Genius Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight, including these characters.

Preface

Experts say it takes 21 days to kick a habit. What they fail to elaborate on are the particulars. What if the subject is particularly stubborn? What if it is practically a lifelong habit? Will it make a difference if the habit is fatal? What if the habit in question is me?

Chapter One

EPOV

The ringing woke me with a jolt, then a groan. I kicked my leg around on the bed, hoping to make contact with the cordless phone. No luck, but it didn’t matter; I knew who it was and what she wanted. I rolled over on to my side and my face was met with Bella’s dark, knotted, slept on hair. It smelled like strawberry shampoo, like it always does. The familiarity didn’t make it any less appealing. I slipped my hand up the front of her shirt and worked my way slowly up her hot, smooth skin.

“Hey,” she said, sleep still in her throat.

“Hey,” I answered. “That was Alice, I’m sure. We’re late,” I mumbled into her hair, my hand still probing under her shirt. Bella let out a groan.

“I’m tired. I’m not going. I always lose, anyway,” she sulked.

“Right,” I answered. She gasped when my hand found its target.

“Tell her…tell her I’m not coming tonight,” Bella said, her breath coming faster. I changed direction and moved my hand south.

“Bella, I love you, but I will not endure the wrath of Alice so you can skip out of Thursday night poker.”

“Please?”

“No.”

She pressed the back of her body into mine and began tugging at her sweat pants. After a few seconds of her struggling, impatience got the best of me and I swiftly removed her pants in one long sweeping motion. Once free, Bella quickly rolled on top of me. I lay flat on the bed, my hands roaming over her thighs, her stomach, her breasts before finally settling on her hips. I smiled up at her crookedly. Her full lips parted into a wide, beautiful smile. My breath caught in my throat. When she smiled at me like that, I could see it all. My past, always entangled happily with hers. My present, my very perfect now, Bella on me, in me, integrated in every part of my life, so closely I could barely tell her emotions from my own. My future – our future- a marriage, careers, babies, I wanted it all. All with her.

BPOV

I lowered myself onto Edward and moaned as I felt him fill me up. Not a bad way to wake up I thought to myself asmarveled at his gorgeous face. A lock of his bronze hair flopped on his forehead as he quickened our pace. I stared, still, after all this time, amazed he was mine. I let my fingers graze lazily across his square jaw line, feeling the rough stubble on my fingers. Briefly, I recalled his more youthful face; still beautiful, but smoother, hairless. Rounder, somehow, not as masculine as now.

I felt his grip tighten on my hips. He suddenly sat up, still inside of me.

“I want to feel all of you,” he growled, his forehead pressed to mine. My finger

ails dug into his broad shoulders and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He pressed himself even closer to me, my skin sliding off of his, our sweat intermingling. Abruptly, he crushed his open mouth to mine and a moan escaped my lips as I felt him spill into me. I let my body sag onto his as we let our breathing slow.

He sighed and leaned back on his elbows, allowing me full view of his muscular chest as I was still straddling him.

“We are officially late,” he said.

“We’ve been officially late every Thursday or the past four years,” I retorted.

“True, but Alice doesn’t like it.”

“Why are you so scared of her?” I teased.

“Uh, because she’s scary?”

I couldn’t argue with that. A few true facts about my best friend Alice Brandon: she is tiny, gorgeous, sassy, bossy, fiercely loyal and extremely hot tempered, though she prefers the term passionate. One more thing crucial to Alice’s personal profile: she is connected at the hip to Edward’s best friend Jasper Hale. They’ve lived together since graduation, four years ago, which is also when she insisted the six of us have Thursday night poker tournaments. “This way, we’ll ensure our group bond! “, she beamed at the time. I, personally, was hesitant to commit to weekly plans indefinitely. “You’re doing it,” she had said with finality. And that was that. Really, though, she had a point. After graduation our lives were hectic, we were no longer safely cocooned together at school. The wide world awaited us, and if we were to stick together, it would indeed take commitment.

Emmett and Rosalie had no problem pledging to show up every Thursday, they always won. Of course, they always cheated, too. Emmett had yet to actually admit to the cheating accusations, but his big, stupid grin gave him away. That, and Edward claimed his brother has been cheating at cards ever since their first game of Go Fish. Blonde, beautiful Rosalie never ceased to amaze me. Her ability to

‘handle’ Emmett was unparalleled, not only could she put up with him, she enjoyed him. I can’t count how many times she’ s sighed, shrugged her shoulders and uttered ‘love is blind’.

Edward untangled himself from my legs.

“I’ve got to shower and get to my parents. They’re having my dad’s partner over for dinner, I gotta stop in to grab some papers about the internship at the hospital. “ Edward was following in his father’s footsteps to become a doctor. A brilliant one, if I do say so myself.

“Do you want me to come with?” I asked tentatively. He chuckled, knowing I hated to make idle conversation with people I don’t know.

“No…use your get out of jail free card. I’ll meet you at Alice’s soon”. He kissed my forehead and hopped out of the bed. I watched him head out of the door gracefully confident in every move he made. I felt blessed to belong to him. Had I’d known what his little side trip would lead to, I would’ve pulled him back to the bed and held him tightly under the covers. I would’ve clung to him with all of my might. But I didn’t.