"This show is so fucking stupid, Izzy. I don't know how you can watch this." Edward was saying as he stuffed an egg roll into his mouth. We were sitting in front of the television, watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians and eating Chinese food. Since the coffee table had been destroyed, we set up a picnic on the floor, complete with wine and a blanket. It was cozy and romantic.

"It's like a train wreck. You know it's horrible but you just can't look away." I explained, munching on shrimp lo mein.

"Does Scott have a job? What exactly does he do?"

"No one really knows. It seems to change a lot."

Edward's cell phone rang and he answered it. "Hi Katie."

I heard muffled talking. "Okay, I'll put you on speaker." Edward said. He pressed a button and then I heard Kate's voice.

"Hey, Izzy!" she called.

"Hey, Kate. Are you guys having fun at your aunt and uncle's?"

"Hell no. That's why I need you guys to come here tomorrow. Aunt Esme said they are going to have a Labor Day barbecue and they are inviting all their old people friends." Kate whined.

"I hope my mother isn't close by. She will die if she hears you call her old." Edward told her.

"She's at the market buying food for the shindig. She actually called it that- a shindig. Come on, please don't let us be the only people here under the age of fifty tomorrow." She begged. Edward looked at me, letting me know that it was my decision.

"Kate, I don't know if it's a good idea..." I hedged.

"Look, I know that you used to date Emmett and now you're with Edward but it won't be awkward." Kate said tactlessly, as someone her age would.

"Katie…" Edward warned.

"Seriously, Edward. He cheated on her left and right. As far as I'm concerned, she's with the better brother." She continued adamantly. My eyes widened as I processed the bomb that Kate had inadvertently dropped on me. I looked at Edward.

"Fuck, Katie. Sometimes you're so… I gotta go." He said before he quickly ended the call.

"Emmett cheated on me?" I asked quietly after several long, silent minutes.

"Yes."

"And you knew?" I screeched.

"Yes." He admitted with a heavy sigh.

"And you didn't say anything?"

"Izzy…"

"I considered you my friend!" I yelled, standing up.

"I was your friend…I am your friend…but he's my brother, Izzy!"

"Did you tell him to stop…or did you sit around together, laughing at my stupidity? Was I a fucking joke to both of you?" I asked, my ears growing hot with anger.

"Of course you weren't a joke! I told him that you were a great girl and that he shouldn't treat you that way."

"Who?"

"Huh?" Edward looked baffled.

"Who were the girls he cheated with?"

"Izzy, does it matter?"

"Tell me who, Edward!" I demanded, my voice growing shrill.

"I know that he slept with a girl from his job. And he told me about a flight attendant when he went to Florida on business. After that I told him not to tell me about any more women."

"Oh, how classy of you." I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Izzy, don't you understand that I was between a rock and a hard place?" He pleaded with me. I went into his bedroom and slammed the door. I felt humiliated that everyone seemed to know that Emmett was sleeping around except me. I felt stupid that I had been carrying around so much guilt about falling for Edward when he was just going around fucking random women without feeling an ounce of regret. I was irate that he'd had the nerve to call me a slut when he was the king of the fucking sluts.

I grabbed my cell phone from my purse and called Rose.

"Oh you've finally taken a breather from fucking like bunnies? Alice told me that you and Edward went out on Friday and then you texted her that you were spending the night. Good for you!." Rose exclaimed when she answered. I realized that I hadn't told either of them about what happened on Saturday morning so I caught her up.

"A dead cat? He's a psychopath." She reasoned after I finished. "Thank God you're safe."

"Rose, I am worried for you guys. Please watch your back."

"Jake is itching for a fight. Jasper, too. I hope he does try something so that they can end him."

"Rose…I accidentally found out today that Emmett cheated on me." I changed the subject to the one that was currently weighing heavily on my mind.

"How do you accidentally find that out?"

"Edward's little cousin kind of blurted it out. I guess she thought that I already knew. Edward knew." I explained.

"Izzy, are you really surprised?"

"About the cheating? No. He's a selfish jerk, I get it. But Edward knew and he never told me. I feel like a moron."

"But that's his brother…"

"You sound like him…who cares if it's his brother? It's still wrong. If Jasper was cheating on Alice, wouldn't you tell Alice?"

"You can't compare the two situations…Alice is one of my best friends…and they are married and have been together for years…you and Emmett were together a year and you and Edward were friends but not best friends. And honestly, I don't know what I would do in that situation. My instinct would be to protect my brother's confidence."

"Even if he wasn't remorseful at all? You'd protect him?" I asked incredulously.

"Izzy, I don't know. But being mad at Edward isn't going to change what Emmett did. Emmett is the one who cheated on you."

"I hate him, Rose. I fucking hate him!" I raged, my true emotions finally breaking free.

"Oh honey, I know. But you are with a good man now." She soothed. We talked for a few more minutes before hanging up. My anger ebbed and sadness washed over me as I laid on Edward's king sized bed, emotionally spent from the constant roller coaster that I seemed to be on. But I knew I couldn't spend the rest of my life being sad about a relationship that I wasn't in anymore.

I needed closure. I reached into my purse again and pulled out a pocket notepad and a pen from the bottom, underneath my wallet. I'd heard that penning a letter to someone that had hurt you was a way to release feelings of anger. Of course I would never mail it; it was solely for me to air out my feelings. I began to write.

Dear Emmett,

I know that we are not together anymore but I want you to know how much you've hurt me. Over and over again you showed me that you really didn't care about me and your words of love and affection were superficial at best, yet I believed that if I tried harder or did more, then you would treat me better. I believed for so long that I was the problem, but I wasn't- you are the problem. I wasn't too sensitive, or too uptight or too dramatic, you are just insensitive and self-absorbed. I was committed to our relationship, but clearly you weren't. Yes, in a moment of weakness, I turned to your brother and he and I both regret that, but only because I should have broken up with you long before it had come to that. I put my feelings on the back burner too many times, choosing the relationship over myself, something that I will never do again. I hope that you treat your next girlfriend better than you treated me. And even if you don't, I am glad that I met you because if I hadn't met you then I wouldn't have met your brother and learned how good it feels to be treated with compassion and respect. And also I would have never experienced the pleasure of multiple orgasms. So thank you.

Izzy

~SD~

"Baby, wake up." A hushed voice interrupted my dreamless sleep.

"Hmmm? What time is it?" I opened my bleary eyes slowly. My hand was still gripping the little notebook where I'd written the letter. Edward was looking down at me, remorse etched across his beautiful features.

"It's almost eleven. Izzy, I'm so sorry. I didn't want you to find out the way that you did." He stretched out next to me, studying my face.

"I know." I said, my voice faint.

"There was a point after we'd slept together where I desperately wanted to tell you, when you were beating yourself up with guilt. But I didn't want you to think I was trying to turn you against Emmett."

"And that's probably exactly what I would have believed at that time." I admitted. "I wrote a letter to Emmett. I want to move forward and close the door on that chapter of my life once and for all."

"Are you going to send it to him?"

"No. I'm going to tear it up. I just needed to get my feelings out. Do you…do you want to read it?" I asked him.

"Do you want me to read it? I understand if it's too personal…"

"You can read it." I ripped the page from the notebook and handed him the paper. I watched his pensive face as he read, his green eyes softening as he reached the end.

"Come on, get up." He said, pushing himself off of the bed and standing up.

"What?"

"Get up." He urged. I swung my legs to the floor and stood up as well, following him out of the room, down the hall and into his office.

"Why are we in here?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

He opened his top drawer and pulled out an ornate gold lighter.

"Are you ready?" he asked. I nodded my head. He handed me the lighter and I flicked the thumbwheel until a small orange flame appeared. I brought the flame to the edge of the paper and we both watched as the fire consumed the paper until it was nothing but ashes that Edward swept into the wastepaper basket.

He pulled me close and we kissed softly.

"Izzy…I'm in love with you." Edward whispered to me in his darkened office. He pressed his forehead against mine.

My hands were trembling as I spoke. "I'm in love with you, too."