A Haon Déag (11)

A/N: So, I tried to wait but I don't want to anymore. So, again thank you all so much for encouragement and your reviews, just passed 800 so woo hoo! Thanks to my prereaders and beta. Ya'll know who they are: Maplestyle, SassyNoles, 2 brown eyes, Bitter Harpy, AGoodWitch, and Mel C. This is EPOV and there is a ton on new info we glean from his POV so pay attention! Onto the story.

EPOV

In my thirty-four years of life, not much scared me. I had been raised in the mafia life, so I had to learn fast that emotions got you nowhere, except dead. When Demetri fell through the flooring and impaled on a piece of rebar, sure I was concerned for him, but my biggest fear was having to tell Bella what had happened. She would undoubtedly be the one who would have to help him. I knew she wasn't in love with him—they didn't know each other well yet—but she was the kind of person that cared about someone until they gave her a reason not to. Hell even after that, cause god knows I gave her more than one reason to not care about me.

I was glad that Alice was there to be with Bella because when Demetri went into shock on the way to where she could operate on him, it was a scary moment, but they seemed to work seamlessly together. When we got where we were going, Emmett and I stayed out of the way and out of the operating room.

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Emmett asked.

"If anyone has the ability to make him okay, then it's definitely Bella," I said, not offering him much more than that, interested in picking a piece of lint from my dress slacks.

"What's going on between you and her? I know you guys have barely talked all week." His brows were furrowed, showing his 1.

I waved my hand dismissively. "It's not really your business, Emmett."

Emmett's face twisted in anger and frustration. "Bullshit, I'm dating her sister. I hear everything those girls talk about. Don't give me that crap."

I gave him a warning look. Emmett and I were best friends, but I was his superior first, and when it came to Bella, there were things that I was not willing to discuss. This was one of them. "Let it go, because friend or not, I will drop you on your ass."

He glared at me and crossed his arms across his chest. "Fecker," he murmured.

My lips lifted at his often-used name for me when I pissed him off. When I thought about Bella, or even talked about her, all sense of practicality left me. Common sense would tell me to maintain the professional relationship that we had reverted to over the last week, but it was one of the most miserable weeks of my life. Even though I was still pissed that Demetri was going forward with trying to date Bella, I knew that at this point I couldn't stop it, because Bella was fucking feisty and would probably rip my balls off if I tried.

Demetri never should have asked her out, and the night that I got drunk, he forgot his place and got lippy. I was directly under my father, the boss; he was just a soldier. He had no right to go behind my back and ask her out, especially when he knew the situation. I wasn't saying that I had some sort of claim on her, but I had more of a right than Demetri did. I reminded him of his place, and he didn't like it. That was when Bella walked in and stopped the whole fight. After she left that morning, even though I was hung the fuck over, I had a conversation with Demetri about his little innocent act with Bella. We reached an understanding, and he knew that if he fucked her around, I would break more than his fucking legs.

I thought back to her asking me the next morning what the hell was going on with me. I was not one to drink mass amounts of alcohol. It was a waste of time and money, but when I got to my dad's house, I needed something to take the edge off after I spoke to him. Since I couldn't get Bella out of my fucking head, I couldn't call on one of my usual girls to get me off for some tension relief. The next best option was going for the alcohol, giving me a brief reprieve. I couldn't tell her this of course.

I was broken out of my thoughts when I saw Alice looking for us. She saw us and made her way over to us. "We did the CT scan and Dem was extremely lucky. It didn't hit any major organs, and we will be able to pull it out. When this is over, Bella is going to be extremely emotional, so don't be an asshole, Edward, or I will shove my expensive boots so far up your ass…"

"I got it, Pix. I'm not going to be rude to her. Give me a little credit."

Alice leveled me with an unamused stare, her eyebrows arched. She turned on her heel and walked back to where she came from.

"She knows you so well."

"I wasn't going to be an ass to Bella."

"Maybe not on purpose but you two fight a lot."

I had to agree with him on that. I thought back to the beginning. Bella had no idea, but the night she met me and Emmett was the start of all this shit with the Italians. They had crashed into my car for retaliation. Apparently, a few of their best capos got popped, and they immediately thought it was us. They were completely off base, but it didn't stop them from sending that fuck Alec and Marcus to crash into my car. The morning that Eleazar passed out and got treated by Bella, our men had finally found those assholes where they had decided to hide out. I had to go take care of them that morning, and after giving Alec some incentive—a quick death—he gave me some information that was a little more than surprising. I gave the information to my dad and let him do what he thought was best and went to my house. When he called me back over to his house Friday afternoon, he dropped the bomb that the Italians were intending to start a war. He was going to try to make peace, but it didn't always go that way. That led to the drunken ass I was that evening.

Waking up the next morning with Bella in my arms, her small body tucked against mine, I was confused why she was there. I was completely fine with it, and then the night before came screaming back to me. I had begged her to stay, and she had. Regardless of her reasons, I was still happy to have her in my bed. Then, like always with us, it went to hell. She was pissed at me, and I was defensive. We fought and she left. Imagine my surprise when I went downstairs to hear her and my mom talking. They didn't know but I had heard part of their conversation and I knew they were discussing me.

"He told me that he wanted me to go to the gala with him, and I told him unequivocally no. I mean he changes his mind on a whim, so what's to keep him from deciding that he doesn't want to take me, and we fight all the time. I told him that I am attracted to him, but it's not enough." I heard Bella tell someone.

"Absolutely," My mom's voice agreed. "Physical attraction will only get you so far. You two definitely have the passion part down." I rolled my eyes and sighed.

I heard my mom laugh and then Bella said, "He just… drives me crazy."

I had shifted my weight on the stairs, alerting them to my presence, and that had ceased the entire conversation. I didn't know how I felt about my mom and her talking about what was going on between us. My mom and Alice were class-A meddlers, and I already knew my mom had some weird fantasy of Bella and I being together. Regardless of the fact that Bella made me feel things that I didn't quite understand, she also didn't know when to shut that beautiful mouth of hers and hold her tongue. She didn't belong in our world in the way that being my girlfriend would require of her. She'd get herself or someone else killed really quick.

"What's she gonna do about the gala?" Emmett suddenly asked.

"What?" I asked, trying to bring myself back to what he was talking about.

"Bella. Demetri isn't going to be up and able to be at that gala on Saturday. What is she gonna do? She'll probably be staying home now," he said. He looked like he was sad about it. "I hope Rose still goes."

I just stared at him because I honestly hadn't thought about that. I didn't necessarily really have a date to the gala. I was going to ask Heidi or Lauren to go, but I didn't really want to. What if I took Bella, like I had wanted to in the first place? She didn't have Dem to hide behind anymore. If she wanted to go, she really only had one option. I wasn't going to bring it up now though, and I probably would need Alice's help on this.

Like she knew we were talking about her, Bella appeared out of the door she had disappeared behind hours ago. I stood up and so did Emmett. She looked really tired and really sad. I went to give her a hug, and she stopped me. "I have blood on me, Edward. Sorry, I came straight out here. Demetri is stable and the rebar has been removed. He lost a lot of blood, and we had to give him a transfusion. It's gonna take some time for him to heal. Alice is waking him up right now, but I don't know how soon we'll be able to move him."

"My dad is working on trying to get this as your temporary location until the clinic opens. If it works out, he can stay here, and we can make sure that someone is here, so he has care 24/7, until it's safe for him to go home."

"Well, if he has help at home, he can probably get out in two days," she said. I nodded. She seemed to be studying me, and then she sighed. "Can I talk to you for a minute over here?" She gestured behind her, eyeing Emmett.

He took the hint and went to sit down. I followed her as she walked away. "What's up?"

"This is not the ideal time to do this, but we're short on time."

"Okay. What?"

"I don't have a date for the gala anymore. Obviously, Demetri can't go anymore. Are you still available? I imagine you probably already have a date. Shit. It's fine—"

"Bella," I interrupted her rambling. "I don't have a date. I've been putting it off, so I'm still available. Would you do the honor of being my date to the gala, Bella?" I asked her, pouring on the charm.

She looked a little surprised and awestruck. She shook her head slightly, smiled, and then nodded. "Yes, Edward. I would love to. I will warn you though that I have an amazing dress, and if you cancel on me and deny me the opportunity to wear it, I will make your life a living hell."

"Damn, kitten's got claws," I teased, loving when she got feisty. She smiled and rolled her eyes. "Did you just roll your eyes at me?" I asked.

She nodded and walked backwards toward the door to go back to her patient. "I sure did, Cullen. What are you gonna do about it?" She challenged me. She winked and laughed, going through the door. She knew she had me because I wasn't "allowed" to go back there.

Honestly, I didn't give a fuck, and I would go back there if I wanted to, but that would have been a dick move and I was trying to be less of one. Plus, I'd let her have this one small victory. I sat down with Emmett. We waited for the word that Dad had secured the facility for Bella and had two nurses that would switch off there to take care of Dem until he could get out. We went back and saw him briefly, and though he had been through an ordeal, he looked surprisingly good. Alice had left an hour earlier, and I practically had to drag Bella out. When she saw that someone who was qualified was taking care of Dem and his assurances that he was okay, then she finally relented.

"Is it okay if I take you to my parents' house? Da wants to talk to you, but he realizes that you have been awake for twenty-four hours, so he wants you to sleep, but it would be easier if you stayed there. My mom wants to mother you."

"Honestly, I'm so tired that you could give me a soft patch of carpet and I'd sleep on it," she said.

I knew she would probably lose the battle against sleep in the car. Emmett chuckled next to me. Sure enough by the time we arrived at my parents' house, she was sound asleep. I felt bad that I had to wake her up, but I wasn't going to carry her in the house because I knew that would anger her. I gently shook her awake. "Bella, wake up, a pheata."

She startled awake and I stroked her arm to calm her down. "Are we here?"

"Yes, can you make it?"

"Oh. Come on, no assistance. Some gentlemen you are," she quipped.

I chuckled and crouched down in front of her. "Get on."

"What?" she asked, surprised.

"Piggyback. Come on."

She laughed and, to my surprise, she complied. I grabbed her thighs and felt her arms wrap around my neck. I carried her into the house. My mom came out of the kitchen when she heard the door close. She smiled when she saw me carrying Bella. She got a good look at Bella and tsked.

"How long have you been awake, dear?"

"Twenty-four hours, Ma. Just like me. We're gonna get some sleep, and then she will have time for you and Da."

"Okay. I didn't have time to make the guest bed."

"It's fine. I will take her to my room."

"Your room?" Bella chimed in as I climbed the steps to my room.

"You are welcome to curl up on a patch of carpet in my room, but there is a whole bed I'm willing to share." We had slept together before, and nothing had happened. Granted I had been passed out, drunk, but I was sure that I could behave myself. "We're just sleeping, Bella, I promise."

I got to my room and set her down. She took her hoodie off and kicked her shoes off and lay down on my bed. I removed my shoes and shirt, grabbed a clean one, pulled it on, and lay down next to her. She was already asleep. I lay down on my side of the bed. Bella snuggled into my side, and I smiled, closing my eyes and letting sleep claim me.

A/N: So, how do we feel? Is Edward still a dick? Leave me your thoughts and let me know what you think! Thanks so much. See you next week lovelies!