A Cúig (5)

A/N: It's Friday somewhere in the world so I'm posting this now. I have the time so I might as well. I love you guys so much for your reviews, comments, and love for this story. It makes me so happy. I love hearing your theories and thoughts. A lot of you were not happy with Edward after last chapter. Get comfortable with those feelings for a bit, I promise an HEA, but it will be bumpy at times, cause that's how I roll. Thanks to my crew: BitterHarpy, SaasyNoles, 2 brown eyes, AGoodWitch, and Maplestyle, joined by the amazing and patient Mel C. You all rock ladies. Alright, off we go!

Esme and I walked into the kitchen.

She picked up her cell phone and murmured. I just took in the vast kitchen. It was a chef's wet dream. Large farm sink, top end range with chrome vent hood, large double door fridge. Granite and cement countertops throughout. I sat down on the stool that Esme led me to. She pulled two stemless wine glasses from the cupboard and uncorked the already half empty bottle of wine she retrieved from the fridge. She poured us both a generous amount of wine and pointed at it. I reached out and grabbed it, realizing my hands were shaking.

"I can't help but notice you and Edward's interaction upstairs. What did my dumbass son do?" She asked, smiling. It seems she knew her son was kind of an ass.

I snorted and laughed humorlessly. "That upstairs was nothing new, Esme. We fight all the time. We push each other's buttons. He wants to be in control and have me submit and obey him. I refuse, and it pisses him off. So, he reminded me he doesn't answer to me, and I would do well to remember. Message fucking received."

Esme sighed wearily and cupped her head in her palms. "Bella, let me tell you how Carlisle and I met."

"Okay."

"We met in college. He was failing art history class. He went through two tutors before me. I was an art history/education major. I wanted to be a college art history professor. He tried all his tactics to get me to drop him. He didn't want to take orders from a girl, but I refused to give up. I knew he was smart, but he was trying to deflect. It took me dressing him down once before he realized for me to give him the respect he said he wanted, he first had to give me respect as well." She said, making her point with a perfectly sculpted raised eyebrow. "I hate to admit it, but Edward is spoiled. He has had everything handed to him with hardly any genuine work on his part. I can say the same for women. He is good looking, so he has had no trouble in that department either. Aside from me and his sister, he hasn't had many powerful women in his life that are immune to his charms. My point to this entire story is that he expects respect, and his position demands it. But you are also an impressive woman, and you have worked your ass off to be where you are with your age. Your position also demands respect. I wouldn't hesitate to remind my son of that next time you go toe to toe."

I gave her a half-hearted smile. "I don't want to go toe to toe with him. As you said, for my age to be where I am, I have had to work my ass off. I've also had to hear comments from all types of people. Things like I'm too pretty to be a doctor, I should let a man take care of me, I'm too young to be so career driven, and on and on. I've had to learn to let it roll off my shoulders, but when it comes to your son? He makes me feel small, feminine, powerless and that fucking infuriates me." I knew that the wine was making me talk because I would never normally confide in someone about this shit, let alone said person's mom. There was just something about Esme though that comforted me. For a small moment, I felt like I was sitting in the kitchen at my parents' house with my mom, drinking wine, and venting about the latest loser I had to deal with. But this was reality, and my mom was gone, and I shouldn't be getting so close to my employer's wife. "I don't have the patience or desire to set him straight. I will do my job and aside from that we can steer clear of each other."

Esme studied me and was about to open her mouth when the kitchen door opened. A tall man that I recognized from the night I first met Carlisle walked in. He was tall and lean. His hair was a light brown, almost dark blonde color, and his eyes were a blue grey color. He was incredibly attractive and the smile he wore on his face was friendly, not cocky or smug. "Demetri, there you are."

"Hello, Esme. You look beautiful as always." He said, grabbing her hand and kissing it. She pulled him into a hug and patted him on the cheek.

"Bella, this is Demetri. You two have met, but not formally."

"Nice to meet you." He said, putting his hand out and when I offered my hand for a handshake, he did the same as with Esme and kissed my hand. I smiled at him, not sure what the protocol was when a guy kissed your hand. He let go of my hand and I pulled it back to my side.

"Likewise," I said, realizing that I hadn't replied to his sentiment.

"Ok, well I'm sure that Bella is ready to get home after all the excitement we've had tonight. I appreciate you taking the time to make sure she makes it home safe." Esme said. "Bella, thank you for the work you did tonight. Alice said that you made her truly comfortable, and she learned a lot." She gave me a warm hug, and I knew that I was going to have to get used to this because it seemed Esme was a hugger. She smiled at me and Demetri then started to put the glasses and wine away while I followed behind my new driver.

I knew nothing about this Demetri guy, but I could only be glad that it wasn't Edward taking me home. Demetri opened the passenger's door of his car and let me get in before closing it. I watched him walk to his side. I found it funny that Emmett and Edward drove a huge SUV, but this was a sports car. It was kind of like the sports car that Edward was driving when they had the accident that got me caught in their whirlwind.

I knew this car wasn't one I knew anything about. The exterior design and the interior leather seats were nice, screaming money. The large EB on his steering wheel wasn't one I noticed. "So, what kind of car is this?" I asked.

Demetri smiled. "You a big car buff?" he asked as he turned the ignition.

I shook my head. "No, I definitely don't speak Car and Driver but I know a little bit."

"It's a Bugatti Veyron," he said, backing out of the space he was in.

I couldn't name a car from just seeing it, but I do know the car he just named was ridiculously expensive. Like a million dollars expensive. "Wow," I said, not quite sure what else to say.

Demetri chuckled. "Where are we going, Bella?" I told him my address and he nodded. He started touching buttons on the touch screen of his dashboard and I realized that it was a navigator. The computerized female voice rang through the speakers. Demetri turned the radio on. "You can change it to whatever you want. My musical tastes are not for everyone."

"Neither are mine. I might actually scare you with what I really want to listen to after the night I've had."

He handed me his phone that was open on a streaming music app. "Try me." I grabbed the phone and typed in Slipknot. I found the song I wanted to listen to and pressed play. Then I looked at him with my eyebrows raised in challenge. The first notes of Surfacing by Slipknot poured through the speakers. Demetri smiled and took the phone from me and put it in between the seats. "I think we're gonna get along great."

We made small talk on the way to my house and the drive went by quickly. When I saw my car in the driveway, I remembered that Emmett had driven my car to my house with Rose. I wondered if he was still here. I really hoped I didn't walk in on them naked. I was about to say something when Emmett came up to my door and opened it. "Hey, Emmett."

"Bella. Your sister is asleep. I figured I'll catch a ride back with Demetri, so you don't have to take me home later or tomorrow." Emmett explained.

I nodded. "Thanks for the ride, Demetri. Sorry you had to take time out of your night."

"Anytime, Bella. We all know how Edward gets sometimes." He said, giving me that friendly smirk again.

I smiled again and hummed in agreement. I got out of the car. "Thanks for making sure Rose got home safe, Em."

Emmett nodded. "It's no problem, Bella. How is Jasper?"

"He was fine, the last I knew. He should make a full recovery. Alice is watching over him, so he is in excellent hands."

"What happened with Edward?"

I groaned. "I really don't want to rehash it. Ask someone for the story or hell ask Edward what the fuck his problem is. I'm officially done."

"You're quitting?" he asked. Emmett looked pissed.

"No. I didn't quit, but I'm done with Edward's temper tantrums and thinly veiled threats. Mr. Cullen can threaten me, and I will listen because at least he actually respects me. Edward is just like every other asshole that said I shouldn't or couldn't be a doctor so he can fuck off." I said. Though I was so very pissed off at Edward, it wasn't Emmett's fault, so I fought to keep my voice calm and was happy I was able to.

"Bella, you realize that Edward is heading up this project of getting your clinic off the ground, right?" Emmett asked.

His question felt like a slap in the face or a cold bucket of water. Of course, I didn't know that. I thought back to the meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Cullen. Edward was there because I would be working closely with him to get everything about the clinic off the ground. Well shit! "I guess Mr. Cullen said it in a roundabout way but I didn't think about it." I said. Now I was depressed. I didn't know how I was gonna deal with this.

"Just get some rest. You look like you're dead on your feet and luckily you won't have to see him until Wednesday." Emmett said.

I nodded. I was going to look at locations on Wednesday with Carlisle, and I had no illusions that Edward wouldn't be there now. I made my way up the drive to my front door. When I slipped inside, I realized it was pretty late, but I needed to take at least a shower. The long bath would have to wait for another day. I threw the clothes Edward had loaned me in the washer, the shirt with a ton of stain remover sprayed all over it and turned the load on.

I grabbed pajamas from my room and then jumped in the shower. I tried to take the fastest shower I could, got dressed for bed, and left the bathroom. As I stood in the hall, I noticed that my bedroom door was wide open, and I had closed it almost all the way when I left it before going into the bathroom.

I silently and quickly took a few steps back and went to my kitchen. My knife block was missing the biggest knife because the handle broke on it, so I silently grabbed the sharpest one from the drawer. I gripped the handle in my hand and held it with the blade against my forearm. This was the safest way to carry it, and also wouldn't alert an attacker that I had a weapon until it was too late.

I made my way to my room and when I rounded the corner, I was surprised to see Edward sitting on my bed. What. The. Fuck. I sighed and put the knife on my dresser. Still undecided on whether or not I wanted to use it on him. "You scared the shit out of me. What are you doing here?"

"I talked to my mom, and she reminded me we are supposed to be working together in getting your clinic off the ground." He said, standing up from the bed and walking closer to me.

"Yeah, Emmett just reminded me too."

"So, how do we fix this? Obviously, we need a less hostile relationship for us to work together so much."

I looked at him in surprise. Was he really putting this off on me? "Edward, everything was fine tonight. We were getting along, we were having fun, and then Jasper got shot. While I understand he is like family to you, you turned me into the enemy, and I don't fucking understand it. I took care of you, I helped Emmett, I patched up Jasper, what the hell did I do to piss you off?"

"It's the way you run your mouth and talk to me. I'm not your friend, I'm not your boyfriend, I'm not even your boss. You act like you're better than all this because you went to school for forever and worked your ass off. You're not the only one who had to work to get where they are."

I scoffed inwardly at that. He had no idea what working hard was. I took Esme's advice and prepared to hand him his ass, because he so had it coming. "Okay, bully for you. You are a white, wealthy, male. Do you realize the things I've had to hear people say about me because I'm young, female, and not wealthy while also in a profession ruled by men? I'm not better than you, but I had to sacrifice so much shit to get where I am. I went hungry, I had no friends, no relationship lasted longer than a few weeks, and I lost my parents. That I'm still standing here and with an MD in my hand is a fucking miracle. So, I may not be the ringleader of an underground organization, but I still deserve respect and you refuse to give it to me, so why should I give you any? Just because you might have me killed? Believe me, there are worse things."

Edward just stared at me in shock for a moment, and then he sat back down on my bed. He scrubbed his face with his hand. "You think I have no respect for you?" He asked, looking up at me.

"You threatened me. Yeah, I think you have no respect for me."

Edward let out a deep sigh. "Okay, so the only option I see is a clean slate. Right here and now. I show you respect, and you show me respect."

"I'm fine with that, but keeping my opinions to myself is not a sign of respect. I won't just sit there and look pretty, so you need to come to terms with that. Whether or not you like it, I'm now a part of this family. I need you to treat me as such."

Edward looked at me like he was searching for something and then he nodded. "It helps to know where you are coming from. I'm not promising a 180 immediately, but I will try. It's completely different from how I operate. This situation is not the normal one either, so I will have to be flexible."

"Okay, then I will try to be more understanding and not take everything you say as an insult. I know that tonight you were worried about Jasper, but the way you came about telling me wasn't okay. It came across as a threat and as you now know, I don't respond well to threats."

Edward stood up from the bed and got closer to me. I backed up a few steps and ran into the wall. To his credit, he didn't touch me, but because he was taller than me, he towered over me. "It wasn't my intention to threaten you, Bella, and I didn't. Believe me, if I ever threaten you, there will be no doubt in your mind what my intentions are. It was important that Jasper made it through because he is the rock that holds my sister together, and aside from my mom, she is the most important woman in my life. You are part of this family now, so it is my job to make sure you are protected. I won't threaten you, so just remember that."

I exhaled, realizing I was holding my breath. I inhaled deep, and his scent surrounded me. God, he smelled good. I shook my head to try and clear the haze that had fogged my brain. "I understand," I said, nodding my head.

"I better get out of here, so you can go to sleep. You look like you're about to pass out."

"Are you okay to drive? It's really late and I have a couch you can crash on." I said, trying to be nice.

He smiled and shook his head. "Maybe some other time. I can't guarantee I'd behave."

I looked at him in surprise. He just turned around and walked out, throwing a good night over his shoulder and then I heard the front door open and close. What the hell was that supposed to mean? The guy acted like he hated me half the time, but then he's admitting that he would try to sleep with me if he stayed over. Oh, he was so frustrating. I went and locked the front door and turned out the lights. I laid in bed and begged for sleep to claim me soon, ready for this day to just be over.

A/N: So, clean slate and they are starting over. How do we all feel? Next chapter we will have our first EPOV. Those will be few and far between, but I think it's fun to see how the other person is thinking. It will start from the end of chapter four and take us to this point but it is not a carbon copy repeat, it's all new stuff. Leave a review and let me know your thoughts. Thank you so much! See you next week lovelies!