A/N: Apologies in advance for the cliffhanger. Have tissues. Or maybe something to throw at the wall.
They told me I was out there, tried to knock me down
Took those sticks and stones, showed 'em I could build a house
They tell me that I'm crazy, but I'll never let 'em change me
'Til they cover me in daisies
~ Katy Perry, Daisies
BPOV
"Hey."
I watched my brows crease in my reflection on the mirrored door of the elevator. If there were anyone else in the car, I would assume Lauren was talking to them. Unfortunately, it was only the two of us on the twelve-floor trip down to the parking garage.
I recognized the look on her face. It was the look I had gotten from every single person I had encountered in the last two days.
"Don't."
"I just wanted to – "
"You've hated me from the moment you met me. Don't change your opinion just because you feel bad I have a shitty family."
My life would be a fraction of a bit easier if Lauren and I got along better. I didn't want her pretending to like me, or at least not hating me, just because she knew my childhood sucked.
Maybe it was stupid to push aside her kind gesture, but I didn't want pity. And, after the day I had, I was in no mood for games. It had been my first day back in the office after everything went down yesterday. I was pulled into a meeting with Renata right away, where she very carefully told me she was taking me off of Genevieve James' team.
It made sense. Her situation was delicate and she didn't need another person's problems weighing her down, but it still stung. Especially when I saw her talking to Lauren an hour later, not doubt about her taking my spot.
The only bright spot in the situation I could find was that I'd have a little bit more free time with a good portion of my workload now gone.
"I read over your notes on James. You had a lot of good ideas. I'm sorry you got taken off the case."
I eyed her in the mirror.
"Kind of," she amended with a shrug. The whole ordeal worked out well for her.
A small smile tugged at my lips, glad she wasn't being too nice. In an odd turn of events, this elevator ride with Lauren had been the most normal part of my day. People in the office usually stared at me with disdain or frustration as I sat in my three-million-dollar corner office. On a good day they would be too busy to send their judgement my way. Today, all of those spiteful glances turned into pity and it made me want to pull my hair out.
I didn't want any special treatment and I didn't want people who hated me a day ago to pretend to feel sorry for me. All their glances did was keep the whole thing at the front of my mind all day.
My feelings on the whole thing were constantly fluctuating. My anger at my family was always there. The feeling of being unnecessarily exposed to the entire world close behind it, along with a false sense of shame that was more annoying than anything.
It would all make my next appointment with Doctor Stanley quite interesting.
At the very least I needed Lauren, who had hated me from the moment she saw me, to still hate me.
"Thanks," I sighed, taking a step out of the elevator as the doors slid open.
"I can send an extra glare your way during tomorrow's team meeting if you want? It might make up for the last two minutes." she said, a hint of a joke in her voice.
"That sounds good," I agreed, an annoying voice in the back of my head telling me I could actually learn like Lauren as we parted ways.
…Closure…
I dropped my work bag off in my office as I got home, turning my phone off and tossing it on my desk. I was born in the age of technology and had been trained to keep my phone with me at all times, in case a dire need to scroll through Instagram occurred, but seeing your own life plastered over the internet made it lose is appeal. I left all of my gadgets in my office and wandered off toward the kitchen, following the smell of food.
I smiled at the sight in front of me; Edward standing at the stove, blue apron and all, with soft classical music floating through the air. My thumb on my left hand reached over to twirl my engagement ring, a habit I had picked up just to make sure it was still there, or still not a figment of my imagination.
Life was hard. Work was hard. Getting through the day without screaming was hard sometimes. But, then I got to go home to a beautiful house with my soon-to-be husband cooking me dinner and all of those problems started to melt away.
"Hey," he said with a smile, turning around to see me gawking at him.
"Hi," I sighed, plopping myself in a bar stool across from him.
Edward waited until he had a glass of wine in front of me before asking me how my day was.
"The hateful glares I used to get turned into pity eyes, which really made me miss the slut shaming stares. Then Renata took me off of Genevieve James' team. Which I get. But I'm still pretty pissed about it. It does give me more free time, though, which is good because Alice gives me lists of things to decide on for the wedding every day and the only decisions I've made so far are that it's in the Maldives in October. Which made me realize I don't really know how to plan a wedding so I googled it this afternoon which didn't help and only stressed me out more."
I took a deep breath, having forgotten to breathe throughout my whole spiel. My eyes met Edward's, who seemed to be unsure whether to be amused or concerned.
"Then, Lauren tried to be nice to me. That's what really almost sent me over the edge. She agreed to be extra rude to me tomorrow, though, so that should even the whole thing out."
"That's… nice of her," Edward said tentatively.
"Yeah," I nodded, finally taking a large sip of the wine in front of me.
Edward took off his apron and walked over to my side of the counter slowly. He leaned against the marbled edge, forest eyes intense and seeming to see right through every word I said.
He would have made an excellent therapist.
"Okay, maybe I'm using the whole work thing and wedding thing to distract me from the whole suing my mother and step-brother thing. But, Jenks said there's nothing I can really do to help him with that, so I'd rather be stressed about china patterns than subpoenas."
I let out a heavy sigh. I had done everything in my power not to think about Jenks or my mother or Tyler all day. I knew it was an old habit that I was supposed to be breaking but sometimes it just… happened.
"That's annoying, you know," I groaned, eying him.
"What?"
"You. All you have to do is stand there and look at me and then all of my problems just fly out of my mouth before I can try to stop myself from sounding insane."
"You don't sound insane."
I rolled my eyes.
Edward leaned over the counter beside me, face turned toward me. "I can't help much with the work problems. I've tried that in the past and it obviously didn't go well. Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with not wanting to think about your mother or step-brother. Jenks is handling it so you don't have to. I can help with wedding decisions, though, seeing as it is also my wedding. What was on your list for today?"
I shrugged. "Something about music or dancing. I don't remember."
A wide smile covered Edward's face. He grabbed a remote that was on the counter, pressing a button to turn the volume up on the classical music floating through the house. Before I could argue he pulled me back toward the open space between the kitchen and living room, hands falling to my waist as he started to gently sway to the music.
"I can handle the music. And my mother forced me to take dance lessons when I was twelve, so I've got that covered, too."
"I don't really know how to dance," I admitted. "I'm great at swaying, though."
"Swaying is good."
The anxiety and adrenaline and stress of the day started to slowly melt away, more and more the longer Edward and I swayed in unison.
My head fell against his chest. "Sorry I'm such a mess."
His lips pressed to the top of my head. "You're not a mess."
I pulled away from him just enough to give him an incredulous stare.
"You're a cute one, at least."
I chuckled with a shake of my head, letting the soft music and the comforting rhythm of our swaying push away all of the stress and anxieties from my day.
…Closure…
Later that night I crawled into bed, grabbing the tablet I kept on my bedside table. I had intended to open it up to the book I was reading, one of Edward's recommendations. I smiled to myself, remembering how horrified he was that I had decided to read it on my tablet instead of the physical copy he had. It didn't happen often, because I liked to convince myself we weren't that far apart in age, but the differences did pop up every once in a while. The date flashing on the tablet caught me off guard.
June sixteenth. Four days away from Edward's birthday.
"Your birthday is on Saturday," I blurted out as soon as Edward emerged from the ensuite.
All I got was a hum in response as he got into bed beside me.
"This Saturday."
"It is," Edward finally relented.
Guilt settled in the bottom of my stomach. I had been too preoccupied with my own problems and hadn't realized it was already the middle of June.
"Are your parents having a party again?"
The last one ended up being a bit of a mess, not that any of the other guests knew what happened in the basement. A sudden realization that I was probably supposed to have thrown the party myself hit me.
"I should have done it. That seems like a fiancé kind of thing, doesn't it? I could – "
Before I could spiral out of control, a quick kiss stopped my rant.
"No, my parents aren't throwing a party this year. And, no, you don't have to either."
He sounded off. Too grumpy after the nice, calm night we had been having.
"Why not?"
"I didn't want to do anything for my birthday this year. My parents had to move up their camping trip with the kids to this weekend anyway, so it worked out well."
I frowned over at him. He had gotten a little grouchy around his birthday last year, but he had at least let his parents throw him a party.
"If everyone else is out of town then we can do something," I said, hoping to pull him out of whatever funk he was in.
A placating smile covered his face as he leaned over to place a silencing kiss to my lips. "It's fine, I promise. I've never been big on my birthday, anyway."
Before I could argue he pressed another firm kiss to my lips. This one sending a shot of adrenaline to the tips to my toes, distracting me enough for Edward to pull me over so I was straddling his lap. It was only when he pulled away to let me breathe for a moment that I could think clearly. His hands were starting to travel underneath my t-shirt, though, which proved to be incredibly distracting.
"You can't just, ah, use sex to distract me," I gasped, not doing anything to stop him from tossing my shirt over my shoulder despite my pathetic attempt to talk him out of it. I was too far gone by then, my fingers digging into his bare shoulder and the reason why I was attempting to fight any of it long gone from my mind.
…Closure…
Reminding myself that in a matter of months I would be marrying Edward Cullen kept me sane sometimes. It kept me from pulling my hair out as coworkers sent me sad glances when I walked through the office, and it was probably one of the few reasons I didn't have a complete breakdown four days ago when Tyler decided to go public with our history.
Our wedding was my happy place in my mind, and I went there often to keep other more unsettling thoughts from finding their way to the forefront. But, it wasn't really real until I was standing in a dressing room with a woman fastening a pristine white dress around me.
I should have panicked. The idea of me getting married within a matter of months, the idea of me becoming someone's stepmother, the idea of anyone wanting me to be their wife should have left me in a cold sweat huddled in the corner. I didn't know how to do any of those things.
This wedding was only getting planned because Alice was gently pushing me in every direction I needed to go and holding my hand with every decision. I was arguably the least qualified person to ever be anyone's stepmother, not that Masen and Lucy needed much parenting at this point. It took me a long time to get used to being a girlfriend, let alone a wife.
As nervous as I was about all of those things and a few dozen more that came with a marriage, I craved each and every one of them. I wanted to pick out china patters and try on every pretty dress I had walked by to get to this dressing room. I wanted to be there for Masen and Lucy in whatever way I could. It made me embarrassingly happy whenever they came to me with even the smallest question, whether it was about their homework or college or the animal shelter that they had taken to volunteering at with their friends now that I was too busy. I wanted to be Edward's wife because even when he was grumpy and not telling me why he doesn't want to celebrate his birthday he was still the brightest spot in my day.
It was quite the emotional rollercoaster for a dress to send me down.
I was able to pull myself together for the most part by the time I was standing on a little pedestal in front of a mirror and the group behind me. It took me a minute to be able to tear my eyes away from myself in the mirror to check on their reactions.
Alice had a bright smile on her face and a notebook in her hand, taking copious notes without even looking at the paper. Lucy was curled up on the couch beside her aunt with a tentative smile on her face. Esme was beside her, looking about ready to burst out of her skin wile Rosalie seemed to be on the verge of tears.
"Are you crying?" I gasped.
"No," Rosalie snapped defensively, a second before her lips pouted and she snatched the outstretched tissue from Esme. "Shut up and twirl."
I did as I was told, enjoying the way the dress floated around me.
My childhood and young adult life weren't spent daydreaming about a wedding dress. I wasn't even sure if that was a real thing girls did or if it was more of a lie television told me. I had also assumed the magical moment when you put on a dress and knew it was the one was made up, too. But, after a dozen different dresses, all beautiful and perfect in just about every way, the consultant tied me into one more and I knew I was done looking.
While all of the other dresses were stunning, there were always a trait or two that bugged me. Some were too formal, the fabric too stiff and uncomfortable and the style more suited to a formal church wedding. Others were closer to the blurry vision in my mind, but still not quite it as they hit me at a funny spot on my waist or they just didn't feel right. Most of the time I felt like a child playing dress up.
Until the last one. It one felt like it was supposed to be mine, especially when the butterflies that were now always happy and content in my stomach fluttered about.
The designer whose studio we had taken over for the afternoon was a woman in her forties with her hair held up in a precarious bun by a pencil. She had been observing from afar the entire time, taking into consideration every critique and suggestion made be me and the other woman while refilling the dressing room with new dresses. As soon as I walked back out to the little pedestal her stoic glance turned into a soft smile.
"Shit," Rosalie gasped. I watched her grab another tissue from Esme in the mirror.
Lucy met my eyes in the mirror, her ocean eyes swimming with excitement. "Wow."
Alice quickly closed her notebook, smiling over at me at the same time I heard a sniffle come from Esme.
Everyone was in agreement without a single word said. Well, they said words. I wasn't paying much attention, too distracted by my own reflection and the soft lace underneath my fingertips.
Eventually, I reluctantly put my own clothes back on, my causal yellow floral wrap dress not nearly as exciting as what I had been wearing for the last few hours. Before I could even ask the designer about paying for the dress Esme walked over and gave my shoulder a squeeze.
"Don't worry about it."
"But, I – "
"No daughter of mine will be buying her own wedding dress."
I tried to ignore the way her casually referring to me as her daughter made my chest ache. "You don't have to do that. Edward doesn't let me pay for anything so I can – "
"Just because you can, doesn't mean that you should. I already took care of it," she told me softly, gently tucking my hair behind my ear in a motherly gesture that was more comforting than I would ever tell anyone.
…Closure…
"Does Edward know about this?" I asked, swirling the glass of wine around in my hand.
After a very successful afternoon picking out the prettiest dress I would ever wear, we all ended up back at Esme and Carlisle's home. Minus Rosalie, who had an important test in the morning to study for.
The house had been decorated in our absence. It was much more subdued than his last birthday celebration here, which consisted of a hundred people I had never met, but it was still very obviously decorated for a birthday Edward had told me he didn't want to celebrate.
"Dinner? Yeah, he'll be here soon," Alice said, looking at me with a frown like I had forgotten the plan for the night. All of us were in the living room waiting for Edward and Masen to arrive. I sat on the couch beside Carlisle and Esme, while Lucy and Alice sat in chairs opposite of us. Lucy was more concerned about whatever was on her phone than the conversation.
"Does he know it's a birthday dinner?"
"Oh, well, no. But, you can't refuse a birthday party once you're already at it."
I frowned, nervously tucking my hair behind my ear just for something to do with my hands. I still hadn't figured out why he was so against his birthday this year. He didn't seem too happy about it last year either, but he came around eventually. He wasn't quite as lenient this year, though.
"Have you always had your cartilage pierced? I noticed it this afternoon," Alice said, changing the subject.
I twisted the post around in my ear. I put a spare earring in it yesterday, assuming the piercing had closed up in the months I had spent ignoring it. It went right in though, so I kept it. After having an affair with my married client and said client buying my way into another firm, having my cartilage pierced was hardly the scandal I had thought it would be a year ago.
"I got it done when I was sixteen."
I waited for the next question, already knowing what it would be.
"Why'd you take it out?" Esme asked, looking genuinely curious beside me.
I pressed my lips together, my answer coming out slowly as each word made me sound more and more stupid. "Because I wanted to seem more… professional at my first job out of college."
Those were my standards: an extra piercing in my cartilage was unprofessional but sleeping with my married, father of two client was just fine.
To everyone's credit, I could tell they were all working very hard to control their expressions.
"It's okay. You can laugh."
Thankfully the sound of the front door opening broke through their dwindling laughter after a few minutes. Edward and Masen rounded the corner, both with bright smiles on their faces.
"Think fast," Edward said quickly, tossing something at me.
My right hand shot out to catch the object. I opened my palm to see a shiny black car key fob. "What's this?"
"The key to your new Aston Martin."
I felt all the blood drain from my face as my eyes darted back to the key in my hand. We'd had a very successful meeting with representatives from Aston Martin yesterday. Contracts that had been through half a dozen lawyers were signed, and apparently, they were very quick to deliver Edward a thank you present.
"It was a joke, Edward," I gasped, tossing the key back at him as quickly as possible.
"I wasn't joking." He tossed the fob back at me.
Before I could toss it back at him, Masen took a seat on the coffee table in front of me and grabbed my wrist to keep me from chucking the key at his father.
"Bella," he said seriously. "He's giving you an Aston Martin."
"I don't – "
Masen launched into what I'm sure would have been a very convincing speech about the specs of the car, had I known what a single thing he said was.
"I don't know what any of that means," I said with a shake of my head.
Masen sighed, running his hands through his hair and seemed completely flabbergasted that I would turn down a car. It distracted me for a minute, his resemblance to his father.
"You got another Aston?" Carlisle questioned, a boyish excitement in his voice.
A big, lopsided grin stretched across Edward's face. "For free. My lovely publicist got me a deal with them. Which is why she told me she should get the car."
I tossed the key back at him, maybe a little harder than necessary. "As. A. Joke."
Masen stood up and walked over to his father. "Well, if she doesn't want it I guess I'll – "
Edward rolled his eyes. "I'm not giving you a sports car."
"Damn," Masen sighed.
"I'm giving Bella a sports car."
Again, the key ended up in my palm. A very simple solution to my problem suddenly popped into my mind.
"Is it automatic or manual?"
"Manual."
I sighed dramatically, standing up and walking over to Edward. "I don't know how to drive a stick, so I guess that means you'll have to keep it," I told him, reaching down to put the key in the pocket of his jeans to hopefully keep him from tossing it at me again.
"I can teach you how to drive a stick," he said, following me as I attempted to follow the rest of the family into the dining room.
I rolled my eyes. "People already think I have daddy issues, we don't need photos of you teaching me how to drive to add fuel to the fire."
Edward let out a loud laugh. One that, even though I was trying to keep a stern face to refuse the car, made me smile, too.
…Closure…
Dinner was wonderful. Which made it weird. Because Edward had very explicitly told me he didn't want anything to do with his birthday this year. I spent the entire dinner waiting for him to refuse cake or tell Alice to take back the cheesy miniature joke calendar she got him or at the very least frown when Masen handed him a gift Irina told him to give to his father.
None of that ever happened. Instead, he happily accepted Alice's gift. He gave me a small smirk when his mother cut into the beautiful cake instead of digging into it with a fork like an animal. He even took Irina's gift with a smile.
I thought I deserved a little credit for waiting until we walked through our front door before exploding.
"Am I the only one that doesn't get to celebrate your birthday?" I asked, dropping my bag on the kitchen counter and turning toward him with my arms crossed over my chest.
That was the only explanation I could come up with. I spent the entire drive home searching for any other reason that didn't quite feel as much like a knife in the gut, but I had come up empty.
Edward frowned, cocking his head to the side. "What?"
"You said you didn't want anything for your birthday. You told me you didn't want a dinner or a gift or any kind of celebration. Then, you spend all night happily celebrating with your family. You even smiled at whatever Irina gave you." I did a very poor job at not spitting out Irina's name. "So, am I the only one you don't want to celebrate with?"
Edward sighed, leaning over the counter across from me. "I'm sorry."
The knife in my stomach twisted. "You don't have to apologize for not wanting me to celebrate your birthday. I just don't – "
He shook his head, walking around toward me. "I'm sorry what I said made you feel that way. It's not what I meant."
Even though I was supposed to be upset with him, his arm wrapping securely around my waist was comforting. His other hand reached up to cup my cheek, his thumb gently rubbing back and forth over my cheekbone.
"You have a lot of other more important things to worry about," he whispered, almost as if those things would hop out of the corners of the house if he said them too loud.
"No, I don't." At the deep frown suddenly creasing his forehead, I went on. "I have other things to worry about, but they're not more important than you."
Even though it had been less than a week since my decision to press charges against my mother and Tyler, I had slowly come to terms with the fact that overthinking the situation or worrying about every little thing that could go wrong because of it was a waste of my time. It did nothing to solve the problem, only added to it.
When I told that to Doctor Stanley at my appointment yesterday, she cancelled the rest of our session and took me on a 'field trip' to a little creamery down the street from her office. I felt a little bit like a small child getting rewarded for toughing out a trip to the doctor, but I was never one to say no to ice cream.
I felt Edward sigh a moment before his lips pressed gently against my forehead. "I'm sorry I made you feel like I didn't want to celebrate with you."
I shrugged, wrapping my arms around his waist for a quick hug. "That's okay. I didn't listen, anyway."
After pressing a kiss to his cheek, I left him standing in the kitchen as I went to grab the food bowl Lady was patiently sitting next to.
…Closure…
Just a few seconds after I knocked on the door, Edward swung it open. I bit my bottom lip, not bothering to try and hide my eyes as they looked him up and down. He couldn't open the door with his shirt halfway open and not expect me to take advantage of the moment.
"Hi," I smiled, averting my attention back to his face where he was wearing a smirk.
Edward stood to the side, motioning for me to come in. "Hi."
I sat on the couch in the back, flattening my skirt over my lap as I watched him lean against the far wall and look at me much the same way I had first ogled him.
"You should get changed. We're on a bit of a time crunch."
Edward cocked his head to the side. "We are?"
I nodded. "I'm taking you on a date."
My favorite crooked smile spread across his face. "A date?"
"You told me you didn't want to do anything for your birthday, so I planned a pretty awesome night before your birthday."
After I realized I had nearly missed his birthday, I quickly planned the night for us. It wasn't technically a birthday celebration, because it was the day before his actual birthday and I was going to tell him it was just a date. Now that I knew he had no problem acknowledging his birthday, I could be a little more lenient with the terminology.
"Grab me something to wear?" he asked, nodding in the direction of the closet on the other side of the room.
I hopped up and walked over toward the closet. There was an array of clothing hanging up, most of it on the casual side. I found a black button down and a pair of dark grey slacks.
I just about walked right into his bare chest when I turned around to give him the clothes. He didn't bother to wait for the new clothes before discarding his suit from the show.
"Here, um, you go," I stuttered, handing him the folded garments.
It shouldn't have been erotic to watch the man get dressed, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from him. How he managed to make buttoning his slacks sexy I would never know. I shook my head, clearing away the dirty thoughts as he buttoned up his shirt. When I tried to step around him, his arm wrapped around my waist to keep me beside him.
His voice was gruff, his lips brushing against my ear as he spoke. "This date… does it end with you screaming my name as you're coming on my cock?'
My cheeks flushed immediately, my lower abdomen clenching. Ever since we had gotten engaged Edward had become a bit… insatiable. More so than usual. Not that I was complaining. My brain was a little fried, which meant my filter was, too. "Most nights do."
A sinful smirk tugged at his lips, one that had me stepping out of his hold quickly before I did something stupid. The only errant through floating through my head was that it was good Masen and Lucy were already on their camping trip.
After making it out of his dressing room, I snatched his keys out of his pocket before he could reach for them himself. "My date. I get to drive."
Edward's eyes scanned the small parking lot, probably looking for my car. "Did someone drop you off?"
I shrugged. "I took an Uber."
Edward froze, the hand wrapped around my waist pulling me to a stop with him. "I told you to stop taking those."
"I didn't want to have to come pick my car up later. It's fine. I survived."
I could see the frustration on his face. He had asked me to stop doing any kind of ride sharing a long time ago. And I did, for the most part. Sometimes it was just easier, though.
His arm fell from my waist as he reached into his pocket for his wallet. He pulled out a card and handed it to me. "This is the car service the whole family uses. If you need a ride, call them. Not the kidnap express."
I rolled my eyes. "That's a little extreme."
"Bella," he warned.
I sighed, pressing my lips together. "Okay."
Edward nodded, finally continuing to walk me toward his car. Instead of opening the driver side door for me, he pressed his arm against the roof of the car and leaned over me. "I'm not trying to be an asshole. I just don't want anything to happen to you."
"I know," I nodded. It was still an unusual feeling for me, Edward or anyone going out of their way to try and keep me safe. Which was why even a small thing like his insistence that I use his car service made me fall a little bit more in love with him.
"So," Edward prompted as soon as I had us out into the early LA traffic. "I don't suppose I get to know where we're going?"
"You do not. At least I'm not blindfolding you, though."
Edward chuckled, and I saw him shake his head out of the corner of my eyes. "You can blindfold me anytime you want."
I tried my best to hide the adrenaline his admission sent though my body, slowly coming to a stop at a red light and looking over at him with a smile. "I'll keep that in mind."
Thankfully, even with the constant traffic that was around every corner in Los Angeles, we made it to our first destination with a few minutes to spare. As I unbuckled myself from the car, I watched Edward look out the windshield with a curious frown.
"A dance studio?"
"We're taking a salsa dancing class," I told him with a smile that quickly began to fade as I let my own self-doubt get in the way. "Is that stupid? You said you took dance classes as a kid, and you still seem to enjoy it, at least a little bit. And I just know how to stand there and sway. It's a beginner class, so it might be boring for you if you – "
A quick peck broke off my rambling. "It's perfect."
Edward hopped out of the car, quickly coming over to open my door for me. Before I could doubt myself again and ask him if he wanted to leave, he lifted my hand and had me do a little twirl in the middle of the parking lot.
…Closure…
"You can stop trying to find the server to ask for the check," I told Edward, taking another bite of cake off of the shared plate between us.
Our salsa class had been a success. I didn't fall once and only stepped on Edward's foot twice. He also had a smile on his face the whole time, so I considered it a win. We weren't the only ones in the class, but everyone seemed to be in their own bubble so no one even bothered to look in our direction too much. After the class we ended up at a restaurant on top of a high-rise in the middle of the city. After an evening of googling I had come across the place, the plethora of windows and beautiful views selling me more than the menu. Quite the feat when the menu was as extravagant as it was.
Edward and I were in a small private room, our table facing a large window as the city was spread out below us. He had been very obviously waiting for the server to come back so he could pay the bill for the last ten minutes, and frowned at me when I told him to stop.
"I already paid."
His frown deepened. "When?"
"I gave them my card when I made the reservation and told them that under no circumstances were they to accept any other form of payment."
He wanted to be mad, I could tell. But he also had a smile tugging at his lips. "That seems a little extreme."
I rolled my eyes as him throwing my own words back in my face. "Well, you never let me pay for anything. I didn't want to take any chances."
I expected him to argue a bit more, but instead he took another slow sip of his wine and eyed me from across the table. "Thank you for dinner, then."
A smile spread across my face at my victory. "You're welcome."
His eyes stayed on me, the playful glint they held all night turning into a more solemn, introspective haze.
"What?" I asked, once he failed to take his eyes off of me after a few minutes.
"Nothing."
I fought against the urge to roll my eyes. "You can't look at someone like that for three minutes and then not say what it was about."
Edward chucked softly, putting his glass down and leaning back in his chair. "It's nothing bad. I was just thinking that this might be the best birthday I can remember."
My own smile took over my face before I realized how sad the statement was. He was thirty-six tomorrow. That was thirty-six sub-par birthdays.
"I'm sure my mother threw me wonderful parties as I kid that I don't remember. I had parties with friends when I was a teenager, even a few with Irina the first few years we were married. But, they weren't…"
He shook his head, pressing his lips together as he looked to be searching for the right words. "You took me dancing because I told you I liked it as a kid. You went through quite the hassle to pay for dinner even though you didn't have to. Hell, even last year when you thought all I wanted from you was sex you made sure I celebrated my birthday."
I bit my bottom lip. He was right, there wasn't an inkling in my mind when I bought him that portfolio or ordered that big cake or bribed a janitor to hang a Happy Birthday sign above his office door that he had any kind of feelings for me. I had feelings for him, though, and wanted him to have a good birthday.
"I don't… I don't think you understand how much you mean to me. How thankful I am that you ended up in my dressing room that night. How glad I am that you decided I was worth all of the baggage I come along with."
I shrugged, my voice quite as my throat constricted as I fought against the urge to cry. "You don't have that much baggage."
Edward chucked, swallowing thickly and shaking his head. "I do, but I know you'll never admit it."
He shook his head again, clearing his throat and standing up from the table. "Ready to go?" he asked, holding his hand out to me.
I nodded, grabbing my small clutch and taking his hand. He squeezed it gently, like I was a glass doll that could break in an instant. Warm arms wrapped around my back and a gentle kiss landed on my forehead. His lips brushed against my skin as he whispered a quiet "I love you," before leading me off toward the elevator.
For as messy and toxic and unfixable as my life felt sometimes, that feeling was starting to slowly dissipate. Like the heavy fog that had been surrounding me my entire life was finally starting to break. Or maybe I was finally starting to claw my way out of it. Either way, even the few photographers stationed outside of the building clicking away at their cameras as Edward's car was driven up by the valet didn't wipe the smile off of my face.
…Closure…
I wasn't quite sure how long we had been making out against the front door, but I was glad Edward had waited to pounce until we were on the inside of it instead of the outside.
I couldn't remember the last time I had taken a breath, and had my lungs not been burning I wouldn't have been able to tear myself away from him. Edward nipped at my neck as I fought to catch my breath. He hitched one of my legs around his waist, grinding himself against me and smiling against my skin as I groaned. My palms fell into the back pockets of his slacks, pulling him harder into me.
It was a miracle we made it up the stairs without someone breaking something. I stumbled over my heels a couple times before quickly kicking them off. Edward's button down was also a casualty of our trip upstairs, but we made it up unscathed.
We fell into bed, quite literally, with the air being knocked out of my lungs as all six feet of him pressed me into the mattress. His lips never left me though, whether they were on mine or making what I was sure would be an impressive bruise on the nape of my neck.
The sound of fabric tearing caught my attention, the straps of my dress suddenly falling down my arms. I only mourned the pretty black lacy dress for a few seconds before his lips wrapped around my nipple, his fingers tugging lightly at the other.
"You have to stop tearing my clothes," I gasped, my fingers digging into his hair to keep his tongue doing the wonderful things it was against my skin.
"Stop wearing things that go down to here," he muttered, biting at the skin between my breasts. "And I might have more patience by the end of the night."
I squirmed underneath him, my hips bucking up against his cock with every sharp nip of his teeth. Even as he refused to let go of me, I managed to get the zipper down the side of me undone enough to slide the dress off of me.
I caught him by surprise, switching our positions and enjoying the view below me. My fingers ran over his chest, my teeth sinking into his nipple. His hips bucked up against mine, hitting me in just the right spot to make me moan and grind myself against him again.
Firm fingers found my chin, bringing my attention up to his face. His thumb ran over my bottom lip. "I want your lips around my cock."
I pulled his remaining clothing off quickly, smiling up at him as I wrapped my fingers around him. It never failed to excite me, the physical evidence that he wanted me as much as I wanted him.
He grunted out my name as soon as I ran my tongue along his length. I wasn't in a very teasing mood, and quickly took as much of him as I could into my mouth. The sounds he made spurred me on, every groan and grunt and curse made my thighs clench together.
Eventually he pulled me up, my body falling against his. Edward's fingers brushed through my hair, his lips never leaving mine even as his hands explored down my back. He held me close, rolling us over and pressing me back against the soft sheets. He was inside me with one fluid movement.
My nails dug into his back, my hips doing everything they could to meet him thrust for thrust. My lungs protested as I pulled his lips back to mine, but I ignored them. The only thing I cared about was him. His skin on mine, his breath intermingled with my own, his cock inside me.
I pushed against his shoulder hard enough for him to know I wanted him on his back. He pulled me with him, keeping himself buried inside me as I ended up straddling his waist. One of his hands stayed on my hip, keeping me steady and pulling and pushing with the rhythm of my movements. The other roamed freely, slithering along my abdomen and along my chest, sliding down to where we were joined and pressing against my clit just to hear me whimper. I moaned his name under my breath as I felt that coil in my abdomen tighten.
"Louder, baby," he groaned, both of his hands now gripping my hips tightly and he thrust up against me.
I came with a shout of his name, coming down to the satisfying feeling of him coming inside of me, too. I collapsed against his chest, gasping to finally give my lungs the air they had been desperate for.
"You were right," I panted, turning my face just enough to see his brows raised. "About the date ending with me screaming your name."
A cocky smile covered his lips, which made me need to taste them again.
…Closure…
Life had a way of throwing me punches right when I got over the last bruise. It had been a while since my last one, though, so I had kind of forgotten how shitty it felt. I had ended up in my own blissful bubble that was a hundred times healthier than the scared little protective bubble I had built myself after moving to Los Angeles.
I had a family. The kind I had always secretly dreamed about growing up. Masen and Lucy were home more during the summer, which I liked. Lucy was teaching me how to be less of a mess in the kitchen and Masen had gotten a part-time job at the animal shelter we had been volunteering at and showed me adorable pictures of puppies every afternoon. I was pretty sure he was trying to get me on his side to adopt one of them, and I was pretty sure he was successfully going about it.
They didn't scare me at all anymore. I didn't tense up every time I was in the same room as them and didn't worry that holding Edward's hand in front of them would make them hate me again. I wasn't their mother, and I didn't really want to be, but I liked to think I was at least their friend now.
Every Sunday there was a family bar-b-que at our place, Emmett and Rosalie included. The men would spend their time attending to the grill and drinking beer while Esme, Alice, Rosalie, and Lucy helped me plan the wedding. I made a conscious effort to get over how intimidating the deadlines were and how long the lists of decisions that needed to be made were and enjoy the process. With a limitless budget for everything, it was easy to get overwhelmed but it also meant I didn't have to feel bad about unknowingly picking out the most expensive glasses known to man.
Edward and I had even been invited to a few neighborhood dinners, which I actually enjoyed. Victoria still eyed Edward every chance she got and the women had a tendency to gossip a little too much for my taste, but they were nice people. And I was getting a little better at talking to people outside of work because of it.
The best part of it all was that Edward was beside me for all of it. He kept to his word and took over a few things from the wedding that Alice said he 'wouldn't screw up.' Once a week, depending on the twins' plans, he took me out on a date. Whether it was dinner or a movie or a random street fair he found once, it was usually the highlight of my week.
The second best part was when news broke that Tyler had been blacklisted from the MLB. I knew next to nothing about the organization, but Edward told me it wasn't something that happened often, especially to someone who was still being scouted. I wasn't sure if they had found out about the charges against him, but I had a feeling Carlisle and Esme might have pulled some strings. They had a lot of connections in a lot of important places, but I never asked.
I never considered myself a petty or vindictive person, but knowing that he had faced even the smallest of consequences made me sleep a little better at night.
But, like I said. Life knew when I was getting too comfortable and needed a shot of reality.
It was the middle of August when I finally pulled up to my old house to get a box of things Rosalie had set aside for me. Little trinkets that had gotten mixed in with her things that she had found since I had moved out. Both her and Emmett were still working, but they had let me keep my key in case of an emergency. I was fumbling with my keychain, trying to find the right one as I walked up the sidewalk when they fell out of my hands.
I turned around and bent down to pick them up, my heart stopping when I saw a pair of men's sneakers standing much too close behind me. I didn't need to look at his face to know who it was.
A/N: I know. I'm sorry. The next chapter will be up as soon as humanly possible. Thanks for your continued support and patience, it means the world to me. See you soon!