Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Good Morning Edward. Would you like some breakfast?" Asked Renee.

"Good Morning. That looks great. Thank you."

Things had been good since the incident with Bella, Charlie, and I. Things weren't at all tense with Renee. She had informed me that she knew what happened, but that she and Charlie has disagreed on how to handle it. She never wanted to kick me out, that was all Charlie's idea. She stayed in their room because she didn't want to make the situation worse by arguing with Charlie in front of us. Saying she thought it was best if she stayed out of it. In the end, everyone seemed to be happy that Charlie had eventually sided with Renee, even if he did threaten to kick me out first.

Bella seemed to be taking Charlie's rules seriously at first. We didn't really spend a lot of time together immediately after. We basically went to school together, and then had dinner together. Out side of that, we kept our distance.

As much as I liked Bella and wanted to be with her, I knew that the acceptance of her family as a whole was more important. Sure the memories of Bella's soft skin and moist lips crept into my mind almost daily, but that wasn't anything I couldn't deal with on my own. I had made it that far without having sex, another year or so wouldn't make any difference.

There were times, however, at the dinner table when I would feel Bella playing footsie with me and smirking across the table. It took a lot of restraint not to react to her advances. I almost felt like she was trying to test me. To see if I had the strength to stay away from her.

"Good Morning Charlie."

"Morning, Edward." He responded.

Just then Bella bounced down the stairs and greeted her parents by kissing them both on the cheek.

"So, Mom, your birthday is coming up. Anything in particular you had your eye on?" Bella inquired.

Renee thought about it for a moment before answering. "No. Not really." She responded as she placed the pancakes on our plates.

"Edward, you want to go with Bella and I to the mall later?" Charlie asked.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to go or not. I hated to reject Charlie's attempts to include me. The good part was that if Bella and I were with him, we couldn't be alone and she would be forced to behave herself.

"Sure." I answered.

"Great. I'm planning to leave in a few hours."

"Okay. Sounds good."

We finished breakfast without any incident from Bella. I was thankful that she found it in herself to not tempt me.

"Bella, what do you think about this one?" Charlie asked.

We were standing at the counter of a jewelry store in the mall. Charlie was eyeing a diamond pendant necklace.

"That's beautiful Dad."

"Do you think she'll like it?"

"How could she not? It's beautiful."

"What do you think, Edward?" Charlie asked.

Why was he asking me about jewelry? I had no idea. "Ummm, it looks good to me, but I'm no expert."

Charlie lightly chuckled. "Yeah, me either. We'll go with Bella's opinion on this." He turned to Bella once again and held up the necklace. "You think this is the one?"

She nodded. "Definitely."

He then turned to the sales lady and handed it to her. "I'll take it."

Charlie completed the transaction, and as we walked out of the store, he asked if we wanted to grab something to eat before we went home.

"It doesn't matter to me. I'm okay either way." I responded.

"What about you Bells?"

"Yeah! There's a great pizza place in the food court."

"Okay. I just have to make a quick stop at the men's room." He said as he walked over to the restroom.

"I gotta go too." I said quickly following behind Charlie.

Charlie and I didn't speak in the restroom. I was done before he was, and walked back out to the mall. As I maneuvered through the lines of people to where we had left Bella, I noticed that she was pinned against the wall by some guy. Panic set in and I rushed over to her.

Despite everything that had happened between us, I still didn't want anything bad to happen to her. She was a really nice person, and definitely didn't deserve to be hurt by some guy.

I finally made my way to her and shoved the guy away from her. As he fell to the ground, I could see his face. It was fucking Newton. That prick had been pushing my buttons for a long time. He had pushed it too far this time.

My anger was practically radiating from my body. It took all the strength I had not to just wail on him. He deserved to have his ass handed to him.

"What the fuck man?" He yelled.

"You're fucking kidding right? What the fuck were you trying to do to her?" I shouted.

"I wasn't doing anything! We were just talking!"

I started walking towards him, the anger in me kicking in again and making it impossible for me to stop.

"Edward, don't! He's not worth it!" She said as she tried to hold me back.

"It didn't look like you were just trying to talk to her." I responded through my clenched jaw while I continued to walk towards him, and he backed up.

"Whoa whoa! Wait a second. What's going here guys?" Charlie asked as he made his way in between Newton and I.

"Foster kid here is trying to take his anger from his shitty life out on me!" Newton responded.

"Fuck you!" I retorted.

"Guys! Just wait a damn second, or I'm going to lock you both up!"

I stopped my movements, and tried to regain some sense of calm. That prick had it coming to him, and I really wished Charlie would not have interrupted because it would have felt so good to inflict some pain on him. What did he know of my life? He was a fucking prick that thought he knew everything when he actually didn't know shit.

"Now Bella, what happened?"

"Well, Mike pinned me against the wall, and Edward came out and saved me."

He looked at me. "Is this true, Edward?"

"Yes."

"Mike, what were you thinking? You thought you could get away with forcing yourself on my daughter in a public place? You are dumber than you look kid. Get out of my face and go home before I haul your ass away!"

Newton looked like a scared little kid. He quickly left just as Charlie had instructed him to.

"Are you okay?" Charlie questioned her.

"Yeah, Dad. I'm fine. I'm just glad Edward came out when he did."

He released Bella from his grasp and turned to me. "Thank you, Son."

"Uhh, sure. Don't worry about it." I responded.

Charlie was pretty much giving Bella the Spanish Inquisition on the ride home. She never fully answered his questions. There was more to the situation with Mike than she was telling her father. I would have to talk to her, and get her to tell me. That guy was a fucking tool and I was determined to keep him away from her.

Bella went straight to her room when we arrived at the house. Charlie and I figured she needed a little time to calm down and process everything that happened.

I was in my room trying to relax, but I couldn't get Bella off my mind. I had to know what was going on with Mike. I hadn't seen him do anything inappropriate to her at school, but she had always disliked him. The more I thought about it, the more I knew Bella hadn't told her dad the entire truth, and I needed to find out.

I knocked on her door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Edward. Can I come in?"

"Yeah."

I walked in and saw her laying down on her bed staring at the TV.


"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"I'm alright. I just really hate Mike."

"I know the feeling. I hated him before today, but he took it to a different level with that stunt."

"He's an idiot."

I laughed a little. "That's putting it mildly."

"Thanks for rescuing me today. I don't know what I would've done without you."

"It's no problem. You have always looked out for me. It was the least I could do." I was downplaying it. I didn't save her because she had always helped me. I rescued her because when I saw that idiot pushing himself on her, all of my feelings for her rushed to the surface and took over my body. I was on auto pilot, and ready to hurt anyone that hurt her.

"Well, thanks anyway."

"What was Mike doing anyway? Why was he cornering you like that?"

"It's a long story. I don't really want to talk about it."

"Okay. I understand. I'm here for you though. If you decide you want to talk about it."

"Thanks." She said as she wrapped her arms around my waist, and squeezed tightly. "Don't leave just yet. Please."

What was she doing? She knew we were not supposed to be alone together, much less touching. I was getting nervous, but I didn't want to pull away from her after the day's events.

So, I just sat there with her arms wrapped around my waist.

"What in the ....." I heard Charlie say.

Fuck! This was it. I was certain to be kicked out now.

Bella quickly removed her hands and sat up.

"Daddy it wasn't what it..."

Charlie held his hand up to stop her. "I don't wanna hear anything. Both of you downstairs now!"

I couldn't believe this was happening again. This time we really didn't even do anything. She was just hugging me out of appreciation for saving her. It was innocent.

Of course, a father wouldn't see it that way.

We went downstairs and sat down on the couch. A few moments later Charlie and Renee entered the room and sat in the chairs opposite of us.

"First things first, I informed Renee of the incident at the mall today." Charlie said.

"I feel like there is more to this situation, Bella. You need to tell us why Mike felt the need to corner you." Renee pleaded.

Bella sat quiet for a minute and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.

"Fine," she began. "Mike has kind of liked me for a while. I was never interested. He wasn't my type. Since, I never really dated anyone in school he didn't take it too personally. He said he just figured I didn't like anyone. Then when Edward came into the picture, and we were always together. Mike began to get jealous. That's why he was so mean to Edward. He wanted Edward gone. He wanted to be the guy with me all the time. So, I guess when he saw us at the mall something just snapped. When Dad and Edward went to the bathroom, he grabbed me and pinned me against the wall. Saying something like he was gonna make me sorry that I liked a loser and not him, and that one way or another we were going to be together. I kept trying to fight him off, and tell him it was never gonna happen but he didn't listen. Then Edward saved me."

That prick really was going to die now. Telling her she would be sorry and that they would be together? And I was supposed to be the loser? What a fucking douche.

"I'm so sorry honey." Renee said as she moved over to hug Bella.

"Bells, don't you worry about Mike. I'll talk to the school. He won't be a problem again." Charlie said. "Now onto the next issue. Why can't you two seem to keep your hand off of each other?"

He looked at me, and I sat there stunned. Why was he looking at me? She always started it and this time it was just a hug.

"Dad, I was just hugging him. He comforts me. Nothing was going on."

"But I told you two not to be alone. Didn't I?" Charlie was in interrogation mode and looking directly at me, his prime suspect.

"Yes, Sir. I only went in her room to check on her. That was all."

"I understand that and Edward, I really can't thank you enough for helping Bella today."

"It was no problem." I responded.

"We see how you two look at each other. We know that you have feelings for each other. We just need to know the depth of those feelings." He stated.

"Daddy, you know I haven't really been interested in many guys, but I really like Edward. He's different than other guys. He's sweet, he's honest, he isn't worried about clothes or how many girls he can get. He's a good guy."

I looked at her in amazement. No one had ever spoken of me in such a good way. I was completely shocked. I knew she liked me, but I definitely didn't know all of that.

"Edward, how do you feel about Bells?" Renee asked.

I had no clue what to say. I hadn't even confessed my feelings to Bella, now I was having to confess them in from of her parents too.

"Umm... Bella is very special to me. She's not like any other teenage girl I've met. She doesn't care about the superficial things. She's a good person. She's the only person that's ever made me feel like my life was worth living. She's made me feel things I didn't know existed."

I couldn't believe I had just confessed all of that to everyone. It was like the flood gate had been opened, and I was unable to stop myself.

Bella and I stared at each other in silence. I was trying to fully grasp what she had said and I assumed she was doing the same thing.

"Well, that is not at all what I expected." Charlie interjected. "I expected some teenage hormonal nonsense. We will be back. Your mother and I have to discuss this."

They left us alone in the living room and we never stopped staring at each other. I had never felt such strong emotions towards another person. I scared the hell out of me to think that it might actually be love. I really had nothing to compare the feeling to, but it consumed my whole body and mind. I couldn't have taken my eyes off of her I wanted to.

"Did you mean that?" She asked.

"Every bit of it. You?"

"Ditto." She replied simply.

We didn't say anything else after that. We sat on the couch fully engrossed in one another's presence until her parents came back in the room.

"Alright, Renee and I have discussed this and we see now that it's not just hormones running wild. You two genuinely seem to care for one another. We love you Edward just as we love Bella. You are a part of this family now, and we aren't going to do anything to change that."

"Thank you." I said.

"Don't thank me yet, son. We've also decided that we will allow you two to continue this relationship on a few conditions."

Bella and I nodded to him, letting him know we would accept whatever conditions they had. They didn't have to allow it at all, and I for one was grateful that they were.

Charlie looked to Renee and she nodded her encouragement. He didn't look at all happy about having to have this conversation, "First, no flaunting you feelings in front of us. Which means no holding hands or kissing, and for God's sakes....stop with the footsie under the table." Charlie glared at Bella and she blushed at getting caught. I can't believe he had seen that. How do parents do that?

I didn't have time to pounder that thought as Charlie continued, "Secondly, you are NOT to be intimate with each other in OUR house, which I guess leads me to plead with you both to wait as long as possible to actually have sex. You are still both very young, and the consequences of unprotected sex would interfere with your futures. Neither of you are mature enough to take care of a child, and your mom and I are NOT ready to be Grandparents." Charlie was getting red in the face, and Renee reached over and rubbed his back to help him continue. "We have decided that it would be good if Bella went to see her doctor and get on birth control. We are NOT pushing you to have sex, but if you are going to be sexually active, you need to be prepared."

I guess this was the proverbial 'sex talk' that parents had with their kids. As I glanced around the room at Bella, I tried to gauge how she was handling this situation. Much to my surprise, she was calm and cool. However, her face was red as a beet.

I almost thought this was over until Charlie started again,"Finally, there will be NO sleeping in the same beds and no getting up in the middle of the night to sneak into each others rooms." It was time for me to blush now, but to my surprise Charlie was staring at Bella again, "That means no 'bad dream' excuses or any other nonsense."

His conditions were almost too kind. I would have been happy with simply being able to share things with Bella. Sex wasn't even an issue to me.

"Okay." We said together.

"Now I'm serious. If either of break these rules there are going to be serious consequences." Charlie warned.

"We will obey the rules. I promise." I said.

Bella leaped up and hugged him. "Thank you."

"Thank you, Sir." I added.

"Don't make me regret this decision."

"You won't Dad. I promise!" Bella shouted as she bounced out of the living room.

I followed behind her upstairs. We stopped in the hallway and hugged each other tightly.


I felt so good to hold her again and know that I wouldn't be sent away for it. It felt like my life was worth living again. I had a great family that accepted me, and I had Bella who brought me to life after years of wanting to die.

I was almost certain that there would never be another day that I would feel as great as I did today.