EPOV
Bella looks pissed.
The kind of pissed where she might cut my balls off.
I should have texted.
Garrett told me when he stopped by after leaving her place that I needed to make some tough decisions in regard to my relationship with her.
He said Bella didn't need to be jerked around, which I agreed with.
It was when he pointed out that I needed to quit treating her like an afterthought that really made me bristle.
I wanted to argue with him, saying he had no clue how I felt about her but I started to see what he meant when Jazz texted me saying there had better be some emergency tonight.
And then again when Ali asked Esme if she could stay at my place a little longer so she could make sure I don't ruin a good thing for once.
I should have asked Bella how her hand was.
I should have told her about Vera's impromptu visit to Esme's place and how she blamed me and my treatment of her daughter as the reason for Rose's relapse.
On the way over here, I argued with Alice about Bella not texting me either, which earned me being called an asshole.
Alice pointed out that if it was her in Bella's shoes, that she would be afraid of coming off as too needy and would worry about overstepping.
I cooled from her perspective.
Bella was someone who kept everything bottled up until it all bubbled out of her.
As I watch her slam her drink back and her petite frame sway slightly, I have a feeling that her liquid courage is about to let me know what I did wrong.
But again I can't predict Bella's next move because she takes the drink in front of the kid that gave me shit last week and cradles his glass in her hands keeping it close to her chest before she ignores all of us.
We watch her take a seat at an empty table.
"You couldn't pick up your phone at all?" Jazz questions.
"Kind of hard when someone is yelling at you and threatening to get involved with custody," I tell him while roughly running my fingers through my hair.
He rolls his eyes.
Fucking Vera and her empty threats.
"Let me talk to her," Al says, but I place my hand on her shoulder shaking my head.
"No, I'll do it, it's me who fucked up," I say.
They look at me surprised.
I move around the crowd at the bar to the table Bella is now occupying.
She stares straight ahead taking a long sip of her ex's drink.
Something else Garrett felt the need to tell me, that the kid was her high school boyfriend.
"I know you're pissed—"
"I think now isn't the time to talk," she says flatly.
"We need to talk," I insist.
"I'm about four drinks in, I don't think it's a good idea," she advises, finally looking at me.
Her face says don't fuck with me but her eyes… they're heartbroken.
I don't listen and slide into the booth but keep my distance.
"Bell—"
"I'm really glad that you are in seemingly perfect health and that Hadley must be good too since you are in some bar in Brooklyn at twelve-thirty in the morning," she says, still cradling her glass to her. "How many times have I reached out to check on both of you since Monday?"
I don't answer because I knew how concerned she was, especially after what happened at the school yesterday.
She initiated the texts, not me.
"Cat got your tongue?" she tilts her head before taking another sip.
"I should have texted, I know I'm in the wrong here—"
"Do you, Edward?"
I nod hesitantly.
"I have a question for you," she says, squinting her eyes at me. "Is this," she gestures between us. "Only about you blowing off some steam? Like 'Oh, I have some pent-up stress better go fuck Bella', kind of thing? Because you showed up to my place so upset Monday—"
"You can't possibly think that of me, Bell," I interrupt her.
She shrugs polishing off her drink.
"I reach out to you, you don't reach out to me," she says waving her hand between us. "That's fucked up."
The coward in me would like to retreat back home. I just spent hours being berated and threatened by a woman who is trying to blame me for her daughter's behavior. God forbid if I were to point out that nannies raised Rose, not Vera.
I don't even want to entertain her demands of Grandparent Custody because grandparents are not automatically entitled to custody in the state of New York.
The whole night had been a production put on by Carlisle's oldest sister. I'm convinced that he used the restaurant as an excuse so he wouldn't have to deal with her, the joke was on him Esme left her at their place so he'd have to face her.
"Something came up that needed my full attention—"
"With Rose?" she asks, sighing before clapping her hands aggressively in front of me. "Com. Mun. Icate," she enunciates.
"Rose's mom is here, she showed up at Esme's this evening. Es came by to tell me and I didn't feel right having her deal with it," I explain.
"Rose isn't your responsibility—"
"She isn't but she is the mother of my child. Rose's mom came to throw around Grandparent Custody threats but what her lawyers should have advised her is that it's not applicable in New York, it's only if both parents are unable to care for the child," I tell her.
She only blinks and I see the glazed look in her eyes.
She's drunk.
I sigh.
None of this is fair to Bella. She deserves a guy who's going to love her with everything he has, no excuses. But this is where I'm a selfish asshole who can't let her go.
I need to find a balance between being Hadley's father and Bella's boyfriend.
Was Rose helping any of this? No.
She left the treatment facility as fast as she arrived. She tried to take Hadley out of school but thank God I thought that far ahead and notified the school of the changes happening in our life. The only people allowed to take Hadley out were me, Alice, Esme, or Bella.
Bella, I added prior to the school incident since she was watching Hadley after school last week.
After everything that happened yesterday, I knew our lives would never be the same again. Rose was erratic and broke my trust.
What she was trying to accomplish by her trying to take Hadley I will never understand. She now has my guard up and it will definitely take time for me to get to a place where I can ever leave her alone with our daughter.
Bella breaks me from my thoughts. "Mike asked if we were exclusive tonight," she says, moving slightly closer.
I'm guilty of moving closer too to meet her in the middle of the booth, my arm resting behind her.
"What did you tell him?"
"Only that we're dating, you went M.I.A. I'm not sure what this is," she mumbles sadly.
I am shitty.
"Bella I want this," I gesture between us. "to be exclusive. I hope you can give me an opportunity to prove that to you."
She rolls her eyes.
"Fancy words and swoony eyes," she mumbles with a glare at the table.
I can hear our friends over at the bar, I look over my shoulder and see the guy Bella dated. Another detail Garrett felt the need to tell me. I knew very little about him due to Bella brushing off any questions about the kid.
I could see he annoyed her, but I also saw how in love with her he was. I could see her relationship with Emmett was more like how siblings interact but Jacob pined for her. It was clear in the way he was looking at me right now.
"Can I take you home?" I murmur to her.
She looks past me to where I was just looking.
"Is he staying at your place?" I ask.
She nods.
"He's harmless," she tells me.
Tell that to my shoulder.
I really want her to come back home with me but I don't want her to think that I have expectations.
Her temper has cooled and she eyes me like she doesn't want me to know she's stolen a look at me.
"Want some water?" I asked instinctually cupping the back of her neck.
She nods.
I stand and make my way to the bartender.
"So?"
I look down at Alice.
"She's drunk and needs to go home, Alice," I sigh.
"That meathead is staying at her place, he made sure to tell us that."
"She thinks this is all about sex for me," I confess.
"You can have her stay over without fucking her, Jesus, Edward. Take her home, take care of her. When she's sober woo her," Alice ticks off each point on her fingers.
The bartender takes my order and I get Bella her water.
"Thanks for the advice," I tell Alice dryly before going back to the table.
Bella takes her water, chugging it.
"All those drinks prior weren't a good idea," she pants.
"Have I been forgiven?" I ask cupping her neck again.
She looks wary and shrugs.
I need to fix this.
"I wouldn't be a good boyfriend if I didn't watch over you tonight," I tell her. "Come back to my place, take my bed and I'll sleep on the floor."
"You're my boyfriend?" she asks with wide eyes.
It's comical but she's drunk, so I only nod instead of teasing her.
She squints.
"No sex?"
"No sex," I confirm.
"I get to sleep in that California King?"
I nod again.
"You don't need to take the floor."
She then decides to scoot out of the booth but quickly loses her balance once she stands. Her ass hits the seat hard.
"Whoa," she mumbles.
I slide out of the booth and wrap my arm around her.
"Let's go," I tell her.
"The room is spinning," she tells me, closing her eyes.
"Jazz," I call over to the bar.
He looks over to us and makes his way over, Bella's puppy is right behind him.
"What's up?"
"She's done for the night, I need to get a car," I explain.
Bella leans on me but moves forward to place both her hands on Jazz's shoulders. "Edward's taking me to his place, but he's not getting any," she whisper yells.
Jazz bites his lip to hold back his laugh.
"Does Ed know this?" he asks amused.
"He does," I answer for her before giving her to Jazz so I can get my phone out of my pocket.
"I'll take her home," Jacob interjects.
"No, you make home weird," she tells him, pushing his face away.
She lurches forward, Jazz has her but I also move to grab her too just in case.
"Jazz, that was too much booze," Bella slurs clutching his forearms.
"It was, darlin'," he agrees.
I quickly order an Uber and take her from Jazz.
"I don't think her going with you is a good idea," Jacob voices more aggressively.
"I'm her boyfriend and I don't care what you think," I spit.
"You're the reason she got obliterated," he accuses.
"Jake, gooooooo," Bella yells at him.
She manages to break my hold to push at him and she almost faceplants in the process.
Emmett appears concerned.
"Everything good here?" he asks, eyeing each one of us.
"I'm taking her back to my place so I can watch over her," I explain before adding. "The car should be here any minute."
"She's too drunk," Jacob argues.
"Man, I told you Bella's been dating Edward for a while now," Emmett says with a sigh like he's exasperated with his friend. "Need help getting her out to the car?"
I shake my head.
I notice that Alice has been watching this whole production from the bar.
She sends me a wave.
I roll my eyes.
Bella hangs onto me while I guide us out of the bar and I can hear Jacob arguing with Emmett behind us.
I glance at my phone to see the driver is parked right out front.
"Edward?" he asks when I approach.
I nod and double-check his plates before I help Bella into the car. Once I get in, Bella lays her head on my shoulder and places her hand on my chest.
"I'm a little dizzy but kinda really horny," she confesses, peeking up at me through heavy lids.
"As much as I like you, really horny, Bell, we can't tonight," I tell her with a kiss on her forehead.
"Cause I'm wasted?"
"Yep," I answer simply.
She sighs, staying quiet for a few minutes before she opens her mouth.
"Sometimes I just wanna rage at your face… then sometimes I just wanna sit on your face," she says like it's such a dilemma for her.
I bark out a laugh because this girl is certifiable.
Again not expecting her next move I jump when her hand pats my dick through my pants.
"I do miss my friend," she tells either me or my dick wistfully.
I take her hand that's on me and intertwine our fingers.
The driver announces we're at my place.
Getting Bella out of the car is like carrying around dead weight. She's drunker now than when we left the bar.
It's hitting her all at once.
I try to get her inside as quickly as possible but like I said she's a corpse.
Esme's on the couch watching TV, she doesn't look surprised that I have Bella with me, but she does look concerned.
"Need help?" she asks.
That's when Bella bolts and stumbles her way down the hall to my room. I'm hot on her heels wanting to pick her up but when she trips her way to the bathroom and almost misses the toilet, I hold her hair back while she heaves.
I hear Esme in the doorway, I turn waving her away so she can give us a minute.
Bella retches repeatedly until it turns into dry heaving. Once she calms I pull her onto my lap and hold her.
"I'm dying," she croaks.
"Do you at least feel better?" I ask while rubbing her back.
She shakes her head.
We sit like this for God knows how long until I hear a slight snore below.
It's a small feat but I manage to get up and carry her to my bed.
Knowing she hates sleeping in pants I get her jeans off and settled in my bed on her side. I place my trash bin by her in case she needs it before heading to the kitchen to get her a bottle of water.
Once Esme sees me she follows me into the kitchen.
"So, I assume she was pissed?" Es asks.
"Her being drunk equates to being pissed?" I ask opening the fridge.
She raises an eyebrow at me.
Esme told me when we left for her place that I should let Bella know what was going on.
"You were right, I should have reached out," I tell her dryly.
"Well she's here now," she says optimistically.
I'm glad she's with me, especially after what just happened in my bathroom. Would Emmett and that asshole be able to take care of her?
"She might still be pissed in the morning," I point out.
"Maybe she'll soften because you are taking care of her," she comments.
I sigh.
"I wanted to strangle Vera tonight," My sister finally says.
Our train ride back here was relatively quiet. I think we were still trying to process everything that happened. I was livid with Rose and Es was livid with Carlisle for hiding away at the restaurant instead of facing his sister.
Not once did Es back down when Vera went off on me about Rose.
I was accused of taking advantage of Rose from the start.
I was accused of cruelly keeping Hadley from her mother since infancy.
I was accused of trying to find a mother for Hadley so Rose could be replaced.
I was accused of setting Rose up for failure.
Rose had behavioral and substance abuse problems way before me, and my sister made sure to point that out. She drove home the point that Vera practically washed her hands of Rose when she turned eighteen and had begged Carlisle for his help since I turned out so well given my circumstances.
I credit my sister for that, not him. He was good to me and always was there to guide me growing up but Esme was my parent between the two of them.
"I called Senna to give her a heads up, she says there is nothing to worry about where Vera is concerned—"
"But?"
"She suggested a restraining order against Rose since she tried to take Hadley out of school yesterday knowing that she wasn't allowed to," I explain with a heavy sigh.
Esme looks a little stunned.
"I know, I didn't want to resort to that but—"
"You have no choice," she finishes for me.
I nod rubbing my hand over my face.
I can hear Bella start retching again.
"Go take care of her, I'll take the guest room and get Hadley ready in the morning," Esme offers.
I'm grateful for my sister.
I give her a sad smile before I retreat to my room with water in hand to take care of my girl.
A/N: For those passionately commenting about Bella and her immaturity, I don't know what to tell you. This Bella isn't a doormat and is going to feel her feelings. This is her journey. Thanks to CoppertopJ for betaing. Any mistakes are my own.