Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight. No copyright infringement intended. ©2024
This story is un-beta'd. All mistakes are mine.
Chapter 10
Bella
Leaves were falling from the trees, the colder weather was inevitable, each nightfall coming sooner than the one before.
Tucked away in the cozy nook in my bedroom window, with a chunky knitted blanket thrown over my shoulders, I stared out contemplating my next moves.
Judge Colette had ruled in my favor a few days ago, but I wasn't naïve enough to think that Aaron wasn't to be cut-throat during the divorce proceedings. I'd heard some of the conversations he had with who he's referred to as his associates. I had a strong feeling they did illegal things that Aaron would do because of his precious reputation.
He was always concerned about appearances.
I didn't pry into his career, but he tried with mine. Once he saw I wasn't going to walk away from mine, like he insisted, he backed off. I was a gun engineer for the military. Of course, I wasn't allowed to talk about my job, but he was more secretive about his contacts than I was. Being an attorney came with confidentiality but damn, his stuff was on a different level. You would have thought he was working for the Secret Service or something.
Maybe that was an area we both failed in. Things we should've been able to share we didn't.
After what I saw in that picture, he was hiding a hell of a lot more than I thought.
A soft knock on the door pulled my attention away from my thoughts. I padded across the lush carpet and opened the door. I immediately smiled, stepping aside so she could enter. "What a nice surprise."
"I've missed you so much, Bella," she pulled me into an embrace. "How are you doing?"
"I've missed you, too, Thea." I hugged her tighter.
It was hard as hell not talking to her every day like we normally did. She was my confidant, and I was hers. I needed time to think everything through—alone.
We pulled apart. "So," Althea searched my eyes. "How are you really doing?"
I thought about lying but she knew something was up since she was visiting me at Robert's house and not the one Aaron and I were supposed to be buying.
"I'm okay," I half shrugged.
"Bella," she tsked. "Who do you think you're fooling? This is me." She pointed to herself.
"I know," I rolled my eyes, exhaling. "Come on let's sit down." I gestured to the loveseat.
My room was the size of a hotel suite. Robert and Cassie were beyond generous to me.
Althea dropped her bag and coat on the bed, kicking her heels off before getting comfortable next to me.
"I don't know where to begin," I fidgeted with my bracelet.
"Wherever you want to start, sweetie," she reached over and squeezed my hand.
Her touch calmed me some.
I stared, looking at nothing, remembering that picture, as if it was set on repeat in my mind. I wanted to turn it off, but I couldn't. I saw it when I was awake and even in my dreams. The damn thing taunted me.
"How—" I shook my head in disbelief. "Could he… why would he do something like this?"
Although it had been a few months since I'd seen that photo, it still seemed unreal to me.
My life was in shambles.
"I don't get it either. What I saw was disturbing." She huffed.
I jerked in surprise. "You know what he did?"
"Yeah." Her eyebrows furrowed.
"How?" I held her gaze.
"Emmett."
"How does he know?" I titled my head to the side.
"A friend of ours from grad school, Lewis, who was Michael Newton's manager and coincidently, Aaron's attorney, walked in on Aaron pinning Michael against the wall."
"Seriously." I gasped.
"Girl, yes." Althea snorted "Lewis dismissed Aaron and made Michael tell him what happened."
I scrunched my nose still not connecting the dots. "Who the hell is Lewis and how does he know me?"
"He doesn't know you personally, but he's seen pictures of you in Em's office when we all went to Mexico. When Lewis saw Aaron, he looked familiar, and thought he'd been a past client of his or something. It bothered him so much that he went looking through old files but came up empty until he picked up the newspaper that had been sitting on his desk…"
"That damn column picture he bugged the hell out of me about for weeks, until I finally caved." I rolled my eyes, cutting her off. "I hated the whole thing. It felt so over the top. Why did we need to announce to millions of strangers that we were getting married?"
I laughed without humor. "I bet the sonofabitch never thought that picture he had to have so fuckin' bad would lead us here."
"It was just a matter of time before you found out. Bella, I am so sorry he's putting you through all of this." She laid her head on my shoulder. "I hate this for you."
"I hate it too." I leaned my head on hers. "It hurts and it's embarrassing," I whispered.
"Aww, sweetheart," she quickly raised her head, pulling me into another hug. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about. It's him that should be ashamed."
"I can't help but wonder why I wasn't enough?" I mumbled into her neck.
I'd finally said out loud what I'd been thinking for weeks.
"No, no, honey," she pulled back, looking me in the eyes. "Please don't think that. That's the first thing we women do blame ourselves for what the man did. You are more than enough for him or any other man."
"I'm not so sure about that anymore." My lips trembled.
"I know you're still hurting but you are." Althea pushed loose strands of hair behind my ear. "You are a gorgeous, accomplished woman. Any man would be proud to have you as their wife." She smiled with watery eyes.
"Except for Aaron. The man that vowed to forsake all others for me." I blinked, fighting back the unshed tears.
I was angry with myself for still crying over him.
I wanted to be stronger.
"That bastard doesn't have an honest bone in his body. He's been lying the entire time." She spat.
I knew after Emmett shared whatever he knew about Aaron with Althea that she went digging even more. She was relentless as hell when the truth needed to come out, especially when her family was involved.
Court was going to be hard, draining, and dirty. Things were going to come out that would probably break my heart even more, but I still had a few weeks before that. I was still too fragile. I wasn't ready to know everything she knew just yet.
"Thea, I don't—" I started.
"My lips are sealed." She interrupted, running her index finger and thumb across her lips. "I don't want to hurt you any more than you already are. But Aaron Smith, I have no fucks to give. I hope whoever you get to represent you drags him through the mud."
"Oh, he will." I chuckled.
"Who'd you get?"
"Uncle Sean."
She smirked. "He's going to nail that motherfucker to the wall."
"I know." I grinned.
"Aaron's not going to know what hit him. For his sake, he'll need some good representation." She waved a dismissive hand. "It doesn't matter who he has hired, he has so much shit stacked up against him. I'm sure once Myles, James, and the rest of the partners find out what he's been up to, they're going to fire him immediately."
Aaron would fight tooth and nail to stay with that firm.
"Can they do that? I mean so easily?"
"Barnes, Freeborn, and now Cullen, is a prestigious firm that will not allow such scandal to be said of them. Myles Barnes might not be as harsh on Aaron, but James Freeborn…" she trailed off tsking. "And we can't forget the Cullen's." She sucked her teeth. "Speaking of Cullen, Edward just made partner."
"Really?" My eyes widened. "When? How do you know?"
"Yes, really," she nodded. "He came to see me at the office not too long ago and told me. Aaron has to report to him now."
"I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that. He lost out to his enemy number one." I snorted. "Oh, I know he's in a shit mood between that and losing in court the other day."
"What do you mean losing in court the other day?" Althea asked.
So much had happened so quickly, that I'd forgotten I hadn't told her anything.
"He showed up at my job out of nowhere and refused to leave. Security got involved and he was escorted out in handcuffs. A few days later a restraining order was put in place."
"Damn! I hate I missed that. Did you record it?" She laughed.
Her laughing made me laugh. "No nut, Robert got me out of there the moment he saw Aaron. Plus, I was too shaken up to think of that. Girl, it's scary to think you've been with someone and find out you never really knew them."
"I'm sure it was but he was good as hell hiding it, too. If Uncle Charlie couldn't find anything, the asshole has to have some heavy hitters covering his tracks."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Daddy hasn't forgiven himself yet for missing it. I've been thinking the people he's called his associates aren't attorneys."
"Whoever they are, I'm positive Uncle Sean will get to the bottom of it." She ran her finger through her hair. "Remember how I told you Edward dropped by?" Her tone was a little off.
"Uh-huh," Althea was nervous, which was rare, but most couldn't pick up on it like I could.
"Well, he asked how you were doing, and he wanted to reach out but was afraid to." She admitted.
"Afraid? Why?"
We had a past, but it wasn't nasty. We'd lost touch for a while but reconnected as friends once he moved back to Chicago.
"Edward wants to be there for you, but he doesn't want to overstep."
I smiled thinking of how considerate Edward was.
Then a thought occurred to me. "Wait a minute, he knows too?"
"No, not really," she shook her head. "But he knows something is up with the way you abruptly left your reception. Aaron made some weak ass announcement talking about you were ill from eating some seafood the night before and had to leave." She rolled her eyes. "I don't know what was said but I saw Edward and Aaron talking. More than likely, Edward questioned his silly ass excuse."
"Okay, now that makes sense. That's why Myles, wife, Jane, and others left those comments on Aaron's Facebook post he tagged me in of the one wedding picture he put on his page."
I didn't bother to reply to their comments. I untagged myself and then blocked his ass.
"He's a smooth, cunning, fucker, I think some people brought it but a few of us knew something was off about it. You know I was with you the night before and there was no seafood in sight."
The measures that bastard took to save face.
"Anyway, enough about him. I'm tired of thinking and talking about him." I waved a dismissive hand. "What else did you and Edward talk about?"
Althea repositioned and crossed one leg over the other. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
I threw an accent pillow at her. "That's why I asked, heifer." I laughed.
She threw the pillow back. We're petty like that. "I'll tell you a few things but there are some things just the two of you will need to talk about." She smirked.
That piqued my interest even more.
"What exactly did you all talk about?"
"First of all, he wanted to make sure you were okay. I told him to call you… you know to just listen to whatever you may want to talk about." She watched for my reaction.
"Sure, he can call me. We're friends, right?" I replied nonchalantly.
"Yeah, that's right." She grinned. "We'll probably be calling you soon to let you know about the small gathering he's planning for."
"Really? Did you have something to do with that?" I joked.
Since Edward moved back Althea has wanted us to hang out the way he used to but there were times I couldn't make it because of Aaron. He said he had to be around Edward at work from time to time but didn't want to be around him at all outside of work.
They all hated the way it seemed Aaron was trying to pull me away from my closest friends and family.
Emmett always thought Aaron treated me more like his possession than his future wife.
"Yup, that and his delicious homemade chocolate cake." Her smile was wide.
Not only was Edward sexy as hell, but he could cook too.
"So, will you come?" Althea gave me an expected look.
"Yeah, I'll come." I shrugged.
"Good! You need to get out of the house more anyway. I know you've had yourself holed up in here." She looked around the room. "Although, I'll admit this is a nice room, though."
"I wouldn't say completely holed up. I go to work." I defended. "I just don't want to run into Aaron anywhere. I have a feeling he's been going to our usual spots so he could run into me."
"I understand your apprehension, but you'll be with us. He has no idea where Edward lives, and we wouldn't allow that fucker within a hundred yards of you. He's a no-good lying motherfucker but if he's dumb enough to violate his restraining order, I'd personally make sure he sat in a cage for at least six months."
Althea was a fair person, but she was a mother bear when it came to her loved ones.
"I don't think I'm anxious, it's finding out I don't know him, which makes me uncomfortable, you know. I don't know what he's capable of and who he has connected himself to and what they'd be willing to do."
She frowned. "Have you shared this with your dad?"
"No, not yet, but I was thinking I should."
"Yeah," she grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "Don't ever downplay your gut feeling. If it feels like something is going on, it probably is. God forbid if something happened to you, Bella. I'd tear this city upside down."
Althea wasn't just my cousin; she was my best friend. The kind that would go down fighting.
"Promise me you'll call Uncle Charlie today, honey."
"I will," I agreed. "Besides, Robert and Cassie won't let me out of their sight either. I talked to them about getting my own place and they thought I was crazy for even bringing it up."
"I agree with them. That's absurd, girl. How are you talking about getting your own place with what you just said to me? Make it make sense, Bella."
"I guess that does sound kinda…" I faded out wrinkling my nose.
"Dumb!" She finished for me, throwing a pillow at me. "You know you're more than welcome to come stay with me and Petey. He adores you and you'd have the entire third floor to yourself."
They had a beautiful three-story home in Lincoln Park, with six bedrooms and six bathrooms. They bought it while they were engaged and had it renovated.
"I might just take you up on that offer. I feel like I'm crowding Robert and Cassie. I've been feeling like that third wheel lately, even though they keep telling me I'm not. I don't want to wear out my welcome."
"You know Robert's crazy ass would probably cuss you about behind that one, right?" The corner of her mouth quirked up.
I snorted. "Yeah, that asshole would."
"Even if you decide not to come stay with us, at least pack up some clothes and stay a few nights with me. We can have a slumber party. Use one of the guest's rooms, binge out on some junk food and pizza, watch movies, and talk dirty all night like we used to." She squealed jumping to her feet.
I missed having nights like this with her. I truly loved Althea and enjoyed spending time with her. Aaron thought it was childish, high school shit, and always had a fit whenever we planned a girl's night.
I hadn't realized how much I'd stopped doing some of the things I liked to please him.
Was he trying to turn me into a Stepford Wife?
Controlling asshole.
No more thinking about him, Bella.
I looked up at my cousin and her bright smile made me smile.
I needed to get out of the house and give Robert and Cassie some privacy.
A change of scenery would be good.
I took a little personal time off because I needed it. I'd thrown myself into work so I wouldn't have to think about my chaotic life. But I couldn't move on if I continued to avoid it.
"That's sounds fun. Give me a minute to grab some things." I stood up and began to pull clothes out of the drawers before going into the powder room.
"I'll help," She headed to the closet coming out with my Louis Vuitton duffle bag.
I was in the bathroom pulling out my essentials when I heard my phone vibrate on the desk.
"I'll check to see who it is if it's okay with you?" Althea said since she was closer to it than I was.
It wasn't my work phone, and I had no secrets.
"Sure." I grabbed my toothbrush, closing the medicine cabinet. "So, who—"
She leaned against the doorframe grinning like a Cheshire cat, holding the phone up. "It's Edward."
I chewed on my bottom lip, suddenly nervous. "What does it say?"
"Here," she held the phone out. "Read it for yourself."
I took the phone from her and clicked on the message.
Edward: Hey Bella, I was just thinking about you and was wondering how you're doing. Are you okay? If you need to talk about anything, I'm here to listen.
Always such a gentleman.
I replied back.
Me: Hey Edward, thank you for thinking of me and reaching out. I really appreciate it. I'm headed over to Thea's shortly, but I think I'd like for us to talk.
He must've had the phone in his hands because seconds after I sent my message, the bubbles were moving.
Less than a minute later another text came through.
Edward: I have some free time late tomorrow morning or in the afternoon for the rest of the week. Just let me know what works best for you.
I looked up and noticed Althea trying to act busy before my fingers pounded away on the keypad.
Me: I've taken a break from work for the next few weeks, so my schedule is completely open. Tomorrow afternoon sounds good to me.
Edward: Sounds good! Let's meet at Intelligentsia at noon.
He remembered. This was my favorite coffee spot.
Me: See ya then.
I sat my phone down on the bathroom counter looking at my reflection in the mirror, wondering if it was a good idea for me to meet Edward tomorrow.
Would he misinterpret our meeting to mean something else?
When we were together it was as a group, not just the two of us.
Would this be considered a date?
Will Aaron find out about it? Would it be ammunition he could use against me in court?
I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck, when I noticed Althea was standing in the doorway with one hand on her hip.
"I know that look." She pointed. "That's that overthinking look."
I snorted a laugh because she was right.
"Stop it and I mean stop it right now, Bella." She slowly strolled behind me. "You aren't doing a damn thing wrong." Her hands were back on her hips. "Where are you all going to meet?"
"Intelligentsia," I replied.
"See, that's coffee. Two adults sitting at a table having coffee together. You and Robert do that all the time. What's the difference?" She arched one eyebrow.
"Robert and I never dated, that's the difference, Thea." I waved my hand.
"Number one," she started counting off on her fingers. "You and Edward have been in each other's presence too many times to count. Don't complicate things. Number two, has he ever disrespected you or your relationship with that asshole?" She didn't let me respond. She was in lawyer mode. "No, he hasn't. So, why would he start now? Do you think he's so stupid that he'd put you in a compromising position, Bella?" She scoffed.
I watched her blinking, letting her finish her rant. There was no way I'd get a word in until she was done. "No." I shook my head.
"Exactly," her expression softened. "Sweetie, it's just coffee, with an old friend. Nothing more." She smirked. "Unless it's something more that I don't know about yet."
Maybe she was right.
I have been known to overanalyze shit.
"Of course not." I rolled my eyes, smiling.
"Mhmm," she was unconvinced.
Lately, I'd been wondering what my life would've been like if Edward and I had made different choices years ago.
Was he my once-in-a-lifetime love and I messed it up?
Would we have been married?
Would we have had a child or two by now? Edward has always wanted a house full of kids running around.
I shook those thoughts away. I was tired of torturing myself about shoulda, coulda, woulda.
I wasn't sure what was in my future, but I was going to take it one day at a time. Mending my life back together without Aaron.
"You're right, it's just coffee."
A/N: Do you think it's a good idea for Edward and Bella to meet? Is Bella overthinking it? Was Althea being too pushy?
Please share your thoughts.
RECS
The Way I Wanted It, by iambeagle WIP
Who's Afraid of Little Old Me, by iambeagle WIP
The Sixteen II, by Ariel FanFicsr ForNerds WIP
Trice, by Ariel FanFicsr ForNerds WIP
Solace, by FanFicsrForNerds, Complete
This Is Where It Ends, by Hotteaforme WIP
La Bellissima, by StarryBlueEyes WIP
The Love of the Game, by DrivingEdward WIP
Operation: Light the Fires, by Katinki WIP
OZ, by Deb Drotuno Rotuno, WIP