23As I've seen other authors say, I would like to reiterate it. This is something that all of spend our free time (as little as it is) doing. We're not paid and the only rewards we ever get are the reviews you guys give us. Without that, there isn't much to show for our work. Obviously, some of you are enjoying this, because I get loads of emails for follows and favourites, but very little reviews. It's a little bit discouraging.
With that off my chest, I hope you enjoy the new chapter.
I don't currently have a beta for this, so any and all mistakes are all mine . Also, I'm not making any money and Stephanie Meyer owns all the original Twilight characters.
Again, Australian here, so if some things don't add up, let's just assume it's because I'm across the pond, so to speak. If anyone has seen Rise of the Guardians and know Hugh Jackman's in it; yes, I talk like that – sometimes my writing reflects it. My old stuff certainly did.
I finish the group hug and sit back down next to Edward, letting him wrap his arm around me again. "I'm sorry, Esme. I really didn't want it to come to that."
She sighs as she sits down next to Carlisle, taking his hand. "Don't worry about, Bella. What Carlisle said was true; Rosalie just didn't want to hear it. I want all my children to be happy, and if she makes Emmett happy, I'm willing to let her work through whatever problems she has."
Emmett groans and lifts his ass to get his phone from his back pocket. His face closes off when he sees who it is. "Sorry, I have to take this." He gets up and heads into the kitchen, shutting the door behind him.
Esme still looks upset. I guess this isn't how she planned her dinner to go. "Esme, do you want me to go and get takeout and some wine instead of you having to spend the afternoon cooking? And then we can talk about the catering or whatever else there is."
Carlisle smiles at me. "We've got enough wine here, believe me." He turns to her, stroking a finger down her still youthful face. I can only hope to age as gracefully as her. "Let us treat you, darling. We can sit in here and eat and talk about the wedding and relax."
Edward stretches and stands, holding out his hand to help me up. "Alright, Mom. How does pizza sound?"
Emmett sticks his head in through the kitchen door, a huge grin on his face. "Can you get–"
"One all for yourself, Em, I know." Edward plays with my fingers while we wait for everyone else's orders. They all speak over each other. "Ugh, you know what? Just text me the orders. I'll forget something if you don't." We both wave as we leave the house.
I open the passenger door, sliding in and tossing the keys to him. "You drive."
The grin he rewards me with is blinding in its beauty. Edward's true smiles are a rarity, usually reserved for me and his family. His scowl when he's fighting never fails to get me hot, but it's the smile that makes me weak at the knees. I laugh as he revs the engine playfully, buckling myself to the seat. Our car isn't as fancy as the other Cullen children's', mainly because I was raised by Charlie on a conservative budget and I hate relying on other people for money. Carlisle and Esme have offered to loan us the money to buy a second car, but I refused every time. Besides, Edward doesn't mind the short jog back to our apartment if I'm still at work when he's training.
My phone vibrates as a text comes through. I open it and laugh. It's a text from Emmett explaining in great detail the pizza he wants. Another one from Esme comes through explaining the rest of the family's order. "Jeez, Emmett's order alone will cost what could feed me for a week."
Edward shakes his head. "I'm actually glad he chose a woman as terrible as Rosalie to live with. He would be a nightmare if his teenage years are anything to go by."
I laugh. "Do you think we'll ever get along?" And I want to. I don't want every family gathering to end in tears and arguing. Edward is extremely close with his family and I don't want our differences to come between that. I feel awful for Emmett too. He's the poor bastard that has to put up with her.
"I'm so glad I don't like blondes anymore," Edward says, pulling out of the gated community the Cullens live in. "Christ, Rosalie could put me off women for the rest of my life if I was still single." I freeze, remembering the flash of blonde hair I saw at the warehouse when I was picking him up earlier. He notices. "Bella, what's wrong?"
Swallowing hard, I turn to face him. "You won't get mad?" He's always careful to avoid any and all mention of his ex, Tanya Denali. Not only was she an absolute nightmare to deal with, she was heavily involved in drugs and tried to get Edward hooked too. I know this because I'm the one he vented to almost nightly. He's just lucky he didn't get an STD from her, because we both know she wasn't as faithful as he was.
He looks at me, concerned. "Baby, no. Why are you upset?" He reaches over, squeezing my hand gently.
I hesitate. It probably wasn't even her. There are tonnes of blondes that show up to the warehouse to scope out the guys. But there was something about the particular bleachiness that struck me as odd. And most of the girls that show up always look impeccable, what with their tiny shorts and midriff tops, belly piercings showing. This blonde was wearing jeans and a scruffy jacket, hair in a messy bun. "Has… has Tanya been showing up lately?" I shut my eyes tightly as I blurt it out.
Tanya has always been a touchy subject with Edward. They met in high school, started dating and when Edward joined the army, she stuck by him, until she met some guy who offered her cocaine for free. While Edward was away, it wasn't so bad. I met him on one of his leaves, when they were at their lowest. He was heartbroken after he found out what she'd been doing while he was away. Luckily, he had an amazing friend he met in the Rangers, Eric Yorkie, who helped him through the breakup when they were on their deployment. And even though they ended badly, he refuses to allow someone to talk negatively about her. They loved each other at some point.
Edward goes rigid as he pulls up in front of the pizza place. "Why?" he asks, sounding defensive.
"Because I think I saw her when I came to get you."
He gets out of the car without a word, shutting the door forcefully behind him, saying, "Don't try to talk about things you don't understand, Bella."
I scramble out, ungracefully I may add, behind him. He doesn't look back as he locks the car and strides into the pizza place. I stare after him, completely dumbfounded before I get angry. I storm after him. "You promised you wouldn't get mad. There is absolutely no reason to treat me like shit."
He turns to look at me, his face softening. "I'm sorry." His voice is still hard.
I raise my eyebrows at his lacklustre apology and turn to face the menu when he doesn't continue. "Hi," I greet the teenager behind the counter. "This will be a large order, so I'm sorry in advance." I smile kindly at him.
He blushes, but grins back. "It's okay. We've been slow all day. This will probably be the highlight of my day."
Well, he evidently leads an exceptionally interesting life. "Okay, I'll take the deep pan crust with everything on top." When he looks like he's going to interrupt to tell me about the price, I hold my hand up to stop him. "I don't care what it costs. I need to feed my brother in law."
He glances at Edward, appraising him slowly with wide eyes. "Wow, I can see why."
"I'm her fiancé," Edward snarls, wrapping his arm around to pull me tight against him. "Watch yourself."
I roll my eyes as I smoothly remove his arm from my waist. I'm not interested in him staking his claim if he can't tell me that his drug abusing, almost psychotic ex-girlfriend happens to be hanging around him like a vulture again. This isn't the first time she's caused trouble for us. "So the deep pan with everything, a thin vegetarian, classic Hawaiian, deep pan pepperoni."
"Emmett will go through at least three of those," Edward warns me in a soft voice, obviously trying to get back into my good books.
I pause. This could be a really long night. Longer still if Rosalie decides to grace us with her charming presence once again. And then we'll probably be talking about wedding plans till early tomorrow morning, knowing my luck. "Better double all that," I sigh as I reach for my purse. "How much?" I ask the kid behind the counter.
He's touching the screen in front of him, frowning slightly. He glances up at me, looking nervous, before his eyes slide to Edward. He goes pale. "I'm sorry, but the system is frozen," he whispers, his voice cracking. He's obviously terrified of my fiancé, but at the moment, Edward's just being a dick because he can. It's not something I find attractive at all, so I elbow him in the ribs.
He inhales sharply, turning to glare at me briefly. "Jesus," he mutters, rubbing his side.
"It's no trouble," I tell the poor boy. "Just write the order down and we'll come back in twenty minutes or something to pay. Sound good?"
"Y-yeah," he stutters, still watching Edward carefully. "I'll get it sorted."
I grab Edward's hand tightly, squeezing it to get his attention. "Thanks, hon. We'll be back soon." I drag Edward from the pizza shop. "What the hell was that?" I hissed at him, still pulling him along behind me. "You didn't have to act like that to him. He was just doing his job."
"His job isn't staring at your tits, Bella."
I roll my eyes. "You promised you wouldn't get mad about my question."
He stops, tugging his hand from mine gently. I turn to face him. He's rubbing his temples tiredly. I've been noticing recently that he's been looking more exhausted than usual, but I've always put it down to him training harder for the more challenging fights coming up. "I never thought it would be about Tanya, for Chrissake. Jesus, Bella, I was with her for years. How do you expect me to react?"
I dig around in his hoodie pocket for the keys. When I find them, I unlock the car and get in. Chicago is nice during the summer, more so in the evenings than during the day, but autumn is always unpredictable. Most of the time, the heat from summer remains but this year winter was on its way early. It wasn't even October yet and the weather guys were saying the first freeze was going to happen soon. I plan on staying inside as much as possible. "Calmer than that," I tell him bluntly, turning the heat on high.
"When do you think you saw her?" he asks, pulling the lever to recline his seat all the way back.
Mimicking his movement, I turn to face him, pulling my jacket closer to my body. "When I came to get you today. I'd know her face anywhere after all the times I've met her." I use the term met loosely. She didn't stalk us or anything, but she went out of her way to make sure Edward and I knew she knew about us and wasn't happy.
He groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. "She's been around a couple times now. I haven't spoken to her because Jake's seen her first every time and gotten her to leave. But she wants to speak to me."
I felt my heart clench. They had a history. They'd known each other since they were kids and playing in the mud together. How could I compete with that? Sure, we've been together for almost three years, but he's still two years older than me. He was graduating and partying hard in college while I was still in high school. I wasn't sure how I felt about them catching up again, but I was damn sure I wasn't going to be one of those girlfriends. He can see whoever he damn well wanted.
He sees the look on my face. "Bella, I'm not going to see her." He reaches out to take my hand in his, rubbing soft circles on my palm. "She can come to the warehouse as much as she wants, but I'm still not going to give her the time of day."
Knowing full well I'm about to start a huge argument, I open my mouth anyway. "I'm going to start coming with you."
His mouth snaps shut as his eyes go hard. He grinds his teeth together. He's not happy at all. He doesn't say anything for a few moments and I know it's his way of trying to control his temper. It' something he had to work hard to control when he was a Ranger, but there were times when he was able to use it to his advantage. I obviously don't know everything that he did, but I knew about his fights. Not the fire fights, just the hand to hand combat situations, and even then, he could never tell me all the details.
I cross my arms over my chest while I wait. The calmer he is, the more likely I'll be able to get my way. There is no way he's going alone if Tanya is sniffing around again.
"Bella," he says slowly, a barely contained rage in his voice. "If you think for one second I'm going to let you into that warehouse when I can't be with you, you've got another thing coming. You're lucky Jake saw you when he did today." He lets out a breath and pinches the bridge of his nose. "The guys that are there every day know you're my woman. The others are just assholes. They don't know who I am till I break a few ribs and even then they think they have a shot at you."
"Edward, you don't own me. I'm not some possession. I'm your fiancée, not your dog." I glare at him. "And intimidating a teenager into almost wetting himself is disgusting behaviour," I growl. "You don't need to assert your dominance by terrifying him. What would your mother think?"
He at least has the decency to look ashamed. "I'm sorry for that, but I can't promise that I won't let every man who looks at you like you're something to eat."
I scoff. "Like you do?"
It's the wrong thing to say. I know I shouldn't have said it the moment I opened my mouth, because he explodes. "I'm your fiancé!" he roars. I jump back towards the door in fright. "You're the woman I'm marrying and I'm not allowed to look at you with desire?" he demands, tensing and releasing his fists to try and control himself. He breathes heavily, glaring at me from beneath hooded lids. "Look at your hand, Bella. I put that ring on your finger. That's my grandmother's ring!" He grabs my left hand, pulling it toward him and staring down at the ring. His thumb rubs the tops of my fingers gently in complete contradiction to the anger on his face. "You're not my dog or my possession," he whispers. "But you are my woman. It's my job to protect you."
He needs a physical release. He's been pumping himself up for weeks for the fight he had to cancel today. The testosterone has been high for two days now. He's been itching for a good fight since he popped his bad knee out a month or two ago. Coincidentally, it was the same night Tyler made the decision to proposition me. It seems his knee will constantly be a reminder of what he used to be. And what he lost. "We're getting off topic here," I remind him, trying to maintain my cool. "If Laurent started hanging around me again, you'd want me to tell you."
Edward shuts his eyes tightly at the mention of my ex-boyfriend. Laurent and I had dated through high school and my first year of college and ended because he wanted to go back to France to look after his ill mother. It wasn't a bad break up at all, and we still talk sometimes. "It's different," he mutters, squeezing my fingers gently.
"How is it different?" I demand, yanking my hand from his to cross my arms over my chest. "Laurent and I are still friends, at least. We have a reason to speak to each other. You and Tanya broke up because she cheated on you, Edward. Laurent's mother had cancer and he went to take care of her."
He grimaces. "You're right," he sighs. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Bella, but I honestly thought it wasn't a big deal."
I roll my eyes at him, still furious. "Okay, next time my psychotic, drug pushing ex shows up to where we've been living for almost three years, I'll just think it's not a big deal." When he reaches for me, I shove his hand away and get out of the car, taking the keys with me. "The pizzas should be ready by now." I stalk into the shop, taking a deep breath at the door so I won't take it out on the young boy.
He looks up at me, grinning. "We restarted the system and your order is ready," he informs me, trying to glance out the window to see if Edward plans on following me into the store.
"Don't worry about him. He's harmless." I look over my shoulder too. He's still fuming in the car. "How much do I owe you?"
He shakes his head adamantly. "I spoke to my manager and because it took so long, we're not charging anything."
"Oh, no, I couldn't take it for free. I have to pay something for the trouble." I grab my purse from my bag. "Half?" I suggest, when he still looks uncertain.
He pauses, thinking hard about my offer. I want to tap my foot in impatience, but he's just a kid. I'm pretty sure I've seen him at the school I work at before. "Okay," he says brightly after a moment. "It comes to $23.75."
I hand him the cash. "Keep the change," I tell him as I pick up the first five boxes. "I'll be back for the others in just a second."
"I've got it." Edward appears out of nowhere, taking the last five boxes and opening the door for the both of us with ease.
I'm still angry with him, but it's subsiding to disappointment and fear. What if she was trying to get clean? The whole reason they broke up was because of the drugs. Is there a possibility that I'll be tossed aside if he gives her a second chance? Does he still have feelings for her? My eyes widen in horror.
"Bella?"
"Hm? What?" I shake myself from my musings, glancing up at him.
He raises his eyebrows at me, looking concerned. "Are we getting in the car anytime soon?"
Oh. I place the boxes on the roof of the car so I can grab the car keys from my purse. I unlock it and wait for Edward to slide in before grabbing the pizzas and getting in too, handing them to him. "You can put them in the back if you want," I say, watching him struggle to manoeuvre the boxes around to a comfortable position.
"Will they slide around?" he asks, turning to examine the back seat. He obviously decides that they won't, because he gets back out to put them there. When he gets into the passenger seat, he's holding onto one of the cheese slices.
I raise a brow at him as I turn the car on. "Emmett will be furious you got a piece first."
Edward shrugs. "He should have come then."
Rolling my eyes, I pull out of the parking spot and into the traffic. I don't really have much to say to that. I don't really want to talk to him either, and he's not being forthcoming with conversation as we head back to his parents' house. The whole twenty minute trip is spent in complete and utter, heartbreaking silence.
When we actually arrive at the Cullen Manor, we both sit in the car, waiting for the other to make the first move. Neither one of us does. Edward gets out of the car with a sigh while I sit there, trying to collect myself before going back inside to talk about our wedding.
Yay! Finally! The second chapter is up. I have a little blue book filled with the storyline, so hopefully the next will be quicker. I'm at uni part time this semester, but I'm also working a lot, so I can't promise a regular update. I also have my puppy on my lap and lying on my left arm.
I hope you all enjoyed
RiRi17