Chapter
3
EDWARD
My head was swimming by
the time Jasper and I had finished locking up. I took my time walking back to
the dorms. The night was muggy, warm, but the sky was clear. The stars were
pretty visible and beautiful on my walk.
Just as I rounded the
corner of my building, heading for the front door, my phone vibrated in my
pocket. Thinking it was Alice back from her date, I pulled my phone out, only
to frown when I saw who it was.
“Hello?” I answered,
sitting down on a bench in the courtyard in front of my building.
“Where’s your sister?”
Dad immediately began.
“How am I supposed to
know that? I’m across the country,” I replied indifferently, which was much
easier to do over the phone than in person.
“Because you two tell
each other every-damn-thing, son!” he snapped, making me flinch, despite the
three thousand miles that separated us. “You think I don’t read the goddamn cell phone bill before I pay it?”
I shook my head because I
knew this wasn’t about Alice. He didn’t care what she did, as long as she
brought home decent grades and stayed out of his hair. His problem wasn’t with
Alice, and it wasn’t really with Emmett, either. It was with me. However, I’d
learned a long time ago that if you gave him something, even something little,
he’d back off just a bit.
“Oh,” he sighed. “Okay,
then. Dr. King’s son?”
“Yes, sir.”
The line went quiet, and
just like always, he shifted his ire to me. “You’d better be keeping your
grades up, Edward. If I get a report that says differently, I’ll—”
“My grades are fine,
Dad,” I interrupted him before he could threaten to bring me back home…or stop
sending my funds for school. “We’re just a month into the semester.”
“Oh, which reminds me.
I’ve decided to sell the Volvo,” he stated coldly. “It’s not being used, and
insuring it is a waste of money.”
I closed my eyes in
frustration. I loved that car, but in all reality, he’d held it over my head
since I was sixteen. He wielded it like
a weapon. If I made him unhappy, he took it away. If I dropped a tenth of a
point in my GPA, he took it away. If I didn’t go to prom, if I burned his
toast, if I read a book instead of watching the football game, if Alice or
Emmett came to my defense… Once I’d gotten big enough that physically scaring
me became almost impossible, the Volvo was his choice in punishment. If he sold
it, then there was one less weapon he could use against me.
“Whatever you feel you
need to do, Dad,” I stated, shrugging a shoulder that he couldn’t see, but it
made me feel the indifference I was trying to put out.
“Well, at least you see
reason.”
I shook my head, almost
smiling, because I could hear that my answer had not been what he’d wanted. Apparently
he was looking for a fight, and I honestly didn’t have it in me to give him one
today. He’d have to find one somewhere else. And I also needed to warn Alice
before she got home.
“Dad, I gotta go. I’ve
got a lot of reading to get done before Monday.”
“Fine, we’ll see you at
Thanksgiving,” he stated.
I opened my mouth to
counter that I wasn’t going home for the holidays, but I’d save that argument
for later, sometime closer to November. I’d use school as the excuse.
The call ended before I
could say anything anyway, so I immediately dialed my sister.
“Edward!”
I smiled, but I decided
to get directly to the point. “Brace yourself when you get home. He’s prickly.”
“He’s always prickly.
What now?”
“He wanted to know where
you were.”
“What’d you say?”
“I gave him something to
shut him up. I gave him Royce’s name.”
She sighed, and I could hear
the noise in the background. “Fine, I’ll head home in a few.” The noise died
down a bit, and I heard a door slam. “Now…tell me. Was Library Girl…”
“Bella,” I said with a
grin. “Her name’s Bella.”
“Shut the fuck up! You
talked to her?!”
Snorting, I shook my
head. “It’s kind of a long story. Today’s been…weird.”
“Tell me. I’d rather hear
this. The party was stupid.”
I gave Alice the rundown
of my day, including the letter I wrote but didn’t give, the asshole who threw
the drink, and meeting my Library Girl face to face.
“You know, I think she
was the one who yelled at him when I walked away,” I guessed in a mumble.
“So…your bookworm is your
boss’s cousin? That’s fucking awesome!”
Grinning, I broke into a
laugh. “I guess, but I think she likes that jerk, Alec.”
“Maybe not. She
apologized, big brother. If she were into asshats, then she’d have ignored what
happened.”
“Maybe, but now… Now I’m gonna be stuck in a room all day
with her, Ali. What the hell am I supposed to do?” I asked in a hissed panic. “I’m
gonna screw this up so bad.”
Alice laughed, but it was
soft and not really at me. “You… God, Edward, you make way more out of stuff
than you need to. I’m telling you… If she’s worth any-damn-thing, she’ll accept
you just as you are, ’cause you are a
good guy, big brother. Just be you and be honest, no matter what, because you
don’t want to be a liar. Mom always said…”
“It’s much easier to
remember the truth than the lies,” I whispered with her, closing my eyes. “God,
I miss her.”
“Me, too.”
The silence between us
was heavy, filled with an old grief. I’d only been twelve when it happened,
which had made Alice ten, and Emmett had been fourteen. Alice had been home
that night with Dad. And Emmett and I had almost died with our mother. I shook
my head to get rid of the old memories of screeching tires, crunching metal,
and the splash of cold, dirty water.
“Edward… Big brother…come
back to me…”
“I’m… I’m okay.”
“I know you are, and
you’ll be even better now that you don’t have to hear the shit every day,” she
stated wisely. “And you aren’t here as a slap to the face… You look—”
“Just like her. I know.”
I smiled, in spite of it all. My whole life, people had told me how much I
looked like my mother. Esme Cullen had given me her hair, her eye color, even
her love for reading and writing. I was her made over. And it pissed my dad off
something fierce.
“Edward?”
“Hmm?”
“Edward, just…go be you
tomorrow. Don’t sweat that you think you’re different. Don’t worry about your
past. Just…go be that funny, smart, sweet guy I love.”
Taking a deep breath, I
let it out slowly. “I’ll try. Love you, too.”
~oOo~
The next morning, I was a
mess of nerves. No matter what Alice had said, I still couldn’t shake the fear
of working all day with Bella in Jasper’s office. I was afraid she’d see how
weird I was, that my pickiness for organization would make her laugh, and that
she catch me staring at her. That last one was the scariest because I knew for
a fact that I wouldn’t be able to stop myself. She was just that pretty.
I used my walk to Sunset
Roast to try to clear my head, but it didn’t work. I thought maybe I should get
myself a bike while I was saving for a car. It would come in handy. It didn’t
need to be expensive; maybe one secondhand from a pawn shop or something. And
then I thought about how lame that would make me seem. Not only was I socially
inept, but I had no car, either.
By the time I made it to
the boardwalk and inside the coffee shop, I’d pretty much come to terms that I
was going to embarrass myself in front of Bella in one way or another, so as my
little sister would say…
“Fuck it,” I sighed to
myself, reaching for the time clock and punching in.
“Edward,” Jasper greeted
with a big smile, gripping my shoulder. “My cousin is already here, so I’ll let
you two just…” His face heated, and he opened the door to his office with a
grimace on his face. “Good luck,” he blurted out, pushing me inside and
starting to close the door.
“Jasper Whitlock, you’ll
stop right there!” Bella yelled from behind his desk, and when she stood up, I
could see smooth legs and shorts, so I broke my gaze away quickly.
However, I wanted to
laugh at Jasper’s paling face as he poked his head in the doorway. “Look,
Bells… I…”
“Don’tchoo Bells me…” She stepped away from the
desk and pointed to a few open drawers of the filing cabinets that lined the
walls of the small office. “Seriously?”
Glancing at Jasper, I
walked to the open drawers to peer inside. My stomach knotted at the folders
that were completely out of order. There were employee files in with the
bookkeeping stuff, banking stuff in with the vendor files, and dated folders
were not in order at all.
I looked up to see Bella
peering in with me, but then her pretty eyes locked with mine as she shook her
head.
“What the hell is wrong
with you!? Who does this shit?” she yelled at her cousin. “You’ve made my OCD
shoot into orbit, you jackass!”
He laughed, and despite
the fact that it was a nervous laugh, he truly was amused with her. “Well, I
think you two are probably going to be a bit, so…”
Her nostrils flared as
she glared at the door he slammed closed. He’d essentially just locked us in
there. I was pretty sure her eye twitched, but I couldn’t get past the fact
that she’d said she had OCD.
“You, too?” I asked
softly, pointing to the atrocious filing system.
Her gaze broke from the
door to meet mine. “What?”
“OCD?”
She giggled, and sweet
God, she was gorgeous when she laughed. “Oh hell yes! Since I was a kid. I
mean, I don’t flip light switches off and on like three times before bed, but
this kind of stuff… Ugh…”
Chuckling, I nodded. “Me
too. My brother used to turn in homework that was wrinkled and stained, and it
drove me crazy. He’d come into my room when we were kids, just to mess it up.”
What I didn’t add was
that Emmett stopped doing that after I got into trouble with Dad for having a
messy room. It only got worse when Emmett owned up to the mess; my dad punished
us both.
“We’ll never, ever get
your brother and my cousin in the same room. It’ll be anarchy.”
A loud laugh escaped me, and
I couldn’t help it. Her sarcasm was sharp and quick but funny. I caught her
stare at me, and her cheeks were flushed pink, but she seemed to shake some thought
out of her head as she pointed toward the cabinets.
“I think… Maybe we should
just empty them, sort the folders, and then refile everything correctly.”
“Clean slate,” I agreed
with a nod, glancing over the drawers. “We’re going to need some room…on the
desk and the floor. And maybe a permanent marker for labels and such.”
Bella smiled, and it was
secretive and sexy. She went for a backpack hanging on Jasper’s desk chair,
reaching in for something.
She held up a plastic
piece of equipment, still wearing that wickedly sexy smile. “Label maker,
Edward. I’m not sure I could live without this bad boy.”
I was pretty sure my
neat-freak side just fell in love with her. Completely. I had imagined and
dreamed for weeks as to what my Library Girl’s personality would be like, but
the truth was far better than I could’ve created in my head. She was smart and
sassy, but she was kind, too. I was beginning to wonder if there was anything
that wasn’t attractive about her, except maybe her taste in men. And that only
served to remind me that she wasn’t mine, except in my head.
With a deep sigh, I said,
“Okay, let’s do this.”
“Why don’t I take the floor?
You can bring me stacks of folders, and I’ll sort them,” she suggested.
“Then we’ll re-label the
cabinets and put stuff back.” I finished, smiling when she nodded happily.
She paused before taking
a seat on the floor, a small, slow smile gracing her features.
“What?” I asked
nervously, rubbing the back of my neck.
“You have… You have the prettiest smile, Edward,” she stated,
and my eyebrows shot up.
My heart sputtered in my
chest, and there were shocks in my stomach, never mind the heat on my face, but
I smiled again. “Um…th-thank you. So do you,” I said softly.
She laughed. “Thanks,
but… You act like no one’s ever told you that.”
Turning toward the first
drawer, I reached in, pulled out a great number of folders, and stacked them in
my left arm, only to do it again. When the stack was about as tall as the
length of my torso, I turned to set them down in front of her, but she was
still watching me with concentrated interest.
“Seriously? No one’s told
you? Like…ever?”
I shook my head no. Her
open-mouth gaze made me self-conscious. I shifted nervously on my feet, waiting
for her to say something else. She let her eyes drop to the stack, and I darted
back to the filing cabinet.
“So…” she said, looking
up at me with a smile when I handed her more. “Where’re you from, Edward?”
“A…um…a really small town
in Washington. You?” I answered her, keeping my eyes on my work.
“Right here. Glenhaven.”
She smiled again, nodding as she pulled all her hair up into a long ponytail.
She started stacks of different folders, creating a semicircle in front of her.
“You mentioned a brother… Is that it?”
“Oh, no,” I said with a
shake of my head, setting another stack into her awaiting hands. “I have a baby
sister, too. Alice.”
“Ah, the dreaded middle
kid. Is it true what they say? That the middle child is the most trouble and
the overlooked one?”
An ugly, humorless snort
rocketed out of me. “Uh, no. Hardly. What about you?” I changed the subject
quickly. “Siblings? Parents?”
I couldn’t believe,
despite how nervous I was being in the same room as Bella, how easy it was to talk to her. She made me
nervous, only because I didn’t want to say something stupid, but I wondered
just for a moment if she didn’t know to keep the conversation going.
“Only child, but my
parents are teachers. Professors at Edgewater.”
My eyebrows shot up at
that. “Really?”
“You’ve already met my
dad.” She laughed lightly. “Creative Writing.”
“What? Your dad is
Professor Swan?” I gasped, smiling a little. He was my favorite instructor so
far. He’d given me high marks on my first couple of papers. “And your mom?”
“Mom is head of the art department.
She rarely teaches much. She home-schooled me before I started here.”
“Makes sense,” I said
with a chuckle. “Your parents would’ve made better teachers than the public
school system.”
“They thought so,” she
agreed with a laugh.
I continued to empty the
cabinets until they were done, turning back to Bella to see how the dividing
was going. She pointed to the stacks, and I sat down across from her to help
finish. Then we took each stack and put them in their correct order. The work
was easy, though a bit tedious, and we stayed in a comfortable silence for a bit
until I suddenly made a mental connection.
I glanced over at her,
and she looked up at me with raised eyebrows as she waited for me. “You… Um…
Swan Library. That’s… That’s you!”
She grinned. “Well, not me, but my grandfather. My dad’s dad. He
donated the library a long time ago, but…yeah. Bella Swan.”
I sorted a few folders –
accounts receivable, accounts payable, vendors, employee files – only to see
her eyes on me again.
“What about your
parents?” she asked innocently.
“It’s just my dad. He’s a
doctor – chief of staff.”
“Mom?”
My brow furrowed, and I
shook my head. “M-My mom died when I was twelve.”
“Oh.” She shifted a
little, placing her hand over mine. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
“S’okay,” I whispered,
shrugging a shoulder. “How could you know?”
“I know, I just…” She set
down the stack of folders in her lap and shifted to her knees in front of me.
“I don’t like that I hurt your feelings.” Her dark-brown eyes were sweet and
sincere. “You must be close to your dad.”
Smiling ruefully, I shook
my head. “Bella, I moved three thousand miles away from home by choice.”
“Oh, Christ, I just keep
fucking up more…” She trailed off, but she put a hand on my shoulder. Her touch
seemed to shoot everywhere on me, like a buzzing shock, and I swallowed
thickly. “I’ll shut up now so you won’t hate me.”
Grinning, I shook my
head. “I don’t hate you.”
“You might, if I keep
saying stupid shit.” She laughed at herself, which made me laugh with her.
“There, that’s better. Wow… Edward, that’s some powerful stuff, that smile of
yours,” she said, shaking her head. “You never smile like that in the library.”
I sighed, fighting another
smile, but she caught my eye roll. My stacks were in order, so I stood up to start
labeling and putting the folders back in drawers. Starting toward the cabinets,
I gasped a little when her hand grasped my wrist.
“You have no idea, do
you?” she whispered, standing in front of me. “All the girls, all the flirting
aimed your way… You have no idea. You don’t see them…in class, in the library, borrowing your notes.”
I huffed a nervous laugh,
looking away from her. “Bella, I’m… I don’t know what you’re talking about. I…”
Frowning down at the floor, I shook my head again. “I don’t see anything. In
high school, I was a pariah. Here, I’m just…me. In the library, I only see…you.”
It was honest, and I wished I could take that last part back, but her sweet
smile told me that she wasn’t offended.
“Yeah?” she asked in a
whisper.
I nodded, my eyes shifting
to the floor. “Yeah, sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” she
said through a giggle that made me start to smile. She grinned again. “Do me a
favor, Edward… If you ever figure out the power you have, make sure you use it
for good…and not evil. Okay?”
I wasn’t sure what to say
to that. She thought my smile was pretty? I opened my mouth, only to snap it
back closed. “Umm… Okay?”
She playfully shoved me,
and we got back to work, only this time it was filing stuff back, labeling the
folders and the cabinets, and putting some sort of order to Jasper’s desk.
Jasper poked his head in
the door just as Bella was turning on his computer. Both of us looked up to
laugh at his fear-filled face. “I haven’t received a stapler to the face yet…”
“You still might,” Bella
countered, not bothering to look away from the monitor in front of her, which
made me grin.
“So I guess you guys
figured it out,” he finished, narrowing his eyes at his cousin but ignoring her
jibe at him. Stepping fully into the room, he gazed around. “Wait, you’re
done?!”
“Yeah, we got you all set
up with…” I started for the first cabinet.
“Edward, sweetie… Don’t
even bother,” Bella sang, and my eyes widened at the term of endearment. She
pointed to Jasper and then to the empty inbox on his desk. “Paperwork. Here.
Don’t even attempt to do shit about it. If Edward can’t find the time to file
it, I’ll to do it, but if you mess up the most beautiful work we just got
finished with, then I will personally shave your head in your sleep.”
I hid my smile behind my
hand, because he was my boss.
“You think she’s funny?”
he asked, but I could see he was amused. “Fine. Edward will file for me. Now,
get out of here. We’re dead today. Go…hit the beach or somethin’.”
“Not a bad idea,” Bella
told him as she picked up her bag and then grabbed my hand. “Let’s go, Edward.”
I didn’t argue with her,
simply because I was stunned at the feel of her hand in mine, but once we were
through the sitting area and out on the boardwalk, the smell of the salt water,
suntan lotion, and people hit me full force. It was the glittering sight of the
water down the long wooden pathway that made me stop, almost making Bella trip.
“I… I’m…” I was shaking
my head. “I can’t… I just…” My chest constricted, my breathing became shallow,
and I licked my dry lips. “I…I’m… I gotta go. I’m sorry.”
I turned away from the water.
My walk was fast, even when I heard her call after me. I didn’t stop. I didn’t
stop until I heard rapid running footsteps and a flushed Bella was standing in
front of me.
“Edward, wait,” she
panted, and I looked away from her. “What’d I do wrong?”
I was shaking my head
before she even finished the question. “Nothing, Bella. You did nothing wrong.
It’s me. I can’t… The beach…the water,
I just…” When I met her eyes, I expected pity or disgust, but I only found
sincerity as she tried to smile my way. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.
Just…tell me you’ll be in the library Monday afternoon, as usual,” she requested
softly, looking like she’d be hurt if I said no.
“Y-Yeah, of course.”
“Good,” she cheered. “See
you then, Edward.”
She spun on her toes,
her ponytail flying behind her, and I watched her walk away. Every assumption
I’d made about Bella had been blown out of the water, never mind that even the
dumb shit I’d said hadn’t bothered her a bit. Shaking my head, I started toward
the dorms to get some homework done.
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