ConSeQuences Chapter 15, a twilight fanfic

My beta, Mel Cee and pre-reader, SassyNoles, totally ROCK! They are constantly helping me with cleaning up those little things called commas. LOL Thank you ladies for helping me with the flow of this chapter!

Chapter 15: Between A Rock & A Hard Place

Edward

Once Bria had left, Emmett chewed my head off for another hour before he finally stormed off. As pissed as Emmett was with me, I knew he wouldn't say anything to our parents. For the most part, he'd cover for me unless I'd done something that he deemed was too crazy.

When I got home that night, I kept checking my phone to see if Bria had done what she said she'd do. Finding nothing posted on my socials, I foolishly thought she had changed her mind and I was in the clear.

The following morning, I woke up later than usual, so I rushed out of the house and headed straight to work without stopping for my predictable coffee and breakfast sandwich.

After I unlocked the door and turned on the lights at the shop, I walked to the breakroom, and made some strong coffee because I knew my schedule was slammed for the whole day.

By the time I was halfway through my first cup of coffee, with my phone in my hand to check Facebook, my first client had arrived.

As luck had it, all my clients were on time, which left me no time to see why my phone continued to vibrate like crazy on my desk.

Time seemed to move by at a snail's pace, and I wasn't able to look at my phone until nine o'clock in the evening. I was beyond mortified to see over one hundred and sixty-five notifications from Facebook.

No such fucking luck Bria decided to let it go.

I closed my eyes and threw my head back toward the ceiling.

Bria did exactly what she said she'd do, and my stomach dropped thinking about the aftereffects of it.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I clicked on the Facebook icon and went straight to my personal page. She had lost her goddamn mind! The most recent tagged post that greeted me was a mockup of a PSA poster showing my picture and a disgusting image of what chlamydia did to your body. In big bold red lettering across the top, she had placed a warning not to come within ten feet of because I was a diseased-carrying pervert.

Heat flashed through my body, and a sheet of sweat formed on my forehead.

As I continued to scroll, it looked like she had created two to three posts every hour, starting at six o'clock in the morning, and tagged Piper and me in all of them.

Even though Piper was the one that had infected me, she seemed to have flipped the story and made it seem as if I'd infected her, according to some of her comments on Facebook.

I clenched my jaw and grounded my teeth as I continued to see one post after the other with comments from females, I'd bedded in the past. It seemed they were bitter because I'd never returned their calls. But they weren't the only ones chiming in. There were some comments from concerned friends and family who wondered if it was a cruel joke or not.

My whole fucking page was full of this shit, and the only thing I could do was un-tag myself, but the damage had already been done. I had no idea how many people from Bria and Piper's pages, who I didn't know, had seen these posts.

Goddammit!

My heart sped up at the thought of my parents seeing these posts. I quickly closed out of Facebook to check for voicemail and text messages from either one of them. To my dismay, I had a voicemail message from my father. He could be persistent as fuck when he wanted to, and I knew he wouldn't rest until we spoke. But I pushed those thoughts aside.

I couldn't believe that Bria went to such lengths to embarrass me. I wondered what I'd done to her for her to be this crazed. But to top it all off, Bria wasn't even that good of a lay. I'd had much better than her.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks-what if Bella saw these posts. I wasn't sure if she deleted me off her Facebook page or not. She didn't get on often, but the way my luck had been going lately, she'd see it.

Sonofabitch!

I stood up and began to pace back and forth, with an animalistic growl in my throat.

I needed to leave so I could punch something. I had all this pent-up aggression, and I had to get it out somehow.

I was the only one in the shop, so I shut everything down and locked up. I jogged to my car and headed straight to the gym. After arriving, I changed, and pounded on the heavy bag for almost an hour straight before I felt some type of relief.

I walked to the locker room, as beads of sweat slid down my forehead, burning my eyes, and flopped down on a bench in the corner. My chest heaved, with a pounding heartbeat, as I slowly took longer inhales to slow my breathing down. It had helped some, but I was still processing everything.

I knew Tanya had been my nemesis from the very beginning, when Bella introduced her as her best friend, I did try to screw her before I had met Bella, but the pure hatred and resentment I had for Bria and Piper were completely different. There was no comparison, and there was no way in hell I would let either one of them get away with what they did.

I chuckled darkly as I thought about what I had in store for Piper. What I previously threatened her with was child's play compared to what I had in mind. I didn't have as much history with Bria, so I had to do some more digging before I came up with a way to pay her back for her stunt.

I had successfully dodged my dad for one week before he caught up with me. I knew he wasn't going to come up to my workplace like Emmett did; the conversation was much too personal. So, I took later client appointments, since I was done with my summer classes, to avoid going home too early.

One night I didn't go home until eleven, and spotted his SUV parked in front of my apartment building. I saw him but he didn't see me, which gave me the opportunity to leave without being confronted.

I felt like I was hiding from a car repo man.

But the next night, all my running caught up with me when I walked in my apartment and found my father sitting on the couch, in the dark.

I was grateful to have made it to my apartment without any trace of my father. I had checked and double checked to make sure his car wasn't outside anywhere before I parked and came up.

I unlocked the door and smirked, thinking my father had finally given up as I hit the light switch on the wall.

"Hello, Edward." His tone was acidic.

"Dad!" I jumped, holding my hand over my heart, but he didn't flinch. His dark solemn eyes locked with mine. I couldn't hold his piercing gaze, so I turned away first.

I dropped my bag by the door but hadn't moved. The room was eerily quiet with the exception of a small jangle from my keys, as my hand trembled, slightly.

"So… ah," I started. "How—" I was cut off when he held up keys to my apartment.

My Adam's apple bobbed as I nodded my head in understanding when I remembered giving my parents keys. I watched while he placed the keys into his pocket as he silently challenged me with his chilling stare.

I knew it had been only a few seconds, but it felt like hours had passed, as I stood frozen in my own apartment.

My father didn't intimidate me-we didn't have that type of relationship, but he could be intimidating when he was pushed. With the disappearing act I pulled, I knew I had pushed him to this.

He sneered, impatiently. "Sit." He pointed to the chair across from him.

I'd never been clumsy before, but I stumbled over my own feet, walking to the chair. I slumped into the chair and stared down at my hands.

"Look at me, Edward." He spoke grimly.

I slowly lifted my head as I tried to muster up the balls to finally look him in the eye.

He ducked his head slightly, so we could be eye to eye since I hadn't lifted my head completely. "Why have I had to chase you for a full week, son?"

I weighed the pros and cons, wondering if I should just tell him the truth or make up some BS about how busy my schedule has been.

I went with the latter. "I've been busy between work and school."

He slowly nodded, disbelieving. "You've been done with your classes for over a week, and I saw you last night driving away from your apartment building." He squinted his eyes. "You thought I didn't see you, but I did. So, I'll ask again, Edward, why have I had to chase you?" He looked at me expectantly.

I had to accept the inevitable, so I acquiesced. "Because I didn't want to have this conversation."

"What conversation?" He leaned forward.

I hated when he did this. Asking questions he knew damn well he knew the answers to. You'd think I'd be used to it by now since he'd done it all my life. He does this Jedi mind shit, making you tell on yourself. And I thought Eleazar was the psychologist. He had nothing on Dad.

"Really, Dad?" I tilted my head to the side. "Now we're going to play games?"

"You've been the one playing games, Edward. You've avoided me all week, not to mention you had your mother sitting at Logan Square waiting on you for a goddamn hour, without so much as a call or text to let her know you weren't coming." His voice got louder as he continued. "And the really fucked-up part is, you still haven't called her to apologize."

Fuck! I totally forgot about meeting my mom for lunch. All that social media shit with Piper and Bria threw me off completely.

I sat there speechless. I had no witty comment, which for the sake of my physical health, would've been in my best interest, based upon the way my dad sat on the edge of his seat, with flared nostrils and a huge vein that strained across his forehead.

"So, you have nothing to say?" He laughed without humor.

I averted my eyes and shifted in the chair. "I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't intentionally miss lunch with Mom. It slipped my mind after Bria posted all that stuff on Facebook."

He sat back and crossed one leg over the other. "Is it true?"

I nodded with my palms pressed over my eyes because I didn't want to see the disappointed look on his face.

"So, you lied to your mother then?"

Since I'd been avoiding my mother too, I was sure I hadn't lied about anything, lately.

"Huh?"

"Don't huh me, Edward. You told your mother that doctor's appointment was an annual checkup, but it wasn't, was it?"

"No," I mumbled.

"It's true. You do have chlamydia?" He glowered and spoke through his teeth.

"Had." I licked my bottom lip. "I took all of the medication Dr. Hobbs prescribed."

"That's not the fucking point, Edward!" He pounded his fist against the arm of the couch. "You were out here being irresponsible, having sex with all these different girls with a goddamn STD." He pointed his index finger at me. "And don't you dare try to deny it either. I read every comment on every post before you deleted your account."

It figures Johnny-on-the-spot read everything. But it wasn't deleted, just deactivated, but I didn't see the point in explaining it.

"Of course, you did." I forced out a laugh.

In the blink of an eye, my father leaped from the couch and stood directly in front of me. "Son, don't fuck with me." His hands clenched and unclenched at his side. "I'm not in the mood for your smart-ass mouth. Why is everything a fucking joke to you?"

That pissed me off. It most certainly was not a joke. He had no idea all the fucked-up shit I'd dealt with from some of these crazy-ass girls.

I rubbed my brow, attempting to ward off the headache that was threatening to form due to this conversation. "First of all, you invited yourself into my apartment, unauthorized, sat in the dark for god knows how long, and then you accused me of something you have half the story to—"

He cut me off when he leaned down farther into my personal space. "Your apartment?" His laugh was hollow. "Have you forgotten we are the co-signers and pay half of the rent for your apartment, which you wouldn't have gotten without us, Edward?"

I lowered my chin into my chest. He was absolutely correct. Even with the good money I made at the tat shop, I still wouldn't be able to afford rent, along with my other expenses. Not to mention, they paid for school too.

"And I wouldn't have had to resort to such extreme measures had you been a man and not run from me all week." Ouch, that stung. "Do you think I wanted to chase you down like this?" He didn't allow me to respond before he turned and walked back to the couch and sat down.

Dad crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, since you've said I've accused you of something I don't have all of the information to, enlighten me then." He gestured for me to explain.

I sighed and bit the inside of my cheek. "Well, yes, I did have it, but I was not the one who originally had it. I caught it from Piper. She came to my job and told me she tested positive, but she didn't know who she got it from."

He unfolded his arms and scooted to the edge of his seat. "Hold on a minute." He held his palms up. "So, you caught it from Piper and not the other way around like she made it seem?"

"Yes." I nodded. "If you don't believe me, you can ask Jimmy and Janey. They heard everything." Although, I was embarrassed when I found out they knew, I'd never been so glad they overheard the truth.

"I believe you," Dad said.

I exhaled, loudly, relieved.

"Okay, that answers for that part of the story, but did you pass it along to Bria and all those other young ladies? Have you actually had intercourse with all of them?" He arched his eyebrow.

That was a loaded question, and I answered without really answering.

"Come on now, Dad, do you think I could actually bed all of those different females?" I cleared my throat, chuckling, nervously. "Do you think that's humanly possible?"

Okay, maybe that was an outright lie.

My sex life was my sex life. It wasn't up for discussion.

He titled his head, paused, and narrowed his eyes. "Don't try to answer my question with a question, Edward."

I hoped he wouldn't have caught that, but I should have known better. Plan B it is.

"No. Okay, Dad?" I rolled my eyes. "You know how spiteful some females can be. Maybe they all got together and planned the shit." He jerked his head back for that last word. "Sorry about that." I shrugged one shoulder. "But you see the way Piper lied. I didn't even know Bria and Piper knew each other." I stood up and paced, as the lies easily fell from my lips. "I don't know half those girls. I think most of them were from either Bria or Piper's friends list." His eyes followed me as I continued to pace. "Perhaps they told their friends to do that just to make me look a certain way." I was exhausted from that long explanation but hoped it satisfied him, as I waited for his response.

He nodded with a tight expression. I knew he wasn't fully convinced, but it would have to suffice for now. I'd had a long day at the shop, and I wanted to collapse in my bed.

"You know," he started, as he ran his hand down his face. "Your mother and I talked it out extensively, and we thought it would be best to pay the fees for ending the lease early so you could move back home."

"What!" My eyes bulged in disbelief.

"You heard me." He was unmoved by my outburst.

Fuck that. That was not happening.

"Dad, I'm not coming back home." My face was red, my lips curled.

"Oh really?" He snorted. "You don't have a choice."

I quickly turned away from him, as I scanned the room, trying to figure out where I could go. If I went back home, that would give them more opportunity to be in my business. Then I'd have to be bothered with Alice's trifling ass every day. She'd make sure she did something daily to grate my nerves.

I couldn't move in with Jimmy because him and Vickey just got a one-bedroom apartment on Lakeshore together, and the only other person I would've moved in with hated me.

My dad pulled me out of my musing. "Edward, take a seat so I can explain to you how everything will go." His tone left no room for debate.

My heart thudded in my chest, as I dropped down in the same chair.

He nodded crisply after I sat down. "I took the liberty and reached out to the property manager, Diana, and we came to a mutual agreement that would not ruin your credit or ours." He briefly paused, possibly waiting to see if I would interject anything, but I didn't have a damn thing to say. He and my mom had already made the fucking decision for me.

"You'll move out at the end of September. So, we'll do the usual, go half on the rent. Your mother and I will handle the early termination fees. You don't have to worry about that. Oh yeah." He pulled out a piece of paper from his inside jacket pocket. "Your mother has contacted a moving company, 606 Movers, that will take all of your furniture to storage and anything else you don't want to bring home. I'd suggest you move all of your electronics yourself, so they won't get damaged, but that's something we can talk about later."

The longer he talked, the sicker I felt. I wasn't a sixteen-year-old who had to follow their parents' rules. I was a fucking adult. I could do whatever the hell I wanted to. I didn't need their permission to do anything. The more everything registered, the angrier I got.

Before I knew I was out of the chair. "I'm not moving in with you and Mom, Dad!" His head snapped up, jaw set. "How dare you and Mom have a conversation about what's best for me, without me." I pointed to myself. "I'm not a fucking kid."

He slowly stood and stepped into my personal space. "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear the first time." His tone was blood-curdling. "Your mother and I will not help you with rent, school or any other monthly expenses. Edward, we have given you chance after chance, and you've shown us repeatedly that you're not ready to live on your own yet."

I was royally fucked and there wasn't a damn thing I could've done about it. Even with the money I had saved, it could only go so far. Plus, I still had my car payments and they had me on their car insurance. My dad knew they had me between a rock and a hard place.

I sighed dejectedly and half-heartedly shrugged. "So, I have roughly another month in a half to stay here?"

"Yes." He stepped back a little, and the tension left his face. "I know you don't like it, but maybe after we feel you've matured more, we can revisit it a year from now."

I had no idea what I would do but living with them for year would be sheer hell.

Dad looked down at his watch. "It's late and I'm drained." He put his hand on my shoulder. "You moving back home isn't the worse thing in the world, Edward. At least you'll get to save money on rent, and with your brothers gone, you can have the whole third floor to yourself." He smiled for the first time since he'd been in my apartment. "You'll still have your privacy, especially since your sister is on the second floor and hardly ever home, since she started school."

He tried to emphasize the silver lining through all this fuckery, but I wasn't buying it.

"Son…" He squeezed my shoulder. "I know we both got heated, but I hope you know how much your mother and I love you."

"Yeah, I know," I answered with a monotone voice. My parents' love for me had never been in question-I was just pissed.

Dad pulled me into a hug and kissed my cheek. "I love you, Edward." He pulled back. "And call your mother tomorrow. She's tried to hide it, but when you flaked out on lunch that hurt her feelings."

"I will," I murmured.

He walked away and closed the door behind himself without another word.

I stood there and looked at everything and nothing, eyes lackluster, and my body was devoid of all energy. The only thought that ran through my mind was Piper was how responsible for this.

CCCCCCCCC

I had purposely come in earlier than everyone else, including Jimmy, so I could enjoy the quiet before the noisy day started. I sipped my hazelnut coffee, after I took a bite of my cinnamon toast.

With all the drama that took place the past weeks, the peace was definitely welcomed.

I ran my fingers through my hair after reading a direct message from Jordyn on Instagram. She was one of the many who had reached out to me on Facebook Messenger-which I'd purposely ignored-and demanded an explanation.

Rather than continuing to ignore her, I picked my phone back up and sent Jordyn a quick message to back the hell up since we'd never hooked up. She had a nice rack, but it wasn't worth all of the trouble. After I sent my message, I blocked her.

In spite of the fact that I had deleted and blocked both Bria and Piper, I eventually decided to deactivate the damn Facebook account all together, three weeks ago, but things had not calmed down.

This shit was absurd. How long were these chicks going to keep contacting me? I thought the solution was simple… go to the doctor and get yourself checked out. If you have it, take medicine, but if you don't… no harm, no foul.

Although it wasn't me who started the shitstorm, I was definitely the one being blamed for it.

I heard the door unlock and moments later, the code was punched in. "Hey, E, where are you?" Jimmy called out.

"I'm in the breakroom," I replied.

"All right. Let me put my stuff down and I'll come in there."

"Cool." I found Bella's name in my contacts and clicked send message. Although, I knew she wouldn't respond, I still sent Bella text messages every day. I missed her like crazy, especially since I hadn't seen her at the restaurants, we both frequented lately. And since summer camp ended, I couldn't see her there either.

"Morning," Jimmy said, as he walked by and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Morning," I said before I took another sip.

He sat at the table across from me, with a strange look on his face. "You okay, J?" He seemed a little off.

He ran his hand through his dirty blonde hair. "Me and Vickey went to The Capital Grille last night."

"Oh yeah, how was it?" I smiled.

"The food was phenomenal. One of the best steaks I've ever had." He rubbed his stomach. "It was a little pricey, but it was well worth the money."

"Cool." I nodded. "Maybe I'll take Bella there one day."

Jimmy glanced at me but looked away. "Yeah, maybe." He smiled quick but false.

That shit made me uneasy. I pushed my coffee mug away and folded my hands on the table. "Jimmy, what's up with you?"

He exhaled, loudly, before he finally met my gaze. "I have something to tell you, but you can't lose your shit, Edward."

It wasn't like I was some hothead. Jimmy knew it wasn't a lot that made me react that way, so for him to say that, I mentally braced myself. "Tell me."

"I saw Bella last night…" he shifted in the chair. "…with another guy."

"What!" I stood from the chair and it flew out from under me hitting the wall, hard.

He stood up to his full height. "E, calm the fuck down."

I knew there was more to it than that. He was too jumpy.

"What else, J?"

"I'm not telling you nothing else if you don't sit down, now." He pointed to the chair behind me.

A chill of dread shot through my body, but I raised my hands in surrender, before I grabbed the chair and sat down.

Jimmy pulled the chair out at the same table I sat at. "If I tell you the rest, you have to promise you'll sit and listen, without interrupting me, okay?"

I felt an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. I bit my lip and nodded.

He cleared his throat. "Okay, so when we first got there, I don't think Bella saw us, but I had a bird's-eye view of them from where our table was. She was with this tall, buff guy, with hair similar to mine but darker."

That sounded like that Grayson motherfucker. I started to ask a question to clarify, but Jimmy shook his head and held his hand up. "They sat next to each other, close and seemed very comfortable, too."

The thought of another guy's hand on Bella made me seethe. I folded my hands as if I was praying, closed my eyes and tried to rein in my anger.

"Now, it's not like I watched them the entire night because I was on a date with Vickey. But when they were leaving, they had to pass our table." He hesitated, searching my eyes before he continued. "She stopped and spoke to us and introduced this guy Grayson, I believe that was his name…" he paused and looked down at the floor. "…as her boyfriend."

Boyfriend! I knew it. I knew he hung around just so he could pounce while she was weak and vulnerable. Bella, my Bella, wouldn't do this. She was much too sensible to fall for this, for him. Or at least I thought she was. Maybe I hurt her more than I thought I did. After all, I was her first love-her first everything-so he could never replace me. He couldn't be anything more than her rebound guy. Yeah, that was it. It'd be some cheap, insignificant thing that won't last.

But Jimmy said they sat close and he touched her, had his hands on her. My pulse elevated as I envisioned them together. My right leg bounced as if it had a mind of its own. I knew it was the only thing that kept me grounded and stopped me from taking the nearest chair and fucking up the entire room.

"Edward?" Jimmy titled his head and narrowed eyes.

"What?" My tone was guarded.

"Whoa, dude." He frowned. "Don't shoot the messenger. I didn't have to tell you a damn thing, but since we're boys, I felt you needed to know."

Yep, the classic asshole move, killing the messenger. He could've kept this to himself and I would've found out the hard way.

I sighed and covered my face with my hands. "J, my bad, I'm sorry. You're right. It's not your fault."

His face softened, as he put his fist out for me to pound. "No worries, E. I get it."

"It's just—" My chest caved in. "I—I don't know what else to do to get her to hear me, forgive me."

He looked at me with a pained expression. "Maybe… she doesn't want to hear it, or she won't forgive you." He leaned closer to me. "You have to be all right with that and move on."

"No, no, no." I shook my head repeatedly. "You don't get it. There is no moving on without her, J."

"What do you mean there is no moving on?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "Whether you want to accept it or not, Bella has moved on. Maybe it's time you finally do the same."

Jimmy knew me better than most, but I couldn't believe he said that bullshit to me. But instead of going back and forth with him, I chalked it up as he didn't understand the depth of love I had for her. Perhaps him and Vickey's relationship wasn't on the same level as ours.

"I'm not giving up. I don't care what you or anyone else says." I chuckled. "Bella and I will be together." I jabbed the table with my index finger.

Jimmy stood up and leaned down in my face. "Edward, what the fuck is wrong with you? It's almost like you're obsessed or some shit. You are concerning—" He was cut off by the doorbell. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and checked the time. "Shit. This is my first client." He picked up his coffee cup and put it in the sink. "This conversation is not over." He pointed before he left the breakroom.

I merely nodded my head to appease him because as far as I was concerned, the conversation was over. If he wasn't going to be a part of the solution helping me to get Bella back, anything else would fall on deaf ears.

I heard Jimmy and his client talking until they went into his work area. I glanced at my watch and noticed my first client was due any minute. I closed my eyes, inhaled and exhaled a few times, and shifted gears from my personal life to business. But first, I had to put things in proper perspective.

Based upon the new information Jimmy informed me of, my to do list had gotten longer. First, I needed to reach out to my resources to blow up Piper's shit. Then I had to get as much dirt on Bria as possible, then do damage. Lastly, finding out who this Gray bastard really was became a priority. But most importantly, I planned to make sure he and Bella broke up, quick fast and in a hurry.

I didn't foresee getting information on him as being too difficult. We went to the same school, and I knew a few girls in the registrar's office that would be more than willing to help me. It would be like taking candy from a baby. I smirked and stood up, satisfied with my plans.

Chaos was definitely a friend of mine…

A/N: Happy New Year Lovelies! May you have a Healthy and Prosperous 2023.

Thank you to everyone for your encouraging reviews! I was blown away from the last chapter with over 30 reviews.

So… what do you think about what Piper and Bria did to Edward?

You got a chance to learn more about Carlisle in this chapter… what are your thoughts about Edward and his exchange? Do you think Esme and Carlisle were being too pushy terminating Edward's lease?

What are your thoughts about Jimmy and Edward's conversation?

Rec: Emma Matthews, by Anton M. Isabella has been cooperating with the DEA under her father's nose. Video footage reveals her involvement, her brother murders their father, and she agrees to be a key witness in federal criminal cases against an ex-judge, a congressman, and an array of criminals, including her brother. Marshal Masen, hacker Bella. AH Completed. I loved this story from beginning to end!