AN:

I'm freaking out a little bit over here…I never thought I'd be joining the ranks of some of the most amazing writers out there.

I have no idea where this will go, how long it'll be, or how often I'll be able to upload (I've got 3 kids and work full time…)

But, I promise to do my best!

A huge, HUGE, thank you to my two AMAZING pre-readers RodefferClo and shouldbecleaning!

Prologue

Bella didn't understand where the hostility was coming from, or why he would think she didn't love their family. There was nothing wrong with her that she couldn't fix and, if Edward would just see that and let her handle things on her own, they could get past all of this fighting.

Instead, he told her of all the things she was doing that was slowly killing what they'd built; not wanting to hold their six month old, finding ways to leave the room instead of bonding as a newly formed family of four and the lack of desire she had to be intimate with him.

She turned to walk away, but as she did, he yelled back at her, "this is the line in the sand; either you get help, or I'm taking the girls and leaving. They deserve more than what you're giving them…and so do I."

As he walked away, she sunk to the ground and thought back on the first time they met, back when they had everything.

Chapter One

There are few things I dislike more than house parties.

The crowds, the drinking, the messes, the noise…I can do without all of it.

Yet here I was, on a humid Saturday night, being pulled along to a party by the end of my braid.

"Will you put some fire under that ass, please?!" Amber yelled to me. "There's some good times goin' down and you're keeping me from it."

"Does that mean if I walk a little slower you'll give up on this party train and let me get back to my couch?" I tossed out. The look she gave me would have killed a lesser person. But, being me, I'm immune to her anger; it gives me more satisfaction than fright.

"Bella, I swear on everything, if you don't get yourself in gear I'm going to pummel you."

Considering my need for an epically large drink, I gave up on messing with her and continued on.

As soon as we rounded the corner, I heard it; loud music pouring out from the open garage door, flirty voices making promises and frat boys yelling about a beer bong.

Great. This is going to be a blast.

Letting Amber pull me inside, I took a look around, familiarizing myself with the hell I was going to be spending my night in.

Amber introduced me to the owner of the house, Logan, who attempted to draw me into their conversation.

"This is great, right?" He said.

Trying to remember how much Amber actually enjoyed this crowd, I put my nasty away and settled on "sure," so she wouldn't end me.

Apparently I didn't hide it well enough because Logan boomed out a laugh and said "its ok, this isn't really my scene either. I've been forced into it by my roommate…he's the one on top of the kitchen table dancing like a monkey."

Sure enough, there was a lanky guy wearing a lampshade, on the table doing what I can only describe as a combination between the Running Man and Gangham Style.

Completely unable to hold in my laughter, I broke into giggles and snorted out the beer Amber had gotten for me. It was nice to find someone around here that wasn't into all the ridiculousness going on and could hold a conversation without trying to get in my pants.

Just as I thought that, Logan yelled out "YO!" to this guy coming in the front door. I tried to turn and see who he was looking at, but I was being pushed to the side as Logan went running.

Then it hit me…he was going to fight someone and I'm still standing here. I went to make my way over to the epic battle when, instead of fists, I see arms. Hugging. He was hugging some dude and jumping around like the guy was about to start tossing out wads of cash. What in the world was going on around here? People were starting to gather around this new guy and I was getting smacked around in the process.

In order to keep myself from throwing a punch, I moved to the side of the room and managed to get a look at the guy that had people in a tizzy. I mean, he was easy to look at, but what was the big deal? Did he have food? Because, if he did, I'd join in on the crazy; I'd kill a man for a slice of pizza right about now.

Seeing how most of the people here were entertained by the new guy, I made my way to the kitchen to see what I could do about the growling going on in my stomach. Just as I was about to open one of the cabinets, a voice came from behind me "you know, it's rude to go through someone else's kitchen cabinets."

I turned around so fast that I lost my footing and found myself falling face first onto the floor. Strong hands gripped my arms to keep me from falling and, as I was lifting my head to see my savior, I moved too fast and knocked his chin.

We both yelped and the next thing I knew, I was in a heap on the floor with some random guy.

I couldn't help myself, I started cackling like the crazy person I was, and attempted to get myself into a standing position.

"You could help me up, seeing as though you're the reason I'm on the floor with a split lip." I looked down and saw him; the new guy that had caused all the commotion just a few minutes prior.

"I could, but seeing as though it was your fault I started falling in the first place, I think you can get yourself off the floor." He looked at me like I had lost it, then grabbed my hand and tried to use it as leverage to get up.

Now, I'm not big on being touched, so I swung my fist as hard as I could and knocked him right back on his ass.

"Maybe that'll teach you to grab a woman without her permission, ya jackass."

I turned around, ready to go back to my scavenging adventure when that same annoying as hell voice started speaking right in my ear, "I'm a fan of feisty women and you make it a little more fun with all the crazy you've got going on. Wanna take a walk?"

Pushing him backwards a couple of steps I walked up and got right in his face, "if you touch me again I will rip your lips off and shove them up your nose, got me?"

This only caused him to smirk and laugh a little, which pissed me off, so I walked out of the kitchen in search of Amber. It was time to go.

I found her, on the lap of some snapback wearing muscle man, grabbed her arm and told her we were leaving.

Amber being the whiny drunk that she is, told me she wanted to stay with Garrett because he promised to take her to out on his boat later.

The look I gave her must have been mom enough because she quickly said her goodbyes and went to grab her purse.

While standing at the door waiting for her, Smirky McSmirky Pants came out of the kitchen and headed right towards me.

"Leaving so soon? You haven't even asked my name."

This was a joke, right? No one actually used lines like that anymore, did they?

I figured the best way to deal with a pest was to ignore them and act as though they weren't even there. I turned around and looked for any app on my phone that could entertain me until Amber got back; which was starting to take forever.

"You know, you might as well talk to me. Your friend went into the back room with my buddy so it'll be a while before you guys take off."

That freaking skank! I knew I shouldn't have let her get her stuff on her own. Ugh, now I had to find something to do…though leaving her here was starting to seem like an excellent idea.

I looked up at him and decided he might be entertaining enough until I could blow this joint.

"Ok, what's your name?" I said to him.

"Who me?" He said, "You are actually acknowledging the fact that I'm talking to you?"

I looked at him with as much distain as I could muster and, as I was about to walk away from him for the second time that night, he grabbed my hand and said, "I'm Edward and you're adorable when you're angry."

The nerve of this guy was other-worldly. Adorable? Who tells someone they are adorable when they are angry? He clearly had a death wish and I was about to grant it.

"Look here you overgrown child, you are really starting to piss me off. Call me adorable again and I'll show you just how crazy I can get."

The proud feeling I had from telling him off vanished when I saw that stupid smirk coming closer. Was he going to kiss me? Did I want him to kiss me? Wait, why isn't he kissing me?

"I'm not going to kiss you, kitten, but you'd like that wouldn't you?"

That. Was. It. I was going to have to kill him now.

Before I could make my move and rid the plant of his evil, he turned and walked out of the house, leaving me completely confused as to what just happened.