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Bella walked through her house, throwing her purse onto the coffee table in disgust. The job had gone as she had expected. Not only was he a lousy lay, but she'd had to force him to wear protection, citing that if he did not, she would leave and he would never get serviced by her work ever again. Yes she was clean and on the pill, but she knew the pill alone wasn't a 100% guarantee. She walked up to her bathroom, shedding her clothes as she did so and stepped into the shower, welcoming the heat that rained down on her body in the form of hot water. After a vigorous scrub down she got out, dried then donned sweats and a flannel. Feeling herself again, she walked into the kitchen and heated up a bowl of potato and leek soup whilst dialling her best friend and confidante, Alice Cullen, on her phone.

"Bella! Hi! Lemme guess, he had a massive ego, but forgot to mention he was only that great in his dreams?" Alice answered the phone in her typical fashion. No one knew how the littlest Cullen knew everything before you had said a peep, but no one ever bet against her.

"Good guess. Maybe I should've asked you before I got into the car," Bella sighed as she carried her hot meal to the table and sat, spooning some soup to her mouth.

"Just wait, it gets better, next time you see Jessica, ask her what she thinks. I'm not saying anything else on the matter. So change of subject, are you coming to the family dinner on Friday night? There is someone I want you to meet!" Alice gabbled this all out in her super fast and sometimes extremely unintelligible voice, causing Bella to groan.

"ALICE! Sloooow! Please? But yes I understood. I'll ask her, and do I have to? You know I'm done with dating, look what happened with Jacob!" Bella winced even as the name brought a rush of memory that she did not care to revisit.

"Pleaaase Bella? Emmett misses you heaps and Rose knows this person. He's her cousin and needs more friends as he's just moved here," Alice wheedled, playing on Bellas'ability to befriend people. Bella sighed and Alice squealed happily, causing Bella to pull the phone away in agony, shaking her head to clear the shriek bouncing around in her skull. That pixie needed a volume button. Or mute. Bella grinned and cautiously held the phone to her ear again.

"-and don't wear your hair up because it looks better down," had Alice been speaking the entire time?

"What? I heard nothing of that Ali! I was too busy getting my head to stop echoing," Bella cut in, spooning up another mouthful of soup.

"Bella!" Alice whined, "I said to wear the strapless green dress with the matching emeralds and those cute little black heels with the straps and to wear your hair down but make sure you curl it a little. Did you get all of that?"

"Yes Alice. What time?"

"Six thirty pm. Oh and bring that lovely chocolate coloured shawl. Well I gotta go, see you on Friday! Love you, bye!" she trilled and was gone.

Bella groaned and rested her head on the table. Today was Thursday, so the dinner was tomorrow. But knowing Alice, she only called Bella now so she had only a day to freak out. That woman was crafty.

Bella finished her soup, retrieved a frozen yoghurt from the freezer and curled up on the couch to catch her two favourite shows; her cat Speckles curling around her feet with a contented purr.

All too soon it was eleven pm and Bella was due into work at six am, so she got up, put her container I the bin and headed up to bed. She did her nightly bathroom routine, climbed into bed and switched off the light. As she drifted off, a last vague thought plagued her.

I wonder who this mystery man is?

The blare of the alarm woke Bella from her sleep, her chocolate gaze glaring at the offending object on her nightstand and smacking the button the silence it. She yawned and stretched, working out the kinks from being in one position for so long. Sitting up, she smiled ruefully at Speckles, who was asleep on his back, ears and tails twitching. Sliding out of the warmth her bed offered, she padded to her bathroom and took care of her morning routine, careful not to look in the mirror. Ever since her fiasco with Jacob, mirrors were now an intolerance to Bella, but instead of getting rid of them, she chose to ignore them. She didn't dwell on the matter, instead having her shower and getting changed into clothes for work. A pastel blue midriff baring top, accompanied by a short white skirt and dark blue kitten heels completed her look; her makeup soft and tastefully done, but enough to draw in customers.

Heading downstairs, Bella fixed herself a small fruit salad and bottle of Ice tea and set out food for Speckles. Grabbing her purse and car keys, she turned off all the lights, locked up and headed out to her car, a nice Mitsubishi Evo 8 in a metallic gun-metal grey. She reversed down her driveway and took off, her mind running through any regular Friday customers she had.

Oh god I have Mike Newton today. He seriously needs to stop trying so hard. I also have James, ugh, I need to cancel him one day, but the money he pays is fantastic! Then I have the two brothers Isaac and Fredrick and that actually gets kind of fun.

Bella realised she was almost at work and cut her musing short, her work only being a couple of blocks away. She pulled into the staff parking lot behind the building, got out and locked it up; loving her car too much to let it get stolen by some idiot with no brains.Bella walked through the back door entrance, sending out casual greetings to some of the girls in the break room.

"Hey Bells, heard you got Jessica's regular!" called out Irina, a tall leggy redhead with gorgeous features and a voice that made anyone melt, women included. Bella always reckoned if she wasn't straight, she'd love to try Irina, but then again, so did a lot of the girls that worked with them. And Irina knew it too.

"Yeah, and I don't know how she puts up with him. I was ready to say hell no and leave, but the coin was just too juicy to ignore," Bella grinned and headed down to see Edward, Alice's husband and owner of the establishment. He was a good boss, always looked after the girls, and had never asked of their services, even when he had been single. Bella and Edward had been friends for years, helping each other out in high school and Bella had introduced Edward to Alice. After that they had been inseparable, becoming engaged a year later and then married four months after that. Alice was even pregnant with a little girl and was due in two months time. Bella knocked on the door and entered when she heard Edwards assent.

"Bells! I've told you, you do not need to knock!" Edward said, rolling his eyes and putting down his paperwork. His messy bronze hair seemed more dishevelled than usual, like he had run his hands through it multiple time, and his green eyes looked a little baggy, but nothing loads of coffee and Alice wouldn't fix.

"Yeah yeah, but you are still my employer Eddie," Bella spoke, shrugging.

"You own half of this establishment!" he responded in astonishment.

"All those earnings go into the fund for my godchildren, you know that," she shot him a wry smile, referring to his awaiting daughter and also Rose and Emmett's twins; the sexes of them unknown.

"I still don't see why it can't be for when you have children, ours will be spoiled enough," he muttered. She shot him a dark look.

"We have been over this Edward, what man would want me? Who in their right mind would date a prostitute? Or have kids with one?" Bella spat, her tone one of disgust. Edward sighed but did not comment, not wanting to work her up even further.

"So was there a reason you came in Bells?" he asked blandly. She paused and flushed red.

"I actually can't remember," she mused," but if I remember I'll call you. If I don't see you during work, I'll see you tonight at dinner."

"Let me guess, Alice conned you," he snickered. She snorted.

"No! Well, yes, but I haven't seen the family in so long, so I might as well come," she admitted. He laughed and stood, stretching out his tall, broad body. If Bella hadn't always put him in 'best friend only' category, she knew she might have married him first instead of Alice. But he was too much like a friend and brother rolled into one.

"Well I have to get going. I actually have to interview some new girls today," he smiled, looking at her hopefully. He might be co-owner of the business, but he wasn't always happy that she had gone into this profession. He mentally scowled when he thought of some idiot draping himself all over his friend/sister.

"I'm so glad I'm not doing that, and no I will not quit" Bella grinned, "but please, I bloody beg of you, no more bitches like Lauren! Her and her mini posse are enough!"

"Hey, in my defence, she didn't seem that bad when I interviewed her back then. And you know I only ever use my upstairs brain for that type of task," he huffed, hoping at some point in the future he might get her to say yes to quitting.

"Too true. Obviously you used a lot of downstairs brain when it came to Alice!" she chuckled and hurried out the door before he could have the last word.