A/N: I'm so sorry this is a day late! But I've had a lot of things going on this past week. Finals are this week coming up, so the next chapter might be a little late, too. Plus, my former English teacher went to the hospital on Friday, and I'm worried about her. Anyway, enjoy!

Playlist: "Belong"—R.E.M., "Breaking the Girl"—Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Head over Heels"—Atlantis Morissette, "Trouble"—Coldplay.

Chapter Two: Breaking the Girl

I dropped my bag just inside the apartment Edward had gotten for us. The complex was finished, the walls completed with working pluming, but it was not something a normal person would want to live in during this stage of development. Edward knew me, though. I wasn't like any normal person.

Spinning around, I wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him quickly. I felt his lips twist up in a smile as he returned my kiss. Then I pulled away and tugged him into the unfinished and partly-unfurnished apartment. There was an old television on a table in the living room with an expensive-looking stereo system under it. There were no chairs in the tiny place, but somehow he'd managed to get three plants and a lamp. A blow-up bed was in the only bedroom, and two toothbrushes in the connected bathroom.

"It's not much, but it's the best I could do in three days," He explained, leading me to the kitchen that was almost non-existent. "But we can stay as long as you want. I made sure we have everything we need, so, if you want, we don't have to leave for a while."

"That sounds just too good," I sighed, leaning back into him. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pressing his lips to the juncture between my neck and shoulder. I lifted my hand to his tousled hair, running my fingers through it.

Edward made himself busy in the tiny kitchen, scrambling eggs and frying bacon while I searched for something mildly interesting on the television. I hadn't told Edward that my family and friends had no idea where I was. I didn't even leave a note, simply walking out the door with an overnight bag, thankful that both of my parents were busy and out of the house. They didn't need to know where I was anyway—they rarely knew where Alice was, and they didn't have to worry about Rose because she was married and living on her own.

I stopped when I reached the celebrity gossip channels, knowing I really shouldn't be watching the shows. It was funny to see what they were saying about your best friends and family sometimes, though.

Edward turned around the corner out of the tiny kitchen, two plates of delicious food in either of his hands. He plopped himself down next to me, pulling up a large cardboard box to use as a table. He glanced at the TV once, then doing a double-take when he noticed what I was watching.

Sighing, he reached for the remote from my hands. I curled it into me, scrunching my nose playfully. He chuckled, crawling over and pushing me down on my back and laying over me. I giggled as he started peppering my face with kisses, leaving wet marks all over my cheeks and chin. His lips made sucking noises as he continued to kiss me. My hold on the remote was beginning to loosen when his mouth started to move slower, moving to my jaw and neck.

I whimpered, wishing to simply ravish this lovely man on top of me, but something stopped my advances. Turning my head toward the television—Edward biting at the first button on my shirt—I saw an image of the two of us on screen at the pool, four days ago.

I took Edward's face between my palms and made him look at the screen. Then host was talking about us: "An eyewitness reported that 'They looked extremely friendly, laughing, playing, and acting like children. It was amazingly funny.' The paparazzi wouldn't leave them alone, of course." A picture of us with me on Edward's shoulders in the middle of the pool flashed up. "'Bella almost looked like she was flirting with him,' says the same eyewitness,"

Edward sighed, resting his chin on my chest. "We look good together,"

I stared down at him, in the plain apartment, and just wanted for him to be mine. We both had already committed ourselves of each other. But the idea of everyone knowing he was only mine sent thrills up my spine. It was possessive, true, but I was sure he felt the same way.

"Alright," I said as the channel went into commercials. "We're going to tell everyone,"

He jumped back as if I had shocked him, but then an elated smile graced his features. "Really?" I felt his hand slip behind my back, lifting me so I was pressed closer to him. I nodded, not trusting my voice, and bit my lip. He leaned down, kissing my lips gently. The remote fell from my fingers as I braided them in his messy hair, pulling him even closer.

All too soon, I had to pull away to breathe, but his hot mouth didn't leave my skin, just moved further down, kissing a trail from my jaw to my cleavage. I mewled as his teeth pulled the first button out. He brushed the tip of his nose along the top of my left breast, causing my toes to curl. I let out a heavy breath, Edward continuing his devilish acts on my poor shirt.

Once he had unbuttoned the entire piece of white fabric, he brushed it aside, leaving it still on my shoulders so I didn't have to move, but started torturing me yet again. His thumbs made small circles above the low waist line of my skinny jeans, his tongue darting over my heated skin, my breaths coming few and far between.

I pulled his lips back to mine, lifting myself up and pushing him up against the bare wall, straddling his waist. Ever impatient, I tugged his cotton shirt over his head and ran my hands up his formed stomach and chest. His hands cupped my cheeks, resting my forehead against his. I kissed him slowly, savoring each second that our lips stayed connected.

He hooked his fingers into the belt loops of my jeans, a crooked smile on his face. I smirked down at him, sliding my shirt from my shoulders in one swift movement. I went to kiss him again, but he stopped me with a turn of his face.

"Wait," he breathed against my cheek. My breathing hitched, my body freezing over his. Slowly, he ran the palms of his hands up my sides, causing me to whimper and shiver at the same time. He kissed the hollow beneath my ear, "Would you like to go swimming?" He asked quietly.

The dirty images that flowed through my mind at his words were extremely wrong, even for me in this situation. "No," I whined, lolling my head until it was pressed against his shoulder. "I want you," I moaned into his ear, nipping at the rim. I felt him shudder beneath me, and knew quickly that swimming was out of the question.

|==:==|

I traced random patterns across Edward's bare chest, smiling as he snored quietly. Making love on a hard floor without any pillows to brace any sudden movements hadn't been the most comfortable experience ever. But, I mused silently to myself, we've done worse. This was completely true. We were practically teenagers injected with some concoction that made us want to go at it like rabbits.

Or Edward was simply and just insanely attractive.

We didn't even have a blanket to cover ourselves up after we were spent, both of us far too lazy and enthralled in each other to bother looking around the empty apartment for one. I guess we could have lasted until we'd made it to the blow-up mattress in the bedroom, but I was content right where I was: In Edward's arms, with our legs completely tangled together. Even if my butt was cold.

"Mmm, hello," Edward muttered, stretching his arms over his head as his eyelids fluttered open. He peered down at my nude state, "Why, this is a lovely way to wake up,"

"Good afternoon, Mr. Sleepy Head," I snorted, ruffling his unruly locks, "I must have taken a lot out of you, huh?"

He blinked, a pucker appearing between his eyebrows. I reached up to smooth it out with my thumb. "What time is it?"

"I have no clue," I said, keeping my voice down. It seemed like if I talked too loud, I would ruin everything. "But since the whole left side of my body is numb and my butt is freezing, I'd say you have been asleep for a while," I laughed as he kissed my forehead.

"Should we warm you up, then?" He muttered into the flesh of my throat, pulling me carefully on top of him and fitting me between his legs.

I sighed, relaxing into his arms. "That sounds amazing," I let out breathily, but my stomach had other ideas. It growled loudly, interrupting Edward's advances suddenly. "No." I cried, drawing out the word as he tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear.

"I'm going to make you dinner, and then we're going to go swimming," He told me with a sense of finality to his voice. I pursed my lips, pouting. He chuckled, kissing the pucker away. "We can get back to this as soon as you want."

"Now," I said, locking my fingers behind his neck and drawing his lips to mine in a fiery kiss.

"No," he said, scolding sarcastically, "Later, after you eat and swim,"

"Why are you so intent on me swimming? And why am I the one crawling all over you? You're a guy! Start being horny like they are in the books," I huffed as he disentangled our legs and stood from the floor. He chuckled, slipping his boxers back on. He picked up my bra, looking sideways at me before slinging it on his shoulder and walking off.

"I like you better without this,"

I shrieked, jumping up at running after him. "Edward!" I laughed, reaching for my bra playfully. "Give it back, it's my only one with me," He pulled it from his shoulder and pretended to hand it back to me before flicking it at me, the metal clasp slapping against my bare thigh. "Oh, you're so in for it now," I growled, snatching my underwear and clothes from the floor and stalking off with what dignity I had left.

Edward cooked up something from a bag, but it tasted like I had just finished a meal from a high-end Italian restaurant. We were about to leave the apartment down to the complex pool when my cell phone started to ring.

I paused just inside the door, split on whether I should answer it or let it ring. I made up my mind, turning back and walking outside.

"Aren't you going to get that?" Edward asked, not locking up yet. I shook my head. "Why?"

I hesitated, not sure if I should tell Edward how my family didn't know where I was or not. I sighed. "Because my family doesn't know,"

"You didn't tell them?" He asked, bewildered. "Bella, I thought we were going to be alright with our relationship now,"

"That was after we left for the apartment," I argued, knowing I was fighting a lost battle. Edward would make me tell my parents.

He saw nothing wrong with our relationship. He knew the laws, of course, he just chose to overlook them, I guess.

"You will tell them," he said, kissing my forehead. "But let's have some fun, shall we?" I bit my lip, nodding. He chuckled, pecking me quickly before wrapping an arm around my waist and towing me down the stairs and down the street to the pool.

I was pretty sure the few people down at the pool knew who we were, but thankfully, they didn't make a scene. I sat on one of the chairs and watched as Edward swam back and forth across the long, awkwardly-shaped pool. I tried to keep my breathing normal as he gracefully pulled himself from the water, shaking the water out of his hair with his hand. He sat down next to me, taking a pull from a water bottle.

"Are you even going to get in the pool?" He asked with a crooked smile on his sparkling face. A beach ball rolled towards us, stopping next to Edward's feet. He tossed it back to the group of the kids waving their arms in the deep end.

I smiled, touching his cheek. "It's fun to watch you," I admitted.

He sighed, taking my hand in his. "Well," he said slowly, looking at the ground, "what's the fun without getting wet?"

I closed my eyes, turning my face away to keep from laughing. "Okay, that sounded wrong,"

He laughed; I could hear a smile on his face. "You're right," And then the chair disappeared from beneath me, and Edward was speed walking—he didn't want to run and set a bad example for the kids, of course—towards the edge of the pool. I squealed as he jumped in with me in my arms.

I opened my eyes underwater, and Edward's perfect, shimmering green eyes were staring right back at me. We surfaced while lip-locked, and as all the kids around started screaming "eww," I laughed, blinking the stinging water away.

We stayed at the apartment for four nights, finally deciding that we had to get back to our families and lives. My cell phone battery had died on the second day, which meant that I had at least two-hundred-something messages in my inbox from frantic parents and friends. To make telling everyone just that much easier, Edward had an interview later that afternoon with GQ Magazine.

I chickened out in telling my parents. Alice shook me until my teeth rattled, asking if I was insane for leaving to Rome without her—my excuse for being gone, and I had "forgotten" my phone charger. She wanted to go shopping in Rome like no other person I knew, and quickly set up a flight in a month, telling me I had to show her the places I went.

Alice just happened to pick up Edward's magazine three weeks later when it hit the shelf. I tried to act nonchalant as she flipped though, sipping an orange soda out of a straw. I was filing my nails on the couch across from her. We had just finished a Bella-Barbie spa session, and my toes were painted all different colors. I'd drawn the line when she wanted to do the same to my fingernails.

"This can't be right," she muttered, squinting at the page she was reading. I hummed, trying my hardest to not sound scared. "It says Edward's dating . . . you," She peered up at me. I refused to meet her gaze, my cuticle suddenly the most interesting thing in the world.

"Oh, um," I said, swallowing, "yeah, that's true."

"What?" She tossed the magazine to the side, not caring where it went. "When were you going to tell me that you were dating Edward Cullen?"

I shrugged, lifting my head finally. The little pixie stared at me with her eyebrows in her hairline, her lips forming an 'o' shape. "You realize Dad's gonna kill him, right?"

"Which is exactly why I didn't want anyone to know." I retorted, pressing my lips together. "He's five years older than me, what does expect everyone to think?"

"Well," she said, rubbing her forehead with her fingertips, "I'll give you something—he's adorable," I cracked a smile.

"I won't tell Jasper you said that," She stuck her tongue out at me.

"So, when do you think it's going to break on TV?" She asked, biting her small lip. Alice was tiny all over, peaking at exactly four-foot-one, but reaching four-foot-seven when she strapped her stilettos on her tiny feet. Her hair was naturally inky and black, but she kept it cropped short and spiky. She was three years older than me, and I remember the day when she was seven and found the scissors and chopped her long hair off right in front of me. She asked me if I wanted to match, but I ran away crying to Mom, scared I would be in trouble.

I sighed, reaching for the remote and flipping to the nearest celebrity gossip channel. "Well, there you go," I muttered. Edward's quote from the magazine was on the screen, with another man reading it.

"—the interviewer asked Edward was dating anyone, he replied with 'Yes, I am, actually. Bella Swan,'"

I held my face in my hands as they continued, calling Edward the "next cradle-robber in Hollywood," "a pedophile," "a statutory rapist." How the hell would they even know if we'd have sex!? Did he tell them about our sex life? Well, if he did, I might as well just tell them about the elevator incident at the Roosevelt Hotel so they could sanitize it.

"You had sex with him?" Alice gasped. I grunted in reply. "Oh my god." I winced, waiting for the attack of words, calling me stupid for putting him in jeopardy like this. What I got was not what I expected.

"My sister bagged Edward Cullen!" She squealed.

"Shut up, Alice," I growled, picking myself off the couch and heading towards the stairs so I could retreat to my room.

She appeared in front of me, practically vibrating from excitement. "No way! You're telling me to calm down when you had sex with one of the hottest guys in Hollywood."

"Again," I snapped, "I won't tell Jasper you said that. And again, shut the fuck up before I punch your pixie ass out."

She flinched, not used to my pissy attitude. She let me pass her. I fell into my pillows, screaming into them. I didn't want this to happen. My phone vibrated on the shelf over my head. I groaned, reaching for it.

"Hello?" I answered, irritated.

"You will break up with him," My father said on the other end of the line, his voice final. I let out a breath.

"Dad, really, it's no big deal,"

"Yes it is, Isabella," he said, "If this isn't cleared up after I get home, I'll do it for you,"

"Dad—" but the line was already dead.

I pressed the pillow to my face, screaming until my throat was raw, and then I bit my lip until the point of blood. It felt like I'd just been punched in the chest and someone was twisting a knife in my stomach. I hiccupped, sitting up in my bed. Alice was peeking through my door. "Go away!" I yelled, my voice hoarse, and threw a book at her.

I made up my mind quickly, knowing that whatever I was about to do would be ten times better than what Charlie could and would do to Edward. I remember when Rosalie first started dating Emmett McCarthy that Charlie pulled him into the kitchen. They didn't know I was curled up behind the counter because Alice had convinced me that Emmett was a Cyclopes. I could only see his giant legs at the time, and I believed her like the ten-year-old that I was.

"Remember," Charlie said, "Whatever you do to my little girl, I do to you,"

Which went for all of his kids' boyfriends, and all of them got the point. I grabbed my keys from the table downstairs and brushed my way past the questioning Alice, ignoring her spastic attempts to tell me to calm down. I threw my rustic truck—another thing that separated me from the rest of the celebrity spawn—into reverse and drove the familiar way to Edward's loft.

He opened the door before I was done knocking, as if he knew I was coming over. I took a deep breath, the knife digging deeper into my abdomen.

"This can't work," I said.

A/N: Thank you for reading, my friends! Please review! And tell your friends about this story; I'd love to meet some new people. *hint hint*

Please review! Tell me what you think, loves.

-R.I.