Disclaimer: Twilights and it's original characters belong to SM. Stalker, CareBear, Princess Bree, and the twins belong to me.

A/N: Back again! A huge thanks to my beta myonlyheroin! Any mistakes found are due to my own -after beta tweaking- *wink*


Reflections of Disappointment

Chapter 11

~Bella~

As soon as Jasper saw me making my way towards them, he took a swift step back, away from the apparent female groupie who he'd been pushing up against the wall only a few brief seconds ago. He was running his fingers brashly through his hair when I stepped up to give him two firm shoves with my extended arms.

"Bella, hold on. Take a minute to calm down and maybe not jump to conclusions?" Edward's panicked voice insisted from behind me. He grabbed onto my left elbow to try and prevent me from going at Jasper again, but I instantly removed myself from his grasp. I glanced to the right of us and noticed the blonde bitch who had started all of this giving me a smirk that I could have easily slapped off her face.

"I'm not jumping to anything! I know bullshit when I see it, because I used to see plenty of it in settings just like this! Now let go of me so I can kick his cheating ass!" I forcibly yanked my arm free from my husband's grasp, and without saying a word to the female who had instantly ruined my evening, I took Jasper's arm and pulled him around the corner where we could talk more privately.

"Um, excuse me, I don't know who you think you are, but we were talking!" The skank dared to point out from behind me. I let out a sarcastic laugh and shot her a look from over my shoulder that quickly shut her up and also caused her to leave the general area.

"What the hell, Jasper?!"

"Bella, it's not what it looks like. Calm down, okay?"

"The next man who tells me to calm down is going to get my right knee projected into his goddamn balls! Explain yourself right now! Who the hell was that, and why did it look like you were in the middle of some twisted passionate fight that was moments away from ending with you grinding yourself between her legs while she molested your face?"

I was shocked when he dared to laugh over my legitimate accusation.

"Listen, there's a lot you don't know, but I also was not about to let that woman molest my face."

Now it was my turn to laugh, "Really? What don't I know, Jasper? Is it suddenly okay to be teetering on the edge of hooking up with some fucking groupie whore, when your wife, my best friend, is on the other side of the country anticipating your return and missing you like crazy every single day of her life?!"

I noticed Edward standing off to the side a few feet away from us now and found his sudden silence rather peculiar.

Had he known about this all along?

"Bella, please… Just let me explain!" The drop in Jasper's tone had instantly caused me to take in a deep breath and bite my tongue. "First off, you are over-reacting."

"What I saw was not harmless, innocent, chit chat, Jasper."

"Her name is Josie and she would sell our merch when we played sometimes. Paul met her and started bringing her around. Alice knows her. The last time she came out to visit, we all went out to eat together,"

"Oh, well then, since Alice knows her that makes it absolutely okay that you've obviously been fooling around with her when she HASN'T been around to witness it!"

"We were just talking!"

"I'm not stupid, Jasper! I know a heated lovers spat when I see one."

"Look, just… Please don't say anything to Alice. She knows… I mean she knows something happened. I ended it, though. I broke it off, Josie's just having a hard time accepting it and moving on. She wasn't supposed to be out here for this trip, but she showed up anyways. I was making sure she didn't stay and was escorting her back out to the parking lot when you saw us."

"So she's stalking you now? And what the hell do you mean Alice knows?! Edward Cullen, did you know about this?! " I questioned my husband after turning myself around to glare at him. He instantly threw his hands up and shook his head defensively.

"I knew something was up, but I didn't know the details. I swear!" Edward looked slightly panicked, but I l believed him.

"Alice knew? She knew, but she hasn't confided in me? Shit, shit, shit! This is why she's using again!"

"She's-she's using again?" Jasper's face turned a shade of white, and for a moment I actually felt bad for him.

I avoided his eyes and began re-running all of my most recent moments that had been shared with my best friend. I'd known for some time that something was wrong. I'd known there was something bothering her, but I'd never even considered for a moment that it could have been anything to do with Jasper not being faithful.

"How- how could you do this to her?"

"I never meant for it to happen. It only happened once… but there were weeks of buildup. She'd made it obvious that she was into me, but I thought I could handle it."

"Stop! I can't believe what I'm hearing. You and Alice… you are supposed to be… solid." As strange as it sounded, I couldn't help but wonder if this was what it would feel like to hear your father had stepped out on your mother. I felt like I was the one who had been betrayed, and I wasn't even the one who had been cheated on.

"We are solid! We're good! She forgave me. I came clean the very next day, and we fired Josie. She just keeps showing back up."

"And that's why you're all running off to California now? Because of that stupid groupie whore who scored a one night stand? That's why Jake is leaving his pregnant fiancé? Wow, this is seriously surreal."

"I need to be with my wife."

"Damn straight you do!" I barked back before giving him another hard shove backwards.

"Bella! What's up?" It was Jake. Apparently word had gotten back stage that I was on the verge of castrating their lead singer.

"You knew he cheated on Alice and you didn't tell me!" I instantly accused after redirecting my attention onto my ex. The same man who had basically done the exact same thing to me years ago when he was out on the road. "So, is this some kind of twisted band code where it's okay to screw around on your significant other if they're beyond a certain mile radius?"

Jake was speechless, and Jasper was actually starting to look pissed.

"It was one time! One time in the eight damn years Alice and I have been together, Bella!"

"It doesn't matter how many times. Alice would never ever do that to you! She might have forgiven you in the blink of an eye, but I'm certainly not that understanding!"

Jasper narrowed his own eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest, "You, of all people, Bella, have no right to judge me."

I stood there feeling as though he'd just punched me in the gut.

"Be honest with yourself. This isn't really about me messing up. This is more about Alice not coming to you after it happened. That's what you're really angry about, because deep down you know I love Alice, and you know I feel like absolute shit for letting things get out of control."

I remained absolutely frozen, staring at him with my fists held firmly at my sides. He was partially right. I was hurt that she hadn't come to me. Especially when I'd asked her what was wrong a few weeks ago, and I'd given her the opportunity to share everything with me.

"Shit happens, Bella. Bad choices are made in the spur of the moment when we let our guards down. If anyone can understand that, I know it's you." My best friend's husband softly shared after taking a step closer to me so he could grasp my elbow in his opened palm to keep me from walking away.

I snatched my arm away from him and took a step back, "Don't you dare try to compare my mistakes with yours. Alice loves you. She's never turned her back on you, or given you a reason to stray."

Jacob cleared his throat nervously and released a shallow cough, causing both Jasper and I to redirect our attention. "Okay, look, we have to go on stage in fifteen minutes. Can we please just put this on hold and continue this conversation after the set?"

I glared at my ex.

"I'm done talking to him. I'm sorry, but I can't stay, Jake. I need to go process this and try to make sense of how any of it's even possible."

"Bella, no! Please- please don't go. You haven't seen us play in almost a year!" Jake begged; the look on his face was almost crippling. I knew that expression, I'd seen it oh-so-many times when I'd disappointed him in the past over some random, truthfully insignificant thing.

"No. I need to go. I'm sorry, Jake." He looked genuinely upset over my decision, but I had no other choice. There was no way I'd be able to have a good time tonight. Not with Jasper being the one leading the band on stage. I couldn't just let it all go and act like he hadn't betrayed the one person who had always been there for me.

"I'll text you when we get done. We really should talk more, Bells." Jake softly insisted as he followed closely behind me to join Edward in the corner of the room.

"You okay?"

"No. I'm not okay. We need to leave." I told him, still feeling as though this was all some twisted nightmare I'd wake up from within the next few minutes.

"Bella, please?"

"What, Black?! What else is there to really say? Your best friend is a cheating asshole, just like you were! End of story."

He flinched over the sound of my tone and the words I'd thrown at him, but I offered no apology.

"Please… just… let me come to your hotel after our set. I might be able to put things into… I might… I think I can… just hear me out. If Jasper won't tell you, then I will."

I stood there and continued to glare at him while I considered his request and then I let out a frustrated huff. "Okay. I'll tell Leah to wait for you there."

He released a brash exhale and nodded his head manically. "Thank you. Please don't call Alice yet. Wait to hear me out first."

I frowned and found my teeth anxiously biting at my bottom lip before nodding my head in agreement. I would give him ten minutes to present his case, and then I'd decide how to react before reaching out to my best friend.


I spent the entire ride back to the resort replaying all the moments I'd shared with Alice during the last few months. Her behavior really hadn't changed much up until about two months ago. That's when she'd started hanging out with her Hollywood leech like fan girls who I rarely got along with. I'd just associated her disconnected behavior to having far too much free time on her hands while her show had been on hiatus.

It had been much more though, and because of that my heart was now hurting for her.

Apparently, I'd become the world's worst best friend because I hadn't even noticed the signs that something was seriously-seriously wrong. Hollywood and its elite had jaded me into thinking that there was never any real causation behind an action. That everything was just an impulsive reaction to random events, and then you moved on- acting as if everything's sunshine and rainbows because that's the persona you have to maintain in order to keep your head above the water.

"Bella, are you okay?"

Edward's gentle voice had shaken me back to my own reality. I turned my head and forced a half smile. "Yes. I'm fine, just unbelievably disappointed. I never could have imagined that Jasper would do something so stupid."

"I'm sure he hated himself the moment he crossed that line. I know Jasper loves Alice more than anything."

I took in a deep breath and nodded my head, "Yeah, I'm sure he did hate himself, but that still doesn't make it okay. Honestly… I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about anything. All I've wanted to do today is sit in a quiet corner alone with my sketchbook since the twin's first tantrum this afternoon."

My husband forced a smile and reached out his arm to tuck my hair gently behind my ear, "Then let's get you up stairs with your sketch book."

I didn't move from my seat right away. Instead, I began rubbing at my eyes to fight back the tears that were now threatening to make an appearance.

"I'm sure she had her reasons to keep it all from you. She was probably waiting for the right time, and knows you've had a lot going on." He gently insisted just as his hand began massaging at the back of my neck. "Come on, let's go get you changed and reacquainted with your pencils and paper."

I let out a sigh and nodded my head in agreement with him. If there was one thing I'd learned, drawing was most definitely my own penicillin when it came to life disappointments.


I'd been out on the patio sketching for at least an hour and a half when the sliding glass door slowly opened just a few feet away from me. After closing my sketch book, I gently placed my pencil at the top of it, and then turned my head to meet Jake's worried stare.

I leaned back in my seat and took in a deep breath before slowly exhaling, "How was the show?"

I figured it was best to start with small talk.

"It was good. Really good, actually."

"Oh, I'm glad. It's super fantastic that Jasper was able to still perform without any problems."

Jake let out a loud sigh and slowly made his way over to take a seat beside me on the long lounge chair at the end of the balcony.

"Did you call Alice?"

"No. You asked me not to."

"Thank you for waiting. There are two sides to what happened with Jasper and Alice, Bells. Just like with our own… past… Jesus, the shittiest part about the conversation we're about to have is that it's basically one we've already had before, only it was me in Jasper's shoes, and I fucked up more than once during the time we were together."

"So, he did factually sleep with that skank?!" I yelped as all the anger and rage I'd been feeling earlier this evening came rushing back to me.

"Just the one time, and he told Alice the very next morning! Josie had been working him over for weeks. None of us thought he'd ever crack, but then I woke up and caught her sneaking out of the apartment that morning and well… she saw an opening and she took it. Later, I found out Alice had called the night before to tell him she was going to have to re-schedule her plans to come out for a visit. It started a huge fight, and Josie just pounced when she saw he was feeling vulnerable."

"Men don't feel vulnerable, Jake. They feel the need to go out and conquer so they can feel good about themselves."

"Um… well… isn't that the definition of vulnerability, Bells?"

"Jacob, don't you dare…"

"Okay fine, whatever the case, him and Alice has been having problems for a while because of their long distance arrangement. When they're together, things are fine. The second we hit that forty-eight hour mark after they've gone their separate ways for another few weeks… well… the rainbows and sunshine seem to fade fast. I think a lot of it has to do with the new story line Alice's show picked up this season... Her character having a boyfriend… all the tabloid rumors that have started linking them together after hours when they're not working."

"Jasper can't believe any of that trash? Alice would never cheat on him!"

"Did you believe any of it when you found out that Edward and Maggie had been parked out in front of her apartment late at night, after hours?" My ex carefully challenged.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest and narrowed my eyes at him. "No, I didn't." I lied.

"You're a terrible liar, Bella. Always have been, always will be. Its human nature to expect the worst when there's even the slightest possibility that the worst is all there can be."

"Whatever. My husband just shot a sex scene that required a modesty sock. You didn't see me pouncing on the first guy who showed interest in me!"

A perplexed expression quickly took over Jake's face, "Um… I'm sorry… but WHAT?! Someone's shown interest in you?" Jake was smirking, and I'd already felt my face flush the moment the words had left my mouth.

"Oh, shut up! No! I have no time for anyone but my kids when it comes to any type of show-and-tell."

He eyed me suspiciously for a few long seconds, and then looked back down at his feet, "He felt awful, Bella. He called Alice the moment he woke up and broke down. We fired Josie that afternoon, but she literally won't leave him alone. She keeps showing up everywhere, it's insane. The girl is nuts!"

"And now you're all running to California because of this psychopath? Does Alice even know how twisted and out of control this has gotten?"

"No. I mean she doesn't know that she keeps popping up, or that she's refusing to go away. That morning when Jasper confessed everything, he promised her he would move to California. He told her he couldn't be away from her anymore. That it was ruining their marriage. We as a band knew there was no way to change his mind, nor could we really ask him to. So, we took a vote and decided that instead of breaking up we'd all just relocate."

"I can't believe Alice kept all of this from me."

"If it makes you feel any better, I think she probably wanted to wait and see if he really meant all of it… If he would really move out to California, and if it was really only the one time. You know how she gets when things start to stray off course. She puts her blinders on and looks for distractions."

"Yeah… She's always been good at blocking out things that might muddy up her perfect exterior. She's a firm believer that if you ignore the storm long enough, eventually it will just pass overhead and the sun will come out again." I admitted, just above a whisper. "She's really forgiven him?"

"Yeah, from what he's told me, she has. They seemed totally normal when she came out for a short visit last week. Jazz told me their planning on trying for a baby again as soon as he gets out there."

I shook my head in disbelief over everything I'd learned in the last few hours of my vacation. I couldn't wait to get home now. I needed the normalcy of my everyday sights and sounds, because nothing was making sense right now and I felt like I was living in a parallel universe.

"What do I do now? Do I tell her I know? How am I supposed to pretend nothing's changed?"

"I think that's up to you. I will say though, Jasper is hopping you don't say anything. If you do, you'll have to also tell her how you found out, and that Josie was here in Florida. We both know she won't allow herself to easily believe he had nothing to do with that. It's how all you women think. Hell us men, too… worst case scenario logic again. She'll tell you when she's ready. I really believe she's waiting to see how things go once Jasper is home again."

"Yeah… Maybe."

Jake reached over with his right arm and gently squeezed my shoulder with his hand, "I also honestly believe that it was a mistake Jasper will never, ever, make again, Bella."

"He better not, or I swear to God I'll make it to where he won't be able to sit for a month, or even speak for that matter." I instantly barked back, before stretching my legs out in front of me to stand up. "How long ago did all this happen?"

"Right after the twin's birthday party when we got back home to the city. Is it really true that Alice is using again? Is that about the time it started back up?"

I frowned and nodded my head. "Yeah, it was. Dammit, Jasper."

"It's okay. We'll be there in a few weeks and she won't be able to hide that kind of stuff from him. He'll make sure she's not touching that shit."

I hugged my waist with my arms after crossing them down in front of me, and then took in a deep breath and exhaled. "I hope you're right, Jake."

"Can I ask you something? Please don't get mad, or even think I'm insinuating, but Jasper's been worried about something. He was going to talk to you about it tonight but, well obviously that didn't get to happen."

"What is it?"

"He mentioned someone's been staying at their place. A guy Alice met through you? Someone James is working with?"

"Garrett? What about him? We're doing a show together and he was living out of his van down by the beach, so Alice felt bad and offered him a room until he's able to save up for a real place."

Jake ran his hand anxiously through his hair, causing is to spike up chaotically at the top of his head. For a second I smirked over the sight, but then he asked his follow up question.

"Do you think, I mean is it possible that maybe Alice might have hooked up with him? Knowing what you know now, do you think it's a possibility that she would do something like that as pay back?"

"What?!" I couldn't help but laugh, "No! No way. He's not interested in Alice. He's dating Maggie!"

"Jasper had talked himself into believing something had happened between the two of them because she literally asked the guy to move in the day after Jazz had told her about what happened with Josie."

I frowned and shook my head, realizing her behavior at the party that night made absolute sense now. She'd been drowning her sorrows in designer drugs and booze.

"I am ninety-nine point nine percent positive nothing sexual has ever happened between the two of them."

After a few seconds of awkward silence Jake nodded his head and pulled me in for an impulsive hug. He held me tightly against him and let out a loud frustrated sigh. "It's sucked being the one looking in from the outside. It's really put things into a different perspective for me, Bells. I'm so sorry for everything I put you through a few years ago."

I let out a sigh of my own and hugged him back, "Like Jasper said; shit happens. We made it through intact, that's all that matters now. Eventually we both found our own way, and in the process found the people we were meant to be with." I softly insisted after increasing my grasp around his neck to hug him a little tighter. "I'm just glad Jasper realized his mistake before it was too late for them."

"Yeah… absolutely." It was hard to not notice the pause he'd taken with his response… or the look in his eyes when he'd pulled away to look down into mine. I took a slow step backwards and returned my arms to their crisscrossed position in front of me, and then forced another nod from my head. "Okay, well, I'll let you get back to work. I'll see you in a few weeks. I'm going to send a few boxes out when we get back to the city so they'll be there waiting for me when I get to town."

"Sounds good, take care Jake. Be good to your fiancé. She needs you, just as much as Alice and Jasper need each other." I reminded him with a pointed expression hoping he'd realize what I was really trying to say.

He smiled and nodded his head agreeing with me. "You have my word." He shot me one last wink from his eye and I watched him go before making my way back to the lounge chair to pick up my sketch book. I hadn't been back at it for longer than ten minutes when Edward was suddenly standing beside me looking down at my latest drawing of Bree hugging her Prince Charming.

"I didn't hear you come out!"

"Yeah, you were in the zone. I didn't mean to startle you." He shared with a hidden smirk, "You okay?"

"As okay as can be expected. Jake promised me it was the one time and that Jazz called Alice immediately. This groupie whore is some kind of legit stalker though. Hopefully she gets over it once Jasper's moved to the other side of the country." I explained after closing my sketch book in my lap.

"I think it says a lot that Jasper was honest and didn't try to hide anything from Alice."

"Yup, I'm sure it's the only reason she didn't shut him out and refuse to give him another chance." I replied agreeing with him, "It still doesn't make it okay."

"Of course not, but he handled the situation responsibly, so I hope in time you'll also be able to get past it and be a good friend to him again."

"We'll see. He's got a long ways to go with me." I admitted with a frustrated sigh.

Edward sat there silently looking out at towards Orlando's night sky and took in a deep breath. The moment he did that, I knew something else was coming, and I also knew who I had to thank for it.

James.

"Spill it, Cullen. What have all the emails and secret phone calls been about today?"

He forced a smile and tilted his head to the side, highlighting his flawless jawline under the moonlight in a way that I couldn't wait to capture on paper at a later time.

"You know me too well."

"Tis both a perk, and a terrible flaw. Sometimes it would be easier to just be oblivious, I think."

He laughed and shook his head understanding what I was saying.

"James' got a script and according to him it would be perfect for me. The director wants me, and apparently only me, so he's willing to give us whatever I want in order to get me to sign on to the project. My name is already making its rounds, being linked to it, and I just got an alert that TMZ's picked it up. I just wanted you to hear it from me before you heard about it from someone else." He carefully explained after taking my hands into his.

"Well, I can't say I expected you to just stop acting after one movie." I admitted with an impulsive huff escaping passed my lips.

"I had a feeling you'd say that."

This was not how I wanted to end our getaway, but at the same time, it seemed perfect given the way the rest of our evening had gone. "What's it about?"

"It's an action suspense film. I'll play Ryan Torrant, a journalist who finds himself going up against powerful politicians that have a lot to hide." He explained, already sounding more than excited about the project.

"Sounds interesting. Who's directing?"

His instant grin told me everything I already needed to know. "Arno Smith?"

Only my husband's most favorite director in all of Hollywood.

"YES!"

His excitement was slightly contagious, but it only lasted a few seconds. It was nice to see him so excited about something. "That's amazing news, baby. I'm so happy for you!" I had to force a lot of that, but deep down I meant at least seventy-five percent of what I'd said in response to his news.

"It's pretty amazing. I still need to meet with him when I get back into town, but if you're okay with the idea, I can't imagine I'll find any other reason to turn it down."

"When will you start shooting?"

"Not until next month. We have to work everything around the press tour, but James said it won't be a problem. I just wanted to talk to you first before agreeing to meet with Mr. Smith." He shared before pulling me up into his lap to wrap his arms around me.

"You have my blessing to meet with him, just don't sign any contracts until you find out all the minor details and we go over the fine print together, okay?"

"You have my word! God, it feels so good to finally tell you. I was so worried you would be pissed about me jumping into another project so soon." He admitted before kissing the back of my shoulder with his lips.

"I'll always be on board, as long as you're honest with me." I gently replied, after turning my head to look him in the eyes. He grinned widely and pulled my face down to bring our lips together, and I stayed there in his arms wishing we could just pause the moment until the sun would come up around us.

Unfortunately, the moment our kiss ended, Edward was lifting me up off of his lap to reposition me in my chair so that he could stand back up, "I need to go call James and tell him to set up the meeting."

I nodded my head, and then forced another smile. "Okay, I'll be in soon. I just want to finish up some shading."

"Don't be too long. I want to celebrate under the sheets, beautiful."

I laughed and shot him a thumbs up before he disappeared back into our suite. Before opening my sketch book back up I glanced at my cell phone that was lying on the table beside me.

I hadn't replied to Garrett's text yet.

Why that realization had crept back into my thoughts was beyond me, but without mulling it over for very long I snatched up my phone and hit the call button under his name.

He answered on the second ring.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise. Is it wishful thinking to hope this is a drunk dial?" his voice instantly teased.

"Sorry, absolutely sober over here. How are you?"

"I-am-fine. How are you?" he questioned back after clearing his throat. I could hear someone in the background and figured it was Maggie asking him who had called.

"Are you busy? I should have just text. Sorry."

"No, not busy. We just finished eating dinner."

"Tell Maggie I said, hi."

"Not Maggie. Alice. She cooked me a real dinner tonight, no take out. Can you believe it?"

I could hear Alice yelling at him in the background in response to his sarcastic statement, and for a moment I smiled at the sound of her carefree behavior.

"Tell Alice I said hi."

"Bella says hi, now finish the dishes so we can start the movie before it gets to be your bedtime."

"Hi Belllllllla! Miss you! Love you! Hurry home!" Alice shouted in the background. I smiled again and did my best to fight back the tears that were now threatening to expose me and everything I knew.

"What's up my lady. You didn't reply to my text earlier."

"Yeah, sorry. I was in a loud noisy club and could barely hear myself think." I lied, and then flipped open my sketch book to start tracing a new outline.

"How was the show? Alice found a video already posted on YouTube and showed me during dinner. We tried to spot you in the crowd, but no such luck."

"It was good,"

Silence.

Say something or he's going to know something's…

"What's wrong, Bella?"

And there's what we needed to avoid.

"Why does something have to be wrong?" I questioned with a nervous laugh.

"I can just tell there's something on your mind. You never call me, we always just text, and I can tell by your tone that you called for a reason, so spill."

I flicked at the bit of lead that had broken from my pencil where I'd pressed it too firmly against the paper in my sketch book and let out a loud sigh. "There are a lot of things wrong, but I'm only calling about one of them right now. Is Alice still close by?"

"Yeah, give me a second. Allie, I'll be right back, Bella needs me to look up the brand of pencils she'd used with me the other day."

"Nice cover up." I mumbled before bringing my nails to my teeth. I was so nervous to ask him the question that I needed answered, but I had to know. I had to be sure I was right when I'd told Jasper and Jake that Alice would never cheat. Since I couldn't ask Alice without her getting suspicious, I really didn't have any other option but to question the one person who had been living with her for the last few weeks.

"Yup, you know me, Mr. Suave."

I smirked at his reply and spit out the piece of finger nail I'd successfully bitten off, and then pulled my hair up into a high pony tail off of my shoulders.

"Oh, hey! By the way congrats to Edward! I heard he's being courted for a new Smith film!"

"Yup, super-duper exciting." I really didn't want to talk about any of that right now, and I hoped my snappy response would help him realize that fact before he pressed the matter any further.

"Okay… changing the subject then, since that's obviously what you want… what's going on over there in Florida?"

"Thanks, yeah. I'd rather focus on one frustration for the time being. It's all I can honestly mentally handle at the moment." I confessed before tossing my sketch book to the side to stand up and make my way towards the balcony railing for a better view of the city skyline. "As far as you know, I mean, because you've been living there, so I figured if anyone would know it would be you, but…"

"I haven't seen her high, Bella."

"Well, that's great news, but not exactly what I was going to ask, but it does make me really happy to hear." I quickly replied feeling a bit of relief come from his statement. "Has Alice… have there been any guys coming over?"

He laughed and immediately answered, "Nope. Not-a-one, why are you asking? Does her husband think something's going on?"

"I don't know. I mean I guess. It's all a mess, and she hasn't said a word to me about any of it. Please don't tell her I asked, or even said anything to you about her."

"I won't. You'll have to tell me more though when you get back and allow me to steal you away for an afternoon."

I rolled my eyes and let out a soft laugh. "I guess you need reminding that you're going to be very busy working for my husband when I get back in town."

"Oh, I'll always find a way to make time for you."

The second he'd completed his sentence, I could literally almost see his smirking face. His slick response instantly signaled it was time for me to end the call.

"I have to go. I'll text you when we get back in town."

"I'll be waiting. Have a safe flight back."

I hung up and released a frustrated huff before throwing my arms out to the sky, wishing I could just not know what I now knew. It was so-so much easier living in the dark before.

I couldn't help but let out a sarcastic laugh.

Ignorance really was bliss, and at the moment I'd do anything to crawl back into my ignorantly safe shell of a reality.

Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be that easy.


A/N: Lots of stuff to digest in this one, so I'm anxious to hear your thoughts. Bella's going to be doing a lot more reflecting in the next chapter, which is almost half way complete. I'm trying my best to do updates every 9-12 days now. Thanks so much for reading!

*Reviews are the best kind of motivation!*