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Song for this chapter – Fooled Around and Fell in Love – Elvin Bishop

Edward spirals out of control.We see what the record company does to him and what has happened to Bella.

Thanks for dannibags for suggesting this story, for correcting my errors, and for being awesome. Piesmom for making sure that everything is good before it's début.

Chapter 11

Fooled Around and Fell In Love

EPOV

I didn't even go to the room after what happened at the poker game. I knew I had fucked up majorly. I had promised my mother I would think things through before going and doing something stupid, but I had done it anyway and couldn't take it back. I spent the night in the lobby, lying on the couch. The woman at the front desk kept hounding me, so I couldn't get a good night's rest on that crappy couch.

At six, when she begged me to please get up, I did. I headed into the little room where they had a continental breakfast and sat there drinking coffee, trying to get over the headache that now permeated my brain. I rubbed my temples, trying to alleviate some of the pain, but it didn't help. I reached into my pocket, pulling out one of the pain pills I had and swallowed it with my next sip of coffee.

The 'Love Bands' walked in, and I immediately left the room, but noticed that Izzy wasn't with them. I figured I would pack my shit from the room when I knew that Izzy had left. Actually, I didn't really want to get rid of the girls, but last night it seemed like a good plan. Now it was just a matter of them finding out and then dealing with the fallout from it. I prayed Izzy would go with them, though that part of the plan still seemed good to me.

I hung around in the dark corners of the hotel and watched as everyone gathered their things and got ready to board the bus. When the coast was clear, I entered our room and gathered my belongings and headed out toward the bus. As usual, I was the last one to enter and stuck with a seat in the front. I wasn't going to complain, and I waited for someone to say something, but no one ever did.

One thing about the ride to New York, the tension was so thick you could cut it with a fucking knife. When the bus pulled up in front of the Gramercy Park Hotel, I was the first to get off the bus. I wanted out of that situation quickly. Plus I didn't want to give the remaining girls the opportunity to catch up with my ass. I knew I was going to get an earful when they got me alone. I walked into the lobby and right into Kate.

"Edward," she said, running over to me and wrapping her arms around my neck. I tried to shake her off, but she wouldn't have it. She had never and I mean never done anything like this before in the entire time we had been married. It was then that my mother's words made sense. I had to be careful around her and make sure I kept her at arm's length.

"Kate," I replied, looking around to see if Izzy had entered the lobby yet. When our eyes met for a brief moment, I could see the hurt in hers and I knew that they matched my own. I wanted to be with her like we were before Kate decided to come to New York. I wanted her to meet my parents, give her the life she had always dreamed about, and be the man I know I can be for her. I would give it all away in a heartbeat to be with her. All she had to do was say the word, and it would be done, but she had to understand there were people still standing in my way of being with her. Once those people were out of my life for good, I would find her. Like my mother had said, 'If you love something set it free. If it returns, it was meant to be' and that was the plan. To set her free, to let her chose. Not that I wouldn't find her later to convince her to come back with me because I would, but I had to let her find herself. Now I could see how selfish it was to want her to go with 'The Hawks.' It wasn't a good idea any more.

I was happy she didn't go now, but sad that she would have to sit and watch as I had to play games with Kate. I knew I would have to do a percentage of things with Kate, but Izzy wouldn't know they were all show. She would probably assume the worst, and I never wanted her to go through that. Maybe she might leave with Jasper and Tink, if she thought that would be the best option for her. I hated the idea, but at least I knew where to start looking when I finally got rid of Kate.

"So, I was thinking that being we haven't been together in a while, you must be pretty horny," Kate whispered in my ear, pulling my attention from Izzy.

"I'm fine at the moment, maybe later. Oh, but we have a dinner tonight so … we will just play it by ear," I said, trying to deflect the situation. I wasn't going to sleep with her, no matter how hard she tried. That was one thing I wouldn't budge on.

Letting my arms that were barely touching Kate go slack, I began to pull away when she pulled me back into her embrace.

"You're fucking her, aren't you?" she seethed through clinched teeth, looking in the direction I knew Izzy was with Jasper.

"No, why would you say that?" I asked, denying everything. 'Ask me no questions and I won't tell you no lies' best line ever from a song.

"You haven't kissed me, and you're not even excited to see me. It's been a month since I saw you in Seattle, and you didn't touch me then. So, who have you been getting it from, one of the other little groupies on this tour?" she asked, looking around and spotting both Tink and Rose, who were glaring at us at the moment.

"All three? Wow, aren't you the stud of the group," Kate sneered, pulling out of the embrace and walking in their direction. I had to stop her before she caused a fucking scene. Plus I was a little afraid what Rose might do to her. I didn't want to have to make that phone call, and it wouldn't look good on my behalf for the divorce papers. I grabbed her arm, making her look at me.

"I haven't slept with anyone … groupies or otherwise. Also, none of those girls are groupies, so stop referring to them as such. Have you ever thought that maybe I'm just not that into you anymore?" I asked, leading her out of the lobby and up to our room. I knew she already had one, and I wasn't about to let her try to say something to Izzy or the others again.

"I shouldn't have come if you no longer want me around," she seethed, pulling from my grasps to walk ahead of me. I wasn't going to complain. At least she was doing what I wanted her to.

"We are going to work this out, and you will stop seeing the little groupie in the lobby … how old is she … ten?" she asked, as the elevator closed on us.

"She's not ten, and I'm not sleeping with her," I stated again. My blood was beginning to boil with her talking of Izzy like that.

"Whatever, but you will fuck me this week, and when we get back to LA, things are going to change," she said, as the doors opened on the elevator, alerting us that we were on our floor.

"You made it this way when you left from LA and wouldn't support my career," I said, right on her tail. I would have to work something out with Mike or Garrett to see about shacking up with them tonight because there was no way in hell I would be putting my ass in the same bed as her. I wasn't about to give her an inch.

She ignored me and walked down to the room, opening the door. I hesitantly placed my bags in the room. I would just take them somewhere else while she was taking a shower to get ready for tonight's dinner.

Kate stripped out of her clothes and crawled onto the bed naked. I tried not to look, but I did with her ass in the air at one point.

"What are you doing?" I hissed, looking down, not wanting to look at her again. It wasn't that Kate wasn't beautiful because she was, but she had just lost the appeal she had once had to me.

"If you're not sleeping with anyone like you say … then you won't be able to resist having temptation in your face."

Picking up my bags, I headed toward the door.

"Dinner's at seven. Be ready and put on some fucking clothes," I said, opening the door and leaving. She is up to something and the way she wanted me to fuck her so badly makes me wonder if she isn't trying to get pregnant. I am not about to stick my cock in her for two reasons … Izzy and I am not having a baby with her.

Mike wasn't exactly happy when I showed up at his room. It seemed he was a little mad at me about the girls. I don't know why it bothered him. It wasn't like he was fucking any of them. With nowhere to go, I went downstairs to the reservation desk and booked my own fucking room. Who needed any of these losers any ways?

~AASS~

Dinner was rather uneventful, with Kate talking to others around the table and finally getting along with everyone for once in her life. Garrett seemed to hang on every word she uttered, which I thought was a little unusual. Jessi or any of the other girls had never caused him to act like he was. He smiled like he didn't have a care in the world and laughed at everything she said. Personally, I didn't find anything that came out of her mouth cute or even remotely funny. I guess the aura of Kate had already worn off, but that wasn't something that was really news to me.

Resting my arm behind her chair was something of habit, and something I had also done with both her and Izzy, but I didn't realize the problems it would cause. I was listening to Jasper talk about how the new manager was setting us up right. Every show, we would be flown to instead of us having to ride 'Old Bertha' around the world. There was a tingle sensation crawled up my spine, making me shiver. There was only one person on this planet that ever had that effect on my body, and I didn't know whether to look over at her or just act like nothing happened.

I didn't move at first, bouncing my leg waiting on her to come over and make a scene. Dinner hadn't been the easiest thing to get through, but Tink and Rose avoided all my questions or didn't even look in my direction. This was why I didn't want Izzy here. I wouldn't expect her to sit across from Kate and me and play nice. I couldn't do it for her, and I sure as hell didn't expect her to do it either. The girls noticed Izzy first, and when I watched them whispering to one another, I turned to look.

About falling out of my chair, I saw Izzy like I had never seen her before. She was absolutely beautiful, gorgeous, and vixen like, standing across from us. I couldn't stop looking. She had her hair down and flowing around her shoulders. The black top was tight and showing off everything about her chest, making me want to be with her, instead of Kate at the moment. I couldn't stop looking, caught in her gaze until I felt nails claw into my legs. I looked down and noticed it was Kate's hand digging into me. I looked up at her, pissed she was hurting me for no good damn reason. "Oww," I said, alerting Jasper that something was wrong. That's when I noticed the glare she was casting in Izzy's direction.

Jasper quickly jumped up from the table and strolled over to Izzy, grabbing her elbow to lead her out of the restaurant. Kate's clawing into me didn't stop. In fact, it got fucking worse as she narrowed her eyes at me. I leaned over into her hair, making it look like I was about to whisper sweet words into her ear.

"Get… your… fucking… hands… off… me…now," I slowly threatened, so only she could hear. I grabbed her fucking hand under the table and gave it a little squeeze. I didn't hurt her, but I wanted her to get the damn drift. I had never been this course with her in all my life; even when coked out, I had never laid a hand on her or said an ill word. I usually allowed her to rant and fucking rave about shit; all while never really paying attention. I had always allowed her to run all over me, but it still pissed me off and got on my damn nerves. Not any more, I was over this whole damn charade.

Kate didn't say another word and Jasper returned giving me a shitty look. I knew I had it coming from him already, but nothing would be said here. It was something we would discuss in private. Always in private … Jasper wasn't much for airing out dirty laundry, and never talked about Tink and his adventures. I guess some would say we were similar in that respect because no one besides him knew the real me anymore. Garrett didn't know shit about me or what I was going through personally. I hardly spoke to Mike or Emmett unless it was something about music or our performance. That was the way I wanted it.

After dinner, Kate tried to follow me back to the room I had rented for my stay, but I had to find a way to lose her. When I told her I was going out for drinks, she wanted to come. I allowed her to come with me down town to get a couple of beers, at which she bitched about how we could have stayed at the hotel to have a couple of beers.

It was then I noticed that Kate didn't want anything to drink other than water. I thought about dinner as she proceeded to bitch beside me about how shitty the bar was, but I tuned her out and thought. It was weird the way she was acting. Like something was off with her. She didn't eat much during dinner and complained about the smell of the fish I had gotten. She was trying to crawl up my fucking ass the entire time we were at dinner, but I played it off to her putting on an act for the others. I couldn't put my finger on what was going on, and with her constant talking beside me, I couldn't think. I called for the check and paid the bartender, determined to get the hell out of there before they ran us off. Kate was talking so loud I didn't know if we were going to get our asses kicked before we made it out.

Once on the curb, I hailed a taxi and decided to get rid of my problem. When the taxi stopped in front of us, I placed my hand on the small of Kate's back and lightly pushed her into the cab, making her climb in first. It worked like a charm. I leaned in like I was about to get in too and told the cabbie the address to the hotel we were staying. Before Kate could move, I shut the door and tapped the roof alerting the cabbie he could go. Kate spun around to look at me as the taxi pulled out into traffic and down the road. I did the shittiest thing and waved to her as she pulled out of sight.

"Good riddance," I said, as they disappeared. I didn't want to go back to the hotel because I was sure she would be waiting for me in the lobby when I got there. I also didn't want to stand here or wait for her to tell the cabbie to stop and come back. So, I ran down the block, crossing at different intersections until I found another hotel. I ducked inside and rented a room for the night. I used an assumed name, Han Solo, to register, just in case she called around looking for me. I wondered if it would work, but the receptionist just looked at me funny. She took my money and handed me the key. I laughed all the way to the room. I couldn't wait to tell Jasper it really worked.

~AASS~

Walking back to the hotel in the morning wasn't all that fun, but I had to be back before the sound check at Madison Square Garden. It didn't take me to long to get back; the hotel I had stayed at was only a couple of blocks from Gramercy Park Hotel.

As I walked into the lobby of the hotel, I saw Jasper and Alice at the front desk. Figuring they were heading out already, I stopped to ask Jasper if Izzy was going with them.

"Hey man, I have to tell you the funniest sh…" I said, patting him on the back to get his attention.

"We need to fucking talk," he growled, cutting me off before I could finish, looking over toward Tink, who looked extremely pissed. He handed her some money and told her to take care of it. Jasper grabbed my elbow and pushed me towards the entrance.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I asked, as he shoved me along the way. I knew everyone was pissed about trying to give the girls to another band, but never figured Jasper would be this pissed about it. Now, I was regretting even having to know what she was up to and if she was going to LA with them.

Once outside, Jasper pointed around to the corner of the building where there was an alleyway. Before I could get words out of my mouth to apologize for my stupid actions, Jasper reared back and punched me right in the fucking nose. Causing my nose to bleed, I reached up pinching my nose and holding my head back.

"Who are you?" he screamed. I stood there, knowing I probably deserved more than what he had given me, but not saying a word because blood was running down my fucking throat.

"Edward, this isn't like you … you've made dumb decision before … trust me I know, but you almost ruined her life last night, and you weren't even around to know what you did," he hollered, pacing around the alley.

"You've broken her, and in the middle of the fucking night … she disappeared. Gone, I don't know where the fuck she is and don't know if she is safe. Alice is madder than hell at you, and I highly … highly suggest you stay away from Rose Bud. She's out to fucking kill you," he said, calming himself down.

"What? What happened?" I asked, muffled from the fact I was still pinching my nose.

"She's gone, Edward … last night after she saw Kate and you in the restaurant, Izzy went back to our room. I don't know how she fucking got a hold of Quaaludes, but she ate them. A handful of them, man! Thank God, Jake found her and rushed to get a doctor," he said, as I let go of my nose and crashed to the ground fucking crying. What had I done?

"Look, I will try to find her, but I don't know where to start looking or how long it's going to take," Jasper sighed.

"Find her and make sure she is okay, but don't tell me. I don't deserve her … never did … it's best if I don't know. I would only ruin her further if I saw her again. It's over," I said, picking myself up off the fucking ground and walked toward the entrance. Jasper yelled my name over and over, but I would never turn to face him.

I walked right passed Tink and didn't say a word. I headed straight to my room, pulling out the damn bottles from the mini fridge and drank every one of them.

~AASS~

Mike pulled me out of the bed when it was time for the sound check at the garden. I drank all the way there, during the entire show, and all the way back to the hotel. Kate tagged along for everything, but I ditched her once again by disappearing as she talked to some of the wives from the main act. I didn't have time for her shit tonight and didn't want to see her.

I walked to the closest bar and sat there drinking for the remainder of the night, and when the bar closed at two in the morning, I crawled toward the first hotel that wasn't mine and rented another room. I called Mike to let him know where I was, but gave him strict instructions to not tell Kate where I was. Mike was the only one I could trust not to tell her. Emmett would tell her because of Rose Bud and Garrett, well, I didn't trust him at all. When I entered the room, I grabbed the bottles from the fridge and collapsed in the bed finishing them off.

The loud as fuck ringing of the phone woke me up.

"What?" I screamed into the phone, as my head continue to pound from the hangover I now had.

"It's Mike. Look, you need to get here. Aro and the new manager, Caius, have called a meeting. The whole band is supposed to be here, plus we are getting ready to leave for Connecticut."

"Fine, I'll be there," I said, hanging up the phone before Mike could say any more.

I dreaded the meeting with Aro and Caius. They would corner me after the band meeting and want to know my decision about the solo career. I still hadn't made up my mind completely, but my best idea was to cut the band lose of all future obligations.

After showering, I headed back over to Gramercy Park Hotel. I walked up to my room and quickly gathered my things. As I was coming out of my room, Garrett and Kate walked by laughing until they saw me.

"Edward, there you are … you had us worried," Kate said, coming over to me and pulling me into a hug.

"I'm sure you were distraught," I sneered, lightly shoving her away from my body.

"Of course, I was with what happened to that groupie, Izzy … the whole hotel has been talking about it. Seems she was a drug addicted, who tried to overdose last night because she was in love with a band member who wouldn't return her affections," Kate said narrowing her eyes at me. I ignored her and focused on the task at hand, finding out the location of this meeting and how soon.

"When is the meeting?" I asked, looking over to Garrett.

"Couple of minutes. They set up a board room downstairs. Apparently, whatever decisions they are making affects everyone," Garrett said, looking at the floor. I thought it was odd that out of all the times in Garrett's life, even when the record label was here, he couldn't look me in the eye.

Narrowing my eyes at him, I wondered what could be his fucking problem and why now? I asked him what room, and once he had satisfied my questions, he hurried down the hall and out of sight.

Kate slide beside me once again and played with the collar of my shirt, acting like she was picking lint or something off it.

"I spoke to Aro and Caius earlier," she said, continuing to pull something off me. It was like she was my mother, making sure I looked my best for the meeting.

"What about? Because the way I see things … you have no reason to even be socializing with them."

"They came looking for you in our room. The room you are supposed to share with your wife. Well, they wanted to know if you had made a decision about going solo yet. Actually, they said you would make it to the top if you would just pull away from the extra baggage," she said, brushing down the front of my shirt and raising her arms to touch my hair.

"Don't," I sneered. I didn't want her touching me at all, and I knew this was another one of her games. Kate had dollar signs and a paycheck in her sights; I just knew it.

"Fine, but you're taking the solo career, and I will be with you the entire time."

"What? Now, you want to come on tour with me. What the fuck is your problem here lately? One minute you want me to head home and forget about my music career, and now that you hear about me going solo … you want me to stay? Not only do you want me to take the job, but you want to stay with me?" I asked, knowing this was coming from her if she found out and the reason why I didn't want her to know.

As long as I was nobody, for her, I was better off in Seattle with her, but if I could be somebody, well, that meant Kate wanted me to have a solo career. However, if three or four months into the new job, if I wasn't doing well, it would be back to running home for Kate. It was the same back and forth shit I had dealt with in the beginning.

"I could see that things would be different being on the road with just you," she purred, leaning into kiss me, but I stepped back.

"No, Kate … I'm not taking it," I said, walking away from her and leaving her in the hallway to figure out where to go. One thing I was positive about was that Kate wasn't invited to the meeting, and when I took the solo career, well, I would hide everything from her until I could get a divorce. The question was would I be able to pull it all off.

Stepping into the conference room was a little formal for the band. We were used to discussing backstage or on the tour bus.

"Welcome everyone …" Aro said, standing at the head of the table "… 'Midnight Riders' … you are about to go through some changes," he said, walking around the table.

"The first changes are that you will no longer be riding the tour bus. From now on you will be flying to and from all the shows left on the tour." I didn't have much of an opinion about flying or not. To tell the truth, I was happy we wouldn't be climbing back on the bus. The bus had too many memories of Izzy and not having to ride the thing for the remainder of the tour was a fucking relief.

"Now, for the second leg of the US tour …" Caius started "… we are sorry to say that we will not be picking the 'Midnight Riders' for the second leg. So, after the shows in Canada, you will no longer be employed with MCA." I knew it was fucking coming.

"What?" Garrett yelled. "You promised me the band would finish out the second half," Garrett hollered, standing from his chair, causing it to hit the wall behind him. I couldn't believe he had been talking to them without the band, but at least he was focused on the band for once and not himself.

"Please calm down, and we will explain," Aro said. Garrett pulled his chair back to the table, but was still fuming.

"Record sales haven't increased since you came on the tour. We've tried everything possible to get the buzz out about you, but nothing has worked. Bands like yours are a dying breed. Things are moving away from the older bands of the seventies and more into glam rock. Unless you plan on going back to the studio, change the way you sound, and the way you dress … well then maybe, we have something to work with," Caius said, looking around the table for someone to offer some kind of agreement. I knew that Garrett didn't want to get into the new generation of music. Hell, I didn't want to dye my hair blonde or tease it … it was hard enough to control as it was. I saw the way the new generation looked and all of them had big hair like girls and wore makeup. I wasn't interested and neither was half the band.

"I told you the other day, we're not a glam rock band." Garrett started yelling again.

"Well, unless you plan on changing, then we have nothing to work with," Caius said. I knew something like this could happen with a new manager coming on. Jasper would have fought for us not to change, stating there was still a need or fans out there, but now dealing with Caius, it was either his way or no way.

"To tell you the truth we are not interested in trying to revamp a dying breed," Aro said, sitting down at the head of the table.

"What about solo careers? You also said if the band couldn't make it, you would be offering me one? Is that still on the table?" Garrett asked, grasping for anything to keep himself in the game.

"Unless you plan on following the same rules as the band … then no, we won't be extending you that offer," Aro said, leaning back in his chair, while folding his arms over his chest.

"You won't offer me one, but you'll offer this fucking prick one?" Garrett asked, while looking in my direction.

"What happens with Edward and us is our decision and none of your business," Caius said, narrowing his eyes at Garrett.

"You've always wanted him as your little puppet, and now you've got it. What did you do, Edward? Screw us all by taking the solo career? I thought we were in this until the end."

"I haven't signed up to do shit," I sneered at Garrett.

"Not yet, but give it time. They always wanted you … always made you the spokesperson, the lead, but you know what, you never were. Do they know how many songs you have written? Ten … ten fucking songs out of thirty; a fucking third of what we have done. You have no talent … you can't write for shit, and you're a fucking addict on top of that," Garrett sneered. I lunged across the table, tired of his bullshit, and now that things were falling apart at the seams, I didn't hold back.

I punched Garrett right in the fucking mouth. Mainly because I was tired of hearing him complain about how bad life was for him. He had it fucking made … we all did, but he was never happy and never willing to change; that was his mistake. Garrett landed a couple of shots to my eye before the crew pulled us apart.

Garrett was ushered out of the room, and I was shoved into a chair. Aro dismissed the others, letting them know when the flight was leaving, and when the car would arrive to pick them up. Emmett and Mike had been quiet the entire meeting. The only time Emmett spoke was to ask about Rose Bud accompanying him on the flight. We were flying in a private plane, so it didn't matter who came along.

Once everyone was out, Aro and Caius closed the door, and I knew what was coming.

"It's time," Caius said.

"What's it going to be?" Aro asked.

"What choice do I really have?" I asked, utterly defeated. I knew they would hold us responsible for all the records, tours, and any charges they wanted to tack on.

"You have a choice here. Don't make us out to be the bad guys here," Caius said, motioning between Aro and him. Aro reached into his brief case and pulled out a contract. He slid the papers over to me.

"Whatever, where do I sign?" I asked, pulling the pages closer to me. Caius pulled out a pen and handed it over.

A/N: Okay, so don't hate me first of all … Izzy's gone. The band has officially been fired, and Edward is about to embark on a solo career. Things aren't looking so good for our couple here. The remaining chapters will follow the same pattern of back and forth between POVs, but they will no longer be together. Please stay to see what happens next.