"I told you I'm sponsored."

His voice echoed in the entryway of an enormous house, all windows and hardwood and walls painted grey. Expensive couches and a marble fireplace. A kitchen to absolutely fucking die for.

My mouth had hung wide open since we pulled up, Edward nonchalant as he produced a key, still in that fancy-ass gated neighborhood. More immaculate landscaping. A front door I could drive my car through. A pool.

I closed my mouth, looking at him with wide eyes.

He shrugged.

"You own this?"

He nodded, looking uncomfortable.

"You told me you make enough to 'get by.'" I even used the finger quotes, which I have never done in my life.

"I'm getting by." He threw his hands out at his big house like it was really a tent pitched by a river.

"Who lives here with you?" Their shoes scattered by the door, a million sweatshirts piled on the couches. Dishes on the countertops. Video games still live on the television.

He tossed his sweatshirt on a couch. "Couple of friends. Come on."

He led me up some stairs and down a hallway, through a bedroom that smelled just like him, and into a bathroom.

I stood behind him, eyeballing everything, as he pulled out a first aid kit, large and very well-stocked. He dug through the box with the kind of purpose that told me this kind of thing had happened a lot.

"Let's see this thing." He tugged on the hem of my shirt, and I turned, letting him get a good look at my back and hip. I felt his fingers around the edge of what must be some pretty gnarly road rash.

"Not too bad," he muttered.

"What? It feels awful!"

Edward snorted. "I've seen way worse. You got lucky. You should take these off." He tugged the hem of my shorts, looking as though he fully expected me to decline, but hopeful anyway.

I kept my eyes on him, so I could watch the pure delight that crossed his face as I dropped the shorts in a puddle around my feet.

"Hop up," he said, sounding a bit hoarse, and I scooted onto the countertop, cold marble against my ass and his fingers urging me to turn, facing the mirror. "This is gonna sting."

I let him doctor me, holding back my instinct to guide him. He seemed well-versed in wound care, and I was getting a few quiet moments to study him in the mirror. The crease between his eyebrows, the way he blinked, the curls falling in his face. He seemed so at home here, the last place I would have imagined him. I honestly thought he lived out of his car.

Instead, he lived here, with a bathroom the size of my kitchen, all mirrors and marble and piles of laundry. A huge shower and an even bigger tub, windows overlooking a backyard. I could sleep in that tub like a champ.

"I want to move into this bathroom."

"Well, that's not gonna work." He straightened, catching my eyes in the mirror. I arched an eyebrow at him. "I'm moving into your basement, remember? Next weekend."

"You are not." I laughed, shaking my head at him in the mirror. "You can't move into my tiny little house with my crazy-ass child and me—I'm way too old for you. Edward. Seriously."

"Why do you keep doing that?" He scowled at me in the mirror, sudden hands on my hips spinning me to face him. He gripped my knees and got right up in my face, searching for something. "Why do you keep trying to make your shit seem smaller?"

"What?" I blinked, eyes on his mouth. He pushed my knees apart and got as close as he could, hot hands on my hips.

"The girls at the skatepark, your little house." He ducked to meet my gaze. "Nothing about you is small."

I couldn't remember how to swallow.

"You're just a little impossible to believe sometimes. The things you say…"

"Take me seriously." He gripped my legs, eyes deep and pleading. "I mean it. I want you to take me seriously. You want to move into my bathroom? Please do. Better yet, move into my bed."

"What about the basement?"

"Bella, Jesus. I'd tell you to just move in here, but I don't think you'd like that."

"Why?"

"Because you're independent as fuck. It drives me crazy." He planted one on me, all lips and stubble and curls tickling my eyelids. Hands tight on my hips, tongue and teeth, and the temptation was so real.

So real, I could feel the water rushing up over my head as I fell.

Edward broke away with a groan. "I don't have shit all over my fridge. Or a bunch of crap in the hallways. Or skid marks all over my floor. I don't have eleven thousand little bottles of crap all over my bathroom." He sighed against my mouth. "It's lonely as shit."

My throat was so tight, all I had were whispers. "You could have so much, start a life, find some girl, and do it all from scratch…"

"I don't want that. I don't know where the hell you two came from, or why you found me, or how I got so lucky because I definitely don't deserve this, but I'm not going to be able to let you go. Not now."

"This is scary as fuck." I rubbed my hands over my face, conflicted and hating it.

"I get it. You need to be careful. There are a lot of douchebags out there." He grimaced. "I know a lot of them."

"You've proven yourself to not be a douchebag. It's… I don't think you really know what you're asking to be a part of.

"Jacy? I love the shit out of that kid. I'll take her pro—the minute you tell me. I'll make spaghetti every night. I'll move into your basement or just come mop the floors every Monday… I don't even care." He laughed, rolling his eyes. "The future with you looks good, B. With both of you."

He swallowed hard, three words pushed back down with a lot of effort. I could see them on his lips, sitting right there, ready and eager.

"But we're a mess. Jacy is—and I'm… a mess." I blinked, surprised by my own tears. "Sometimes, I'm such a mess."

"I want to get messy with you. Let's make a mess together."

"More mess?"

"A new mess," he said, looking damn near excited. "A little happy one."

The End

AN

That's it folks.

No one knows just how wonderful Hadley is. Seriously.

I meant to write a little 5k ditty but this bloomed to nearly 14k because they were just that easy. I could give you the mundane shit that probably happens from here - the fights and the mopping and the spaghetti dinners - but your imaginations are better and we have bigger things to move on to.

Which brings me to:

Some have heard rumors. Some have heard tall tales. Some have heard it from the horse's mouth.

Planetblue and I have written a story together.

One that we are in love with.

Layathomemom has preread it. Hadley is 3/4s of the way through a beta, and Carrie ZM is not far behind her.

We have no set date yet, but we're so close it's making us nervous-sick.

Make sure to follow both of us.

See you soon!

xo

HB