After picking up some coffee for Bella - she’d been delayed thanks to her phone call with Jacob - they drove to the first of three apartment complexes. Edward did not like the layout or the drive to the gym. It was the farthest from Bull Dog, located in Redmond.
The realtor, an older woman with sharp eyes and friendly smile, gave them the address for the second place, which was in a neighborhood near the Space Needle. As Edward drove to the second apartment, he slyly looked at Bella. She was staring out the window, twisting her watch around her wrist.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Edward asked.
“Just thinking about what you said in my office,” she murmured. “Grieving what I had with Jacob … we’d known each other for as long as I could remember. He used to be so sweet, but once he got a taste of winning and notoriety, he changed.”
“Most people do. I’m not the same guy from when I started fighting,” Edward shrugged.
“Why did you? I mean, you said you went to Northwestern. You could have used that degree in business,” Bella said.
He blew out a breath, narrowing his eyes. “I started fighting because my dad lost everything. My mom, she died when I was really young and with that a part of him died, too. He started drinking. His alcoholism became his driving force. I didn’t matter. Our home didn’t matter. His job …”
“Oh my God,” Bella murmured.
“Yeah. We lost the house and were forced to move into a shithole apartment. We kind of floated because he’d cashed in my college fund. But, he didn’t care about me. I was just a cruel reminder of what he’d lost,” Edward sneered.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“I look a lot like my mom. Same coloring, similar mannerisms and …” he trailed off. “My dad, who was also Edward, adored her. Tolerated me. I was the thing that stole my mom’s attention away from him. He resented me and when she was gone, that resentment changed to hate. Trust me when I say that I hate him as much as he hated me. I don’t use that terminology lightly.” He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “I got accepted to Northwestern and received a decent scholarship. That scholarship was not enough to cover it all and I couldn’t get student loans. My dad had opened up credit cards in my name in order to get more money for booze, tanking my credit score.” “Your dad’s an asshole,” Bella snorted humorlessly.
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