BPOV
"Pssttt, you awake?" Edward mumbles against my neck.
I stretch into him but feel the pounding in my head from all the champagne I drank in celebration of us last night.
"Mmm," I grunt incoherently while his sneaky fingers skim down my stomach, only to go lower.
This time I moan, earning a snicker in my ear.
"You like that, Bell?" he teases while stroking my folds.
I turn until I'm lying on my back and he's hovering above me.
He cups my face while brushing my cheek with his thumb.
His eyes roaming my face.
He once told me that he was afraid if he blinked that I'd be gone.
He was a cheeseball like that.
I turn my head and kiss his palm.
"I love you," he murmurs right before he thrusts into me.
Just like every time before we get lost in each other.
Edward was considered a prodigy in his music community but he was very skilled in the bedroom too.
I didn't learn that until much later in our relationship. He likes to tease that he loves making up for lost time, because we'd known each other a year before I let him in my pants. We've been together for two years so I think he's reaching with his little joke.
It hadn't always been this easy, especially in the beginning, but I learned quickly all I had to do was fall in love with Edward for everything I'd endured to be worth it.
~PR~
Edward Cullen
His name had been sitting in my search bar for almost an hour.
I couldn't find the courage in me to hit the search button.
Angela and I escaped to the bar we originally intended on going to tonight. We drank and she pressed me on how familiar I had gotten with Rose's brother out on the terrace for me to be this upset.
I was two margaritas in when I cracked.
He was gorgeous.
He was charming.
He was successful.
Angela listened to every word spilling out of my mouth.
With all the reasons why I was interested in Edward, it was exactly why nothing could happen between us.
Mike had been all those things too, well maybe not gorgeous. He was attractive but not as easy on the eyes as Edward.
Edward was magnetic.
But if someone like Mike could cheat on me, who's to say Edward wasn't the same type of guy. He was making out with Powder Nose.
I had voiced this all to Ang and she told me I needed to get that out of my head.
I couldn't, so I wallowed and now have moved my wallowing to my bed, where I'm currently curled up under my duvet staring at Google on my screen.
My phone buzzes.
When did you leave? – R
Pete is now third wheeling it with us. – R
Yep, she's definitely pissed at me, but I had to get out of there. I didn't want to face Pete but I most definitely didn't want to see Edward the Lothario in action.
My eyes find my screen again.
I just need to hit the button.
Somehow I muster up the balls to do it.
His Facebook and Instagram are the first two things that pop up so I think those are probably good places to start in my cyberstalking.
His Facebook page is private so I can't see anything.
His Instagram is public but enigmatic for sure.
No pictures of himself but of his world. The most recent was of his party guests huddled together. I spot Emmett, Jasper, and Powder Nose but Edward must have been the one taking the picture. It was only captioned 'The Crew'.
Other photos were of random art he'd seen or he purchased. He had one of Howl by Allen Ginsburg laying haphazardly on a nightstand. His nightstand. Another was of a cup of black coffee and his vape pen lying side by side.
Again very enigmatic.
Like, who was this guy? Some tortured artist?
I get out of his socials and go back to my search results.
Since he doesn't have any images of himself out there, I click on the image tab and see photo after photo of him. He was a prodigy.
Photos of performances.
Photos of Chicago society events. A lot of red carpets this guy has walked.
Photos with Powder Nose attached to his side.
I had that feeling again, like the wind got knocked out of me.
This is insane, I hadn't even felt like this when I caught Mike with Jessica. I'm clearly losing it.
I yell out into my room.
"Whoa, I leave you alone for an hour," Ang says from my doorway.
"Sorry, just having a mental breakdown in here," I say sarcastically.
Angela walks to the side of my bed and looks at my screen before letting out a low whistle. "That her?"
"She has to be his girlfriend, right?" I ask pitifully.
"I mean, she was sucking his face tonight and she's in a lot of these event pictures—"
"I'm being ridiculous, he's clearly taken and nothing can happen," I rationalize with finality.
Then my phone lights up.
Ang leans in.
"Hot damn, will you look at that," she says referring to the Instagram notification informing me ECullen1 wants to follow me.
"It's the universe," I say with a whisper.
Ang bursts out laughing at me.
"I think you're still in a marg haze," she snickers. "So what are you planning on doing?"
"I'm not accepting or following back—"
"Yet," Ang finishes for me with a grin.
"He's hosting a party and trying to follow me on Insta," I say a little dumbfounded.
"You're pretty chummy with Rose, maybe he figures he'll be seeing you a lot more," she surmises.
I nod because it is plausible.
The problem was I was attracted to him and he's oh so very charming. After Mike, I don't trust myself.
"You saw that party, he has a lot of friends. He's obviously a social guy," Ang added.
She's right he's probably just being friendly so I wasn't going to rush into accepting his request or following him back. Once Ang thinks I'm good to be left to my own devices she leaves my room.
She should have stayed because I then start to go down a rabbit hole looking at what Mike has been up to the past few months I've been gone.
What I learn is he went to Cabo with Jessica a few weeks ago. All our old friends love her and celebrate them in every post. There is no trace that I even existed.
I had deleted any trace of him so that was understandable but not one peep from our friend group on any of my posts since I got to Chicago.
I see you. – ECullen1 pops up as a message notification.
I instantly throw my duvet up over my head.
He really can't see me.
I slowly throw my duvet off me.
Don't you have a party you're hosting? – Swan360
My most fascinating party crasher left. I called her name and everything as she breezed right by... and poof she was gone. – ECullen1
I roll my eyes but can't stop the smile that starts to grow.
My thoughts drift to Powder Nose and my smile fades.
I get off Instagram and put a movie in my digital catalog on my Apple TV. I drift asleep forgetting the fuckboy who had the guts to message me when he was kissing someone else tonight.
~PR~
I look up at him while I'm caged by his arms.
"What?" he asks, still catching his breath.
I shake my head with a smile.
My hands come up and cradle his face.
Our eyes meet and we get stuck in this stare-down until he breaks it to lean down to kiss me. He pulls out while rolling onto his side.
His hand catches mine and he places a kiss on my finger wearing his ring.
A new habit.
"I'm going to run to the bathroom," I tell him as his eyes start to close.
He nods lazily.
I get up and walk into our master bathroom.
Edward and I had designed the house last year when I finally agreed to move in with him. I was surprised when he said he wanted to give up his condo. I was even more surprised when we started to look for land in Winnetka, a suburb right outside of Chicago.
Rose and Edward grew up in the city and I always got the feeling that they'd never leave. So when he asked for my input on where I would like to live I wasn't even thinking outside of the city as an option but once he suggested it I loved the idea.
Our home was beautiful, it was a perfect mix of both our tastes.
Old farmhouse meets contemporary modern.
My Austen and Bronte novels sit mixed in with his Kerouac and Burroughs novels on the bookshelf framing the doorway in our room.
He no longer throws lavish parties, but now we hold quiet dinner parties with only our closest friends.
The kitchen was my zen space and the studio in the basement was his.
A lot has certainly changed from that night three years ago.
My career soared when I started working at his uncle's law firm three months ago. That decision wasn't an easy one for me to make, I didn't want it to look like it was handed to me because of my relationship with Edward. His uncle was the one who practically begged me to accept his offer.
This created tension with Rose since she accused me of becoming Jasper Sr.'s pet. It was the role she wanted most at the firm. His shining star.
The roles had reversed and Edward soon replaced his sister in my corner.
I let out a sigh from the toilet and quickly wipe before starting the shower. As hungover as I am, I know that I should start my day.
Five minutes into washing my hair Edward joins me taking over and rinsing the suds out.
"You've been quiet since you woke up," he comments.
"I've been reflective," I correct.
"Is this because Rose didn't show last night?" he asks softly, hiding his own ire with his sister from me.
"No, Emmett's speech—"
"I knew I should have gone with Jazz," he mumbles.
"No, Emmett charmed the room. He proved to be quite the storyteller," I tell him playfully.
"I made him do it three times—"
"Three times!" I exclaim with a disbelieving laugh.
He grins sheepishly.
"I didn't want any improvisations," he explains.
"I noticed no mention of Tanya once," I point out.
His smile fades and I can see the guilt.
"She was in the draft. I made him nix it the second run-through," he mumbles again.
I grab his soap and lather him up.
"Thank you, I appreciate the intention behind the removal of 'she who shall not be named'," I smile ruefully.
Tanya, aka Powder Nose, is part of the reason it took me a year to finally trust him. She was a lurker and Edward's jilted fuck buddy.
At that point, she had known him for five years.
She orbited his world.
I was a complication to her.
They weren't dating only occasionally fucking, but I wasn't aware of that at the time.
Edward keeps me close while we finish our shower. We had a brunch being held in our honor today, his mother's idea.
I had a feeling that Esme had quite the itinerary planned leading up to our nuptials. A wedding we had barely any time to plan since we'd only been engaged a month.
That might be another reason why Rose isn't my biggest fan, she's been with Emmett a year and thinks he should have proposed already.
All relationships have their own pace and if I was being honest, Edward would have proposed six months in. The main reason he didn't was because I was drowning in torts and contracts from my paralegal job and school.
His support got me through law school. He knew my dad, Charlie's death was the reason why I decided to pursue law and had championed me ever since.
Rose and Emmett had a different dynamic not to mention she didn't handle her break up with Tyler well, which led to her hesitation with moving forward with Emmett.
Rose had called Edward a douche that first night and a million times after but she was the one who turned her back on me when I thrived at work and fell in love with her brother.
Edward hadn't said a bad word about his sister in those early days but the more her behavior became very un-Rose-like the more his true opinion came out.
Selfish.
Entitled.
Jealous.
"You can always trust Rose to be Rose," he said after I first witnessed the other side of Rose.
Call me optimistic but I was hoping she'd cool down at some point. Esme had claimed me as her other daughter, so I was going to be her family.
"Did Emmett say anything?" I ask when he hands me a towel.
"About Rose?" Edward asks for clarification while I wrap my towel around me.
I nod watching him wrap his towel around his waist.
"All he said was that he was just going to let her do her thing," he relays.
"What does that even mean?" I ask dryly.
"You know Em stays out of all of her drama," he says as he wraps his arms around me. "You know what I think?"
He kisses my neck.
"What?"
"I think she's upset that I'm taking you away," he murmurs.
"Where are you taking me? We moved thirty minutes away from her. She sees me five days a week at work," I say, getting frustrated with each point.
Edward shakes his head with an easy smile.
"You're mine now," he says simply.
I roll my eyes but secretly love the fact that we're going to belong to each other.
Me and my best friend.
Forever.
A/N: So I'm going to aim for Monday/Friday updates. I'm only up to chapter 5, which I am trying to wrap up this weekend. I'm also very interested to hear your thoughts. Every chapter will have a flashback that will be italicized and I have breaks in between to to split it up. Thanks for reading and reviewing!