Author's Note: This story was written originally written for the "MissStrawberrie's Monthly One-Shot Cullenizer Challenge," but it seemed to take on a life of its own. I am currently in the process of turning this story into a multi-chaptered fic called "Raising the Stakes" that goes into more of Bella's backstory before Vegas. And yes, I will talk about what happens more after the end of this story. I have posted the first chapter and plan to post more, soon. A few of the details in this story will change, but the overall plot will be the same.

Do not read this if you do NOT want to spoiled on what happens in the first few chapters of "Raising the Stakes".

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all things Twilight. Any other references to other trademarked properties belong to their respective owners.

"It's not going as well as I thought," Bella muttered reluctantly into the receiver of her fancy hotel phone. It was the only way she could think of to downplay her disastrous trip to Vegas.

"Really?" her mother, Renée, asked, concerned. "I thought you would have bankrupted several casinos by now."

Oh, how she wished. That certainly was the allure of Vegas, wasn't it? Bright lights, fancy shows, and endless opportunities to make money. It all seemed so easy, really. There were numerous late nights of friendly Texas Hold 'Em tournaments with Mike and the guys back in her hometown of Forks. For just a five-dollar buy-in, you could get several hours of entertainment, chips, and amusing male banter. That was a better deal than a movie.

Bella always seemed to be at an advantage. The guys would complain that she was hard to read – a good "poker face" they called it. Honestly, she wasn't sure exactly what she was doing; she was just playing the hands as they came naturally to her. And it always seemed to work out – most nights, Bella would take home the majority of the winnings. Sure, at five dollars per player, you didn't win much, but it was enough for another meal out. One might think the guys would have complained, losing week after week. Somehow, though, they didn't seem to mind a pretty girl taking their money. To them, just having a female to stare at all night was worth the price of admission.

It seemed only natural for Bella to up the ante. No more dollar bills and quarters – Bella yearned to make her bankroll grow by the hundreds and thousands. She planned the ultimate trip to Vegas and brought along her two girlfriends, Jessica and Angela.

They had all just turned 21 and were excited to dip their toes into a whole new level of gambling. Well, that was the plan, anyway. It seemed Bella was far more enthusiastic about the casinos than the other two girls, especially when they caught wind of the "minimum $20 bet" table-limit signs. They preferred to spend their Vegas vacation seeing another fancy show or lounging around by the pool. It took Bella all her strength not to roll her eyes and laugh. Who comes to Vegas to swim? Apparently, a lot of people did, as evidenced by the mass amounts of wives and children Bella saw the one day she was dragged down to the pool against her will.

When she did manage to get the girls to join her at the casino, they didn't have the high-roller mindset that Bella did. Angela and Jessica both insisted they were fine with the penny slots, but Bella was outraged. How did they expect to make loads of cash on the penny slots? It wasn't long before the girls tired of the casinos, citing excessive cigarette smoke and scantily clad women as the reason. Bella wasn't a fan either, but she knew that's what to expect in Vegas. It was all part of the package.

By the third day, Bella had given up and gone the way of so many husbands in Vegas before. The other girls enjoyed their time by the pool and Bella spent long hours at the casino table.

Oh, the casino. Bella's stomach turned just thinking about how her well-thought-out gambling plan had gone awry. She'd had the brilliant idea of withdrawing her college savings, including her student loan money, to fund her casino adventures. She stocked up on poker strategy books and spent the few days before studying as much as she could.

Texas Hold 'Em seemed so easy with Mike and the guys. The atmosphere was so laid back and everyone was so easygoing. In Vegas, however, the atmosphere was completely different. It was tense, nerve-wracking, and incredibly intimidating.

Men of all shapes, sizes, and ages - with their fancy cigars and top-shelf liquor - glared at Bella, scrutinizing her every move. She didn't know what to do or how to think – all the strategy she had acquired from her research beforehand seemed all but forgotten. She folded when she should have stayed and raised when she should have called. Those were the sort of dumb mistakes any poker player with half a brain would know not to make.

Bella watched as she lost hundreds of dollars in just a few hands. That was supposed to be the money to help her through college, but she watched as her student loan money dwindled at the same rate as her chip collection.

One man in particular who frequented her poker table seemed especially out to get her. He couldn't be much older than she was; he was gorgeous with big, beautiful eyes and an intense stare. Bella tried not to get distracted by his charm. His was amazingly good at poker – or amazingly lucky, she wasn't sure which. He knew exactly what moves to make and when. It was as though he knew what everyone's hands were before they were shown. Bella tried bluffing, but it was no use – he seemed to outsmart her every time. At one point, Bella thought it would be just as effective to give him her money directly. Why create the façade of a poker game?

After her crushing defeat, Bella rethought her strategy and attempted to play other casino games, especially ones where he wasn't around. Blackjack, roulette, and craps all started off promising, but eventually just dug her into an even deeper hole. Before she knew it, she was several thousand dollars in debt with no hope in sight. Bella thought of her friends sitting by the pool without a negative sign in their bank account and felt a pang of jealousy. Maybe they had it right all along.

***

It was the last night in Vegas and things weren't looking good. Jessica and Angela decided to spend the evening at Cirque du Soleil. Bella would have loved to have gone, but she had lost so much money already she couldn't justify the high price of a show ticket. In fact, Bella couldn't justify the high price of anything, except what she was doing now – sitting at the penny slots, the same game she criticized her friends for playing. She put the coins in very slowly, trying to make each one last as long as possible. She had given up trying to win her money back; her new goal was to lose money as slowly as she could, and even that was proving to be difficult. At least her losses didn't have multiple zeroes attached anymore, but it was still another blow watching her bankroll diminish with no hope in sight.

She was trapped in a pattern of despair. She dropped the coin in the slot, pulled the handle, and watched disappointedly as the symbol reels stopped on nothing worthwhile. Her coin bucket weighed less and less as the hours passed. She could hear the sounds of other people's coins dropping and lights flashing. Why was she so unlucky?

Bella continued to pull the handle like a mindless robot, but no longer concentrated on the game; she focused on her horrible trip to Vegas. She had imagined that it would be fun. It was supposed to be an endless week of girls' nights out. She was going to sit at the poker table, watching the men's faces drop as all the chips came to her. She was going to build a nice nest egg for her future, not put herself so far into debt there was no way out.

No one had any idea. Angela, Jessica, Mom. No one knew how much money was lost. They knew things weren't going well, but they didn't know the extent of it. What would they do when they found out? How was she going to pay for her next semester of college? Working one job wouldn't be enough; she would have to work two. And how would she balance this with her academics? Forget a social life.

It was all too much to take. All the anger built up inside her. She took her fist and went straight for the face of the slot machine. Except, keeping with her streak of luck in Vegas, she missed hitting the machine and fell forward off her chair. Her face scrunched up against the glass and her bucket of coins went flying in the air, spilling everywhere.

"Pathetic," Bella muttered to herself. She hoped no one saw as she struggled to get up. Luckily, everyone else around her seemed too focused on their games to care.

"Are you okay?" a male voice called behind her. Oh great – someone did see after all. Could this night get any worse?

"I'm fine," she said, regaining her balance on the stool and looking around for her lost coins.

"Let me at least help you clean up this mess," he insisted as hurried to her side.

"I said I'm fine." She turned toward him with an evil glare. It was then that their eyes made contact and her face went blank. It was the guy from the poker table – the same one who happily took all her money happily. She pointed her finger at his chest. "It's you."

"Do we know each other?" he asked slyly.

"Don't pretend like you don't know who I am!" Bella cried out, causing a few of the nearby slot players to take notice. "You took all my money and left me with nothing! I am having the worst time in Vegas and it's all because of you."

"Calm down," he said in a quiet voice, trying not to cause a scene. "I'm sure things can't be that bad."

"Oh really?!" Bella's voice was even louder now, increasing her volume with each new question. "So sitting here playing penny slots while your friends are spending a night on the town isn't bad? Losing several thousand dollars of your college savings fund isn't bad?! Lying to your family and friends about how much money you've lost isn't so bad?! Thank you very much for your sympathy, sir, but really – I do think it's that bad."

Bella couldn't believe herself. She was too afraid to tell her closest friends about her bank account, but here she was, screaming her problems to a stranger at the top of her lungs – a stranger who was at the root of her problems, no less. She expected him to run away in fear. Clearly, he had no idea what he was getting into. But to her surprise, he just stared into her brown eyes and smiled.

"Let's sit and talk," he said. "You sound like you need a friend right now."

***

Bella spent the next couple hours enjoying the buffet dinner he treated her to as she spilled more of her secrets. At first, she tried to avoid talking about herself. He seemed so interested in her Vegas mishaps though, and eventually she gave in and told him everything. She explained how she was so good at poker but then came here and lost everything. She talked about the original plan of gambling alongside her friends into the wee hours of the night and how, instead, they were on two completely different schedules.

She hoped opening up to him would get him to reciprocate. She hardly knew anything about him. All she knew was his name – Edward – and the fact he didn't seem to care much for eating. How could anyone resist stuffing their faces at a buffet with all this food in front of them? It didn't make sense.

"I want to help," Edward declared after hearing her story, clearly not interested in sharing the details of his personal life.

"That's nice," she said sarcastically. "Do you have a wad of cash you can hand over to solve all my problems?"

"Not exactly," he chuckled.

"Well then," she asked, "how exactly do you plan to help?"

"Let's just say…I know the game of poker very well."

"Hey," Bella interjected, offended. "I know the game of poker, too. I studied before I came here, remember?"

"No," he corrected her, "you understand the rules. You play games on the weekend with your guy pals. They let you win because you're beautiful and they want to get in your pants."

Bella blushed at his comment. It was true – her guy friends, especially Mike, did try to ask her out constantly. But she preferred to spend her time playing poker as just friends, even if that wasn't exactly what they wanted.

"Maybe you're right," Bella admitted with a smile.

"How much have you lost," he asked, "since you stepped off the plane in Vegas, up until this very moment?"

"A lot more than I ever won playing with the guys, that's for sure." Bella chuckled nervously.

"I need an exact number." His voice sounded urgent.

Bella wasn't sure why he cared, but she knew precisely what it was – although she wished she didn't. In fact, he was there for the majority of her losses. She watched every day in Vegas as her bank account balance got smaller and smaller. Bella took a big gulp and closed her eyes.

"Five thousand, four hundred eighty-three dollars …… and twenty-two cents." She blurted out the number with such a lack of confidence. When she opened her eyes, she expected his face to have a complete look of shock at the official number. Instead – like always – he just smiled warmly. Was there no amount of money that would faze him?

"So what's the plan?" Bella asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

"We're going to play poker and get all your money back."

Bella's face fell. "Great idea, James Bond. Except – one problem – I have no money to play with, remember?"

"That's not a problem," Edward said, confidently. He reached in his front pocket and plucked five $100 bills from his seemingly endless roll of money. Bella couldn't stop her jaw from dropping. She was floored by his generosity. She also wondered how much money he had if he could drop that much without blinking. After all, he had succeeded in the cleaning out of of Bella's earnings. How much poker had he played? Bella pushed the questions out of her mind as she reached out hesitantly and took the bills.

"Thanks."

"That should be enough to play with." Edward leaned in closer. "But you need to follow my exact instructions. And you must promise me you'll stop when we reach the amount-that-shall-not-be-named."

"That's fair," Bella said, still a little overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of the large amount of money.

"You need to promise me. Winning can be addictive. People don't know when to stop." Edward stared deeply into her eyes and she was mesmerized. How could she not give him everything he wanted?

"I promise," Bella sighed, not exactly sure what she was getting herself into.

"Here's how this works," Edward explained. "We're going to pick a poker table with two empty spots and sit down. We're not going to sit next to each other; that would be too obvious. Besides, you need to be able to see me."

"Why would I need to see you?" Bella asked, puzzled slightly.

"Watch me for cues on what to do. If I lick my lips, it means they're bluffing and I want you to raise your bet. If I run my finger through my hair, their hand is good and I want you to fold."

"How will you know all this?"

"I've been playing this game for a while and I've learned how to read poker faces very well. Pay no attention to what I'm doing at the table. We can't be doing the same things or people will get suspicious. The goal is to play it cool. You have to trust me and you have to promise we'll walk away when we get all your money back."

"I promise," Bella repeated, still lost in Edward's eyes, "But, uh – can you repeat those gestures a few more times? We might need to practice a bit more."

***

Bella couldn't believe it – as soon as they sat down at the poker table, things finally started to turn around. She did just as Edward taught her - although it was sometimes weird watching him make his specific movements. She raised and folded when she was "told,", and it was always the right choice in the end. How did he seem to always know what other cards the players had? It was as though he had x-ray vision. Maybe kryptonite was also his weakness. The only logical explanation Bella could give was the years of poker experience he supposedly had; but he didn't look that old. How old was he, exactly? Bella decided not to ask and instead focused at the task at hand: getting back everything she'd lost.

For the first time in Vegas, Bella watched as the chips came to her at the end of each game, instead of away from her and to another player. The mean, intimidating men that stole her money before now seemed to cower at her feet. None of their strategies seemed to be working. It was as though she was in a position of power and knew exactly what to do.

With as much money as Bella was winning, she was amazed at how much money Edward seemed to be losing. He told her to pay no attention to how he was playing, and for good reason. Bella wasn't keeping track, but she was sure he was losing almost – if not more – money than she had during her week-long stay at Vegas. The dealer recognized Edward from a couple nights ago and asked about the sudden change of luck. Edward, of course, played it cool, trying not to draw suspicion.

Bella, on the other hand, struggled to keep her composure and resist the urge to jump out of her seat. Her winnings and promising future were all coming back in a rush. Each hand was another semester of college or another rent payment. The thrill of winning was addictive, and Bella wasn't sure she knew how to stop. She knew she'd promised Edward, but if she was winning this much money, she only imagined how much more she could win.

Suddenly, Edward picked up his chips and left the table, leaving Bella confused. As she glanced down at her chip pile, she noticed it resembled the exact amount she told him. Edward was obviously expecting her to leave, but she didn't want to quit just yet. It was so hard to walk away. Why stop at paying for a semester of college? Why not the rest of college? Why not the first year of law school?

Bella was about to bet another hand when she felt Edward come up behind her at the table. She was surprised, as she knew how much Edward stressed trying to keep the illusion that they were not together.

"Let's go," he whispered forcefully. She wasn't sure if the other people at the table could hear.

"But –" she began,,still not ready to come down from the high.

"You promised," Edward said with a stern voice, and she knew he was right. It took every ounce of strength for Bella to walk away with her winnings that night, but she did.

Away from the table, she had a chance to put everything into perspective. She was glad the money was back and she wouldn't have to hide her losses anymore. She came to Vegas with exactly what she'd started with, which was more than most Vegas hopefuls could say.

Edward offered to walk Bella back to her hotel, although she wasn't sure why. Did he want to make sure she wouldn't gamble anymore? Or did he want to spend more time with her? She was hoping it was a combination of both.

"So what did we learn tonight?" Edward asked, leaning up against the entry door to her hotel room.

"I'm not cut out for the high-roller Vegas lifestyle," Bella replied with a laugh. "I'm better suited for the cheap games of Texas Hold 'Em. From now on, my Vegas trips will be spent poolside. It's hard to lose your college savings that way."

"Good," Edward replied. "I'm glad you were able to get your money back. You seem relieved now that the weight is off your shoulders."

"I am." Bella paused for a moment, studying his face. "I don't get it, though. How did you know? You were so good! And where did all that money come from? It can't be just from playing poker. How long have you been playing poker, anyway? You can't be that old! How old–"

"Shhh." He put a finger to her lips to silence her, and chills rushed through her body. "You ask too many questions. You got your money back, and that's what matters."

Bella sighed, knowing she wasn't going to get any answers out of him. He probably did have x-ray vision and just didn't want anyone to know his secret.

"You can come inside," Bella said, motioning for Edward to come into her hotel room. "My friends won't be back for a while."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Edward was such a gentleman and it frustrated Bella to no end. "In fact, I really should be going. I'm sure my brothers are wondering where I've been."

"I want to see you again," Bella blurted out. "Can I get a phone number? E-mail? Anything?"

"I think it's better if we leave it up to fate," Edward explained calmly. "Besides, I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other again."

He wrapped his arms around Bella and kissed her forehead. Bella wasn't exactly happy with the response, but she could only hope he was right. Maybe he knew something she didn't.

"Thank you," Bella choked, trying to fight tears of happiness and sadness at the week's events.

"It was nice meeting you," Edward said as he released himself from their embrace. "You smell lovely, by the way."

Bella wasn't sure what he meant by that comment, but she wasn't really sure about much of anything when it came to Edward. The only thing she knew was that her bank account had finally rebounded from the negative and no one ever had to know.

As Bella watched Edward disappear down the hallway, she contemplated sneaking out once more into the casino and playing a few quick rounds of poker. She was really starting to get the hang of it before Edward had pulled her away. But she knew it wasn't a good idea. For some strange reason, she felt like he would be watching.