CHAPTER 18

It was a long few days for Jasper, and Alice stayed very entertained. I stayed with them through Thursday when Maria was fully out of my apartment and back into her house. By the time I left, he said I gave him a whole new appreciation for Rosalie and respect for Emmett. I suppose he thought I was the little sister he never wanted. It was endearing really, and it only made me that much more determined to be a pain in his ass. He could say what he wanted, but I knew he liked having me around. He wouldn't have spurred me on so much if he didn't secretly like having someone to bicker with.

I hadn't seen Edward at all since Sunday, but we texted a few times throughout the day. Alice kept me to herself for the most part. She hadn't been lying about wanting girl time.

I didn't want to admit how much I missed him. We hadn't talked any more about him coming to see the band play that weekend, so when he let me know earlier today that he wouldn't be there for our show tonight, I didn't know how to feel. I was glad that I'd be able to avoid a potential altercation, but I was also very disappointed that it was yet another day I wouldn't get to see him.

The disappointment made the set drag on that night. I was so ready to leave by the time we finished that I nearly ran out of the back door to my car. I rolled down the window, lit a cigarette, and turned the radio up loud. And though I'm not really sure how, I ended up knocking on the door of Edward's apartment. It was after one in the morning. I was sure he'd be asleep, but I needed to see him.

The feeling must have been mutual.

When Edward opened the door, he was shirtless in his jeans, and though he looked very confused and sleepy, it didn't seem like he had just woken up. His eyes widened when he saw me standing in front of him, and he immediately pulled me inside. He quickly shut the door, pressed me up against it, and his lips crashed into mine. He tasted like scotch and smelt like tobacco, and I was intoxicated by it. I let my guitar case drop to the floor and wrapped my arms around his neck.

Edward pulled away, leaving me breathless and leaning against the door.

"Hi." I whispered, smiling.

He leaned his forehead against mine and smirked. "Hi."

"I was going to say sorry for showing up unannounced, but I think maybe I'll do it more often."

"I think maybe you should." He started to kiss my neck.

"Did I wake you?"

He shook his head, his lips leaving my skin only momentarily.

I felt his hand at the hem of my dress, lifting it as he trailed his fingers up my leg, and I had to remind myself to breathe. "How was your week?"

I felt his breath on my neck as he softly laughed before he picked his head up to look at me, mischief coloring his pretty green eyes. "Bella, baby?"

"Huh?"

"Hush."

~ Coffee & Bourbon ~

Neither one of us slept that night. I knew I'd hate myself for it later, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I'd drink eighty cups of coffee if that's what it took to get me through the next show, but I didn't want to waste any time with him.

The sunlight started to peek through his curtains, but we didn't make a move to get out of bed or try to get at least a little bit of sleep. I stayed with my head on his chest and one of my hands clasped with his. His free hand twisted and combed through my hair.

"Are you still coming to College Station next weekend?" I asked softly.

"Do you want me to?"

I sat up on my elbow and nodded slowly.

He gave me a crooked smile and tucked my hair behind my ear. "Then I'll be there."

I smiled and leaned down to give him a kiss.

"You should try to sleep. You're going to have a late night." Edward said when we parted.

I laid my head back on his chest and closed my eyes. "I'm really not that sleepy."

He chuckled. "Sleep, baby."

I woke back up alone a few hours later. Edward left me a note that he had some errands to run, so I hopped in the shower after throwing my clothes from the night before into the wash, hoping he'd be back by the time I got out. After I finished in the bathroom, I put on one of his flannels and walked into the living area. He still wasn't back, so I went over and picked up my guitar case still in the corner of the entryway. I sat down on the sofa, took the guitar out, and started to absentmindedly strum it. One of the strings didn't sound right, and when I reached over to adjust a tuning peg, I realized why the string sounded so off.

"Are you fucking serious?" I groaned. The peg was missing. I looked in my case and didn't see it there, and I wondered where I could have possibly lost it without noticing.

Edward walked in on me mid freak out as I stared blankly at a wall with my hand tangled in my hair on top of my head. "What's wrong, baby?" He asked, setting his keys down on the counter.

"My guitar needs repair, and I don't have time to get it done before tonight. I swear my luck is just the worst right now."

"So, you need a loaner?" He asked.

"Apparently. I guess I could get Alec to bring me one of his. Or I could meet up with Emmett on the way and use one of his…"

"You can look at mine and see if you want to use one of them." He offered.

My head snapped towards him. "What?"

He smirked and walked down the hall towards his bedroom. I got up and followed him. He stopped at a door I had always just assumed was a hallway closet and opened it. My eyes widened as I walked in behind him.

"You really are the old man from the CMT movies." I murmured.

He chuckled and turned on the light.

It was definitely a man cave or office, but it didn't have tacky signs or flags on the wall with an extra-large flat screen or beat up couch. There was a huge solid wood desk on one end with a large leather office chair behind it. The wall behind the desk had a few animal mounts and a painting of a swamp. He had a fully stocked bar cart with liquor that I couldn't even begin to add up the cost of. There was a gun safe tucked into the corner on the opposite wall with hunting equipment piled up next to it, and on that same wall was an upright piano and three guitars hung up on guitar hooks. My mouth dropped. On the two ends were nice Fenders, but in the center was my dream baby.

"You have a Gibson Hummingbird?" I choked out.

"I do."

I hit his arm.

"What was that for?" He asked, rubbing his arm.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It never came up."

"Bullshit."

He shrugged. "You always make such a big deal about me being good at everything. I wanted you to have something to brag about. I mean, I knew I was going to have to tell you eventually… just, eventually."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "That's actually very sweet, but I still don't know if I forgive you."

"I'll let you use it tonight."

"I'm not using that thing!"

"It's a good guitar. Why not?" He almost sounded offended.

"I know it's a good guitar. It's my dream guitar. And it also retails at four grand. And the other two… you don't even have one that costs any less than eight hundred dollars. I'm not bringing any of those into a rowdy dive bar. Are you crazy? I'm just gonna call Emmett and use one of his."

Edward smirked. "So, you're going to call your brother and tell him that my collection is too fancy, and you want to rough it and use one of his?"

"Well, I'm not going to say it like that!"

"But that's what I'm going to tell him later."

"You're being a snob."

He laughed. "This is why I didn't tell you."

I huffed and glared at him with my hands on my hips.

He smiled mischievously before nodding towards the wall. "Just go try one."

I shook my head. My fingers were itching to, but I knew if I picked one up, I'd end up using it at the bar. And I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to one of them.

He walked behind me and put his hands on my shoulders, pushing me forward. "You know you want to." He whispered in my ear.

"The devil wears a suit and tie, Edward Cullen. It's not happening."

"Well, I'm not in a suit right now." He chuckled.

I shook my head again.

He reached up around me and pulled down the Gibson.

I crossed my arms.

"I really didn't think I'd have to try this hard to convince you." He joked. "Guess I'll just have to have all the fun myself." He said as he walked over and hopped up on the desk. He started strumming what I immediately recognized as Brandy by Looking Glass, which he knew was one of my favorite songs. The tone and clarity coming from the strings was flawless.

I leaned against the piano and looked down at my feet. "That's supposed to be an E cord." I corrected when he played an A instead.

"E?" He feigned confusion.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I guess you're just going to have to come show me." He played it the wrong way again.

"Fuck it." I muttered and went over to sit next to him on the desk.

Edward smiled brightly and handed the guitar to me.

"I'm not bringing this tonight." I insisted as I got comfortable around it.

He smirked. "Yeah, I knew you wouldn't. It's why I offered it. You can use either one of the other two, though."

"I'll think about it." I said tersely and started to pick through the song.

Perfection. Complete and utter tonal perfection.

Am I completely turned on right now?

Most definitely.

I started to lazily pick through another song and then looked over at Edward. "How do you ever stop?"

He looked at me with what I could only describe as a look of admiration, and I blushed, looking back down at my hand on the frets. "It's difficult." He replied, the smile still in his voice.

After a few more minutes, I quickly ran through the intro of Smoke on the Water and then handed the guitar back to Edward.

He chuckled. "Couldn't resist, could you?"

"There's literally not one time I've picked up a guitar and not played that." I laughed.

"You are your brother's sister."

I laughed again as he walked over to the wall and put the guitar back on the hook.

Edward came back to me and rested his hands on my bare thighs before kissing my nose. "I wanted to ask you something."

"What's that?" I replied, loosely resting my hands on his shoulders.

"I'm guessing that if you still want me to go to College Station with you, you also still want me to go to Baton Rouge with you?"

I nodded.

"Well… I was thinking about maybe stopping to visit my parents on the way back here and staying out there for a night or two being since it's not too much out of the way. And I wanted to see if maybe you'd like to come with me?"

I was stunned. I didn't remember the last time I met a guy's parents as an official girlfriend. Was I even his girlfriend? We had never talked explicitly about it, but I knew that we were both seeing each other exclusively. I was potentially meeting his parents. I was wearing his shirt in his fancy home office full of expensive whiskey, cigars, and guitars. I was very much falling in love with him, though it scared the hell out of me to admit. That all felt like girlfriend territory to me.

Edward must have seen the panic on my face because he continued, "You don't have to. If you want to ride back with Alec, I get it. Or I can get you a flight out of BR to here. I just—"

"I'll go with you." The words were out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying.

"Yeah?" He smiled.

I nodded.

He leaned in and kissed me. I don't think he meant for it to go anywhere, but I was still riding my weird guitar high. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tangled my hands in his hair, pulling him close to me. His tongue found mine, and his hand traveled up my thigh.

Edward pulled back with wide eyes when he felt that I wasn't wearing anything under his shirt. I wasn't going to use my emergency purse underwear for three hours. It just seemed like a waste.

I shrugged. "They're in the washer."

His eyes darkened, and he slid my body back on the desk before climbing on top of me. His lips met mine again, more urgent this time. He sat back momentarily to pull his shirt off before leaning back down to me.

"With the ducks watching?" I giggled.

Edward turned his head to look at the duck mount on his wall and then looked back at me. He rolled his eyes and shut me up the best way he knew how.

A/N Y'all just don't even know how much I cracked up reading the reviews for the last chapter. It was definitely one of my favorite chapters to write, and that's mainly because I fully leaned onto my inspiration for the story, which is my current relationship… he's the whiskey in my old coffee cup for sure. And the boating accident insurance scheme may have been a plan I concocted with one of my husband's best friend's wives. All jokes, of course. All jokes. Full disclosure, we have another (beautifully chaotic) fluff chapter coming before we make some pretty big headway with these two in Chapter 20. This story will have 27 chapters and an epilogue.

Anyway, until the next one, bebs.