KatieTv, Sugartits, kstewfangirl, y'all are the best cheerleaders a girl could have, thank you! This week was again filled with readers leaving multiple reviews and some reviews that seriously touched me. Hearing y'alls thoughts on this story and especially how it personally touches is you is over the moon amazing. :)
Now take look who's back to show us what he's been doing...
~~~~~~~
Money can't buy back
Your youth when you're old
Or a friend when you're lonely
Or a love that's gone cold
The wealthiest person
Is a pauper at times
Compared to the man
With a satisfied mind
~~Johnny Cash
~~~~~~~
~~EPOV~~
Fall
"You're wearing that to punish me for not going, aren't you?"
"Why? You Jealous?" she said and bent over to brush away a nonexistent string just so she could stick her ass in my face.
"Try concerned for your safety. You've got nothing on besides a bikini fashioned out of police caution tape. What exactly are you supposed to be?"
"A crime scene, obviously." She stepped her leg out to do a spin and my eyes landed on the chalk outline of a dick on her thigh.
"Jesus Christ, Rose." I stretched my arms over my head and took in the tit seepage along the bottom of the tape. She had a kick ass rack.
"What? I'll be fine. I'm going to the big gay carnival. I learned long ago I couldn't turn even the cute ones straight."
"Lord knows you've tried. Well, be careful anyways. Watch out for rogue lesbians following you home."
"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you, baby?" She walked to my chair and put her black high heel on the arm showing me just how bare she was beneath that tape.
"Are you sure there's no way to get you out of this?" I asked, skimming my hand up the thigh without the chalk cock and tugging on the tape.
"Wouldn't you like to know. Come with me and find out."
"I can't. Deadline. Jasper's going to take my nuts if I don't get this to my editor by Monday."
"Well fuck you then. I'm Audi 5000." She dropped her leg back to the ground and adjusted her top, if you could call it that.
The doorbell rang and our neighbors burst in before she answered it. Eric and his child lover Vasili were both dressed in some pink boy brief panty things with ruffles all over them and nothing else. There might have been shoes, I wasn't sure, I was blinded by the glitter.
"Damn Thorn, you are smoking!" Eric grabbed Rose's hand to spin her around.
He nicknamed her Thorn shortly after moving into the Spanish villa next door. He said it was because she was a 'prickly ass bitch.' He was nothing if not perceptive. Guess it came with the territory because he was the mouth behind the biggest celebrity gossip blog and he didn't miss a fucking thing. When I first heard that I flipped the fuck out, but we came to an agreement and he promised to keep his eyes and ears to himself. He was in love with Rose, in that non sexual way gays love pretty shiny girls, so he'd keep his fucking mouth shut.
"Vas, look at that ass. What I wouldn't do for an ass like that." He reached out to smack it as Vasili nodded in the background.
"Hello Mr. Edward," Vasili said in his overly formal way. He obviously wasn't a child, but his mannerisms and diminutive size were deceiving.
"Keep an eye on that ass, would you Eric? I want it returned to me untouched."
Eric made no such promises and Rose rolled her eyes. When they finally left I exhaled into the peace. Our place was always a revolving door of noise and commotion given that Rose ran her business from here. At least the nights were quiet with her out ass kissing leaving me home to write. What I really needed was to catch some fucking z's. It had been impossible to sleep around here lately with Christmas orders starting to roll in already.
I wanted to be in bed before she got home tonight but the fucking chapter notes I'd just gotten in would make that impossible. She'd fall through the door in a few hours drunk and looking to score and I just didn't have it in me now. I couldn't believe I was fucking thinking this, but screwing her was getting old. She was still bat shit crazy in the bedroom but she never wanted to fuck face to face and sometimes it'd be nice to look in the eyes of the person my dick was inside of.
Good God I was being a fucking pussy. What the fuck was wrong with me? Rose was my sexual equal in every way. When we ran into each other again, all those years after high school, I knew I'd never find another chick like her. I had it fucking made. She was hot, snarky, knew more about cars than I did, and could fuck me under the table. Sometimes literally.
I knew what the problem was. It was the same problem I'd had for months. Bella was the fucking problem. She's taken up permanent residence in my mind and there was no way I could pound the snot out of Rose while Bella was watching. Come to think of it, I was developing a sick little fetish where I had to rub one out to Bella and work her off my mind before I could even think of getting it up for Rose.
My pants tightened just at the thought and I fucking smacked my dick. Not now. I had an ass load of work to do. My fingers hit the keyboard instead of picking up my pen and before I knew it I was on stalkerbook typing in her name. I could almost hear the sound of twenty-five to life calling my name.
It started after I got home last spring. We hadn't agreed to it but some kind of pact was made that we wouldn't contact each other. I thought it was bullshit. I knew how to play by the rules. I wasn't going to fucking email her a photo of my cock I just wanted to know how she was doing. After a month of going crazy, I gave in and put her name in the search engine.
Words can't describe how pissed I was when I realized I could access her wall and photos and shit. She had her security settings all wrong and I made a mental note to fix it for her at the conference. Her page wasn't entirely open because I made up another account and checked. Yeah I said it, shut the fuck up, I know I'm crazy. Still, it was set to "friends of friends" which was a wide ass net. She needed to change it to "friends only." That was after I saw her again and convinced her to add me.
When I saw who our mutual friend was, I just about cut a the fuck would have thought that my little Bluebell would know Eric fucking Yorkie, my next door neighbor. A quick peek on Eric's page told me what I never knew before. He was born and raised in Forks until he hightailed it to the city of lights fresh out of high school. It was a small world after all. I hadn't worked up the balls to ask him about Bella yet mostly because I knew his allegiance to Rose would send up all kinds of flags.
I clicked through her recent photos adds and smiled at one of her with her daughters. She radiated from the screen and those little faces beam with love for their mama. I went back to her wall and noticed that the profile pic that started it all still hadn't changed. It was like she left it there for me.
A few months back I was stalking her page like normal in the early hours of the morning when I should have been writing. She uploaded photo of herself and changed it to her profile pic right in fucking front of me. I knocked over an entire cup of coffee in fear even though I knew she obviously didn't know I was there, watching her online.
The picture was fucking mind blowing. She was in that white dress she wore the last time I saw her and sitting in the sand. The sun lit her from behind and she was laughing at the camera like she didn't realize it was going off. It was just how I thought of her, smiling and full of life. The caption read, "Me at La Push, taken by Sarah. Not bad for a three-year-old."
I stared at it for a long time that night remembering the sound of her voice and the feel of her skin. I fucking loved the way she smelled. I couldn't figure out what it was for the longest time. It was so faint just lingering on the surface. I knew it wasn't perfume or shampoo or some shit. It was like it came from her pores. I wanted to bottle it up and rub my dick with it.
It just so happened that the cleaning ladies had refreshed the flowers that morning. When I had sat down to work Bella was all around me and I couldn't form a coherent thought to save my novel's life. I was fucking gone over flowers. What the fuck?
It was those flowers that led me to her page that night and when I saw she was online too I updated my fan page just for her. I didn't know if she'd see it, but I liked to think she would. I imagined her fiending over my page like I did hers. So I sent her a message in an internet bottle and it became the first of many.
There's a vase of fresh cut freesia on my desk tonight. I'm finding myself distracted, remembering where I've smelled this little blue beauty before.
Made steaks for dinner tonight. Wasn't the same without a twice baked potato.
It's nights like this I wish I had a hot tub.
Clueless is on the TV. Did that chick really not know who Billie Holiday was? Damn, I just admitted I'm watching it.
My publicist was over the fucking moon, she'd been trying to get me posting on the fan page more for fucking ever. I needed to be "more accessible to my fans." What the fuck ever. There was one fan I was giving access too and that was it.
I stretched my arms out again and looked at the clock. It'd been hours since Rose left and I'd done nothing. I hadn't even moved from the dining room table to my secluded office where I could concentrate. I clicked back to Bella's wall for one last look and saw that she updated her status three minutes ago.
Recipe for disaster: Two small worn out children hyped on Halloween. Add thirty candy bars aka one million grams of sugar. Mix with four cups of juice, one town carnival, and costumes they refuse to take off for bed. Best served with mass quantities of alcohol.
God I loved reading everything she wrote. One fucking status update and I'm grinning like a fool thinking of her all bent out of shape. I drummed my fingers on the table and went back to my news feed to type a message I hoped she would find.
Feeling a little blue tonight and I'm fresh out of tequila. Suggestions?
I hit the "share" button and pushed my chair back to balance on the hind legs. I waited a few beats and put in her name. Her profile popped up with a new status.
Unfortunately a quick scour of the kitchen reveals I am without liquor unless you count the bottle of crap tequila we keep over the fridge, and I don't. I've had better and I can't go back. Suggestions?
I knew it. I fucking knew it. "Uhhhhhh!" I shouted at the screen, "Caught you Bluebell. Caught you red handed." I went back to my page to type another message when I heard voices out the open window.
"We're almost there, honey. Just relax, that's right. Vasili! Pick up her fucking feet. I'm doing all the work here and you're letting five hundred dollar shoes drag on the sidewalk. Rose, stop touching my ass I don't care if you like the ruffles."
Yeah, that did not sound good. What the fuck was going on? I pushed away from the table and reached the door as Eric opened it. He had both arms around Rose's torso and she was total dead weight. I would have thought she was passed out if it wasn't for the barrage of giggles and her hands fingering Eric's panties.
"What the hell? What's going on?" I said and reached out to take her from them. I scooped her up like she was a virgin going over the threshold and her left boob popped out of the tape.
"Someone gave her a mint or something, I don't know..." Eric said rubbing his biceps.
"A mint? That wasn't a mint, she's-"
"Oh you have ruffles too, pretty pretty. Ruffles. Ruffles. Ruffles," Rose said, stroking my eyelashes.
"Stop it Rose, stop. Get your fingers out of my eyes."
"Fingggggers. I have pretty fingers."
"She's on E," said Eric. Tell me something I don't fucking know.
"Yeah, I got that. I can't fucking believe this. How long has she been gone?"
"I don't know man, an hour? Maybe more. I didn't realize what was going on until I saw her trying to put her hand in these guys' mouths when they were making out. She said it was a waste of a good tongue and she wanted to take them home with her. The, err, tongues not the guys. Well, maybe the guys. You know Thorn."
"She needs water," piped up Vasili.
"Oh shit. Shit. I have a fucking deadline. Okay guys, thanks for getting her home safe. I appreciate it. We'll talk to you later."
"No problem, I'm sorry Edward, I didn't know. She was fine, on good behavior and everything and wham, there she goes putting her hands up skirts and in peoples' mouths. I'll call in the morning."
Eric closed the door behind them and I carried Rose to our room and dropped her on the bed. She laughed and wiggled on the sheets.
"Okay baby, we're going to get you into bed. Can you take off your shoes?"
"Noooooo, you like it when I leave them on." She gave me a coy smile and batted her huge ass pupils at me.
I went in the bathroom and returned with a glass of water and a Tylenol PM. "Take this. It'll help."
"I don't want any more fucking mints. No mints. Mints. Mints. Minnnntssss. Words are funny."
"Yeah they are, and I promise it's not a 'mint,' it will help calm you down. Take it."
She popped the pill in her mouth and gulped the inch of water. "More agua."
"No you can't chug it, you need to sip." I bent down to take her shoes off and peeled the police tape from her skin. "Get under the covers before you get cold."
I got her beneath the blankets and she nestled in the pillows stroking her eyelashes. This was so the last thing I needed. I just blew hours of work off but there was no way I could leave her like this.
"Edward? Will you touch me?" She lifted her head to fan her hair across the pillow and I kicked off my boots and climbed in next to her. I combed my fingers through her hair and she sighed.
"That makes me feel pretty."
"You are pretty."
"I know. So are you."
I laughed so she couldn't hear me and get pissed off. "Just relax Rose, take deep breaths and ride it out."
"I'm happy Edward. Are you happy?"
"Shhhh. Of course I am, baby."
"No you're not. But that's okay. Right now, I'm happy enough for the both of us."
~~~~~~~
Winter
"I'm not happy, Rose."
"I don't really give a rat's ass. It's what I want to do."
"I'm not going."
"Emmett's not going. I already asked. He's going to Aspen with his new girlfriend. I don't want to see that ass clown any more than you do. Problem solved, we can go."
"Why? We always go see your family in New York for Christmas. Why the fuck the sudden hankering to slum it in Forks?"
"Because! I haven't seen Alice for ages and-"
"Then why don't they come here, or we can go to Seattle. Let Alice and Jasper host the festivities."
"What the fuck is wrong with you? Your parents always have Christmas at their house."
"No they fucking don't!" I yelled, grabbing at my hair. "In my nearly thirty fucking Christmases I can count on one hand how many have been at a house. I'm not fucking going. End of story."
"For fucking fuck's sake. You act like you're allergic to the town or something. I'll give you a Benadryl. You'll be fine."
Fighting her on this was not going to work. Rose didn't lose a fight, ever. A new tactic was needed, pronto.
"Baby," I said, saddling up to her and kissing her neck, "do you really want to spend vacation in drab boring Forks, in the cold? Where you'll have to wear thermals? And sensible shoes? And listen to my sister hound you about a wedding neither of us give two shits about?"
She rolled her head to give me better access. "Not really," she said with a sigh. "I don't know how many more times I can tell her I don't care about getting married as long as I have this big ass rock on my finger."
"That's right. So why spend a week with her jabbering about tulle and peonies and shit. Let's take you somewhere that ring will sparkle."
She spun around and threw her arms up over my shoulders. Bingo.
"Where?" Here eyes were wide as she licked her lips.
"Anywhere you want. You pick."
"Edward, you are the best! I'm hitting up the faves in my travel folder right now. We better book today, don't you think? We'll have to leave next week. I'm going to need..." Her voice trailed off down the hallway as she headed for her office.
I was a golden god. I'd weaseled out of the Forks trip and made it look like I was doing her a favor. There was no fucking way I could go to Forks. I couldn't sleep at night knowing Bella was a car ride away. I'd spend the entire trip plotting ways to run into her and then pussing out because the last thing I wanted to do was mess with her life.
I powered up my laptop and stretched out on the couch. Like always I went to her page right off, it might as well been my home page, and glanced at her latest activity. There was nothing new since yesterday but the last post consisted of her kids' Christmas wish lists. I went back to my fan page to leave her a present.
I know what I want for Christmas but it won't fit under a tree. I'll settle for the Johnny Cash boxed set. Wrap it up in blue.
~~~~~~~
Conference
A hundred miles, a tank of gas, and half a pack of cigarettes separated me from Monterey. Two more hours of Bluebell on my mind instead of in front of my eyes. Rose thought I was out of my damn mind for driving instead of flying. I guess she really didn't get how much I loved my car. And I knew she didn't know I needed the miles to leave her behind. I've found a greater respect for distance when I've driven the road rather than soared above it. I shook off E.A. Cullen's skin by the time I hit Oxnard and now that I was in Cambria, I was completely Bella's Edward.
I turned the heat up and the stereo down. It was cold as fuck and my balls had crawled back up in me as protest but I didn't want to put the top up. I didn't care if it was fucking foggy and freezing. The wind blew through me and washed off the hard edges of home. It was just what I fucking needed to wake me up.
The yellow lines sailed by and I pulled into the Lodge just after two. It was later than I fucking wanted and if I missed her arrival I was going to bust some heads. I smiled for the lady behind the desk and had her fawning over me so I could inquire, without resistance, to whether or not Bella had checked in.
"What did you say her name was, honey?" She went to her computer and dropped her voice. "You know I'm not supposed to be doing this, right?" she asked with a wink.
"It'll be our secret," I said, raising my eyebrows. "It's Isabella Swan. She's in Scarlet Begonia."
Her fingers ratted the keys. "Scarlet Begonia. Oh here we go. No, she's not here yet. I have her arriving on the next shuttle though. Should be in shortly. Want to leave a message for her here?"
"No, thank you, that's okay. You've been very helpful, doll."
I made my way to the registration table to pick up my name tag and conference shit. They'd already pre-sent me the class roster and writing samples and I knew I wasn't as lucky to have Bella this time. I hadn't expected to, they offered me the big guns this go round and I was leading a workshop about manuscript preparation and self-editing. Bella wasn't at that place yet. I was alright with it, better than alright. I'd have an easier time leading the class since I could keep my dick in my pants.
"You are all set, Mr. Cullen. Remember to wear your name tag at all times and check out the updated schedule. You're aware we're mixing it up this year and having theme nights all week, not just for Friday's costume party?"
Yeah I was aware. I fucking groaned when I got the packet last month. Theme nights. Like it was fucking high school spirit week. They're lucky they didn't do a pajama day or I would have backed the fuck out all together. I didn't even own pajamas.
"Got it. I'll be gussied up for tonight's cocktail party, don't you worry," I said with a smirk. She giggled and fanned herself and I laughed. Chicks were so easy.
I slipped on the name tag and went to stuff the packet in my car. I grabbed my gray jacket and a book and went around to the the back of the building. Climbing the stairs to the patio behind the large convention room, I saw the perfect chair to set my weary ass and wait for her. I checked the doors to make sure they were unlocked and lit a cigarette.
I got through a chapter or so when I felt the air around me change. I swear to fucking God, there was a shift. I looked up to the door just as she opened it to step through. Her eyes widened when they met mine and her mouth changed from a gasp to a grin. A big ass mother fucking shit eating grin.
"You're here," she said with disbelief. "I came out to see, but I didn't think you'd actually be here, waiting."
I drank her in until I felt full and smiled. "Where else would I be?"
~~~~~~~~
~~I'd love reviews more than you'd love to find Edward waiting for you, right where you left him.~~
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