Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, alerted and fav'd the last chapter! You all continue to put a smile on my face – I love reading everyone's theories!
As always, huge hugs to my pre-readers MrsK1981 and SparklyMeg and my beta's Marly 580 and Mauigirl60. All of them help make this story. Thank you all so much for your help ladies!
Pattinlethr continues to be my rock.
EPOV
My thoughts are in chaos as I let the rest of the photos flutter to the floor.
Emmett moves to pick them up.
"Don't!" I bark.
"Ed—"
I glare at him. "I said don't, Emmett!"
I look away from my brother and focus my attention back on the photo in my shaking hands.
Dread sits in my stomach like a dead weight as my eyes are glued to the sight before me.
My girlfriend—who for weeks has assured me I'm just being an overprotective, jealous boyfriend— is cuddled up with her boss. Her head is turned toward him so I can only see the side of her face, while his arm is wrapped around her shoulder, holding her close to him.
"There has to be an explanation for this," Emmett says, shaking his head.
My eyes snap up to meet his. "Really, Emmett? You think there's a good enough reason for this?" I jab the photograph to emphasize my point.
"Well…"
"Look!" I thrust the picture into his hands. "What's he doing?"
"Umm—" He looks down at the photo and then back to me, but doesn't answer.
"What. Is. He. Doing?" I say through gritted teeth.
"He's kissing her," he mumbles.
"And does she look like she's upset with this? Is she pushing him away in disgust as she should be?" I reach down and collect the rest of the photos.
Reluctantly, he answers. "No."
"What is she doing?"
"Smiling."
She's enjoying it. She's happy.
My stomach churns; I just make it to the bathroom in time for my lunch to reappear. I drop to my knees, hugging the porcelain bowl as my stomach continues to empty.
What feels like hours later, I release my grip on the toilet and slide to my back on the bathroom floor. I take a few shaky breaths as I try to calm my stomach but look up when I hear Emmett approaching the door.
He's holding out a pint of water in his hands. "I figured you'd want this."
Pushing myself up, I gratefully take the water and gulp it down.
"Whoa, slow down, Edward, otherwise you'll throw up again."
I do as he says, but finish the water, putting the glass on the floor next to me when I'm done.
Groaning, I sit up and lean against the wall.
"Feel better?"
"Yes, Emmett. That water's helped me feel so much better about my girlfriend cheating on me," I mutter sarcastically.
"You don't know—"
"Goddamnit, Emmett!" I yell. "I know you're just trying to make me feel better, but please…" I sigh. "Just don't."
"Sorry," he mumbles.
He doesn't say anything else, for which I'm grateful. He also doesn't leave me; instead, choosing to sit next to me on the bathroom floor, something I'm thankful for.
I pick up the photos that had fallen to the floor and look through them again. There's a few that are obviously from the same night, showing Bella and Alec enjoying a cozy interlude together. The rest are also taken from a distance, walking hand-in-hand at the movies and also down a crowded street. The ones from the restaurant are the worst—particularly the two of them making out.
I torture myself and look through them over and over again, and each time my heart breaks just that little bit more. I can't believe that after everything we've been through and all that we've discussed, she's still able to do this to me. To us.
As I sit on the bathroom floor, I think back over the last few months together. When did our relationship turn into a lie?
Refusing to be taken for a fool any longer, I stand up and make my way to our bedroom.
"Edward?" Emmett asks, following me into the room.
I don't answer. I need to get this done now. If I think about this, then I won't go through with it.
Opening the wardrobe, I find the bags I need and set them on the bed.
"Oh, man. Are you sure you wanna do this?"
"Of course I'm sure!" I snap.
Drawers slam and closet doors bang against the wall as I rush to pack all of Bella's things. I don't pay attention to what I grab; I just take what I can get my hands on and throw it into the bags.
One of the bags is full, so I zip it up and throw it on the floor by the bedroom door. I hear Emmett sigh and I turn to face him. He's watching me warily.
I sit down on the end of the bed. "I'm sorry. Ugh! I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just pissed off, you know?"
"Yeah I get it." He comes over and sits next to me. "What are you gonna do?"
"Nothing. It's over."
"You're not going to speak to her about it?"
"What's there to say, Em? She's exactly the sort of person she said she wasn't."
I'm grateful he doesn't say anything else. There's nothing he can say. She cheated, so she's out.
"I think I'm going to head over to Rose's. You guys will need to be alone and I'm not sure I want to be here for this." He slaps me on the shoulder, gets up and leaves me alone in the room.
I watch him leave, and then continue packing up Bella's things. It was never meant to be a long-term move so thankfully, she doesn't actually have a lot of stuff here. Her clothes fill a few large bags and I grab some boxes for the rest of her stuff.
I'm in the bathroom packing her toiletries when I hear her arrive home.
I take a deep breath, steeling myself for what I feel might just be the most difficult conversation of my life.
There's the standard thud as she kicks her shoes off, followed by the patter of Jake's paws as he runs to his water bowl. She giggles and Jake barks. I can imagine he has jumped at her, or licked her face, causing her to laugh at him.
"Edward?" she yells.
"Back here." I like to think my voice comes out strong, but even I can't deny the waver in it.
My hands start to shake as I hear her approach the bedroom, and I fight to keep my emotions in check. I need to get her out of the apartment before I lose it.
"What?" I hear her murmur. "What's with the bags? Are you going somewhere?"
I finish throwing her toiletries into the box before walking into the bedroom. She turns to face me, the perfect mask of innocence and confusion on her face.
"No, I'm not." I put the box down at her feet and step back. "You are!"
She looks down at the box and then back at me. "I don't understand."
I gesture to the bags sitting by the bedroom door and the boxes at her feet. "I think I got it all. You can check if you want."
She laughs nervously. "Edward, what on earth is going on?" She takes a step toward me, but stops when I step backward away from her. "Edward?"
I pick up the photos from my desk and hold them up for her to see. "I got these today." Her eyes snap to my hands immediately. "They're quite enlightening, really."
I throw them at her. "Take your stuff, Bella. I don't want you here!"
Her eyes are on me as the photos fall to the floor in front of her. Her gaze makes my heart clench, but I know I have to be strong. She's already played me for a fool long enough. When my stare doesn't flicker, she slowly picks the photos up.
I know the exact moment she sees what's on them.
She gasps and drops them as if they're on fire.
She looks back at me. "What…I…?"
All of a sudden, my anger disappears and I'm desperate to hear her say that whatever's in the photos is a lie. She can't have done this to us.
She loves me.
This can't be real!
"Tell me it's not true?" I beg.
She looks at the photos and then back at me. "You think that's me in the photos? It's not! Edward, I would never do that to you!"
I scoff, wanting to believe her, but I don't say anything.
"You…you really think that's me? You think after everything we've been through that I would throw it all away?"
"You gotta admit, Bella, that's what it looks like." I growl and pick up the photo of them kissing. "Tell me that this doesn't look like you're screwing around behind my back?"
I thrust the photos back into her hands.
She takes the photos but doesn't look at them—her eyes remain on me.
"Look at them!" I growl.
She flinches but does as I say.
Silence falls around us as she flicks through the photos, as I watch her for any sort of reaction. The only sound in the room is our breathing: mine coming out in short pants as if I've just finished a race and her sniffles as she attempts to hold back her tears.
"I…I can't believe you would do this to me. To us," I whisper. My voice wavers slightly as I fight hard to keep my voice from cracking. My eyes sting, but I blink desperately in a futile attempt to hold back tears. I can't break down in front of her.
"These…these aren't me, Edward."
I scoff. "How can you even say that? There are photos of you with another man, Bella!"
She holds one of the photos out to me. "But it's not me! Look, most of them are blurry or taken from a distance. There's no way to tell for certain that. All you can see is Alec with a brunette who is most likely his new girlfriend. "
I point at the picture of them walking into a theater. You can see Alec clearly, and Bella has her head thrown back, laughing at something he's saying. "The shirt looks just like your favorite one that conveniently went missing."
Now she looks mad. "Conveniently?"
I nod, but don't say anything. The more she tries to defend herself, the more pissed off I become.
"Why are you saying this? Why can't you see that this isn't me?"
I make the mistake of looking into her eyes, which are now filled with unshed tears. The tiniest bit of hope flickers deep in my stomach, but I shove it back down. I can't afford to be hopeful.
"That isn't me, Edward," she insists.
I sigh and take a seat at the desk. She watches me—trepidation on her face—but she doesn't say anything.
"Why?" I have to know.
She sighs, slumping to the floor. She sits with her back against the bed, her legs straight out in front of her.
"You really think I would do that to you? After everything we've been through, you think I would throw it all away?"
I gesture to her hands. "It's all there, Bella!"
"Ugh!" She slams her hands on the floor but doesn't say anything else.
She's pretty adamant that it's not her in the photos, but I can't let that doubt cloud my mind just now. First Lauren, and now Bella. I won't let it happen again.
"I just don't understand why you bothered to hide it from me. All of these late nights, ending with Alec giving you a lift home. Why didn't you just break it off with me? Why string me along?"
"Is that why you were so jealous of him? You thought I was cheating on you?" she asks incredulously. She shakes her head. "Wow, Lauren really did a number on you!"
"This isn't about Lauren!" I bark. "She has nothing to do with our relationship, Bella."
"The hell she doesn't!" she cries. "Her betrayal has been with us every step of the way. You say you trust me, but you don't act like it. It's like you keep waiting for me to make a mistake—you're making me pay for her screwing around!"
"That was never the case, and you know it," I argue. "I told you I had trust issues from the very beginning. I was working on my trust, Bella, and you knew this. It looks like I had a good reason to be wary."
"Please just remember, I'm not her. What we have is good; I would never throw that away," she says softly.
"These photos say otherwise, Bella. I can't just pretend I didn't see them."
"I'm not asking you to ignore them, but can't you see that they aren't of me?" She glances down at the photos before looking back at me. "Someone obviously wanted you to see these, so we both need to look at them and think why." A look of wonder crosses her face. "Maybe it's the stalker?"
I sigh. "You're clutching at straws now."
She shuffles toward me on her knees. "No! It makes sense, Edward! They want to split us up."
"It seems a little convenient to me, Bella. Why would they focus on our relationship?" I scoff. "That makes no sense."
"Not if it's Lauren it doesn't. She wants you back; she's made it clear from the start."
My heart breaks as I watch her try to pin the blame on someone else. The cracks around my heart are deep and I'm not sure how I'll ever recover from this, but putting the walls back up around it is a good place to start.
As I look at her, the eager look on her face falls. "You…don't believe me. You still think it's me in those photos."
"Even you have to admit your stories are pretty far-fetched - blaming it on your stalker that we haven't heard from in months?"
"So, what—you'd rather I just admitted it and tell you how good a fuck he is?" she spits. The second she says the words, I can see she regrets them, but it's too late.
"Get out!" I yell, ignoring her as she flinches at my tone.
"Edward—"
"Don't! Your stuff is all packed. If I've forgotten anything, then you can come back when I'm not here." I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. The anger I felt toward her earlier is back. I want her out so I can grab a bottle of anything and drown my sorrows.
"You're serious?" she asks, incredulously.
I glare at her. "Why are you so shocked?"
"Edward—"
"You played me, Bella. You knew how I felt about Alec and what happened between me and Lauren, and yet you went and did this anyway."
"But…it's—it's not me." She sighs and takes a shuddering breath. "I would never do that to you." She gets to her knees as if she's going to make a move toward me and then changes her mind. "I love you."
"Don't say that!" I spit. "I have to look at photos of you with another man and you try to tell me you love me? Don't insult me, Bella!"
"God! Have you even looked at the photos?" she screams. "They're all from a distance and most of them are blurry. It just resembles me!" She sits back against the bed. "Why can't you see that?"
I don't listen to her excuses. But there's something I want an answer to before she leaves. "Is it the money?"
She looks confused, shocked at the change in direction of the conversation. "Is what the money?"
"Why did you stay with me if you're screwing your boss? Is it my money?" I sneer. "I mean, you always make out that my money doesn't matter, so was all that just a ploy to get me to stay with you?"
"No! You know I don't give a damn about your money!"
I carry on as if I didn't hear her.
Her words don't mean anything to me now. I'm resolved.
"I'm just glad I found out now, you know? To think I've even been considering about marriage?" I scoff and shake my head. "You made me think that you're so different from those other girls. But you're not." I look up, paying no attention to the tears falling down her face. "You're just as bad as the rest of them. I'm glad I got out now before you could make an even bigger fool of me."
I stand, ignoring her outstretched hand. She doesn't try to hide her tears or her sobs as I walk away from her.
"I'm going in the shower. I don't expect you to be here when I get out."
.
.
.
.
I stay in the shower for as long as possible. The once-scalding water now has a slight chill to it, so I finally give in and get out.
I feel like I'm moving in slow motion as I begin to process the events of tonight. It feels like the photos first came into my hands days ago, when in reality it only took a couple of hours for everything to come crumbling down.
I quickly dry off, hanging the towel back up on the rack, dress in some sweatpants and an old t-shirt and make my way into the bedroom.
The boxes and cases that were next to the door are now gone, and the apartment feels eerily quiet. A quick search shows that she listened to me and actually left. Part of me thought—and hoped—she'd still be here when I got out, that she'd stay and fight for us, but then I remember that there isn't an us to fight for anymore.
She might not be here, but I can't seem to escape her. Some of Jake's things sit in their usual place—obviously forgotten as she rushed to get out of here—and the faint smell of her perfume still lingers in the air.
The absolute kicker is her key to the apartment—which is lying on the shelf next to the front door.
It really is over.
Desperate to put this awful night behind me, I hunt out the bottle of vodka that I know we have. Throwing some ice in a glass and taking the bottle with me, I throw myself down in front of the TV and drink to forget.
.
.
.
.
"Fuck!"
The voice sounds familiar.
"Edward? Ed, you awake?" Emmett asks from somewhere close by.
"Mmm," I answer.
"Ed." He pulls at my arm. "Fuck, you're trashed. C'mon, let's get you to bed."
I let my brother pull me up from the sofa, wrap one of my arms around his shoulder and help me stumble down the hall.
"God, Edward! What the hell were you thinking?"
"She's…gone. I…told…her…to leave. And she did," I slur, as I trip over my feet.
"And, what, getting wasted is the best way to deal with that?"
"Yep."
We make it to the room where Emmett lets me fall onto the bed.
"It's over, Em. She's not coming back," I mumble.
The room dissolves into darkness.
.
.
.
.
I wake to the scent of Bella lingering on my sheets. I smile, but then the events of yesterday flood my memory.
The photos.
Our argument.
Asking her to leave.
Her leaving.
My head pounds and the room spins as I sit up, so I lie back down, thankful that Emmett came home last night and put me to bed. I groan as I remember why I usually avoid drinking vodka. The blinding pain behind my eyes is enough to make me want to throw up. Thankfully, I don't, I just roll over and bury my head under the pillow.
"You awake?"
"Ugh. I think so." I roll onto my back and watch as Emmett comes into my room, placing a glass of water and some aspirin on the night stand.
"Hungover?"
I snort. "You could say that, yeah."
"Well, you'll get no sympathy here." He sits on the end of my bed. "What the hell were you thinking? You finished the whole bottle, Edward."
"I don't know. It seemed like a good idea at the time."
I sit up in bed, take the aspirin and finish the water. It's nowhere near enough to beat this hangover, but it's a good start. A shower is next on my list.
"What are you doing here?"
"I…ah…got sent home last night."
"Sent home?"
He grimaces before he answers me. "Yeah, Bella…uh…turned up at Rose's last night. Rose called Alice and they told me to come here."
My heart clenches at the mention of her name. Part of me wants to ask how she is.
How is she coping?
Is she okay?
Then, my mind flashes back to the photos that started all this, and I change my mind.
This is all her fault.
"So, you don't want to know how she was?" he asks, and the look on his face almost makes me feel guilty.
Almost.
"Not particularly."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. It's over, Emmett. She's free to do what she wants!" I snap.
"So, you don't want to know that she turned up at Rose's a sobbing mess? How she was standing at the front door in the pouring rain, getting soaked to the bone but not caring, 'cause all she could think about was you?"
I flinch. His words hit home, but I try not to let it show.
"She's only upset she got caught, Emmett." The words feel like acid on my tongue.
He sighs and stands up. "I'm just saying what I saw." He makes his way out of the room.
I should be glad, but instead my heart shatters. This isn't us. This wasn't supposed to happen. But, no matter how much I desperately want to believe her, I can't. I've been hurt in the past and I can't allow that to happen again.
.
.
.
.
So as you can guess we are getting closer and closer to finding out who the stalker is and what their issue is.
Thoughts? Theories? I'd love to hear them!
xo