You watch as a slight young woman crosses the stage and adjusts the microphone stand for her height. She taps the mic lightly a couple of times to test that it's working. She pauses a moment and clears her throat before beginning to speak.
"Hello, my name is Alice Brandon. I'm here to make a statement on behalf of Cats77."
Alice pulls a napkin out of her pocket and turns her head to the side of the stage. Even though she lowers her voice to a whisper you can still hear part of the one sided argument.
"A napkin? Really? Couldn't you at least get a piece of paper from the printer? Yeah yeah yeah…I'm doing it.
Alice clears her throat and begins again.
"On behalf of the author of this fic, I would like to apologize for the delay in updating with chapter nine. Unforeseen circumstances lead to a hiccup in the schedule and…"
Alice stops mid sentence and her face contorts with disgust and turns to the side again. "This is so uptight, you don't talk like this." She flips the napkin over and shakes her head, turning back in your direction, she continues to speak. "Look, what she wrote, it's horrible. I think she must be nervous or something. I'll tell you what happened in my own words. She got writers block and then one of her Betas got a serious case of the real life blues – get well soon, by the way! – by the time emails were swapped and a back up beta was contacted the update was extremely late. Not to mention the fact that the betas had their work cut out for them. Even with the writer's block, this is the second longest chapter of the story so far."
Alice shoots an evil grin to her left side, presumably to the unseen person she was arguing with before. She removes the mic from the stand and moves to the edge of the stage where she sits down.
"Now this is where I come into the story. See, Cats thought you all might not take the late update so well. Her brilliant plan was to bribe me to come out and talk to you because she thought you might be a little less likely to hurt me. Personally I would have enjoyed seeing her sweat it out, but apparently her original story outline has me waiting until chapter seventeen to get my hands on Jasper. Seventeen.
"Well that was obviously unacceptable, but you know how authors can be. Once they have a plan they dig their heels in. This was the only way I could speed up my timeline a little. She wouldn't budge for poor Bella though. Mind you Bella does have a lot to work through, what with…"
"ALICE!" a voice yells from out of sight.
"Oh right, giving things away. Sorry, I didn't mean to be a tease. Anyway…so I'm told a lot of you liked how I handled the skank squad – aka Lauren and Jessica. I'm actually not proud of losing my cool, but I'm hopeful that they're history now since they seem to be leaving us alone."
"So, this chapter finds Bella and me at an outdoor festival in Texas. Bella is freaking out over her little rendezvous with Edward, of course. That girl over thinks things too much I tell you. Don't worry though, I'll keep her on track. It's part of my sisterly duty."
"Let them read it for themselves. Say goodbye, Alice," the unseen voice says again.
"Wasn't the whole plan for me to come out and talk so you wouldn't have to, Cats? I swear, some people. Anyway, Cats assures me that chapter ten is written and being looked over by her beloved Betas at this very moment and she will post it the second it comes back to make up for her tardiness. Oh and don't hate her please. There, that should fulfill my contract to get me some Jasper lovin' sooner.
"Goodbye, everyone, enjoy the story. I have a tall, blond, devastatingly handsome man with an awesome ass to stalk."
"Oops, almost forgot the important stuff! Cats77 doesn't not own Twilight or any of the characters. She's responsible only for the plotline in this story. She would also like to thank LuluM, SandandSirens, VotreAmant and her twilighted Vbeta, aresoldoc."
Alice hops up and waves as she exits the stage.
-==\\/==-
Chapter Nine
Old Friends
"Oh, look! Deep fried chocolate bars!"
I rolled my eyes and followed Alice to the food stand. "Alice, you're probably not even a hundred pounds soaking wet. Where are you going to put all this food?"
She handed over the funnel cake she was working on and fished out some money for a deep fried snickers bar. Over the last twenty minutes, I had watched her order an alarming amount of food as we explored the vendors looking for lunch. I stuck with the fairly tame fried chicken and old fashioned lemonade. Alice had insisting on trying everything new that she could sink her teeth into. Considering we were currently at one of the largest festivals in Texas, that was a lot of food.
We found a picnic table and finally settled in to eat. I watched with fascination as Alice arranged the dishes around her in order of consumption. Apparently, the fried snickers bar was an appetizer, while the pulled pork sandwich and deep fried corn constituted the main course. She was saving the deep fried Oreos for dessert.
I shuddered and picked at my chicken while scanning the crowd around us. I had managed to avoid Edward since my indiscretion at the hotel the night before last. We packed up and left for Texas early yesterday morning and the band had press lined up for a good portion of the day today. It wasn't a good long term strategy, but for now, it was working.
"You can't avoid him forever you know."
"What? I-I have no idea what you're talking about!" I stuttered. It was horribly unconvincing, even by my standards.
Alice looked at me over her corn cob with a raised eyebrow that clearly said she agreed with my assessment.
"I just don't know what I'm going to say to him. I threw myself at him…God, he must think I'm some kind of-" I hesitated and searched for the words that were vile enough.
"Human female who was drunk off her ass and finds him fuck-hot? Yes, I can see how you'd think he would be horrified by you. His ego must already lie in ruins."
I blushed and returned to picking at my chicken. "Do you know how many women fall all over themselves to paw at him every day? How can I even hope to make an impression when that's my competition? And let's not forget his hook-ups."
"Bella, if you start putting yourself down again, I will come over there and throttle you. I'm not sure how successful I'll be with all this grease on my hands, but I'll give it a damn good try. As for your competition and his hook-ups, are you blind?"
I did my best owl impression by blinking at her blankly. She shook her head and sighed.
"Have you seen him with anyone in the last two months? Edward hasn't given anything female the time of day. Your little groping session is probably the most action he's seen since before Denver. Besides, as I said to you yesterday morning, he was definitely into it. Apparently, I also need to remind you that while you were drunk, he was more or less sober. He knew what he was getting into, and he enjoyed it. Think about that while you're running all over the place trying to avoid him."
She was smug, but as usual she was right, and she knew it.
"Oh my god! You have to try this." She handed me a fork full of fried batter, whipped cream and dark syrup.
There didn't look to be any questionable meat involved, so I tried the mystery food. It was bizarre, but good.
"What the hell is it?"
"Fried Coca-Cola."
"Putting aside the fact that someone actually came up with that idea…how on earth do you deep-fry a beverage?"
"They make a batter with it, I think. And the sauce is the syrup they use to make the soda."
"I'm equally distressed by the food here and how much you know about it, Alice."
She beamed at me proudly.
"Holy Shit! Alice, Bella, is that you?"
We both turned to see a blur of a person running towards us and attaching himself to Alice. It only took us a second to recognize him.
"Riley! Holy crap, I didn't even know you guys were playing here. You're not on the roster," I said once he had released me from a rib splitting hug.
"We were a last minute addition to the line-up. Someone dropped out and we were in the area, so we landed the gig."
Riley was the singer for a band called The Newborns. We worked with them a few times over the years, and they were all good friends. One of the little known facts about Riley is that, despite his womanizing, tough guy persona, he was very gay. He wasn't ashamed or hiding that fact, the label just thought it was better for the band's hardcore image.
"Spill it, girls. We haven't talked in forever! I hear from Esme that you're hooked up with Midnight Sun now? Unf. Jasper is all kinds of hot. You are lucky, lucky, bitches."
I heard Alice growl and laughed before she glared at me. I shoved the chicken leg back in my mouth to ensure that my tongue behaved.
Riley narrowed his eyes and gave Alice a calculating look. "Oh, now that's new. I thought you never mixed business and pleasure?" He formed air-quotes to highlight the phrase. It had been a point of contention more than once when he had tried to get us out on the prowl with him in the past.
"I wasn't the one playing tonsil hockey with Edward while pinned up against a hotel room door!"
Riley's head turned toward me so fast, I was sure he must have sprained something.
I lowered the chicken leg and kept my eyes on my plate. "Well, I was kind of drunk at the time."
His eyes bulged out in surprise. "Drunk and sampling the goods? There is obviously a story here and I must hear it. Let's take your…" he eyed the plates in front of Alice with distaste, "…food and go back to the bus. The other guys will want to see you again too. Then, you can spill your guts on everything up to and including how good Edward is with his tongue."
Riley must have seen the cornered animal look in my eyes because he came over and draped his arm around me.
"Bella, you wouldn't be thinking of trying to run from me would you? I can always go ask Edward what happened."
"You wou…" I started, but as Riley raised his eyebrows incredulously, I realized he would, and he would enjoy it too.
"Fine, fine, let's go. I haven't had quite enough torment for one day yet."
The three of us gathered up Alice's food and started toward the artist area where the buses were parked. Alice and Riley were lost in their conversation and pulled ahead of me. Looking around the large parking lot, I started to give serious thought to disappearing again. Then, I remembered that we had left the secondary bus at the hotel this morning. The band bus was the only place I had to go, and that meant facing Edward while Jasper and Emmett watched me turn various shades of red.
I stopped and took in my surroundings. Alice was already climbing the stairs and Riley finally seemed to have noticed my absence. The movement of a vehicle to my left caught my attention. As the golf cart came to a stop, Edward stepped out and froze. The blush started immediately as he looked at me, but then he turned and his glance fell on Riley who was quickly approaching me.
Apparently, Riley didn't notice our audience as he came up to me and put an arm around my shoulders. "Bella, I'm not going to use nipple clamps and make you talk or anything. If you don't want to tell me about it, you don't have to. There's no need for a blush like that."
He smiled reassuringly and led me onto the bus. Alice was already catching up with the rest of the band. When they saw me, I was quickly enveloped in friendly hugs.
-==\\/==-
Rosalie POV
Fucking Texas.
Not that I disliked Texas, I really didn't. The fact that everything was sticking to me in nasty and uncomfortable ways was the real problem. Honestly, it was my own fault for coming here in the middle of June. I took another long drink from my water bottle and paced outside the radio station trailer.
That was problem number two. When I arranged this trip, Emmett had a free day and we were planning on spending every minute of it together. Since then, the festival had been booked, and the day filled up with press interviews.
Now, instead of our wonderful day locked in a hotel room, Emmett and I hadn't had a minute alone yet. At least the guys were scheduled to go on early today. By four o'clock, Emmett and I should be on our way to the hotel where no one would bother us for at least eighteen hours. Not if they valued their lives anyway.
We had so little time together during a national tour. These little visits kept us both sane. It also made anything that kept us apart while I was visiting more annoying than usual. I growled at the elaborate speaker setup in front of the trailer as I listened to one inane question after the other.
Finally, the interview came to an end, and I let out a sigh of relief. This was the last press of the day for them. Now I just had about two more hours before the band played their set and we could all cut and run. Emmett, Jasper and Edward stepped down out of the trailer and headed for the golf cart that was taking us all back to the artist area.
"Finally!" Emmett said as he came over and wrapped his arms around me.
We all participated in a healthy DJ bashing session as we drove past the concert goers.
"That had to be the worse one yet. Can't we prescreen them for I.Q. or something, baby?" Emmett said to me with his best pout.
"Ah come on, Em, he wasn't that bad," Jasper said.
"The dude called me Emmett McCartney, for fuck sakes."
"I know that it's annoying, but if you only want to be interviewed by smart DJs, that's going to really cut into your promo opportunities. I'll try to make sure they know your name from now on though. How's that?" That was me, always the negotiator.
Emmett pouted again as we all had a good laugh. Although I would never admit it, I missed joking with these guys when I wasn't around. We didn't always get along perfectly, but Edward and Jasper were like brothers. This lifestyle meant that there were times that we practically lived together. The fact that we all felt like family made everything so much easier.
We were climbing out of the golf cart to enjoy some downtime in the air-conditioned bus, when I saw Edward staring down the road very intently. Following his line of sight, I saw Bella stop dead in her tracks and turn beet red before a man I recognized as the lead singer for one of our other acts came back and threw one arm around her to guide her into his bus while laughing loudly
"What was that all about?" I asked as I turned to Edward.
He stomped up the stairs as I looked to Jasper and Emmett with raised eyebrows. They both just shook their heads and followed after him. The moment we were all inside, Edward started in on a tirade I could only assume he was continuing from earlier.
"Why is she avoiding me and why in the hell is she getting on The Newborn's bus? Did you see how Riley was hanging all over her? The fucker screws anything that moves. What does she want with him? And where is Alice?"
I snickered as he turned his anger my way. Emmett sat down and pulled me into his lap.
"Something you'd care to add, Rosalie?" Edward said with a sneer.
"Oh no, first I want to know what's going on. Then I'll share what I know."
Edward pinched the bridge of his nose, obviously wanting to know my information but not wanting to reveal any himself.
I could feel Emmett fidgeting in anticipation under me. I grinned widely, besides the fact that his movements were doing wonderful things to me, I knew that I'd know what was going on sooner rather than later. Emmett was obviously in on the secret, and he kept secrets like a sieve kept water. I started counting down from ten in my head figuring if Edward didn't come out with it by the time I finished, Emmett would. I barely got to five.
"Edward has it bad for Bella." Edward gaped at him, and I hid my shock behind a snide look. Jasper laughed loudly at Edward's indignation.
"Oh, and Jasper wants Alice." Emmett added as an afterthought. Jasper's laughter stopped abruptly.
"Bella and Alice? Our Bella and Alice?"
Edward sighed and fell down onto the couch. "We had a moment the other night. Now she seems to be avoiding me."
"Define moment."
"There may have been some kissing and…stuff."
Oh great. The ever articulate Edward was using the word stuff. "Did you fuck her?"
"Must you be so crass, Rosalie?"
"Give it a rest. I know you remember? You're not some proper Victorian gentleman. I know about your girls, and I don't think it's fair to Bella for you to make her one of them. I don't know her that well, but I know she's not the type."
"No, I didn't fuck her. We kissed and it got a little heated before I put a stop to it. She was drunk and I refused to take advantage of her. Regardless of what you seem to think, I'm not the type of guy that would do something like that."
"I know you're not, Edward. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It just surprised me. Those two are kind of known for not getting involved with the guys they work with."
"That doesn't surprise me. Look it's…complicated, but I'm not just looking for a one night stand with her."
I turned that over in my mind a few times before turning to Jasper. He was silently making his way to the back of the bus, obviously hoping to avoid the inquisition. "And you?"
"I didn't do anything!"
"Uh huh. But you want to? What about them? Are they interested? Are they coming on to you?"
"Until that night, I thought she might be interested, but Bella never said or did anything," Edward said, eyeing Jasper.
"Same, they're not pursuing us if that's what you're asking." Jasper sighed.
"Well, that's interesting." I grimaced as I realized I needed to find out what was going on between these four and that it might cut into my time with Emmett. I debated my options quickly. My first option was to stay here and try to figure things out through the guys. Considering the fact that they were male, this was surely the most time consuming method. Jasper was fairly intuitive, but Edward was downright delusional about his own emotions at times.
My second option was to go directly to the source. Since I knew that Bella and Alice were nothing more than friends with Riley and his band, I was willing to bet money that even though we hadn't seen her, Alice was with Bella.
I jumped up, startling everyone. The sooner I started, the quicker I'd be done with it. I scooped up my purse and planted a kiss on my man.
"I'll be back in a little bit."
The last thing I heard as I slammed the bus door behind me was Edward stammering, "…But wait, you didn't tell me about…"
Sure, it was evil not to tell Edward that Riley was no threat to him where Bella was concerned, but being evil is fun! A few minutes later I knocked on the door of The Newborn's bus. I saw Riley peek through the curtain and brighten as he saw me.
"Rosie!" he sang as he threw the door open.
"Riley, if you call me Rosie again, you won't have to worry about being led around by your dick anymore. I'll cut it off."
"Still my lovely demure Rose, I see." He laughed and pulled me in for a hug.
"All our old friends are showing up today, first Bella and Alice, now you. To what do I owe this honor?"
I glanced up at the bus and closed the door so we could have some privacy outside. I may as well use the situation to my full advantage. Riley loved to gossip. Maybe I could get an outside opinion of Bella and Alice from him.
"I figure that you've managed to find out what's going on with Bella and Alice by now. Fill me in."
Riley pressed his lips together thoughtfully. "I know you, Rosalie Hale. You're here to sniff them out and see if they're up to something. Bella and Alice are good ones. There are no ulterior motives there. In fact, I think they're still freaking out about the whole workplace involvement issue."
"You're biased because your friends with them, Riley. Look, I'm not looking to rip any heads off. I just want to make sure…" I shook my head and started again. "I know I've been working with them for a while but I've never actually met them. We only ever communicate through email and then it's all work."
"And you're protective of you're guys even if you'd rather eat nails than admit it. I know, I know. How about this? If you can forego your marathon sex session for a few more hours we'll all go out to dinner tonight. Then we can both see the sparks fly in person."
Riley smiled wickedly and I found myself agreeing quickly. As reluctant as I was to waste any of my visit, getting to know Bella and Alice was something I needed to do.
"I think you should invite Bella and Alice and forget to mention we'll be there. Edward seems to think Bella is avoiding him, and I don't know that she'll go if he's there."
"You are one evil bitch, Rose, and that's why I love you. It's a plan. Call me with the details later."
He hugged me and disappeared into the bus again. As I walked back, I already had my phone out and dialing. The good thing about handling booking for artists all over the world was that I was never at a loss for a place to go. I could get a reservation almost anywhere at the drop of a hat.
Before I made it back to our bus, I'd booked a private room at one of the local BBQ restaurants. I shuddered at the thought of Emmett around that much meat, not to mention all the other guys. If nothing else, it would keep them quiet and leave Alice, Bella and I to carry most of the conversation.
"I saw you talking to him, what did he say?" I was barely halfway up the stairs when Edward confronted me. I decided to take pity on him.
"Edward, sit." He opened his mouth to protest but sat after I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Ok, first. Bella and Alice are friends with all the guys in that band. We sent them out with The Newborns three or fours times over the last couple years."
"But…"
"Secondly," I said, cutting him off, "Riley is one hundred percent gay. He isn't competition, Edward, so calm down."
His mouth was slightly open in shock, so I answered the question that was undoubtedly about to surface.
"Yes, I know about his rep. The label likes him to keep up the charade. It's better for sales. He doesn't really like it and neither do we, but he agreed to it. Anyway, we decided that it was a good idea for all of us to go out to dinner tonight. You know, catch up and stuff."
I took in the reluctant faces around me and instantly shifted to bitch mode. "And before anyone says anything, you're all going. No complaints. If I have to drag you to the restaurant kicking and screaming, I'll do it, so help me God."
I smiled as their shoulders slumped in defeat. I loved being me.
-==\\/==-
Bella POV
"Who was it?" I asked as Riley's head appeared through the curtain at the front of the bus.
"Just another old friend." He flopped down on the couch beside me with a Cheshire grin. "And speaking of old friends, we're taking you two out to dinner tonight. I will not take no for an answer. We have a lot of catching up to do and we have to be on stage in forty-five minutes. Your boys are after us, so it should work out just fine. You're free right?"
"Of course! We'd love to." Alice shot me a look of surprise. I knew what she was thinking. Usually she had to drag me out to anything social, but this was a perfect excuse to keep up my Edward avoidance a little longer.
"Alright then, where are you guys staying?"
"The Hilton by the airport."
"Perfect, we're at the Sheridan across the street. Our bus is leaving about an hour after our set so if you need a ride you can come with us. We'll go back and get cleaned up and head out for seven. Sound good?"
"As always, Riley, your anal retentive planning skills are second only to Bella's." Alice burst out in a fit of giggles as we both gave her the evil eye.
The rest of my afternoon consisted of a one sided game of hide and seek with Edward. The object of the game was for me to hide out of his sight until the band hit the stage and I had to show my face to work. I was safe then because he would be unable to talk to me.
So far I was winning.
Even with my paranoid behavior, we enjoyed The Newborn's set and got some amazing shots of our guys. I convinced Alice to call Jasper and let him know that we would be catching a ride back to the hotel with Riley. When the bus finally started moving, I let out a huge sigh of relief. Instantly a wave of guilt crept over me.
If I kept this up, Edward was going to think that I was mad at him or worse. The idea of hurting him made my stomach churn. Then I realized that if I didn't pull myself together, I could really screw things up both personally and professionally.
You made your bed, now you have to lie in it… put on your big girl pants and deal with this. You can't be a coward forever.
I grimaced at my inner monologue, but I knew it was right. First thing in the morning, I would go apologize to Edward and sort this out like an adult.
"Earth to Bella." Alice was waving her hand in front of my face. "There you are. We're here. Are you going to come up to the room to take a shower or do you like the dusty look?"
Sticking my tongue out at her, I ducked under her arm and ran into the hotel. I managed to catch an elevator just as it was closing. She came into the lobby and saw me as the doors started to close. The last thing I saw was her swearing at me. Looks like I get to shower first tonight.
Since we had unlimited hot water, it didn't really matter who went first, it was just one of those stupid ongoing games for honor and bragging rights. Don't judge us, life on the road can get boring!
Just over an hour later, Alice and I were knocking on Riley's door. He opened it and held up a finger as he finished a phone call.
"Yeah, that's fine. They just got here. Alright, I'll text you later." He hung up the phone and gave us an appraising once over. "You look positively wonderful my darlings. Shall we go?"
"Where are the other guys?" Alice said as she looked around his room.
"They left a couple of minutes ago since we wouldn't all fit in one cab."
Riley took us to a huge all you can eat BBQ restaurant. I smiled at the thought of teasing Emmett about missing out. He would have taken the opportunity to try and personally bankrupt the place. On second thought, maybe it was a good thing I didn't have to watch that.
As we pulled up, Riley paid the driver and pulled out his phone. He sent a quick message and led us inside. We were standing the podium waiting to be seated when a familiar looking blond approached us. I was certain that I knew her, but I couldn't place her. She walked right up to Riley and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"You guys know each other even if you've never met. Bella, Alice, this is Rosalie Hale."
My mouth fell open as I realized who I was staring at. Of course I had seen Rosalie in pictures before, but none of them had quite done her justice. She was even more statuesque and beautiful than I imagined. At that moment, something else clicked in my brain.
Why is Rosalie here?
I looked up at Riley with alarm as my brain slowly put the pieces together. He let out a loud laugh and put an arm around my shoulder.
"Let's go eat, Bells!"
"I'm going to hurt you, Riley, in excruciatingly slow ways," I said as I felt my face turning red.
"I'm flattered, honey, but you know you're just not my type. Besides, I'm not into that S&M stuff."
Rosalie brought us down a corridor where the private party rooms were. The sound of males bonding over large quantities of meat could be heard from a distance. When we entered our room, I saw the rest of The Newborns as well as our guys seated around a massive table. Some of the techs from both camps had come along too, no doubt lured by promises of all you can eat BBQ. From the sound of the laughter we had followed down the hallway, everyone was already getting along wonderfully.
I took a deep cleansing breath and reminded myself that I was being stupid. These were my friends. Edward was a friend. I had already decided I needed to suck it up, and I was going to have fun tonight.
The meal started off quite well. As soon as the huge platters of meat arrived, conversation dropped to a minimum and the guys were occupied with their plates. I only found myself staring at Edward four times and I don't think he noticed. Rose, Alice and I were talking about work, having finished our burgers and salad long ago. That was when Edward decided to get chatty.
He turned to Riley who was sitting on my right. "So, Rose tells us that you guys worked with these two a lot. Have any juicy stories to share?"
I think I swallowed my tongue when I saw Riley's eyes light up.
"I have many stories. Where do I start?" he said with an evil grin in my direction.
I jumped up to cover Riley's mouth with my hand, but he saw me coming and darted to the other side of the table. Everyone laughed as Emmett blocked my progress.
"Well, if I didn't want to hear them before, you have my full attention now," Emmett said as he planted me back in my chair. "I think you and I should trade seats though. I'll make sure she doesn't interfere."
Riley looked quite please with his new position between Edward and Jasper. "Have you guys been introduced to Bitch-Bella and Angry-Alice yet?"
"We've met them in passing. Thankfully we haven't been in the crosshairs yet." Jasper looked a little reluctant to weigh in on that particular topic.
"Yeah, we never fucked with them either. Scary." Riley shuddered.
"We're sitting right here you know," Alice growled.
Riley let out an evil laugh. "Oh! I know. I'll tell you about Colin."
Alice tried to look angry but just ended up laughing. "At least he deserved it."
"Colin was our tour manager about a year ago. He was a bit of a self absorbed prick. He never really appreciated what these lovely ladies did or how hard they worked."
"Nice try, Riley, but it's still too late for flattery," I warned him.
He laughed at my warning and continued. "Well, after a solid week of nothing but patronizing behavior, Bella and Alice went home the morning we were scheduled for a cross country flight. We were all shuffling through security with our carry-ons when Colin got stopped.
"The security guy said he had to unpack the bag because there was something suspicious in it. Colin bitched and complained, calling the guards useless but finally agreed when he realized he had no choice. The guy unpacked the bag and let a out a low whistle as he pulled out a massive twelve inch black dong complete with realistic veins and everything.
"Perhaps if Colin hadn't mouthed off when they asked to search his bag, it wouldn't have got worse than that, but the guard was looking for revenge at this point. He slapped it down on top of the x-ray machine and proceeded to lecture Colin about how sex toys should be packed in his checked luggage if he would like to avoid situations like this in the future. As he talked, his voice got louder and eventually was demonstrating how the vibrating mechanism raises red flags for them to the entire crowd.
"We all knew how it got there. The day before, Alice tried to bring something to Colin's attention. He didn't appreciate her being an 'uptight watchdog' and told her to go back to her hotel and get herself off to release the tension. Anyway, he wasn't impressed by the gift she left him. The fact that Esme told him there was nothing she could do since he had no proof that Alice did anything wrong was the last straw and he decided not to tour with us again.
"Shame really." Riley snorted.
"Wow, remind me not to piss you off, Alice," Jasper said when he'd finally stopped laughing.
"Don't let Bella fool you though. She comes off as the shy innocent one, but she can hold her own too." Riley laughed again as he saw Emmett put a hand on my shoulder to keep me from getting up. I closed my eyes and wondered which story he was going to bring up.
Please not New Jersey, please not New Jersey, I chanted to myself.
"When they were with us in New Jersey, Bella went complete band slut on us."
Fuck! I saw Edward choke on his drink and, I lowered my head to the table.
"It was for a good cause though. We had a ton of press lined up that day, and apparently, she overheard reporters plan to 'out' me. Personally, I wouldn't have cared all that much, but Bella being the professional that she is, concocted a plan to keep that from happening."
Knowing how much worse this was going to get, I started banging my head on the table. Maybe I'd get head trauma, and they'd have to call an ambulance.
Emmett slipped a folded napkin under my forehead. When I glared at him, he shrugged.
"The noise is distracting and I want to hear this." He turned back to Riley and waited for him to continue.
"Alice was with me all day organizing press, so I know that what Bella did was all her. I sat down with the reporter and he started in on the standard questions. Before he got to anything remotely controversial, Bella came running into the room claiming that she couldn't wait in the bus for another minute. She needed to have her hands on me this instant.
She was dressed in the shortest little schoolgirl skirt and had a tiny white shirt that looked like it was two sizes too small. Her tits were all pushed up and practically falling out. She even did her hair and makeup. I shit you not, she wore pigtails, and she practically looked illegal." Riley turned to me and beamed.
"I swear. I've never been closer to going straight than I was at that moment. Well, not really, but you get the idea. Anyway, she ran over to me and perched herself on my lap and spent the rest of the interview alternating between grinding herself into my lap, running her hands through my hair, sucking on my earlobe and batting her eyelashes at the reporter. Let me tell you, Bella can put on a damn good show when she wants to.
"The reporter was completely dazzled by her and must have bought how she hung all over me because he barely got another coherent question out for the rest of the interview. Toward the end when she full on kissed me, the reporter actually blushed, and you know those fuckers have no shame."
I looked up to see Edward staring at me with his mouth hanging open. But I was waiting for the other foot. Once Riley told them what the reporter called me, I knew I was going to have a new nickname.
"I actually think that she gave my reputation a whole new level that day. If you find the interview, you'll see that he refers to her as 'the sex kitten that pawed the lead singer through the hour long interview.'"
Riley winked at me and I instantly knew he was about to do something that I would definitely not approve of. "Maybe if you guys ask really nicely, Bella will wear that little number again sometime."
As the laughter finally started to die, I looked directly at Riley across the table. "Sleep with one eye open, Riley."
"What?" he said with expertly feigned innocence. "I only told the truth, Bella dear. Besides, your tits did look fabulous that day. I think you should let these gentlemen decide for themselves."
I think I caught Edward nodding at that thought. Thankfully the conversation shifted to another topic and the spotlight was no longer on my tits.
We ordered dessert and then coffee as many more stories were traded. When the meal finally wound down, Alice and I said our goodbye's to Riley and his band. Even with emails and instant messages, touring schedules were busy and it was hard to keep in touch. We probably wouldn't be seeing each other for a long time. That was probably a good thing for Riley's life expectancy.
Just before he left, Riley leaned down and whispered in my ear. "You better get your claws in to that Edward before I see him next or all bets are off. Not that I think I'd have a chance with the way he was staring at you all night."
I whacked him on the ass as he laughed at my immediate blush.
At least dinner seemed to clear up the tension between Edward and I. When I first arrived, I caught him looking at me with concern more than once, but by the end of the evening we were laughing and chatting with ease. I would still need to talk to him tomorrow and discuss the whole situation, but tonight was a good start.
Rose, Alice and I piled in to one cab while the guys took another. I checked my watch and saw that it was already after ten.
"I'm not ready for bed yet. I think I'll go for a swim when we get back."
Alice turned around in the front seat to face us. "That sounds like a great idea. I know we're leaving early in the morning. It's a short trip, so as long as we're in bed by midnight, we can nap on the bus in the morning, and we should be fine."
I turned to Rosalie. "We'd love to have you along, Rosalie, but something tells me you have other plans."
"I may join you in a little while. I think Emmett ate an entire cow tonight, so I doubt he's going to be awake for very long."
-==\\/==-
Jasper POV
I stubbed my toe twice trying to find the phone in the dark hotel room. Apparently, I had left it in my jeans pocket in my haste to pass out. The sun and the huge meal had done a number on me. I was lucky to stay awake long enough to make it to my bed.
"Edward? What the fuck, man? I told you I was going to sleep."
"Come to my room, now."
"We've already discussed this. I don't think of you that way."
"Fine, Jasper, if you don't want to see this, then go back to sleep."
"See what?" I swore as he hung up on me.
My bleary eyes found the clock beside my bed, and I saw that it was just past eleven thirty. I threw some clothes on and shoved the key card in my pocket before stumbling to the door. If I got to his room and he was joking, I could at least still kill him. Even though I was still half asleep and blind from the light in the hallway, I managed to find Edward's room and knocked.
The door opened slowly but I couldn't see anything inside.
"Are you pretending to be a vampire and shunning the light?"
"No, smart ass, come here, and be quiet."
Edward led me to his balcony.
"Gee this is nice, Edward. I have a balcony too…and a black sky and stars…"
"But do you have a view of the pool?"
I stepped to the railing and looked down. That was when I saw Alice and suddenly I was very awake. She was in a small white bikini with a colorful print. The bottom was very low cut and the entire thing showed her body off in amazing ways.
She swam over to the side of the pool where Bella was sitting with her legs in the water. Bella was in a slightly more modest dark blue bikini. I didn't have to look over at Edward to know that he was drooling and probably imagining using his teeth on each of the ties that were holding Bella's suit on.
"How long have they been here?"
"About forty-five minutes."
"And you just decided to call me?"
"No, I've been calling you since they got here. You just decided to pick up."
We both stood and watched in silence as the girls laughed and talked. We were on the fourth floor so although we could see them clearly, we weren't quite close enough to make out what they were saying. It was obvious from the laughter that kept drifting to us that they were having a good time. Rosalie must have been sitting out of sight because she suddenly jumped in the pool and started splashing Bella and daring her to get in.
I jumped when I heard the patio door on the next balcony open.
"Emmett," Edward said sounding as though he was in a trance.
He came over to us and looked down at the pool.
"Enjoying the view, boys?"
"Yeah, you could say that," I whimpered.
He leaned over the railing and watched for a few more minutes.
"LOOKIN' HOT, ROSE BABY!" Emmett bellowed suddenly, and my heart nearly jumped out of my body.
Edward and I froze as three heads turned and looked directly up at us. They waved and laughed at us before we had the time or good sense to move.
"Dammit, Emmett, did the whole skulking in the dark thing not clue you in? We were trying to go unnoticed here."
"Oh were you? Sorry, I guess I ruined that huh?" He chuckled and disappeared back into his room.
By the time I looked back down at the pool, the girls had left. I sighed. "Well that was fun while it lasted. In case I don't remember because of my extreme fatigue, remind me to invite Alice swimming at the next possible opportunity." I turned and headed for the door.
"Hey, Jasper?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think I'd actually have to convince Bella that I was gay to get her to wear that little schoolgirl number Riley was talking about?"
I passed a hand over my eyes and continued for the door. "Goodnight, Edward."
-==\\/==-
