Chapter One

Alice

"Shit, shitty, shit!" I muttered to myself as I practically sprinted along the pavement toward the bar, trying to dodge other pedestrians who looked at me in either disapproval or amusement at my language. I didn't care. I just kept on my way, occasionally glancing at my watch in the ridiculous hope that the minute hand would suddenly just decide to jump back about half way around the clock face.

I was late for work. Yet again.

It was unavoidable really.

No, that's a lie. It could have been avoided. But when I was faced with a decision between my best friend Bella who had needed me, and punctuality in my shitty job, well it wasn't exactly a difficult choice.

Even if I desperately needed said job, and had already gotten two warnings in the past month.

When I got to the bar I pushed the door open and entered cautiously, thinking that maybe Paul, the manager, wasn't in yet.

"Brandon! You're late"

I never did have much luck.

"I know, I know. It won't happen again" I promised, taking off my jacket and hanging it up behind the bar.

"That's what you said last time" he muttered, but turned away and headed to the back room. Huh. Guess he must have been in a good mood tonight.

I turned to Emmet, who looked at me and let out a low whistle.

"You know Alice, if you didn't make that uniform look so good he would have fired your ass a long time ago"

I flipped him off and he laughed, but I resented the fact that he was probably right. I mean, I'd like to think I was hired because I can make some fucking killer cocktails, or even because of my impressive customer service skills. But no. I could tell from day one, when Paul looked me up and down, smirking in approval and said I could have a trial at the bar, that any of my relevant skills had nothing to do with my employment here. I could make margaritas with battery acid and probably still keep my job as long as I was wearing my uniform while I did it.

The uniform in question was beyond ridiculous, and more than a little degrading.

I mean, fucking shorty shorts that were so damn short my ass cheeks were only a couple centimetres away from showing themselves. And as if that wasn't enough, I had to wear them over fishnet stockings. Then, up top, the uniform consisted of a super tight white shirt, and a little black vest. Not covering too much of course, we didn't want to hide the goods. Apparently the slutty look was good for business, and I really did look like Queen of the Tramps. I was just waiting for the night I walk home and a car slowed beside me, a pervy old man asking how much for a couple of hours.

Yeah, it was that bad.

"So what's up kid?" Emmett asked, leaning against the bar. It was still early, so there wasn't many customers, leaving us time to chit chat behind Paul's back and quickly start wiping at invisible marks on the bar whenever he emerged from the back room. Being a Friday though, and because we had a live band coming tonight, it was bound to get pretty busy soon.

"Don't call me kid" I shoved him, which was about as effective as trying to tear down a brick wall with one of those giant inflatable hammers. Emmett was a huge guy. And I was pretty tiny. A fact that he liked to remind me of by constantly referring to me as 'kid'.

"So what's this band like?"

"Awesome. You'll love them, kid" he grinned, just to annoy me. I looked up at the chalkboard above the bar.

The Papercuts: Tonight from 9pm

I hadn't seen them before, but I'd heard the name and was looking forward to watching their set. Emmett apparently knew the singer pretty well, so he had set the gig up. According to him, the band had been making a pretty big name, acquiring quite the cult following, and would probably draw a fairly big crowd. Sure enough, the bar filled up to pretty much maximum capacity and Emmett and I were run off our feet serving drinks. Somewhere along the way the band took the stage and began their set, but I was far too busy to stop and watch. I settled for listening, bopping my head a little to their frantic rhythms, while I worked the bar. Only during miniscule breaks between customers did I catch a quick glimpse of the nodding head of the bass player, or drumsticks thrashing about, or a mess of blond hair hovering over the microphone.

After a while, the rush at the bar died down as everyone turned to the stage to hear the final song, and I had a chance to lean back and get a better look at the band. The singer was strumming furiously on his guitar for a solo, and then he looked up to lean his mouth into the microphone and started singing again. His dirty blonde hair fell about his face haphazardly, his shirt rolled up to the elbows exposing strong tanned arms, and when he reached the chorus his lip twitched a little and I couldn't stop staring.

Whoa.

My attention was dragged away by a customer clearing his throat in front of me.

"Two beers?" he said.

"Sure"

Obviously I had really spaced out staring at the singer. But as I turned toward the beer tap, any thought of him flew out of my head as I caught sight of a familiar face stepping into the bar and weaving through the crowd, looking as confident and cocky as ever, looking for someone – looking for me.

Edward Cullen.

His eyes met mine and he made his way toward me. Forgetting the customer, I walked out from behind the bar and stopped in front of Edward. Emmett obviously hadn't seen him come in, or he would've taken care of this himself. But that was ok. I could deal with Edward Cullen.

"Alice. Long time no see" he smirked down at me. What the hell was he doing? He knew he was absolutely not welcome here.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked, not bothering to hide my anger at his presence.

"Can't I visit an old friend?"

"Seriously, Edward"

He looked down at me, considering his answer for a second before opening his mouth again.

"I heard a rumour that Bella was back in town"

Oh hell no.

"You stay the hell away from Bella"

Edward leaned down so his face was level with mine, wearing that arrogant expression that I'd come to hate so much.

"Now Alice, do you honestly think she'd want me to stay away?"

That son of a bitch. It was still all games to him. He didn't care what he had done to Bella, what she had become.

"Get out of here Cullen"

"What are you, jealous that I didn't come for you? You know, in that little uniform, I might consider it..." he gave a little tug on the hem of my shirt and I couldn't help what I did. He was here, and he was asking about Bella, and all I could see in my mind was my best friend, curled up on our apartment floor after this boy had completely destroyed her. And now, he was smirking at me. I lunged at him, hitting him, trying to physically push him out of here, push him out of our lives.

"You broke her, you bastard!"

He tried to grab at my arms to stop me, making me angrier, and I just kept hitting. People were starting to stare.

Suddenly a large pair of hands landed on me and practically lifted me off the ground, dragging me away.

"Put me down Emmett!"

"No way baby girl, do you want to lose your job?"

He took me toward the back room, opened the door and pushed me in. The band members, who had finished their set and were chilling out back here with some other random people, looked up at us curiously. I ignored them, turning to face Em.

"Emmett-"

"I'll take care of it" he said. Then he dragged me over to the couch in the middle of the room and gently pushed me down into it. He looked around the room for a second.

"Jasper!" he called, and the singer, appeared at Emmett's side, looking down at me with interest.

"Yah?"

Emmet nodded down at me and pointed as if I was five fucking years old.

"Do me a favour and keep her in here will you?"

"No problem" Jasper said smoothly, not taking his eyes off me. Any other time the prospect of being stuck in a room with this boy would have been more than appealing, but not now. Not when Edward Cullen was right outside. I glared at Emmett.

"I'll come get you when he's gone" he said, turning and leaving the room.

Jasper slumped down beside me. He grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels from the table in front of us, filling a glass and sliding it toward me. I just shook my head, looking at the door.

Screw this.

I went to stand, to go out there and yell at Edward some more, to make sure he wouldn't come anywhere near Bella, but a strong hand grasped my own and pulled me back down onto the couch.

"Whoa now pixie, you heard the man"

Pixie?

Really?

Now I was annoyed. I sure as hell did not need a baby sitter in the form of a messy haired boy with a Southern drawl which would have been sexy if I was not so pissed off at that moment. And he was still holding my hand but I snatched it away.

"What are you, my baby-sitter?"

He grinned at me, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his head turned toward me.

"I'm Jasper Hale"

"Good for you"

He chuckled.

"Are you always so hostile?"

"Only when I'm being imprisoned against my will"

He nodded, as if conceding that that was fair, but there was a glint in his blue eyes and it seemed like he was trying not to laugh at me.

"What's your name?"

I sighed and answered him.

"Alice"

"As in...Wonderland?" he grinned again.

"And what are you, the freaking Cheshire cat?" I asked him when his grin didn't disappear.

And then his grin morphed into a full on chuckle that was actually extremely cute and irritating at the same time.

Suddenly the door opened and Paul barged into the room, obviously furious.

"Alice! What the hell was that? You think you can just attack our customers?"

I heard Jasper choke on his drink next to me, trying not to laugh.

"And not just anyone either, that was fucking Edward Cullen!"

"Yeah, I'm well aware of who it was, thanks Paul"

Of course that would make all the difference.

There was an incident only a couple of weeks ago when a customer had tried to grope me. Normally, Emmett would appear in a split second and escort the offending customer out, but this particular night Emmett wasn't nearby so I took the liberty of letting my knee connect with the pervert's crotch. And Paul had hardly cared then.

But Edward Cullen? God forbid we would offend anyone from the Cullen family. They were as close to royalty as you could get in this city, and I'm sure Paul was terrified that word of the way I had treated Edward would somehow find its way back to papa Cullen who could probably get this place closed down with one little phone call.

"You know Alice, I've given you far too many warnings lately, and now this...you'd better consider how serious you are about this job-"

That was it.

I stood up from the couch to face him. I'd had enough of this.

"You know what Paul? It's hard to be serious about a job with such shitty hours, shittier pay and this ridiculous uniform. I mean, come on, fish nets? I fucking quit"

This shocked him. He'd obviously been all talk with his threats.

"Now...now come on, Alice" He was shaking his head "You don't mean that"

"Don't I?"

I was pretty sure I did.

"Well...uh...how about a raise?"

"No freaking-"

Wait.

A raise?

I nodded at him slowly.

"And no more fish nets?"

"No more fish nets" he agreed, somewhat reluctantly.

"Well that's a damn shame" Jasper murmured from the couch behind me. I shot him a quick glare, catching him eyeing off my legs but he only lifted his gaze to meet mine, and winked, his mouth twitching into a half grin again.

I rolled my eyes and turned back to Paul.

"Fine"

"Good. And no more fights" He turned and left the room as Emmett came back in and stood in front of me.

"Oh what, am I free now?" I asked him sarcastically.

"Yeah. Come on" He grabbed my hand to take me back out to the bar.

As I stepped away, Jasper, who was still watching from the couch, groaned.

"What?" Emmett asked him, amused. "You didn't think I'd let you keep her all night did you?"

Jasper leaned back in the couch, looked at me for a moment and then back to Emmett.

"Emmett, I was hoping you'd let me keep her forever"

Emmett just laughed at Jasper and led me out of the room.

"Jesus Ali, I leave you in there for five minutes and you already managed to make him fall in love with you?"

"Somehow I don't think that was love" I told him, rolling my eyes. "Em, what happened with Edward?"

"I just told him to get out of here. I told him to stay away from you"

"He asked about Bella"

"Yeah. I also told him I'd break every bone in his body if he went anywhere near her, too"

"And he just left?"

"A couple of cocky remarks later, yep"

I nodded. Edward wasn't looking for a fight. Even if he came to start trouble, he wasn't the brawling type. That's not the way the boy works. He could destroy a person with words and false promises, he was not accustomed to have to resort to physical violence. I just hope Emmett's warnings were enough to keep him away, but something told me it wasn't that easy.

We kept serving drinks and the crowd eventually started to dwindle. Somewhere along the way the band left the bar, I watched as the boys and a group of others stumbled toward the door. Jasper turned his head, looking around before stepping outside and his eyes caught mine. His lips twitched up into that grin again before one of the other guys pulled him outside.

Rosalie, Emmett's girlfriend stepped into the bar just as we were trying to get the last patrons to leave.

"Rosalie, I can't believe you come to pick Em up at this hour"

"Oh, I don't come here for Emmett" she winked at me. "I just want to try my luck with the fellas. What do you think of that one?"

She nodded toward an almost unconscious man resting his head in his arms on the bar, the last guy left. He was mumbling to himself incoherently and appeared to have lost a shoe.

"From Emmett, I would say that's a step up" I tell her loud enough for Em to hear.

Emmett rolled his eyes, making his way to Rosalie and throwing his arms around her, kissing the top of her head.

"Hey babe. Is Alice trying to be funny again?"

I went and tapped Mr Mumbles on the shoulder, and after telling him we were closing up and then refusing, as gently as I could, a slurred proposal of marriage, he left and we locked up the bar.

"Seeya guys" I said, turning away from Emmett and Rosalie in the street, but Em grabbed my arm and yanked me back.

"Oh no no" he said, scolding me. "What have I told you about walking the city streets at night? We'll give you a ride"

"Not necessary"

"It's no problem Alice" Rosalie smiled at me. "I'll let you have shotgun. Trust me, you'd be doing me a favour. If Emmett was up front he'd be messing with my radio and making me listen to the abomination that he calls good music"

I stared out at the city lights as Rosalie drove through the streets toward my apartment. I never got sick of those lights. God, I loved this city. I think I was made for it, we complimented each other, I thrived here. I was never meant to be a small town girl, I didn't belong in Forks and hadn't looked back since we left.

Unlike Bella.

After we moved I thought she had actually found her place here like I had. Until the after effects of Edward Cullen left her questioning whether she really belonged anywhere and she went back to Forks, even though I knew she hated it as much as I did. But she had to get away from this place and everything that reminded her of him and she didn't have anywhere else to go. And then I think she recovered a little, convinced herself that this city was the lesser of two evils, and came back.

But what would she do if I told her that the very reason she left this city had appeared in front of me tonight and had only wanted to know about her? She needed to forget him; she had been trying so hard. And if I told her, it would torment her.

I had always been the one to look out for Bella, to protect her. I didn't think I could put her through that.

When I got home, she was asleep on the couch while her Breakfast at Tiffany's DVD glowed on the TV screen. She always watched Audrey Hepburn movies when she was depressed. I switched it off and found a blanket to pull over her but she stirred awake.

"Hey, how was work?" she yawned up at me.

"Same as always" I lie.

"Nothing exciting happened tonight?"

I managed to get a raise.

An attractive Southern boy wanted to keep me forever.

But the biggest thing?

Edward Cullen came in.

He asked about you.

I'm scared to tell you this.

"No" I tell her "nothing at all"

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