6

It felt awkward, Bella thought, as she followed Carlisle and Edward and Esme into their large, white, farm style house. Mostly, it felt awkward seeing her in a house that didn't fit who she was. Esme was beautiful and spontaneous, and spunky and sassy and had a tongue that worked magic on her pussy, so seeing her inside this big, white house was awkward and weird, she thought. But then again, nothing about their situation was anything but awkward and weird. All she should think about was how her father would hate the big white farm house and the beautiful, spunky, sassy woman with the magic tongue because she loved Bella, and her father hated everything about his daughter.

He never said those words, of course. No, Charlie said he worried about her, worried who was going to take care of her if something happened to him, that she needed a good boy and he just didn't understand why Jacob Black wasn't good enough for her.

"Why are you being such an ungrateful brat? Do you just want to spend the rest of your life alone? Do you know how hard it was to talk Billy into even talking to Jacob about going out with you?"

"Are you listening to yourself, Dad? I am eighteen years old, not forty for crying out loud! I don't want to go out with Jacob Black, Dad. I said no, and I meant no. Besides, I'm seeing someone."

"That Masen boy? He ain't worth shit, Bella. His whole family is trash. Jacob is a good boy, from a good family."

"Edward is not trash, Dad. I like him, okay? You might as well just accept that he's my boyfriend. While you're at it, accept that I will never, ever, ever go on a date with Jacob Black!"

And before Charlie could stop her, she was out of the house. It was clear in that moment that her father didn't a damn about her, and he would never accept her for who she was, who she really was. He would never understand Bella didn't want anyone to take care of her; she wanted to be the one taking care of Esme.

"Do you either of you want something to drink? We have bottles of water? Some sodas, I think? Some milk?" Esme laughed, though it sounded uneasy and tense. "Sorry, I'm just . . . I don't know how to do this. We never have people over."

"Um, I'm good," Edward said, causing them to turn toward Bella, who shrugged and said, "I think we've stalled long enough."

Esme sighed and lifted their joined hands to her lips before the four of them settled on the couches. Her and Esme on one and Carlisle and Edward on the other. For a moment, the four of them just sat there in awkward, uneasy silence. Bella shifted and crossed her legs, angling herself toward Esme, who blushed her favorite shade of red. Bella bit back her moan, knowing this wasn't the time nor the place to let her urges get the best of her. They needed to talk, to really talk before they could proceed to be together; that much Bella knew.

"Well, this is . . ." Carlisle cleared his throat and turned toward Edward, smiling as he looked at him. "I don't know where to start."

"You could introduce me to your wife," Edward said, frowning as his eyes shifted to Esme.

Carlisle laughed and released his hand gesturing toward Esme. "Edward Masen, this is my wife, Esme. Esme, this is the love of my life, Edward Masen."

"It's nice to meet you, Edward. Carlisle's told me so much about you."

"He did?" Edward asked, his eyes widening causing Carlisle and Esme to laugh.

"Of course I did," Carlisle scoffed, tugging him closer. "You're important to me, Edward."

"Oh," he whispered, ducking his head, but Bella could see how red his ears were.

"Can I ask why you and Carlisle are married, if you're both . . . well . . . gay?" Bella asked, her eyes flickering from Esme to Carlisle and back.

"It's a little . . . complicated," Esme murmured. "We, well, we got married because it was expected of us."

"Expected by who?"

"Our parents," she and Carlisle said together.

"Esme and I were both born and raised in upstate New York. Our parents were old friends, whose parents were old friends, etc. Growing up, our parents constantly talked about our futures, their plans for our futures. Our families were . . . are wealthy and affluent. The problem, of course, was that neither Esme nor I were attracted to each other, or anyone else of the opposite sex."

Esme laughed softly. "That's the understatement of the century." She rolled her eyes. "When we turned sixteen, we were sat down and informed that he and I were now betrothed to each other. We sat there while they laid out the rest of our lives in front of us. We would get engaged, go to college, get married, have babies, etc. It was . . ." She sighed and shook her head. "I love Carlisle. He's my best friend, but he's never been more than my best friend. That night, I was just flabbergasted as I sat there and listened to my father plan my life out and I just . . . I felt so . . . angry," she whimpered, and when Bella lifted their hands to her lips, she said, "I'm okay, sweetheart. I just . . . For the first time in my life, I found myself standing up and telling my father to stop, screaming at him to just stop. I just needed him to stop, to stop trying to sell me off like I was . . . I was fucking cattle. He was so angry, so very angry, and he started screaming at me, calling me ungrateful, and I just . . . I just left. I ran out of the house and just ran. I was three blocks away when Carlisle caught up with me."

Bella and Edward looked at Carlisle, who shrugged his shoulder. "I was worried about her."

"Why?" Bella asked. "Why were you worried about her?"

"Because she was my best friend." Carlisle smiled. "I've always known I'm gay. Always. It's just something I knew about myself, but I couldn't tell anyone, especially not my parents, because, well, Cullen men are supposed to be manly, leaders of their families, virile men." He rolled his eyes. "Not able to be honest with my family was hard, but as least I had Esme. I knew she was hurt, I knew her father had hurt her, so when I caught up with her, we went out to the lake, someplace we used to hang out all the time. For a while, we just sat in silence. I mean, I hadn't told anyone that I was gay, not even her, but I just . . . I needed someone to know. And, um, we just kind of looked at each other and blurted out, at the same time mind you, that we were gay."

Esme laughed. "I felt the greatest sense of relief, you know? I mean I had been holding my sexuality so close to my chest."

"How'd you end up married if you're both gay?"

"Just because we admitted to each other, and ourselves, that we were gay didn't mean we could tell our families," Carlisle explained, shrugging his shoulders. "I guess like you two are, we decided that we would pretend to be in love. We'd get through college, and then graduate school for me while Esme went to medical school. If anything, we were the prefect charade to keep admirers away, unwanted admirers away."

"Like Jessica Stanley," Edward grimaced, causing Carlisle to laugh.

"Yes, like Jessica Stanley. That little bitch is fucking crazy," he snickered. "We had planned to 'break up' after we both graduated, but our fathers announced our engagement before we could. I tried to tell my father that I wasn't in love with Esme, that I didn't want to marry her, but he . . . Well, he made it clear that I didn't have a choice. Our families were planning on merging their businesses, and if we didn't get married, our families would lose everything."

Carlisle released Edward's hand as he stood up and walked over to the fireplace, placing his hands on the mantle. "I told my father that I was gay. I told him, and do you know what he said?"

"No."

Carlisle turned and looked at Edward, who Bella noticed was staring at him with longing. It wasn't hard to see the way he loved Carlisle, needed him. It was the same way she looked at Esme, she knew, she hoped.

"He laughed. He laughed and said there was no way in Hell he was going to let his faggot son stop him from securing a sound business deal. That I could do whoever I wanted privately, but publically Esme was going to be my wife, and I was going to be her husband. And if I didn't, he'd make sure I paid dearly for betraying him. My father, Edward, he . . ." Carlisle walked over and sat next to him. "I knew better than to disobey him, to be more of a disappointment to him than I clearly already was, so I said fine. I talked with Esme, and she agreed to marry me. That was three years ago."

"So you just got married? Like it was no big deal?" Bella asked.

"No, of course not," Esme tried to assure her. "I just . . . Like him, I knew better than to defy my parents, Bella. Carlisle and I just figured we could get married, move away, and fake it long enough for it to be socially acceptable, then file for divorce. But then I met you," she whimpered, bringing her hand up to Bella's cheek. "I fell in love with you the minute I walked into that examination room."

Bella laughed. "Leave it to me to cut myself while cooking dinner."

"I'd never seen someone so beautiful," Esme whispered. "I wanted to kiss you that night."

"I would have let you."

"Yeah?"

Bella nodded. "Instead, I slipped you my number, told you to call. And you did."

"I did," she admitted, leaning in and kissing her softly. "And I don't regret it. Not one little bit, even when I realized that you were younger than I thought."

"I mean, technically, I am an adult."

"Barely."

Carlisle cleared his throat, drawing Bella and Esme's attention back to him and Edward, both of who looked . . . both uncomfortable and a little turned on with the way to the two women were together.

"Sorry," they said together.

"Don't be. It's easy to get carried away." Carlisle looked at Edward. "I mean, we do all the time."

"In the locker room," Bella quipped, causing them both to turn bright red. "I'm just saying, the locker room is probably not the best place to fuck."

"But the risk makes it worth it," Carlisle scoffed.

"That's what I said!" Edward exclaimed, and the four of them laughed before another awkward silence settled around them once again.

After a few minutes, Bella sighed and said, "So what happens now?"

"Well, Esme and I have been talking about it, since you know, we got home and compared notes, or whatever," Carlisle muttered. "Our plan had been to wait until the end of the school year before announcing that we were separating, so from the way we see it, nothing really has to change, does it? She and I can continue to pretend that we are happily married, you and Edward can continue to date, and that gives us the next nine and half months to plan our lives together, outside of Forks."

Carlisle shifted his eyes to Edward. "I mean, you do want forever with me still, don't you?"

"Of course I do," he murmured, his ears turning red again. "I love you, Carlisle. I want . . . I need you so much."

"I love you, too." Carlisle leaned forward and pressing his lips against Edward's, who moaned and scooted closer, reaching up between them and fisting the front of his T-shirt. Carlisle wrapped his arms around Edward, pulling him onto his lap.

"Hey," Esme whispered, drawing Bella's attention to her. "Come with me."

"Are you asking? Or ordering?"

"Asking. I would never . . . I would never order you to anything, Bella. You know that."

"I do, just wanted to be sure that you knew that." Bella stood up and held her hand out to Esme, who wrapped her fingers around hers and stood up. "Surprise me."

Esme laughed and nodded before she turned and led Bella upstairs to the room on the right side of the hallway. She wasn't sure she wanted to see hers and Carlisle's bedroom, just the thought of him touching her was enough to cause her stomach to roll. She wanted to be the only one who touched Esme, who made her scream her name when she came, who begged her to make her cum.

Their bedroom surprised Bella, though. The walls were dark red, with white crown molding and white curtains covering the two sets of windows. There was a large oak bed with red and white bedding and an oak dresser, two oak nightstands, a cheval mirror in one corner, and a large, overstuffed white chair with red cushions in the other corner. There was door which she could tell led into the bathroom and another that she was sure lead into the closet.

"I've always pictured you in here, you know, with me," Esme said, drawing Bella's attention back to her.

"You have?"

Esme nodded before she walked over and sat on the side of the bed, scooting backward before patting the bed next to her. "Aren't you going to join me?"

"I don't know if I can," Bella admitted.

"Why not?"

She gave Esme a look. "I would think your husband explains it all."

Esme fell back on the bed and laughed. "Oh, my God, Bella, we don't share a room!"

"You don't?"

"Of course not," Esme scoffed, sitting up. "His room is on the other side of the hall. We're roommates, Bella. That's all."

"So you've never . . . you know . . . had sex with him?"

"No!" she exclaimed. "We kissed once, when we were fifteen. It was disgusting and just confirmed to me that I was more into pussy than dick."

Bella kicked her shoes off and walked over, placing her hands on Esme's shoulders and pushed her backward, before climbing onto the bed so that she was straddling her.

"I missed you today."

"I missed you, too," Bella admitted. "I should have told you about mine and Edward's plan, but I just . . . I didn't think it was something I should explain through text message."

"That's fair, I guess." Esme leaned up, her arms wrapping around Bella, one hand sliding down the inside of her pants and the other up the back of her shirt. "I thought I had lost you."

"You're never losing me, love. You're mine forever. Every part of you belongs to me, just me."

"Promise? Do you promise, sweetheart? Because I . . . I've never loved anyone the way I love you, needed anyone the way I need you."

"I won't let you go, love."

"I hope not." Esme leaned her forehead against her shoulder, but before Bella could yank her head back and show her just how she owned her lover, the sound of someone knocking on the door to Esme's bedroom pulled their attention away, and they both groaned as they climbed off the bed and walked over, pulling it open and finding Carlisle and Edward standing there.

"Sorry, but I gotta get home. Coach gave us a curfew for game nights," Edward teased, moaning when Carlisle slipped his arm around his waist, pulling him against him and kissing the side of his neck. "Babe, stop, before I take you into your room."

"Okay, okay," Carlisle laughed and stood a big step away from him, though Bella noticed the way his eyes dropped to Edward's ass.

Laughing, she turned and looked at Esme. "Guess I've gotta go. Can I call you when I get home?"

"It's almost time for me to head to the hospital, but I'm off tomorrow night. Can we meet up after the game?"

"I'd like that." Bella turned and placed her hand on the side of Esme's face. "Wear something sexy for me. A skirt, no panties."

Esme moaned, but nodded.

Bella turned and hurried past Edward and Carlisle, and downstairs, knowing that if she didn't, she would end up with her tongue buried deep inside Esme's pussy. She leaned against the side of Edward's car for a couple minutes before he hurried out, his hair a mess and his lips swollen from what she knew was one hell of a kiss.

The drive back into town was made in silence, and when Edward pulled up in front of her house, Bella unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to face him. "Are you picking me up in the morning again? I can drive myself."

"I'll pick you up like a good boyfriend. Wouldn't want people to start talking about us, now would we?" Edward laughed. "This is going to work, right? We can just . . . I don't know, we can make this work with them, can't we?"

"Of course we can," she said, trying to sound more confident than she felt.

"I hope so."

Bella climbed out and headed up the driveway, onto the front porch. She reached for her doorknob, but turned and waved at Edward before she walked into the house. The television in the living room was still on, but thankfully, her father was passed out in his recliner, and almost a full eighteen pack of empty beer cans sat on the table next to his chair.

Sighing, Bella walked into the kitchen and grabbed the trash can before walked back into the living room and started quietly placing the empty beer cans into the trash can. She covered him with a blanket, turned the television off, and put the trash can back into the kitchen before she headed upstairs to her bedroom, closing the door and sitting on the side of the bed. She placed her hands on her knees and took a deep breath, trying to keep from screaming. She couldn't lose Esme now. Without her, she wouldn't have anyone to love her.

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