Once again, I am not Stephenie Meyer, nor do I claim to be. All of the Twilight characters and such belong to her. I'm just giving them something different to do.

Rock and roll all night

I rushed back to the mic to inform the crowd that our performance was going to be cut short. I was so excited about the possibilities tonight held that I couldn't stop myself from shooting Bella a quick smile. Much to my surprise and pleasure, she returned it with a spectacular smile of her own.

I had high hopes for this evening, and all of them included Bella.

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EPOV:

We quickly got our equipment off stage and started packing it away. The sooner we took care of all this stuff, the sooner I could be with Bella again. Apparently Jasper and Emmett had thoughts similar to my own because they seemed to be in an uncharacteristic hurry.

"Hey, Larry!" Emmett yelled at a volume that only he could manage. "I need to ask you a favor, bro."

"Sure thing, Em. What is it?" Larry replied as he walked up to the side of the stage. I had met him a couple of times and he seemed like a nice enough guy.

"Do you think you could take this stuff back to our place? Our women look like they're in desperate need of some attention." Emmett responded, stealing glances at the tall blonde waiting for him in the audience. That had to be Rosalie; she fit all of his descriptions of her perfectly. Which meant the tiny annoying one was Jasper's Alice. As long as she didn't interrupt me again when I was having a moment with Bella, we would be fine.

"No problem. Jim and I will take care of this stuff. You guys get out of here," Larry insisted.

"Thanks, Larry. You're a lifesaver!" Emmett beamed, giving Larry a pat on the back that kinda looked like it would hurt.

Jasper and Emmett looked like two kids on Christmas morning as they looked back into the crowd at their awaiting girlfriends. I wanted to be able to look at Bella the way they looked at Alice and Rosalie. I wanted to have some claim to her. I wanted her to be mine.

Once we were sure the equipment was taken care of, we rushed out of the small club. The girls would take one cab and we would be taking another. Much to our disappointment, there were too many of us to all fit in the same one. Still, we were very eager to see them again and we gave our cab driver a generous tip in advance to get us to the dance club as soon as possible.

It was obvious that Jasper and Emmett were anxious to see their girlfriends, but what was Mike so excited about? The only girl left was… Bella.

My Bella.

Surely there was nothing going on between the two of them… Alice and Rosalie wouldn't be trying to set her up with me if she was already seeing someone… and surely Jasper and Emmett would know if she had an interest in Mike. I just had to hope that there was some other reason for Mike's excitement. None of the time I planned to spend with Bella included him.

Our cab driver kept his word and the normally 15 minute drive was cut down to a mere 9 minutes. Perfect, we had arrived there before Alice, Rosalie and Bella. I didn't want them to spend any unnecessary amount of time waiting for us. We waited outside the club for them to arrive. We wanted them to be able to find us easily (not to mention it was a lot easier to get inside with a group of beautiful ladies on your arm). We hadn't even been waiting there for 5 minutes when the girls hopped out of a cab in front of us. They looked almost as eager as I felt.

Bella looked even more gorgeous than she had earlier. How was that possible? I just stood there staring at her walking towards me as I felt Jasper and Emmett scurry past me into the club with their girlfriends. I was in awe. After a few moments of being locked in my gaze, she stopped walking and looked down. No! Why did she keep doing that? I needed to see her face! Before I could stop it from happening, my hand moved of its own volition and gently touched her chin to bring her face back up. Much better, I thought.

I just stood there losing myself in her eyes until I felt her shift her body into my side. I loved having her so close to me again, but despite myself, I looked around to see what could have caused this change. It didn't take long to see that this fucking prick, Mike, had put his hand on my Bella. I felt relieved for a millisecond that his touch was unwelcome, but that was quickly replaced by the seething hate I felt for him. I used the full power of my glare and he immediately removed his hand. I looked down at Bella to make sure she wasn't upset. My heart almost stopped when I saw her smiling up at me. I felt a smile of my own light up my entire face and I was rewarded by her leaning further into me.

Feeling much better, I led Bella into the club. Although I would have preferred his absence all together, I didn't give a shit whether Mike was following us or not. Bella was by my side and although we weren't touching, I could feel the warmth of her body beside mine. Luckily, I found a booth for us to sit in. I wanted to talk and get to know her, although the alternative of dancing with her hott little body close to mine wasn't at all disagreeable. In fact, my cock was getting hard just thinking about it.

I silently thanked God as I sat down at the booth, the table hiding my growing problem. Bella moved in next to me and that ever annoying Mike slid in after her. To my immense pleasure, Bella continued moving closer to me. I felt a wave of confidence rush through me at the thought of her wanting to be nearer to me and I allowed my arm to rest behind her shoulders. I hoped that the way my arm was protectively slung around Bella that Mike would take the hint that she was mine. She didn't flinch away from my proximity and I took that as a good sign. Maybe I was just imagining her being upset before… My thoughts were interrupted by my cell phone vibrating in my pocket.

"Shit! I'm sorry, that's my phone… "It's probably my sister, I forgot to call her." Tanya had made me promise to call her after the show to find out how it went. I guess I had forgotten to do so in my excitement of meeting Bella. I was now standing and I looked down at Bella, hoping that she could see the apology in my eyes. I was also not pleased at the prospect of leaving her here with Mike, no matter how shortly it may be. She gave me a little nod as if she understood. "This'll only take a few minutes," I assured her as I headed to the door. There was no way I would be able to talk on the phone over the music playing. The only good thing about being away from Bella was that now I could tell Tanya about her. She always had the best advice when it came to girls. I flipped open my phone once I was outside.

Tanya, my phone read. She was so predictable.

"Hey, sorry I forgot to call," I apologized into the receiver.

"That's ok, just tell me how it went," she asked regarding the show.

"Great, I guess… Do you remember that girl I told you the guys' girlfriends were trying to set me up with? Well, I met her and she's perfect."

"Eddie, that's wonderful!"

"Tanya…" I warned. She knew I've always hated that nickname.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself. I'm so excited for you!" she exclaimed so loudly that I had to hold the phone away from my ear.

"Thanks. Listen, I gotta get back to her soon. Any advice?" I asked, hoping to draw a little bit of wisdom from my older sister.

"Be yourself, silly!" Ugh.

"Ok, thanks. Gotta go." I said quickly.

"Love you!" she sang.

"Love you, too. Bye," I added as I closed my cell phone. Time to get back to Bella! I practically ran back to our booth, only to find that neither Bella nor Mike were there. Maybe they went to the bar to get a drink… She should have waited until I came back; I would have gladly gotten her anything she wanted. Just then I heard Bella's voice somewhere in the crowded dance floor. This time I found myself running for real when I heard what she was yelling.

"Let go!" I heard her cry over the loud music. I continued following her voice.

"Don't be like that, Bella. Let's dance," I heard a different voice say. I saw Mike pulling Bella roughly at the same time that I realized who had spoken.

"Stop it! I don't want to dance!" Bella yelled, trying to squirm her way out of his hands. He had better get those fucking hands off of her if he wanted to keep them attached to his wrists!

"What do you think you're doing?" I demanded, not bothering to disguise the fury in my voice.

"I'm dancing with Bella. What does it look like?" Mike had the audacity to respond.

"Quite frankly, it looks like she doesn't want to dance with you, Mike." I snapped at him. He was lucky that I hadn't snapped his scrawny little neck! Wisely, Mike released his grip on Bella and she walked over to me, almost standing behind me.

"Whatever," Mike retorted. Idiot. I followed him angrily with my eyes until he disappeared before turning to Bella. I gently placed my hands on her shoulders and looked at her to try and figure out what she was feeling. She looked relieved.

"Bella, are you okay?" I asked her, still extremely concerned that he had done something to hurt her.

"Yeah. I… I'm fine," she mumbled. I wanted nothing more than to hold her and keep her safe.

"Bella, I am so sorry. I should never have left you alone with that creep!" I apologized profusely. I was so stupid! I could have stopped Mike from laying a hand on her if only I had ignored that call!

"It's not your fault, Edward! I should be the one apologizing… you shouldn't have to keep saving me." How could she possibly think that!? Was that what she wanted? I should have to grovel at her feet and beg for her forgiveness for leaving her alone.

"But I want to," I told her sincerely. I wanted to be the only one to save her.

"Why? Don't get me wrong… I appreciate it, but no one else is here. I mean, you don't have to pretend to want to hang out with me anymore." She looked so remorseful as she spoke. Once again, she lowered her eyes. "I know they asked you to. They're intent on finding their homely friend a man. It's not fair for them to drag you into this…"

"You are utterly absurd!" I yelled at her, unable to hide my frustration. "I wanted to know you the moment I saw you at the club – before I had any idea that you were who the guys were trying to set me up with. I'm here with you because I want to be!" How could she possibly think that I needed to be forced to be in her presence? Was this why she was so sad earlier? It had to be. I almost laughed at the ludicrousness of it.

"Oh," Bella began. "I'm sorry, I just thought that…" before she could say something else that was completely ridiculous, I cut her off by pointing my finger at her. It was time for another gesture. Obviously, she still didn't understand how she affected me. Time to clarify.

"Bella, if I hear you put yourself down or apologize to me one more time, I'm going to have to punish you," I said, trying to make my face look serious, but I knew my eyes would betray my amusement.

"Is that a threat, Edward?" She asked, suddenly turning up the charm. Damn, she was sexy! Just the sound of her voice was making me hard again.

"No, Bella. That's a promise," I replied, smirking as I started to pull her into me.

Author's Note:

I've switched the order of Chapters 5+6 hoping that they would make more sense this way. I'm not sure why I had them ordered the way they were before. I'm only mentioning this in case someone noticed the change and wondered what the hell was going on.

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- Fairest of Them All