Chapter 21

"You'd better be careful. I could get used to this."

"And that would be bad because …?" I left the question unanswered as I put Bella's dinner down in front of her.

"Because if this tastes half as good as it looks, you're going to be in charge of the cooking." She smiled up at me as I poured her a glass of wine and took my seat. She'd been in a surprisingly good mood since we got back to the hotel.

"Mmm, it's fantastic," she moaned, putting the first forkful of spicy fried potatoes in her mouth. She looked me up and down while she ate. "All that and he can cook too. Total win."

I chuckled while I started in on my steak. Apparently she now thought I needed to have my ego stroked, and apparently she was right, her words warming me from the inside just like one of her smiles. "You're in such a good mood. I expected you to take the news a lot harder."

She shook her head. "I'm relieved to know that mom had people who cared about her, and that we were right about her somehow crossing the cartel at the hospital. For a long time, when I was at Juanita's, I thought it might have been just a crazy random shooting, or more likely, a case of mistaken identity. Somehow knowing that it wasn't makes me feel better."

"Gives it a meaning?" I wondered how the families of my victims had felt. Still felt.

"Not a meaning, necessarily, but a reason at least. Tell me about Phil again."

I went over the conversation I'd had in the basement, stressing how upset he was, how much he genuinely seemed to care about Renee. "He said to say hi to you."

"What? He knows I'm alive?"

"He guessed as much."

"Will he tell anyone?"

"I doubt it. He must suspect it could be dangerous for you to come forward."

She went back to her meal, her expression growing pensive. "So the cartel was selling fake Percocet to the hospital, and mom found out."

"That's what it looks like."

"She was so cheerful that last night. I wish I'd asked her what had happened at work."

"She probably told someone, her supervisor or the head pharmacist. That's what you'd do, right? If you thought you'd solved a problem?" I'd been thinking this through on the drive back and was pretty sure I knew what had happened next.

"Yeah, you'd tell your boss." She looked up at me with her fork poised at her mouth. "Oh, fuck."

"Yeah."

"Whoever she told called Mala."

I nodded. "It can't be a coincidence that the night she thought she'd solved the problem, the problem showed up at her door."

She put her fork down, her eyes widening. "That means someone at the hospital was in on it."

"Yeah. The cartel must have someone on the inside." Maybe I should call Phil and tell him to start looking for a new job. Like now.

"That never occurred to me."

"It hadn't occurred to me, either, until today."

"Jesus, Edward. They've got people in the hospital, in the police. Now I'm getting scared." She got up and started pacing. "Let's just leave it, leave here."

"You don't want to try to find out anything more?"

She shook her head. "I thought … I wanted to do right by mom and not just run away from her murder, you know?" She turned to me mid-step. "I thought it was probably mistaken identity. Random. That I could find out what happened without stirring anything up. But they killed her on purpose."

"We still don't know why."

"It doesn't matter." She walked over and put her hands on both sides of my neck, her thumbs caressing my jaw. "She knew something, and if you find out what she knew, they could come after you, whether you're Anthony Platt or Edward Cullen."

"I can take care of myself, sweetheart."

"Sweetheart?" She bit her lip, her eyebrows coming together but her mouth turning up.

I'd forgotten how Mala had used endearments and cursed myself inwardly. "Sorry, Bella, it just slipped out."

"Sweetheart." She smiled wider. "I like it."

I pulled her down for a kiss. "This whole thing is up to you. If you want to go, we go."

"Where?"

"Anywhere you say."

"Chicago, to get your guitars?"

"Sure," I smiled.

"And then Baltimore?"

"What?"

"I want to meet your family. Maybe we can stop and visit your sisters on the way." She sat on my lap and I wrapped my arms around her.

"You want to meet my family."

"Yes. I do." She head-butted me lightly with her forehead. "Okay?"

"Okay." I literally couldn't say no to this woman. Anything she wanted, I'd give it to her if I could, I thought, as I kissed her perfect lips again.

She sighed and leaned into me, opening my mouth, turning my head as she sat up to kiss me harder than usual, her weight resting on my chest, her tongue dancing with mine. A flash of lust hit me, and I groaned, pulling her closer. Why did it always seem like I was pulling her closer? Because she was never close enough, that was why. She needed to be straddling my lap, so I pushed my chair back and moved her legs until she was, pulling her hips into mine. I kissed her neck and worked my way down to her shoulder, easily moving her shirt aside. "These shirts were genius."

"Why?"

"If you'd gotten something that fit you better, I wouldn't be able to do this." I nuzzled her skin, sucking, licking, nipping.

"Oh Jesus, Edward." My nip was rewarded with her pushing herself closer, grinding on my lap. She liked my teeth, and I drew them over her skin slowly, feeling her shiver in response, her shiver sending me into that mind fog that only needed one thing to clear it. One thing. Her.

I kissed her mouth, her throat, and her ear while I listened to her breathing get heavier, felt her arms around my shoulders get tighter. She raised herself up on my lap and I pulled her shirt down, burying myself in her cleavage. My favorite spot, right over her heart. I kissed the side of each breast, then moved her bra aside to focus on her nipples. So perfect, so tiny and pink, so taut. I nipped at one and she groaned and threw her head back.

"No!"

"No?" Had I done something wrong?

"You don't get to … this is my turn."

"Your turn?"

She slid off my lap and knelt between my legs, her hands reaching for my belt. "It's my turn."

"Bella, sweetheart, you don't have to -" but she already had me undone, in her hand, in her mouth, and I was gone. Gone. Fucking gone.

I leaned back into the chair and thrust up into Bella's mouth, her mouth the only thing that mattered. So good. Too good. Oh fuck, she knew exactly where to lick me, how hard to suck, when to let go and start again, like she was a maestro and I was her instrument.

She didn't tease me this time, and within minutes, I was gripping the arms of the chair as hard as I could, the first wave hitting me with a force I felt through my entire body. I groaned and opened my eyes as I came. Bella was watching me, her eyes smiling up at me, her throat bobbing once as she swallowed, sucking me lightly as she let go of me, circling my tip once with her tongue.

I laughed involuntarily and bent down to pull her back up on my lap, burying my face in her neck while I recovered. I needed a minute before I could trust my legs to stand, let alone to carry her – because that was what I was going to do next. Carry her to bed and make love to her for the rest of the night. The rest of my life.

"God, Bella." I turned her face to mine and kissed her, hard. "Talk about being good at something."

She giggled and dipped her head, embarrassed.

I lifted her chin and ran my thumb over her cheek, noticing her blush. "You are so fucking beautiful."

Her smile widened, but her eyes shifted away and she shook her head a little. "Oh, come on, Edward. That's just the blow job talking."

"No, it definitely is not. I thought you were beautiful the first time I laid eyes on you."

"You did?"

"Hm-hmm. Even though you were wearing a granny nightgown and throwing whisky at me."

She laughed again, tightening her arms around my shoulders. "That is one of my best looks. If I'd only had a poncho to complete the ensemble."

"It would have been love at first sight. Hell, it practically was anyway."

"It was?" She sounded surprised.

"You didn't notice how I was lingering the next morning? How I didn't want to ride away?"

She shook her head. "No. I just thought you were being careful about testing your bike."

I squeezed her tightly. "Nope. I didn't want to leave."

"I didn't want you to leave, either."

"No?"

"You seemed like a nice guy, like someone I could trust. Someone who could maybe help me. And you did." She squeezed me back. "But it wasn't until the night we faked my death that I thought you were more than a nice guy with a pretty face."

"Why's that?" I chuckled.

"The way you helped me up the cliff, and then when you hugged me at the top. It was like you knew."

"Knew what?"

"What I needed." She pulled back enough to smile at me. "And you gave it to me without thinking. That's when I started to notice how special you were. Are."

My legs felt normal again, and I stood, picking her up with me and moving toward the bedroom.

"What are you doing? Don't you want to finish your dinner?"

"Nope. There's something else I'd rather have." I grinned down at her. "You are going to let me return the favor, aren't you?"

She bit her lip and returned my grin. "Anytime, tiger. Anytime."

"Tiger," I laughed under my breath hours later while I cleaned the kitchen. I winced a little as I bent to put the last of the dishes into the dishwasher. Tonight her nails had actually scratched my back enough that I could still feel their tracks. She was the tiger, not me. I smiled again, perfectly content to wear her scratches. It was only fair. She might be a little sore again in the morning herself.

While Bella had succumbed to sleep after her last climax, I'd gotten a second wind. Part of it was just that I felt so fucking good, I didn't want to go to sleep and waste the feeling. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been this – happy, and I'd forgotten how it felt. Part of it was my mind, though, too, beginning to sort out what we had to do next. Not just the logistics of getting to Chicago and Baltimore, but how to get Bella back in school, how to get her scholarship transferred, how to return her to life when she was supposed to be dead.

I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't a good idea to leave Mala alive. I'd promised Bella I wouldn't look for him, and I was going to keep that promise, but that didn't mean I had to agree with it. And what we'd found today about the cartel selling fake Percocet - that raised more questions than it answered. What kind of a scam was that, anyway? The nurses had caught the problem right away. It must have been a test – a trial run – the cartel checking to see if in fact they could infiltrate a hospital pharmacy, if their packaging was sufficiently realistic. If Bella and I left tomorrow, we'd probably never find out what the cartel was up to, and although that didn't weigh on my conscience particularly, I found myself surprisingly unwilling to walk away from Renee's murder. Now that I had a face to put to the name, a face that shared the same smile as Bella, she was a real person to me. A person with friends, a man who loved her – or wanted to love her – a job, a daughter, and a messy house.

I saw on the couch and tapped idly at the remote control, wishing I had one of my guitars. Whenever I got into one of these restless mental states, the best cure was to work on a new song or improvise on an old one. Like Bella's pacing, it gave my body something to do while my mind sorting itself out.

My phone rang just as I clicked off the TV. I didn't recognize the number, but the prefix was the same as the police officers'. I answered without thinking.

"Anthony Platt."

"Mr. Platt, this is Officer Peterson returning your call. I hope this isn't too late."

I glanced at the clock on the TV. "No, it's fine. Thank you for calling me back."

"No problem. My shift just started a couple hours ago and I got your message. This is my first break."

"It's fine. So, like I said in my message, I'm an insurance investigator and we have a policy on Renee Swan."

"I remember the case. Victim was DOA in the front hall of her house."

"That's the one."

"What can I help you with?"

"The ME ruled her death a suicide. My company needs to look into that a little further to determine whether or not we pay out on the claim."

"Suicide?"

"You didn't know that?"

"No. They don't tell us anything."

"You didn't do any follow-up on the case?"

"No. My partner and I are just beat cops. First responders. We confirmed the victim was deceased, secured the scene, and then handed it over to the detectives when they got there. Hold on a sec."

I heard him cover his phone and speak to someone else. I could hear another man's voice but couldn't make out their conversation. Three or four minutes later, he returned. "Hey, my partner has a good idea. He got your message, too, and you could talk to both us right now. We're at the Starbucks on 2nd and Jefferson, and we'll be here for another twenty minutes unless we get a call. If you're close enough, that is."

"I'll be there in ten." I had no idea where the Starbucks was, but as soon as I hung up, I checked on my phone. It wasn't far. I grabbed my keys and jacket and headed for the door, but something made me stop. Bella wanted to drop the investigation. Would she be angry with me if I went? I tiptoed to the bedroom door and pushed it open a crack. The parking lot lights were coming in through the window, illuminating it enough for me to see her half-naked form twisted in the sheets, her hair spread out all over my pillow. I weighed whether to wake her. These cops didn't sound like they knew very much, and I didn't think I'd be gone long. And doing something, – anything at this point – would help me work out my restlessness. My decision made, I started to close the door when my eye caught the closet. Should I bring my gun? Maybe Bella'd be less upset with me if I assured her I took every precaution.

An hour later I let myself silently back in and went to check on Bella. She stirred when I pushed the door open and opened her eyes.

"Where were you?"

"I went out for a bit."

"Where?"

"The cops called me back. I went to meet them."

She pulled the sheet around herself and sat up. "I said I wanted to drop it."

"I know you did, but I didn't think it could do any harm." I slipped my jacket off and hung it with my holster in the closet.

"You took your gun."

"Just in case." I sat on the bed, and cupped her cheek. She didn't look angry.

"Did they know anything?"

I shook my head, tracing her cheekbone with my thumb. "They just responded to the call, and they haven't had a thing to do with the case since that night. I think I know why Mala didn't kill you right away, though."

"You do?"

"There was a witness."

"What?" She sat up further, her eyes wide open.

"Want to come in the kitchen? I stopped and got you some ice cream."

"Oh, definitely." I watched her scramble out of bed, searching the floor for her discarded clothes. When she'd slipped into her skirt and t-shirt, I took her hand and led her to the table.

"It's gelato, actually." I pulled the cartons out of the bag.

"That was so nice of you."

"Not entirely. I didn't know your favorite flavors, so I got mine. Vanilla, chocolate and orange." I smiled over my shoulder at her as I found bowls and spoons.

"Those are your favorite flavors?" She took a taste and nodded her approval.

"They are now. Well, there's one more, but I doubt anyone will ever make it into an ice cream."

"You're terrible." She shook her head, fighting back a grin while she took another bite.

"You're wonderful."

She smiled at me over her spoon. "Gelato and compliments. You must have thought I was going to be really angry that you went out."

I shook my head a little to myself. She was just getting better at reading my mind the more time we spent together. I gestured over the containers. "I just thought you might be hungry, and yes, maybe a little upset."

"So 'just in case.'"

"Just in case," I laughed.

"Tell me about this witness."

"They had another call that night, about an hour after your mother was killed. A clerk at a convenience store reported a possible kidnapping. The cops remembered it because it was unusual to have a murder and a kidnapping in that neighborhood on the same night."

"Someone inside saw me?"

I nodded. "He told the officers he didn't call at first because he wasn't completely sure what he'd seen, but then a customer came in and told him someone'd been shot a block away about the same time."

"What did he see?"

"He told them he'd just happened to glance up at the front of the store when a girl ran under the light. He assumed she was coming in, but a second later, a man seemed to catch up to her. The man grabbed her arm and looked over his shoulder into the store, making eye contact with the clerk. The next second a car pulled up, and they were gone."

"Just like I said."

"Just like you said."

"So because the clerk made eye contact with the guy, they didn't kill me right away?"

"They must have wanted to make sure their people in the police department could bury the report."

"The cops tonight told you that?"

"No, the guys I talked to didn't seem to have any idea what's going on. None. They didn't even know you mom's death had been ruled a suicide."

"Were they surprised by that?"

"Not really. It wasn't their job to gather evidence, so the lack of a gun didn't occur to them."

Bella stopped eating and stirred her gelato with her spoon, her eyes on mine. "You don't want to quit this, do you?"

"I want to do what you want to do."

"That doesn't answer my question," she smiled gently. "This really is your half-way, isn't it? Finding out what happened to my mom?"

I shrugged noncommittally, but she wasn't having it. "This is making you feel better about your past, about the people you killed." She looked at me carefully, her eyes caring and worried at the same time, and put her hand on mine. "I get it, Edward, I do. But it's too dangerous. I'll never forgive myself if something happens to you."

I laced my fingers through hers, and looked into her beautiful eyes. My voice seemed to be caught in my throat as I realized that if she really, truly loved me, maybe that was all the redemption I needed. If I was a good enough person to deserve her love, then I couldn't possibly be all bad. I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed it, clearing my throat. "Nothing will. There's just one thing I want to do tomorrow, and then we'll go."

A/N: This chapter may or may not have a gratuitous fellatio scene – I'll let you guys decide. I really wanted to try a scene like this in ASB, but that Bella and I were too inhibited. That doesn't seem to be a problem this time around ;). No promises about posting tomorrow as the next couple of chapters need some work – but I'll do my best. Thanks again to everyone who's reading! I really, really appreciate it. - kts