EPOV

I feel the tension around us. Within two seconds, she is stiff as a statue and I realize how unprepared I am to deal with a situation like this.

Telling my parents that I'm in love with a beautiful woman was easy. They don't know her, but Jasper does. And I want to kick myself for not thinking this through. I don't know what to tell Jasper. I don't even actually see Jasper right now, but Bella is adamant that it's his car outside – she caught the sight of it from the French windows here.

"I recognize that license plate," she insists. "Let's get out of here?"

I am relieved at her suggestion. And with that relief comes shame. I shouldn't be relieved. After promising her that I won't hide her, how easily do I want to!

"Edward?" she says when I don't reply. "Don't beat yourself up. It's okay. We'll go somewhere else."

I take her face in my hands. "I don't want to keep running away. You know that, right?"

Before she can reply, she looks past my shoulders and freezes. "He just spotted me. Don't turn around," she says, urgency lacing her tone. Then she looks at me again. "Wait for me outside. Park the car a block away. Go, Edward," she pleads, sort of pushing me away.

"What? Bella I can't just –"

"Will you just trust me? Please!" she whisper–shouts. "I know how to deal with this. If I leave with you now, he'll follow us out. I know him better than you do. Go. Don't turn around and go. I'll be outside in no time."

As much as I hate leaving her here, her plan makes sense. Relief crosses her features when I say 'okay' and hurry out of there.

I hate stepping out into the cold again. It's not winter, yet the night is chilly. So badly I want to turn around to see what's going on, but I do as she asked me to and park the car on the next street, tapping my fingers against the steering wheel impatiently as I wait for her. Five minutes is how long my patience lasts.

I step back out and go back to the restaurant, trying to walk in the shadows like a fucking creep.

And it is then that I see them outside the restaurant. I can't see Bella's face, because Jasper holds Bella to him, his one arm around her waist and the other hand tracing her arm up and down. His face is buried in her neck. His hand on her back is gripping her jacket tightly.

And my hands form into fists.

But before I can take a step, Bella does. She takes a step back and puts on an obviously forced smile while she tries to pry his hands off her.

"Jasper, I can't," she says. "I told you."

"Come on, sweetheart. For old times' sake?"

"I told you that I left that…job. I don't do this anymore."

"Well, I know that. I went there. That woman who is with you usually…yeah, she told me you left. I tried asking your contact information but she didn't budge. Not even for money."

She shakes her head. "Why the hell would you need my contact details, Jazz?"

"I thought we had something–something going on, yeah?"

"Jasper, you're drunk."

"What's that have to do with anything?"

"You're saying stuff you don't mean. We had an arrangement. You paid me for sex. But we can't anymore."

I watch as Jasper lowers his head to say something in her ear, my nails digging into my palm as I'm clenching my fists so hard. She flinches in response to whatever he said and this is about as much as I can take.

"Goddammit, Jasper!" she spits through clenched teeth and takes a step back, finally breaking his hold.

"Hey now, don't be like that…"

"Don't come closer or I'll scream bloody murder."

But he does so anyway, his arms still outstretched as if he expects her to run into them any minute. I push myself forward and step into the light. Enough is enough.

"I think you heard the girl, Jazz," I say calmly. The moment Bella hears my voice, her stance relaxes. She seems relieved, if not for the panicked expression on her face.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jasper asks.

"That's none of your business."

"No, interrupting us is none of your business. We were having a private talk."

I step forward so that Bella is half–shielded by my body. "Really? Because it looked more like you were harassing an innocent girl late in the night."

"You're wrong on both counts. I ain't harassing and she ain't an innocent girl. We're just two people, talking. Get the hell out of it."

I hold my hands up, palms outward in a calming gesture. "Go home, Jazz. Call a cab. You're drunk. I can smell the alcohol even till here."

But he's having none of it. He takes a step in our direction, eyes only on Bella. I brace myself, fully prepared to push him away. But then I feel Bella's hand grabbing my jacket from behind.

"Edward, let's go home," she whispers, low enough that only I can hear. "Please."

Jasper freezes. His eyes move from her face to her hand and suddenly, manically, he laughs.

"Your're…you…" he gasps. "You're fucking her! You are fucking her."

I clench my jaw. "If you want to get back home in one piece, you'll shut up right about now."

His laughter subsides, but he still smiles like a crazy person. "Shut up about what? About the fact that you're fucking a whore and decided to throw your life away with my sister? Yeah, that's big of you."

"You don't know shit. You don't know what the hell you're talking –"

"Oh, I know exactly what I'm talking about," he snaps. "Hell, I'm known in the family as the gambler, the immoral asshole…while I have to hear praise upon praise about how Edward is the perfect man, and Edward is so successful, and Edward is so respectful, and how Edward has morals, and dignity and a fucking daughter, andyou know what? You don't even have standards."

And suddenly there is chaos. I charge towards him, ignoring Bella's plea and shrugging her off when she tries to hold me back. "You little piece of –"

"What, can't take the truth, huh?" Jasper says cockily as I grab his collar. "You're no better than any of us. You're no better than me, you hypocritical shit."

I hear Bella's panicked voice. "Guys, please stop this. I think someone in the restaurant is about to call the cops and –"

"Oh shut up," Jasper interrupts her. "'I don't do this job anymore,' my ass. How much did he pay you to fuck his sorry ass? How much money did you make in ruining my sister's life? Do you even know he has a kid?"

I draw back my fist, but before it can make impact, Bella is grabbing my arm and pulling me back again.

"Leave it, Edward," she begs. "It's not worth it."

It's the deadness of her voice that stops me. Emotionless. Detached. Empty.

I shrug my arm out of her grasp. "How can you even –"

"Just trust me, okay? Please, let's just go."

She tugs on my arm again, and this time I let her pull me back and slowly back us towards the street. I yank my hand back from her again, still adrenaline–charged and irrationally pissed that I didn't even get a punch in.

"You're such a piece of shit," she looks back and shouts at Jasper.

"Says the one who fucks men for money."

Bella senses that I'm about to go back again, so she grabs my hand yet again and walks faster towards the road. This time I let her. She asks something I don't hear because I'm too focused on twenty different ways to kill Jasper.

She shakes the hand she's holding. "Edward? Where's the car?"

I wordlessly point and let her lead us there. Without asking me, she reaches into my jacket pocket, takes out the keys, unlocks and climbs into the driver's side.

"I can drive," I tell her, still standing out.

"I never implied you couldn't. Just get in."

"Do you even have a license?"

"No."

"I can't let you drive."

"What are you, a cop? Just fucking get in before I fucking lose my nerve."

I clench my teeth together again and do as she asks, slamming the door. The car purrs to life and she reverses it out of the parking spot smoothly.

I sulk in my seat, angry at her. Angry at Jasper. Angry at life. Everything. Till I can't take the silence anymore.

"I didn't know you could drive."

"I was a cop's daughter. I knew how to drive even when I was fifteen. I had a truck back home too."

"Are."

"What?"

"You said you were a cop's daughter, but you still are."

She smiles ever so slightly. "No, he retired. So an ex–cop, technically."

I take a deep breath, still reeling in the aftermath of my adrenaline rush. "You drove a truck?" I ask as she stops at a signal.

"Mm–hmm," she nods, her eyes shining with excitement. "It was the best damn thing ever. I mean, you'd probably call it a piece of mangled metal but that thing had more power than anything. Like, it was one of those vehicles that always leave a dent in the other vehicle, no matter whose fault the bump is."

I smile a little and reach out to stroke her hair. "You sound like you miss it."

She lets out a breath. "Kind of. Charlie must have probably sold it by now, though."

"No, I meant, you miss your old life."

She doesn't reply to that and that confirms it. The signal turns green and she drives in silence. It's only after a few minutes that she speaks again. "What did you think you were going to gain by hitting Jasper?"

"He had no business to say shit like that."

"And you were going to – what? Teach him manners?"

"I was angry. You should have let me at least knock his teeth out."

"You're so amazingly naïve, Edward," she says, shaking her head.

"What the fuck? I try to defend you and I'm naïve?"

"First – you were not defending me. I didn't need to be defended against what was the truth. You were defending an accusation against yourself. Like, how dare he question your morals? My morals were non–existent to begin with."

"That's not true and you –"

"No, let me finish. Secondly, you are naïve because you didn't even consider that Jasper could press charges against you and you'd have a lawsuit against your name. What do you think that would've done to your chances of having Sophie's custody? And to add to that drama, you would've had an ex–prostitute as a witness on your side. An ex–prostitute you had illicit relations with back when she was a prostitute. That would've done wonders," she scoffs.

"I…I wasn't thinking about that," I admit shamefully.

"I know. But I was. Thanks for snapping at me, by the way," she says coldly.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah."

"Hey, I am. Really. I was just angry and –"

"I'm still hungry," she says and pulls into the next drive–thru she sees. We end up getting cheeseburgers and eat them in silence when she parks at some random street. My phone rings and it's Sophie, asking me how much longer I'll take to get home. I tell her a few minutes and ask her to go to bed.

'Daddy, Gramps doesn't do all the voices when he reads my bedtime story. You have to do it.'

I sigh. "Okay, okay. I'll get there soon."

Bella doesn't protest when I ask her to let me drive her home. She rests her head on the window, eyes closed. She looks sad. I reach out and take her hand in mine, hoping she'll talk to me, but she doesn't.

When I park in front of her apartment building, she finally speaks.

"Don't you ever think you could be so much better off?"

I take a deep breath. "This again? I thought we were past this, sweetheart."

"I know. I just…never mind. Goodnight."

"No, wait." I grab her hand again. "Tell me."

"You're getting late."

"Come here." I sit forward and awkwardly hug her in the confined space. "Talk to me."

She sighs into my shoulder. "Jasper was right, you know."

"Bella."

"He was. I'm nothing, Edward. Nobody. You have a life that is respectable and you are somebody. What are you going to tell your family, huh? By tomorrow, Jasper will tell everyone who I am…was. Do you even understand how disappointed in you they will be? I don't know your family or how they'll react but…shit, Edward, you have a daughter. What will you tell her?"

I can tell how upset she is by the tears in her voice.

"Listen to me. To be honest, I don't know what is going to happen now. And I have been a chicken through and through to not have told my family about your… past profession. But you know what? They just need to know you. Because I got to know you and I saw that you're so much more than that. They'll see it too. They will. They have to."

"But what if they don't?"

"Then it's you and me, against the world. And that's okay too. Because I love you, and I'm not ashamed of who you are. Because I love you and someday my family will have to love you too."

"But –"

I kiss her to stop her words. Her insecurity breaks my heart. Her hurt breaks my heart. The hand life dealt her breaks my heart. Her broken heart breaks my heart.

But I also believe that hearts can be mended. Ours will be too. Someday.

––x––