Chapter Eight – The Beach Boys
Disclaimer: As always I own nothing relating to these characters and no copyright infringement is intended.
Sitting there watching the ocean, I felt the anger start to subside and I let my mind wander. Then I was aware that I was not alone. Emmett sat down next to me without saying a word. Shit, this was going to be fun. I sighed, heavily hoping that he would get the hint and leave me alone, but no. Emmett McCarty, self proclaimed savior of the lost was still sitting next to me, quite obviously waiting for me to say something. I just wasn't sure that he would like what I was about to say.
"Emmett, look, do me a favor and just leave me the fuck alone, will you? Run off back to Mom and Rose, say you couldn't find me. I just want to be alone right now."
He snickered in response. "Oh Edward, you really don't know your sister very well, do you? If I go back there without you then she will have my balls, or cut me off for long enough that I wish she had taken my balls. She is not one to mess with, guess that is why I fell for her in the first place. Well that and the fact that she is stacked and very easy on the eyes."
I rolled my eyes in response to him as he sat there with a huge, soppy grin on his face as he talked about the woman he clearly loved. The last thing I wanted to think about was my sister's sex life.
"Look Emmett, I appreciate the fact that you have only come after me through a sense of self preservation, but I really don't give a fuck right now. I want to be left alone. Please?"
He didn't move from his position. Oh great, this was gonna be tough. We sat there, not speaking for about thirty minutes before Emmett eventually broke the silence. I knew he would break first as being still and silent was not his thing.
"Look Edward, I don't know what has gone on but the way you bolted from the house when I arrived was like you were running from someone. Then when I got inside there was only Esme, Rose and that Della girl."
I had to correct him "Bella, her name is Bella."
He smirked. "Oh yeah, Bella, that's her. Sorry never was any good with chick's names. What went on, bro? I mean seriously, were her cookies that bad? They tasted alright to me. Then again, I will eat anything."
I shook my head at him. He meant well and was only trying to help. "It's complicated, Emmett. I don't really understand it myself so I cannot even begin to try and explain it to anyone else." Emmett looked thoughtful for a moment before deciding on another way to get me to open up to him.
"Well at least if Rose dumps me 'cause your being an ass, I can always hit up Della. She looked like a pretty fine piece of ass to me, if you know what I mean."
He winked at me when he said that last part. I don't believe it. One minute he was telling me how into my sister he was, then the next planning his next conquest if she dumped him. Way to go, Emmett. Not that he would be short on dates. Women loved him and often thought that he played dumb to get their attention, but no, he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. His heart, however, was huge and in the right place. I put it down to playing too much football and whacks to the head he received.
I felt a flash of jealousy when he mentioned about maybe moving onto Bella, but I knew that there was no way that he would go for someone so young. Or would he? I would need to make sure that he didn't.
"Emmett, you know, Bella is dating someone. You might know him, I think he goes to your college. His name is James Smith, he's a freshman."
Emmett looked deep in thought, seeming to be drawing a blank so I tried to fill some of them in for him from what I knew. "He smokes a lot of weed, his uncle has a cabin in the woods near here, and he's definitely local."
Emmett's face registered shock and surprise at the same time, not something that I thought he was capable of doing. "Shit! You mean James Biers. Fuck, Edward, he is not someone you wanna mess around." Emmett let out a long low whistle before he continued. "J is proper trouble. He not only smokes the stuff, he deals it too. Probably other stuff too, from what I have heard. You do not mess with him. He looks like he means no harm but I have seen some of the guys that he has taken down in bar fights. He is absolutely lethal. Shit! Gonna stay away from Della, Bella, Stella - whatever her name - if she is his woman. Would seriously suggest that you do the same too, bro."
This did not sound encouraging. I was finding myself attracted to the part time girlfriend of the local psycho. Great! "Woah, Emmett, I am not interested in her. Trust me when I say that I know enough about her to steer well clear." Emmett just stared back at me. He had something to say but was holding back.
"C'mon Em, spit it out. Whatever it is you want to say, just say it. You normally don't hold back, so why bother now?"
He continued to stare at me, and I swear I could hear the cogs turning in his head before he sighed and then finally said, "Well, not that I would assume that you would be interested, seeing as there is the whole thing with you and erm… Tanya."
My world stopped in the second those words left his mouth. "Sorry, what did you just say about me and Tanya?" I tried to keep the panic out of my voice.
"C'mon Edward, you and Tanya. Do I have to spell it out for you, bro?"
"Emmett, I have no idea what you are talking about, so yeah you do need to spell it out." I needed to know what he knew. No one was meant to ever find out about us. I needed to play this carefully, deny everything until I knew that there was no way out.
"Look. You might think that I'm not that observant, but I know what I've seen. You two together, it's weird. You go out of your way to ignore each other when anyone else is around, but it's too much. You don't act like that around anyone else. Then there is the way that she looks at you. It's like she cannot wait to get you alone and rip your fucking clothes off. Man, it's pretty intense."
This was my worst nightmare. I thought that we had been so careful, making sure that no one saw us together and that we had no contact that could be misunderstood. Maybe we had been too careful. If Emmett, of all people, had noticed then who else had? I needed to tell Tanya. If Emmett knew, you can bet your life Rose would. Just when I thought that this day could not get any worse.
I knew that I should just come clean. Emmett was a person that I could trust, but I needed to know exactly how much he knew and also who else was aware of it.
"Look Emmett, I'm not gonna lie to you, there is obviously no point. You are right, yes there is something going on between me and Tanya." I paused, taking a deep breath, before I continued, I was so nervous. "It's been going on for, well, about six months now. We're not dating it's just, well, it's just sex." I nervously met his gaze, the look on his face was one of surprise and wonder.
"Wow, Edward. I never knew you had it in you, she is seriously hot man. No wonder no one else gets a look in." Emmett was slapping me on the back, I suppose, congratulating me. I needed to know who knew and this was hard to ask, but I needed to know.
"Emmett, who else knows about this? It is completely obvious to everyone, cause if it is then I need to warn Tanya. It's not fair on her. Me, I can take it, trust me I have had worse, but I cannot bear the thought of anyone calling her out on this."
"Chill, chill. No one else knows. I only worked it out cause Rose played hard to get to start and would ignore me, but I knew that she wanted me really. It's one of those weird chick rules. I just noticed you two being extra weird around each other to start with. Nah, it was just something that I picked up on. There were a couple of times that I could've sworn I'd seen you sneaking outta her place as I drove past, but your car was never there. Then I noticed a change in you, like you suddenly became more confident in yourself. You really are a dark horse, aren't you? Little Edward pulls a damn hot woman and keeps quiet, I wouldn't. No disrespect bro, but you are punching seriously above your weight with her and managing to keep it a secret. Damn!"
"Emmett, seriously you cannot tell anyone. Tanya will be horrified, and I really don't want anyone to find out. Mom and Dad will go ballistic, and so will Rose. Geez, I dread to think what she would say." The words just tumbled out of my mouth. While I was speaking I got to my feet and started pacing up and down in front of Emmett while running my hands frantically through my hair. There was so much running through my mind about this fucked up situation. I had to trust Emmett not to say anything.
"Woah, Edward, I promise you here and now I will not tell anyone about this. Hell you have one hot woman who is only after you for sex, I wish I could be so lucky. Not of course that I don't love your sister. She is the most amazing woman I have ever met, but if she told me I was just a booty call to her then I would take it. Sit down Edward, please don't go over the top here."
"Over the top? Over the fucking top! Tanya will go ballistic when she finds out that you know, let alone who else has put two and two together around here. We were so careful. We were never seen together, we made sure of it. Then you, of all people, managed to work it out. Shit. This will get out and then…"
Emmett was up on his feet and grabbed me roughly by the shoulders, I managed to meet his gaze and he said slowly and deliberately ensuring that I was listening to him, "No one else is going to know. I'm not gonna rat you out to anyone, not even Rose. But you need to come back with me. Now." I looked at him, searching his face for any sign of deception, but there wasn't anything there. Emmett was someone that I knew that I could trust. I had to.
I knew that I had to go back and face the music, but I needed time to collect my thoughts. I was sure that my mom would read what was written all over my face, which was a look of pure guilt. I had hidden things from my family for too long, Tanya and then the problems I was having at school. Was now really the time to tell them? To bring it all out into the open? I looked at Emmett and tears started to prick my eyes. I was supposed to be a man about things and yet here I was crying like a girl as I slumped back onto the sand head in my hands.
Emmett looked stunned as I wiped away the tears that had begun to fall from my eyes. He knew that to go back now would do no good, and so he did me a massive favor. He took out his cell phone and dialed.
"Hey baby… Yes, have found him… I know I have been gone a while… Baby, don't shout at me… Rose… Woah calm the fuck down, will you? have been out here for hours looking out for your baby brother, now cut me some slack will you. He is fine, he's going to come back with me… Yes Rose, I know how worried your mom has been… Just shut up and listen will you, woman! He needs to talk this through with someone… No it won't be you, this is man's business…"
At that point, he pulled the phone away from his ear and I could hear Rose shouting at him. He just stood there, making comical faces at me. Once she seemed to have calmed down, he put the phone back to his ear and tried again.
"Rosalie Cullen, for once in your life, will you just listen to me? Edward is fine, I'm gonna come back with him, and yes, you can do whatever you like to him once he is back. You need to understand that I am gonna spend some Emmett time with him, you know man talk and once he is ready we will come back. Okay?"
He listened to her and turning away to put on a baby talking voice, which meant she was obviously calm again and not planning to take his balls away from him just yet.
As he talked to my sister I thought back to her, to Bella. She was occupying my thoughts too much when I should be worrying about telling Tanya that Emmett knew. I could just see the conversation now: "Hey babe, really sorry but your best friend's boyfriend knows about us. But don't worry he won't say anything, he thinks it's kinda kinky." Oh yeah that would so not work.
Once Emmett got off the phone, he joined me staring at the ocean. He spoke first, I knew he was trying to break the ice again.
"You know, dating an older woman… That's hot." I just smiled and shook my head at him.
"So Rose gave you shit, did she?"
"Nothing I can't handle, don't worry she's fine. Just worried about you, that's all. Your mom has been frantic all day."
We settled back into a comfortable silence for a few more minutes before Emmett spoke again.
"Look, if you ever want to talk about anything - and I mean anything - you have my number. I'm not gonna pull all this new man shit on you and be all hugs and kisses - not my style. But I mean it when I say you can call me anytime, day or night. Okay man?"
"Thanks, Emmett. You might regret that though. I know that I am gonna cop it when I get in, so can I ask you to come in with me? Maybe give me some back up if I need it?"
"For you, anything. Now let's get this over and done with."
We got up of the beach, collected our cars from Jake's and said goodbye to him. I promised to call him later on and tell him the gory details of the hell I was bound to get.
On our arrival back at the house I sat in the car for a few minutes, deleting all the texts and voice mails that I had received. As I stepped out of the car, a new text arrived. I didn't recognize the number, it wasn't programmed in my phone and it simply said:
'I'm sorry about earlier. Didn't mean to freak you out. Forgive me? Bella'
My heart didn't know if it should sink or soar. How did she get my number? I had other things to worry about, though, as Emmett came up behind me, slapping me on the back. I looked up to see my mom waiting for me in the doorway.
Shit, this was gonna be fun.
Authors Note
So guys, you still with me? Hope so! Please do review I would love to know that you think of this and I will be sending out a sneak peek of the next chapter which is back from the Beta already and ready to be posted.
Massive thanks as always to my beta VixenlittleStella, pre-reader Cosmom and of course my Pre-reader & friend Mamasutra.
Had a great webchat with Mamasutra tonight and I gave her the inside scoop on where this is going and guess what – she loves it!
I am on twitter, loopylou992 and also have a Facebook page – Loopylou Fanfiction look out for the Red Fraggle and you will find me there!
Until next time – love to all. X x x