Chapter Ten:

Edward's point of view

I watch Bella walk away and sit down on my heels. I rub my hands over my face and sigh. I turn to look around as my dad puts his hand on my shoulder. He lifts his head towards the doorway. "Go on." He smiles. "Go and find her."

I stand up and turn around to hug him. He puts his arms around me. I walk out of the kitchen and pass my mom on the way who looks as if she was making her way back to the kitchen to see what all the commotion was about. "Edward?"

I stop beside and duck down to press a kiss to her cheek, then start making my way up the stairs. I reach the third floor and pause outside Bella's bedroom door for just a second before I raise my hand to knock on the door.

"Go away, Riley." Her croaky voice comes from inside.

"Actually, it's not Riley." I place my palm flat against the door as I wait for a response. There is only silence. I'm about to say her name again when the door handle starts to move. I step back and Bella opens the door.

"What do you want?" She sniffs, and I can tell she's been crying.

"I came to make sure you were okay." I offer a small smile, which I hope is reassuring.

She laughs without humour and rolls her eyes. "Not really."

There is a beat of silence. She steps back into the room. "I get the feeling you aren't going to go away so you might as well come in."

I walk inside and close the door behind me. Bella goes to sit on her bed and wipes her eyes with a tissue. I walk to a chair close to a dresser and sit down in it.

"I'm sorry about what happened just now."

I raise my eyebrows. "Why are you apologising?"

She wipes her nose with her sleeve. "For seeing me break down like that. I'm not supposed to do that."

"I think protocol for you is out the window right now though, isn't it?" I move from the chair and go to sit beside her on the bed. "So… what happened to make you come here?"

She scoffs. "Like you don't know."

I shrug. "I don't actually."

Bella looks at me with utter disbelief in her eyes, and I smile. "I don't keep up with celebrity gossip." I wink, hoping my comment will make her smile, and it works.

She looks back down at her hands and starts to wring her fingers.

Just go for it, Cullen.

I place my hand over hers and pause for a moment. She looks up at me and I smile. She pushes her fingers in between mine and smiles breathtakingly at me, before taking a deep breath and squeezing my fingers. "I was in a relationship with this guy, for three years. We broke up about… six months ago, I guess. He, um, proposed to me, and I said no." She looks up at me again to see at my reaction.

"That would have done wonders for his ego."

Bella doesn't reply to my comment but carries on with her story. "He comes from a good upper class family. Somebody suited well to sharing the throne with me. He assumed that's what would be happening." She sighs. "We kept it secret for a while that we'd broken up, but then the media started to report it and we had to reveal it was true." She sniffs and I turn to look at her and notice she's crying again.

"Bella…"

"No, you need to know." She wipes her eyes with the hand that isn't holding mine and takes a deep breath. "It was about six weeks ago… he released private pictures to the press. Some of me, some of… both of us. Some were pictures I'd sent him…" She wipes tears from her face again. "He has ruined me."

I squeeze her hand. "He hasn't ruined you, Bella." She looks at me dubiously. "You'll do things that will make people forget about this. But this, this will be all he's famous for. And being famous for having scandalous pictures of you all over the world isn't exactly something to be proud of. Even if Kim Kardashian managed to make a living out of it." She laughs. "He's an asshole, Bella. That's the polite way of saying it. He isn't worth your time, or your thoughts. This will blow over, it might take a while, but they'll find something else to start talking about." I turn to face her more and cup the side of her face with my other hand. She leans into my touch and I've never felt more complete than I do right now. I look into her eyes and notice how worried she looks. But I know that she has no reason to be because from now on, I will be beside her. All the way.

I move my thumb across her cheek a few times, and then lean down and press my lips against hers. Bella kisses me back, and I know that this is where I'm supposed to be.

Here. With her. Always.