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LadySharkey1 rocks my world by being the most amazing, kick-ass beta I could ever imagine.
7.
Insufferable!
All but jumping out of the car, Bella couldn't wait to get away from the man who seemed dead set on pushing all of her buttons at once. And the worst thing was that he was completely unapologetic about it!
She had to admit that around the kids, he'd acted pretty decent. When he had inserted himself into the first family outing she would supervise, something she'd already been rather nervous about. She'd had horrible visions of inappropriate behavior and fights breaking out between the members of their small group and other strangers who just happened to rub him the wrong way. In fact, she half expected to stumble upon him fucking some groupie in a dark corner or feeding drugs to the giraffes in front of unsuspecting little families.
That didn't happen and, she had to admit it, for the most part she'd had a lovely day at the zoo. Even more so because she saw that the kids were having a blast.
The constant teasing and innuendos though, she could have definitely done without.
His behavior angered her, not just because it was completely inappropriate and made her feel uncomfortable. Around him, she was forced by sheer necessity to act like a young, angered ice queen—the very governess type out of young adult literature she was trying so hard not to turn into—all while hiding the fact that sometimes, when she wasn't quite so annoyed, he left her quite hot and bothered.
But then, of course, she remembered where he'd been for the past six months and how he ended up there. If ever there was a sobering thought, then that was it.
She could remember when news of Edward's arrest had first broken. Edward had been at the height of his career when it happened, with his name taking up an almost permanent residence in the iTunes download lists and his tour completely sold out before one show had been played. Even her father, not the most up-to-date person when it came to pop culture, had made some remarks about how he was pleased to see 'young folk actually making music again instead of just noise'.
That was all over as soon as the less-than-wholesome aspects of Edward's life started to trickle down through the media. But then, of course, the images of the fresh-faced young musician made place for the image of a half-naked Edward Cullen getting shoved into a police car after being lifted from his bed by an insane amount of police men after one of his fans had ended up in hospital after getting drugged by the man himself. And by that time, her dad all out forbade her to ever listen to his music again.
It would probably be best, or so Bella concluded, not to mention the arrival of the new house guest during her next call with her dad.
Thinking about the face of that poor girl in the media— far too young to be thrust into the world of drugs and rock 'n roll—made the bile rise in her throat. Any feelings that might have emerged throughout their day at the zoo were immediately eradicated as she saw his behavior in a new light.
The teasing…
The innuendos…
From some innocent-bordering-on-sinful teasing, his behavior now seemed almost more sinister than annoying.
Did he see his next victim in her?
Was all of this just a little game to him? Was he just looking for something to do while he passed the time away during his exile in luxury?
Somehow, though, she still found it hard to marry the memory of Edward eating ice cream with his niece and nephew while staring at the bears with the image the media had painted of the heartless libertine who lived to ensnare young women into a life of vice.
Sighing, she made her way up to her room, settling on a long, hot shower to wash away the day before going down again for dinner. She wasn't exactly looking forward to it. After already spending the day with him, sitting at a table with only the two kids for a buffer would test her already frayed self-control. And with Carlisle and Esme both still stuck in town, and the kids too worn out from running around the zoo all day, she had no doubt that she was going to be his primary target that night.
Luck was on her side, though, as Bella came down to find Rose and Jasper sitting in the kitchen alone, the latter following her with the eager eyes of a teenaged boy waiting to be fed. "Wanna just order something tonight?" Bella asked, knowing that probably wasn't what Esme and Carlisle would prefer for their children's nourishment but felt too tired to care. "Where's your uncle, by the way?"
Jasper immediately dove for the drawer filled with menus of different places, leaving his sister to dispassionately shrug her shoulders as she muttered. "He went out, I guess."
"Out?" Bella asked as Jasper passed her the menu of a local Thai place. "So should we order for him or do you think he'll be out all night?"
Rose shrugged again. "He got a phone call while you were all in the shower and he left not long after. I don't think he'll be back here soon…he usually stays out for hours."
Bella sighed, her chest running cold as she thought about all the things Edward could be doing. Deciding she didn't care anyway, she pulled the menu towards her, her eyes scanned the various dishes until she found a couple she knew and liked. "Let's just fend for ourselves then, okay?" After placing the order, they retreated to the living room where they watched a movie while waiting for the food to arrive.
"Dad never lets us do this kind of stuff," Jasper muttered, contentedly patting his stomach as he stretched his long limbs out on the sofa, his feet in Bella's lap and his head resting against his sister's leg.
"That's not true," Rose started to argue. "When we're sick, he doesn't care if we eat in the living room."
"Yeah, but then you're sick, so it's not fun anymore." Jasper sighed, his shoulders set in a hard, rigid line. "I just wish he'd get off my back a little. He's always pestering me about stuff he wants me to do."
"That's because you always break the rules," Rose countered, shoving her brother's head away from her lap as she pulled her legs up towards her torso. "Maybe if you behaved a little bit better, he'd be home more."
"I'm sure your father would be home more if he could, but he's very busy at work," Bella intervened before their father's absence caused an argument between the siblings. Inside, though, her heart was breaking for both of them and her dislike for Carlisle was growing fast. "Has either of you ever tried talking to him? Maybe if you'd let him know that you miss him, Rose, or that you see the world in a different shade of color, Jasper, then he would understand."
Rose looked hopeful but her hopes were dashed when her brother let out a sarcastic snort. "Tough chance!"
"How can you know that when you're not even trying!" Rose snapped, her eyes fiery as she jumped up from the couch. "All you ever do is try to make him angry!" And with that she stormed out of the room and up the stairs, her bedroom door slamming shut a couple of moments later.
"She can be such a bitch sometimes!" Jasper growled and Bella could see him clamming up in front of her; the mental distance only preceded a physical one as Jasper too, got up from the sofa and retreated to the music room where he got lost in loud, angry rock.
Bella sighed, picking up the trash and carefully made sure that noting was out of place before she stepped out onto the deck to get some fresh air. As day had given way to evening, the wind had picked up; her hair blew around her face as she stood out and watched the last rays of sunlight disappear over the water. It did her good to stand out there, her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around herself to ward off the slight chill in the air as she slowly tried to ease away the stress that had built over a day of treading lightly.
It was an exercise her mother had taught her, so long ago when things had still been perfect and crime and grief had been things young Bella saw only on television shows.
"Close your eyes, my little heart, and let your arms dangle next to your body," Renee whispered in her ear. Her motherly pride soared as she watched her little daughter; thick, brown curls bounding in the wind and her perfect rose-bud mouth slightly opened.
Bella, meanwhile, was trying her best to please her mom, her brows furrowed in concentration as she tried with all her might to relax. "Like this?"
"Just like that," Renee assured her precious little worry-wart. At first, she had been overjoyed that her daughter had inherited her father's careful, introvert nature instead of her own expressive exuberance but lately she'd been worried that her sweet, serious little girl might one day fall victim to her own tendency to take on the weight of the world. "Now imagine each gust of wind flows straight through your mind, taking away one worry at a time until your head is completely empty of bad things and full of happiness again."
Letting her arms dangle next to her body, Bella tried to recreate that exercise, just like she had done countless of times throughout the years. And just like always, it worked. Though never as good as it had that day, with her mom by her side.
It was only once she stopped focusing on herself and the wind, that her ears started to pick up something else; a muffled tune floating up from below, severely distorted by the wind but still beautiful.
Opening her eyes, Bella slowly drifted towards the edge of the deck, her eyes scanning out into the darkness before coming to rest on a single figure, cloaked in darkness, sitting on a bench on the secluded side of the property, away from the wind and prying eyes.
Or so he probably thought himself to be.
Even in the darkness, it wasn't hard to make out who he was or what he was doing; the constant stop and start of the acoustic guitar and the jumbled, muttered phrases he tried to marry to the sounds his fingers plucked from the strings made it glaringly obvious.
It was Edward.
And he was playing a song she'd never heard before. It had to be new because even though her dad had made his disapproval of the man and everything he produced known, Bella had felt herself unable to stop listening to his songs or look out for new ones. She'd never really cared for the man behind the music—pop culture and its obsessing over the private lives of celebrities had never held any appeal to her—but music…music had always moved her.
As she stood there and listened, veiled by darkness and unseen by the object of her rapt fascination, Bella's mind was screaming at her to walk away; both because it was rude to invade an artist's privacy like that, and because she really didn't trust herself around him.
She hated him.
But most of all, she hated the flurry of emotions he inspired within her.
But he was bad: bad for her as well as bad for humanity in general.
However, as she stood there, enraptured by the song, part of her was beginning to doubt her preconceived notions about the man behind it. After all, how could a man who produced such sweet music and whose words seemed to come straight from the purest part of a tormented heart be bad?
Thoughts?