DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS FROM TWILIGHT. THEY ALL BELONG TO STEPHENIE MEYER. I'M JUST MANIPULATING THEM TO DO MY BIDDING!

EPOV

Alice had gone a little overboard with the party planning.

Well, actually, she'd gone a lot overboard with the party planning.

Thankfully, she had been smart enough to organise it for when Victoria was gone. She had planned it for the same night as the charity event that Carlisle had mentioned so there would be no chance of her popping up unexpectedly.

Bella and I had still not forgiven Alice for her interruptions and I had heard from Jasper that Bella had threatened Alice's entire wardrobe if anything like that happened again. Something that I admired Bella for, because no one had ever come out of an "Alice wardrobe threat" unscathed. When I asked her about it, she told me that Alice seemed truly sorry for the interruptions but that didn't get her off the hook in my opinion.

Looking in the mirror later on that day, I had discovered that I had several nice hickeys on my neck, courtesy of Bella as well as a lovely bite mark on my shoulder. She had marked me. Somehow, I was okay with her marking me in that way. She was showing the world that I was hers. I would have to get her back at some point. But I didn't want to hurt her. I physically couldn't hurt her even if I wanted to.

But the hickeys and bite mark showed that she could and she would mark me.

I didn't really care. I was hers and I didn't care who knew it.

But I do have to say, the bite mark fucking hurt. Maybe it didn't at the time, but I blame my hormones for blocking the pain, because it was killing now. And the surprising thing was, Bella was pleased with herself. Evil woman! Would definitely have to get her back.

It was now Friday, and as far as I knew, everyone in Forks, well everyone under the age of twenty-five in Forks was going to be at my house tonight. Even though that still wasn't that huge of a number, it was still uncomfortable for me.

I had made Alice pinky swear that this was the first and last party to be held at my house. She grudgingly agreed, and I now knew that nothing else would be happening. For some reason, a pinky swear to Alice was sacred. Something that cannot be broken. I would have to thank Jasper for the information on that part.

We had spent the last two days trying to get Alice to reconsider about the party or at least trying to get some information out of her about why she was so convinced about having it, but she would have none of it. She wasn't going to let us have an inch. She could be so annoying at times.

"Come on, you guys." Alice whined for the hundredth time in the past hour.

We were combing through the house for anything that would give away that I was actually Edward Cullen, making sure that nothing was on show. We would lock everything in my en suite just so in case.

We made our way downstairs and I glanced around once again. I made sure that I had the keys to the different rooms in my pocket. I had locked all of the bedrooms, seeing as I didn't want anything happening in any of them, especially seeing as they all had basically become the bedrooms of my friends, seeing as they spent so much time here anyway. I wasn't complaining. It meant that the rooms weren't going to waste. I had also locked the door to the basement, garage and my darkroom. I didn't want anyone going in there at all. In all honesty, I didn't really want to go in there again. Not since my last experience in there.

I still heard that slippery, slimy voice when I closed my eyes at night.

That was something that was going to take a while to get out of my head. Not that I wasn't trying. It was just incredibly hard.

People started arriving at about seven o'clock and I was amazed at how many actually turned up. I guess it was because they had heard that it was being held at the infamous house in the woods. I'd heard a lot of kids talking about my home, yet I had never understood what the fascination with it was. It was just a house.

Before long the place was absolutely heaving with people, and for once I was glad that I lived so far out. If I hadn't then we would have had Charlie pounding on the door, with the music being as loud as it was.

I made my way outside, revelling in the cool air as I stepped through the door and lit a cigarette. Bella hated me smoking, but she had come to accept it as one of my faults. I didn't smoke around her, which she appreciated, but hey, no one's perfect, are they?

"Edward." I heard a voice calling me and I cringed when I recognised it as Mike Newton's voice. He had been constantly begging me to join the basketball team since I joined the school and I had the feeling that this time wasn't going to be any different. "Great party, man." He walked up to me and leaned on the fencing that was surrounding the porch. Something that I was thankful was there now that there were so many people in my house. I didn't want anyone hurting themselves falling off this thing.

"All the praise goes to Alice." I replied, taking a drag of my cigarette.

"Serious?" He sounded surprised, taking a swig of his beer. I hadn't been surprised when a load of alcohol had turned up in my kitchen. Emmett had seen my raised eyebrows and smirked at me. I knew that it had been him behind the whole alcohol thing. Not that I was complaining, but if anyone puked anywhere in my house then he was the one who had to clean it up. "Whoa! She can really put a party together."

"She sure can." I wondered where this whole thing was going as I took another drag of my cigarette. Surely he couldn't have come out here just to make small talk.

"So I hear you and Bella are getting serious." He commented, trying to act nonchalant.

There it was.

It was no secret that he liked Bella and had been seriously put out when the two of us had gotten together. According to, well, everyone, he had been trying to get Bella since she had started at the school. To no avail. I had been waiting for this to come up at some point with him.

"Yup." I said, popping the "p".

"Hows that going?" He asked, trying to be casual about the whole thing. I looked at him to see that his jaw was tense and he was gripping his bottle so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

"Look, Mike." I stood up straight, taking one last drag of my cigarette before flicking it into the darkness. "You're not fooling anyone, least of all me. I know you like Bella, and I know that you've expended a lot of energy trying to get her to go out with you. Bella and I are going great, and I don't see it ending any time soon. So you can drop the charade."

He held up his hands in surrender. "Look, I'm sorry dude. Yeah, I like Bella. I wouldn't try anything with her while she was with you thought." Yeah, right you wouldn't. "I'm not like that."

"Sure." I muttered, walking back into the house. I didn't care that I was being rude. It was only Mike for Pete's sake.

"Edward!" I heard the cry of the one person I wanted to see. Bella came bounding up to me and when she reached me she jumped up, wrapping her legs around my waist. "Hi!"

"Um, hi." I was mildly confused at her behaviour. She hadn't ever acted this way before. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" She grinned at me.

"Have you been drinking?" I asked raising my eyebrows at her.

"No!" She looked offended but I could tell that she had. I didn't relent my gaze and she gave me a defeated shrug. "Well, maybe a couple."

"How many's "a couple"?" I asked, wondering how drunk my girlfriend actually was, and who had given her the drinks in the first place. Actually, scratch that, I knew who had given her the drink. I just needed to find out how many she'd had.

She shrugged again. "I don't know." She mumbled, looking down at my chest. "Let's dance." She jumped down and pulled me into the main living room, that had been turned into a dancefloor of sorts.

We walked in just as "Sugar Water" – by Cibo Matto was starting. She pulled me into the centre of the room and pressed herself into my body. It amazed me how our bodies just seemed to fit. Like two pieces of a puzzle.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled my face down to press her lips against mine. Time seemed to stop as we stood there, swaying gently to the rhythm of the song, lost in our own little world. I didn't notice anyone else as I swept my tongue across Bella's bottom lip, begging for entrance, longing to taste her. She parted her lips and I eased my tongue into her mouth, caressing it with my own.

I pulled away as the song ended and pulled a reluctant Bella into the kitchen. I wanted her to eat something, as I didn't want her suffering too much in the morning. I had a feeling that I would pay for it if she did. I don't know why, but I just did. She wouldn't mean to, it would just happen.

I pulled her into the kitchen and set her on one of the counters. I walked over to the breakfast bar, where Alice had laid out numerous snacks. I grabbed a plate and filled it with foods that I knew Bella liked.

Walking back over to Bella I saw that she was looking for me. When she saw me coming a huge smile lit up her face and I did a little happy dance inside knowing that I had gained that reaction from her, when no one else had.

"Where did you go?" She pouted like a child. On anyone else that expression would have looked immature and pathetic, but on Bella it was endearing. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me closer to her, wrapping her legs around my waist at the same time.

"I went to get you some food." I told her, holding up the plate for her to see. Yeah, she was definitely a little bit over the other side of tispy. She grinned widely at the plate of food and eagerly began eating. I couldn't help but chuckle at her. She was cute when drunk, but I didn't like her being in that vulnerable situation.

She finished the food quickly and grinned at me. I couldn't help but smile back at her. I pressed my lips to hers gently. She bit down on my lip as I tried to pull away, making it so I couldn't pull back. I felt her smile as she pulled my face back to hers. She was definitely getting more confident. Not something I was complaining about. Maybe we could have a repeat of the other day, just with no interruptions this time.

We broke apart and smiled at each other, ignoring everyone else around us. She leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead, causing me to chuckle.

"Jacob!" She shrieked suddenly, jumping down off of the counter and running across the room. "What are you doing here?"

She ran up to him and flung her arms around his neck as he laughed. I couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy in my chest. I knew it was unreasonable of me, seeing as Bella was my girlfriend but I couldn't help it.

Next thing I knew she grabbed his hand and was walking over towards me, dragging him with her. Great, I thought. Jacob and I hadn't gotten off to the best start. I was hoping that we could make amends, for Bella's sake at least. I had the feeling that Jacob could be a good friend, given the chance. I was willing to try if he was.

"Hey baby." She stopped in front of me and bounced up and down in place.

I placed a hand on each of her shoulders to stop her bouncing. "Okay, love. I'm going you this once. Who gave you the alcohol?" She shrugged and avoided my eyes. "Bella." I pulled her chin up to look at me and she grudgingly met my eyes. "Okay, let's try this one on for size. Were they smaller than you?"

"Yeah." She mumbled quietly.

I looked at Jacob and he seemed to have come to the same conclusion as me. "Alice." We confirmed at the same time. She looked between Jacob and myself, obviously confused.

"That's not fair." She pointed a finger at the both of us. "You two are picking on me."

"No we're not Bells." Jacob smiled at her. "We just know who got you drunk."

"Well, you know what? She is going to pay." Bella threatening waving her finger at no one in particular, and I tried to suppress a smirk. I could see that Jacob was trying not to laugh as well. I will admit, drunk Bella is a funny Bella. Still, it's not something that I wanted a repeat of anytime soon.

"Jasper." I called as I saw him making his way across the room. He turned to face us and I waved him over. "Bella has something to say to Alice. You know where she is?"

"Yeah," He nodded, watching Bella standing there. She was looking between the three of us and grinning like there was no tomorrow. "I'm going back to her now. I'll take her over there."

"Are you sure?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Yeah." He laughed. "Alice is pissed as well. Watching the two of them will be a laugh."

"Just make sure you keep an eye on her." I warned and he mock saluted, taking one of Bella's hands in his own. She looked confused for a moment, but shrugged and followed Jasper willingly. I looked around and suddenly felt very claustrophobic. I could see Jacob looking around with the same expression on his face. "You wanna go outside?" I asked and he nodded. We needed to talk, even if I wasn't really looking forward to it.

We made our way through the throng of people that separated us from the door and I was pleased to see that there was no one out on the porch. A little surprised, but pleased nonetheless.

I grabbed my cigarettes out of my pocket, whilst simultaneously making sure that my keys were still there. Lighting a cigarette I put the packet back in my pocket and gazed out at the expanse of darkness in front of me.

"You know, Bella hates smoking." Jacob said knowingly, walking up beside me.

"I know." I replied. "She hates it but she's come to accept it as one of my faults. I don't smoke around her so…" I shrugged not really knowing how to finish the sentence. I turned to face him, wanting to get this over and done with. "Look Jacob, I know we didn't get off on the right foot, but I was wondering if we could put that behind us."

"That depends." He leaned on the same portion of fence that Mike had been leaning on earlier as he considered his answer. "Do you have a reasonable explanation to what was happening when I got to Bella's that day?"

"Yeah," I took another drag of my cigarette, watching the smoke pool into the air as I blew it out. "Someone had broken into my house. That journal has a lot of …… specific … information in it, if you get what I mean. It was taken from my house and I guess when I saw Bella with it, I didn't know what to think. I know I shouldn't have accused her, but …… it came out before I could stop it."

"Well," He seemed to consider what I was saying. "I don't know." He sighed. "I don't want to fight with you, Edward. Honestly, you seem like a nice guy. Apart from that one episode of course."

I nodded my head. "I guess I was just so stressed that morning. I took it out on the wrong person. Maybe I should get a punch-bag installed."

"Sounds like a plan." He smirked at me. Well, at least he wasn't hitting me. I can tell that you're sorry for what happened. And if you weren't, well, the others wouldn't have let you anywhere near Bella again, so …… I'm willing to forget about it if you are." He grinned at me and I couldn't help but smile back. This was good.

"I definitely am." I nodded, taking another drag of my cigarette.

He turned around so that he was facing the house, his elbows and back against the fence now. "I do have to say, this place is huge." He sounded impressed at the size of my house. "'Rents loaded?" He turned to face me.

"You could say that." I nodded. I didn't mention that my father could probably buy this whole town without making that much of a dent in his bank account. I didn't think that would go down too well.

"You don't seem like the typical "rich kid" if you know what I mean?" He turned to look back at the house, seeming to scrutinize the people inside.

"Is that a good thing?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as he chuckled.

"Yeah, that's a good thing." He shook his head, still laughing quietly. "I mean, there are a couple of people in Forks. Their parents have a little more money than everyone else and they act like their god's gift. But you…you're obviously rolling in it, but you act like you don't even care."

"That's 'cause I don't." I shrugged. "Money isn't everything." I took one last drag of my cigarette and flicked it into the darkness. "Yeah, it provides the necessities and stuff like that, but it doesn't give you what's important in life. Family, friends, shit like that. I mean, what's the point in having money, if you're all alone." I shrugged. "Honestly, I'd rather be a beggar and be loved than be a billionaire and alone."

"You know what?" Jacob turned to look at me, grinning. "You've just gone up a couple of steps on the ladder."

"Is that a good thing?" I asked, skeptically.

"Yeah, it's a good thing." His expression changed as though he was remembering something. "I got a question though."

Suddenly worried about what he was going to ask, I nodded hesitantly. "And that would be?"

He turned to face me, a grin on his face. "Can I check out the Guardian?"

I immediately relaxed at his question and chuckled. "Got a thing for cars?" I asked and he nodded, his eyes lighting up at the idea of checking it out. "Sure. Follow me."

I led the way back into the house, Jacob following me as closely as he could through the throng of people. I didn't think that there were that many people in Forks. Especially young people at that. I unlocked the garage and opened the door, gesturing for Jacob to go first. He walked past me looking around.

"Where's the lightswitch?" He asked, confused.

"Don't need one." He turned to face me and I saw his confused expression in the light that was coming from behind me. I stepped into the room and clapped once, causing the lights to flicker on.

"Cool." I heard Jacob mutter as I walked past him, towards the covered Mercedes. I don't know why I kept it covered. It just seemed right to do so. Maybe because it was such an expensive, hard-to-get car, that I felt it deserved to be covered. Only brought out for special occassions. I heard Jacob's intake of breath as I pulled back the cover and I turned to see his eyes lovingly run over the car.

"Now, you can look, but you can't drive." I told him, smirking. "But then again, it wouldn't really matter now, would it? I mean, this thing is supposed to me missile-proof."

"Yeah, I know." Jacob muttered, running his hand over the hood. "You mind if I take a look at the engine."

"Knock yourself out." I watched as he popped the hood and inspected the engine for a couple of minutes. He didn't touch anything, but he seemed to be inspecting it very closely.

"Eddie." I heard a voice call me from the doorway. I cringed at the thought of who it was. I knew instantly but I turned around to make sure.

Yup, as I'd thought, Lauren Mallory was standing there in the doorway, not really wearing much of anything. She probably thought that it was sexy, but in my opinion, it made her look like a skank. She walked into the garage slowly, playing with a strand of hair.

Thank god Jacob's here. I thought as she got closer and closer.

I know some of you are probably wondering why Alice would think to throw a party, especially considering the circumstances, but I assure you, there is reasoning behind it. It's not just a whim of Alice's.
Anyways, please review and lemme know what you think.
xx