"You were at the Cullens' house today?" Bella asked skeptically. Brady nodded slowly and Bella's stomach sank. "Who did you talk to?"
"Edward."
Edward had been so jealous when the imprint happened, but Bella thought they'd moved past that. Clearly he had just hidden his displeasure from her. The special moments they'd shared today turned sour with the suspicion that it was all to distract her from seeing Brady.
Chapter 5: Heart-to-Heart
The next morning, Bella woke up wondering what she was going to do about the Edward-Brady situation. Her ire had cooled a bit, though she knew she needed to confront Edward about his behavior.
On one hand, she was angry that Edward lied to her about Brady coming to see her. He was falling into the same old habits of trying to arrange things "for her own good" without consulting her. He still held the same prejudices against the wolves—like all the Cullens did—and Bella realized he might never accept the imprint.
On the other hand, a secret part of Bella's heart soared that Edward was finally fighting for her. She'd initially worried that he would use the imprint as an excuse to keep her human, but it had the opposite effect. He'd actually acknowledged the merits of her becoming a vampire. After that, there was no doubt in Bella's mind that Edward would stay with her no matter what.
In the end, she knew she needed to be fair to both of them, and in this case that meant making sure Edward treated Brady with more respect. Brady was sweet and naive to think that yesterday was just a misunderstanding but Bella knew better. She'd have to put her foot down on this.
Her cell rang just as she decided to call Edward.
"Hi," she answered. "I suppose Alice told you to call."
"Yes," Edward replied. "She warned me that a groveling apology was in order."
Bella paused. "Well? Where's my apology?" She teased lightheartedly.
Edward sighed. "I am truly sorry for concealing the boy's presence from you at our house today. The action was beneath me, and I humbly beg your forgiveness."
Wow. How Victorian of him. "Thank you, Edward. I really appreciate that. You understand that something like this can't ever happen again, right?"
"Yes," Edward replied seriously. "I promise."
Good. "I'd like you to apologize to Brady as well."
Silence. Bella could practically feel the tension on the other side. "Edward? Did you hear me?" Bella asked, though the idea that a vampire wouldn't have heard her was ridiculous.
"Yes," he replied with a constricted voice. "Of course I'll apologize if that's what you want. I never meant to upset you, my love."
"Thank you," Bella breathed out. She was so relieved. "I know the imprint has made things difficult, but it doesn't have to come between us. We just need to make a little room in our lives for Brady."
"I only want what's best for you, Bella." It was a common refrain—one that annoyed Bella to no end—but she decided to ignore it this once.
"It'll all work out," Bella promised. "Just trust me."
"I love you," Edward replied with feeling.
Bella smiled. "I love you, too. I'm going down to La Push today, but will you come by tonight?"
Edward paused. "Of course, my love. Please be safe."
"I will," she promised to make him feel better. She didn't worry about her safety around the wolves, but she knew Edward didn't see it that way.
Bella texted Brady to see if he was available to hang out, but he didn't reply. She got ready and when she still hadn't received a response half and hour later, she decided to head to La Push anyway. She figured she could swing by Emily's and ask if Brady was on patrol.
The ride to La Push was long enough that Bella couldn't escape her thoughts. Did Bella do the right thing accepting Edward's apology so easily? She felt guilty about it, but she wasn't sure she could have done any differently. She was so worried that each argument could be their last and Edward would use it as an excuse to leave her.
It wasn't very fair to Brady, though. She resolved to watch Edward's interactions with Brady more closely and make sure he was being welcoming. She knew that if Edward just had a little more faith in her, she could make it work for everyone.
Once at Emily's house, Bella recalled Emily telling her she didn't need to knock, so she tentatively pushed opened the screen door.
"—stuck with the leech-lover." Bella heard Paul say, and he sounded like a jerk as per usual.
"Don't call her that!" Brady yelled. "Just shut up!"
Oh boy. Bella knew this wasn't going to be good. She rushed through the door into the living room to see Brady shaking. She wasn't even sure he'd noticed her. His angry scowl was focused on Paul who lounged casually on the sofa.
Paul flicked his gaze to Bella with a smirk and then returned to Brady. "Tisk tisk. Looks like the baby can't keep his shape. Be careful or Sam will order you to stay away from your precious leech-lover."
Brady growled inhumanly and advanced on Paul.
"Brady. Outside!" Sam yelled as he rushed into the room while zipping up his pants.
Bella quickly looked away. What was it with these guys? For a virgin, she regularly saw an awful lot of naked man flesh.
Shaking her head, Bella turned to follow Brady outside.
"Bella, hold up," Sam called out.
Bella tensed. Why did she always feel like she was being called into the principal's office when Sam summoned her? "Yeah?"
"Have you given any thought to what we talked about?" Sam asked in a low voice.
Bella wanted to tell him it was none of his business, but she figured he'd hear about it sooner or later. "We've postponed the wedding."
Sam jerked in surprise. Then a big grin spread over his face. "You're staying human."
Bella raised an eyebrow at his jump to conclusions. "All I've decided is to postpone the wedding until things have settled down. Once we figure out how often Brady and I need to see each other and how it's going to work, Edward and I can get married."
Sam's smugness melted into a glower. "You're still marrying the leech?"
"I wish you wouldn't call him that." Bella frowned.
Sam puffed up and took a step back. His breathing turned heavy, and he glared at Bella in disgust. "You're going to destroy that kid. Mark my words."
Bella gritted her teeth. She didn't need to listen to this. "Tell Emily I said bye." She walked out the door.
Fuming mad, Bella didn't see Brady until she nearly ran into him.
"You look worse than I do," Brady joked.
She probably did. Brady's beanpole frame was solid without any shaking. His youthful face had a smile for Bella. Was Sam right? Was she going to destroy this kid?
"You want to get out of here?" Bella asked.
"Yeah!" Brady's face lit up. "Want to come over to my place? I just got off shift so I have time to hang out."
"Sounds great." Bella couldn't help but smile as his infectious enthusiasm. "I'll drive."
On their way to Brady's apartment, he reached over and turned down the music. "I'm sorry about Paul. He shouldn't say stuff like that about you."
"You mean calling me a leech lover?" Bella asked.
Brady's seat started to rattle and Bella tightened her hands on the steering wheel in alarm. "Do you need me to pull over?"
"No," Brady growled. He took a few deep breaths and the shaking stopped. "Sorry. I just hate that he's rude to you."
"If it helps any, I don't care what Paul calls me." Bella told him honestly.
"What?" Brady sounded shocked. "Why?"
Bella laughed. "I guess I just don't give enough of a shit about Paul to care about his opinion of me."
Thinking about how she first met Paul, Bella explained, "Paul's always been rude to me, but I quickly realized he's a jerk to everyone. It says more about him than it does about me."
Brady mulled that over for a little while. "Doesn't mean it's right. If I were stronger, he wouldn't be able to say stuff like that to you."
Bella frowned. "Hey, you're only 13. Paul's what, 19? Give yourself a break, bud. Of course you're not as strong as Paul."
Brady didn't say anything, and Bella figured she wasn't convincing enough. "What do you think Paul was doing when he was your age? Probably playing Pokémon or something. He certainly wasn't killing vampires like you."
"I haven't killed a vampire yet," Brady mumbled.
Good. Bella's heart squeezed at the frightening thought of little Brady going up against a vampire. "You know how to at least. You've trained and fought. That's way more than Paul could do at your age. Just wait, I bet when you're 19, you'll be way bigger than Paul."
"You think?" Brady perked up.
Bella held in a laugh. Boys. "Definitely."
"I'm already faster than him," Brady proclaimed proudly.
"See, there you go." Bella smiled.
Then they arrived at Brady's apartment. On the way up to Brady's floor, Bella's thoughts returned to her conversation with Sam. There were some things she should probably discuss with Brady.
Once they settled inside at the kitchen table, Bella broached the subject. "Brady, I wanted to say again how sorry I am that Edward turned you away from the house yesterday. I talked with him about it, and it won't happen again."
Brady paused from eating his sandwich and smiled at Bella. "Thanks. Honestly, I'm just happy you still want to see me."
Bella tried not to frown. "Of course I want to see you. Always. We're in this together, right?"
Brady grinned. "Right."
Shoring herself up, Bella continued, "I know I haven't really talked to you yet about my plans with Edward." She paused but Brady didn't say anything. "Right now, I want to focus on making sure you and me are good. We can figure out how often we need to see each other. Stuff like that."
Still Brady said nothing.
"How are you doing when we're apart? Have you been ok?" Bella asked.
Brady shrugged and dug into his sandwich. "It's ok, I guess. Better when you're around."
Bella's heart softened hearing that. "I was worried last night when you came to see me. You seemed really upset."
Brady's cheeks darkened in a blush and he turned his head. "I just overreacted is all," he mumbled.
Bella knew there was more to it than that. "It's ok. You can tell me anything, I promise."
Brady peeked over at Bella and searched her face. Finding what he needed, he said, "I went a little loco when I thought you'd rejected the imprint. It's like I couldn't think straight. I just needed to get to you."
Bella scooted her chair over and hugged Brady to her side. He buried his head in her neck, and she stroked his hair to comfort him.
"First of all, I will never reject the imprint so you don't need to worry about that."
Brady took a deep breath at Bella's collarbone and squeezed her briefly.
"Second, if there's ever a miscommunication like this again, please, please talk to me first. I don't want you going crazy on me, ok?"
Brady nodded his head into Bella's neck. It was times like these that Bella felt almost like a mom, and it scared the crap out of her. She didn't know the right thing to say or how to comfort someone. She was just winging it and hoping for the best.
Brady pulled away and wiped his eyes. Oh god! She hadn't known he'd been crying. "You ok?" she asked tentatively.
"Yeah." Brady sniffled.
Bella gave him another quick hug to make him feel better.
"I also wanted you to know that Edward and I have postponed the wedding until we figure out this imprint stuff." Bella paused, thinking of Sam's misunderstanding. "I'm still marrying him, of course, just not right away. You understand, right?"
Brady nodded and gave her a subdued smile. "Right."
Bella breathed a sigh of relief. "So we're all good?"
"We're good." Brady confirmed.
Later that night, Bella fell asleep in Edward's arms thinking about her little wolf.
