A/N: I do not own Twilight – just these crazy versions of Stephenie Meyer's characters that won't leave me alone!

Wow! Your reviews have been awesome, so yes, I'm going to continue. (I probably would have any way, but knowing there's support out there makes the decision a whole lot easier!)

Happy reading!

Chapter 1

"Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it," I chanted under my breath as I drove home.

The last thing I needed was another law suit. Three months earlier, a former male client had come into our offices while I was out. He had been angling for a date with the firm's receptionist the whole time we were working for him, but she wasn't interested. I walked in one day to find him holding her by the throat up against a wall. Without thinking I shouted some sort of insult at him. He dropped Kristen and turned on me. I didn't give him a chance to lay a finger on me – I had his arm twisted behind his back and inevitably broken before he could react.

Thanks to Rosalie and her expert bargaining skills we had managed to keep it out of court and out of the papers. Rose had made me promise to behave from then on in – I'd had three assault charges in the last twelve months and even though I had been found not guilty each time I just didn't need that kind of publicity.

I pulled into the driveway of my small home in Pasadena and hit the remote garage opener. After parking the Jeep I walked down and checked the mail, then headed back through the garage, closing the door before letting myself into the house.

I threw my keys onto the bench, bypassing the key rack that Alice had bought me for Christmas the year before. I pulled open the fridge and grabbed a beer, using the hem of my shirt to open it on my way to my back deck.

The house had been a bargain and the first thing I had done was install the small pool. Not really big enough to swim laps but still big enough to have a game of volleyball in, the blue water always calmed me down after a bad day.

I was still sitting on the pool chair, staring at the water and nursing my empty beer bottle when the doorbell rang, startling me. I headed back inside, dropping the bottle in the recycling on the way to the door where I found Rosalie in a pair of yoga pants and a tank top, holding a plastic bag full of what looked to be Thai food.

"I hear you had another run in with Jacob," she said, reaching out and giving me a one-armed hug before following me back to the kitchen.

"Bastard is lucky to still have his balls," I replied, making her laugh.

Alice arrived with two bottles of Pinot Grigio as Rose was serving up the food. I grabbed three wine glasses and Alice poured as I hooked up my iPod, sending Bon Jovi blaring through the house.

We ate outside, enjoying the warm breeze. After dinner and a wine refill, Rose asked the question. "So what happened?"

"Fucker cornered me in the parking garage, gutless shit was hiding behind a pole near the Jeep. I told him off, then felt bad, went to apologise, he slapped me so I kneed him in the balls and left him there to suffer," I summarised.

"Lawyer Rose for the last time tonight, I promise. Video footage?" she asked.

Alice answered. "Yes. I got it from security right after I called you – I have it inside."

"Excellent. Let the drinking begin!" Rose declared.

We each sat quietly, lost in our own thoughts for a while. I looked at my two best friends and wondered once again how the hell I was lucky enough to have them in my life.

I moved to LA just over two years ago and opened Swan Security, quickly hiring two high school friends, Mike Newton and Angela Weber. We ran the place on our own for the first couple of months and then decided we needed someone to answer the phones and keep the bills paid. We advertised in the newspaper and Alice applied. She was the perfect candidate – smart, organised and friendly, with the ability to be a hard-ass when it came down to it.

Alice and I became fast friends – she had only been in LA for a few months after moving from Biloxi. I met Rosalie one day when I was filing some forms at the court house, and it turned out she also knew Alice. The three of us had been practically inseparable since.

"Bella?" Alice asked, pulling me out of my reverie. "Why won't you take the Cullen job?"

Before I could answer, Rose jumped in. "Cullen? As in Edward Cullen? You've been approached by his people? That's awesome!"

I shook my head. "It's really not," I said coldly.

"What the fuck do you mean, 'it's not'?" Rose asked. "He's the biggest name in Hollywood right now – talk about great publicity for the firm!"

"He's also the biggest wanker in Hollywood right now Rose!" I exclaimed. "I'm not taking the job."

"Shouldn't that be up to the firm?" She looked confused, and I doubted it was from the wine.

"Not in this case," Alice interjected. "Normally security requests are decided by Bella, Ang and Mike. This one is all Bella's – they asked for her specifically."

There was a minute of silence before Alice said, "I know you have some kind of history with him Bella, and I know you said it's none of my business. But if you're going to turn this job down, I think Angela and Mike at least deserve to know why."

I took a deep breath and met her gaze across the table. "Edward Cullen and I went to school together from freshman year right through to graduation. His family was wealthy. Mine wasn't. Therefore I was fair game for him and all his snotty, good-looking friends."

"That's a cop out – high school was six years ago!" Alice said with a glare.

I stood up and cut her off as she went to speak. "If I'm going to give you the whole sordid story I need something stronger than beer. You guys want?"

They both agreed and I headed back inside, returning with three spirit glasses and a bottle of bourbon. Pouring three fingers into each glass I passed Alice and Rose a glass and then threw mine back in one go. I refilled my glass then settled back into my chair.

"Ok. So we went to school together. He was the golden boy of Forks. His dad was the town doctor, his mother was an architect. They're both really nice people, by the way – no idea how their son turned out to be the biggest fuckhead I've ever met. Anyway, as we all know, Edward is an only child, blah blah blah. When we were juniors he started modelling and all the girls started hanging off him. Even some of the female staff started giving him special treatment. I'll be the first to admit he was hot, but the arrogance that came with it turned me right off. He got his first bit part in a movie when we were seniors, and as soon as we graduated he moved out here." I paused and took a sip of my drink.

"Don't get mad, but that's not so bad," Alice commented.

I refilled my glass again and continued. "He might have been a tool but he was also pretty smart. The teachers couldn't split us and for the first and last time, Forks High had two valedictorians. We barely spoke two words to each other in four years and all of a sudden, we had to deliver the speech together. He came up to me in the hall and said, 'Write me some lines Swan, get them to me a week before and I won't embarrass you up there.' Cocky prick sauntered away without a backwards glance. So I wrote his lines, and mine, worked really hard. I gave him the speech exactly a week before graduation and nearly died when he said thank you. The day arrived and I went up to speak to him, just to make sure he was ready. Bastard wouldn't even look at me. So we get up there to deliver our speech, and I had given him the opening paragraph. Prick stood up there and read something completely different to what I had written, saying that we had agreed that he would speak on behalf of both of us. I stood there, smiling politely through the whole thing, even though he was going on with some crap about high school being like a movie and some other shit, then called him every name under the sun while he was posing for photos with his folks. Not my finest hour."

"What a jerk," Rose interjected as I paused to sip my drink again.

"He came over with that cocky smile plastered on his face and told me to watch my back, bad things happen to loud-mouthed bitches. So of course I gave him another mouthful. He came out here to LA and I joined the police force, just like my dad. I had no real desire to go to college – figured Forks was where I grew up and I wanted to make a difference. When dad was shot four years later I gave up on the idea of protecting everyone and decided the police force wasn't for me after all. I sold the house, and my car, and moved out here. I bought this place and did the security training, then advertised for qualified security officers. Noone was more surprised than I was when Ang and Mike applied – we all went to school together as well, even though Mike was a year younger."

"And now someone in Cullen's management have asked for you to guard him, and you don't know if you can do it without getting yourself sued…or killing him yourself," Alice concluded.

"Pretty much. Who's up for a swim?" I asked, trying to change the topic.

"You've had too much to drink to be getting in that pool," Rose advised. "Let's go inside and watch bad movies instead."

We spent the rest of the evening on my couch, watching Monty Python movies and eating ice cream. Well, Rose and Alice ate ice cream – I kept going with the bourbon. They ended up leaving around two and I dragged myself off to bed.

I woke as usual at seven the next morning and immediately regretted the half a bottle of bourbon I'd drowned my sorrows in the night before. I staggered from my bed to the kitchen where I pulled a bottle of water from the fridge and downed it in one go. I shuffled back to my bedroom and changed into sweatpants and an old t-shirt. My head started to pound as I laced up my runners but I forced myself to grab my iPod and house key and head outside.

I stretched in my small front yard for a few minutes before I loaded up my 'run' playlist and headed off on my usual thirty minute route. My head was feeling clearer as I ran back up my driveway and let myself inside. I took a quick shower then made myself a fruit salad with vanilla yoghurt for breakfast.

I spent the rest of the day doing laundry and generally cleaning the house, stopping for a chicken, cheese and avocado sandwich for lunch, and heading out for groceries in the afternoon. I made myself red pepper and pumpkin soup for dinner and headed to bed early with the new Peter Rathbone thriller.

Sunday I attacked my garden and started writing myself notes for my meeting with Angela and Mike the next day. Alice called at eight to remind me that I had a meeting with a potential new client the next day at 9am so I'd better not be late. I promised her I would be there on time and hung up.

Monday morning was pretty normal for me. I got up at seven, ran for half an hour, put the coffee on when I got home, showered and dressed, drank my coffee and ate some cereal, then headed to work. I arrived at the office at 8:30, said good morning to Kristen then headed for my office.

I opened the outer door and said good morning to Alice as I hung my leather jacket on the coat rack. She had a fresh bunch of flowers on the lamp table in the waiting area and the aroma was quite nice.

"Any messages from the weekend?" I asked as I grabbed an apple from her fruit basket.

"Nope – and I haven't been to check the mail yet. You have a meeting with Tanya Archer's people at nine, don't know if she'll grace us with her presence or not, then the board meeting at ten thirty, then the meeting with Mike and Angela at eleven thirty," she replied, checking my schedule.

"Thanks Alice. Buzz me when Tanya's people arrive," I said, walking into my office and closing the door.

I smiled when I sat behind my desk. Alice had placed my diary in the centre of my desk, open to today, with my appointments written in pencil, just in case they changed. I knew she would update it again at lunch but the afternoon was looking pretty free at this point. Under my diary was the file we had created after being approached to take on Tanya Archer. She was blonde, gorgeous and suddenly too popular for her own good.

Her people had approached us two weeks earlier after a male fan broke into Tanya's dressing room. Thankfully she wasn't there, but they wanted a permanent escort for her for the next month whenever she was going to be filming. My job this morning was to talk with her management, work out a schedule and agree on a fee. I would then present their requirements at the board meeting and someone would be assigned to the case.

Alice buzzed me five minutes before nine o'clock. "Yes?" I asked. We might be friends, but at work it was all professional.

"Ms Swan, Ms Archer's representatives are here to meet with you," Alice's voice came over the intercom.

"Thank you Ms Brandon. Please send them in."

I closed my diary and moved it to the side of my desk, opening the file and standing as Alice opened the door and ushered the man and woman inside. I introduced myself and Alice offered tea, coffee, and finally water. They declined all three.

I spent the next forty minutes with them and came to the agreement that our firm would provide on-set security only, Monday to Saturday for the next four weeks. "In closing, we will not be responsible for Ms Archer's well-being during her travel to and from filming locations or during any press interviews which take place outside our agreed hours of protection," I finished.

They agreed and signed the interim agreement, which more or less seals the deal. "I'll take this to the board today and someone will get back to you before close of business tomorrow," I informed them. "We will need to see you again to sign the final contract, which Ms Archer will also be required to sign."

They left soon after and I gathered my notes for the board meeting. The board consisted of myself, Angela, Mike and Tyler Crowley, our in-house accountant. He kept tabs on what other private security firms were charging and also how much business they were doing. The Archer account was the only item of business and we allocated the protection detail to Jane Caius, one of our more experienced staff.

After the meeting I passed the information along to Kristen, who I knew would make a copy for Jane and then contact Tanya's people to make a time for the final sign-off.

Alice wasn't at her desk when I made it back to my office so I answered my own phone when it rang.

"Swan Security, Isabella speaking."

"Ms Swan, this is Jackson Reed, Edward Cullen's manager. How are you?" The voice was deep and I knew the guy it belonged to didn't mess around.

"Fine thank you Mr Reed, and yourself?" I might have already decided not to take the Cullen job, but this guy was a big name in Hollywood – manners meant everything.

"Well, thank you for asking. I understand your secretary passed along our request to you on Friday?" he asked.

Shit, I thought. "That's correct. I had a rather full schedule Friday afternoon and have been in meetings all morning, my apologies for not getting back to you. I still need to discuss your proposal with my colleagues, as I'm sure Ms Brandon told you on Friday."

"Ms Swan, let me cut to the chase," he said. "We know that you're busy, but we also know that you're possibly the best in the business right now. You don't let rules and regulations get in the way of protecting people – your recent court history proves it. Mr Cullen is big right now, and we want only the best to be responsible for his welfare when he travels next month. We. Want. You."

I sat and let his words wash over me. "Let me get this straight," I said slowly. "You want me to protect the biggest male star in Hollywood at the moment because I have a no-holds-barred reputation?"

"More or less," Reed replied, the smile evident in his voice. "The added bonus is that your firm is small so if details of Mr Cullen's whereabouts get out, there are only a few people there and a few people here that could be the leak."

I couldn't believe that I was starting to consider taking the job. "I appreciate your call Mr Reed, and your evident faith in my abilities, but I do still need to discuss this with my colleagues. I have a meeting scheduled with them this morning, so I will have an answer for you this afternoon. Is that acceptable?"

"That would be fine Ms Swan. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you this afternoon."

After we hung up I sat in my chair, slightly dazed, until Alice knocked on my door. "You right to go?" she asked, poking her head in.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a sec," I said, still shaking my head at myself. I gathered up my diary and a pen and printed off the email Alice had forwarded me from Reed Management on Friday.

Angela and Mike were waiting for me in the small conference room between their offices. "Sorry I'm late," I apologised as I closed the door and took the seat opposite them.

"So what's this about?" Mike asked. "Alice just said it was about a potential new client."

I nodded, pulling the email from my diary. "I've been approached by Reed Management. They want to hire me for a month to provide round-the-clock security for Edward Cullen."

"You specifically, or the firm?" Angela asked. Specific requests weren't unheard of, but they were rare.

I grimaced, "Me specifically. It seems my 'reputation' precedes me."

"Are you going to take it?" Mike sounded excited.

"I'm still not sure," I said slowly. "Friday afternoon I was dead against it – Cullen's a massive tool and I don't want the firm to get caught up in all his bad press."

"Drugs and sleeping around?" Angela guessed.

I nodded. "I know it's a great opportunity for the firm, great exposure and all that, but I don't know if he's the sort of person I want us to be seen to be working for."

The three of us were silent for a few minutes. "I have a suggestion," Mike piped up. "You know how Rosalie helped us draft the standard agreement?"

Angela and I nodded.

"Well, how about you go back to Reed and ask for the exact information – how long you'll be protecting him, whatever the other arrangements will be, then ask Rosalie to draft a specialised agreement, specific to this job?" he suggested.

I had to admit, his idea had merit. "We could work something in about if he gets caught with drugs, or with his pants down, that our agreement is immediately terminated but any outstanding fees are still to be paid."

Angela was nodding. "Would you like me to call Rosalie?"

I shook my head. Rose was going to flip when she found out. "I'll have Alice call her after we have all the information."

We left the conference room with a set plan on the table. I took a detour down three flights to the coffee cart on the floor where the building's cafeteria was. I ordered a full cream flat white with a shot of hazelnut for myself, and a skinny caramel latte for Alice.

I walked back into the office a few minutes later and placed it on her desk, earning me the raised eyebrow. "What gives?"

"Five minutes. I need five minutes then I need you to come in and see me – I need you to get some information for me." I left her hanging and walked into my office, closing the door behind me and sinking into my chair.

I can't believe I'm fucking doing this…I must be out of my fucking mind, I told myself. My head was still in my hands five minutes later when Alice knocked on the door.

"Come in," I mumbled, sitting up straight and drinking half my coffee in one mouthful.

Alice placed her cup on the desk then sat primly in one of the visitor's chairs opposite me, eyebrow raised expectantly.

"The Cullen proposal," I finally said.

The eyebrow got higher.

"I'm going to take it, with a few conditions. I need you to go back to Jackson Reed and get all the details – when, where, exactly what I'll be responsible for. Try and get it from him before the end of today. Once we've got it, I need to retain Rosalie to write a non-standard agreement – I want to make sure I protect myself and the firm."

Alice nodded. "Contact Reed, get the information. Call Rosalie, retain her, set up a meeting."

"Thanks Alice. And please don't tell her why we need her – I'll save that for the meeting. If she's available, I'd like to make it first thing tomorrow morning so I don't have time to change my mind." I was already doubting my decision.

"Coffee and pastries?" she suggested.

"Sounds nice – I'd like you to join us to take notes. But for now, I'm going to hit the gym," I said, standing and effectively ending our conversation.

"See you in an hour," Alice called after me as I left the outer office, gym bag in tow.

It wasn't until I was on the Stairmaster twenty minutes later that I considered my decision again.

What the fuck am I doing?