“I really wish you guys hadn’t done that,” I told my two best friends as we disappeared from my swim
instructor’s sight.
Part of me was glad, I was so, so, so, so incredibly ashamed
of myself when I saw the look on his face, I couldn’t bear to look at him.
I felt…so horrible
that they’d embarrassed him like that, but I shouldn’t have been surprised,
they were evil, evil plotters and had probably planned it out like that from
the get go.
“What do you mean?” Rose asked. “You won the bet, we paid
up.” She said it like she hadn’t just
embarrassed him beyond recognition back there at the pool and I threw the money
at her.
“I don’t want it.”
“Was it not enough?” she asked me, sarcastically.
“You know what I mean, Rose, you didn’t have to do it
like that, you could have waited until he’d left.”
She smiled. “But
what fun would that have been?”
She was evil.
I…was
evil.
After all, I was the one that had agreed to partake in
their plan in the first place, no one had forced me to do it.
I just hadn’t taken into consideration that I might
actually LIKE the guy.
I mean, of course I’d have to LIKE the guy to even…
UGH!
But I mean, like, I think I really…LIKE, this guy.
Is
that even possible?
Alice laughed her little tiny size two ass off, bending
over in hysterics. “Did you see the look
on that poor guy’s face?”
Rose looked bored. “He wasn’t half bad either, way better
than…”
“Don’t…even say
the name, Rose,” I warned her. There was
no way I wanted to go down memory lane right then. We’d all agreed a long time ago that my ex’s
name was to never be mentioned again.
Ever.
Not that I didn’t deserve a little bit of blatant
bitterness.
I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone with my little stunt, I
just…
I was stressed, and trying to get over a really…REALLY
bad break up, and…I’m immature, okay?
I’d been completely
overwhelmed with school and exams, and the CPA test…and…god how completely full
of myself do I sound?
He has to think I’m a complete and utter spoiled rich
girl now.
And he’d be right.
I was spoiled.
I was spoiled, and evil, and an absolutely horrible…horrible person.
“Helloooo, Bella…” Alice was waving her hand in front of
my face to try and get my attention again and I snapped out of my inner
torture.
“Yeah?”
“Oh, come on,” Rose started, rolling her eyes. “You don’t feel bad, do you?”
I put my head into my hands in utter disgust with myself.
“Oh, Bella…” Alice started, rubbing my back and sitting
me down onto the bench by my father’s fountain just inside his hedge maze. “No harm done, honey, he had fun…YOU clearly had fun…” she laughed again. “You even learned to float!”
“Funny,” I mocked her.
See, I really didn’t
know how to swim…and I really did
think it was time to learn, as petrified as I was of the water…I couldn’t just
NOT go on beach trips anymore, it was really annoying the crap out of Alice and
I had to admit, it seemed silly to me now that I was in my twenties.
I sighed. “Alice, it was just…not nice, he was nice…a
nice guy,” I told her and Rose laughed bitterly. “HA! Nice!?
Like there’s any such thing in the male species!”
She wasn’t really as horrible as she sounds…she’d just
been broken up with…by Felix Volturi,
the quarterback of the football team at our college. And it wasn’t a mutual, or even amicable
break up either.
But when are they ever?
He blatantly went out with one of the skanky cheer
leaders on a date at the place he’d taken Rose to on many occasions, on the
night she was supposed to meet him
there, along with all of our other friends.
He was a complete and utter dick. I’d told her so on a
whole lot of occasions; she just had never really seen him for what he
was…until that night.
And she was having a hard time getting over it. The only thing that seemed to make her feel
better was to take it out on every other living man on Earth.
I shouldn’t have agreed to her game, I just, wanted her
to smile more.
At least that’s what I told myself.
I guess in some sick and twisted way, I was cleaning out
my own closet.
I really wished Edward hadn’t been so…sweet.
He even knows math…who had I ever met who knew the entire
square root of nine-hundred and eighty one?
“I need to go apologize,” I told them, getting up and
leaving them there as they giggled.
“Bella!” they called after me, but I was already half way
back to the pool area by the time they’d even given half of a thought about
coming after me.
I was
blowing off some steam.
No, that just sounded lame.
I
was double dog dared…no, tripled dog dared!
Oh my god, there was just really no excuse for what I
did.
“Edward, I…” I
started to call out as I rounded the corner, just in time to see his car
pulling away. “Edward!” I yelled, but I
was sure he didn’t hear me, and even if he had, why would he come back?
………………
The following week dragged by, tormenting me.
During the day I couldn’t study worth a crap and at night
I couldn’t sleep.
I was too busy thinking about Edwards fingers, his lips,
his…
I closed my eyes.
“Fuck.”
He hadn’t called to cancel his lessons and when I found
his contact information in my father’s files, I finally tried calling him.
I only got his voice mail, though.
God,
what do I say?
“Edward, it’s Bella…Bella Swan…I…look that wasn’t…I mean
I didn’t….I just…”
Beeeeeeeeeep.
Each message I left sounded pretty much the same, only
they got worse with regards to the clarity of my words by the last one.
I decided that after the fourth message I’d left, to just
wait and see if he show’d up for our next lesson.
He probably wouldn’t, he’d probably send a replacement
and cut his losses and I’d never see or hear his wonderful voice again.
Serves
me right.
I guess I could get another instructor; my dad had
already paid Edward though.
Ugh.
I
could pay the new one out of my own savings, then dad would never know.
Not a horrible idea.
The night before my CPA exam was scheduled to take place,
I’d decided that if Edward didn’t call by the time I got home from the test, which
indeed, he probably wouldn’t, then I would call this other private instructor
and have her come out to finish up the lessons.
I wasn’t optimistic.
He still hadn’t called me back and I was trying like hell
not to call and leave yet another stalkeresque type message on his cell phone.
So to get my mind off of my upcoming test and the
butterflies in my stomach, I talked Rose and Alice into going out with me.
Dancing.
Just for a little while.
It would do two things for me.
Us.
One, it would allow me a chance to get all this pent up
energy worked off.
And two, maybe, just maybe I could get my mind off of the
superbly built, completely sexy swimming instructors for an evening, making it
possible to concentrate on the CPA, study my ass off for the remainder of the
evening, pass the test, get my act together and start my new life with a career
making a minimum of fifty thousand to begin with, allowing me to be self
sufficient and not be forced to rely on my dad for something every time I
turned around.
Yeah.
I felt, pretty good.
The more time and space away from Edward Cullen, the
better as far as I was concerned.
And
his super magical fingers and excellently talented dick.
As soon as we walked into our favorite dance spot, Rose,
Alice and I found our favorite spots at the bar and I warned them, “I’m only
having a few tonight, remember, test tomorrow, I’ll drive home.”
They fist bumped each other and ordered us each a
Margarita, no salt, on the rocks and before we were even finished with them,
two fairly decent looking specimens walked in, causing my two BFFs to choke on
their drinks.
“I am sooooooo taking the big guy home,” Rose muttered
from behind her glass, but then she quickly correctly herself, remembering that
she wasn’t driving. “Or…at least dry humping him in the dark hallway back there.”
“Good thing, because I’d have to fight you over the
little one,” Alice retorted and lifted an eyebrow as she watched the smaller of
the two guys walk by.
It was really hard to ignore Rose and Alice. They might have been the exact polar
opposites of each other, Rose being tall, blonde and bomb shell like, Alice,
short, petite that is, brunette and perky, but they were each quite stunning in
their own way.
These two however, walked…right…passed them.
Didn’t even look their way as a matter of fact, which
was…weird.
Rose and Alice looked at each other and then swiveled
around on their bar stools and watched the two boys walk to the other side of
the bar and order drinks.
I laughed at my friends, shaking my head, finishing my
drink off so that I could properly spend the rest of the evening staying sober
and babysitting my two oldest friends in the world.
“I’m going over there,” Rose said but Alice put a hand on
her. “You know our rule, Rose, that’s not proper etiquette with bars and men.”
“I don’t care, that guy ignored me…on purpose.”
I laughed out loud at that. “On purpose, Rose,
seriously? How do you even know that?”
“I. Can. Tell.” she scolded and then just like that, she
jumped off of her chair, finished her drink, set it on to the bar counter and
stalked through the crowd of people over to the other side of the bar.
I grabbed Alice, who was still trying to finish off her
Margarita as I dragged her behind me and followed Rose.
Because we just don’t let each other wander off like
that.
Not after the Natalie Halloway bullshit, anyway.
“Rose, what are you…”
“Hey,” she snapped at the big one, tapping him on his
broad shoulder. He turned around very
nonchalantly after finishing his order with the bartender.
He looked Rose up and down once or twice and then
smirked. “Can I help you?”
“You most certainly goddamn can…what the fuck was all
that about?”
“Excuse me?” he asked her, tauntingly and I noticed the
little one was now covering his mouth with his hand while Rose and the big one
went at each other with a banter that could only be described as Rett Butler
and Scarlett O’Hara.
I tried not to laugh at Rose.
Really I did.
The little guy was trying not to act like he was covering
his mouth with his hand and I wondered suddenly if Rose was right just as he caught
a full on look at Alice and I saw his eyes get big.
He hesitated before saying anything and looked over his
shoulder at the entrance to the bar and then back again and asked, “Can we
uh…get you ladies a drink?”
Wow, he had the sexiest southern accent…ever.
Alice thought so, too.
I could tell by the way she had just completely blushed when he said
that.
I’d followed his line of sight when he’d looked over his
shoulder and wondered out loud, “Who are you…?”
Alice chimed in before I could finish my thought. “We’d
LOVE one.”
“Oh, not me, I’m…” I started, but the big guy nudged
me. “Awe, come on little lady…just one’s
not gonna hurt ya.”
“I’m driving though…so…” I tried to explain.
“You’ve got plenty of time, come on,” he said, not
seeming to be able to take no for an answer and then he waved to the bartender
tell him he needed more than just the two he’d ordered.
When they were set in front of him he picked two up, spun
around on Rose like he was straight out of a Clark Gable flick and said, “For
you, my dear.”
She stopped being pissed off when she saw the type of
beer he’d taken it upon himself to order, impressed with his taste and then she
took the beer, clinked glasses with the guy and swigged that fucker down like
there was no tomorrow.
Rose was like that.
She was never going to let a man drink her under the table or show her
up in any way shape or form if she was able.
I personally always thought that was why Felix couldn’t
handle being with her.
He was a light weight.
“Now that’s my kinda girl,” the big guy said, then put a
hand out to introduce himself. “I’m Emmett, Emmett McCarty, and this is my
buddy Jasper,” he told her, nodding slightly to his friend.
Jasper smiled and handed both Alice and I our drinks but
really, didn’t take his eyes off of Alice the entire time.
“Rose,” Rose said, then proceeded to introduce Alice and
me and I couldn’t have felt more awkward.
“Helloooo, Bella,” they both said at the same time.
It kinda gave me the creeps but I managed a smile anyway
and said, “Hi.”
I sipped my beer and tried to enjoy myself but in all
honesty, the girls had forgotten I was even there the minute those two boys
walked in that door.
So
much for operation make Bella feel better.
I needed to get away from the friendly foursome suddenly.
So, I walked the bar. I’d done this a million times, just
never by myself.
I danced a few times with some random, seemingly harmless
and by themselves men, went back to check in with the girls and hydrate myself
with the one beer that was mine every so often.
At
least I thought it was just one beer.
I did the rounds, checking out the darts games, pool
games, bathroom lines, body shots and ball busters but really all I kept doing
was trying to forget those gorgeous green eyes that my swim instructor owned.
I tripped over some feet that were up against a wall as I
made my way back toward the dance floor and apologized blindly as I waved a
hand behind me without looking, attempting to cross the dance area so I could make
my way back over to my group but was side tracked once again by a song I knew
and loved.
I was feeling quite buzzed and didn’t pay one iota of
attention to whether anyone was staring as I danced alone on the dance floor to
John Mayer.
Bodies bumped me a little and I think I almost fell over
at some point but then strong arms caught me and stopped me from face planting
the floor and possibly getting trampled by the drunken mob that surrounded me.
I paid the hands no mind as I went back along my merry
swaying and didn’t even appear to care they wrapped themselves around me and I
felt a hard, warm body pressed up against my back, swaying to the music in
perfect sync with me.
It actually felt…really good although I couldn’t tell you
if that was the alcohol talking, or just my mind playing tricks on me.
Which is kinda the same thing, huh?
I closed my eyes and let the arms guide me and keep me
from falling again and I even let my head fall against the hard pecks that were
holding me up, snuggling into the torso that smelled…oh…so…good.
I got goose bumps all along my shoulder blades as I felt
a nose travel along my neck, down to the crook where it sets on my shoulders
and warm, sweet breath engulfed me there.
I hummed, imagining only one person’s lips on me.
Edward’s.
I felt frustration in wanting this stranger to kiss me
the way Edward had, to make my body do the things Edward had made it do.
And that’s how I knew I was drunk.
Too drunk, that is.
I knew I shouldn’t have been dancing with someone like
that, with my friends nowhere in sight of where I was, letting myself get swept
away in an alcoholic induced fantasy, letting my ass arch up against
some…stranger’s hard on.
I vaguely remember wondering if my girlfriends even cared
where I’d gone off too, or if they were just too busy with their new boy toys
to worry about my sorry ass but then the stranger who was holding me took my
mind away from them again as he began to hold me tighter.
His hands slid across my stomach to opposite sides of my
waist and he dipped his head into my shoulder.
His lips radiated against my skin but never actually made contact there,
he just…let them linger.
Teasing me.
And oh, how I wanted him to do more.
My breathing started to hitch and I started to spin
myself around to see who my mysterious, sexy dancer was just as the music
stopped and then…
He was gone.
I popped up onto my tippy toes and looked over heads but
only saw other heads as I stumbled and almost fell again.
People were swirling around me and I could barely tell
where I even was, much less if any of the nameless, faceless heads were the
person who’d just made me wet between the thight on the dance floor to one of
my favorite songs of all time.
My eyes blinked slowly and I ran my hands through my
hair, trying to get it out of my face and I fumbled my way back over to where I
thought the girls were.
And there they were…thank god.
I tried counting the empty bottles on the table the four
people I was with had gotten, but there were so many I couldn’t see straight.
I couldn’t really stand very well, either and I found
myself giggling at the absolutely stupidest things that people were saying to
me.
I cursed myself drunkenly for forgetting to drink water
in between the beers and yet I couldn’t bring myself to stop drinking as each
one was handed to me.
“We’re playing a game, Bella, come join us!” Alice
chirped and I hopped onto a seat, leaning in to see what the hub bub was all
about.
“It’s called thumper,” Emmett said enthusiastically and
some what excited that I’d joined the group again. “You pick a sign and that’s your sign, then
we thump…like this…”
He showed me how to play and I though wow, how insanely
simple.
Until I’d had quiet a few more beers due to missing not
only my own signs, but everyone else’s as well, as they pointed to me with
their elbows or…did an invisible dick sucking routine…
I just couldn’t stop laughing.
Who knows how much longer later it was when we were
singing to the last song of the evening, seat dancing and swaying to the song
we all seemed to know way too well.
We were drinking up the last of our very last drinks when
I heard it.
“Ready to go guys?” a very soft, very velvety voice asked
from behind me and I felt myself get a little giddy for some reason thinking,
cool, finally there’s a third joining us so I don’t have to watch Rose and
Alice have all the fun.
The girls both spit their drinks out from utter shock
before I could even focus on the looks of terror on their faces.
I laughed. Giggle
snorted and turned to see…
“Edward.”
At least I thought it was Edward, he was a little blurry
and I couldn’t be sure I wasn’t having a hallucination.
“Did someone pop a ruffreee into my drunk…” I
hiccupped. “I mean my drink.” I laughed.
Rose and Alice laughed.
A little.
Okay, a lot.
Emmett and Jasper chuckled, even.
Edward didn’t though.
He just looked right passed me, to his…
Friends?
“You know these guys?”
He grabbed a hand ful of the popcorn from the bowl that
settled in the middle of our table and popped a few pieces into his mouth.
“Yeah, see, I bet my friends here,” he pointed to the two
boys who’d been flirting and playing and drinking with Alice and Rose all night,
“that they couldn’t get you and your friends completely drunk off of your asses
and possibly even make you slur your words by the end of the night.”
I felt my forehead begin to throb and my eyeballs felt
closer together.
Was I swaying?
“You…”
I looked at my watch.
“Ohmygod.”
Oh no…
Three AM!?
Where did the time go?
I couldn’t drive like this.
“I have…I have a…”
I was panicked, I wasn’t supposed to drink.
“No, you weren’t,” he smirked and I thought, how did he
hear my thoughts?
“Test in the morning?” he smiled and I still couldn’t
wipe the complete and utter chaos out of my system.
I needed to get home…I needed to…
“CPA, right?” he looked genuinely concerned on one hand
yet entertained at the same time.
“Not quite as demeaning for you as, say, fucking your
fake swimming instructor for kicks, but…” he popped another peanut into his
mouth. “Works for me.”
Then, just like, he winked at me and motioned for his
two…buddies to join him, which, they did, saluting to Rose, Alice and myself as
they did.
I looked for my keys.
I had to get out of there, I’d worry about being pissed
later.
“Looking for these?” Edward called out from a little
further away that I could have ever expected him to be.
I reached for the keys he dangled in front of me but he
pulled them away. “I couldn’t let you
drive now, could I Bella? I mean friends
just don’t let friends drive…drunk.”
He said it with such…venom, and…meanness.
“Asshole, give me my…” I reached again but missed and
this time I fell forward.
He caught me and when I looked up at him I thought I saw
something else in his eyes…something…nicer… but all he said was, “Have a nice
test,” then he stood me up and left.
Oh my god I was so screwed.
*******************
Lesson 3 - Let this be a lesson
Edward Cullen POV
I…am
a dick.
“Dude, that Rose was hot.”
Such
a dick.
“No kiddin’, her little friend though, she was fucking
adorable in her own right, if ya ask me.”
Dick
dickity dick dick…crazy old mcdickenstein.
Emmett and Jasper high fived each other.
“Booyah!” Jasper hooted.
“So glad I got her digits before Edward showed up…I’m
totally calling her tomorrow.”
That pulled me out of my dick sulking. “What? You can’t CALL her,” I finally piped
in.
“Why not?”
“Because…she’s…the enemy?”
Duh.
They both laughed and I didn’t quite get it.
Okay, I got it, but that’s beside the point.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Emmett looked at me like I
was a retard or something. “This girl
jerks you off in her rich daddy’s pool, you finger fuck her, and you’re still…pissed?”
He had this look on his face like I was telling him a
joke that he didn’t quite get and I just got more annoyed.
“Em, she PLAYED me.”
Still, nothin’.
“Japser, you get what I’m saying, right?”
“Oh, yeah, sure Edward…” he started to say but then
looked defeated. “No, not really.”
“Dude…what were you thinking going out on that dance
floor like that? You almost blew your
whole plan.”
“She was fucking drunk, man, she almost fell right into a
light stand.”
I smirked a little thinking about it, actually.
I couldn’t help myself from following her around all
night.
She weebled and wobbled but hadn’t actually fallen down
till she was trying to dance with herself.
I laughed as I caught her, and figured at that point that
I’d blown it but could probably make her eat shit anyway because by then, she
was already wasted.
But damn if the woman didn’t even bother turning around
to see who’d saved her sorry drunken ass from a concussion.
I’d planned on just hiding again after that.
‘Till I felt her soft skin under my grasp.
Smelled her scent.
Remembered the swimming lesson.
Fake as it was, it was still…
Shit.
Dancing with Bella in the water was pretty fucking hot.
Dancing with Bella on the dance floor that night
was…seductive.
I was pretty sure I could have made her body do some
serious aching out on that dance floor, but hell, that would have been taking
serious advantage of her.
And we all
know, she didn’t deserve being…”taken advantage of”.
I snorted.
Still, as semi-satisfying as it was to burn her ass at
the end of the night and take her keys from her as I left her standing there, I
was still a dick.
I mean, this test…it was…her future…
“Fuck,” I said as I dropped the guys off at my place,
letting my head fall back against the car’s head rest.
I sat there for a minute but then leaned forward again,
putting the car back into drive.
“Where you goin?” Emmett asked when I started to pull
away again.
“I’m gonna make sure they get home alright, then I’m
gonna make sure Bella gets to her exam on time…”
They started drunk dancing in the street, then.
“Edward’s…in…loooooo-hove!” they sang as they made goo
goo eyes at me and Emmett rubbed circles on his ass as he wiggled it at me.
I gave them the proverbial finger and left, knowing I
might very well find them passed out in the front yard when I got home, but at
least I knew they’d be alright.
I think.
It didn’t take me long to find the girls.
I debated offering them a ride home as I listened to the
voice mails that Bella had left me over the prior several days leading up to
this crazy idea.
“I’m so sorry, Edward, really, I’d love to talk this
over…”
Her voice sounded sincere but I couldn’t stop replaying
that day in her pool back in my head over and over and over again.
The blonde cackling like one of the witches from
Eastwick, the short one handing Bella her money for winning their bet.
And me, looking like the biggest idiot in all of
creation.
As I watched the girls take their heels off and continue
walking though, I also couldn’t help but remember the unbelievable connection I
thought was mutual when we were…
Well, connecting.
That decided it for me.
I pulled up next to them and rolled the window down.
Oh man, Bella was…out. Of. It.
“I mean…who does heeee thinnnnk he IS anyway?” she was
asking no one and the other two were behind her, giggling idiotically at the
way she was flailing her hands around.
“So I wacked him off in my dad’s pool…Seriously…what’s
the guy complaining about? He caaaaaaaaame, didn’t he?”
Ohhhhhh
boy.
The BFFs had already seen me and stopped, mouths gaping
as Bella realized they weren’t answering her.
She turned around.
“DIDN’T HE?”
Why
yes, yes he did.
She was waiting angrily for them to answer when the short
one said, “Bella…” and pointed in what she no doubtedly thought was a very
covert kind of way.
I let out a silent huff and hung my head, shaking it.
Why…why
Cullen? Just tell me why.
When I looked up again, Bella was narrowing her
inebriated eyes at me through the window.
“YyyyyyyyOU!”
“Need a ride?” I asked them and it didn’t take Rose or
Alice long to praise the gods and jump in, but Bella…noooooo…she couldn’t just be…fucking GRATEFUL…she was a stubborn
ass…and refused.
“Screw you, Cullen,”
she said and continued walking.
Or rather…stumbling.
Nice.
“Come on, Bella, it’s a good, what, five miles to your
house,” she glared at me. “Sorry, mansion
from here?”
The girls in the back of the ‘Stang laughed.
Bella kept on walking.
Then I just had to let out a bitter chuckle myself as I
drove along next to her at a snail’s pace.
“Ya know, it’s not like you’re the one that should be
pissed here, I mean…” I waved a hand at her even though she wasn’t even looking
at me. She was just…drunkenly stumbling
along the damn road.
“I’m the one that got duped!”
That stopped her.
“Duped…seriously?” she huffed through her nose and made
an evil…yet sexy face at me. “You got a
hand job, Edward, I’m going to FAIL my CAREER’s EXAM.”
She leaned into the window and pointed at me. “I’m pretty
sure you’re coming out on top in this whole…” she swirled her finger around
like she was stirring a pot. “Scenario.”
Then she tripped on a rock or something and disappeared
from my sight.
“Oh! Shit!” the girls in the back laughed again but I
slammed the breaks on and threw the car into park.
When I got around to where Bella was, on the ground,
sitting cross legged, she was crying.
Fuck.
Me.
I put a hand out to help her up but she swatted it away.
“Bella, come on.”
She gave me the finger.
“Up yours, mister swim instructor.”
I do
not need this bullshit.
I looked up and down the road but no cars were coming, so
I couldn’t flag one down and shove her into someone else’s nightmare…
It was too late to call a cab…
The guys were drunk off their asses…
I
wonder if dad would…
Nah.
I was out of options really, so, I did what I had to.
I sat down next to her.
She wiped her eyes that were dripping with black mascara
now and I really had to work hard at not laughing at how completely drunk and
pitiful she appeared.
Not
at all the little vixen who set me up last week.
Then she looked at me.
“I didn’t mean to…I mean I meant to…but I didn’t mean it
like that…I just…the girls…we were…”
She really was quite incoherent considering her
intellect. She tried to get the words
out but then just gave up finally, waving a hand at me.
I brushed the hair out of her face and told her, “Well
said.”
She laughed and so did I.
For the love of god, even ridiculously sloshed and sloppy
looking, she was adorable.
Help
me. Somebody.
Please?
I ignored the yearning I was starting to feel, wanting to
lean in and put my lips on hers.
As I stared at them, I could distinctly remember the
salty taste they had to them from the water in her father’s swimming pool.
I licked my lips without even realizing I was doing it.
Then, in an attempt to snap myself out of it, I decided
that a rhetorical pick up line was in order and asked her, “So, do you…often
place bets with your friends over how long it’ll take to get some guy out of
his pants….err…swim trunks?”
She laughed.
A little.
But mostly looked like she was cringing.
“I don’t…and Edward, I swear, I…” she started but then
abruptly stopped, looking up at the window above us and then so did I.
Rose and Alice were hanging out of it, listening in on
us, smiling like the
“She really doesn’t,” Alice said.
“Yeah and she felt all kinds of baaaaaad about it
afterwards, if that makes you feel better,” Rose added, rolling her eyes.
It did, in actuality.
I mean, I’d gotten that impression from the voice mails,
but you really never know if someone’s just saying that so they can maybe make
another bootie call at some point in time without the guilt attached to it.
Ya know?
Bella smacked the window and the girls jumped back into
the car, laughing again, then she took a deep breath and let it out before she tried
explaining.
Something about Rose’s ex, stress over finals, a fight
with her father and the CPA exam…
By the time she was done…and before I’d had a chance to
respond, she passed out.
Yep.
Fell right into my lap and other than the fact that she
nuzzled her nose up into my crotch, causing some mock two dick palpitations, I
kinda thought she looked pretty cute there.
A picture flashed in my mind of my jeans being off and
Bella’s mouth being wrapped around my dick and I could just see my hand moving
to the back of her head in order to push her down onto me a little further,
wanting to hit the back of her throat.
I swallowed.
Not
cool, Cullen, she’s fucking passed out for crying out loud.
“Ohhhhh kay, Miss Swan,” I said, getting myself up and
pulling her into my arms to pick her up and shove her into the car.
“Can one of you lovely ladies open the front door?” I
asked the drunkards in the back, but they too had fallen asleep.
“Well, this is certainly gonna be fun,” I said to them.
I somehow managed to open the door and get Bella in after
a good ten minutes of fighting with her weight and the car’s handle.
As I slid her in, her head hit the ceiling of the car and
I scrunched my face.
“Ohhhhhhh…”
Man
that’s gonna hurt in the morning.
I rubbed it out and told her, “You didn’t see that.”
Getting passed the gate dude wasn’t all the hard,
disappointingly enough. He started out
strong, asking me just exactly what I was doing with three passed out women in
my car.
But a simple, “Designated driver,” answer seemed to
appease him and he let me right through.
I shook my head, driving down the dark street to Bella’s,
thinking I could have been a rapist for all that guy knew.
“Idiot,” I said to the rear view mirror as I drove passed
him.
Then I realized something and muttered, “Shit,” because I
didn’t exactly remember the house number but after two or three go’s around the
block, I recognized the front of the house and that same butler guy met me as I
pulled up.
He bent at the waist and looked into the car at the
girls, then at me.
He cocked an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
“Long story, dude, I really just need to get them to
bed.”
“You’re the swim instructor are you not?” he asked me and
I nodded. “Yep.”
Another cocked eyebrow.
“Like I said,” I started.
“Long story,” he replied.
He helped me get the girls into their beds and then
showed me out to my car but I had no plans of leaving until I knew Bella was
safe and sound at her CPA exam.
Out at my car I shook his hand. “Thanks, man…Edward,
Edward…”
“Cullen, yes, I know,” he replied, taking my hand into
his. “My name is Demetri, sir.”
But
of course it is.
He looked at his watch. “It’s rather late, sir, wouldn’t
you like to sleep here for the night?”
Wow.
I hadn’t expected that.
I was just gonna hide down the street until morning and
then throw rocks at Bella’s window until she woke up, but…
“Yeah, actually, that’d be great,” I said to him and then
he promptly showed me to the pool house.
Ah
memories.
“Listen I uh…left my keys upstairs,” I told him in a lame
attempt at smooth cunning.
“Oh, I’ll get them for you sir…”
“No, no…I know where it is…I’ll get ‘em.”
I ran into the house before he could stop me but he
didn’t seem too pressed about really stopping
me, so, I made it upstairs without any issues.
And there I stayed.
It was fuck cold in her house.
They must have kept the A/C on like, fucking forty or
something.
So I found a blanket, settled down into a satellite chair
she had in the corner of her room, set the alarm on my iPhone and pulled the
blanket up to my chin as I get comfortable.
As comfortable one can get in a circle shaped piece of
aluminum, that is.
I watched her for a while.
Her arm hung over the edge of her bed and her hair was
all over the place but I could see her face still.
And as pissed off as I was the week before, or hell, even
earlier that night, I just felt it all…go away in those moments
I remember smiling at her falling on her ass earlier and
pointing her drunken finger at me while trying to make her point as I closed my
eyes and then the next thing I knew, my alarm was going off.
I rubbed my eyes, trying to focus and then saw Bella,
still asleep.
I checked the time.
I knew where and when the exams were.
I was supposed to have taken one of the exact same tests
the year before.
That was prior to my extreme genius decision to blow off
accounting all together and teach kids to swim.
I got up and went into the bathroom to piss and then
headed back into the bedroom to wake up sleeping beauty.
“Bella.”
Nothin’.
“Bella,” I whispered again, shaking her a little.
This had to be done delicately, hangovers were never
pretty.
“You’ve got an exam in approximately sixty minutes,” I
told her into her ear and an eye opened.
“Mmmmmmph.”
She threw her hand over her face and I chuckled lightly
at her, letting my head fall down loosely so that she wouldn’t hear me.
Once I was convinced I wouldn’t laugh out loud in her
face, I pushed her hand down gently and brushed the hair out of her face.
“You need a shower, Bella, unless you wanna go to the
test smelling of tequila.”
“Ohhhhhhhhh, my head,” she said. “When I get my hands on
that asshole, I’m gonna…”
She stopped, letting her eyebrows scrunch together and
then squinted her eyes open.
When she saw me, she blinked a few times.
Then realization set in and before I knew it, she was
screaming.
Really fucking loudly.
“Okay…” I started but she didn’t exactly hear me with the
screaming.
God, if she would just…settle down.
She pushed with her feet against the bed to scoot back up
against something.
Only nothing was there and she fell off of the other side
of the bed.
“Shit, are you okay?” I asked her but now she was
screaming louder.
Jesus fuck she had some lungs.
“Bella!”
“What are you doing here?! GET OUT!” she yelled and then
turned her head. “DEMETRI!”
“Bella, it’s okay,” I laughed, still unbelieving that she
was so freaked out.
“Oh, my head,” she said as she put her fingers to her
temples and started rubbing circles.
I tried to go to her. “Here, let me help you…”
“NO!” she shouted again, hold one of her hands up to me.
“Just…stay away from me!”
“Bella, what’s the problem?”
“What’s the problem?!” she scream questioned me. “You…SABOTAGED my CPA exam and now you’re…”
she whispered the rest. “In. My. BEDroom!”
“I’m in your bedroom, because we had a moment last night
and I felt bad and brought you home…and put you to bed I might add.”
Now I was scowling.
She shook her head though. “I don’t remember any…moments…and I’m REALLY sure you felt bad about anything you
did…you….you!”
I closed my eyes tight and turned my head waiting for the
onslaught again but then…Demetri was there, at the door.
Thank you god.
“Demetri, tell her I…”
“How do you know my butler’s name?”
“I told you…I…”
She waved me off and started pushing me out. “It doesn’t matter, you need to leave.”
“I wanted to…”
“GET OUT!” she yelled again and then, just like that, I
was in the hallway and the door was close and I was left standing there with
Demetri who looked just about as shell shocked as I felt.
I let out a long sign and put my hands on my hips,
letting my head fall back.
“Dude,” I said to Demetri. “Is she ALWAYS like that?”
Demetri laughed and just said, “No sir, actually, I’ve
never seen her like that. Not even
close.”
Then he just smiled at me and spun around to go…do…butler
stuff.
I guess.
I waited for Bella, because I was gonna take her to that
damn test, whether her stubborn ass liked it or not.
I went outside for some fresh air and to clear my head
and when she came out, she still looked like she was in pain, but at least she
didn’t stink.
Much.
“Why are you still here?” she asked me, narrowing her
eyes at me.
Cute.
“I’m taking you to your test, it’s kind of an…apology of
sorts.”
She snorted and mumbled, “apology my ass.”
“Listen, I didn’t have
to drive you home last night…or…put you in bed…” I waved flippantly at her
house…mansion…whatever. “Or make sure
you got up on time…”
“You drove me home?”
Then I laughed. “You really don’t remember anything?”
She scowled. “Not passed you taking my keys and leaving
me stranded.”
Figures.
Her face smoothed and she smiled at me and I couldn’t
help but feel like I was about to be devoured somehow.
She walked over to me. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”
Huh?
I backed up a smidge but she crowded me up against the
hood of my ‘Stang. My hands went behind
me to hold myself up from falling backwards onto the damn thing.
The pure unadulterated sex was practically emitting from
off of her.
I could feel it.
My dick could definitely feel it.
And he was telling me to, “Stop backing the fuck up for
Christ’s sake.”
Again….devoured.
And hopefully in a good way.
When her tongue flicked out to wet her lips, I managed to
close my mouth and I swallowed as the blood pumped through my system a little
faster.
She raised up onto her tippy toes and leaned in until she
was so close I could smell her shampoo.
I breathed her in as she put her lips onto mine and my
eyes closed.
We didn’t touch other than our lips and she leaned in a
little more to press her tits up against me.
Soooooo
not playing fair.
She barely let her tongue touch mine when she pulled away
a little and said, “Thank you.”
You
are sooooooo welcome.
“No problem,” I said smiling and then she told me, “I’m
gonna be late if I don’t go.”
“Right, I’ll…”
“No, Edward, really, you’ve done enough, I’ll drive
myself, but thank you, again.”
The side of her mouth raised and I asked, “Are you sure
you’re okay to drive? I mean it’s no
problem.”
“I’m sure,” she said and then she slid into her own
vehicle and started her up.
“I’ll call you…” she told me and then she was gone and I
had to talk my body down from the high it was on once again.
“Wow.”
I shook everything out and got into the ‘Stang, then
padded my pockets for my…
“Where the fuck are my keys?”
I searched all of them, every pocket.
Twice.
Not there.
Then I looked down the drive of Bella’s father’s mansion
just as I got a text and when I checked, it was from her.
Have
a nice day, it said and then things clicked for me.
She’d pick pocketed my ass!
That.
Bitch!
**********************
Lesson 4 - Patience is a virtue
Bella Swan POV
Jesus. I am glad that’s over.
I barely made it through my CPA exam.
Between nearly falling asleep and not being able to see
straight from the headache I was sporting, I was quite surprised to have
finished at all.
I convinced myself I’d only survived it due strictly to
the adrenalin rush from screwing with my sexy swim instructor a little bit beforehand,
which made me smile.
A little, it still hurt to move at all.
Eyes
that look like Heaven…Lips like cherry wine…
“Jerk,” I mumbled, climbing into the extra Volvo dad kept
in the driveway area, thank GOD.
I mean, otherwise, I’d have had to let Edward bring me
this morning…and then I might actually have owed him some gratitude.
I mean, not that I didn’t. According to him anyway…he did take me home the night before and he
did get me up on time, which, I have
to admit, would definitely NOT have happened if he hadn’t…been in my…
Bedroom.
A shiver flew up my spine as I started the car up and
backed out of the parking spot.
I also sighed because…great…now
I felt bad for leaving him with no keys to his car.
“Still deserved it,” I told myself so I would stop
wallowing in the self pity. I’d done
that enough the entire week before when he refused
to return any of my phone calls.
Had he done
that, he probably wouldn’t have felt the stupid man urge to get me drunk off of my ass and then I wouldn’t have been forced to retaliate.
Right?
Right.
I sighed again.
Wrong.
Once I made it home, I noticed Edward’s car was no longer
there and I felt just a tad disappointed that he wasn’t.
If only I hadn’t had that test to take that morning…I
could have hung around and maybe…taken the tease I’d given him a little
further…maybe on top his Mustang…
Yeah,
maybe if I wasn’t such a fucking bitch.
I looked at the house and started walking toward it to
shake those thoughts.
I swear part of me just wanted to jump his bones.
The other parts, well, they just wanted to jump his
bones, too.
Inside, I practically crawled up the stairs, mumbling a
hello to Demetri, threw my keys and bag down, then passed out on my bed.
Which immediately feel off of its hinges and onto my
floor with a crash.
I thought I heard giggling from downstairs when it
happened.
“Asshole,” was the last thing I said as I closed my eyes.
Edward’s face haunted my pre-sleep bliss and I remembered
the sound of his intake of air as I put my hand on his family jewels.
I smiled.
I really liked getting a rise out him.
When I woke up, it was some time Friday and Demetri was
shaking me a little to wake me up.
“Ms. Swan…Ms. Swan it’s time to get up, ma’am.”
“Whyyyyyyyyyy,”
I asked him.
“Your swim lesson, Ms. Swan…”
He said it matter of factly and I almost ignored him
until I realized what he was saying.
My
swim lesson?
MY SWIM LESSON!
Edward was here?
I threw the covers off of me, jumped out of bed, nearly
knocking the poor man over and ran to the window, pulling the blinds down at
the center to look out over the pool area.
“Oh my god.”
“Is there, something wrong, ma’am? Should I tell him you’re not…”
“No no!” I yelled, running into the bathroom to get my
suit on. “Tell him, I’ll…be down in a
minute.”
I must have messed with my hair for ten minutes before
finally just throwing it into a pony tail.
I couldn’t go out there look like I’d just slept
twenty-four hours, but I couldn’t exactly put make up on either.
Why was he even there?
How did he get home?
WHY….was he THERE?
“Only one way to find out,” I said to myself and then I
heard Demetri ask, “What’s that ma’am?”
I jumped.
“Shit, Demetri, I thought you’d gone downstairs.”
“I did, ma’am, he’s waiting for you by the pool.”
I thought I saw him smirk as he turned to leave me and I
grabbed a towel, took a deep breath to steady my nerves and then descended the
stairs leading to the main floor of my father’s house.
I peeked out through the doors leading to the pool area
and watched him for a minute, making sure he didn’t have any sharp objects in
his hands or anything.
When I was confident he didn’t, I started out.
As I approached, he didn’t make any kind of eye contact
with me, he just started setting things out that we’d be using for the day’s
lesson I was supposing.
I cleared my throat.
“Miss Swan, I see you managed to make it,” he said with
no expression what so ever.
Hmmmph. Not very nice.
I didn’t even know exactly what to say to that, so I just
went with, “Jerk.”
I didn’t see his face but I heard the huff that he let
out through his nose as he fiddled with his…toys.
I chewed on my lip, trying to think of a way to apologize
maybe, when he spun on me and started in with this…rant about his day.
“I missed every lesson I was scheduled for yesterday, do
you have any idea how much that put me out?”
I opened my mouth to speak, not knowing exactly what to
say, but thought I’d try anyway and he cut me off.
He snorted.
“No, I guess you wouldn’t, you and your…” he waved a hand
behind him as he turned away from me to fumble with his gear again.
I opened my mouth again.
He cut me off…again, not bothering to even look at me as
he rambled.
“Ya know, I don’t know what it is about you…rich
girls…you get bored, you fuck with other people’s lives, you get your feelings
hurt, you fuck with other people’s lives…someone tries to help you out…You. Fuck. With. Other. People’s. Lives.”
My mouth was open by the end of that one so I closed it.
“Not all of us are made of money, ya know…some of us have
fucking rent to pay and bills to mail at just the right moment so it’s not late
but the check doesn’t fucking bounce…”
“Y…” I started but again, it was useless.
“Those clients I lost yesterday? That money was supposed
to cover my car payment.”
I eyed his car from around the corner of the house. It didn’t look like it would be all that big of a car payment.
I was at a loss of words.
Which doesn’t really happen all that often.
Except for when I’m talking to this guy.
I wasn’t a rich
girl…I didn’t…fuck with people’s
lives.
Did
I?
I was started to feel like a real shit but for some
reason, I just couldn’t bring myself to say that.
“Well…you…started it,” I told him defiantly…immediately
regretting not thinking before I spoke.
Oh
my god how immature was that?
I closed my eyes tight as my lips pushed together,
waiting for the onslaught.
He laughed before I could even say anything. “Ohhh, buuuurrrrnnnn,” he goaded, which made
me open my eyes and I sneered at him.
“And if I remember, correctly…and I’m pretty goddamn sure
I do…YOU started it, Miss Swan, with your…perky little tits and your…oh thank you mister Cullen…and your…fucking
hands and…”
He trailed off and I pulled my towel around me a little
more.
This amused him apparently.
“Oh, I see…now
you’re SHY?” he asked bitterly. “HA!
Good one!”
For some reason I was completely unable to make my mouth
work when he talked to me like that.
“I…”
“Ya know what? Save it…let’s just…get on with the lesson
so I can get the hell out of here and try salvaging what clientele I still
have.”
…………..
This lesson wasn’t exactly like the first one. It still had all of the elements of a
swimming lesson, I suppose…just, not all of the extra curricular sexual tension
like there had been previously.
At least, not on Edward’s part.
There was kick boarding…and the evil eye from my
instructor.
Then there was back floating…and sarcastic mumblings
courtesy of my instructor.
There was more kick boarding…and quite a few eye rolls…even
a watch check from him.
Lastly, but not least, he had me do some breathing
exercises…which created some seriously tense body posture on his part.
It was like an angry tango, minus the passion.
I moved, he moved…further away.
It was exhausting.
By the end of the half hour, I was done.
“What exactly does all of this have to do with learning
to swim anyway?” I asked him, frustrated
as I pulled myself up the ladder to exit the pool. He’d barely spoken to me throughout the
lesson, so it wasn’t like I would know what in the world he was…teaching me.
He just laughed bitterly and shook his head while he
started gathering his things together.
“So, what, I’m just supposed to…not question what I’m
being taught here?” I pushed.
He stopped, turned, and eyed me for a minute as I stood
there, soaking wet, dripping in front of him.
His eyes were…burning
into me. Like he wanted to strangle me…or…fuck me.
Please
fuck me.
I couldn’t really tell which one it was, but I could take
an educated guess.
I wanted him to kiss me again.
Wanted him to hold me, maybe let his fingers to that vu
doo that they do…but alas.
I sighed.
Because that wasn’t gonna happen.
He hated me.
I thought maybe he was gonna say something to me when he
suddenly narrowed his eyes a little, releasing himself from whatever thought
process was going on inside of his head and he began grabbing everything he
could so he wouldn’t have to come back for a second trip I was guessing.
“I can help you, if…”
“Don’t bother,” he snapped. “Whatever’s left, I’ll get at the next
lesson,” he said and when he started off to leave, he was stopped short by
something.
I peeked around his hard, perfectly sculptured, I wanted
to touch it very badly body.
Then we both saw Rose and Alice.
“Great, more fun,” he said, sarcastically and I watched
as his jaw tightened, making me even more heated in places I wished I wasn’t
quite so heated in at the moment.
I didn’t have time to let it register in my mind why the
girls would be there because then we saw who was with Rose and Alice.
“Emmett?” he whispered… “Annnnd, of course…Japser.”
“What are they…?”
“Hi guys!” Alice called out as they made their way over,
Alice skipping with Jasper’s hand in hers.
Rose was lagging behind, with Emmett’s arm draped over her shoulder.
“What the fuck are you guys doing here?” Edward asked his
friends and then there was a silence that took over between the six of us.
Emmett’s arm slowly removed itself from Rose’s body and
he rocked back and forth on his feet, looking away as he mumbled,
“Awkwarrrrrrrrd.”
“I’m out.”
“Edward, wait!”
It was Alice, she was stopping Edward and I felt my
forehead scrunch together, wondering what she was up to.
I honestly thought he would just keep walking but
something made him stop.
He faced Alice with all of his gear in his arms and she
smiled.
“Thanks for the ride home the other night.”
This caught him off guard and his eyes fell on me
momentarily as he let her words sink in.
He looked, sweet…and…like the guy I’d met that first
time…shy…nice…not royally pissed off.
But then, the monster returned and his eyes went darker
as he made eye contact with Alice again.
“Don’t mention it, see ya.”
“Wait!” she yelled after him again and once again, he
stopped for her.
“We’re…throwing a pool party this weekend, we wanted you
guys to come…” she trailed off and looked at me…
ME.
Like I was putting it together.
“Right, Bella?”
she eyeballed me.
“Um….” I was totally thrown off guard, but then, I got
it…this was her way and Rose’s of making up for contributing toward the evil
trickery we’d played on Edward.
“Right,” I ended, standing up a little straighter, hoping
he’d accept.
“I don’t think so.”
“Bummer,” Emmett said.
“Guess we’re not comin’ either, then, girls.”
Rose looked absolutely livid.
“What is your problem, anyway?” she spat at Edward, who I
already knew was in no mood to play games today. I wanted to tell her to stop, to just…let him
go so he could cool off, but it was too late, he’d already dropped his things.
“I don’t know, Rose, maybe I’ve just hit my limit of the
spoiled rotten rich bitch bullshit that I’ve had this year already.”
Before she could give him a piece of her mind for that,
Jasper piped in.
“Dude, it’s just a party, it’s not like we’re asking you
to marry the girl…it’s an Olive branch for crying out loud.” He put his arm around Alice who cuddled right
into him like she was born to be there and Edward scowled at them.
“Freeeeeeee foooooooood,” Emmett added in his very manly
yet boyish sing songy voice and I had to put my hand over my mouth to hide my
smile.
He was so ridiculously cute.
“Drinks….” Alice told him, smiling her Alice charm at
him.
“And maybe even someone to take the stick out of your
ass,” Rose said.
“Ya know what? Why
not,” he said but I could tell, he wasn’t exactly happy about it. “Seeing how I missed out on the last drinking binge…” he pointedly look
at me. “Invitation…excepted.”
I felt his bitterness in the pit of my stomach.
And other places.
I should have been happy, maybe even excited…but I
wasn’t, it just PISSED me off.
He left his things on the ground and stalked off as I did
the same toward the house and I heard Emmett yell after him, “We’ll uh…get your
stuff dude, see ya at the apartment!”
“Good job, Bella! We’ll talk details later!” Alice called
out to me but I didn’t bother with any gestures of acknowledging her.
That girl was always getting me into trouble.
Giggles from the girls and hand slapping from the boys
was all I heard as I slammed the doors behind me once I was in the house.
“Whatever,” I muttered, walking back into the house. “It’s
not like I have to hang out with
him.”
Right?
***************************
Lesson 5 - Don't forget to breathe
Edward Cullen POV
“Two down…sex to go…”
Emmett eyeballed me, smirking. Jasper didn’t bother eyeballing me. He never did.
He just sat on the couch, one ankle resting on his other
knee, reading the newspaper.
He flipped a page.
“I mean, six…”
“Uh huh.” He
snorted as he popped a hand full of cheese puffs into his mouth then proceeded
to wipe his orange sticky hands all over my
shirt.
Ass.
“I said six,” I told him and he just started shoulder
bobbing.
“Fuck you.”
Six
to go.
How the hell was I gonna get through six…more…swimming
lessons with that girl.
“Dude, it’s okay if you like her, so what if she’s a
bitch.”
“I didn’t say she was a bitch.”
She’s
kind of a bitch…
“I like Rose, she’s a bitch.”
True
that.
“Speaking of which…what the fuck?” I asked him.
“Can’t help animal magnetism, dude,” Emmett replied and
then waggled his eyebrows at me, ending with a wink and a snort.
Oh
my god.
“Alice isn’t a bitch,” Jasper told us and he was right,
she was just…evil…and sneaky.
“So you do like
her.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“Look, I…thought I liked her, I could have liked her…I
just…she’s…”
Shit.
“He likes her.”
I mumbled then. “Not like it matters.”
“You gonna stop fuckin’ around? Maybe try to hook up?”
“Serioulsy?” um…no.
He laughed. “Why
not? She clearly has the hots for ya
dude.”
“Scuze me? Have
you seen her when she’s around me? I’m nothing but a…” I waved at a fly that wasn’t there.
Clearly.
“Edward…wake up and smell the flirtation, my friend…it’s
like you’ve regressed to fifth grade or something.”
“Word,” Jasper added, flipping another page of his sports
section.
“If I am, it’s because of her.”
They looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
“Maybe we should send him to detention together for a day
or two, slather peanut butter all over each other and watch em make nice.”
“Dude, that’s cats, not humans…”
Then he thought about it for a minute.
“Then again…” he said, cocking an eyebrow at me and I
told him, “Don’t even think about it.”
Emmett punched me in the arm. “Seriously though, dude…”
“Actually, I was thinking about taking Jessica.”
“OH…fucking A dude…Jesscunt? Seriously?”
“What? She’s…nice.”
They laughed.
Again.
“Nice and nasty,
you mean,” piped Jasper.
Emmett shivered.
“Well, she’s a safe bet as far as pissin’ the bitch off.”
Shit.
“He liiiiiiiiiiikes her…” Emmett sang as he wiggled his
butt while making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that would put Man VS Food
to shame.
I went to my room at that point, flipping the two of them
the bird, put my head phones in and listened to angry Oasis songs for the next
couple of hours before calling to see if Jessicunt…I mean, Jessicah could go to the party.
Surprisingly, even last minute, she said she could make
it.
Yay.
…………
As we made our way around to the back of the property
where I knew the pool area was, my eyes got big.
Like, really big.
“I thought this was like…an intimate party.”
“They must want everyone in the tri state area to know
how sorry they are,” Emmett teased.
“Jesus.”
There must have been, three hundred of Bella’s closest
friends in attendance and of course, she was nowhere to be seen.
I felt abandoned somehow.
Except that, the tug on my arm reminded me, I wasn’t exactly
alone.
“Wanna find a nice quiet corner somewhere, Edward?”
What was I thinking?
“This was such a bad idea.”
“Negatory,” Emmett told me, taking over like a lieutenant
colonel in the army or something.
“We’re goin’ in.”
He said it with authority and Jasper and
I…and…Jessica…followed him to the keg where we were given our duly appointed
red plastic cups, filled them up and toasted our free alcoholic beverages for
the evening.
As I took my first gulp, that’s when I saw her.
Bella.
Dancing on some…
“What the hell…?”
My friends laughed of course and I chugged the beer,
refilled it, chugged again, refilled and then I noticed, Bella had noticed me
too.
She stopped dancing with the idiot surfer looking dude
she was with, said something into his ear…
I imagined her hot breath on my neck that day and
recognized the look on the guy’s face.
I wanted to rip his lips off.
Then she walked over to us.
“Hi,” she said, surprisingly shy and awkward like.
I nodded and looked away, putting the plastic cup back up
to my mouth so I wouldn’t have to say anything and then Rose and Alice joined
the group.
Alice nearly screamed with enthusiasm. “Jasper!
You all came!”
Innnnn….uendo….
Rose slinked an arm around Emmett’s bicep and Jessica
mimicked her, showing off her prize possession for the night.
Me.
“I think I’m gonna…find someplace for us to get cozy,
Edward,” she purred and then kissed my cheek and started off.
“Who’s that?” she asked, eying Jessica up and down as she
passed her to go find…what, I dunno….then I swallowed the last of my beer.
Emmett took the cup and disappeared with Rose as Jasper
took Alice’s hand and pulled her away with him.
“Looks to me like she’s the ying to your boy’s yang over
there, if ya ask me.” I nodded and when
she looked back over her shoulder again to where Jessica had landed, sure
enough, she saw what I saw, which was her date, feeling up my date.
I almost laughed.
‘Cause man, she was fickle.
“Asshole.”
“Oh, I’m sure Jessica isn’t completely innocent in that
whole scenario.”
“I wasn’t talking. About him,” she said, narrowing
her eyes at me, swaying just a tad in front of me.
She was wearing that damn red bikini she’d worn the first
day I met her.
That’s right.
The one that showed off her perfect breasts with the
taught nipples that were once again, flaunting themselves at me in the middle
of the chaos.
I forced my eyes back up to hers.
“Oh really? Well
who’s the one who started all of this…shit anyway?”
Her face twisted and her mouth sneered as her eye
twitched and a disgusted noise escaped her mouth as she tried to think of a comeback.
I took a step toward her, hoping my momentum would hold
up and finally…maybe…make a point with this woman.
“You think I enjoy playing games like this?”
“I…”
“I don’t remember the last time, aside from high school that
some…” I waved a hand at her. “Brat used me up like an old popsicle stick and
then proceeded to taunt me afterwards.”
She took a step back to give me space, by I closed in
again.
“Taunt you?”
“You enjoy it, don’t you...” I asked her, peeved as all
get out that she got under my skin the way she did and there was nothing I
could do about it.
I wanted to kiss her.
And then slap her.
“No, I …”
“You think it’s funny that I get a hard on every time you
say my name and smile that pretty little red lipsticked smile of yours at me…”
“You…” her eyes dipped to my dick and then back up at me
and I thought she actually blushed, but I couldn’t stop talking at that point.
I took another step toward her and this time, when she
backed away, she fell backwards into the swimming pool.
People laughed and hooted and hollered and I rolled my eyes,
imagining the onslaught of attacks that would come out of her mouth no doubt
when she got out this time, somehow blaming ME for falling into the water.
Well screw that.
I started to walk away.
“Serves you right,” I said when I heard Rose screaming.
“Someone get her out!”
Huh?
Alice was bustling through the crowd then too and was
headed for the water when it hit me what must have been happening.
That I must have misunderstood something somewhere along
the line and then Rose confirmed it.
“She really doesn’t know how to swim, you IDIOT!”
Shit.
I didn’t waste another second.
I jumped in.
Bella was already at the bottom of the pool.
Not floating like I’d taught her, but that was typical, she
probably had panicked.
I got to her and pulled her up to the surface, making
sure her head stayed above water and when we got to the side of the pool,
Emmett helped me get her out onto the pavement.
She wasn’t moving.
“Motherfuck, move out of the way!” I said and immediately began resuscitation on
her.
As I put my lips on hers, blowing air into her lungs the
first time, she responded, coughing and sputtering and trying to breathe.
Good,
this is good.
“Can you hear me, Bella?”
“What?”
“Oh thank god.”
“I need a drank,” Emmett said and once everyone was
convinced she was indeed, okay, they scattered a bit, leaving me sitting on my
ass next to her, my leg bent at the knee, and a hand over my face.
“Holy shit.”
Bella tried to sit up and I went into paramedic mode,
standing and picking her up into my arms, over the threshold style.
“What are you doing?” she asked, a little amused.
“I’m getting you away from the crowd and then I’ll get
you some water.”
She laughed. “Had enough of that already, thank you very much.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you really couldn’t swm?” I asked
her.
“Ummmm, I thought that was obvious, you know, with the,
lessons and all?”
“Yeah but…that first day…Rose and Alice said…”
She remembered.
“They were being sarcastic, Edward, they can’t even get me to the beach
on perfect days, they’ve been waiting for me to learn for….years.”
“Jesus I’m a fucking idiot, I’m sorry Bella,” I said as
we got to the pool house and I closed the door behind me with my foot.
I set her down onto the day bed there and then sat next
to her, leaning forward, putting my head into my hands, thinking about how she
could have seriously been hurt just now.
“Shit.”
She was quiet.
“Are you okay?” I asked her, peeking over at her as she lay
there. The moonlight was coming through
the window, highlighting the wetness in her hair, making it shine.
I stood up to close the curtains a little and give her some
privacy before I left to let her rest and when I turned back around to face
her, she was staring at me.
The look on her face was…odd.
“Bella?”
Then she sat up, reached into a drawer in the table next to
the bed and pulled an envelope out, extending it out to me.
“What’s this?”
I took it hesitantly and started open it.
It was money.
A lot of fucking money.
“Bella,” I started, handing it back to her, but she stopped
me.
“I feel horrible, Edward, I have ever since that first day,…
but you’re soo…” she closed her eyes, then seemed to stop herself from going on
yet another tangent, pursed her lips and shook her head.
“I just wanted to make up for the money you lost from your
lessons the other day, plus…” she stopped talking and I wondered what the plus
could possibly mean.
She wasn’t going to continue, so I prodded.
“Plus?”
She took a deep breath before telling me, “Plus, the money Alice
gave me for the…bet.”
I sat down next to her, flipping through the bills. “There’s
gotta be over a thousand dollars here, Bella, I don’t make that much giving
swimming lessons.”
“I want you to have it, I’m just…sorry.”
When she started to get up to leave.
Leave me there alone.
Again…
I just, couldn’t let her go.
Not this time.
I put my hand on her shoulder, stopping her from standing
and when she looked at me, curious as to what I was up to, I said, “Apology
accepted.”
She smiled.
I smiled.
And then, I kissed her.
The sparks I remembered from our first encounter were still
there, they’d never left, they just, went to sleep for a while and my body
instinctively adjusted itself to hover over her.
We were both soaking wet and didn’t care.
We were also both hard in places that made the other
respond.
In oh so excellent ways.
I felt her nippes pressing up against me and I’m pretty sure
she felt my dick pressing…up against her.
Bella bent her knees , clutching my midsection between them
tightly and it only made me deepen our kiss further.
Tiny, feminine moans escaped her and they sent chills up my
spine.
In a good way.
“I’m sorry,” she said again as she began slipping my
drenched shirt off of me.
“It’s okay, I’m sure it’ll dry,” I told her and she giggled,
pushing it the rest of the way off of me.
“Is this going where I think it’s going?” I asked her and
she responded by leaning forward a little and putting her mouth to my
neck.
“Mmmmm, I take that as a yes.”
“I just don’t wanna fight anymore, Edward, I’m sick of
fighting, this whole thing could have been avoided if I’d just….”
“Hey,” I said, pulling back a little to look at her. “I was kind of a dick myself, so, don’t take
on the weight of the world because we just had a series of seriously fucked up
misunderstandings…”
She looked down and I pulled her face back up to mine by her
chin. “Okay?”
“Okay,” she smiled and we went back to make up sex.
Not that we’d had sex yet…I mean I guess we did,
technically, but you know…not with…um…penetration. Well, there was penetration, but not of the
kind that was about to go down.
I slid a hand down toward her bottoms and let my fingers
glide underneath the hem, pushing them down as she lifted her hips to allow me
I met eyes with her again and realized, she wasn’t a bitch.
I swallowed as she kicked her bikini bottom off the rest of
the way and then I let my hand get reacquainted with her slickness.
Bella’s eyes closed, her lip found a home in between her
teeth and she tilted her head back, pushing her breasts into me even more so I
took advantage of that position and put my mouth on her neck, sucking just a
little.
She took the hands that were previously removing my shirt
and moved on the swim trunks, being sure to say hello to my lil’ frien as she
passed him by.
Not so little anymore.
Nope, no shrinkage
here.
“You want me to…” I started to make an offer of the oral
kind but Bella, she didn’t want that, not now and I was okay with that, I
figured at this point, there was always later.
“I just want you, Edward, just you.”
Nooooooooooo problemo.
“Okay.”
It was barely a whisper but it was there and as I entered
her, the warmth and the wet and the perfect fit of the two of us forced my body
to reel with pleasure, pain, confusion, elation…and just about everything in
between.
She felt so good and so, right and I didn’t care anymore
about the bet or the stupid mistaken insinuations.
I only cared about holding her.
Kissing her.
Making her feel safe and letting her know I wasn’t gonna be
a jerk off again like I’d been playing for the past weeks.
It was an intense emotion that bubbled up inside of me as we
moved in sync with each other.
Bella rolling her hips at just…the right moments.
Me positioning her at just the right angles to hit the spot
that would make her feel just right.
And when she came, I came, and it was…all….good.
“Holy shit,” I huffed out, trying to catch my breath.
“I know,” she replied and we both looked at each other with
what seemed like a knowing between the two of us.
There was a reason I was the one her dad had called for
those lessons.
There was a reason her friends had made that bet with her.
She was just, mine.
And I was hers.
“Bella,” I whispered .
“Mmmmm?” she hummed, snuggling up into my neck with kisses
and licks and general around goodness.
“Apology accepted.”
THE END.
