her to be clear-headed when she received it.
As I retrieved the gift box from a hidden compartment in our suitcase, I heard Bella on the hotel room phone ordering herself the coq-au-vin and an order of creme brulee for dessert.
I smiled, pleased that she would get to experience some of the best French cuisine Montreal had to offer even if we never made it to France before she was turned.
When I turned back to her, she had kicked off her shoes and was sitting on the bed with her back propped up against the headboard.
"These rooms are really something, aren't they?" Bella said, looking around at the rich, red velvet surfaces of the drapes, the antique furniture, the blood-red bedspread, and of course, the very unique shower.
"I was reading in the brochure that this used to be a brothel back around the time the furniture was in style. I don't think much has changed since then," I mused, patting the glass wall of the shower stall with the barest of pressure but still producing the soft clink of stone on glass.
"I'm not sure if I should be offended or...?" Bella joked, but her laugh sounded nervous as she eyed the box in my hand.
My eyes widened, horrified that she should think I'd ever compare her to a prostitute.
"Edward, relax, it was a joke. Whatcha got there?" She nodded to the white gift box in my hand.
"It's...I...well, here...see for yourself," I stuttered in an attack of nerves, and sat down next to her on the bed and set it down in front of her.
*BPOV*
Seeing Edward so nervous was starting to make me nervous.
I took the topaz-colored ribbon between two fingers and pulled the wide bow from the center knot. Freeing the box from the ribbon, I carefully pulled the top off of the box.
Inside the box laid a beautiful leather-bound journal. The cover was a soft, aged, red-brown leather embossed with a framework of elegant swirls that broadened near the corners. And there was an inscription:
If
A STORY IS
IN YOU
It has to come out.
-William Faulkner
"You've mentioned that there are things that you don't want to forget, so I thought that you could use a journal to write them down. And I hope you don't mind, but I filled out some of the pages myself. Of the things that I remember that I hope you never forget."
I picked up the journal and flipped through the heavy linen-textured pages until I found the ones he'd filled out, a large section in the middle.
In his unmistakable calligraphy, at the top of the page were the words: The day I first laid eyes on Isabella Swan...
For each page was a different anecdote that he wrote about in exquisite detail. And with each anecdote, he'd drawn a flawless sketch from memory.
Me in the cafeteria. After he'd saved me from Tyler's van. When he'd taken me to dinner in Port Angeles. Asleep in my bed. In the meadow. On the baseball field. In the hospital in Phoenix..and so forth. The most recent of which was just days ago, laying on a blanket in our grove.
"Edward," I breathed, snapping the journal shut for fear my tears would ruin the pages. I took his hands instead.
"When did you..? How did you…?" I struggled for words. "It's perfect, the most perfect thing you could have given me! And to be honest, I wasn't sure how you were going to top Jasper," I said with a short laugh. "Thank you. I love it."
"I'm so glad." The look of extreme relief on his face seemed to prove it. "Happy Birthday, Bella. I've loved every minute I've ever spent with you, and there's your proof!" Edward tapped the leather cover with a light thwap. "I hope we fill it up with a thousand years of more happy memories."
Placing a hand on his cheek, I kissed him lightly at first, and then deeper. I opened my mouth to him and he moaned into my kiss, wrapping his arms around me pulling me close. It wasn't close enough. I placed my hands on his shoulders and shoved.
He didn't actually budge, of course, but understanding my intentions he fell backward onto the mattress anyway with me on top of him. "I think we're going to need a longer journal," I teased.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. "Room service," said a muffled male voice in the hallway.
Edward gently separated himself from me and leapt easily to his feet, straightening his clothes as walked gracefully to the door.
A uniformed hotel employee wheeled in a trolley carrying two shiny silver cloches over to the table. He removed the cloches and set my entree and dessert on the table, asked if there was anything else we needed, and promptly left after Edward discreetly tipped him.
When we were alone again, I looked longingly between him and the food, torn. I hadn't nearly gotten my fill of him when we were interrupted by my dinner, but I was also famished.
"Eat, Bella. Unlike your dinner, you don't have to worry about me going cold," Edward smirked.
As I started to cut into the absolutely scrumptious morsels of chicken, I remembered something I wanted to bring up to Edward before the drinking started.
"So about tonight," I prefaced, "I want to make sure that something is understood," my voice took on the somewhat formal tone that I adopted when I was trying to negotiate something.
Sitting across from me, Edward pulled up a chair at the table and extended an open palm in invitation. "Please, continue."
I pointed a finger at him and spoke sternly. "When we come back here later tonight, unless I'm vomiting or unconscious, I don't want to hear any nonsense about you not taking advantage of me when I've been drinking, understand?
"I'm saying it now, stone-sober. It is my birthday. I'm a consenting adult, and I demand to have some drunken sex with my smokin' hot husband. Capeesh?"
Edward looked amused. "Yes, ma'am."
"Ok, that's all I wanted to say. Wow, this is really good!" I exclaimed, marveling over the depth of flavor in the wine sauce.
The Barfly was a neighborhood watering hole within walking distance of our hotel. The bouncer checked my ID and said what sounded like "Happy Birthday," in French before waving me through.
I watched curiously as the bouncer took Edward's ID and looked at him warily, but then Edward said something in perfect French and the man let him through.
"What did you say to him?" I asked in a whisper.
"I asked him if anybody had ever told him that he looks like Saku Koivu, his favorite hockey player on the Montreal Canadiens."
"Does he?" I asked, suddenly curious.
"I haven't the slightest idea," Edward grinned, as he ushered me over to where the others were saving a spot for us at the corner of the bar.
Rose, Emmett, and Jasper occupied the short side of the bar, and Alice sat perpendicular to Jasper where the two sides met.
I hopped up on the tall stool next to Alice, and Edward took his place next to me.
It was exactly the kind of place I'd envisioned. Behind the bar, hung dozens of polaroid pictures of bar patrons. There was a jukebox, a pool table, a few arcade machines, sports memorabilia, and signed celebrity photos on the walls, though they mostly looked like hockey players.
In the corner, there was a small raised stage where a DJ was setting up for Wednesday night karaoke that started within the hour.
The lone bartender, a man in his 30s, wore a Rush t-shirt and a horseshoe mustache. He looked up toward our end of the bar and looked thoroughly startled. If the polaroid photos on the wall were any indication, the Cullens didn't look anything like his usual clientele.
He must've assumed we were American, because with a slight French accent the bartender asked, "Welcome. What are we having tonight?"
Five pairs of golden eyes looked expectantly at me.
"To start, a round of tequila shots, please," I asked with a wide smile.
"You were serious about that?" Emmett groaned.
"As a heart attack," I glowered at him. I still owed Emmett for the defibrillator gag.
The bartender lined up six shot glasses and dispensed the golden-brown liquor into each one and served them up with wedges of lime.
Edward picked up his glass and held it up a few inches to give a toast.
"To Bella on her birthday. Here's hoping that you live forever, and mine is the last voice you hear." The rest of them grumbled 'cheers,' though I'm pretty sure I heard Emmett mutter "puke," under his breath.
"I'll definitely drink to that," I beamed and clinked glasses with them before finally throwing back the burning alcohol. I grimaced at the acrid taste and reached frantically for the lime which didn't do nearly enough to remove the taste from my mouth.
With a disgusted face, I asked, "People drink that stuff on purpose? Why?"
The bartender laughed. "First time, eh? Have another one, and you'll find out. Tequila will make your clothes fall off."
Edward scowled. "I think your clothes look great right where they are. For now," he growled that last part softly into my ear. I giggled in anticipation.
"For my next drink, I'll try a Cosmopolitan. And a glass of water, please," remembering what Carlisle had said about hydrating.
"And for the rest of you?"
"A round of Moosehead, please. In the bottles," Edward asked smoothly.
The bartender nodded, appearing relieved Edward didn't ask for anything more complicated. He ambled to the beer fridge at the far side of the long bar.
"Excellent choice, brother. Love me some of that Moosehead," Emmett cackled, raising his bottle to his lips and pretending to have a sip.
He even made that satisfied "ahhhh" sound that Charlie made when he cracked open his first beer on game day.
"Thought you'd enjoy that," Edward's mouth twisted into a sly smile.
The bartender poured several ingredients into a cocktail shaker and gave it a vigorous shake before pouring the contents into a martini glass, garnishing it with a twist of orange, and sliding it in front of me, along with a pint glass of ice water.
I took a tentative sip of the pink drink, and my eyes lit up. "That is delicious."
*EPOV*
The bartender, Adrián, smiled innocuously at Bella as she complimented the cocktail he'd just crafted.
As much as I hate making the fucking things, you have to appreciate the value of a drink that has been getting men laid since women started drinking them, he thought in his native French.
"Bella?" I asked, starting to get annoyed by our new friend, Adrián. She turned to me, eyebrows raised, sipping her drink through a tiny cocktail straw. "Still up for that round of pool?"
"Absolutely! It's why I wore flats," her cheeks had a warm glow, either from excitement or the alcohol she'd already consumed.
Bella stood up and took a long gulp of her water before leaving it on the bar and taking her martini glass with her. She then glanced back at Alice like she was going to say something, but then shook her head and pursed her lips.
It was the very sort of moment that drove me mad with curiosity. What had she been about to say?
Bella saw me struggling and put me out of misery. "I was just thinking that it would probably be silly to ask Alice to watch my glass." She shrugged. "Cop's daughter."
"Not silly," my eyes flashed back to the barkeep who was busy drying a rack of pint glasses. I smiled and took her hand, guiding her toward the well-loved, green-felted billiards table.
"Who wants to bet me that she whacks a ball off the table? Loser drinks the winner's beer," Emmett proposed.
"I'll take that bet!" Jasper agreed, appearing to nurse his beer.
"Rose, go clean up that tequila you threw over your shoulder before Bella slips on it and loses a finger on a broken martini glass!" Alice hissed, too quietly for Bella to hear. She hadn't actually seen that happen, but with Bella, who could deny the possibility?
Rose reached behind the bar and grabbed an unattended bar rag between two disgusted fingers, and dropped it unceremoniously on the spill behind her.
I racked up the balls and handed Bella a freshly chalked cue stick.
"Do you want to break?" I asked courteously.
"Break what?" She asked from behind her half-empty cocktail glass.
I smiled widely at her and pried her glass gently from her fingers, setting it on a table a few feet away. She pouted a little, and I just grinned, "Pace yourself, love. The night is young." And then I took her hand and pulled her to the end of the billiards table.
I held up the white cue ball. "Hit this ball into those balls, and the first ball you knock into a pocket is your designated group, either stripes or solids. It's easy. I'll show you," I offered with an encouraging smile.
I dropped the cue ball slightly left of center behind the head string.
"Back up a little, now bend forward and spread your legs." I placed my hand on her back and nudged her forward a little. She looked over her shoulder at me with a scandalized expression.
"What?" I held up my hands innocently. "It's how you play," I chuckled. "I don't know how to make that not sound dirty."
"I wish you wouldn't try," Bella said from beneath her thick, dark lashes.
Emmett hooted loudly at Bella's boldness. "Get it, girl!" Alice called from the bar, throwing a balled-up paper coaster at Emmett.
"That's it. Now, you're right-handed so use this hand to hold the cue...the stick," I explained as her brow furrowed. "Now use the other hand to aim. Like this," I demonstrated, placing three fingers on the table to steady my hand, and using my thumb and forefinger to loop around my own pool cue.
She mirrored my stance.
"Perfect." Standing close behind her, I wrapped my arm around her waist and placed my hand behind hers on the butt of the pool cue. I anchored my other hand outside of hers on the top rail.
"Now line up your shot and hit that ball right through the middle. You want to aim for that yellow one right in front."
I took a few practice strokes with her, so she could feel the motion of the pool cue sliding smoothly between her fingers. Turning my head so that my lips were right at her ear, I purred, "Have I told you how stunning you look tonight, Mrs. Cullen?" I discreetly pressed my hips into the alluring curve of her backside.
Bella chose that moment to take her first shot and, missing her mark, she launched the cue ball into the air, over the bumper, and onto the floor.
"Shit," muttered Jasper as Emmett hollered victoriously and slid his bottle in front of him with a smug grin.
"Double or nothing. She sinks the eight ball in her first three turns," Jasper countered. Emmett glanced over at Bella and didn't think she'd sink any balls, so he accepted with a nod.
"That's okay! Try again," I encouraged, resetting the cue ball. This time, I gave her some space. She pulled her elbow back and with a hard thwack, sent the cue ball careening into the neatly racked colored balls.
With a loud clack, the balls scattered and Bella whooped excitedly as she sank the yellow solid ball into the side pocket.
"Well done! You're solids. You scored so you get to go again. Position yourself over by the cue ball, the white one," I clarified, "and see if you can find what shot looks easiest to make."
Bella walked around the table and considered the angles. Setting up her shot, she then easily sunk the red three ball into the corner pocket.
She celebrated again, pumping a fist in the air, "Must be beginner's luck," Bella shrugged self-deprecatingly. "Is it your turn now?" she asked, pausing to take another sip of her Cosmo.
I shook my head, smiling "You shoot until you miss," I explained. She nodded and lined up her next shot.
For her third shot, she walked around the table and bent over the top rail a few feet in front of me. I cocked my head to the side, admiring the view.
Bella looked over her shoulder at me and huffed, "Do you mind?" She raised an eyebrow at me in reproach.
This made the girls laugh as I held my hands up in apology and moved out of her way.
With an adorable little wiggle of her hips, she lined up her shot and gave a hard glance in the direction of my brothers. She tapped the cue ball sending it spinning off to the right where it handily bumped the eight ball into the corner pocket.
With her cue stick, Bella pointed at Emmett across the bar and shouted, "Bottoms up, Em!" to the howling laughter of the rest of us.
Jasper slid both his bottle and Emmett's back in front of Emmett, who grimaced before chugging back the first bottle, then the second.
"I think you just got hustled, babe," Rosalie raised her beer appreciatively in Bella's direction and pretended to drink.
"Bella! That was not beginner's luck. Where did you learn to play like that?" I looked at Bella with an awestruck expression.
"Phil taught me back in Phoenix. It's sort of how we bonded. You're not the only one with secret talents, you know," Bella winked and threw back the last swig of her cocktail.
"Another game? For real this time, Miss Pool Shark?"
Bella chalked her cue stick. "It's Mrs. Pool Shark, actually," she grinned, making me groan with desire. "And sure! But I'm going to need another drink."
"This one's on me," Rosalie called. Bella got him so good, she shook her head with reluctant admiration. "Another cosmo, Bella?" Rose asked, raising her voice slightly to be heard over the music and other noise of the bar.
"Make it a Sex on the Beach!" Bella called back with her hand cupped around her mouth.
This drew an amused raised eyebrow from me, plus a few stares from some of the other mostly male bar patrons.
Seeming to realize the attention she'd drawn to herself, Bella blushed and cringed, and set about racking up the balls.
"Do you want to break this time?" She asked.
I shook my head. "Ladies first," I gestured with an open palm. If I broke first, I would win, and I at least wanted to give her a sporting chance.
She broke, this time sinking a striped ball. She proceeded to make the next four shots, leaving just two of her striped balls left on the table, but on the fifth try, she missed.
"Impressive!" I said sincerely. Taking my turn, I cleared the rest of the balls, sinking the eight ball last.
Bella cursed under her breath at having lost, more competitive than I gave her credit for. I dropped my cue stick on the table and wrapped my arms around her.
"That was amazing, Bella. When your hands are just a little steadier you'll beat me next time for sure," I said with confidence.
"No, I won't," she sighed, but she didn't sound unhappy. "I doubt my hands will ever be steady around you," she tipped her head back for a kiss which I happily obliged.
By this time, Alice and Rose were walking towards us with Bella's new drink in hand.
Bella looked over toward the bar, seeming to realize we were missing my brothers.
"Where'd Emmett and Jasper, go?" Bella said, taking her drink from Rose with a nod of thanks.
"Puking in the back parking lot," Alice informed with a smirk. "Jasper's holding his hair."
The girls had a good long laugh over that one. I stood back, just happy to watch Bella finally acting like she belonged.
"That was brilliant, Bella! I bet it'll be a while before he bets against you again!" Alice said proudly. Rosalie nodded in agreement.
"Would joo hold thisss? I need to use the little human's room," Bella said, offering me her glass with a slight tremor.
Alice gave me a knowing look and said "We'll go with you, Bella." Alice looped an arm through Bella's and they walked as a group to the ladies' room.
It was then that I was suddenly very glad that my siblings invited themselves along on this trip because I hadn't considered how I would have handled bathroom breaks. I would have been loath to send her stumbling into the ladies' room alone.
Emmett and Jasper returned before the ladies had come back from the bathroom. I joined them back in our seats at the bar.
Emmett was still moping over his misfortune when he caught me grinning at him like a fool.
"This is horseshit! You're all a bunch of gifted cheaters," Emmett griped.
Jasper chuckled and nudged Emmett's enormous bicep with an elbow. "You big baby, nobody cheated. She sure got you good, though, didn't she?" Jasper needled, dissolving into another fit of laughter. I couldn't help but laugh too and held up a fist for Jazz to bump.
"There we are, Bella. Why don't you just sit down there next to Edward and have some more water?" Alice said in a gentle voice, helping Bella into her seat.
"How are you doing, love?" I asked, taking in her appearance. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes looked a little glassy, but other than that, Bella didn't look any worse for wear.
"Peachy keen, jelly bean!" Her smile was huge. "Hey, you know what?" she asked, sucking water through the straw in her glass.
"What?" I asked pleasantly.
"You owe me a story!" Bella tapped a finger to the end of my nose.
"I suppose I do," I agreed. "My father, Edward Masen, Senior, was a successful law attorney before he fell ill. He traveled a lot, so I didn't see him much growing up. I was much closer to my mother, you see.
"Anyway, on my sixteenth birthday, my father took me to a White Sox game and then afterward to a famous bar in Chicago. It was called The Pump at the time. He bought me a whiskey and told me that I was a man, that it was my job to look after the house and my mother when he was away.
I grinned at the memory. "That whiskey tasted like poison, but I didn't care. I never felt like such a man. When I finished it, my father bought me another one and said, 'Play them a tune, Eddie-boy,' and pushed me toward the old upright piano.
"I played 'The Entertainer,' by Scott Joplin- probably horribly-with how far gone I already was," I laughed, "but nobody seemed to care.
"One of the barmaids sat down next to me at the piano and kissed my cheek," I said, touching my face as if I could still feel it. "My father had to leave again that night, so he brought me home and kissed my mother goodbye. And as soon as he left, I was violently ill and made my mother promise that she'd never tell my father that I couldn't hold my whiskey," I laughed in earnest now.
Bella had that starry-eyed look that she got whenever I shared something from my past.
"That's got to be the sweetest 'first drink' story I've ever heard. I don't think you've ever told me a story from...before Carlisle with so much detail."
I nodded in agreement. "It's the happiest memory of my father that I have so it's the easiest to remember, I suppose," I said with a wistful shrug.
"Write it all down. Then you'll never have to worry about what you might've forgotten." I leaned over and kissed her on the temple and returned her drink to her now that she seemed in better control of herself.
I turned my head in the direction of the stage where the DJ was sound testing the microphones.
"I think karaoke is about to get going. Shall I write your name down on the list?" I teased. Bella glowered at me.
"Only if you want to bunk with Alice and Jasper, tonight!" She threatened.
I couldn't help but laugh. "You're so cute when you bluff." I tapped her on the nose and then laughed harder as her face turned impossibly red with her outrage. She looked so much like Charlie.
I was almost tempted to take her picture, à la Emmett, but worried if I did that she might actually make good on her threat. After all, what kind of husband would I be to deny my wife some good old-fashioned drunken birthday sex? 'Happy wife, happy life,' and all…
"Suit yourself," I said pleasantly. "I think Alice and Rosalie are signing up, though."
Bella leaned back on her barstool to better see the stage, and sure enough, my sisters were up there, flipping through the songbooks.
"Good for them," she sniffed and took a long gulp of her drink. I noticed Bella wiggling around in her seat a little and then she huffed impatiently. "What is going on? I just peed like 10 minutes ago. This is ridiculous."
"It's the alcohol, I'm afraid. Do you want me to get Alice? I'm sure she won't mind." But just as I was saying that Alice and Rosalie started singing the opening lyrics to Wilson Phillips "Hold on For One More Day."
"I'm perfectly culpable of taking myself to the toilet," she hiccuped and hopped off the barstool.
I stood up to escort her to the bathroom but stopped in my tracks when she glared at me and pointed at the seat I'd just vacated.
I chuckled. "As you wish," I reluctantly returned to my seat as she headed for the facilities. "You're a little bossy when you've been drinking, you know that?" I called teasingly to her retreating back.
Bella didn't even turn around. "You love it!" she called back and pushed through the swinging door of the bathroom with bravado. She wasn't wrong.
"Guys," I turned to Emmett and Jasper who were watching their women up on stage, "How much do you love me?"
*BPOV*
Whoa. I watched my vision blur around the edges as I looked at myself in the mirror. I washed my hands and splashed some cold water on my face.
I had to admit, I liked the uninhibitedness that came with drinking, but I didn't so much like the loss of control. I needed to cool it. Keep it classy, like a Cullen. I was not trying to be a sloppy drunk.
I took a few centering breaths and hurried back to Edward so that I could catch the last part of Alice and Rosalie's song.
They were better than the original, of course, with Alice's tinkling soprano and Rosalie's husky alto, their flawless harmonies brought the house down. I hooted and hollered with the loudest of them, but no one was louder than Emmett.
Rose bowed, and Alice did a little curtsy and they glided gracefully off the stage. I dutifully fangirled all over them when they returned to their seats.
"Next up, Edward, Jasper, Emmett, get on up here. Aren't they handsome, ladies? Good tippers, too. Take it away, gents," The DJ handed them each a microphone and returned to his booth to hit some buttons on his laptop.
Alice pulled out her camera and started recording. "You're going to want to see this again when you're sober," Alice cackled.
All three of them sat on barstools evenly spaced across the stage, with Edward sitting in the middle. Then the strikingly familiar opening chords to *NSync's "(God Must Have Spent) a Little More Time on You" began to play over the speakers.
Eyes the size of dinner plates, I threw my hands over my mouth and gasped. Edward's piercing eyes locked on mine and his angelic voice filled the room, and everything else fell away.
Can this be true
Tell me, can this be real?
How can I put into words what I feel?
My life was complete
I thought I was whole
Why do I feel like I'm losing control?
I never thought that love could feel like this
And you've changed my world with just one kiss
How can it be that right here with me
There's an angel?
It's a miracle.
Edward gestured to me when he sang that last part, and then Emmett and Jasper joined in for the chorus as they swayed and harmonized like an honest-to-god boyband.
I couldn't tear my eyes off him as he sang to me, but some part of me registered Rosalie whispering to Alice, "What would you have said if five years ago someone told you that Edward, our Edward, would be singing his heart out to his wife in a dive bar?"
Alice sighed, elated. She sounded a little choked up as she replied "I would've said… 'I must be back in the psychiatric ward.'"
Emmett got his own solo, too, in which he walked off the stage, mic in hand, and knelt down in front of Rosalie and belted out his part.
Jasper seemed content to sing backup, but if the lovey-dovey vibes Alice was giving off were any indication, I'd say Jasper was singing straight to Alice in his own special way.
When the final chords rang out, the guys took their bows to thundering applause. But maybe it was just my own? I ran headlong for Edward and threw myself into his open arms, kissing him with all my might right there on the stage to the delighted hoots and hollers of the crowd.
I guess I hadn't noticed how many people had filtered into the bar since we arrived. Oh well.
As Edward carried me off the stage, I pressed my lips to his ear, "I'm ready to go now."
"Yes, ma'am," was his emphatic response.
Ignoring my giggles of protestation, Edward didn't bother to put me down for the entire walk back to the hotel. As the others filed out behind us, I thanked Emmett and Jasper over Edward's shoulder for being such great sports and suggested they should probably come up with a band name for when their video went viral.
Getting back to our room, we were kissing before we'd even opened the door. To be honest, we were kissing as soon as we were alone in the elevator. Edward somehow navigated the hallway while I was attached to his face, and then after cursing at the uncooperative key card, we were finally alone and in private.
Edward set me down on the bed and sat down beside me, moving his lips to my throat.
"What now, Mrs. Cullen? Smokin' hot husband at your service," he growled. I tangled my fingers in the bronze of his hair.
"I feel like I should be at your service," I inhaled sharply, as he found an extra sensitive spot. "Today was...unbelievable! Every time I thought it couldn't get any more perfect, you just kept raising the bar. So what can I do for you? To show you my unending gratitude and admiration?"
Edward pulled back a bit and appraised me. "Every bit of today was my absolute pleasure, love. Except for maybe the tequila," he wrinkled his nose, then smiled. "But now that you mention it, there is one thing you could do that would drive me absolutely wild."
"Tell me!" I demanded. Edward asked for so little for himself, and I wanted so badly to please him.
"Well, it's kind of silly but, do you remember that time, before we were married, when you were angry with me for leaving you unsatisfied? And you went and took a shower to 'cool off?" Edward looked past me at the peekaboo shower and then back to me with suggestively raised eyebrows.
"If it wouldn't be too weird, I was hoping maybe you could reenact that for me? Because I'd never forgive myself if we didn't get to take advantage of that truly bizarre shower," he said with my favorite crooked smile.
My eyes widened in understanding. "Sure, but aren't you forgetting about the part where you got me all hot and bothered, first?" I teased.
Edward grinned, pretending to crack his knuckles. "Let's see if I can remember how to stop at second base. It's been a while," he chuckled.
"Second base? Well now you're being generous," I teased some more.
Edward's eyes narrowed and he growled. "I don't know about hot, but prepare to be bothered," he said, hooking his hands under my arms and throwing me backward a few feet to the center of the bed.
And then he was there, all around me. His mouth, his hands, his smoldering eyes. I gasped wildly as he peeled my sweater over my head. Edward's hands grazed icily over my ribs until his thumbs teased just under the underwire of my bra but didn't venture any further.
Edward's mouth descended on my chest, placing a line of soft kisses along my clavicle, humming contentedly into the hollow of my throat.
Then a wintry finger slowly slid one of the straps of my bra down over my shoulder, and lightly using his tongue he traced the path of the missing strap from the top of my shoulder down to the swell of my breast before carefully returning the bra strap to its original position on my shoulder and repeating the very same treatment to the other side.
I moaned and squirmed at this exquisite torture, needing more of him. When I tried to claw at his shirt, he chuckled darkly and tsked in reproach, gathering my wrists in one hand and gently restraining them above my head.
Edward looked down at me, eyes blackened with desire. I could imagine what he saw. My arms were stretched above my head, my back was arched, breasts jutted out straining for his touch. My chest was heaving with my loud, ragged breathing.
"Oh, my Bella," his voice was something in between a breath and a moan. "Do you have any idea what you do to me with this body?" Edward cupped a hand over my cheek and slid it silkenly down my throat, between my breasts, over my stomach until it rested just under the waistband of my jeans.
How impossible it is to refuse you when you look at me with those sultry brown eyes? Pout at me with those irresistible lips? And when I can smell how much you want me, too? He lowered his face to my body, drawing a line with his nose from my belly button to my sternum, inhaling deeply all the way up.
Edward planted a soft kiss on the exposed skin between the cups of my bra. Releasing my hands, his hands receded to the waistband of my tight, stretchy jeans.
Hooking his thumbs inside the elastic near my hip bones, he inched them down over my hips, sliding his cool, wide-splayed hands over the bare skin of my hips and outer thighs as he slid them lower, and then all the way off.
My entire body stippled with goosebumps, from his touch and my own arousal. Edward then lowered himself between my legs as I clung tightly to the sheets. I could hear the blood pounding in my ears and feel it throbbing between my legs as his mouth drew nearer to my apex, taking his bloody sweet time about it.
When Edward finally kissed the thin, dampened cotton of my panties right over my heated core, I was whimpering, and then I heard my own voice begging. "Please, Edward, please."
And then he was gone, suddenly laying next to me on the bed, with his hands folded behind his head, a beatific smile on his face.
"Sufficiently bothered, Mrs. Cullen?" His smirk was positively sinful. The old feelings of frustration resurfaced, acute to the point of pain, as I remembered all those times he sighed and pushed me away.
I could only imagine the restraint it took him to refuse me time and time again, restraint I didn't possess. But one day soon I was going to make him know just what it felt like to be left wanting. But not tonight. It was still my birthday after all.
Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I marched haughtily over to the shower, stripping off the rest of my undergarments as I walked. Stepping into the shower, I twisted blindly at the knobs.
I didn't even care that the water was frigid when I stepped under the spray of the rainfall showerhead. Reminding my nerve endings of his touch, the cold only intensified the throbbing between my legs.
Besides, if the shower steamed up too fast, Edward wouldn't get much of a show. I turned around slowly so that I was facing the glass that I could feel his eyes burning a hole through. Partly out of coyness, and partly due to nerves, I kept my eyes averted.
My nipples were almost painfully hard from the cool water as I dragged my fingernails across them. Cupping my breasts, I squeezed them together before letting my hands trail further down my body.
The water was starting to heat up now, but I didn't notice it much because my blood was already bubbling under my skin at the vulnerable and incredibly erotic feeling of letting Edward watch me this way.
Feeling my slick folds underneath my fingertips, I threw my head back, letting the warm water cascade off of the top of my head, making my long hair hang wet and heavy behind me with the extra weight of the water.
I was already so wound up from Edward's prior teasing that it didn't take very long at all to feel the tightening in my stomach as I rubbed myself closer to climax.
My eyes had been closed, concentrating on nothing but the sensations of the water, my fingers, and the weight of his eyes when I felt a stone-cold hand, pry my fingers away from my aching need and replace them with his mouth.
I gasped at the feeling of weightlessness when the cold tile disappeared from under my feet.
It happened so fast I barely registered the movement. He swept his hands behind my knees and hooked them over his shoulders, so that I was sitting on his shoulders but from the front.
The contrast of the hot water streaming down my back and over my breasts while his icy-cold lips and tongue sucked and lapped relentlessly between my legs coaxed out some truly embarrassing noises to echo off the steamy glass walls, but I couldn't find it within me to care.
"Oh, Edward, yesss," I hissed as he licked me right over the edge of an earth-shattering orgasm. Unable to hold myself upright any longer, I felt his hands support me from behind as I wilted backward from the exertion, satisfied and exhausted.
Edward pulled me carefully from his shoulders and cradled me in his arms as he turned off the water and exited the shower, tenderly drying me off with a plush towel before depositing me back into bed.
"You don't know how badly I wanted to do that the first time you rage-showered on me," he chuckled, quickly running a towel over himself before joining me under the covers.
"You were right not to. That would've woken up Charlie for sure," I giggled breathlessly.
Rolling on my side to face him, I propped one hand under my head and used the other to trail it lightly over his chest, making him shudder. "I want to hear another story," I decided, as my fingers crept lower down his abdomen, dipping under the covers.
"Which one do you want to hear?" he rasped as my fingernails scratched lightly through the thin treasure trail of bronze hair beneath his navel.
"I want to hear about the first time you touched yourself while thinking about me," I whispered huskily.
His laugh was a bit nervous sounding, or maybe embarrassed.
"It was before our first date, before you knew that I spent every night in your room. You were sleeping, of course, and must've been dreaming about me, because you said my name. Moaned it, actually," a knowing smile started to form across his face.
"And then, as you slept, I saw the outline of your hand under the blanket find its way between your legs. I was so torn. I desperately wanted to watch you dream of me doing the kinds of things I'd never imagined we'd ever get to actually do. But I was already invading your privacy enough without spying on you doing that. And I'm nothing if not a gentleman, so I left before any more of your moans could convince me to stay."
Edward's laugh was rueful then, "And then I went home and had my own rage shower."
I heard his breath hitch as my fingers wrapped around the thick base of his arousal.
"Did you moan my name, too, when you did this?" I said, gliding my fist up and down his length.
"Uh-huh," his voice was between a moan and a whine.
"Good," I whispered, and then ducked under the covers. Edward folded back the quilt so he could see my face as my mouth descended on him, rising and falling in a practiced rhythm over the glassy smooth skin of his cock.
In no time at all, Edward was mewling under my touch. Wrapping my hands around his thick girth, I used the pads of my thumbs to stroke the sensitive underside while my lips and tongue, sucking and swirling, coaxed all kinds of sexy sounds out of his perfect mouth.
"Fuck, Bella, I need to be inside you. Please," he pleaded.
I smiled and kissed the tip one last time. "How?" I asked in a breathy whisper.
"On your back," he rasped. "I need to see your face when I make you come again."
I crawled off of him and laid on my back by his side, legs spread in invitation. In a flash of movement, Edward reached for a condom from the bedside table, and then he was there, between my legs. His eyes flitted shut as I wrapped my legs around his waist and the cool hardness of him found home.
We both groaned as he filled me. Though this position was apparently not close enough for Edward, who scooped me up so that I was now upright, pressed tightly against his chest and straddling his lap as he curled his body into mine over and over again.
Edward slipped a hand between our bodies and started circling my throbbing nerve center as he drilled into me with gentle, but impossibly deep strokes.
My voice quaked with the force of his thrusts as I cried out in ecstasy, coming for the second time.
When my eyes opened, the blazing ochre of his eyes were just inches away, watching intently, hooded with his own desire.
Knowing he would be at the end of his control soon, I reached behind me and tugged at the wrist that rested on my back.
His eyes widened and he instantly dropped his arms, afraid he'd hurt me I guessed, but I just shook my head and smiled.
This time it was me holding his arms at his sides while I rode him right to the edge. And when I leaned slightly forward and bit him at the juncture of his neck and shoulder, he groaned loudly, sheathing himself inside me all the way up to the hilt. I could feel every one of his muscles tense and tremble as he climaxed, making a hair-raising sound in the back of his throat that sounded like he swallowed a roar.
And then his body sagged, spent. He rested his forehead on my shoulder as his breathing returned to a normal rate. He laughed then, not a funny laugh, but one sounding of elation, exhaustion, and relief.
I carefully climbed off his lap and laid down next to him, curled up in his arms.
"So how does drunken birthday sex compare with all the other kinds of sex?" Edward asked curiously.
I let out a satisfied-sounding moan. "The bar was a blast, but mostly because of the company. The excessive peeing I could live without. The sex? Holy crow, I can't wait to turn 19 again!"
*A/N* Me, yesterday: Don't do it, Amanda! There's no way to write about karaoke without this fic turning into a cheese sandwich. But then when I was researching which *NSYNC song to use and that one was just so perfectly Edward, I said screw it and included it anyway. It's cheesy. It's embarrassing, but that's exactly the point because Edward would do literally anything to make Bella smile.
Also, if it's any interest to anybody, the places that I write about-Hotel Chez Swann, the Barfly..they are all real places in Montreal, and even the peekaboo showers are a real thing, so I think Montreal is going on my list for places to visit when the plague is over.
So until next time, thank you for visiting Hotel Chez Swann, please come again. 😉😉