It's been a week for me, and a week for Bella and Edward since the last chapter update. I hope you've all been well. I celebrated Australia Day yesterday by watching nine episodes of Grey's Anatomy.

"For the last time, no. I won't let you," Edward said exasperatedly, his jaw clenching tightly as he stared broodily across the empty space of the girls' living room to where Bella stood with her arms crossed over her chest. Considering the fact that they weren't even technically dating yet, it was quite high-handed of Edward to be giving orders to her like this.

But he had a good reason.

Ever since the prior week when Bella had broken down and revealed the real reason for why she was working at Indulgences, Edward had been quite adamant about not letting her go back. It was bad enough that the men she worked for was having her strip at the club to pay back the outrageous amount of money she supposedly 'owed' them, but the last straw had been when they had taken her into the office and touched her. All while brandishing a gun; the obvious threat of what awaited Bella should she be unable to scrounge up the money.

It had been difficult keeping Bella away from her job. The only way he had managed to get her to skip Friday had been because it had been his day off and he had obstinately never let her out of his sight. Refusing to drive her had been one thing, but he knew that where there was a will there was a way, and if forced to it, she would have simply forked out the money for a damned cab and gone anyway. Edward's presence made any escapes pretty much impossible.

He had no such guarantees today though. He was due to start his shift at the fire station in a little less than half an hour and couldn't be around to see after Bella. Before, Edward always made it so that he drove them to Indulgences, staying for the whole night while Bella danced, and more or less looked out for her until it was time to drive them both home again. But after all that had transpired, the thought of having her go in there alone was enough to send him into a full panic mode. And if that wasn't bad enough, should the guys at the club try to pull off something similar akin to last week, Edward wouldn't be waiting there for Bella. He would be at the station or worse, on the job, and almost completely inaccessible.

What if something happened? What if, what if, what if… those were the thoughts that pained him and plagued him, but Bella just didn't seem to understand all that. Or if she did, she was stubborn enough to ignore it all together.

"I don't think you understand." Edward growled. "I am trying to keep you safe, Bella. The least you could do is go with it!"

"If you were actually trying to keep me safe, you'd let me go!" Bella growled back. She couldn't help that her voice level had risen considerably louder than Edward's. She was frustrated beyond belief. Edward just didn't understand. He wasn't helping her. He thought that by keeping her from the men that she owed money to that her problems would just disappear, but it would only make them worse.

Edward had kept her home the night before, much to her dismay. He'd barred the door and had refused to let her out. It was for her own good, he'd said but Bella had nearly pulled her hair out.

She'd tried arguing with him until her voice grew hoarse. Then she'd tried seducing him, but he wasn't falling for that one either. She'd threatened bodily harm but Edward had raised an eyebrow and scoffed that she could try.

She'd told him that he was keeping her prisoner in her own home and that she would call the police, it was a bluff, but Edward had seen it and had suggested she go ahead and do just that.

She wasn't going to let Edward do the same thing tonight and he was currently in the process of trying to convince her to stay home again tonight, even though he had to go to work. Glancing at the clock, she could see that he was half an hour away from leaving and that Bella needed to be at the club, dressed and ready in an hour.

She'd tried being reasonable with Edward. She'd tried explaining herself, the situation that she was in because of him, but it hadn't worked. Bella was on the edge of snapping.

The louder Bella argued, the quieter Edward fell.

"God, Edward! Why are you being like this? You're not my father! You're not anything! You have no right to tell me what to do!" Hot tears had sprung to her eyes as she screamed at him.

She crossed the room so that she could stand in front of him. Edward looked angry. Beyond angry, there was no hiding what he was feeling. "I'm going. You can't stop me," she bit out.

There was silence.

"You've made it quite clear how little what I think matters to you." He said finally, his voice quiet. "Or what I mean to you in general… which is, as you've said, nothing."

There was a pause, his tone hardened with a touch of steel as he added, "But if you won't do this for me, do this for yourself. Stay at home, Bella."

Bella faltered at Edward's words. She'd hurt him. She realized this straight away. She debated on whether or not to assure him that he did in fact mean something to her… But ever since Bella had kissed him the previous weekend, Edward had made absolutely no move on her. The only indication that he cared as much as he did about her was by preventing her from going to the club. And in light of what had happened to her last weekend, Bella could understand why he'd not want her to go. In fact, if Rosalie knew she'd probably put up the same fight Edward was and she knew that her best friend held no romantic feelings for her.

Edward had promised her that he wanted her, but he'd done absolutely nothing to follow up on it, which made her doubt that there was even anything happening between them.

Maybe this was for the best. Pushing him away now would leave her free to go to the club. He was going to work; there was nothing he could do to stop her.

Except that he was causing her to be late. She needed to push him out the door.

So instead of amending what she'd said before, Bella said nothing at all. Her lips pursed in a thin line as she stared determinedly at him, despite the tightening in her chest that she felt at having him think that he meant nothing to her.

Anger clouded her vision; it was so easy for her to get worked up over things.

"Why are you being so unreasonable about this?" Her voice was quieted.

"Please. Just go. You're not going to stop me from this Edward." She crossed her arms over her chest defiantly and turned her head away. "I don't even know why I told you about all this in the first place."

From inside his pocket, a faint vibrating noise could be heard. Not looking away from Bella – who was pointedly not looking at him – he reached in and fished it out, pressing the bright green speaker button on the screen.

"Edward Cullen," he said curtly.

"Hey, man. Where are you?" Came Jasper's slightly crackly voice over from the other line. There was just an edge of concern in his voice. Understandable really. Edward was hardly ever late. If anything, he usually reported for duty a good fifteen minutes early, lounging around with Emmett and Jasper while the other men from their team trickled in.

"I got held up. I'll be there soon." He quickly disconnected the call and shoved his phone back in his pocket.

Edward turned back to the exasperating girl in front of him. "Bella." He clenched his jaw tightly but when Bella made no move to look his way again, he expelled a sharp sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose and counted slowly up to ten until he found that he had managed to rein in his anger.

"Fine. I don't know why I even bothered in the first place." Edward's eyes narrowed as he crossed the room to yank the door open. "Stay, go – I don't give a damn."

He glanced over his shoulder at her turned back. "I won't disturb you anymore." He said stiffly. "Goodnight, Bella."

And then he was gone.

Two steps forward. One step back.