Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all.
Rated M for several reasons.
Chapter 13 Threads
BPOV
I'm not running away, I always intended to leave early this morning since I'm flying to London tomorrow, but I am definitely sneaking out of his bed with the intention of not waking him up.
Showered and changed I head downstairs, finding the kitchen empty but with coffee already brewed.
I grab a cup since I've got about ten minutes before the cab picks me up, someone's always happy to drive me to the airport but eight am after a party night is asking a bit much.
There is nothing particularly different about my departure this time than any other but as I close the front door behind me I feel weird.
...
I don't have an office in London, I hot desk like everyone else, today I'm sat opposite a rather nervous young lady in Finance. And I'm setting a very bad example by ignoring my cell which is vibrating on the desk beside me.
Because it's Jake.
And I don't want to talk to him.
...
I love London and not just because nobody knows who I am. I love how diverse it is, and call me a typical tourist, but the red buses, post boxes and telephone boxes never cease to make me smile and imagine I've wandered onto a movie set. And I love my hotel, I always stay at Claridges when I'm here, in one of the penthouse suites if they're free. Wanton extravagance but I can't take the money with me when I die so what the hell.
Of course Jake knows I always stay here too and there is a message from him at Reception when I get in that night.
'B, a little birdie tells me you are in town, free for dinner?'
I tuck the note into my purse to think about later, right now I need my bed, I'm a martyr to jet lag.
...
I roll over and check the time on my cell.
Three am.
That's going to hurt later but there's no way I'm going back to sleep so I might as well get up and do some work.
This is the other thing I love about Claridges, twenty four hour room service . . . .
After a shower, cup of coffee and bacon sandwich, I settle back on the bed with my laptop intending to start on my emails but something immediately catches my eye.
Edward A Cullen.
Subject: Greetings
Hi Bella
Didn't realise you were off jet setting otherwise I would have said goodbye.
Hope you are having a good trip?
See you when you get back
Edward
x
Subject: Greetings from London
Hi Edward
It's not exactly jet setting, its work, but I am staying at Claridges!
Going to Frankfurt tomorrow, back home on Saturday
B
x
The next one that catches my attention is from Jake.
Subject: Boo!
B
Hope you're not avoiding me?
Would love to see you if you aren't...
JB
x
Subject: Re: Boo!
Hi Jake
Of course I'm not avoiding you, just got a really packed week, how's the new job going?
B
I scan down my emails, nope, nothing else that isn't work related. Hardly surprising I suppose . . . .
...
It's been a long trip and I'm looking forward to getting home.
Demetri picks me up from the airport ushering me into the back of the long black car and away from the prying eyes of the press. Not that there's much for them to photograph this time other than one exhausted woman. Good man that he is he even carries my bags up for me, depositing them in the bedroom and consenting to stay for a coffee.
We don't talk much, possibly because all we really have in common is The Old Man and a car, but it's not uncomfortable, far from it.
When he's gone I crack open a beer and fire up the laptop in my study, I need my bed but it's too early if I don't want to have jetlag all week.
I don't know what's wrong with me tonight, I certainly can't focus and I bang the lid down on my laptop with unnecessary force.
The Europe trip was good, Klaus and I have identified a potential acquisition in France that will make an excellent addition to our portfolio and I have a ton of stuff to read up on it, but I just can't get into it.
'You about?' I text Rose as I flop on my saggy couch.
'Dinner with Em's boss. Talk tomorrow?'
'K. Have fun x' She hates Em's boss.
'Haha. Very funny x'
I contemplate ringing Char but it's late and I'm wary of waking the twins, the last time I saw the poor woman she was starting to look like a zombie, even Pete had hollow eyes and they absolutely refused to come to Carlisle's birthday bash.
Okay. I can amuse myself.
I wander into the living room and flick on the TV, scrolling through the channels as I sip my beer.
Alright. Maybe I can't. Not tonight.
I get up and mooch round the apartment for a bit, straightening things and roughing up the accent walls.
And then I take a fresh beer in the tub with me.
By the time I've turned pruney it's just after ten and I reckon I can legitimately go to bed.
There were many magical powers ascribed to this bed when Jake and I picked it out and it is comfortable, extremely so. But I feel like it's trying to reject me tonight as I toss and turn on the surface of it trying to get snuggly. Which is ridiculous, I'm so tired I could probably sleep on the floor . . . .
My cell chimes and I snatch it up, eager for a distraction.
'You home?'
'I am'
'How was Frankfurt?'
'Good. I got you one of those huge beer steins you love.'
'I knew there was a reason why I liked you x'
'That's it? I'm offended'
'Well there are other reasons why I like you x'
'Yeah?'
'Yeah'
'Okay, don't shower me with compliments, see if I care'
'You're beautiful. You're smart. You're sexy. And you can guess what I want to do to you . . . '
'Not taking that bait'
'Boring'
'Haven't you got a pregnant mare to molest or something?'
'I'd rather molest you'
'Have you been drinking?'
'No, just been thinking about you'
'You need to get out more'
'I am out'
'Out of the closet?'
'Haha, no. At a party'
'Surely there are some willing ladies there you can molest?'
'Indeed there are, one of them has her hand on my thigh right now'
'Then why are you wasting time texting me?'
'Because I'd rather it was yours'
I gape at that one for an age since I've no idea how to respond, 'I'd rather it was mine too' is not the sort of thing I would ever say to him.
A new text appears underneath it.
'I've removed it. It was getting dangerously close to the promised land'
And we're back in familiar territory.
'Your ego truly knows no bounds'
'It has a well rounded life of its own'
'Are we still talking about your ego?'
'We can talk about my dick if you want B'
'I am rolling my eyes at you'
'I love it when you do that'
'I have jetlag, night Edward x'
'Night Bella xx'
...
Sunday. Time to go see Mom.
She starts as soon as I walk in.
"Oh, you are still alive then."
Her soft breathy voice belies her words.
"Sorry Mom." I murmur, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I've been busy."
She scowls at me and I suppress my sigh. My flighty, happy go lucky Mom, is long gone. I can understand why, if anyone was going to struggle to come to terms with being quadriplegic, it was her. And though she can't blame me, she does resent me, envy me.
"I see you're fucking that Cullen boy again."
"Mom, I'm not . . . ."
"Whatever Bella, I thought you'd have learned more self respect by now."
"How have you been?"
"What a stupid question." She snaps.
And this time I do sigh.
"Sorry Mom. Dad's well."
"And I give a crap about this why exactly?"
"Esme sends her love."
She snorts and we lapse into silence.
I've set a mental limit that expires after an hour, I'm a shitty daughter but that is all I can cope with.
...
I really should work this afternoon but instead I grab a beer and wander the apartment like a caged animal.
I need to stop procrastinating and move, it's so sterile here I'm like a ghost haunting my own home and I feel like I'll go mad if I have to stay here another night, which is unfortunate given the inevitability of it.
Mad, mad, mad . . . .
My cell chimes somewhere and I tear through the apartment looking for it.
'I'm after a favour x'
'Do you get many favours granted as a result of random texts?'
My cell rings.
"You'd be surprised." He purrs.
"No I wouldn't." I laugh.
He chuckles on the other end of the line.
"Hi."
"Hi. So, what's the favour?"
"There's a big dinner the week after next, will you come with me?"
"In Kentucky?"
"Yep, Saturday."
"Hang on, let me check . . . ." I scroll quickly through my diary. "I can come, if you really want me to?"
"I'd wouldn't be asking if I didn't, would I?"
There's an obvious answer to that but I sense that bringing Tanya up now would be a bit of a mistake.
"I suppose. Have you run out of women who'll give you the time of day locally?"
"Hardly." He drawls and I can hear the smirk in his voice. "But I want to take you."
I'm dying to ask why but my brain orders my mouth shut and grinning stupidly instead.
"Hello?" He laughs. "You still there?"
"Yeah, sorry."
"So you'll come?"
"Must you make everything sound dirty?"
"That's not me Bella, that's you."
"If you choose to believe that."
"You know I do."
There's a long pause.
"I wasn't disturbing anything was I?"
"No, Sunday night is the long dark tea time of the soul and all that."
"Even for bone fide important people like you?"
"I'm not important Edward."
"Sure you are, I think an important magazine even said so recently."
"Should I be worried that you're reading about me?"
"Nope, you're an interesting subject but I like the articles with lots of pictures best, you're very easy on the eye."
A giggle escapes, surprising the shit out of me.
"Did you just giggle?" He asks, sounding amused.
"No."
"Liar."
"You're insulting me now?"
"Sometimes." He groans. "You are impossible to talk to, I . . . ."
He stops as a voice cuts in from the background.
"Be right there. Sorry Bella, gotta go, Alistair needs me in surgery."
"Okay, night Edward."
"Night Bella."
...
"He asked you on a date?"
"He asked me to go to a function with him, it's not a date."
"Jesus Bella." Rose huffs. "Whatever. But you're going?"
"Sure, why not?"
"No reason at all. Are you going to give his bed a thorough work out while you're there?"
"No."
"Pfft."
"Your faith in me is heart warming Rose."
"You're the one who said she can't resist him. And he'll be wearing a tux."
"I've seen him a tux loads of times."
"The Cullen men do look good in their tuxedos." She sighs.
"That they do." I sigh in agreement.
There's a pause.
"So, you're coming for Thanksgiving, right?"
"I promised I would."
"Awesome, I'm shitting a brick."
"You'll be fine."
"I won't poison anybody but I'll never pull off a Thanksgiving dinner the way Esme does."
"You just have to put your own stamp on it."
"At least it's only the six of us, its Ali's year to go to Jasper's parents. Are Char and Pete going too?"
"Yeah, apparently Ma Whitlock put her foot down and insisted."
"She's a scary woman when she wants to be. I'd better go my boss has just looked at his watch for the third time."
"He still giving you a hard time?"
"He wishes." She laughs. "Catch you later."
"Bye."
I go back to the report I was trying to read but the intercom buzzes, I need to get rid of that fucking thing, it's like some relic from the eighties . . . .
"Bella, your ten am is here."
"Thanks Lauren, send him in."