BPOV
When I woke up this morning I tensed at the feeling of arms wrapped around me, slowly my hazy night came back to me.
As I stirred, Edward's hold tightens before he lets go as if he were burned. I pretended I was asleep with my eyes closed when I heard his sigh and low "What am I doing?"
I let him have this moment before I acted like I was waking up.
He smiled an easy smile at me, which I was becoming more familiar with.
"Want to get breakfast for everyone at the diner?"
"Is this because you don't want me caught sneaking into the house?"
"That and I really want greasy breakfast food," he grins.
I nod.
"Great, let me grab sweatpants and a hoodie for you," he says getting up, grabbing black sweats for me.
I realized that I wasn't really thinking when I came out here last night. My t-shirt was thin and my shorts almost non-existent. Maybe Charlie was right, I needed to dress more appropriately just because Edward was a gentleman didn't mean every guy was.
I stand dwarfed by Edward's sweats, he wraps his arm around me leading me to the door.
"You look cute," he says, but isn't looking at me.
I want to smile but don't.
I'm not sure about him but I felt there was something palpable between us. It was the kind of attraction you don't ignore.
He leads me out to his Land Rover parked in the driveway.
For a guy working in construction, if you didn't know him, one might question if he came from money to have this kind of vehicle.
We make the short drive to the diner. It's seven o'clock on a Sunday morning. It looks mostly dead when we park but when we walk through the door Royce is in there with a few guys from the team and his girlfriend and her crew.
Edward notices almost immediately and pulls me to him, it was almost like he was trying to shield me.
When we get to the counter his arms cage me in. Definitely shielding me.
Irina is the waitress on duty, she frowns when she sees us.
"Hey, Ed—" she says flirtatiously. "What can I get you?"
He rattles off an array of breakfast food that he wants to go, when Irina leaves to put it in the order I turn slightly to look at him.
"Do you go by Ed?" I ask him curious since this is the second time I heard someone call him that.
"I'm not a fan of it, but I'm not one to make a fuss if someone calls me that," he says with a shrug.
I hear a squeal of laughter from Royce's table, he has Rosalie in his hold.
"You can go wait out in my car if you want," Edward offers quietly.
I shake my head, because I feel more comfortable with him than being by myself. I notice the vein in his forehead is out, I turn to completely face him, bring my thumb up to touch it.
"It's the second time I've seen this," I tell him.
"That obvious, huh?"
"Not overly so."
"I've been told it's out when I'm pissed or having immense pleasure," he says honestly but I think he didn't mean to say it because his cheeks heat.
He basically told me it's out when he's cuming.
I lick my lips, noticing his eyes are now on my lips.
Rosalie squeals louder and we don't even look this time, he keeps me in place giving me his full attention.
"So, I don't think I even know your last name," I tell him.
"Masen, Edward Anthony Masen the fifth," he says.
"The fifth?"
"My dad's family is very traditional," he explains.
"Is your mom?"
"Traditional?" he asks with a laugh.
"Yeah."
"Not in the slightest, my mom's family dynamic is unique."
"Unique how?"
"She is a cousin of the Carnegies."
"Wait, like the Industrial Revolution?" I ask wide-eyed.
His embarrassment shows.
"Is this why you want to get into environmental law?"
He laughs. "I do feel some sense of filial responsibility," he says dryly.
Suddenly Edward's hold tightens around me and I see Royce glaring as he passes us on his way to the bathroom.
I look up at Edward noticing that he is barely holding it together, I can feel the anxiety wracking my body. After a minute, Edward is hugging me tightly, "Hey, it's okay," he says in my ear.
But is it really okay? Now I wondered if it was a mistake telling him, I couldn't keep my goddamn mouth shut.
"Here you go, Ed," Irina says, plopping the two big bags of our food on the counter.
Edward pulls his card out of his wallet paying the tab, not once does he release me. At this point, Royce and Rosalie are standing behind us waiting to pay their bill.
My hand has made its way to the middle of Edward's back, up under his gray zip-up hoodie, I clutch his t-shirt tight.
He grabs the bags but keeps his arm wrapped around me.
Royce stays close so we have to squeeze past him, Edward is smarter keeping me away from him as he maneuvers us around them.
Jess and Alice look confused by all this, but I really don't care.
Edward doesn't remove the arm that's wrapped around me until he's helping me into his SUV. Once he gets in the car he lets out a loud sigh.
"I shouldn't have told you," I say, causing his head to snap in my direction.
"Why shouldn't you have told me?"
"Well look what just happened in there," I say, throwing my hand up in the direction of the diner.
"He's trying to intimidate you, Bella," he says gently, taking my hand in his. "I apologize if I overstepped by touching you, but I don't like the thought of that kid near you. I know guys like that."
I don't know what it is about Edward but the more time I spend with him I want to purge all my secrets onto him. I never felt that with another guy.
"You can't let him get away with what he did to you," he says earnestly.
I know he is right, but I still can't handle the thought of everyone knowing just yet. I nod to let him know I heard him but I stay quiet.
The ride back to the Cullens is short and Esme is already in the kitchen making coffee.
"We bring breakfast," Edward announces, placing the bags on the counter.
"How thoughtful," she says, eyeing him, then me. "How did everyone behave last night?"
"No parties so I'd say a success," he teased his aunt.
Edward could easily pass as Esme's son and it made me even more curious to see what his mother looked like.
"Liz texted me last night asking about you," she says.
"Did she?"
She nods, taking a sip of her coffee. "I told her you are doing well, have a line of ladies waiting for you."
He groans running his hand through his hair.
"What do you think, Bella, has my nephew captured the hearts of the ladies of Forks?" Esme asks with a smirk.
"I couldn't say," I answered, locked in his gaze.
Esme's smile passes between the two of us, but she doesn't comment. I can tell she's looking at my clothes that are too big for me. I hope she doesn't think anything inappropriate happened between us. I might not be allowed to hang out over here if my dad caught wind of me fooling around with an older guy.
"What did you get?" Esme asks, turning toward her nephew.
"Pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon."
"Such a well-balanced meal," she teases, pinching his cheek good-naturedly.
Edward rolls his eyes grabbing two plates. "What do you want?"
"Pancakes and bacon are good," I tell him, a little stunned that he is fixing a plate for me.
He ordered a large amount of food when I saw the stacks of pancakes in two containers. He gets scrambled eggs and bacon for Esme.
I watch him pour his coffee and learn that he takes it black. Edward sits next to me while we eat and the others enter the kitchen.
Tanya eyes me sitting next to her cousin, but doesn't look surprised with how close he is to me. Jazz shoots me a wink and I know he's got things to say about this.
Oddly enough, breakfast with the Cullens is quiet. Esme and Carlisle are good at keeping their conversation silent with glances shared between them.
Edward surprises me by casually hanging his arm over the back of my chair.
"One of your harem girls is trying to summon you," Tanya says to him nodding toward the window.
I look behind me and see the girl who was in his bed a month ago.
"I thought we talked about that," Carlisle says to him.
"We did, I'm not sure what she wants," he says standing.
We all watch while Edward makes his way outside to the girl. He looks more than annoyed as he approaches her, she's the one who gets aggressive with him, pushing and pointing toward the window where we all are sitting.
"I should call Charlie," Carlisle mumbles to his wife.
Edward seems to handle all the venom she is throwing at him, I can see the sorry slipping from his lips. The girl is short in stature like me but knows how to hold her own, she's also very loud.
"Isn't this harassment?" I ask, surprising myself.
Tanya laughs.
"I'm hoping this is the last time she drops by," Esme admits.
After a foot stomp and a shove, she is gone and Edward is walking back to the house.
"I need to talk to Billy about that girl," Carlisle says to Esme.
I cringe, because I know Billy owns The Tavern, my dad would for sure know about this now.
"Sorry about that," Edward says as he takes his seat.
"She's definitely different from Kate," Tanya comments.
"Kate?" Jazz asks.
"Fiancée," is all she says.
"Ex-fiancée," Edward corrects her.
"Tanya, I don't think it's appropriate to share Edward's love life with your friends," Esme says, raising an eyebrow at her.
I pick around my plate taking the last few bites of my food. "I think I should get ready to go," I say.
Esme is watching me too closely for my liking but she fusses standing to take my plate. I let her and thank Edward for breakfast before I made my escape.
I'm in the guest room gathering my things for ten minutes before Tanya waltzes into the room.
"So did you bone, my cousin, last night?" she asks, taking a seat on the bed.
"No," I answered.
"He's into you," she begins. "I haven't seen him like this since Kate, well he was a little more reserved with her."
"Reserved?"
"They were a shiny kind of couple, Edward's been different since he's arrived in Forks," she says vaguely.
This makes me want to know even more about him.
Jasper walks in taking a seat next to Tanya.
"What do you have to add?" I ask him.
"Nothing, it's interesting how you both move around each other is all— like magnets or something," he says with a shrug.
I turn when I hear the knock on the door, Edward is standing in the doorway with his hands in his sweatpants' pockets.
"Hey, want a ride home?" he asks, making Tanya laugh as she tugs Jazz out of the room. "Do I even want to know?"
"We're magnets," I tell him, rolling my eyes.
"Hmmm," he smiles.
"They're dumb— I'd appreciate a ride."
He grabbed my bags for me, taking them out to his SUV.
I breathed out a sigh of relief noticing my dad's car wasn't in the driveway. Edward continued being a gentleman getting my stuff out, when I took my bag from him he hugged me tightly. I swore he also kissed the top of my head before he released me.
I spent the rest of the day in his sweats.