A/N Guess what? I got wordy, pauses and hears the laughter of rameau all the way from Finland, and we're now going to have 3 epilogues! So two more chapters left instead of one. Hopefully that's good news to you all! More below!
Taste of Innocence Epilogue #1
10 Months Later
"Bella, would you get a move on?" What the fuck was taking her so long? When had she become such a fucking girl?
"Are you really sure about this?" she called, her voice slightly muffled as she rifled through shit in the other room.
I rolled my eyes and reassured her for the fifteenth fucking time. "Yes, baby, I'm sure. We can do this."
Why the fuck was she so nervous? It wasn't her that had the weight of the world on her fucking shoulders right now. How could one tiny little ring feel like a gigantic boulder about to crush the fuck out of me? Right now it seemed like it was burning a hole through the pocket of my jeans, like the fucking fire opal had become real fire and was about to consume me.
I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths to try to calm the fuck down. It was just one simple little question. Will you marry me? That wasn't so fucking hard to say, now was it? Now that I was fairly confident that she wanted it, that her answer would be yes, it was no big deal to force the words out. I could do this shit. I could ask her to be my wife.
It wasn't like she hadn't been putting out heavy fucking hints lately. She constantly had that fucking wedding channel on and made me watch those insane bitch brides going off on their friends and family as the pressure of the wedding brought out their insanity. I'd constantly had to ask her why the fuck anybody wanted to marry the women in the first place because the first time my would-be wife acted like that would be the last fucking time she'd be my would-be wife.
Bella, of course, would just fucking laugh and say that's why she'd never want a big wedding. Okay, baby, message fucking received. It's not like we had a shitload of people in our lives to invite anyway. We could invite her father, who now knew about me after she told him about Jacob "abandoning" her in Barbados, leaving her high and dry like the douche that he was. I had swooped in to rescue her, the knight in shining armor, which was quite fucking hilarious. He still wasn't happy with her but they talked weekly while she and I traveled the world, or so he fucking thought anyway.
Her friends were no longer really her friends. She'd spoken to Alice a time or two but the rift of their separation was a bit too much to overcome and though it hurt Bella, it was really better in the fucking long run. Alice would live a human life and die a human death and it would only hurt my girl to be a part of that. Rose had gotten knocked up by some one night stand and returned home to wherever the fuck she was from. I didn't really give a shit because she was unworthy of my Bella anyway.
Demetri and his Volturi fuck friends were a definite fucking no, even though he faithfully called us every couple of months to check in and make sure we were still doing well. What the fuck ever, like he wasn't the most transparent fucker in the world? We both knew what he wanted and neither of us was fucking fooled. The worst was when he'd put Alec on the fucking phone to tell me all about some ridiculous new piece of art featuring naked men that he adored. Like I was going to be fucking turned on by that? Please. They wanted us to visit and maybe someday we would but I really fucking doubted it.
No, it was just the two of us as it should be. After she said yes, I could just whisk her away to City Hall and we could be done with it in a matter of minutes. No fuss, no big fucking deal. Why the fuck did it have to feel like one?
"Bella, can we get a move on? If you don't pick out a fucking book, it'll be too dark to read it." Not that we couldn't read in the dark, but it would look a little fucking odd to be reading in Central Park in the middle of the fucking night. That might draw some attention.
She huffed and I finally heard the sound of a book being pulled from the shelf. She finally came out of the library, a scowl on her gorgeous face as she threw the book at my head. I caught it before it hit me and smirked at her. "The Catcher in the Rye? My favorite?"
"Yes, not that you deserve it when you're being so damn impatient." She put her hands on her waist and I admired her form-fitting red sweater and black jeans. My girl was fucking hot.
I chuckled and stuck my fingers through her belt loops, pulling her to me. "Impatient, am I? It's been nearly a year and I'm finally taking you on our first date. I'd say that I took plenty of fucking time."
Bella tried to keep the scowl on her face but her lips twitched and then she giggled. "Maybe I should be mad at you for that instead of rushing me. What kind of boyfriend are you?"
I nuzzled her neck and nipped at her jaw. "The best kind. Plus, I would have taken you out long ago but you were afraid." Afraid was a fucking understatement. She'd been terrified that she'd hurt someone. We'd had to go on small excursions, to neighbor's farms first, then into the town for an hour or two, then a half day. She was finally ready to admit she could handle it and face society for real again. I was ridiculously fucking excited about it too.
Bella looked up at me, her golden eyes showing me her apprehension. Yeah, that was another fucking thing that had changed over time; her eyes had gone from ruby red to a yellow-gold color that looked eerily like the animals she killed every week. It had to be the animal blood that did it. My eyes had gotten close to that golden color a couple of times but trips to the city had them back to their normal red before I really got used to the change. I liked it on her though; she was stunning.
"Do you really think I can do this?"
I bent to kiss her and as always, she melted into me, her fingers finding my hair and tugging not too gently as the kiss went from soothing to hot as fuck in two seconds flat. I never stopped wanting her. If I had my way we'd be fucking every minute of the day but she generally limited me to four or five times. I made the best of it.
I pulled back and ran my thumb across her cheekbone. "I know you can, Bella. You can do anything. You fucking tamed me, didn't you?"
My words had their desired effect, making her laugh and shake her head. "I don't know if tamed is the right word."
"Oh yeah? What then?"
She bit her lip and shrugged. "I don't know, but I certainly haven't improved your language any."
"Sure you have. I say fuck about fifty percent less than I used to, mainly because I value my fucking body parts." I grinned as she giggled and gave me a half-hearted punch in the right shoulder. Yes, I did value my fucking body parts and she beat on me less these days because I did watch my fucking mouth. "Are you ready to go?"
Bella took a deep breath and nodded. "If you think I can do it, then I can do it."
"Damn right, baby." I reached for the blue contact lenses and then stopped. "What color do you want me to wear?"
She appeared delighted by the question, her face lighting up like I'd just asked her to marry me. Which I would be doing shortly, so she better look at least that fucking happy or I'd be pretty fucking pissed. "Green."
"Green, huh? Why?"
Bella licked her lips and gave me a sultry smile. "Because that's the color you wore when we met. I thought your eyes were gorgeous." I grinned at her and grabbed the green ones and popped them in.
"That wasn't all you thought was gorgeous." She smacked my arm and tried to turn away but I caught her fingers in mine and brought them to my lips and kissed each knuckle. Her eyes went black and I knew I could take her right then but I owed her this day.
"Let's go, Bella. It's high past time we had our first date." And it would be fucking memorable, that much I was sure about. How many girls got proposed to on their first date? I was one smooth fucking bastard that was for sure.
Our fingers linked and we made our way out to the car. I opened her door like the perfect fucking gentleman I could be and helped her into her seat while she laughed at my ass for trying to do things the way a normal guy would. Of course she had to fucking laugh at me.
The drive to the city was filled with Bella's nervous chatter. She kept taking deep breaths, trying to acclimate herself to all the human scents along the way. Just like I assured her, she handled that shit without a problem at all. Her first time around a human, two months ago, had been no big fucking deal at all. She'd eaten right before we ran to the nearest farm and watched some farmer plowing his field. He'd come within twenty feet of her and she'd not been remotely tempted to attack him. Her first time in town, she'd bought some books without batting an eyelash. I'd had more issues than she had, because I'd had to hear every man in the vicinity thinking about how beautiful she was and how they wanted to fuck her. If anybody had died that fucking day, it would have been at my hands, not hers.
I parked in the World Parking Garage and helped Bella out before grabbing a blanket, a picnic basket for show, an umbrella and her book. We walked hand in hand into the park; Bella's face was absolutely glowing with happiness as she looked around and took everything in. The day was overcast and there weren't a ton of people out on this rather cool September day, which was a good thing. I'd been ready to bring her for several weeks but the weather had been a giant pain in the ass to plan around. We couldn't sit under an umbrella all fucking day so we'd had to wait for the weather to turn in our favor.
We found a shady spot on a slight incline near a fountain not far from the Whitney Museum of American Art and we set up the blanket there. I sat down and Bella climbed in between my legs, resting her head on my chest as I leaned back against the tree and we people watched for awhile. It was fucking hard, dealing with all those loud, busy minds again but I grounded myself by burying my nose in her hair and letting her scent bring me peace.
Bella seemed perfectly content to lie in my arms and look at everything while I nuzzled her neck and held her close, letting Edward Junior press against her delectable ass. She chuckled a bit when I rubbed against her but didn't stop me so I did it again. She shot me a look then and grabbed her book and started reading aloud while I continued to watch the families strolling by.
Twice a dog caught our scent and went nuts but their owners gave us apologetic smiles and pulled them on their way. Bella just smiled and waved like she came here every fucking day and had that happen. She could finally be out and about with me and I fucking loved it.
Eventually we put the book down and walked to the fountain. Bella trailed her fingers through the cold water and flicked it at me while grinning. I just laughed at her. She was so fucking beautiful and everyone that saw her was nearly as awestruck by her as I was. I'd had to fight the urge to attack thirteen men and one woman so far but Bella's presence in my arms kept me calm.
"Why are you scowling at those teenagers?" Bella asked, tugging on my hand as I shot a death look at the fucking skateboarders that were mentally undressing my girl and covering her in tattoos and ridiculous fucking piercings. Her body was a fucking temple that didn't need decoration; she was perfect as is.
"Because they're thinking about you naked," I told her through clenched teeth.
She laughed and tightened her hold on my hand. "And just how many people have thought of you naked since we've been here?"
"That's irrelevant." Nineteen females and four males if I was keeping track, which I fucking was not. Damn my ability.
Bella hopped up from the concrete edge of the fountain and wrapped her arms around me, kissing me hard and sending every thought around me even further into the gutter. I shut them all out and just enjoyed the fact that she was mine. They could imagine all they fucking wanted; the reality was so much fucking better and it was all mine. Still, getting a ring on her finger couldn't be a bad thing and might actually deter one or two of them, maybe.
We kissed for who knew how long and I felt the ring pressing into her thigh and I hoped to fucking God she didn't know what it was. I had a plan and proposing to her in front of half the fucking city wasn't it. And there were eyes on us, I could feel them raking over our bodies even without the accompanying thoughts in their heads.
One image hit me hard and pissed me the fuck off. Oh yes, motherfucker, I dare you to come over and attempt to push me in the fountain and take my girl away from me. Please, do so. It would be my fucking pleasure to dismember you so quickly that nobody even saw it happen. A growl rumbled in my chest as the college boy that was imagining rescuing Bella from my nefarious clutches got to the part in his mind where he had her in his dorm room naked.
Bella pulled back and took my face in her hands, holding my gaze to hers instead of the bastard who was mentally kissing every inch of her body. MY body. Maybe this whole going out thing was overrated. We should just stay at home with fucking Willow and pass the time as we had for the past year. It was sheer perfection; me playing my music, her reading; making love everywhere in and out of the house; watching movies, hunting together. Yeah the animal blood still tasted like crap but I could stomach it for her. I could stomach just about anything for her it seemed.
"Edward." Her golden eyes burned into mine. "Whatever they're thinking, it doesn't matter. You and me, always. Remember?"
Of course I fucking remembered. Didn't I have her engagement ring ready to put on her finger for eternity? She was right, though. The kid was not even on her radar and I had to try to ignore the shit he was thinking. I kissed her again and let my hands slide down to her ass, giving her a quick grope and shooting a look at the insignificant prick who thought he could take her away. He had the decency to at least look away when I stared him down and then he quickly scurried away. That's right, fucker. You better get lost.
I gave her a gentle push toward our blanket and she took the hint and headed back with my hand clutched tightly in hers. We sat back as we had been and went back to reading, Bella's voice amused as she took me through Holden Caulfield's adventures with all the fucking phonies. I laughed with her and held her to me. Life was fucking good. She was everything I never knew I wanted and more. My wife. Fuck if that didn't sound amazing. I'd never even wanted a wife when I was human but I wanted one now. Just the thought of my ring on her finger made me fucking hard.
"I can feel that, you know," Bella murmured, glancing at me over her shoulder as she wiggled her ass against the obvious bulge in my jeans.
"Damn right you can, baby. Anytime you like." She rolled her eyes and turned back to the book, making a point to keep moving against my cock because she lived to fuck with me. I fucking loved it.
I tightened my grip on her waist and helped her rub against me, because apparently I liked to fucking torture myself as well. There had to be somewhere I could take her for a quick fuck, didn't there?
Excuse me, you're supposed to romancing the girl before you propose to her, not rubbing your fucking cock all over her like a dog in heat!
Oh my fucking hell, look what the cat dragged in. What the fuck are you doing here?
There was no need for me to be here before now. Now that you're fucking up what should be the most beautiful moment in a woman's life, I'm forced to come back to correct your stupid ass.
Excuse me? No need for you before now? Where the fuck were you when my crazy ex showed the fuck up and I had to deal with two spitting mad vampire women that both wanted my delectable body? And where were you when I pissed Bella off because she wanted me to get her a fucking bull so she could name it Xander and let it breed with Willow, like I was going to be on board with cows fucking all over the damn place? She didn't talk to me for a whole fucking week and wouldn't let me fuck her for another week after that!
A derisive sniff accompanied that statement. Motherfucker. I'm sorry I even once wanted you back. Ahh but you did want me back. You missed me! I win!
You win nothing, motherfucker. And I don't know why you're here now. Don't I have a ring? Aren't I planning on proposing to my girl under the stars and making an ass out of myself by getting down on one knee and all that bullshit?
Yes, which is why I didn't think I'd have to show up but now you're ready to fuck her like that bull you're so against getting, just rutting like animals in a bathroom stall or some godforsaken place when you should be kissing her breathless under the stars and making slow love to her.
I have done that. I will do that, not here, obviously, but in our meadow. We've spent countless nights out there doing just that. I can't fuck her in Central Park, it's never empty.
I know and I actually love that you plan on proposing on your first date. It's incredibly romantic and very much unlike you. Rubbing your cock against her ass in public is sadly very much like you. I thought you'd learned but clearly you haven't.
I most certainly have and I'm not going to fuck her. Thinking about fucking her and actually doing it are two different things.
Not so different for you, but I'm glad to hear you have some fucking restraint. Now stop rubbing against her like some pervert and let her enjoy the date. It is supposed to be a first date, not the fiftieth.
Go the fuck away, I don't need you. I've gone without you for months and I certainly don't need you now.
If you thought I wasn't going to be here for the proposal than you're dumber than I ever thought. I'm the reason that you're here with her today. If it weren't for me she'd probably be living in Italy with that yummy Greek and…
Don't you throw that motherfucker in my face ever again. She's mine; she wants me, not him.
Clearly there's something wrong with her. But that's okay, everyone makes mistakes. Especially you. Don't fuck this up or I will be back and I've got a whole arsenal of new love songs for you.
Oh fucking no, I don't think so. You just sit back and watch how it's done. I can handle this without you.
We'll see.
Smug little know-it-all prick. I would prove to him and more important to Bella that I could be romantic and give her the perfect night and the perfect fucking proposal.
I stopped rubbing Edward Junior against Bella's perky ass and contented myself by playing with her hair and nibbling on her neck from time to time, which she clearly fucking liked because she'd tilt her head to give me better access and press harder against me, probably wanting my cock to rub against her ass because Bella loved fucking me just as much as I loved fucking her. But no, I was going to fucking behave because she deserved to have a memorable, romantic proposal. That didn't mean douchewad was right, just that I was giving her something better. Not that there was anything better than my cock, but I was going to behave anyway.
Darkness started to fall and Bella, maintaining our human ruse, closed the book and relaxed further into me. We watched as the humans started making their way home, the crowd thinning considerably and changing as well. The families were replaced by slightly more ominous characters; bums, the occasional drug dealer, hoodlums. That wasn't an issue for us but I could see why normal humans got out before night fell.
We got quite a few looks but nobody was stupid enough to start shit with us, which was lucky for them, of course. Bella seemed perfectly content in my arms and she laughed as I made up constellations for her.
"That's the virgin right there. See that group of stars that looks like a girl with her legs crossed?" Bella squeezed my knee as she laughed at my description. "And over there, see? There's Willow!" The grouping of stars did look sort of like Bella's silly cow and she giggled and nodded happily.
"Too bad there's not a friend for her," she said, shooting me a look over her shoulder. And we were back to that fucking argument.
"Bella, we're not getting a bull. They're far more temperamental and the damn thing will probably try to attack us if we get near it. If you insist upon getting another animal, we'll get another fucking cow."
She studied me for a minute and then a huge grin lit up her face. "Tara!" Oh my fucking hell, now we were going to have lesbian cow lovers. Of course we were. Yes, I fucking knew who Tara was because she had gotten me to watch the whole fucking series with her. There were not words for what I'd endured to get through all that. She'd bribed me with sex which was the only way I managed it. Sex got me through a lot of fucking things.
"Fine." She threw her arms around me and of course it made me feel all warm inside so I couldn't even be annoyed about the fucking lesbian cows. Only Bella.
"Speaking of cows, that one over there looks like Jenks. See the big gut and the balding head? We'll call that the Jenks Constellation."
Bella followed my finger and giggled. "Am I ever going to meet the famous Jenks? You yell at him on the phone enough, I feel like I know him."
"Maybe." Actually that was a yes. I had some papers I'd need to sign sooner rather than later if she married me. We'd need it to be a matter of public record and get her name down as a co-owner for CEI. If anything ever happened to me I wasn't about to leave her penniless. We'd talk about that on another night though. Tonight wasn't about business, it was about love.
"That one looks like a book!" Trust my Bella to find a book in the sky.
"There's the dear you killed on Tuesday night, laying on its side." Bella elbowed me in the gut and I laughed. "Sorry, baby, it's Bambi taking a little nap. Totally alive and not drained of all its blood."
Bella pouted and tried to turn back around but I kissed her and it wasn't long before her arms were back around me and she was straddling my waist. Fuck yes. This was more like it. I put my hands on her hips and pulled her closer to me and we were pretty much dry humping in the middle of the park against a tree. It wasn't long before some hoots and hollers penetrated both our consciousness and we broke off. There were several perverted fuckers watching us, so I moved Bella off my lap and over to my left side, my arm wrapped around her and her head resting against my chest. My glare must have deterred them from hanging around and they scurried away into the darkness to do their dealing. Perverted assholes.
Bella laughed lightly and I turned to look at her. "What?"
"A little over a year ago those men would have petrified me. Now I could turn my back on them and knew they weren't remotely a threat to me. It's really kind of…" she broke off, unsure how to finish I guess.
"Intoxicating? Sexy? Power-affirming?" I finished for her. It was all those things and more.
She bit her lip and nodded. "Yeah. I guess it kind of made me hot to know that I could kill them if I wanted to."
I chuckled and gave her waist a squeeze. "Well you finally get it, baby."
"Get what?"
"What it means to be a vampire. This is what I've been trying to tell you since you woke up."
She frowned and looked off in the direction the men had vanished. "I don't want to kill them, exactly. But if they'd tried to mess with us, well, I think I could have."
"Just knowing you can feels good, doesn't it?" I was fascinated that my girl was starting to embrace her darker side a little bit. Yeah, she wasn't going to kill anyone but at least she admitted that knowing she could was fucking hot.
"I suppose so. Does that make me a bad person?" She looked up at me with wide eyes.
"Of course not, baby. Knowing what you can do and choosing not to shows you're a very good person. I, on the other hand…" I gave her a feral smile and she laughed and flicked my nose.
"You're good, Edward."
I laughed loudly. "I'm better than good, baby." I leered at her and she smacked my chest.
"You know what I mean, pervert. You're a good person, more or less."
"A little less than more."
"Not true." She shook her head emphatically.
"Bella, I still kill people."
"But long ago, before I came along to fix you," I cut her off with another bark of laughter and she curled her lip at me. "You made the choice to only kill those that, in your eyes, deserved it. You could have gone Victwhoria's route, but you didn't. I'm proud of you for that."
"You weren't always."
"Well, you were a pain in the ass then." She grinned at me and I felt myself smiling back. Fuck, this girl was absolutely astounding.
"I was the pain? That's not quite how I remember it."
"Well you don't see yourself very clearly." She giggled when I poked her in her side.
"Says the girl who was an insecure, jealous mess? I am well aware of who I am, baby."
"Maybe you are and maybe you aren't. You've changed a lot." Bella shot me a toothy grin and crossed her arms under her beautiful breasts, causing me to lose focus a little.
I started to scoff at that but I knew she was right. "Maybe a little. Just polished the rough edges off is all, sweetheart."
"Rough edges? Try jagged points! Very sharp ones that could do a lot of damage."
I scooped her into my lap and kissed her soundly. "Never to you, baby."
"I know that, too." Her confidence in that fact was echoed in her tone and I fucking loved that. My girl had faith in me. What more did I need?
"I love you, Bella."
She reached up and put her hand on my face, smiling up at me. "I love you, too, Edward."
Now was the time. Maybe I wasn't on my knees but my girl was in my fucking arms and she was giving me her heart. I could give her mine and I knew she'd keep it safe. I didn't believe in that being on the knees shit anyway; she already knew she owned me.
"Baby, there's something that I've wanted to ask you for awhile and well, it had to wait until tonight."
Her fingers continued to move over my face as she waited patiently for me to continue.
"I never thought I'd ever want eternity with someone and then you came along and I can't imagine it without you." Bella smiled and kissed me. I kissed her back, loving how I felt when her lips moved against mine. I pulled back and brushed her hair away from her face. "And now, that's not all."
Bella giggled and shook her head. "I can't imagine what more you could give me."
"Well it's a good thing that I have an unlimited imagination."
She grinned. "I've enjoyed it." Look at my girl, making sexual fucking jokes. Of course it wasn't appropriate when I was about to ask her to marry me but it sure fucking worked for me.
I laughed. "As have I. But that's not quite what I was referring to either. I…"
Bella put her finger over my lips and cocked her head. "Do you hear that?" Hear what, exactly? I could hear every person in or around the park, their words and their mundane thoughts. This one was hungry, that one was horny, that one was looking for a score; on and on it went.
"I heard a cry."
I listened for a minute but didn't hear a cry or a thought relating to one. "I don't hear it. Now, listen, Bella, what I was trying to say was…"
Stupid fucking bitch. Oh shit. I saw it clearly in his mind. He'd been at dinner with his wife and she'd had the nerve to fucking smile at the waiter when he came to take their order. Flirting with that bastard right in front of me. Does she think she can leave me? Me? She belongs to me. I'll fucking show her just who she belongs to. I'll remind her as soon as we get home. I flinched as the images filled my mind of him hitting her, over and over. With his fists, a belt, whatever was at hand.
For her part, she knew exactly what was coming and she didn't seem to care. It's my fault. I shouldn't have smiled. I knew it would set him off and I did it anyway. I'm so stupid. Oh, he had her fucking trained alright. She was ready to take her punishment and move on until the next beating came.
"What is it, Edward? What do you hear?" Bella put her hand on my arm and squeezed it to get my attention.
"A guy and a girl, cutting through the middle of the park on their way home. He's going to beat her for smiling at their waiter." Rage was clear in my voice. The girl was fucking tiny, with big brown eyes that reminded me of the girl that was safely at my side right now.
Bella gasped and her fingers dug into my arm almost painfully. "You have to go help her."
What? Jesus fucking Christ, I was supposed to be sliding a ring onto her finger right now, not going to tear apart some human. "But baby, I…"
"We'll have other dates. Actually, if you think about it, this is the perfect way to end our evening. It's what vampires do, right?" She sent me the cutest smile and got to her feet, pulling me to mine. "I'll meet you at the car. I can't be there when, well, you know."
I was actually fucking amazed she was telling me to go end someone. My girl was a constant fucking revelation. "Are you sure?"
She reached up and touched my face. "I'm sure. Go. This was a great date and now you should have some dinner." She smirked at me. Fuck, I loved her.
"I fucking love you."
"I fucking love you, too. Now go, free her." I didn't know if the girl would fucking thank me but I knew I wouldn't be able to get her out of my mind if I let him take her home and beat her either.
Bella gave me a quick kiss and started folding the blanket. I watched her for a second before taking off, heading toward my target. She was right, there'd be another time. So much for planning the perfect proposal. I'd figure something out, after I drained the life out of a certain lowlife motherfucker. Somehow, some way, Bella would be my wife. I'd make damn sure of it.
A/N 2: Yes, now I'm a ringblocker! But you know Smugs can't have it go as planned! Where's the fun in that? We'll see if he's successful next chapter! I hope you enjoyed the return of IMF and the possible addition of Tara to the little family. One cow is just not enough!