Bear with me here people. I know this chapter may cause some of you to lose your desire for this story and I'm sorry if that is the case. I personally love this chapter and as big a shocker to me as it was, it has completely renewed my love for Hot Mess. This story is going to end epically and I feel bad for you if you miss it. Once again, I do not own anything Twilight, but Dirty Edward is burning hot. =D Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 20

Firewater

"Fire and water cannot be friends, but they can mingle together at times, and create a brief truce in the form of steam." ~Me

EPOV

I lift the glass to the light and turn it in my hand so I can see the amber glow bending in the air before touching it to my lips. Just like expected, it slips down easy, no fire, no burn. I don't know what I thought would happen, that it would be different than the first 10 shots maybe. I chuckle softly to myself. I must seem crazy, I probably am. As the laugh dies, I place the shot glass back on the bar. The alcohol doesn't fill the void, or warm the cold at all and without it I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do this. Walking away is so much easier when you don't care.

"Another,"

"I don't know, buddy. I think you've had enough."

"Enough?" I snort, locking eyes with the bartender as my mouth turns down in a scowl. How would he know when enough is enough? Has he ever felt this before, this chill that buries itself in every crevice of the body? If so, he wouldn't be stopping me. With renewed resolve, I slam a twenty on the bar. "I don't need a babysitter."

"Just trying to help, man,"

"Well-" I look down at his nametag. "Laurent…I don't need any help, just pour the shot."

He does as I tell him to and my minds reels with what it is that I truly need, I need a heart…because I seem to have lost mine.

I labeled another box and placed it amongst the piles of cardboard that lined the walls. Only a few more boxes and I would be finished packing. I suddenly found it weird that I could fit every aspect of my life into a box, every trinket tied to every memory. Without them the house felt empty, void of all my things, the walls bare like my insides. The space was so barren that when the knock at the door came it echoed with a resounding boom. I looked through the peephole, cursing under my breath. I knew who it was long before I confirmed it, but seeing her there was more than I could stand. I felt her presence with the same intensity as the lips that smashed into mine when the barrier between us was removed. She wasn't yielding or soft or gentle as she clung to me and the burn ignited. It was…everything.

"Bella…my Bella," I whispered under my breath as heat traversed my body, filling me, staunching the ache in my veins.

She shoved me into a stack of boxes and I felt the corner of the cardboard slam into my hip. It was the sudden shot of pain that reminded me that I should be protesting, trying to stop the movement of her hands as they traced the waist band of my sweat pants. Alas, my body wasn't in the mood to listen to my brain, and my willpower was long gone by the time her hand found purchase beneath the fabric, wrapped around my length.

"Oh, god," I gasped, clenching my body in an attempt to stop myself from releasing in that instant. Her eyes locked on me, full of lust and awe as her hand stroked me once, slowly, as if she was eyeing my reaction. Her touch was like silky fire, soft and heated, I shuddered under it's grasp.

I watched her eyes study me while she began an almost painful rhythm, down, up, twist, down, up, twist. The box beneath me bowed under my weight as I leaned against it, my hands clenching around the edges. There was no stopping this, I couldn't fight this fire. It built in my toes as her stroke sped up, her gaze never leaving my face.

"Ugh…Jesus, Bella," I grunted under her ministrations, panting for breathe as sweat began to bead on my face. My hands twitched against the cardboard, desperate to touch her, but I couldn't move, my body was under her control, I belonged to her in that moment, a plaything to do with as she pleased. She inched forward, leaning into me as my cock throbbed in her hold. The smell of strawberries and honeysuckle wafted off her hair as her mouth moved to my ear.

"So hot…You feel it, don't you?" She whispered, her lips grazing my earlobe and my knees shook under the onslaught of sensation, the scent of her, the feel, the heat radiating off her like a furnace, the taste of her in the air. I nodded my head vigorously, unable to speak. My whole body was on fire, she was burning me alive, and I only wanted more, more of her, more of this. I felt my stomach curl in on itself, twisting, knotting in a fiery ball as her free hand grasped my thigh, all the while continuing her agonizing pattern, down, up, twist, down, up, twist.

"You're not going anywhere, Edward. You will come to me, and right now, you will cum for me."

Her breath landed hot on my ear, and my balls tightened at her command as her lips wrapped around my earlobe, sucking on the delicate skin. It was instantaneous, uncontrollable, every nerve inside me exploded in a firework of heat, lit like bottle rockets on the forth of July. My legs turned to jelly as hot spurts of cum covered Bella's delicate fingers, cascading over her hand while she hummed in my ear and I screamed out her name. The room was cold, the door opened and closed, before I ever got the chance to catch my breath.

I swallow the shot whole at the memory, my cock standing at attention, knowing all too well what it wants. If only it were that simple. I can't have her, and at the same time, leaving her will be the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Without her I'm not even sure if I'll exist anymore. God, that's pathetic. Then again, I'm the epitome of pathetic at the moment, sitting at this dive bar at midnight on a Thursday, drinking myself into a stupor. It doesn't matter though, I've somehow managed to keep my distance by some crazy twist of fate, and I just have to make it to tomorrow, moving day, and to be honest, I don't think I can do that without drinking myself stupid. At least that's what part of me thinks, the other part knows that Laurent is right, I've had enough, I probably won't be able to do it regardless of how drunk I am. Sadly, that side of me isn't in charge right now.

"Another,"

He refills the glass with a shake of his head and walks away with the bottle. I gulp down the liquid and stick my tongue out at his retreating form.

"Well, isn't that attractive…"

If I wasn't so drunk the voice might have startled me. Instead, it simply makes me groan under my breath.

"Get lost, Newton,"

He does the opposite, sitting down in the stool beside me with a stupid, cocky grin on his face. The kid obviously has a death wish. He waves over Laurent and orders a martini.

"Wow, seriously? Would you like some Vagisil with that? How about some tampons?" I say with a chuckle that seems to make the room spin.

"Laugh all you want, pretty boy, but you're not going to be laughing for long," he replies, turning to me when Laurent returns with his frilly drink. Holding the martini glass by the stem, he takes a sip and sets it down. "I came by because my buddy Laurent was nice enough to tip me off that you were here getting sloshed, and well, you see, Laurent owes me a little favor."

He takes another sip of his drink and tips it towards my empty glass. "How's your drink taste, Edward? You feeling a little woozy maybe?"

I raise my eyebrow at him like he's an insane person. Well, I think I raise my eyebrow at him, I can't quite feel my face at the moment, in fact my whole body feels kind of numb.

"I'm not surprised that you haven't figured it out yet, you've never been too terribly smart. What with you forgetting to shut the blinds at your house the other day when Bella stopped by, or oh, my personal favorite, neglecting to realize phone lines can be so easily tapped."

"It was you," I say in a slur as a black blob seeps into my vision, sliding along the room like blood as Mike's face contorts into a long, almost snake-like shape. A forked tongue slithers out of his mouth as he hisses a chuckle and I think I may hurl.

"Bravo!" He cheers, swallowing the remainder of his drink. "Yes, Charlie was oh, so concerned when I told him that I thought I saw someone sneaking around his office. He locked it right up."

His eyes bulge from his face as I try to will my feet into standing. This is all his fault and I'm all but willing to beat him senseless just as soon as I can stand. Unfortunately, my legs are just as numb and useless as the rest of me.

"Let's just be honest, I don't like you, Edward, I've never liked you ,and well, I thought this little plan of yours would work out fine, but now, I don't think it will, not with Bella wanting you to stay so bad. I, of course, thought of telling her what you had done, but I've seen the way she looks at you, that disgusting need she has for you. I can't take the chance that she'd forgive you. So think of this as me taking matters into my own hands. This is the perfect opportunity to be absolutely sure I get rid of you, once and for all, and with you out of the picture, well, Bella won't have any reason to turn me away. She'll be all mine, after all these years, she'll be my Bella."

His words click in my head after a moment or two and with all my strength I propel my legs forward onto the floor, my hand cocked back to punch him, but I stagger and fall. Mike catches me, feigning help, his voice echoing out to the fellow bar patrons.

"Just had too much to drink, I'll make sure I get him home."

The room swirls in flashes of black as he slithers an arm around me, propping me up with his body under my left shoulder. Staggering, under the dizzying effects of whatever he laced me with, he easily leads me outside to his car and places me in the back seat. My face hits the fake leather and my eyes begin to droop closed, my world slipping into sickening darkness.

It's the cold that wakes me, ice cold, absolutely freezing. It coats my body all at once, curling around my bones as I plunge into a gigantic vat of black ooze. I attempt to move my arms, my legs, fighting mercilessly against the sludge that suddenly surrounds me, but my body will barely respond to me. The darkness seems indefinite as I battle the current with small twitches of life in my legs, but off in the distance I see a light, bright red and undulating. A small voice in the back of my head whispers 'beach…bonfire'. I'm slammed with a wave of understanding. I'm in the ocean, my body aching from the impact with the water. I recognize the dark lumps of landscape in the pale light from the moon, La Push. It would be beautiful if I wasn't choking on water, fighting for air. With each kick, each small movement of my extremities, I battle the drug that is leeching all my strength, but I know I can't fight it for long, the alcohol doesn't help. The recognition is gone as quickly as it came and everything starts to spin, the water flickering to black slurry under my fingers and I find myself thinking the terrible truth, I'm going to die here. I feel the drug pulsating through me with every beat of my heart and I want so bad to sleep. Just as my eyelids flutter to close a flash of light, blue and bright, bursts before me, a roaring sound fills my ears. Then, and only then, does my body go limp and my lungs constrict in my chest. This is it, I think, this is the end. An image flashes in my mind, the face I will miss the most, the last thing I wish to see before I part this world. My Bella…my love.

JPOV (Jacob)

I watch Edward cough and hack up a lung full of water and then pass out on the floor of my boat, both hating and reveling the sight. I hate the fucking bastard, but she doesn't…and for her sake, I'm glad he's alive. If I hadn't been on the beach, seen the splash, he may not be. As I rev the engine and make may to shore I consider what I'm going to do next. Charlie would want to know about this, but I'm not sure I'm going to say anything. I think it's about time I get Edward's input on all this. I take him to my place, where I deposit him on the couch. He groans her name in his sleep and it gets me just a little. Maybe they're all right, maybe I'm wrong just this once. I can only hope so. I've helped them because the fact is, I would do anything for Bella, my best friend. She deserves all the happiness this world has to offer and I hope she realizes that when this is over. God, I hope she forgives me…I hope she forgives us all.

By the time lover boy finally comes around, he damn near shits a brick, sitting up on the couch like some freakish jack in the box with his eyes darting around my place like he's in some foreign country. Well, I guess he kind of is. He's never been to the reservation before, due to the whole ban against the Cullen's for stealing our land. Tribal rules and what not. Whatever, rules are meant to be broken.

"Coffee?" I offer him a cup, tilting my own mug back to my lips as he gets his bearings back.

"What-, what the fuck is going on?" He blurts out the words, running a hand through his hair. I groan. What is it about that gesture that the girls like so much? The guy's going to go bald from ripping out his hair.

"Long story short. You fucked with the wrong guy…big surprise, I know," I say with the roll of my eyes. "Here's the cliff notes version: Mike is what you call a psychotic fuck. He started eyeing Bella back in high school. Back then he was harmless of course, and Bella was more than capable of taking care of herself so I just kept an eyes on things. It wasn't until Bella left for Arizona that things got creepy. Mike started asking me about her constantly, 'How's Bella doing in Arizona?', 'Is she visiting anytime soon?', 'Do you know what kind of flowers she likes, I wanted to send some?', 'I'm taking a trip down there soon to see her.', 'Will you tell her I miss her?'"

Edward's eyes widen and he starts running his hand through this hair again. Jesus, he can't fucking stop himself can he? I snap my fingers to get his attention again.

"Follow me here, pretty boy…Anyway, Bella started to mention things when I would call her, weird things. I don't know if she just didn't realize it or what, but she kept saying that she was having trouble getting her front door to stay locked and getting hang-up calls…yeah, I know, creepy, right?"

"Then she calls me one night and tells me she slept with some dude name James," Edward's face falls, his fist clenching tight. Wow…alright then, probably shouldn't have said that. Protective much? I feel a slight twinge of respect for him, or maybe it's just heart burn. Yeah, probably heartburn, damn breakfast burrito. "Chill, dude, it was some one night stand, he's not a threat, seeing as well…he's dead now."

"Do you mean?"

I nod my head.

"Newton…At least that's what I think. There's no proof and no one else believes me, not even Charlie, but I can feel it in my gut, you know? The dude died just days after my phone call with Bella. It had to have been him, he must have tapped my phone line or something. And seeing what happened to you last night I would say you're inclined to agree with me."

He nods and I let out a sigh, bracing myself for the reaction to what I'm about to say, he's going to think I'm nuts. Hell, Bella would probably think I'm insane if she knew about this. That's why I never told her.

"Have you ever heard the legends of our tribe, other than the one about the cursed land? Actually, more specifically the one on imprinting?"

He lifts his eyebrow in question. Of course he hasn't, god forbid this be even the slightest bit easy.

"Well, ever since Bella and I were kids, I've been able to…fuck, how do I say this…" I pause for a moment, wringing my hands together. "Oh, for fuck's sake, I'm linked to Bella."

Edward glares hard at me, his muscles tensing like he's about to jump up out of his seat before I blurt out, "I'm not talking about any sort of romantic link!"

He relaxes slightly and I tumble through the rest of my explanation.

"I don't feel for her that way. In fact, I pretty much hate how I almost feel this constant need to protect her, to keep her out of harms way. It's like a compulsion. I don't know, maybe I'm fucking crazy too, but I've always gotten this feeling when she's in danger, either physically or emotionally. That's why I can't fucking stand you. I knew from the moment we met that you were going to hurt her…I was starting to think that it was your death that was going to break her heart, which is why I felt compelled to go to the beach last night, but I still don't feel right. You're still going to hurt her…"

His shoulders slump, his head falling into his hands.

"Shit…you know I'm right. What the fuck have you done?"

First off, I know this chapter is weird. It does bring in a strange aspect that I really was not expecting when I started this story. This does not mean that the story is still not an AH story. I believe in psychics and I don't think that what Jake can do is any more strange than Mother's intuition. If you can believe that a mother can have the sudden feeling that her child is in danger then we can extend belief that Jake has that same link to Bella. As he said, it is not romantic in any form! Jake does not love Bella! He just wants to protect her. So, I'm dying to hear what you guys think so please drop me a review.

To my fire crew: Hope you all aren't too disappointed about losing the bet on both sides, but you will be glad to know that half of you are right, but the title is for the NEXT chapter. So feel free to keep the bet alive. =D

By the way, I could have left you with a cliff hanger, but I didn't. See how much I LOVE YOU ALL?