Chapter 10

EPOV

I practically jumped out of my skin when I heard someone tapping on my window. I looked up to see Masen staring at me, dark circles under his eyes.

"What are you doing here Edward?" he demanded.

"I came to talk to your mother." I said once I opened the door. He looked me over.

"When will you and your family get the picture, we don't want to deal with you okay, my mom has enough to worry about." He looked like he was ready to punch me.

"I didn't come o make trouble. Actually, I came to apologize to her. I think I've been rather harsh towards her. I just want to straighten things out. Then, maybe the three of us can go from there." I actually smiled at the thought.

"I think you mean four Edward."

"Four?"

"You're engaged, remember?" dang! Why hadn't I thought about that? To tell you the truth, I hadn't thought about Tanya since I'd met Masen. He took up a lot of thought.

"Fine, the four of us. But right now, it's just us three. I'm sick of fighting with you, I just want all of us to work together." he appraised me silently.

"You break my mother's heart, I'll kill you." he didn't wait for me, he just walked up the steps to his porch and in the front door. Bella looked shocked at him before her eyes met mine. She looked even more confused.

"What are you doing here, Edward? Shouldn't you be at home devising a battle plan?" she hissed.

"That's why I'm here Bella, I had no idea that Alice was coming over here. I had no idea that she was going to try and take Masen away from you." I explained. She looked confused for a few moments but didn't miss a beat.

"Good, because I'd eat you alive in court." She stood up tall and then led me into the house.

"I'm glad you believe me Bella, I was really nervous. I thought I might end up having to grovel. I really didn't want to have to do that." I laughed. She didn't laugh with me however.

"Yeah, I'm still considering making you do that. Go sit down, I might as well brew a cup of coffee. Masen, you want anything?" she called.

"Are you the one cooking it?" he asked.

"Yes, who else would?" she demanded.

"Sorry, I'd rather not die so early in my young life." He responded, I could hear the laugh in his voice.

"I really wish I could understand you guy's relationship. It doesn't make any sense to me." I said darkly.

"Masen's complex, you stay out of his way, he's fine. Don't worry about him. Don't worry about our relationship, worry about yours. Who is this Tanya? No one will tell me anything about her." she sat down on her couch and gestured for me to sit down with her.

"What is there for me to tell? She's nice when she wants to be." I shrugged.

"Yes…but do you love her?" I looked her over. The question was completely innocent, she was just asking.

"I don't really know, I'm never really all that sure when I comes to Tanya, she always keeps me guessing." I shrugged again and then leaned back.

"Edward, you do realize that you are making a commitment to this woman. If you don't love her, then don't marry her. That's just a setup for divorce and unhappiness and I would hate for you to be unhappy." She touched my hand lightly. My insides nearly exploded, I couldn't believe how much I had missed her touch.

"My family thinks I should marry her. We could build some musical empire together."

"At the price of your own happiness, Edward that's insane. You deserve better. You don't have to do this." She said quietly.

"I wouldn't want to disappoint my family." I rubbed the back of my head.

She shook her head and stood up. "You're family has always dictated everything about you Edward? Why do you always do what they say? Edward, if they loved you, if they really cared, they wouldn't criticize you based on your choice of women, they would trust your judgment! You aren't a puppet, goddamnit, be a man!" now that was like a slap in the face. Who the hell was she to judge me?

"I am a man! I have been standing up to my parents. They don't command me Bella, they don't influence my life."

"Edward. If you were a man, I wouldn't have left you." she looked me right in the face as she said it. I couldn't believe it.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I practically growled at her. She shook her head and moved to leave the room. I grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Edward, what in the world do you think you're doing?" she all but shouted.

"What did you mean by that Bella, what did my family say to you?"

"It's nothing Edward, you can't fix it now!" she scratched at my hand angrily, trying to pull away from me.

"Bella, I want the truth, I mean it!" I said angrily.

"Alright, just let me go before I call Masen in here!" she slammed her tiny fist into my hand repeatedly.

"What did they say to you Bella, please, just tell me. I just want to know." I released her and sat back down on her couch. What had I missed? Had my own family chased the love of my life away from me?

"It was nothing really, certainly nothing worth breaking my arm over. Esme just expressed her blatant dislike for me whenever you had your back turned. Sometimes when it wasn't. You just never seemed to care whether or not my feelings got hurt." She ran a hand through her hair quickly, a trait she had picked up from me.

"Bella, of course I care. That's why I'm asking. I can't believe you thought I didn't care about your feelings. You were the most important person to me. Why didn't you tell me you were so miserable, I would have put a stop to it immediately." I told her truthfully, how could I not have noticed how unhappy she was.

"Are you two going to make out or sit here talking all night?" we both looked up to see Masen standing in the doorway. He watched the two of us carefully, his eyes moving around the scene.

"Masen, I thought you went to your room. What are you doing out here?" Bella asked, her voice quiet again.

"I figured I come out to check on you. It is my job as the man of the house." he watched me cautiously, his eyes boring into mine.

"Masen, it is not your ob to check up on me. It isn't necessary. I was just discussing some things with your father." Bella explained to him.

"And I presume that none of these things had to do with me?"

"None at all. Please, I would like to continue my discussion with Edward." Masen knew when he had been dismissed. He complied in silence and disappeared somewhere back into his room.

"He listens to you. My mother doesn't understand that. She doesn't get to see this kind of thing." I observed.

"I don't intend to let her so far into my life so that she can Edward. this is my world, I would very much like to keep it that way." Bella stood and went back into the kitchen.

"He's my son too. I would like to be included in some things. Is that so wrong?" I asked.

"You are included. You came to his expo today, that's a really big thing in this house." she said.

"Yeah, but I obviously wasn't invited to the celebrations afterwards. I thought you all were coming straight home." my eyes raked over the photo on the mantle. Jasper sat next to Bella, an arm slung carelessly around Masen's shoulder. Everyone was smiling. I couldn't help but hate him. Who did he think he was, he wasn't her husband and he certainly wasn't Masen's father. Anyone who looked at the photo and had a brain could tell that much. They just looked too different. Still, anyone that looked would just guess stepdad or mom's boyfriend. They all looked so happy, so natural. It didn't feel right.

"So you and Jasper huh?" I asked.

"What?" she sounded surprised.

"Are you two dating?"

"No. Should we be?"

"I'm not saying that. He just seems oddly friendly towards you." I shrugged involuntarily.

"So, we're friends, there's nothing wrong with that. He's a really great guy." She came back in with two mugs of coffee.

"Yeah, I bet he is."

"Why does everyone automatically assume that Jasper and I are a couple? We really are just really good friends." She took a sip from her mug.

I sighed deeply. I knew all the questions about the little stuff was just our way of dodging the big situation.

"Really Bella, what are we going to do about this?" I asked her in a soft voice.

"That depends on what 'this' is."

"You know what I mean. What are we going to do about the Masen situation. The last thing I want to do is make you all uncomfortable." I leaned back into the couch again.

"It's a bit too late for that Edward. That ship has already sailed. As for the 'situation' that's up to you and him. He's old enough to make his own decisions, so I let him. If he wants to let you in, he will. If he doesn't, well, I'm sorry, there's really nothing I can do about that."

"That's reassuring. Really Bella. I want the fighting to stop, I just want you all to be happy and I want to know my son." He said.

"Easier said than done. I've lived with him for seventeen years and I still don't know him, he's one heck of a unique kid. There's no one like him." she smiled slightly at the thought.

"What can you tell me? I'm curious and I know Masen isn't going to let me in on anything." I watched as her smile grew.

"Oh there's so much, he's one quirky kid. Like he never eats anything I cook, he carries batteries in his back pocket at all times, like no lie, even in his pajama pants. It's something that I've never understood. He always gets up in the wee hours of the morning, before the sun rises and as you already know, he doesn't go to school. I'm never really sure what he does around here while I'm gone, though I do know that if he hacks the FBI one more time, he's going to prison." By that time, she was already laughing.

"He's hacked the FBI?"

"Yeah, he's a arrogant little thing." She too another sip of her coffee. I felt so relaxed, it was just like old times. Just as things were going good, my cell phone rang. I groaned as I picked it up.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Edward, where are you, you just disappeared!"

"I'm fine mother, I'm not a little kid anymore." I sighed heavily.

"I know that, I'm just worried about you, you were so upset when you left." She said worriedly.

"I'm fine. I was actually in the middle of something."

"Edward Masen, if you don't get your butt-"

I snapped the phone shut and looked back to Bella. She raised her eyebrows but didn't comment on the three-second conversation.

"So, you were saying?"