A/N: I decided, thanks to all of your drunken insights, to skip over Bella having a hangover. Thanks for all the reviews.

Disclaimer: The characters belong to someone else.

Chapter 14 – The Bank Job

I tossed and turned all night dreaming of fiery explosions, fire fighters spraying their hoses into my mouth, James chasing me down the street, and Edward carrying me. Everything was kind of a jumbled blur. In the moments between being asleep and awake, I played over the previous day in my mind. It had been both terrible and wonderful. Terrible because of the way I had treated Edward that morning and terrible because my vintage truck was charred. Wonderful because I heard what Edward told Esme, and because I was sleeping in the arms of the most wonderful man in the universe.

Wait, I'm sleeping in his arms?

I opened my eyes to find my head and right hand resting on Edward's chest.

His glorious, muscle ridden, perfect chest that I wish were bare right now.

He was lying on his back with one arm pinned under my body loosely holding my back between my shorts and my tank top. Feeling his touch on my bare skin was enough to drive me insane. Slowly so as not to disturb him, I turned my head to see all the chastity pillows strewn across the bed and floor on my side. I realized that it appeared that I had been the one to break through and disregard the carefully erected barrier. Maybe, if I got up very carefully, I could replace the pillows and get back to side of the bed without him noticing.

"Not so fast sneaky!" Edward grabbed me and pulled back to him as I started to move from his body.

"Good morning." He looked at me smiling.

"Hi," I replied blushing.

"So, I guess you decided to throw caution to the wind last night," he smirked.

I wish.

"Well, you looked cold," I said innocently.

"Oh Bella, you are always the selfless one. Thank you for risking your virtue to keep me warm last night."

"I wouldn't want you to get sick," I replied suddenly in no hurry to get up.

"I better go into the office so we can head out later." Edward said after more time had passed. "Are you ok to hang out here?

"Sure." I replied not anxious to return to the place where I first met James.

Edward showered and left for the office soon after. I sat at the table drinking coffee pretending that Edward and I were married, and that this was a typical day when he went off to make our millions while I stayed home to write my articles. I wondered if we would put our kids in daycare or if I would want them with me at home while I worked. Of course we would be able to afford a nanny I reminded myself, and couldn't believe I had been so foolish as to nearly condemn our children to years of daycare. Edward would probably bring me home flowers every Friday, and once a week he would take our daughters out for special dad time. We would have barbeques in our huge backyard with Emmett, who would have a new much uglier wife or girlfriend, and of course Alice would be there with her husband, and our kids would be best friends. We wouldn't live in Shamrock though; Edward and his money would have long ago kissed these ingrates goodbye. I washed my cup pretending this was my kitchen with a convection oven, matching plates, and espresso machine.

I typed a quick email to Alice letting her know I would be home that evening and we would be having company. I told her my truck had finally given out, not wanting to worry her. I could only imagine her squeals of delight when she read that she would be meeting Edward and that things so far were working out. She had been so protective of me ever since the whole Jacob fiasco. I knew her happiness would almost match my own when she saw the way I was with Edward. I felt like the pain of the past was rapidly becoming insignificant and trivial. How could I ever have even thought I loved Jacob? I loved the idea of having someone there – someone who I needed and who needed me to. Jacob and I had definitely filled a void in each other's lives, but I was foolish to confuse companionship with passion. For three years now I had secretly prayed Jacob would come back to me, but the way Edward looked at me made my every wish for Jacob evaporate into thin air.

I was still angry at myself for letting myself get hurt so badly. I was trying so hard to let go of the part of me that was determined to hold Edward at arms length. I didn't want to have to protect myself from his pending rejection. There was still the concern that he couldn't possibly feel this way about me so fast. I was funny, and I knew I had a talent for making people feel at ease and good about themselves, but those tricks wore off. I worried that once he got used to me telling him he was wonderful and when I ran out of new witty remarks to make him laugh, he would surely tire of me. It had happened with Jacob. I had been so sure of his love, but he had put it plainly, "I've had enough of you." I had no idea how to be enough for someone as perfect as Edward.

I started to feel a little stir crazy and needed an escape from my thoughts. I decided to go for a walk and get some exercise. It could only make the time I was separated from my Edward go faster if I were doing something rather than sitting here thinking about everything that might go wrong. I quickly got ready and walked out onto the street. I had no particular destination in mind, but I loved the clean air here. I turned a corner and stopped dead in my tracks as I recognized an ominous black truck pulling up and parking curbside across the street. I ducked out of sight, and watched James get out of his truck and walk towards me. I started to panic, unsure if I should run or call for help. Relief washed over me as I realized he hadn't seen me when he walked into a bank not far from where I was standing.

If I was careful I thought, I could just peek in the window and see what he was up to without him noticing.

Do not trip now whatever you do.

I saw him walk into a doorless office just off the bank lobby. He had his back to the window and sat on a desk beside a woman who also had her back to me looking at a computer screen.

I'm not sure whether it was bravery or stupidity that spurred me forward, but the next thing I knew I was inside the bank. I stood at an island in the middle of the lobby and pretended to be filling out a deposit slip. I positioned myself so that I could just see into the office. I wouldn't have been able to hear most of the conversation going on inside, but luckily James was raising his voice angrily.

"Did you get the money out of his account or not?" He snarled at the woman.

"Yes I got it out, just like you told me to. I swear you think I am some incompetent bimbo sometimes," the red haired woman snapped back at him.

"Why haven't the police arrested him?" He clutched his hands into fists. "What more evidence do they need?"

"Haven't you heard darling," the woman said through clenched teeth. "A witness saw a man tampering with her truck. The chief told the detectives to lay off of Edward when he heard his alibi."

"What!" James growled. "Of all the idiotic things that imbecile could do."

"Calm down. We'll just have to think of something else. I must say though, I thought that plan was genius. How could you have known she would jump out at the last second? Maggie from the hospital tells me he was beside himself and didn't move from her side the entire time she was there." The woman laughed. "It would have destroyed him completely had it worked. He probably would have killed himself for us by now." She laid a hand seductively on his chest.

"I like the sound of that." James purred at her and attacked her lips ferociously in a way that would have made a stripper blush.

Ewww barf.

"Bella what are you doing here?" A loud voice rang out through the entire bank.

"Emmet!" I was terrified as out of the corner of my eye I saw James and the woman look directly at me.

"I heard you were still in town, and oh man sorry about your truck. I heard you put on quite a fireworks show yesterday." He said laughing and punched me in the arm.

"Emmet, I need to get out of here. Can you please do me a favor and walk with me?" I said hoping the pleading in my eyes would communicate the seriousness of the situation.

"Sure thing Bells," he said eyeing me suspiciously.

I grabbed his arm and led him outside onto the sidewalk. "Can you please take me to Edward," I begged him shaking.

"Bella what's going on," he asked concerned before looking over his shoulder to see a furious James coming towards us.

"Let's go." He directed me into his Jeep which was directly in front of us, hopped in, and screeched out onto the road. "I know James is a creep, but he looked like he planned to hurt you just then. What's going on Bella?"

I told him the entire story starting with James cornering me at Edward's office and then what I had just overheard.

"Damn Bella! That was really stupid of you to follow him into the bank." Emmett scolded me.

"I know. I don't know what I was thinking." I was still shaking with fear.

When we pulled up to Edward's office, I jumped out of the jeep and ran inside. I ignored the woman sitting behind a desk in the lobby that looked up with surprise when I ran past her back to Edward's office. I threw open the door. He looked up from his desk, shocked to see me, and smiled before his expression changed to concern when he saw my face. He stood up, and I threw myself into his arms.

"Bella what happened?" He exclaimed.

I was unable to speak and just held onto him like my life depended on it. Emmett came in behind me and cleared his throat.

"Tell me what happened?" Edward looked at Emmett confused.

"Bella ran into James at the bank." Emmett explained.

"What! Bella, why did you leave the apartment! The chief told us to be careful. What did he do? Did he hurt you?" His face and tone turned suddenly dark.

"No he didn't hurt me." I said trying to compose myself. "I followed him, and I heard him talking to a woman about money being taken out of an account and how it's too bad the girl got out of the truck because you would have killed yourself if the plan worked!" I said quickly running out of breath at the end.

"Hang on a second." Edward rushed to his computer and typed something into the keyboard. "Another withdrawal was made from my trust account two days ago," he said with his brows furrowed.

"The woman Bella is talking about at the bank was Victoria." Emmett added gravely.

"I think we better call the chief," Edward said as he stood reaching for me and then the phone.

After a long talk with chief Masen on speaker phone, I started to feel a little better. The chief was happy we were leaving town for a few days, and promised to follow up on this new information right away.

"Edward, why don't we just go over to where James is and finish this whole thing right now?" Emmett said punching one palm with his other fist a few times.

"As much as I'd love to do that Emmett, I'm not sure giving James a good pummeling will do anything to help us in the long run." Edward said after stopping to consider Emmett's proposal.

"Just wait till I tell Rosie about this," Emmett said almost like he was talking to himself. "She'll have to drop this whole, 'you shouldn't still be friends with Edward' thing after that."

"I'm not sure you're much of a friend to Edward if you are dating a woman who insists on accusing him of murder!" I scowled at Emmett suddenly furious.

"Woah, down Bella!" Emmett said holding up his hands in surrender and backing away from me.

"Please Bella. Emmett wouldn't be Emmett without Rose. They are made for each other. She and I have never exactly clicked, but I'm sure she will loosen up once we all start hanging out as couples and I'm not the third wheel anymore."

You had me at Bella.

"I just don't like seeing you treated like this." I said burying my face in his chest.

"And I don't like seeing you in danger. Let's go get my stuff so we can get you out of here," he said wrapping his arms around me.

I thanked Emmett for saving me and assured him that Rosalie and I would soon be the best of friends.

After I smack her in her pretty little face.

I felt closer to Edward than ever when we got on the road towards my home. There was nothing like impending danger to bring two people together. I was excited to introduce him to Alice. Her opinion meant everything to me, and I was sure she would love Edward.

"Bella, I have a friend in Seattle that I went to college with. Would you mind if I called him while I'm in town. I was thinking it would be fun for me to introduce you to him."

"Sure. What's his name?"

"His name is Jasper. It's hard to describe him accurately. He's from the south, and he loves history and chick flicks. Girls always threw themselves at him in college, because he was so sensitive." He made air quotes with his hands when he said the word sensitive. "I always thought he was more like an overly emotional girl."

"Wow, he sounds interesting. Is he single?" I kidded.

"Very funny," Edward smirked. "He dates a lot, but he says it's because he's on the constant prowl for his one true love. He says when he meets her he'll know immediately. I think he's watched Princess Bride more times than is healthy for any man, and that it's gone to his head."

I've started at your package more times than is healthy.

"Hmmm, Princess Bride is Alice's favorite movie." The wheels in my head were already starting to turn.

"You and Alice are pretty close," Edward observed.

"Yes we are. I met her my junior year of high school. We went to college together, and have been roommates since graduation. I feel closer to her than I do my family. Plus she's hyper, care free, spontaneous, confident, and out going. Pretty much everything I'm not, but when I'm around her its like a part of her rubs off on me and I become a better version of myself."

"Wow, I wish I could say the same for Emmett." Edward chuckled. "He and I are definitely different, but usually when I'm around him, I am occupied by worrying about him embarrassing me or our safety in general. I can't imagine my life without him though. He's always been like a brother to me."

"Speaking of brothers Edward, why do you think James hates you so much? I just don't understand why he wants to hurt you."

"Up until today, I always assumed it was just Laurent after my father's money. Now I'm starting to wonder if it's something more personal. James and I have never exactly gotten along. When our parents got married, I decided to live with my dad. James' mom died giving birth to him and I guess Laurent never really got over it. I think he blames James in someway, and makes it clear that James is a disappointment to him. Laurent on the other hand treated me like the son he never had when I went over there."

"That must have been awful for James." I said feeling sorry for him despite what he had done.

"I think it was. I tried to be his friend, and my mom tried to reach out to him too, but he rejected all our advances. In school he started to compete with me in everything. If I tried out for quarterback, he wanted to be quarterback. If I liked a girl, he asked her out. I couldn't go anywhere or do anything without James trying to show me up. I finally went off to college, and thought I was finally rid of him. When I came back here though, it all started up again. I know he was furious when I started taking over my dad's business, and it just added fuel to the fire when Laurent wanted to go into business with me after keeping James out of his affairs completely."

"Well I guess that explains why he resents you, but surely he realizes none of that is your fault."

"Yes, a normal person would realize that, but James has always been kind of different. I remember one time when we were kids; he attached a wire to an outlet and electrocuted our dog just to see what would happen." Edward seemed pained by the memory.

"That's awful!" I exclaimed. "It sounds like he needs serious help."

"I think some people are just born evil Bella."

"I can't believe that Edward, there must be hope for him."

Edward just shrugged and continued driving. The further we got from Shamrock the more Edward seemed to relax. I was glad that at least for a few days he would be able to just be a normal person without all the suspicions and threats following him everywhere he went.

A/N: I really hope they finally kiss in the next chapter! After all the anticipation I'm afraid it will not live up to the hype.