The Devil Wouldn't Recognize You
(What It Feels Like…For A Girl)
AN and disclaimer: I do not own Twilight nor The Devil Wouldn't Recognize You. Twilight is the masterful work of Ms. Meyers and TDWRY is the amazing song from Madonna. I'm just borrowing the ideas for my own sick, twisted entertainment.
This is just a preview of the story so that it may be easier to make the decision for which one I'm going to do. The others are right around the corner…I'm trying really hard to make a ffic worth reading. The pairings will be the same in each story, (unless I end up writing all 3 of these in time) classic Ed/Be, Jas/Jam, Em/Es, and Al/Ro. Carlisle will be in the stories as well, but it's going to be a special situation with him. You will see and hopefully you will like the pairings. These stories are going to be a lot of fun to write. All of my stories are MATURE and should not be read by anyone who is offended by cursing, sex and/or random homosexuality. If you are, please read no further. If you're not, welcome to my fucked up Twilight world!! Enjoy your stay.
The song that inspired this story:
The Devil Wouldn't Recognize You
Madonna
(Verse 1)
As quiet as it is tonight
You'd almost think you were saved
Your eyes are full of surprises
They cannot predict my fate
Waiting underneath the stars
There's something you should know
The angels they surround my heart
Telling me to let you go
(Pre-Chorus)
I bet he couldn't, I bet he couldn't recognize
But I played right into it
Who am I to criticize
Somehow I get the way that you won't even realize
You're falling for your own disguise
(Chorus)
It's like over and over
You're pushing me right down to the floor
I should just walk away
Over and over
I keep on coming back for more
I play into your fantasies
Now that it's over you can lie to me right through your smile
I've seen behind your eyes
Now I'm sober
The more intoxicated my mind
Even the devil wouldn't recognize you
I do, even the devil wouldn't recognize you
I do, even the devil wouldn't recognize you
I do, even the devil wouldn't recognize you
I do, I do, I do
(Verse 2)
You almost fooled yourself this time
All the saints be praised
You hide the sadness behind your smile
And you keep your lost heartbreaks
The steps that edge along the ledge
Is much higher than it seems
But I've been on that ledge before
You can't hide yourself from me
Pre-Chorus
Chorus
Chorus
Chapter 1 – Such Is Life
Ring, ring, ring…
"Thank you for calling the Hampton Inn in Wetumpka, this is Bella, how may I help you?" I answered the phone cordially as I had for the past 2 years.
"I need reservations please," came the gruff voice on the other end.
"Okay, for which night sir?" I asked, clicking on the reservation button. "For August 13th." He replied, still sounding irritated.
"Okay, I'm showing that we have either a smoking room with 2 king sized beds at the rate of $134 plus tax or our 3 room king suite nonsmoking for the rate of $169 plus tax." I gave him the only two options that we had available, hoping that he would just get on with the impending hissy fit that I came to expect from people like him.
"Can't you just give me the suite for the price of the smoking room?" he asked, sounding ever more pissed off. I can't honestly say that my temper wasn't starting to flare at that point in time. "No sir, that is against our policy, we only have what we have…if you'd like, I can book you in either room, but the rate is what it is. I'm sorry."
…
"Sir? Are you still there?" I asked politely. I knew from how he sounded at the beginning of this reservation that he was gonna give me hell.
"Of course I'm still here!" came his testy response. "But I'm a Gold VIP! Doesn't that mean anything to you?" His voice was starting to rise and I was just tempted to hang the God forsaken phone up right then.
"Of course it means something to us, sir, but as you are well aware; the upgrade policy is that if you want the suite for the other rate, you have to book the double king and take the chance of the suite not being available for upgrade when you arrive. If we have the suite available when you check in, we will be more than happy to upgrade you then, but only at checkin, if it's available." I was getting damn sick and tired of dealing with these jackasses thinking that I'd put my job on the line just for the sake of them getting a fucking upgrade.
"No. You. Don't. Understand." He spoke to me as if I was mentally incompetent. That was the straw that broke my back, "No sir, apparently, you don't understand. The policy is what it is, and I cannot change it. I don't have the authorization to break policy for anyone and I'm only able to do what my computer lets me do. I'm very sorry if this is causing you an inconvenience, but I am completely unable to do that."
I was trying my damnedest to be cordial to this man, but he was making it right fucking impossible. I waited impatiently for his reply; thankfully I didn't have to wait long. "Well, we will just see about that. I'm going to call your corporate office and see if they are able to accommodate a Gold VIP." He spat out, pissing me off further. "Well, you do that sir, and have a pleasant evening."
I slammed the phone down back down in its cradle, shaking visibly in anger as I went around the corner to grab a quick sip of something to drink to hopefully calm myself down before my next checkin arrived.
"Another pissy person, Bella?" Alice chimed in from her perch on one of our back office chairs. She was in the middle of eating her dinner. Alice was my best friend, but sometimes her endless enthusiasm just ticked me off.
"Of course. Another Gold member wanting in on the 13th. He didn't like the fucking options I gave him. He fucking acted like I purposely was being a bitch by being almost sold out! The nerve of some of these fuckers! It just astounds me to what level these dickheads stoop to when they are trying to get around the upgrade policy." I slammed down my palms on the counter in the back, wincing slightly as my hands began to burn from the contact with the counter.
"Um, Bella…would you like me to watch the desk for a little while so that you can go smoke?" Alice stood up, straightening her uniform shirt. I met her eyes pleadingly, "Oh, would you?! That would be awesome! Thanks Ali!" I bounced over to her and gave her a few quick kisses on her cheeks. She rolled her eyes and went around the corner as we saw in the monitors that someone had just come in the front door.
I rifled through my purse until I found my cigarettes and lighter then ran out of the office. I braced myself as I hit the back door; it had been a really hot summer so far and today was one of the most unrelenting days I'd encountered so far. Without the heat index, the temperature was a staggering 103. I think the heat index took it up to something along the lines of 112. Fuck. Alabama in the summertime is ridiculous.
I own this horrible red truck that has no air conditioning. What in the hell was I thinking? Oh yeah, it was a free truck. My father bought it for me when I lost my mind and moved from Forks Washington to move to a place with more sun. He thought it would be appropriate to buy me a faded, rusted red pickup truck. How much more clichéd could I get? I'm living in a small town in Alabama and I drive a redneck pickup truck. Holy hell.
I opened my pack and grabbed out a cigarette hastily putting it in my lips. I flicked open my lighter and lit the end, breathing in deeply, feeling the smoke fill my lungs and instantly calming my nerves. I smoked that cigarette in what felt like record time, feeling almost like I had not smoked the first one.
I checked my watch. Dammit! I'd been out here for ten minutes; no doubt Alice would kick my ass for abandoning her for so long. I know that I'd be pissed if it were me. Plus, we had Mr. Masen coming in tonight.
I wondered silently as I walked back into my nightmare what his flavor would be tonight. For the past year, Mr. Masen has come in three days a week. Normally, I'd think that he was a business man, but if anyone only saw the women he brought with him, they'd know that it is nothing remotely like business that brings him here. He has never brought the same girl in twice, but one had made it into the papers.
Her name is Jessica Stanley, er, I mean was. Two days after she came in with Mr. Masen, she committed suicide. She came in, rented the same room that they had been in that night together. Lord, how our housekeepers raised almighty hell that she had gotten blood everywhere. We ended up having to hire a company called Aftermath; they specialize in crime scene cleanup. They got the blood out of everything. My manager Carlisle was pissed, we had to put that room out of order for a week. I talked to Carlisle about banning Mr. Masen from the hotel because he was undoubtedly the cause of her suicide. Carlisle wanted no such thing. Mr. Masen was one of our top guests; he never complained, never left the room a mess, and he poured thousands of dollars into our hotel so far.
I swear, money makes people stupid. We had a girl take her own life in a room and I can't refuse to check in the reason because he's filthy rich. What the hell kind of world do we live in? I sighed at the unfairness of the situation and keyed in my code for the lock on the office door. We each had our own security code. Once for clocking in, one for clocking out, one to get into the office, one to make keys and so on.
Alice was waiting patiently at the desk for me, checking her immaculate manicure. That's one thing I learned quickly about this type of job, we had to look perfect at all times. Perfect makeup, perfect nails, and perfect uniforms. Yuck. The only thing that I can honestly say about all of that is at least anything bought for the hotel's benefit was tax deductible. I was able to write off well over three thousand dollars worth of acrylic nails, hair products, shoes, socks and other unmentionables.
"Have a good break, dear?" Alice asked as she looked up from her nails. "I'm sorry Ali, time got away from me. I was wondering what flavor it would be tonight." I apologized smirking.
She rolled her eyes and smirked back at me, "I bet she's going to be a leggy blond that's dressed like a streetwalker." "What are we betting?" I asked, raising one eyebrow. "Loser has to buy lunch tomorrow." I felt an easy victory, "You're on. I'm thinking a redhead that is dressed tastefully tacky."
Alice looked at me with knowing eyes and said, "Okay, we will see."
A few hours, several checkins, and countless reservations later, we heard the door open. I was currently checking my email. I was really irritated, Jacob was emailing me again.
Jacob was a childhood friend in Forks. We had dated a few times; he was too intense for me as a boyfriend. He had to know exactly where I was going, who I was going to be with and what time I was planning on coming home. He would go berserk if I gave him any shit; a few times I had snapped at him about the interrogations that he would put me through and he had quickly put me in what he thought was my place. I had suffered many bruises, blood loss and even a few broken bones during the time we were together. I had lied to everyone about what had happened, especially my father. He was friends with Jacob's father Billy. Charlie would have gone apeshit if he had known that all the times he tsked at me for being so clumsy it was really the guy that he had pushed me into dating that had put me into the hospital on so many occasions. I'm certain that Charlie would have shot him. That wouldn't have done anyone any good.
When I was 17, I graduated high school and told Charlie that I couldn't take any more of the rain and I was moving south to the sun. He was so sad; he thought that there was more that he could have done to keep me there. Truthfully, Jake had just proposed to me and there was no way in hell that I was going to tie myself to that asshole for the rest of my life. When I told him that I'd have to think about it, he took his leather belt to my neck. When I regained consciousness, Charlie and Jake were leaning over me screaming for me to wake up. Jake had told Charlie that someone had attacked me, but he didn't get a good look at the guy. I never made it to the hospital that night. I stayed locked up in my room, doing research on the southern states all night long. Two days later, I was driving to my sweet home Alabama. The blue skies had been selling point for me.
I immediately came to the hotel to stay and found out that two of their desk clerks had just been taken by another company that used to do business at the hotel. I was hired on the spot and started the next day. I moved in with Alice and her girlfriend Rosalie. Alice had taken care of me those first few weeks, disguising the bruising around my neck with scarves and makeup. Rosalie immediately took to me too. She became the overprotective big sister I had never had. It took Alice threatening to leave her to get her to abandon her plans to take a quick trip to Forks and de-ball Jake with her sharp, blood-red fingernails.
I looked up from my email, still frowning at the situation with Jake and was face to face with the man that walked straight out of my wettest dreams. Mr. Masen. He was dressed in a button down dress shirt that was tucked into his slacks. Both the shirt and the slacks were form fitting, putting his defined muscles nicely on display. Upon finishing my inspection of his body, my eyes flitted to his emerald green eyes which were only about a foot and a half from mine.
SHIT!! When had he approached my computer? I continued to gawk at him openmouthed for only a few seconds longer when Alice kicked my leg and I pulled back the last shred of dignity that I had. His mouth was turned up into a sexy smirk and his eyes were crinkled at the corners from years of smiling.
God. I loved this man.
"Hello, Mr. Masen. How are you doing this evening?" I greeted him warmly. His smile got even wider and he leaned closer to me. My heart took to racing as he motioned to me with his finger to come closer. I leaned in as close as I dared without having to worry about molesting him over the counter. "Yes?" I asked him, my unsteady voice husky. "Bella, how many times do I need to tell you to call me Edward? Mr. Masen is my father. I'm Edward."
I leaned back a bit embarrassed. "And how many times do I need to tell you that I am unable to call you Edward? I value my job and cannot afford to get fired for fraternizing with the guests." I smiled apologetically at him.
From somewhere beside him, there came a huff of impatience. I finally noticed that he had indeed brought a woman in with him today, just like any other. I looked her over, dammit. Alice was right. Again.
She had to have been not a day older than 18 and had long blond hair and legs that went on for miles. Fuck!! I pondered where Ali was going to make me take her for lunch tomorrow.
I was quickly brought out of my thoughts by Mr. Masen waving his perfect fingers in front of my face. He was so close that I could smell his cologne. He was wearing some kind of Burberry. God, he smelled as good as he looked.
I cleared my throat quickly and held out my hand for his credit card. "I just need your method of payment, please." He took my hand and kissed the top of it, "I thought it was free today?"
As he spoke to me, he looked deep in my eyes, lulling me into a fog, "Um, okay…uh, I mean, sorry, that was yesterday. Haha." I tried to shake off the stupor that he had my brain stunned into. "Okay, fine," he said with a mock pout and dug for his wallet to get me his card. "Here it is." "Uh, thanks, I'll give it right back." I said trying to make it sound like I wasn't about to have a giggle fit. "If you want, you can keep it for a few days, I've got extras." He said, the lopsided smirk back in place on his face.
Jesus! He was sooooo beautiful!
"No, thank you." I said blushing fiercely, "There's no way you want me to keep it. I live with Alice and she has a shopping problem. No doubt she'd find it and go stupid at the nearest mall." I winked at Alice who was glaring at me. "I don't have a problem. I have no idea why you have such an issue with me spending my hard earned money however I want." Alice said sticking her tongue out at me.
I quickly swiped the card because the blond was now shooting daggers at me. Handing the card back with one hand, I clicked all the necessary buttons for his registration card to print and started to hand him the keys for his room. "Do you need me to explain how to get to your room?" I asked playfully, knowing damn well that he knew damn well where the room was. He leaned to me again and winked. He just fucking winked at me! "Don't explain it to me, show me where it is. I need an escort and I'd feel safer if it were you; Alice might hit me over the head and steal all of my cards." He took his keys and signed the paper, laughing at his joke.
The bleached blond next to him didn't find his humor amusing; she was shifting from high heeled foot to high heeled foot. "Come on baby, I want to go! I'm horney!" she all but screamed in the middle of the lobby. I blushed furiously at her public display. Even Mr. Masen was taken aback. The color stained his cheeks and his face was abruptly livid. "Pardon me ladies," he said to me and Alice, all the while grabbing the blond by her bicep and dragging her around the corner.
Hell, when that man was pissed, it was almost as scary as when Jake would get into his asshole moods. You could hear him the whole way at the front desk: "You listen to me, bitch…you are not paying for anything. You are here because I wanted you to be here. If you don't cool your fucking heels, I will send your ass back home in a cab that I will not pay for." She was indignant, "Then what are you gonna do then baby? You gonna stay down here and talk to her all night? You'd be mighty bored without me tonight." He growled at her, "Excuse me, but whores like you are a dime a dozen. I actually would prefer her company tonight versus yours. Get out. Call yourself a cab. We're done here."
He strode powerfully back to the desk and grinned at me. "So, my…uh…plans fell through for this evening. What are you doing this evening after you get off from here?"
I opened my mouth to answer him when the blond woman flew back around the corner and stuck her finger in his face, "Damn it, Edward, you are not going to just toss me to the side for this piece of trash. Just let's go to the room and talk about it. I'll make you forget all about this stupid cow." She sneered the last part of her tirade directly at me. I so badly wanted to jump over the counter and just give her a good old country ass whooping.
By mere threads, I held onto my composure. I picked up the phone and called down to the security office, "Emmett, I need you down here immediately. We have a problematic guest in the lobby that needs to be removed lest I put her in her place." On the other end of the phone, Emmett bellowed his booming laugh. "I'll be right there, Bella. Please hold your temper until I get there." Before I could respond to him, the line went dead in my ear. I counted to thirty before I heard a door bang open and Emmett came barreling into the lobby.
He looked Mr. Masen up and down, his hand twitching toward his gun. "Is there a problem, man?" Emmett asked him, leaning menacingly at him. "Wrong guest, Em." I interceded before Emmett could run him off. He turned his sights on the blond, "Oh, her? This is going to be too easy. Miss, I'm going to need you to come with me. You are being trespassed off of this property. If for any reason you step one fake Jimmy Choo on this land again, you will go to jail." She leaned back and hocked a huge spit wad at his face, "I know my rights moron, to trespass me, there has to be a cop here." She began struggling with Emmett as he wiped his face and removed his badge from his pocket. "Lucky for us, I am a cop. Now, not only are you being trespassed, you are going to jail for assault of an officer."
I stood rooted to the carpet in my heels. I couldn't say a word; I was petrified. I had never known any of our guests to go to jail. (And I've seen some really fucked up shit in my 2 years here.) "Alice, call Carlisle, he needs to know what's going on before he hears it on the police scanner." She didn't even respond, she went straight away to the side phone and dialed Carlisle's cell phone. I tried really hard to listen to what she was saying, but I felt the earth shift slightly.
I braced my hands on the desk and took a few steadying breaths, then a few more to purify myself of the anger that had been coursing through my body since I heard her call me a cow. I looked up to see where Emmett had taken her to, but they were both nowhere in sight. I sighed quietly and noticed that Mr. Masen was still standing there looking at me, running a hand through his copper locks.
I met his eyes before I started shaking, the anger coursing through me anew. How dare that bitch call me a cow!!! I would kick her ass now if she were still standing here. Like I expected, I felt the hot tears course down my cheeks. Alice picked that precise moment in time to get off the phone. She came over to me, and rubbed a soothing circle on my back. Edward met my eyes again and his face lit up in alarm. Running to the front desk he said, "Don't worry about her Bella, she's gone. She won't hurt you. I promise she won't lay a hand on you!"
I looked at him strangely for a moment before what he said actually made sense to me. I burst out laughing. "Ha-ha! You think I'm afraid?" I shook with more laughter as more tears fell from my eyes. "You are the most extraordinarily ridiculous man I've ever met! HA-HA!!" I had to bend over, placing my hands on my knees so that I could breathe because I was laughing so hard.
Mr. Masen snapped his attention to Alice's knowing face like he was worried about my sanity. I bet my hysterics were the cause of that. That made me laugh harder. At the worst, I found myself snorting like a pig. That is when Alice finally gave up on getting me under control and handed me the pack of cigarettes and shoved me towards the door telling Mr. Masen that I'd be back after I get my daily dose of nicotine.
As I walked out the office door, still chortling like a maniac, I was face to face with a very worried pair of emerald eyes. I looked at him questioningly and cocked my head to the side. "Do you think that I'd allow you to go outside alone? It's my fault that you feel like you need a cigarette anyways, it's the least that I can do."
I smiled at him and walked to the door to the back parking lot where they had a designated smoking area for the employees. He followed me and sat beside me on the bench. "Seriously, you don't need to be frightened of Gabby. She won't mess with you. I will make sure of that." He said looking deep into my eyes, trying to convey his dedication to keeping me safe, oh, if he only knew. I snorted again, laughing my ass off. When I finally caught my breath again, I looked back at him and said simply, "Mr. Masen, I'm not afraid of her. I'm afraid for her. If I see her skanky ass out on the street, I won't be able to help but kick her ass. No one calls me a cow and gets away with it. When I moved down here, I enrolled in some self defense classes; I'm pretty sure that no one would recognize her when I got through with her."
My anger was tangible as I said this. He looked at me for a moment then asked, "Why then were you crying?" "Oh, that." I replied, "If I get mad enough, I cry. If I get to the point of tears, I'm roughly about 2 minutes from blacking out. The last time I blacked out, I kicked the shit out of Emmett. That's why he was so quick to get her away from me."
He sat back on the bench and thought over what I had said and then leaned closer to me. My breathing quickened and my face started blushing. "Why on earth did you enroll in a self defense class when you moved to Alabama? You do understand that nothing much goes on here, right?" He asked the humor back on his face.
"Well, Mr. Masen, that's a long story. My last serious boyfriend put me in the hospital several times. Suffice to say, he didn't like a girl who talked back to him. I never defended myself, but I swear that no other man is going to do that to me again." I shook with the anger that the memory brought with it. He blew out a forceful breath and looked at me steadily in the eye. "It sounds like you need to find a guy that will treat you like you deserve to be treated. And seriously, please call me Edward." He batted his long black eyelashes at me and I was putty in his capable hands, "Okay, Edward."
"I know that this is awfully forward of me, but would you like to go out for drinks with me tonight? You can bring Alice and her boyfriend too if you'd like." He looked at me again and smiled that crooked smile at me. "I don't know, let me ask Alice and see what she and Rosalie have planned for tonight. Rosalie is Ali's girlfriend." I replied quietly, realizing that I had not even lit a cigarette. I quickly lit one and power puffed on it until it was gone. "Okay then, Bella, I'll come back down when you get off and find out if ya'll will be going with me. What time do you get off?"
I smiled at his southern drawl, "I leave at 10 tonight." "Okay. I'll be here." With that he stood up and left to his room.
I raced to the office to ask Alice, but was disappointed to see that she was bouncing in place, excitement written all over the place, "Rose and I have nothing to do tonight. We'd love to go with ya'll. I've already called her; she'll be here when we leave." "Well, okay then, it's settled. It looks like we are going for drinks with Edward tonight."
I couldn't tame my excitement as the time ticked by. When I finally got smart enough to stop watching the clock, it was instantly 9:50 and Lauren was here to relieve us. I went to the time clock room and punched in my code waiting for the telltale beep that the time clock gave when it successfully clocked it out.
I walked out of the room and bumped into Edward who had changed into another tight button down shirt and a pair of tight fitting jeans. My breath caught in my throat and I smiled.
"Alice already told me that we were going, I've met Rose. Are you ready?" He asked me and extended his arm.
I just knew that this was going to be a very interesting night.
AN: So…*flinches*…let me know what you think…hit the review button. Like I said earlier, this is just a random chapter 1 for this story; I will be doing this for all 3. Since songs kinda inspired the basics of these stories, each one will have a song title as the title of the story and each one will have the lyrics to the songs at the beginning, so that maybe you can piece together why each one inspired it. I know that I originally named this one What It Feels Like…For A Girl, but I figured that the proper name for it would be The Devil Wouldn't Recognize You. Sue me. XD
Kelly
PS – Reviewreviewreview…feed my addiction please!!!!
