A/N: hi everyone! ok i just want to say a thank you to those of you who read my story, i got no review though:(, but its okay cause we'll work on that over time. okay so we're meeting edward in this chapter, are you all excited :) anyway can i just say a special thank you to lennyrox and Twilightaholic1122 for adding me to their favorites list and also to Nobody42 and catthomas32 for putting my story on alert. you guys were the first! hopefully there will be alot more people adding this story as it progresses, im havin a ball writing it!

Disclaimer: i dont own twilight, only stephanie meyer has that devine privalidge. well thats all i have left to say for now so... on with the story!

CHAPTER 2- Bunny on Crack

As I stared at the file in front of me I tried to recall the exact moment where all my morals decided to fly out the fucking window. James Lawrence. He had gone a bit unstable after is wife Victoria was killed in a car accident. Victoria's sister Bree claims that the night before the accident Victoria called her in floods of tears because James had lost his temper and thrown her around a bit. Okay, he had thrown her around A LOT.

When Victoria Lawrence's car was found it held a lot of personal items, such as clothes, pictures etc. along with her battered and bruised body. Her injuries were extremely severe and unfortunately she died on the ride to the hospital. When she was brought in they ran some tests on her body and there were quite a few injuries that she seemed to have acquired previous to the accident. And her medical file was practically over-flowing. She was brought in unconscious with multiple broken bones after a supposed 'fall down the stairs', a fractured arm due to yet another 'fall' just two months on, a severe concussion because she 'tripped in the shower' and the list goes on an on and on…

After Mrs. Lawrence's death there were enquiries made as to why she was in that state the night of her death, but any friends and family who were questioned said that they were the perfect couple, always smiling, laughing…oh and Mrs. Lawrence's sister who had placed the claim of her siblings abuse was suddenly called out of town for an emergency.

There was a half assed investigation at best. It seemed Mr. Lawrence's family had a lot of money and connections so funnily enough all suspicions were dropped and the bastard was left to grieve his poor wife.

About six months after the funeral James was involved in a major drug bust and once again daddy dearest's wallet came to the rescue. Woo hoo.

He was arrested for drunk driving, assault on an officer, indecent exposure, fighting, drugs and a few more things within the next year. Once again, daddy the rescue.

He quietened down a bit after that, or at least he hasn't gotten caught anyway,(but I seriously doubt that he stopped completely) and the police hadn't seen nor heard of him in about a year and a ½ until they got the phone call from a frantic teenager to report an attack. Apparently Jamsey boy didn't specialise in subtlety. A very worried Seth Clearwater called the station where his dad worked to report a gunfire over at the Swan place. They sent over a unit immediately along with an ambulance. Seth was told to stay in the house but it looks like the kid doesn't like to be left out of the action. He went over to check it out before the police got there and thank god he doesn't like doing what he's told because he saved the young victim Isabella swan from a lot more trauma than she's already been dealt with.

According to his statement when Seth went over to the house the door was wide open and Renée Swan was lying on the floor surrounded by a pool of her own blood and her daughter, Isabella Swan was on the floor, looking rather beat up, with her pants down past her knees and blood pouring out of her left thigh, with that ass-wipe lying on top of her. Disgusting.

Seth, acting purely on adrenaline and impulse, proceeded to rip Mr. Lawrence off of the young woman and pound his fist repeatedly into his face. That was the point that the ambulance showed up. They went straight for Renée but a quick check for her pulse confirmed that it was too lat for her and they moved in to try and help her daughter. She was extremely lucky to get away with her life but was really banged up afterwards. No permanent damage as far as I know -not physically anyway- but she did have a broken wrist, ankle and nose, dislocated jaw, concussion and a really nasty wound on her leg.

But why would Mr. Lawrence break into a random house, kill a woman, severely injure and try to rape her daughter? What brought it on? Well it seems ms. Swan and the psycho have a bit of a history. Going off the police report they went on a few dates and she ended it because she didn't like to be controlled, basically. He invited her over for dinner as an apology for his behaviour and it didn't end well.

Well, he definitely knows how to hold a grudge I'll give the fucker that much anyway.

But the problem is that I have to defend this sicko in a court of law. Awesome. Lets just have a quick little re-cap on how the fuck this happened…

YESTERDAY MORNING:

"Cullen?" my boss, Mr. Masen called as he stepped into my tiny ass cubicle.

Ugh, I hate this whole 'work your way up' thing.

"yes sir?" I said in my best 'I'll-do-whatever-you-want-just-please-don't-fire-me' voice. I didn't think I had done anything wrong but this is masens law firm, the most pretentious law firm in America, and everyone has heard the rumours about what happens if you even remotely piss off the boss. In fact, about ¾ of the staff at this law firm are complete kiss asses.

Unfortunately, I'm probably going to be one o those kiss asses at some point. Of course I really don't need to even work if I don't want to. My fathers a multimillionaire. When he and my mother were young an me and my sister were just tots they had a lucky spin at the lottery. They paid of the rest of there mortgage and bought a car with the winnings and the rest all went into investments. Turns out the old man had a good eye with all that kind of stuff. Most of his investments turned out to be golden and years later he had made quite a little fortune for himself but he didn't stop there. No, he kept up all of his investments and his job as a social worker.

So we were all definitely well off, plus he and my mother were never really big spenders either, so it just keeps piling up. The only things they've splurged on have been mine and Alice's college education and a new house. I men don't get m wrong they definitely don't go without anything they want, they just don't have a need to dive into that money to much. Dad makes a good bit as a social worker and mums made quite a name for herself as an interior designer, plus she comes from a wealthy family anyway.

So yeah, we definitely never had any money problems but that doesn't mean we were spoiled. Me and my sister had to work for it if we wanted something. My Aston for example, they said I could get a car for my graduation present if I had good grades. When my report card came through with all A's dad took me down to the dealership and told me t pick whatever I wanted, and yeah ok an Aston martin for a graduation present is a bit extravagant, but my car before that was an old banger that I had worked hours in McDonalds to get. Plus my grades were PERFECT so I think a little spoiling on that

particular occasion was okay.

On my 21st birthday, I swear I thought I was going to faint. That was the year I got access to my trust fund and I know my family's rich but even I didn't thin we were THAT well off.

I bought an apartment with that money and made a few investments myself -which seem to be taking off quite nicely now- and haven't looked at the money since. There's defiantly enough there for me to live off, very comfortably, for the rest of my life, but that's not what I want. I want to achieve stuff in life, like my father did. I want to work at a job I love and help people. That's why I became a lawyer. I liked the idea of helping justice prevail and putting the bad guys away. And I don't think I've lost an argument with anyone other that my mother and sister since I was about eight. So it seemed like a good career to choose. Oh, how my tune was going to change in about 5 minutes…..

"I'm giving you the Lawrence case" my ancient boss said gruffly, the tone of his voice leaving no room for argument. Not that I would want to argue anyway, I mean, I got my first case! I was about to jump up and do a happy dance when he continued " it's a pretty big case to assign a rookie but you'll never learn anything if everyone baby's you through life. Here, I want you to read these files. Learn them word for word, inside out and cover to cover. You'll be meeting Mr. Lawrence next Wednesday at st. Stephens. Good luck." and then he was gone.

I sat stock still in sock, for about five minutes before I made a move to look at the file.

St. Stephens? isn't that the prison outside Seattle?

I instantly felt sick after just seeing his picture. I saw this story on the news a few weeks ago. What happened to that girl and her poor mother was wrong and never should have happened. I remember there being an interview done by the girls brother because she was in too bad a shape to do it herself. My heart went out to that family, they didn't deserve that. And now I was going against everything I believed in and was defending a murderer.

don't get me wrong, when I decided to become a lawyer I had hoped I would get cases like this. I just thought I would be defending the other party. And now I'm defending a murderer.

God it doesn't matter how many times I say that it still feels really wrong.

Okay, that's it.

My mind made up I walked determinedly to Mr. Masen's office and knocked on the door. A breathless 'one minute, please' was called and then a very rumpled looking Jessica-mr. Masen's personal assistant-waltzed out the door and over to her desk. I shivered in disgust as my mind connected the dots and I realized what I must have interrupted.

Lets hope they finished or the boss man is goin to be extra pissed with you.

With a sense of dread I knocked-once again on mr. masens office door.

"come in" he said in his usual gruff tone. And if it were possible he sounded more pissed than usual.

See you on the other side dude.

Fuck off!

Ok seriously, I really gotta stop talking to myself, cause if I go crazy I'll be surrounded by shrinks. Oohh, the horror!

"sir, I'd like to discuss the Lawrence case." I said with as much confidence as I could muster. Thankfully, I sounded braver than I felt.

Please, for the love of god, let me have a job after this!

"what is there left to discuss, Cullen? All you need to know is in those files." oh shit, he's pissed. Why couldn't I have just decided to come in here just an hour later?

Because your retarded, that's why.

Thanks for the insight. Prick.

I really need to stop talking to myself, I thought as I tried not to picture the worst case scenario ending to this confrontation.

"sir, with all due respect, I'm not sure this case is for me." I held my breathe as I anxiously awaited his response.

"what?" he asked as his head snapped in my direction so fast I thought he definitely was going to get whiplash. I went to repeat myself but he stopped me. "I heard what you said Cullen. What I'm wondering is how fucked up you are in the head to think that you get a say in these things." I went to interrupt him but I was once again cut off. "you know I took a chance on you kid. I mean you're like, what, 26? Fresh out of school and inexperienced. But I liked you and your grades and the recommendations from your professors were excellent. Do you know how many rookies I've given a case like this too? None. Now you have a choice to make. Now, would you like to explain to me why you think that you can just decide to turn away a case like this?"

"um…I j-just don't f-feel comfortable defending someone like Mr. Lawrence." I hated the way my voice shook and stuttered while talking to this prick. I never admired him, I'm only here to build a name for myself and to learn the ropes so I can eventually start my own firm. I really wish I could just skip that part and get to the end though. I really hate working for people like this fucker.

"you don't feel comfortable? aww the poor baby." he mocked and it took all my control not to just deck him. "let me narrow this down for you sunshine. You don't get a say. Your just starting at a major law firm, just out of school. You either take whatever case your given and be grateful or you look for work somewhere else. So, the real question is, do you want this job?"

I really, really wanted to just say a big, FUCK NO, but I knew I needed this job. No one else will take me on if I was fired from the most pretentious law firm in America. Masen has enough connections to ensure that much. Fucker. Okay, I thought, I can do this. I mean its only one case. A major one but maybe next time he'll take some sympathy and give me a case I'm more comfortable with. Yeah, I'm so fucked.

"yes sir" I sighed, resigned. I swear to fuck, one year and I'm out of this place. That should give me enough experience to make a start on my firm. Well probably not but I'll hire help or start with a more experienced partner or something like that, but am I fuck staying here any longer than a year. No fucking way.

"Good. Well then, don't let me hear anything more shit from you and do a good job on this case, or else." I really don't like this guy. "you can go now." he said in a submissive tone.

x*x*x*x*x

When I went home that night and allowed myself to analyze the situation. Okay, so I'm defending a psycho who beat his wife, beat and attempted to rape his ex right after he had just shot said ex's innocent mother in the heart and oh yeah, he used to be a crack-head and most likely still is. Fuck, if I at least thought he was innocent I would have been able to do this case with a clear conscious.

I sighed as I stood to let my yorkie, Alfie, out to do his business. He literally bounced to the door and then looked at me expectantly, almost as if he was trying to tell me to hurry the fuck up. I walked over to open the door and the door wasn't even fully open before he he'd ran through my legs and onto the street faster than lightening. He looked like a bunny on crack the way he was bouncing.

"Shit" I muttered as I ran after my demented, doped up looking bunny/dog, calling his name. I'm sure I looked pretty stupid chasing a dog the size of my fist in an Armani suit.

Fortunately for me, it was after 12 o'clock so the street was pretty much dead and I found Alfie digging around in the neighbours garden. I wasted no time in scooping him up and sprinting back to the house. As soon as we got in Alfie ran straight for his cosy little bed by the fire and made himself comfortable as if he hadn't just made me chase him for 15 minutes. mutt.

I smiled as I remembered how I came to have the fluff ball. I found him as I was walking by an alley one day and this homeless person came up to me and tried to take my jacket. He was feeble and weak so I could have easily brushed him off, but before I had a chance to do anything the homeless dude had a little ball of fluff attached to his ankle and he had fallen to the ground. Fluffy was now standing beside me growling as the homeless man ran down the alley. I stood in shock for a second before I picked the little guy up and he immediately started licking my face. I knew then that he was made for me. Okay that sounded really girly, but its true. besides, there's no harm in having a guard dog around.

I snorted at that. Alfie was great at barking and pretending he was all that but as I soon came to realise the spat with the homeless person was enough action for the fluff ball. He went crazy yesterday morning when he seen the neighbours cat but almost had an aneurism when it started to advance on him and was hiding safely behind my legs in a matter of seconds.

My phone beeped with a text message and I immediately knew it was Jasper. He's the only one who ever calls or texts this late. that's why my phone is usually on silent when im in bed.

Haven't seen you in ages. Come to Doyle's for drinks tomorrow night. 9 o'clock sharp. By the way, that was an order not a request.-J

I smiled as I read the message. Jaz always demanded or 'ordered'. he never asked, I don't know why but he's always been like that. He is also a grammar freak. Ever since it first came out Jaz has always had an aversion to text talk. I think he's the only one I know who looks out for grammatical errors in a text. He's weird like that, he didn't even like English in school…..

I snickered as I remembered the time he had made his distaste for the subject known when the teacher gave him a weeks worth of detention for passing notes to his at the time girlfriend and then proceeded to read them out loud. And let me tell you I learned more stuff in that class about jasper than I ever wanted to know. At one point I actually thought I was going to puke but by some miracle I actually managed to keep it down. Jaz was so pissed off he stood up in the middle of class and told the teacher that 'English was a useless fucking subject and he should go fuck himself.'

I yawned and by default interrupted my thoughts. I started turning all the lights off and set my alarm for 6:30. I trudged my way up the stairs, with Alfie hot on my tail and then proceeded to do my nightly routine while Alfie got comfortable at the foot of my bed. When I was finished I practically fell into bed, the stress of the day catching up with me and drifted off into a sleep filled with fluff balls eating off Mr. Masen's limbs.

A/N: so how was it? please leave me a review as i would love to hear what you think of the story and the next chapter should be up in about a week.

RECOMENDATIONS: ok so you guys should definetly check out

*This Is Not My Life by isakassees

*Like a Moth to a Flame by CitizenCullen25

*A Rough Start by ItzMegan73

Talk to y'all again when chapter 3 is finished, and remember reviews buy you a chocolate covered edward;)

lau x