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Chapter Thirteen

I wanted to beat the shit out of Tanya.

That's a fucking horrible thing to want to do, but I couldn't stop myself from thinking it. It seemed like Bella was starting to open up to me, then Tanya had to come along, dig her claws into Bella and push us back to square one.

Luckily, when I made it back to Emmett's, Tanya was no where in sight. Stop rolling your eyes. I would never actually raise my hand to a female.

Unlocking the door, I made my way through the dim apartment. The light was on in Emmett's room, creating just a sliver of a glow from under the door.

I didn't feel like banging on his door to get his attention, because the last time I did that I had to wash my eyes out with bleach, so I opted for being loud and obnoxious. Chances were Rosalie would get mad and send Em out here to shut me up.

Three minutes were spent slamming the front door and performing a rather loud rendition of "Every Rose Has Its Thorn".

To my surprise, it was Rosalie who came out to see what all of the ruckus was about.

"Sit," she instructed as she pulled a chair out from the table.

I arched an eyebrow, but didn't question her. Instead, I hopped up on the kitchen counter. I knew she hated that shit, but she didn't comment on it.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" I asked sarcastically.

"What's your problem, Edward?"

"Problem?"

"Yes. Why are you out here throwing a hissy fit?"

Half a minute into the conversation and I already didn't like where this was heading. "Where's Em?"

"Where's Bella?" she countered.

"At home. Probably plotting my death," I snickered. "You know that Tanya was waiting for me outside Emmett's door? Yeah. Bella and I were going to watch a movie and-"

Rosalie began laughing, and asked, "How did Tanya even know where you were staying?"

It was a known fact that Rosalie didn't like me very much, but at least she gave me enough credit to know that I'd never bring a whore over to my brother's place.

"Eh, who knows. Maybe she followed me."

"That's pretty creepy."

"That's Tanya for you." I shrugged, and it suddenly occurred to me that I've never had the best taste in women. Yeah, they were hot. Yeah, they always put out. But they were fucking crazy. "Bella was pretty upset, and I don't even understand why. It's not like I invited Tanya over."

"Come on. You're not dumb." Rosalie said, which I thought was rather nice. "Of course Bella was upset! You guys spent the weekend together and then one of the girls you used to fuck was waiting for you!"

"I didn't invite her over!" I said loudly. Was it seriously that hard to understand? I didn't fucking want Tanya.

"That doesn't matter. All Bella sees is that there was a girl waiting here for you; the details don't matter. What matters is how you handled it," Rosalie explained and waited for me to speak. "So? How did you handle it?"

"I, uh," paused. "I more or less told Tanya to fuck off and I ran after Bella."

Rosalie, clearly pleased, crossed her arms and smirked. "I'm impressed. Edward Cullen chased after a girl?"

"I guess." Shrugging, I tried to ignore the feeling that crept into the pit of my stomach. "I'm pretty sure she's still mad at me."

"As she should be."

"Oh, come on. Just because you're a female, that doesn't mean you have to automatically take her side!"

"And just because you're a male, that doesn't mean you have to completely disregard people's feelings and be an asshole!"

"I'm not disregarding Bella's feelings."

"Yeah, baby. Eddie is being considerate for once. But to be honest, it just looks like you two girls are having a sleepover and gossiping," Emmett said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Shut the hell up," I snapped while Rosalie rolled her eyes at him.

"Thought you were going to join me in the shower?" Emmett smirked and rubbed Rosalie's shoulder.

"I was, but Edward needed to talk some stuff out."

I wanted to counter that with a smart ass remark, but I held back. Talking to Rosalie somewhat help me see things from Bella's eyes, even if I didn't agree she should be upset.

"Well, enjoy." Emmett stretched his arms out and yawned. "I'm going to bed before you teach Eddie how to properly insert a tampon."

I really needed to get my own fucking place.

A few days passed without any interaction with Bella. Which was weird, because she wouldn't even respond to any of my texts. I shrugged it off as her being busy with school and working at Cable's. Which was fine. I didn't expect her to always be around whenever I needed to be entertained. What I really fucking needed was a job.

Three days after the Tanya incident, I finally got around to unpacking my bag from the weekend. As I was throwing everything into two separate piles, classified as smells like shit and has one more week until it smells like shit, I found one of Bella's shirts stuffed in the bottom of my bag.

It definitely belonged in the latter pile, and I smiled when I realized I could use this. Not like, wear it or anything, but I could use this to see her.

Bella, who clearly wasn't concerned with getting back her shirt, still refused to answer my texts. I briefly wondered if something had happened to her phone, or if the girl even knew how to properly use it. After all, she hadn't had it for very long. Sure, we had exchanged a few texts, but, maybe...

I needed to give her the shirt.

So, I drove to her place. Knocked on the door. Internally sighed-is that even possible?- when she opened the door.

"Hi, stranger."

"Hi." I smiled. "Oh. Yours." I handed her the shirt.

"Thanks." She awkwardly tossed it on her shoulder. "I'd invite you in, but I'm leaving for work at 3, so..."

"That's fine. I can hang until then."

"Okay." Bella shrugged and opened the door wider, allowing me in. "But it's going to be a really boring twenty minutes. I was about to eat a bowl of cereal."

"That's not boring," I scolded. Cereal was never boring.

"Want some?" she asked as she pulled out a bowl from the cabinet. Yes, I stared at her ass. Yes, it was just as good as the last time I saw it.

"Nah, I'm good. I ate at Threadgill's earlier with Ben."

"Nice."

I raised both eyebrows and asked, "Hey, is your phone broken?"

"No, why?"

"Just wondering."

"I would've text you back but-"

"Not a big deal," I said as she hopped up on to the counter to eat her cereal. I smiled at the simple move.

"Em and Rose want to watch Get Him To The Greek later."

Still chewing, she asked why.

"Because it's supposed to be funny. Why not?"

"You don't think Judd Apatow is a bit overrated?" she asked innocently before a heap full of granola was shoved into her mouth.

"What? Not at all. You think that?"

"No. I don't know. Maybe. Superbad was funny."

I rubbed my eyebrow. "Anchorman."

"Pineapple Express, definitely."

"Forty Year Old Virgin was phenom."

Bella snorted milk through her nose and asked, "Did you really abbreviate the word phenomenal?"

I nodded. "Did you really snort milk through your nose?"

"Yeah, that was disgusting," she said and grabbed a paper towel. "Oh! Kicking and Screaming was definitely underrated."

"Yeah, but Apatow was executive producer for that one," I pointed out.

"Why do you even know that?"

Shrugging, I smiled and said, "I like movies. Movies are my thing."

"I think that's the first time you've admitted to actually liking something other than drinking or smoking."

"I like you," I admitted. It was actually an accident because I don't normally blurt out shit like that. "I'm supposed to hang with Seth for a few hours later."

"Okay." Bella shrugged at my subject change and kept her focus on the cereal.

"You want to watch that movie after you get off work?"

"I'm kind of busy later," Bella said easily. She brought the bowl to her lips and gulped down the leftover milk. "Maybe if I get home early enough I can stop by or something."

"Oh." I paused, gauging the tone of her voice. It was off, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was lacking. "What are you going to do after work?"

Bella stared at me for a second too long before replying. "I have a date."

"A date?" I asked too quietly and too accusingly. My mouth was suddenly too dry and it wasn't cottonmouth from smoking. I could only fucking wish. "With, uh...with who?"

Bella rolled her eyes and said, "It's not like you know who he is, so what's the point of knowing his name?"

Well, she had a point. But she also has some fucking nerve. I didn't actually care if Bella went on a date, did I? We never specified, well, anything. I couldn't justify why I was upset over the thought of Bella going on a date with someone else and that pissed me off even more.

"Okay." I cleared my throat. "Have fun with that."

"Don't act like that," Bella scoffed, sliding off the counter.

"Don't act like what?" I snapped and ran a hand through my hair. "The way you acted when Tanya was waiting for me at Emmett's?"

Bella fell silent. Which was a good thing, because I didn't really need her to say anything else. She made her point. She was sticking to the plan and I could do the same.

"See you later. And you're welcome for the shirt."

Yeah, so I was fucking pouting. I didn't care, and I'm pretty sure Bella didn't either. I was still pouting as I gunned it to Seth's and an hour later, I was still pouting.

"I'm pretty sure she's supposed to be like, in love with me," I said, half to myself, half to Seth as we played FIFA.

"Why? That's not how the world works," Seth explained. "The girls I like never like me, even when I give them Twizzlers."

"That's shitty," I scoffed. "I mean, that's...shit, yeah. Sorry."

Seth giggled before he scored a goal on my ass. "You're kind of bad at this game."

Touche for the double meaning, kid.

"Yeah, I'm realizing that. When is your mom getting home?"

"An hour, I think. Can we go eat dinner? And can Bella come?" Seth squeaked.

"She's at work." I said sadly. Well, not sadly. But...a little.

He eyed me for a second. "Why do you sound like someone just told you you can't have ice cream?"

"She has a date tonight."

A look on confusion passed over his face as he asked, "But I thought she was dating you."

"It's..." Crap. Fake. Confusing. "Complicated."

"How? You like her and she likes you. You both have fun when you hang out."

Maybe it really wasn't that complicated. At least, coming from Seth's mouth and innocent mind, it didn't sound complicated at all. It actually sounded rather nice.

"Yeah, I don't know what to tell you. Except maybe to stay away from girls. They suck."

"Did you tell her you didn't want her to date anyone else?"

"No." Running my hands over my face, I wanted to scream. Shit. How did a kid know more about this stuff than I did?

"Why not?"

"Because it never came up?"

"After her date, you should go tell her that you like her and don't want her to see anyone else," Seth instructed

"You think?"

Seth sighed, which was pretty amusing, and patted my shoulder. "How do I know more about this stuff than you?"

I smiled and said, "You're a smart kid, that's why."

Deciding to follow Seth's instructions was suddenly a no-brainer. I was going to tell Bella that I liked her and that I didn't want her to see anyone else. That I wanted this to be real.

Although, I don't think Seth would approve of the four whiskey shots and six beers I consumed, thanks to Emmett, before walking here. Yes, I walked to Bella's thinking it would sober me up. I was wrong.

Standing from the street, I could see her apartment lights were still off, which either meant she wasn't home yet or she and her date were getting busy.

The thought made me nauseous.

After a twenty minute wait outside her apartment, I finally sat my ass on the cool cement and let my back fall against the brick building. Unfortunately, after a certain time, you need a code or a key to get into the fucking building. Not even Emmett's apartment building had that type of security, and his place had less mice and more zeros in the tenants salaries.

My ass was beginning to go numb on the concrete, so I stretched my legs out in front of me. It was almost midnight and not too many people were on the street, at least not in these parts.

Worst-case scenarios filtered through my head, like the thought of her going home with him or him already being upstairs with her. But then I heard her distinct fucking giggle around the corner. I had to smile to myself, which didn't last long because as Bella turned the corner, she failed to see me and my legs.

It happened too fast, I couldn't even react. My slow reaction time had nothing to do with the whiskey. Bella tripped over my legs, falling to the ground with a squeak of some sort. She put her hands out to stop herself from face planting.

"Fuck!" she muttered to the cement.

"Are you okay?" A blonde prick who had been walking along side Bella was hovering as he helped her to her feet.

Bella dusted off her jeans and examined the palms of her hands, which were covered in gravel and tiny shards of glass.

"Awesome," Bella said flatly before narrowing in on me. "You."

With a tentative smile, because I wasn't exactly sure if she was happy to see me, I stood from where I had been sitting and said, "Me."

"What are you doing out here?" she almost snapped, but for some reason, kept her cool. Maybe it was to impress the prick. Maybe it was because she was drunk. God. Was she drunk? She didn't look or smell like it. Did he take her out for drinks? Typical first date move. Take the girl out for drinks, get her liquored-up, and then-

Her focus was back on her hands and I frowned. She was bleeding and it was my fault.

"I'm sorry," I said with mild concern. "Let me see," I demanded and grabbed her hands to inspect the damage. "The bleeding isn't too bad, just clean with soap and water and remove any glass with tweezers. You probably won't need to use any bandages once you clean up."

"So, what's the diagnosis?" Bella asked, tempting me to play along.

"It's very likely that you'll live to see another day." I smiled and let go of her hands.

An odd expression came over her. "Thanks, Dr. Cullen."

The prick cleared his throat, taking a step forward. "What's going on, man?"

Man? You don't fucking know me, man.

I decided to go with amusing, drunken jealously as opposed to annoying, drunken jealousy. Knowing which one Bella could tolerate would work in my favor greatly.

"Did you forget we were hanging out tonight, Bella?" I teased.

"What? Edward, I thought you were going to be at Emmett's tonight?"

Prick began to lose his smugness as he asked who I was exactly.

Oh, give it time, man. You'll find out.

"I'm the other prick she's dating," I replied with a smile. Bella almost looked amused. And when I say almost, I mean she barely blinked, tapped her foot on the cement and let out an audible sigh. That wasn't annoyance, I swear; it was Bella's almost amused look.

"Riley, this is Edward," Bella said with a glare. "Who I am not dating."

Fuck.

Yeah. I have to admit, it hurt. But then my thoughts trailed back to the hallway with Tanya, when I pretty much disregarded her comment about dating Bella.

"That's not entirely true," I winked. Yep. I fucking winked.

Prick did not look amused. In fact, Prick looked very upset that I had so clearly ruined his plans for alone time with Bella.

Fuck, this seemed all too familiar. Waiting outside someone's apartment without their knowledge, ruining a completely good night... I was Tanya. I was pulling a fucking Tanya on Bella and Prick, except I had much better hair and my teeth weren't bleached.

The night was not going to end with Bella leaving with Prick. I had to step up my game.

"Is that...are you wearing pleather?" I suddenly realized. Prick was so fucking wearing pleather.

"Yeah? Why?" he replied.

Well, shit. I wasn't expecting it to be that easy. I didn't think he'd actually admit it because who fucking admits they are wearing pleather?

I gave Bella a blatant are you kidding me stare. To be honest, she was hiding a smirk. And by hiding a smirk, I mean she covered her mouth and pretended to cough. Maybe she was getting sick.

"Edward. What exactly did you need?"

"I thought we were going to hang out," I lied.

She shook her head. "No. I'm tired. Riley was going to help me set up the wifi on my laptop, then he's going home."

"I can help you."

"It's okay, don't trouble yourself."

"No trouble. I love helping people. I'm a helpful guy." There was no way I was going to let Pleather Prick set up anything on Bella's laptop.

Bella, who leaned a little closer to me and smelled fucking amazing, asked, "Have you been drinking?"

"The question is, have you been drinking Bella?" I asked as she narrowed her eyes, almost to her breaking point.

Pleather Prick glanced at his watch and said, "We can get you a cab, man."

"Yeah, Edward..."

Step it up, Cullen. Time's running out.

"Hey, man, just know that when she drinks, she likes it rough."

"I think we've heard enough. Bella, do you want to go up to your apartment?" he asked while lightly touching her back.

Well, that was just unacceptable.

"Hey, whoa, I'm just trying to help you out, man." Yeah, I definitely didn't need to drink that much whiskey tonight. I also didn't need to overuse the word man that much. I think he got the point five mans ago, although three of those might have been in my head. "Did she ask to see your bank account before you went out tonight?"

Pleather Prick looked at Bella questionably. Ha. Right where I want him.

"Edward. Just go," she said calmly enough.

"So, how much are you paying her? Bet you're getting a hell of a better deal than I am," I said loudly as Bella brought her hands to my chest, trying to push me away.

"What the hell is he talking about?" Pleather Prick was suddenly interested in what I had to say.

"What is your problem?" Bella snapped, hands still on my chest.

"My problem? I'm not the one out fucking a new person less than a week after-"

"Riley," Bella spoke as she turned around. "I'm sorry. I really need to deal with this right now. Can I call you tomorrow?"

"Uh." His jaw stayed locked when he realized he wouldn't be getting laid. It was comical. "I'd feel better about leaving if I knew there weren't going to be any problems."

Bella smiled, or tried to, and put her hand on his arm. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll be fine. Really," she said before hugging him. "Thanks for dinner and I'll call you tomorrow."

"Nice meeting you and the pleather jacket," I said as I smiled and waved at his retreating form.

When I turned around, Bella was halfway down the street, walking in the opposite direction of her apartment. I did a half jog, half skip to catch up to her.

Being a guy, some would say we aren't all that perceptive. But I noticed Bella's arms were crossed and a scowl was plastered across her face. I perceived she was upset, so I decided it was best to let her speak first.

Three blocks later, I caved. "Where are we going?" I asked since we were about ten minutes from her apartment.

"We're not going anywhere," she snapped as her arms, that were once safely crossed, were now flailing about. "And, God! What the hell was all of that about?"

Honestly, I had no idea. I felt...possessive; jealous. Two things that I had never felt before. Yeah, I had heard about it and seen bad actors pretending to be jealous on shit shows like The OC. But that was it; that was the extent of my knowledge on being jealous. So, how could I explain something that I had no idea about?

"I just figured if I'm paying you, you could have the decency to not be with anyone else."

To be clear, that wasn't the first thing I wanted to say. I didn't want to be an dick. I wanted to tell her that her hair always smelled nice and that she made me laugh more than any girl I had ever known and that I wanted to kiss her. Like, all the time. Her lips were really soft, and I wondered if she wore some sort of chapstick because I never saw her put on lipstick, which made me like her even more.

Those were all the things I wanted to say, but I didn't. Because I'm Edward Cullen and I am confused as shit.

During my inner monologue, Bella's eyes became distant. "You do not fucking own me, Edward."

Shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans, I said, "I know."

Because I did know. I knew I didn't own Bella. I knew Bella wasn't mine, but I was starting to have the sneaking suspicion that this was more than what we had originally planned. I had just wondered if she had soft lips due to chapstick. That shit just wasn't normal.

"Then what is this?" she asked quietly. I had no answer. So I stood in place, hands in pockets, and shrugged. "You're an asshole," she whispered, and tried to hide the fact that she was on the verge of tears.

I didn't want her to cry, especially not over me. I wanted to tell her that I wasn't trying to hurt her, but why would she believe me when that's exactly what I was doing?

"You wanted this! You wanted a fake relationship. You offered to pay me," Bella began to explain, but her eyes never met mine.

"I know."

"And now, you're acting like a jealous boyfriend."

I know.

"I'm not your girlfriend, Edward."

As if I needed to be reminded. "I know."

"You can't act like this and expect me to...to even want to talk to you."

I know.

Bella sighed at my silence and wiped one cheek with the back of her hand that wasn't covered in dried blood and dirt. "I'm going home."

I wanted to offer to walk her home, but instead, I said nothing, and watched her walk in the direction we had just came from.

After all the drama, my buzz was wearing off and I was able to think somewhat clearly. I shivered as the wind picked up, almost blowing the beanie off my head.

I began walking in no particular direction and, for the first time in my life, wished I could talk to Carlisle. He's always so calm and knew the right things to say. His genuine concern for people made them feel safe, something I couldn't do for Bella. He'd probably tell me to man up and tell her how I feel.

But, of course, I couldn't tell Carlisle or Esme, because I had been lying to them about dating Bella.

In a haze, I sat on the curb, under the glow of the streetlight, and waited for a cab to drive by. Dropping my head in my hands, I cursed to myself.

It was becoming clear that I had not only been lying to my family, but also to myself. I was falling, if not already head over fucking heels, for Bella. I was so screwed.

A/N: He finally admitted it to himself! He was a bit of a jerk, but that was to be expected, right?

Anyway, thanks for reading.