Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~0~

~~Bella~~

My traitorous body screamed for his touch, my mind waged a war; my emotions were on a knife-edge. One night with him, one delicious encounter of pure sensation, Edward pretending he's in love with me, tricking my mind, but then, it would be over.

I kissed him again; his warm skin under my lips. I could feel his cool fingers waiting. There was no way to hide how aroused I was. I wanted him to touch me; I wanted his fingers to cool the burning heat between my legs. I couldn't let him stop. I undid the last button of his shirt and pushed it haphazardly over his broad shoulders.

Oh God, his body!

My hands roamed his chest. His pale skin; the light dusting of brown hair was soft under my fingertips. I touched his hardened nipples. I kissed his lips; I let my hands settle on his shoulders as I shifted my body backwards again, desperate for him. He was panting, staring into my eyes, our faces inches away from each other, his eyes burning into me. His hands are right there, he could be touching me, pushing into me, but he's hesitating.

This is just sex, just pleasure. He's cheating on her, he's like Riley, he doesn't want me like I want him. I should stop this.

I can't stop. I want this. I need him. I love him, even if he'll never love me back.

"Bella, I want to…" he whispered. His fingers were right there, about to move my undies aside and feel me. His voice was seductive, an urgent plea that made my whole body shiver with anticipation. I was burning for his touch. My heart was hammering out of my chest. I was so close to exploding. I was desperate, but still my mind was trying to shut it down, deny the pleasure.

I don't deserve this. I'm not worthy. I shouldn't be doing this, it's wrong. It doesn't mean anything to him. I will never mean anything to him.

"Use me, any way you want. I want you." I whispered. "I don't care what happens after. You can go back to her. I won't stop you."

The lie was perfectly executed.

Part of me wanted to give him a way out of cheating on Rosalie. Most of me wanted him to just take my body, punish it with a false promise, the taste of what we could be together; a glimpse into the life I could have but that would never be.

His expression changed, he looked–shocked?

I kissed him, once, twice; soft, moist open mouthed kisses, keeping my eyes open, pulling back only to focus on him in the dim light, trying to drink everything in. His hands were trembling.

He feels guilty; I can see it. He looks, confused?

"Back to who, Bella?" He sounded exasperated. His fingers stopped then they were suddenly cradling my face softly. I tried to lower my gaze.

Yes, he's too guilty to continue, he's worked it out. He does want to stay faithful to her. This isn't supposed to be happening.

He tried to make me look at him, but I couldn't. I closed my eyes. I could feel my face flaming; my gut seemed to drop, leaving an empty pit.

"I've told you I'm not with Rosalie. I want you, only you Bella. I would never use you. Why won't you believe–"

"Please Edward, stop talking." I opened my eyes.

Why didn't I meet him first?

Why couldn't I be a Victoria Marshall? Why can't I be a Rosalie Hale?

Fuck everything!

I crashed my lips to his. I pushed on his chest, so he fell backwards onto the bed. An arousing 'unf' sound came from his chest. My lips never left his as I my fingers moved up his chest to tug on his hair; my desperation was passionate. My hair fell in a silky strawberry scented curtain around our heads. He allowed me to kiss him; he returned it, his need just as great as mine. His hands grabbed my bum forcefully pulling me into his body, I felt him grind himself into my pubic bone.

God I need him.

I need this, but he had no idea how much it hurt to know he was lying to me. Just like Riley. Tempting me to give in to him. Why does he want to have sex with me when he has the pristine beauty of Rosalie Hale?

How can I resist him? Why should I resist?

Because it doesn't mean anything; I'm just a sycophant fan he can fuck to get off; he knows I won't ever tell.

I continued kissing Edward frantically. My mind was screaming at me to stop, but my body ignored it. I adjusted my hips so his hard erection came in direct contact with my soaking undies. I rocked against him. His lips were warm; the taste of him was sweet and intoxicating. His tongue expertly slid into my mouth to caress mine. I absorbed the kiss, his hands running up and down my back and over my bum, squeezing.

This is unbelievable.

Why was Edward telling me he loved me? He's with Rosalie. He's lying to me as if I'm a silly girl that will believe it because I so desperately want it to be true. I believed Riley's lies because I wanted them to be true.

What am I doing? I won't survive this a second time!

My tears flowed. He stopped kissing me; he held my face above his.

"Bella, please," he said breathlessly. "How can I make you believe? Did you see the photos?"

"Just please, touch me," I moaned and captured his full bottom lip between mine. I pushed myself into his erection and rocked my body rhythmically, feeling the intense pulsing pleasure even through the barrier of the coarse denim of his jeans.

Edward's hands were cradling my jaw, his fingers softly gliding into my hair, sending a shiver over my scalp and down my spine. Then he lifted my face away, forcefully this time. "No Bella, you need to listen, we need to talk."

"I don't, I can't. If you want my body then take it, if you don't then...leave now." My voice came out as a strangled sob.

I didn't want to be the other woman again. I didn't want to be the fill-in fuck. I wanted Edward to want only me, just me, but here I was, helpless and so fucking weak. I knew one night would never be enough. I was angry with myself for not being stronger. I should never have kissed him back. No matter how in love with him I was, I should have never allowed myself to be this intimate with him. I hated myself, because even though I knew he was in love with someone else, that he was blatantly lying to my face, I still wanted him, desperately.

His arms were instantly around me as he held me tightly to his chest. I could still feel his arousal; I could still feel and hear his heart beating. Edward's lean body was pulsing with heat against me. My lips grazed his earlobe then the sexy stubble on his jaw, as I flicked out my tongue kissing, suckling. Like an addict, like I couldn't get enough of him. He was my water, my air. I couldn't sustain my life without him.

Oh God, I want you, so badly.

"I'm in love with you Bella Swan," he whispered in my ear, "and I need you to believe me. I can't be with you until you do." He rolled me onto my back, raised himself up off the bed. The heat of his body separating from mine was devastating.

No, he doesn't want me, he wants her, and he should be with her. I'm a messy and emotional wreck. I'm exactly what he said he didn't want in a relationship.

Edward's fingers brushed my tears from my cheeks.

"I will make you believe me, you will know how much I love and need you. I'm not giving up; you can't just order me away Bella. You'll realize that we're meant to be together. And when you do, I'll be waiting. I love you," He kissed my cheek then he pulled his warm hands from my body and left the room.

The empty pit of rejection made my gut bottom out.

He loves me...It doesn't make any sense that he could love me. I am nothing, just a girl. I'm not model-perfect gorgeous like Rosalie. He can't love me.

Riley said he loved me, daily.

He lied.

Riley was back with Victoria for three weeks and yet every day of those three weeks he made love to me, held me close and kissed me, cradling me in his arms until I drifted off to sleep. Every single night I was blissfully happy; totally unaware that he was seeing her as well, making love to her as well. They were planning their lives together. He didn't want a life, a future with me.

I'd gone over and over it in my mind for months after I saw Riley with Victoria in the restaurant, especially the last three weeks we were together. Every touch felt real, every word he whispered to me heartfelt and passionate. Never in the time we were together did I doubt his love for me then it all came crashing down.

The farce had run so deep. He'd whispered to me that one day we'd live in a big house with a huge garden and we'd be blissfully happy. He never mentioned marriage, he never mentioned children, but he implied we'd have the perfect life. I'd believed it all.

Riley Biers, the boy, then man, I had been in desperate obsessive love with, had humored me when I'd thrown my wanton body at him. What guy would have turned down a desperate and needy virgin when she was giving herself to him? He had wanted me for comfort sex while his girlfriend was away and all the while his life was planned out with her.

I was fooled, completely and utterly shattered when the realization came that I was just a warm body, a willing lover, while he waited for her to come back to him.

I'd given him body, my mind, my soul; I'd given Riley everything I had.

I couldn't be a judge of love, because Riley had been so convincing and yet it was a lie, what chance did I have that Edward would tell me the truth? He was an actor; his talent in his craft was exceptional. He could tell me anything; who knew what was real and what was pretence. Was it all a rehearsed construction, delivering the lines to impress the audience, to make them believe? To make me believe?

I lay on the bed and the tears turned to heavy heaving sobs. I knew Edward, and probably Emmett would be able to hear me, but I couldn't have cared less. Edward would leave in the morning, go back to his beautiful, famous girlfriend and in three months when filming wrapped, I'd see them in the glossy magazines, holding hands, kissing, everything a normal couple did in and out of the spotlight, and he'd be happy.

Without me.

I recalled the trance-like state my mind had gone into when I wrote the words to Episode. I needed that; I needed something to shield my mind from the intense pain–a numbing, pulsing, calming state that would overtake me. All I would ever have was this short and intense sexual encounter. I could never have Edward.

I tried to breathe deeply. I tried to calm myself.

I visualized a clear pane of glass, cold, hard, reflective.

It would be a shield, for my mind. Sound, light could get through, but nothing else. I didn't want to think, I didn't want to feel the intense emotions, the pain from the loss of his closeness. I was weak, I knew that whatever physical reaction Edward had triggered in me was more powerful than I could have ever imagined. But I couldn't repeat my mistakes. I needed to cut off my emotions.

I could never just fuck Edward. That's why he's here. He hasn't told anyone, except Emmett– who had tried to casually suggest I sign a non-disclosure agreement. Is that why none of the women Edward's been with have ever spilled the beans to the media? They'd all signed one...and Edward, even though he said he trusted me, did he want me to sign one too?

His words were swirling around in my head.

'I'm not in a sexual relationship.'

He wanted me sexually. There was no doubt about that. Maybe Rosalie's observations when she walked in and saw me in Edward's suite were true; he 'entertained' his fans on the side. Even though he loved her, he was waiting until they had stopped filming to make it official?

His play on words wasn't lost on me. Maybe he's not fucking her, yet. I remembered her whiney voice as she had strode into his suite.

'You can't make me wait until we stop filming in November! You just can't! That's too long, it's not fair. I can't stand it anymore! You're denying me...'

He did have his 'rule'. He didn't get 'intimate' with people he was working with. So he was making her wait? I didn't count, because he wasn't 'working' with me. Technically the song was already written and about to be copyrighted. I was just a fan, one that he could easily coerce into having sex. There would be no way I would tell anyone, and with an NDA signed I couldn't tell anyone even if I wanted to.

~0~

~~Edward~~

I pulled at my hair then covered my ears as I heard her sobbing softly. There was more to this story than just the fact she thought I was with Rosalie. Something else was going on in her mind and she wouldn't let me in.

Why would she think I was using her? She still thinks I'm with Rosalie? She doesn't believe me? In her mind she thinks I'm here to seduce her, while I have a girlfriend? She must have seen the pap photo of Rosalie kissing me.

And then everything fell into place.

Is that what her ex did to her? He cheated on her, made her feel used and cheap? Holy fuck, does she think that's me? That I just want to fuck her, that I'm with Rosalie and I'm here to use her, for my own sexual gratification?

I quickly walked to my bag that sat by the sofa; my guitar was still where I'd left it. What a stupid fucking idea to sing to her, to try and communicate my feelings through a song that could have reminded her of her ex-boyfriend!

Fuck, if I ever meet this guy, Riley, or whoever the fuck he is, I'm going to fucking kill him for whatever he did to her!

I ripped off my jeans and boxers and threw on my pajama pants and a t-shirt. Bella thinking I was some type of cheating philanderer made my hard as rock erection deflate.

I won't allow Bella to think that's who I am. I need her to know that I love her, that I would never use her that way.

I recalled Jasper's words. His description of the intensity of the attraction and desire he felt for Alice, and the way he'd initially pushed her away. Alice didn't give up; she waited patiently for four months. I know Bella and I will have the same level of devotion and love that Alice has with Jasper. I'm not giving up on her.

I hurried to the kitchen, poured a large glass of water, and walked determinedly back to her bedroom.

She was still sobbing, lying where I'd left her a few minutes before. She was clutching my crumpled shirt to her face.

Oh God, Bella.

She was scrunched into the foetal position, her dress still up around her waist, her legs white in the moonlight; I closed my eyes when I saw her underwear. Fuck!

I quietly closed the door.

"Bella," I whispered and sat on the bed, my hand touching her shoulder. Her body jumped at my touch and she recoiled from me.

"Bella, please drink this."

She looked up at me, swiping at her tears with her hand. Slowly, she pulled her body to sit up and took the glass. She sipped tentatively, staring at me then she took a long gulp, and handed it back. I placed the glass on the bedside table.

"We don't have to talk now, but I'm not leaving you here alone. I want to hold you; we can sleep. We'll talk in the morning. There are things I need to say to you." I didn't give her the opportunity to argue; I just scooped her into my chest and pulled her tight. My hand soothed over her hair as I lay down.

It was about twenty minutes before she fell asleep. I lay on the bed, still holding her, gently running my fingers through her hair, exhausted and shattered.

How could I have fucked this up so badly, again? I should have made sure she believed me before I even kissed her! We were meant to be together and she was supposed to be feeling all the desire, love and connectedness that I felt. Instead she was convinced that I was with Rosalie, and I was sure she was comparing me to her cheating ex-boyfriend, or something worse!

None of my denials has registered with her. She must have seen those pictures. FUCK!

Fuck the paparazzi. Fuck Rosalie Hale and Royce King. How in the hell am I going to fix this?

~0~

A/N: Thanks to CandyTwi my beta.

Thank you all for still reading and allowing me the freedom to write this story as I always intended. I'm sorry the chapter is relatively short (refer to the chapter title). I'll try to update quickly.

Overture: The overture (= French: ouverture; German: Ouvertüre; Italian: sinfonia) is an introductory piece, often designed to initiate an opera or other dramatic work.

~0~

Episode has been nominated in the Inspired FanFic Awards - the link to the nominees and voting page is listed on my profile.

I hope you all get a chance to read all the stories and vote for your favourites...not just because an author tells you to, but because you have connected with the writing and you want to show your support for that author, and well, if it does happen to be me – then, Thank You!

Luv BBxx :)