Note: Sorry for the wait everybody. I had this chapter done two Sundays ago, I was waiting for my helper to proofread the chapter but I haven't heard back from her yet. So I decided to post it as is. I'll fix any errors later after this chapter gets checked by my helper. Also, I planned to jump ahead next chapter to three months later.
BPOV
I slowly opened my eyes to find I wasn't in my bed. I wasn't even in my house. I started to panic until a picture on the night stand, the same picture of Carlisle and Esme I noticed yesterday, caught my attention. It was then I remember where I was, I was at Edward's house, in Edward's bed.
I smiled, snuggling in the covers before rolling over to face a sleepy Edward. A small smile form to his lips as his eyes met mine.
"Morning, did you sleep okay?" He asked groggily.
"Yeah, I slept like a baby."
Edward's smile grew and he leaned down covering my mouth with his, giving me a big kiss.
"Now, where were we?" He asked playfully.
"Oh yes, now I remember, we were about to christen the bed." He said placing small kisses on my neck, causing me to giggle and squirm under his touch.
"That tickles. Stop, stop!" I voiced, laughing hard as Edward repeatedly nuzzled and kissed the sensitive area of my neck.
My bladder wasn't like it once was, between the vibrations from my laughter and wiggling form, the urge to use the bathroom was becoming too much to handle.
"Edward, I have to pee." I stressed.
He nodded and moved away to give me room to get up.
When I came back Edward happily patted the spot next to him on the bed for my return.
"Edward…" I said giving him an apologetic expression.
"…I'm hungry."
Edward let out a heavy sigh before getting up out of bed and searching for his pants.
"I can't keep up with you Bella, one minute you want me, the next you don't, one minute your hungry the next you're sick. I just can't figure you out." He said frustrated as he slid his pants over his semi hard on.
"Yeah well, that makes two of us." I voiced equally irritated.
"What do you want to eat?" Edward asked with a lack of enthusiasm.
"Something that's not here."
"I figured that much, what do you want?"
"I… uh…I don't know, I just know I want something that's not here. All you have in your fridge is nasty, healthy food."
"Which is what you should be eating." Edward snapped.
"What does that mean?"
"Bella I don't think eating a pint of ice cream is very nutritional for a growing baby or eating fast food. You should watch what you eat, you're eating for two now after all."
"I can't help it if I don't like healthy food anymore; it's what the baby wants, okay? You can blame the baby when I get all big and fat."
"It's too early to argue, come on, get your jacket; you can tell me what you want on the way." Edward said half way out the bedroom door.
EPOV
I walked into the strip club co-owned by Jane and Victoria, known as Sinful Pleasures.
Thinking back, it made perfect sense for the two to be business partners. Jane was smart, secretive and tricky and Victoria was rich and got cruel delight out of giving orders. Combine they could be quite deadly. Plus, Jane always did speak highly of Victoria.
I wanted to stop their operation before it had a chance to grow. I not only had to protect Bella, I now had a child on the way to protect as well.
I wasn't thrilled to be back in the same environment I was fighting to get out of for over a year, but I was willingly too if it meant a chance at stopping Victoria and Jane from continuing down this road of running escorting businesses.
The glow of pink neon lights covered the rim of the bar located to the left of the club, as well as the border of the stage located in the center of the room. Even the serving trays had a beam of neon lights coming from the bottom of them. On the right side of the room held tables and seats for all the eager, sex filled women.
Luckily, the club was not open yet to the public and the room was practically empty, just housing the money hungry employees waiting to play their roles.
I could feel a lump forming in my throat as all eyes went to me, eyeing me up and down, as if I was their new enemy or competition. It was quite intimidating.
I noticed a tall, muscular, black man with dreadlocks, leaning against the bar with a clip board in his hands. I cleared my throat before heading over trying to get my act together; I had to make it seem like I wanted to be there after all.
"Hi, I'm Edward Cullen. I called about the waiter position."
"Oh yes, here you go. This is the uniform you will be wearing. The changing room is just back there. Go get changed and then I will go over the basic things you need to know about working here. Now hurry up, we only have fifteen minutes till opening." The man said, pointing at his watch.
I thanked the man named Mr. Laurent, according to his nametag, and headed to the dressing room to change.
Looking my outfit over in the full length mirror and cringed in horror and in embarrassment. I looked like a freaken chip and dale dancer.
If I couldn't find any dirt on the place I could certainly have the famous Chip and Dale's dancers sue for stealing their uniforms.
Black pants, a vest and a nametag completely the look. No shirt allowed. I felt like an utter fool in the get up. The only thing missing were the matching handcuffs, at least they weren't that cheesy.
I quickly made my way back not wanting to keep Mr. Laurent waiting.
"Okay, now there are some rules you need to be aware of and follow. The customer is always right, there is no touching allowed, the client is only allowed to touch an employee when placing a tip in the top of your pants, that's it. Flirting with the customer is number one on our list, we want our audience to have a good time and feel welcomed back. Lastly, significant others are not allowed on the premises, it only causes drama. Now do you understand everything I just told you?"
"Yes sir."
"Good, now take your place by the bar; opening will be any minute now."
What am I doing here?
My Stomach was tied up in knots in anticipation.
After talking it up with my fellow bar attendant, Seth. I learned quite a lot in a short time.
Laurent was the supervisor of the club and in charge of telling Victoria the latest news on profits and any issues. He was in charge of making sure everything ran smoothly.
Victoria came in once a month to collect the money, just like Kami advised me. To my relief, she came recently and wasn't expected back for another month.
There were many workers at the club but the main strippers were, Mike, Paul and James.
Mike was a blue eyed, blonde hair, and was a cocky, dorky, scrawny guy. The women weren't thrilled about him but he got a few ugly ducklings attention and he was willing to work for less money than the others. He couldn't dance to save his life either, he had no rhythm. The crazy thing was he thought he was hot shit on stage.
Paul was well liked all round. He was confident but not to the point where it went to his head. He had brown eyes, short jet black hair, a tan and was muscular. Not to mention, he could dance. Women flocked to him.
James, I heard had been there the longest out of all the strippers and was Victoria's favorite. He had blue eyes, dirty blond, short hair, muscles and was the cockiness one in the bunch. He was a real jerk and talked shit about everyone and liked to start fights. However, Victoria kept him around.
Some people thought Victoria and James might have had something on the side or still do but they have no proof.
James is also the crowd favorite as well. His cockiness never wavers on or off stage. He thinks he is better than rest.
After learning all I needed to know I stood at my end of the bar and waited for the women to head inside picking a good spot to sit.
"You're on." Laurent stated, gesturing for me to make my way over to the waiting customers.
I took a deep breath, force a smile and made my way over, trying to remember all the tricks I used to use, in my escorting days.
"Hi, I'm Edward. I'll be your server for the night. What can I get you lovely ladies this evening?" I asked the group at the table.
They were practically watering at the mouth. You would have thought they never saw a man before. Half were too busy staring at the stripping men on stage to pay attention to me and the others couldn't keep their eyes off of me or my chest.
"You can service me anytime, sweetie." A fresh lady in the bunch said.
Another woman at the table slapped the lady's shoulder, shocked by her friend's rude behavior.
"Janet, leave the poor guy alone, he's just doing his job. I'm sorry about her, she a little, well horny for lack of a better word. It's been so long since she been near a man, she's forgotten how to act."
I couldn't help but chuckle at that as the once rude woman nudge her friend back in response to her comment.
"It hasn't been that long Amy, and your one to talk about rude behavior with you ogling him when he first came over here."
"I was not ogling him, I was just looking. There is no harm in that. What do you think a strip club is for anyway, the conversation?" Amy argued.
"Yeah, but he's the waiter, he's not a stripper." Janet stated.
"Oh shush, like your any better."
"Please excuse them, they never been to a strip club before. We'll all have a cosmopolitan to start, thank you." An older woman at the table said, interrupting the two bickering ladies.
"No problem, my pleasure." I said giving all the ladies a wink before heading back to the bar with their order of cosmopolitans.
This is going to be a long night.
BPOV
I spent the day shopping with Alice, helping her find dishes and other appliances for her wedding. We were five hours into shopping and I was tried as ever. I just wanted to go home and relax but Alice wouldn't let me. Store after store we went to, it was like she was a robot or the energizer bunny; she kept going and going and going.
"Alice, I'm pooped. Can we head back now, please?"
"Almost, there is just one more stop we need to make and then we will be done."
I let out a defeated sigh as Alice pulled into a parking space. I got out of the car tired and sore. I could barely walk anymore. I looked up at great big pink neon lights that read, Sinful Pleasures.
"Oh really Alice, another sex shop, you have more than enough dirty lingerie for your honey moon." I argued, stopping at a nearby bench to rub my sore feet.
"Come on Bella, just come inside with me, it won't take long. Trust me, you'll love it." Alice said giving me a sneaky smile, like she was hiding something from me.
I knew Alice would never be satisfied unless I agreed, so I put my shoes back on and limped to the entrance with her.
Alice was practically jumping up and down before we even open the door. I couldn't understand why she was so excited.
What was so exciting about underwear?
When we walked inside my jaw nearly hit the floor, it wasn't a store after all, it was a strip joint. Judging by Alice's smile she knew too.
"Alice, what are we doing here?" I asked embarrassedly, shielding my eyes from the stripping men across the room.
"Well, Jasper said I couldn't have a stripper for my bachelorette party and I really wanted one but I didn't want to break the promise I made to him or make him have doubts about my commitment to him."
"So you decided to have your stripper now?"
"Well sort of, I figured since I can't have a stripper for my party you might as well have one as a pre baby shower party and that way, I'm not breaking my promise and I still get to see some man candy." She confessed, proud at her own cleverness.
"Alice, I don't want to see men stripping." I protested.
"Why not, you're a hormonal woman after all, what's wrong with you? I thought you would love the idea."
"I just can't fathom seeing anyone other than Edward without clothes on."
"Oh Bella, come on, your telling me you never once found another man attractive?"
"I used to, but know I only have eyes for Edward."
"Oh hunny, you are so whipped."
"I'm not whipped." I snapped.
"Oh, no? All you do is hang around the house, waiting for Edward to come home. We barely hang out anymore and when we do, you're complaining."
"I'm sorry if I'm a bore, but I'm not going to act like a drunken fool and flirt with other men and pretend I'm something I'm not."
"Well, it's nice to know my friend thinks I'm loose." Alice said sounding hurt, looking away from me.
"Oh, Alice I'm sorry, it's the hormones. I didn't mean that, I'm just tired."
"I know, I understand. I guess you're right. I guess we should head…" Alice eyes grow the size of saucers.
"What, what is it Alice?" I asked eagerly.
I turned when she didn't say anything only to see Edward in a barely there outfit, flirting with some women at a table across the room.
I stormed over and stood behind Edward as he continued flattering the women and asking what they wanted to drink. It wasn't till the ladies at the table noticed me that the flirting stopped.
"Can we help you?" A lady at the table asked rudely.
"Yes, I have a compliant to make with your waiter." I said furiously.
Edward turned around still putting on his act completely unaware it was me.
"Well, what seems to be the problem swe…" his eyes widen when he noticed me.
"I dare you to finish that sentence." I said folding my arms into my chest.
Edward let out a nervous giggle turning back to the curious bunch at his table.
"Excuse us, will you ladies, I'll be right back with your orders." He said before turning back to face me.
I took ahold of his vest pulling him across the room, not caring who was watching or what the scene looked like.
I let go of Edward's vest once we were in the quiet hall way next to the bathrooms.
"Explain yourself right now and I swear to god, you better have a good excuse for being here or else I'm going to kill you!" I exclaimed, unable to hold my temper.
"Well, you see… I…and then… and Kami…umm… Wait, what are you doing here?" Edward asked.
"What kind of an explanation is that?" I argued, losing more patience every passing minute.
"You answer my question and I'll answer yours." Edward claimed, waiting eagerly for my response.
"Fine, Alice tricked me into coming here. What's your excuse?"
"Well, this is the job I was telling you about. So really you shouldn't be mad, I did tell you."
"This is your new job? You're a stripper now!"
"No, no, I'm just a waiter." Edward said, gentle holding my shoulders, trying to calm me down.
"A waiter at a strip club Edward. You honestly think it's going to stay that way? Women love you, you think management won't see that and want you to become a stripper here?"
"Bella, I have rights. Even if they did, I can say no. I would say no."
"Edward how could you be so stupid, why would you even pick this job?"
"I'm doing it as a favor for Kami okay. I'm doing it for us, for the baby!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Victoria and Jane co-own this strip joint. I'm working undercover for Kami to find out if Escorting is happening over here on the down low."
"Edward you do you not have a backbone? You need to learn how to say no to people and stand your ground. Your try to please everyone around you and I'm sick of it. It's like your too afraid too upset to disappoint people."
"You never had a problem with me pleasing you before."
"Edward that's different and believe me we have had many problems with that area and your lack of eagerness."
"Well, I was willing last night and this morning and you were the one to blow me off, so it works both ways, sweetie."
"Don't sweetie me, after you practically sweetie every woman here."
"Fine, Bella, I'm doing this to help put both Victoria and Jane behind bars for good. I'm doing it for a good cause."
"I just want to make sure you're not going to do anything illegal, risky or degrading to yourself. Promise you'll be safe and run at the first sign of danger."
"I thought I was supposed to stand my ground, not run?"
"Edward I'm serious, the first indication of danger I want you to leave this place."
"I promise." Edward said before leaning down and giving me a kiss on the lips.
