An hour later I was sitting on the futon in Alice's and Jasper's guest room. I held my cell phone in my hand, planning carefully what I was going to say to Edward. After he'd dropped me off the previous Sunday, he hadn't called or texted me at all, not that I blamed him. I took a deep breath and decided to just speak from my heart. Said heart began to speed in anticipation of the conversation.

"Hello?" he answered after the third ring. His voice sounded neutral, neither angry nor happy. It was professional, distant.

"Hi." I said.

"Izzy."

"Edward, I'm so sorry for how I've been acting." I apologized, getting straight to the point quickly. "I just feel so many things all at once and I haven't been dealing with it very well."

"Are you still in love with him?" he asked quietly. That was a question I certainly was not expecting.

"What?" I cried, astonished.

"Is that why you left? Because you're still in love with him?"

"No. Edward, I don't think I was ever in love with him."

"So why do you care so much what he thinks?" he inquired, emotion creeping into his voice.

"I think because he echoed what I was feeling about myself. Edward, I was never the type of girl to make waves. I was quiet all through high school and college. I've only had three boyfriends in my whole life. I was the good girl, not the kind of girl…"I didn't finish the sentence

"Not the kind of girl who sleeps with her boyfriend's brother." Edward finished it for me.

"Right. And you've been so great and I just don't deserve…"

Edward interrupted me. "Izzy, do you think I don't know what kind of woman you are? I know that you're not the kind of person who just goes around fucking a bunch of dudes, desperate for attention." He sighed deeply.

"I know that the way we started this thing was fucked up. Both us made mistakes. In a perfect world, I would have met you first. But we can't go back and change what happened. And to be perfectly honest, I am tired of chasing after you." He told me. A lone tear escaped my eye. It hurt to hear him say that, but I understood.

"Eddie, I thought we were going out tonight." I heard a singsong voice whine in the background. A female voice. The tears began to fall quickly. It was Friday night; of course he had a date. He was intelligent, charming, sexy…I wiped my eyes and straightened my spine.

"Edward…" I started.

"Hang on, Izzy." He told me. "Katie, can you wait a minute, please? It's like you're still six years old!" he yelled.

"I'm telling Uncle Carlisle that you screamed at me!" She yelled back.

"Go watch TV or something." He said. I heard a loud sigh and then a door slamming.

"Sorry about that. My little cousin Kate and her bff Irina are staying with me for the weekend before they go back to college."

"Oh really?" I said, trying to keep the relief out of my voice. "Where do they go to school?"

"UConn. 3rd year."

"Very good school. Well, I don't want to keep you from your plans for the night…"

"They have only been here an hour and they are already driving me bananas. And I want to finish this conversation with you. Do you want to come with us? We're just going to grab some food. They want to go to Times Square."

"I haven't been there in forever." I admitted.

"So you'll come?"

"Yeah." I said, happy for the chance to see him again.

~SD~

Hanging out with Kate and Irina brought back memories of when I'd first come to New York ten years earlier. I had been fascinated by all of the lights and the glamour and the people and the ethnic foods; now it was just a backdrop and I barely paid attention to it anymore. Being with them was like seeing everything for the first time all over again. Edward and I walked behind the girls as they squealed over the sights and sounds of the city. They were both pretty, blonde and petite, Kate with warm brown eyes and Irina with cornflower blue ones. Kate was very outgoing and bubbly, while Irina was quieter and more subdued. She was happy to let Kate take the lead, but she had a biting wit that had us all laughing hysterically.

"Is that Jay-Z?" Kate asked, pointing at a tall black man in sunglasses across the street from us.

"I really doubt it." Edward said, chuckling. "I don't think that he would be going to eat at the Hard Rock Café."

"Ooooh Eddie, can we go in this store?" Kate pointed at a little boutique.

"Knock yourselves out, we'll wait out here. Unless you want to go in, too?" he asked, looking at me. I shook my head no. They walked into the store, giggling and excited.

"Thanks for coming with us. All that squealing and the endless selfies would have possibly made me step in front of a subway train." He told me. We stood on the sidewalk, out of the way of the heavy foot traffic. There was a gentle, warm breeze blowing between the buildings and the portion of the midnight blue sky that I was able to see above the skyline was dotted with brilliant stars.

"I'm having fun." I smiled.

"So…" he started.

"So…" I repeated. We both chuckled awkwardly.

"How's your arm?"

"No more pain. I'm sick of this brace though."

"My dad said it's a good thing it wasn't an open fracture. That would have required surgery."

"So you've told him…about…us?"

"Well, Emmett told him first, yelling about how I broke his nose."

"Was your dad angry?"

"Yes. He lectured me about family and loyalty. I felt like I was fourteen years old again." He admitted, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"I'm sorry."

"I shouldn't have let him get to me like that. Emmett has always had a way of getting under my skin with his condescending remarks, always goading me to try to keep up with him and his accomplishments. Everything from cub scouts to baseball to academics. I've intentionally tried to create a life very separate from him since I went away to college and for him to say that I was trying to be like him by taking what he had…" he shook his head in disgust.

"You didn't take me from Emmett- I came to you. Willingly."

"So is this still where you want to be? Willingly?" His emerald eyes penetrated as he waited for my response.

"Yes."

"No more running?"

"No more running. And I will talk to you about how I am feeling."

"How are you feeling right now?" he whispered, wrapping his long arms around my waist and pulling me close.

"You make me feel safe. And cared about. And you listen to me. You're so smart and fun. You're everything. You…" I couldn't finish my sentence because his lips covered mine in a hot kiss.

"I am tweeting this pic." I head Kate's voice next to me and we hastily pulled away from each other. I could feel my face flush in embarrassment.

"No, you're not. Delete it. Right now." Edward demanded.

"Why? It's so cute and romantic. You and Izzy kissing passionately in Times Square at midnight. Look!" she cried, thrusting out her phone. We both looked down at the picture on the screen of her iPhone. She was right, it was cute. It was actually… sexy.

"Don't tweet it, but can you send it me?" Edward asked as he studied the image, a subtle grin on his lips. He liked the picture, too. She pressed a few buttons.

"Done." She said. "Oh, look Irina! There's a tattoo shop. We should get tattoos!" Kate exclaimed, grabbing Irina's arm and pulling her down the street.

"Oh hell no!" Edward shouted after them.

~SD~

"You're so handsome." I whispered to Edward in the darkened room, gently tracing his scruffy jaw with my finger.

"You are so gorgeous. You don't even know just how gorgeous you are." He breathed. He leaned in and kissed my forehead, almost reverently. I was lying in his arms, as I had been all night. I'd went back to his apartment with him, Irina and Kate and we'd holed ourselves up in his bedroom, just talking and kissing, until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore. We'd talked about our guilt; I told him that I realized that I had a hard time letting someone be there for me and how it made me want to push him away. He admitted to me that he had always felt inferior and insecure in Emmett's shadow, which shocked me. Edward was so much more than Emmett could ever be. When we ran out of words, we just made out. It was one of the best nights of my life.

"What time is it? Should we get up?" I asked.

"It's ten thirty and no, we shouldn't get up."

"I'm hungry. I'm getting up." I told him as I pulled the covers back. I was wearing a gray Under Armor t-shirt that he'd given me the night before.

"Fuck, I love you wearing my shirt. Come back to bed." He groaned sexily. Just his words made hot desire unfurl through my body. But Irina and Kate were in the apartment. Damn them.

"I'll make pancakes." I sang, attempting to push my carnal needs to the back of my mind.

He rolled his eyes. "It's not what I want but it will have to do. Wait- I don't have any milk." He remembered, standing up from the bed and stretching his long, lean body. He was wearing a pair of basketball shorts, his toned chest bare.

"Do you have eggs?" I asked. He shook his head.

"So I guess we can have toast and jelly?" I suggested, wrinkling my nose.

"Let's walk to the store and get milk and eggs. It's only a block away." He suggested.

"I don't have any clean clothes." The tank top and denim shorts I had worn the previous night were folded up on the top of his dresser.

"Just wear my shirt with your shorts. Roll up the sleeves a bit."

"Ah, the infamous 'walk of shame' look." I giggled.

"Except there was no sex." He pointed out as he pulled on a clean black t-shirt.

"Yeah…"I sighed.

"It was still an amazing night, baby." He whispered, kissing my lips lightly.

I went into the bathroom and straightened myself up a bit, pulling my hair into a neat ponytail and brushing my teeth. I went to the kitchen and surveyed the fridge and the cabinets while he took care of business. We needed to buy not only milk and eggs, but butter as well. After leaving a note for the two sleeping beauties, we took the elevator down to the lobby.

"Good morning, Mr. Cullen, Miss Swan." Seth called from the front desk as we walked toward the door. He was a cute guy, about twenty one or twenty two years old, tall and slim with a kind demeanor. He knew all of the tenants in the building by name and made it a point to speak to them all.

"Hi, Seth." We both called out, waving.

"Uh, Mr. Cullen, a package came for you this morning. I have it behind the desk."

I looked at him and he shrugged. "Maybe it's some documents from work that I need to look at immediately." He guessed. We were both surprised when the package Seth gave to him wasn't an envelope, but instead a fairly large box with no return address.

"Seth, do you have a letter opener or scissors so I can cut through this packing tape?"

"Sure." Seth said, handing him a silver letter opener. I stood next to Edward as he opened the box. There was a single piece of paper with typed words in large font.

She's mine motherfucker. You can't protect her forever.

Edward ripped the sheet of paper out of the box, balling it up and cursing furiously, causing Seth to look at us in shock and confusion.

Underneath the paper was the severed head of a cat.