Chapter 4
The Day After
Bella POV
The morning after
I woke up with a start, forgetting where I was. Oh yeah, locked in a bedroom at Edward Cullen's home. I couldn't believe my life and what had happened the past two nights, or that I was now marrying said Cullen. Really? Had that really happened? I pushed myself up off the bed, and went to use the bathroom. After washing my hands, I went to look for some clothes. Whoever had ransacked my apartment left me with barely anything, not that I had much to begin with. I pulled on some yoga pants and a t-shirt. I guess I was going to go back and lay down. There wasn't much to do in here. I didn't have a TV. and of course I didn't have a phone. I could read one of my books but everything I had I've read so many times. I was hungry but I wonder how long it would be until that guy with the dreads brought me some breakfast. Then again, Edward did say he didn't want me to feel like a prisoner. I went to the door and slowly turned the knob, I didn't know what would happen. Maybe the guy with the dreads would block me or some alarm would go off or it would be locked like I figured it was. Imagine my surprise when the door gave way and opened. I stuck my head out and looked up and down the hall. I was at the end apparently. I slowly made my way down the hall. There were three doors counting mine and the staircase. I slowly made my way down the stairs. I reached another level but the stairs continued to go down. How many floors were in this place? I decided to keep going until I reached the bottom. After getting off the last step, I was met with an open foyer. I could see the front doors from where I was, but I could also smell something wonderful coming from the right so I went that way. I was met with an amazing kitchen that had every appliance you could think of. An older woman was at the stove cooking up something. I stopped. I didn't know who the older woman was. His mother? A cook? I turned around and was going to walk out when I walked right into a hard chest and almost lost my balance but strong arms caught me.
"There you are!" Edward said, looking a little amazed and slightly worried. I think I imagined the worried look, because when I looked at him again he was looking like the suave fucker he was. He then passed me and went into the kitchen to the coffee maker. He was dressed in a suit so I wondered what time it was. I looked around and my eyes landed on the oven and saw the time on the digital clock, 8:25? Who the heck wears a suit at 8:25 in the morning?
"Coffee?" He said raising a mug at me, and it snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Yes, please." I made my way over to the coffee maker and poured some.
"Oh? Who is this Mr. Cullen?" The older woman said. I guess she just now noticed me.
"This is Bella, my girlfriend. She will be living with me from now on. Girlfriend? Last night he said I could hate him here, but in public I had to act like we were in love. I guess he lied because what was this crap about being a girlfriend? I was about to answer with a smart remark but with the look he gave me, I shut my mouth.
"I didn't know you were dating anyone. Well, welcome dear!" She was shocked and I didn't know if she believed him. I guess he didn't bring any women home.
"This is Ms. Cope. She is the cook here," he said and went into an adjoining room. I did as well and saw the longest dining room table in my life. I had never had a dining room table. I did notice the kitchen table in the kitchen near Ms. Cope where I would feel more comfortable. However, because I didn't want to sit near Edward Cullen at the moment, no matter what attraction I felt for him, I was hungry.
"You just join Mr. Cullen, young lady and I'll bring you some breakfast." Ms. Cope said and went back to finish up cooking.
I went into the dining room and took a seat a few chairs away from Edward. I looked at the table and it had the cream and sugar for the coffee and an assortment of jellies and jams. I added cream and some sugar to my coffee and stirred. I looked around and gazed out the big window which looked out into the yard and I saw a huge pool. I then looked back and saw Edward doing something on his phone. He also had an amused smirk. I looked back down at my coffee. I didn't really know what to do besides wait on Ms. Cope. This whole thing was awkward, and everything in me told me to get out and run.
"Here you are dear." Ms. Cope put down a plate of eggs, toast, bacon, and some fruit in front of me. She did the same with Edward and then left the room closing the doors behind her. I didn't even see the dining room doors when I came in here. Edward then put his phone down and started eating. I looked down at my plate, not knowing where to start first but I was hungry so I started with my toast. I ate very fast, something I didn't usually do, I had manners, but I was so hungry.
"There's more if you want any, you don't have to scarf it down, no one will get it" Edward said with an amused smirk but he wasn't even looking at me when he talked.
"I'm starving, sorry if eating fast bothers you." He finally looked at me, as I looked back.
"It doesn't. I was just letting you know there is more." He then looked back down at his plate.
I finished my plate and sat there. I didn't really know what to do. Should I take my plate to the kitchen? Should I leave it there? I slowly rose with my plate, when Edward shouted "JESSICA!" I quickly sat back down. Who was Jessica? Was that Mrs. Cope's name?
Suddenly, a young brown haired girl ran in and she looked scared. I guess she would be since Edward yelled.
"Yes, Mr. Cullen?" She noticed me and her eyes went big. I guess she was wondering who I was. I guess that confirmed it. Edward didn't bring home women.
"This is Bella. She is my girlfriend." Jessica looked shocked. "Bella, do you want more or are you done?" he asked me and I rose again. "I can take it and wash it." I said. There was no need for him to call for this girl when I could have done it myself.
He looked at me angrily then, and I saw Jessica's expression. I wondered if I just said what I thought I did.
"Bella, again are you done? Or are you still hungry?" His tone was angry and he looked at me waiting on my answer. I looked at Jessica and handed her my plate.
"I'm done." I had suddenly lost my appetite. I mean, what was the big deal? She quickly took my plate and then left the dining room and closed the doors behind her. Edward was still staring at me and didn't even look her way.
"Don't do that." Edward said in a menacing tone.
"Do what?" There was no reason for this. Why was he angry at me when he was just amused moments before. Was he bipolar?
"Undermine me in front of my staff. If I tell them to do something they do it."
"I could have taken it. I'm used to doing things on my own."
"Not anymore. You aren't on their level, you're the future Mrs. Cullen and you shall demand respect," he said in a final tone.
Who did he think he was? He didn't know the first thing about respect. Respect was earned, not demanded.
"I'm sorry, but I won't have people doing things for me that I could have easily done. You said we didn't have to pretend here, that I could hate you freely, also what is this girlfriend mess?"
He rose from his chair, and came towards me. Maybe I should've sat at the other end of the table. He looked pissed actually. He grabbed my chair and turned it towards him, putting both of his hands on either arm with me facing him.
"Isabella, I won't keep telling you this. I demand respect. The staff will do as they are paid to do. When I said you can hate me, I meant in private not in front of my staff or my men. Hating me doesn't mean disrespecting me. In front of them you will show me respect. We are to act like a united front in front of everyone else. You are my girlfriend, for public knowledge, until It seems like enough time has passed before I call you my fiancée. Did you think people would just believe me calling you that, all of a sudden? My staff has never seen you before, they would have never believed that." He then walked away and I sat there, wondering if this was the right choice. I know Edward was the lesser of the two evils or was he? Before Jacob, I was very outspoken, independent and knew what I wanted with my life. Then Jacob and my father ruined that but not completely. Would Edward take whatever I had left?
I looked up at Edward. He looked out the window so I stood up, wondering if I could easily slip past him and head back to my room? I started walking to the other side of the doors, not the ones leading to the kitchen but ones that looked like they opened up to a living room. As soon as I was about to pass him, he grabbed my arm. I then looked at him and into his eyes. Was there sadness there? Guilt? He quickly regained his composure and dropped my arm.
"Come on, I'll show you the house so you can get adjusted and know where things are. We left the dining room and headed to the living room where there was a huge TV on the wall. I mean it covered the whole wall. It looked like it belonged in a theater. There was a huge sectional, along with some elegant chairs, that were too rich for my taste. "Living room," he said and then I followed him to a small room on the other side of the kitchen where Jessica currently was doing laundry. "Although, you won't be using this room, I thought you would like to know where it was." He then went on past the two giant glass doors that went outside. I briefly looked out and noticed some men walking about, and that's when I realized I hadn't seen any in the house. Could I escape? Maybe if I kept a close eye on the guard count I could plan an escape? He then led me to a room where a huge black piano was. I was caught off guard, and just looked at it? Why did he have one? To show off? "Do you play?" I asked as it slipped out, I was curious.
"I did." And with that we left the music room and headed up the stairs to the second floor, the one that I bypassed this morning. There were five rooms on this floor. Four within close range of each other and one at the other end of the hall. "These three rooms are spare bedrooms." He opened the doors. They were big rooms with huge beds. He then pointed to the one down the hall. "That's my office, it's locked, which means you're not allowed to go in there." He then went to the room near his office and opened the door, and walked in. "This is my bedroom, well soon to be our bedroom." I stopped in my tracks. Our? Oh, that's right, we would have to share a bedroom when we were married, but hearing "Our" had me freaking out a little. He said he wouldn't have sex with you Bella, don't you remember? He wouldn't force you? I kept thinking to myself that it was and is why I considered Edward the lesser of two evils. He wasn't going to force me into a marriage or into having sex. But wait wasn't he forcing me to marry him? No. Remember Bella, he said marry him or he was going have to hide you? Right. Why would he hide me? I know he said something about his family not hurting women and children, unless they were trying to hurt his family. Why would he care about me? Oh wait, he was marrying me to get something he wanted and so Jacob Black would know I was officially off limits. I then came out of my thoughts to Edward looking at me.
"So anyways, this is my bathroom." We then walked into the bathroom which had a huge jacuzzi tub in the middle, and off to the side was a glass shower. On the other end he showed me the huge walk in closet, one half was filled with all his clothes, suits, shoes, everything a man could possibly need. "I had Jessica clean out this side. This is where we will put your stuff." He then walked out and I followed like the sad little puppy I was. I noticed glass doors off to the side that I didn't notice before that led to the balcony. I guess he didn't want to show me what was out there. We then left the bedroom and headed back to the stairs and went up them. We were on the floor that I had slept on.
"You already know about the bedroom down the hall." He opened another door. "This is just an empty room. I haven't figured out what to do with it." He then went to the middle door, the one between my room and the empty room and opened it. I was hit with the most wonderful smell. He had a freaking huge library in his house! It took up most of this floor. I quickly went and looked at them, running my hands down the spines of the books. I noticed there were two chairs in here. I truly smiled for the first time since all of this happened. I then looked back at Edward who looked at me with a weird look, but then it slowly turned to a smile, barely there but I saw it. He then went back to his usual cocky self.
"Didn't know you like books."
"You know nothing about me."
"Touche, some but not all."
I looked back at the books, wanting to spend the rest of my life here but alone and at the moment that wasn't going to happen because Edward was still here.
"I have to go out and do things. If you go outside, you'll have my personal guard following you around. Ms. Cope will have lunch at noon. She will leave after dinner, Jessica will be here until 6pm and then she will go home. There are guards outside, so don't get any bright ideas like running. This house is surrounded by a gated fence. This is me trusting you some, Isabella, don't make me regret this."
"Wow, Mr. Cullen, I wouldn't know what to do with myself, why don't you piss on me while you're at it?" I was so angry at what he said. Why I have no idea, I guess the whole guard business or whatever.
He then looked at me with an evil grin and I'll admit it scared me a little. "Miss Swan, I'll have Laurent follow you everywhere if that is more to your liking and I mean everywhere!" My face fell. I didn't like people following me. I kept to myself. "No, Mr. Cullen, that's fine." I then took a book from the shelf, one that I had been wanting to read and sat down in one of the chairs. I then heard him leave as a single tear fell, and I truly didn't know what I had gotten myself into.
Edward POV
I marched down the stairs, angry and went to the kitchen to tell Ms. Cope that Isabella was in the library when it came time for lunch and dinner. I probably wouldn't be back until late tonight, and I hoped by the time I returned Bella would be asleep. I'll admit there was definitely an attraction there, but she infuriated me like no one else, almost as much as my father. I didn't understand why this woman affected me so much. I had to tell myself that she was just a means for me to be the Boss, but for some reason I had started to care but I couldn't let her or anyone else know that. I think I started to care because of what she had been through, or maybe I wanted to protect her. That was all and I didn't know why. It did pass my mind maybe if I fucked her all this conflict in me would go away, because surely that was what it was. Every woman I've wanted I've gotten. Except Isabella. Sure she was to be my wife. But she wasn't going to fuck me. My cock definitely wanted her. Every time she got smart with me, I got hard, but my mind couldn't stand the way she would talk to me. No one talked to me like that. It was definitely conflict, and I needed to figure it out, because I wasn't going to take advantage of her. I wasn't that bad of a guy. I would never rape or force someone to fuck me. I also hadn't gotten laid in a while, so this is probably why I was so frustrated. I had my dick sucked a few weeks ago but that was it. It probably had been about three months since I've stuck my cock in some pussy. I headed to my garage where it housed all my cars. I hadn't even shown Bella this or anything else outside. I guess I was in a hurry so I just showed her the house. I saw Laurent and James talking and they went quiet when I approached.
I looked at Laurent, "You stay with her today, if she leaves the house you follow. I don't care if it's to admire the garden, you follow. She is to stay on the grounds. Call me if there are any problems."
"Got it Boss." He then went inside, probably to get some snacks from Ms. Cope. I didn't allow anyone inside my home except those close to me. Seth coming in was a fluke, and he was followed by James the whole way. I then turned to James who went to the driver's side of my BMW V8. I climbed into the passenger side and we pulled out and headed down the long driveway to the massive gate. As soon as the guard opened it, we pulled out onto the road.
"So, should I ask?" James said he knew me better than anyone
"No." I could tell James was trying not to laugh. That's when my phone went off. It was my mom. "Hello?"
"Edward Anthony! I have been trying to reach you since yesterday," she said and she didn't sound happy.
"I had a really long day and night mother. Did you call just to bitch me out about not calling you back?"
"I know I didn't raise you like this." She then quieted down, "So I take it that you have talked to your father?"
"Yes and you know I have, so why don't you get on to what you really want to say" I had no time for bullshit. I barely slept last night and my mother could be really nosy if she wanted to
"I know what this means for you, and I feel like I'm to blame, demanding your father go to the doctor, to slow down, and now while I'll get your father back in a way, I'll most definitely lose you," she cried barely saying it. I may have softened a little at her words, but not completely.
"I'll still be here mother, now I have to go, I really did have a long night."
"Of course, you did, don't you always?" she said so dramatically. I knew my mother hated when my father was out all night doing something for his "other family" but last night was not the reason I was up all night.
"What about family dinner tomorrow?"
"No, not this time, mother, maybe next weekend." Definitely not this weekend. Not when I had Isabella to deal with at the moment.
"Well I guess that's something."
"Bye, mother."
"Bye, Edward. I love you." I then hit end and noticed James had already gotten to the club already. He parked and we then both entered the club. It was just us there as we made our way to the office.
"So, did you get someone to clean the mess up downstairs?" He knew I was talking about Paul.
"Yeah, last night, I thought I told you. Seth and I cleaned it up. Everything. Jasper wiped all the cameras so there's no record of that slime ball being here. I also think Seth had too much fun cutting up Paul," James laughed. He was my right hand man for a reason. He was also a sick fucker but I considered him my surrogate brother.
"Good, when is Victoria coming in?" I spoke of my manager who runs the club for me who was also fucking James. They didn't think I knew what was going on, but I always know. He quit laughing and I gave him a knowing look.
"Um, later I believe she is better."
"Okay, as long neither of you get me sick, I'll be good."
"Oh, Jasper isn't going to be able to make it down today so I went by his crib and he gave me Bella's laptop that we got from her apartment. There was no phone though. The laptop is clean, Black nor Swan had any tracking devices on it. I'm guessing Black or Swan didn't know she had the computer. It must have meant a lot to her. Jasper said she had a lot of stories on there. He also said that she had a talent for writing."
"I'm still shocked the laptop wasn't damaged when whoever ransacked her apartment."
"That's cause she had it hidden underneath the floor along with about 2,500 in cash."
"So whoever broke into her apartment wasn't there looking for information."
"No. Sorry I forgot to mention. Jasper finally got the CCTV footage from outside her apartment and it was Paul. He went in after Rosalie and Bella left for the club, which meant Sam followed them here. It gave him a chance to break in. I guess he was trying to scare her."
"Did Jasper wipe the cctv footage as well?" I didn't doubt Jasper but I wanted to make sure.
"Yeah boss, no worries."
"So, have you heard from Emmett?" I had tried to call Em this morning but he didn't answer my call, and I hated that shit.
"No boss."
"Fine, let's get to work on those shipments, we need to get them to the warehouse."
We made our way to the basement, and passed Victoria, where she and James shared a look. I rolled my eyes. Made it to the basement door, and I was glad I had the best tech guy around. Jasper had already installed a silent alarm and code to the door, so nothing like last night would happen again. We took the crates out that I had hidden in the wall full of guns. We would probably be doing this all day until it became dark so we could load them up into one of the shipment trucks, head to the warehouse and drop them off. I didn't usually do grunt work like this, but every now and then I liked to get dirty. Heh.
Hours passed and I knew it was dark outside when James got a call from Seth that he was here with the shipment truck. James and I hauled the crates one by one with Seth helping, the Club hadn't opened yet as it was still early. Seth had backed the truck up to the exit door so no one outside would see what was going inside the truck. As soon as the truck was loaded, Seth went to the driver's side. I told James to go with him and make sure it was dropped off and there weren't any curious individuals around. Once they were done they had the night off. Seth hadn't fully earned my trust yet, and I knew James would get the job done. They drove off and I locked the door back to the basement. I then met Victoria who wanted to go over some numbers for me. It seemed like the club was losing some business. She wanted to try some things out like ladies' night where we could have a couple of male strippers around. I told her no on that shit and that was it. She then returned to the office and I saw Cara, my bartender come up to me with what I guessed was her sexy look. She wasn't working last night, so she didn't see Bella, but I'm guessing she wanted a repeat performance from three months ago. She was the last pussy I stuck my cock into and the first mistake I had made in fucking one of my employees. Lauren sucking my dick was the second.
"Hello Mr. Cullen, how are you today?"
"Cara."
"I was thinking, you've been looking stressed lately so I thought I could relieve some of that tension for you?"
Maybe fucking Cara would be the answer to all this frustration going on with Bella. Then again I've never fucked the same woman twice. This also felt like some betrayal or some shit like I was cheating on Bella. What the fuck? She then moved her hand down to my crotch, as she looked down, nothing happened. Nothing. I grabbed her arm hard.
"Mr. Cullen?" She said all confused.
"Did I tell you that you could touch me?"
"Um—"
"Um what? Your fired! Get out of my sight." I threw her arm away and called the office number and told Victoria that Cara was fired. She could handle the bar tonight. I had Embry working the door and he could keep an eye on the crowd. He was a big
fucker so I knew I could leave it in his and Victoria's hands. I'm sure James would be back anyways. I left going to my car and headed home. It was earlier than usual for me to be going home. I hadn't heard from Laurent so I guess that meant Bella hadn't given him any trouble. Just as I was getting close to home, James sent a text saying "All good." Glad that was done. I pulled into my driveway and drove up to the garage. I took a breath remembering this morning finding Bella in the kitchen. It shocked me some because she hadn't tried to escape after finding out her door wasn't locked anymore. That gave me a little hope. I then exited the garage where it enters into the kitchen where I saw Laurent eating a cookie. He quickly jumped up when he saw me.
"Boss."
"How did it go?"
"Good, didn't hear a peep out of her. She has been up in the library all day. She missed lunch so I ran it up to her. Dinner was the same. She was reading a different book every time I went to give her food. Mrs. C just left after she made these homemade cookies." He grabbed another one.
"She ate in the library?" I wasn't amused. I had some very expensive first edition books up there. Laurent quit chewing, "well, Boss, she wouldn't come out. I tried, but I didn't want her to starve."
Bella literally stayed in the library all day? So she was still hiding out. I wanted her to at least try to make herself at home, but I guess that didn't happen.
"If she does it again, do not bring her anything, make her come get her food herself." An empty stomach would make her not hide out and I would have to tell her I didn't want any food in my library, guess I should've told her that before I left. "Yeah boss no problem, I guess I'm on house duty for now?"
Laurent was my bodyguard should we go into anything dangerous, he was one of my best guys so keeping him on Bella was the smart thing to do.
"For now. you can go home, Laurent, I'll see you Monday." Knowing tomorrow I probably wouldn't leave and I didn't need any protection while I was home. I could handle myself. I walked him out and locked everything up and set the phony alarm. My guards that patrolled my grounds knew not to go near the house unless something was up. It would just be Bella and me alone. I headed up the stairs, and instead of going to my room I went up to the third floor. The library door was shut, I entered it quietly. Bella was wrapped up in a chair, with a book on her lap asleep. I needed to get a couch in here, she looked uncomfortable. What the hell? I then lifted her up, in my arms, the book falling to the floor, I then looked around to see a bunch of books were scattered out. It bugged me, why couldn't she put one up when she was done, and Jessica wouldn't be back until Tuesday. I carried her to her bedroom, and pulled back the covers, and laid her down. In her sleep she looked so peaceful, something I hadn't seen on her face at all since I've met her. Remembering something I left in the kitchen when I came in I ran down to get it. I brought it back to her room she had rolled to her side by the time I got back up there, I laid her laptop on the night stand hoping she'll see it tomorrow. I then took a long look; this woman was bringing up these feelings that I didn't even know I had. I wanted to protect her, I wanted to touch her, kiss her. What the hell. I didn't do this shit. I walked out of that room as fast as I could. Bella Swan was doing something to me and I didn't like it. Not one bit.
