AN: Hello! I'm back. Let's keep this momentum rolling.

Thank you to my pre-reader, Brina, you're super rad. You know that's right.

Dee, I heart you, but you know that already. Thank you.

And super duper love to my beta, MariahajilE. She works hard and super fast for her writers. I can't even with this lady. She rocks my socks off.

Here we go...

Chapter Twenty-Four

Edward drives ten miles south into Laguna Niguel. It's a residential area and, in a way, very cookie. Wikipedia says it's a low-crime area, which I might believe if there weren't a backpack full of weed in the backseat.

Other than my guy goes three times a week and it usually takes a couple of hours, I don't know much about these errands. Most dealers sell from home, unless the money's worth the hustle, but Edward's not the type to do favors.

I'm just excited to be a part of the run today. It gives me a peek into another side of their world.

"Are we going to someone's house?" I ask.

Edward does a half-shrug but says nothing.

"Okay," I say and turn my gaze towards the window again. I'm fairly familiar with this silent game, and there's no use in trying to get him to talk.

I sit back and enjoy the view, getting brief glimpses of the Pacific from time to time. The streets are clean, and people are out jogging with their dogs. I counted seven golden retrievers and four black Labs.

There's a different vibe here, more family-oriented and less hipster. It's a place one would retire to... and that's when it clicks.

I whip my head around. "You're selling to the senior folk, aren't you?"

Edward smirks.

"And this proves you're a softy?"

I'm dubious, because selling hydro to the elderly and charging them more than their glaucoma medicine isn't a saint-like quality.

It's business.

He stays tight-lipped and switches on the radio as a distractor. These one-way conversations with him are fewer every day, but they're still annoying. I have so many questions and thoughts, and to make me even more suspicious of his motives, he doesn't turn the radio station when Britney comes on.

I pay close attention to our surroundings now. The houses are older, in style but well-kept. I'm convinced he's dealing to the fifty-five-and-older population. There are too many golf courses.

Why he's keeping it a secret is beyond me.

"We're here," Edward says, finally speaking.

I almost forgot what his damn voice sounds like.

"Where's here?" I ask and lean forward.

It's a regular house with a three-car garage and bushes galore. There's nothing spectacular about it, and again, I'm waiting for the big reveal. It's all very anticlimactic.

"Get the backpack," Edward tells me as he gets out.

I sigh with exasperation, loud and dramatically, but do as I'm told.

Meeting Edward at the front of the car, he takes the bag out of my hands and drapes it over his shoulder. He nudges me with his shoulder and nods to the sidewalk on our left, indicating that's where he wants us to go. I follow him up to the door. There's a silver plaque posted that reads Mesquite House.

Edward knocks two times.

A second or two later, an older woman around my mom's age answers.

"Edward, it's good to see you again, but we weren't expecting you today."

Susan T, RN is on the nametag clipped to her purple scrubs.

He taps the backpack. "I forgot something yesterday."

"Ahh." She nods and steps to the side. "Well, she'll be very pleased to see you."

I'm playing catch up here. I'm walking into the situation blind, and the pronoun game isn't helping matters.

"We won't be long," he says and gently pushes me forward.

Now noticing my existence, the nurse gives a wide, sincere smile. "You brought a friend."

"This is Bella," he says but doesn't divulge much more.

"Hi, Bella." She shakes my hand as we enter the house. "I'm the nurse, Susan."

"Hi," I say quickly. I'm trying not to lose pace with Edward, but he's halfway down the hallway and isn't waiting for me. "What is this place?"

Susan must think I'm messing with her because she answers my question slowly. "We're a care home for Alzheimer's patients."

"And Edward knows somebody here…" My words trail off as we round the corner and I see my guy crouched in front of an elderly woman in a wheelchair.

Neither one of them is speaking to the other, but even from this distance, I can see the love coming from her eyes. They're the familiar and intense green I get lost in daily.

"Beth loves it when Edward visits," Susan says. "Even if she has no idea who he is."

He's so rough and hard-looking in comparison to her fragile, petite, and unassuming presence, but just watching them, I'm in awe of how much they're in sync with one another.

"Beth is…" God, it's so awkward and embarrassing to ask, but I wasn't properly prepared. "Is she family?"

Susan—God bless her—doesn't look at me like I'm an idiot. Instead, she takes pity on me and responds sympathetically. "Edward is Beth's grandson. He comes and sees her two to three times a week."

I glance around and slowly put the pieces together. "Beth has Alzheimer's?"

"Vascular dementia," she corrects, but it's all Chinese to me.

Edward slips the backpack off his shoulder and opens the front pouch. I expect him to pull out weed, but he takes out a pair of gardening gloves. Beth laughs, placing both her hands on his face and kissing his forehead.

Susan echoes my sigh. "He's so sweet to her."

"Yeah" is all I can say.

Susan watches them with me for a few more minutes until she has to leave to answer a call light. I want so badly to meet Edward's grandma, but I don't want to interrupt them. I'd feel like I was intruding on their private moment.

So, I stand there, awkwardly switching from foot to foot, saying hello to patients and nurses as they roll by me.

Edward notices the nearby dining area gathering for lunch and glances behind him in search for me. I wave at him when our eyes meet.

"Come here," he says.

Wiping my sweaty palms down the sides of my jeans, I take a deep breath and go over to them.

Beth smiles up at me. "Who's this lovely girl, Masen?"

"This is a friend of mine, Nana," Edward says. "Her name is Bella."

"Friend?" Nana swats him on the arm. "Don't be shy, boy. This beauty is your girlfriend, isn't she?"

I like her.

Edward chuckles and rubs the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with her. "Yes, ma'am. She's my girlfriend."

"Hello, Beth." I crouch down to get level with her. "It's so lovely to meet you."

"Oh, honey. I'm nobody special to meet," she says with a strong southern twang.

She reminds me of my own grandma, and I'll say about anything to keep her talking. "Well, I don't know about that. You're pretty important to Edward, and that says a lot."

"Edward?" she narrows her eyes and sits away from me. "Does he work at this bank?"

I take a peek over at Edward, and he's giving me a slight shake of his head.

"Yeah, um…" My throat tightens. Oh, fuck. "He, um… He, uh, owns this bank, actually. He wants to thank you for your business."

She's not buying my lie, but trusts Edward—or Masen—and decides to play along.

"I think that's sweet of him, but I don't bank here." Nana glances around me, and like an idiot, I look but see nothing. She has her hands in her lap, tense and curled into tiny, wrinkly fists. "I don't have any of my money here. Someone stole it from me," she says in a whisper, but her agitation soon rises, as does her voice. "I had it in my purse, and now it's gone."

Edward stands and gets behind her wheelchair. "Okay, Nana. How about we go get some lunch?"

She grimaces. "I don't want that food, Masen. It hurts my stomach. Take me home."

"I will, Nana, but you gotta eat something first," he says and pushes her forward.

"Beth! There you are." Susan comes out of nowhere and takes control of the wheelchair. "Come on, honey. It's lasagna day; your favorite."

"I don't have any money to pay for it," Nana says, and her eyes go wide with worry.

"It's on me, okay?" Susan says and wheels her into the dining room.

Beth doesn't argue.

(0)(0)

Since they're so short-staffed, Edward and I hang out for another hour to help with patients. It's insane the workload five people are expected to take on. There were four patients on a one-to-one feeding assist, but they were the ones that needed the most attention.

My guy's name is Joe—or Carl, as he likes to be called— and he's a ninety-eight-year-old man with Parkinson's and dementia. A World War II vet, he talks mostly about his days as a soldier and fighting the evils of Hitler, but he refers to his past as the present. I don't like hearing about all the friends he lost, but I do enjoy hearing the stories of his girl, Betty. Carl says she looks a lot like me; a Californian girl with a spitfire attitude and a great set of bongos. She was the love of his life.

Speaking of the love of my lifetime, Edward stays close to Nana but is a hit among the ladies around her. They go out of their way to touch him, flirting and teasing him, trying to get him to smile. He cracks a few times, which gets plenty of cheers, and I watch his neck redden the whole hour from the attention.

It's cute.

After lunch, Nana has group to attend and we have to leave to pick up Rose. Of course, before we leave, Edward does what he does best and sells a few ounces of hydro to the nurses and tech staff. He makes a killing, too. It's never his main reason to visit here, but it helps keep him motivated to come often. Life gets busy, and people get too wrapped up in their own shit. Weed is what bridges the gap between him and his sick Nana.

Another pro added to Jasper's growing list of why his Kush saves lives.

"Why does she call you Masen?" I ask as we get into the car.

"It was my uncle's name. He died in a car crash when he was twenty-four."

"And she thinks you're him?"

Edward bobs his head.

The nurses were telling me that patients with Alzheimer's and dementia tend to regress back to their younger years or at times they were most happy.

These times with my guys are what I'd always go back to.

I put my hand on his and squeeze. "You know…" I begin.

He barely glances over at me. "What?"

"Showing me this only furthers my belief that you're a huge softy."

"And you're going to keep this shit between us." He revs the engine, making it clear I have no option but to agree to his terms.

"Of course, but who would I tell? Jasper?" I laugh. "Yeah, okay. He already knows everything about you."

"He doesn't know this."

I recoil away from him like he's a hot flame. "Are you serious?"

"Yep."

Yep? Yep. Yep.

That's all he says. Are you fucking kidding me?

How can he drop this bomb on me?

I... can't... even…

"Why me?"

Edward half sighs and groans. "Because I wanted you to meet her."

"I know... I just…" Fuck! Why's he making me all tongue-tied? Why can't I ever say what I mean? "But why wouldn't you tell Jasper about Nana?"

"He knows enough," he says and takes his eyes off the road to put them on me. Traffic whips by us, weaving in and out of our lane, but the Camaro's tires stay on a straight path. "This was just for you, Bean. It's our secret, okay?"

I nod fervently until my head hurts.

"Besides," he says. "When shit goes south and people start getting killed by me, I can at least die knowing that the one girl I loved knew me as more than just some cold bastard."

(0)(0)

I don't pull an assholery move like Charlie and pick up my loved one at the curb. I also don't go to baggage claim. No, I go straight to the arrivals, just outside security, and wait anxiously for twenty minutes before her plane lands. It's been eight long months since I've seen my girl. That's a fucking lifetime considering we used to see each other daily. If it weren't for my guys keeping me busy, I would've gone crawling home within a month in Laguna or maybe talked her into moving here. It wouldn't be that hard, either. Rose is a hippy and a vagrant at heart. She needs constant movement. She'd die if she were to stand still for two seconds.

I know once she gets the feel of Laguna, she'll never want to leave.

Then, through the hordes of people walking my way, I see her blonde head bobbing up and down. My excitement's getting harder and harder to contain. The scream that wants to burst out of me is bottled in my throat. I'm on my tippy tiptoes, trying to gain some height to see above the crowd. As the sea of travelers disperses, it opens a direct view to my girl. She's got her hair pulled up into a messy bun and is wearing the typical Arizona attire: jean shorts and an oversized ASU sweater.

Rose screams and runs towards me. "Bella!"

I let my own excitement rip out of me and bound toward her.

We collide and hug each other so tight. It's ridiculous; we're both sobbing and laughing. People are probably staring, but I don't give a shit. I've haven't seen this bitch in forever and have forgotten how she puts too much of her Heavenly perfume on. I'm sneezing and have a sinus headache because of its overwhelming smell, but I've missed it all the same.

"Shit. Let me look at you," Rose says with a sniff. She puts me at arms' length and shakes her head. "Blonde? Really? What about all those times you talked that 'proud to be brown' bullshit, huh?"

I laugh and shrug. "I'm still brown where it counts."

She snorts, immediately pulling me back into a hug. "You're such a dirty slut."

I'm not sure how long we stand there in the middle of the terminal in everyone's way, maybe five minutes or an hour, but it's Edward who gets bored of standing around.

He clears his throat and tugs on my shirt. "Bean, we need to move out."

"Move out," Rose repeats with a giggle. "I gotta meet this Sailor of yours."

I already envy her for knowing what to call him. My dumb ass made the mistake and called him a soldier the first time we met.

"Rose," I say, putting my arm around her neck and turning toward my guy. "I'd like you to meet Edward."

She smiles wide and holds out her hand to him. "Nice to meet you, Eddie."

"Yeah." He nods his head but doesn't shake hands. "Let's go."

"Um…" Rose glances at me as Edward stomps off toward baggage claim. "Did I say something to piss him off?"

"Give him time. He'll warm up," I say but pull her close, whispering a forewarning into her ear. "Just don't call him Eddie again. He'll fucking kill ya."

She laughs like I'm joking, and I don't tell her I'm not.

(0)(0)

On the ride home, I think Edward is at his wit's end. He's never seen this hyper side of me. I can't seem to stop it, either. Whenever Rose and I get together, we talk loudly and in incomplete sentences nonstop. It's involuntary, like breathing. She takes me back to the Bella I was in Arizona; the thief and con artist who talks fast to distract a person from her roaming hand while thinking about what article of their belongings she's gonna swipe for herself.

Shit. I'm not even jonesing for weed, even though Edward is puffing anxiously besides me on a joint. He's seeking a semblance of calm because of the chaos of two teenage girls that surrounds him in such a confined space.

My poor guy. He had no idea what he was getting himself into with me.

I just hope he doesn't drive us off a cliff.

"Oh, my God. So I didn't tell you, did I? I saw Marcus the other day," Rose says in the middle of her sentence about giving her guy a BJ in public and almost getting caught by the police for, like, the hundredth time this year.

"Marcus?" It takes a moment to remember that name. "Holy shit! You did? Where? What happened? Was he still suckling on his mom's tit?"

Rose cackles. "Uh, no, and ew. Why did you ever date that loser and give your fucking V card to him?"

Edward whips his head toward me. I can see him out of the corner of my eye, but I don't look directly at him. She had to go and open her big fat mouth, didn't she? This is gonna be a non-conversation later with him. I'll be doing most of the talking.

"I liked him, okay?" I say. In a way, I don't regret my choice. My virginity wasn't something I felt a deep attachment to, and at the time, I believed it was going to the right guy. "Anyway, that shit's in the past. Now tell me. Where did you see him?"

"Okay," Rose says, excitement building behind her dark blue eyes. She perches herself up between the two front seats. "I was at Fashion Square in the Neiman Marcus store. Ha! How funny is that?"

I roll my eyes and wave her to get on with it. "Focus, Rose."

"Okay. Okay. So there I am, browsing for my next purchase…" she says with a wink and an arm nudge. "…and he walks in with this chick."

I gasp and whisper a "holy fuck". "He's got a chick?"

"And not just any chick, either."

"Oh, I don't like the way you said that." I'm cramping in my stomach as the urge to vomit forms.

"Didyme."

My body tenses as fury rages in me. "He's dating Stacy Didyme? Are you joking?"

This girl was in my science class and was considered one of the popular girls. She harassed me constantly about dating Marcus and went as far as to call me a slut when I lost my virginity to the guy. This bullying went on for months and months. I was dreading going back in the fall until my mom decided to ship me off to Charlie. I'm not the type to really care about what people say to me, especially when I know it isn't true, but it was still hard on me to go to school every day with that negativity.

"Nope. And she was all over him. It fucking disgusted me. She's such a tramp," Rose says. God love her; I can see she didn't let them slide with just a glare.

"What did you do?"

"I fucking punched her."

Edward laughs.

We both look at him in shock, but he doesn't flinch or acknowledge us and just keeps on driving. Maybe it was a collective hallucination.

So I keep Rose talking. "Did you really?"

"Damn right I did. After all the shit she pulled? I went up to her and clocked her. Didn't even break a nail, either."

"What did she say? What did he do?"

"Marcus didn't say or do shit. He's got a bigger pussy than Sherry. She didn't know who I was and kept asking, 'Why? Why? I don't even know you.' So I pulled out my phone and showed her a picture of you and me. Her eyes busted out of her skull. It was so funny. I told her, 'You fuck with my family, you fuck with me.' I wanted to cunt-punch her to prove my point further, but security got involved and escorted me out."

"Oh, Rose…" I'm shaking my head and laughing. I'm so bloody proud of my girl.

"And wanna know the best part?" She grins and holds up her wrist that's adorned with a Gucci red diamond watch. "They forgot to check my pockets."

(0)(0)

Shortly before we get home, Rose complains that she's hungry, so we stop at Tacos Loco. I show her the ways of eating and drinking in Laguna. Edward buys us a couple Longboard beers on the secret, but it also helps to convince the server to break the rules when Rose takes off her sweater and showcase her ample assets. I'm grateful either way. It's fucking heaven with the fish tacos.

The best part of everything is witnessing my best friend fall in love with Laguna right before my eyes. She's so enamored by the ocean; the sound of the waves and the alluring aroma of the salty air. All these months, I've been telling her about this place and how it changes you, but she didn't believe me.

You really have to experience it firsthand to truly understand how it captures your heart and soul.

Rose treads more lightly with Edward. The Eddie name goes and stays gone. She doesn't ask him personal questions. Everything stays on the surface. What he enjoys most is when she tells stories about me. I can see he's really interested, even though he looks distracted on the outside, but he hears everything. I'm more at ease and confident they'll get along. They won't be the best of friends, but with time and maybe a bowl of Kush, they'll tolerate each other.

"You live right on the beach?" Rose gasps. Her face is pressed up against the window of the car.

It's now after 4:00 in the afternoon, and Edward earlier insisted we needed to get home. I didn't ask why or what the hurry's all about; I just assumed he had a buyer coming over.

"Pretty rad, huh?" I say with a dreamy sigh. It's crazy how stupid lucky I am. Every morning I wake up to the waves crashing against the surf.

"I was fucking jealous of your ass for living in Snottsdale, but this, Bella... It's…" She winds up her arm and punches me in the shoulder. "You suck."

"Bitch!" I unbuckle my belt and attempt to climb over the seat.

"Bean! Jesus Christ!" He grasps onto the back of my shorts and pulls me back. "Sit down."

I glare at Rose. "We'll continue this later."

She glares back. "Come at me, bro."

Edward reaches over and buckles my belt. "I'm not high enough for this shit."

Rose and I break into laughter. He's forced to play the adult with us, something he definitely didn't sign up for.

"Sorry," she says.

"Me, too," I say and rub his leg. "We'll be good."

He scoffs. "I'll probably kill you both first."

"Aww. You see, Bella? Your guy can make jokes," Rose says and sits back in her seat.

I give Edward a sly smile. "Yeah. Totally."

Luckily for my guy's sanity, the car's quiet for the remainder of the ride home. It's the only reprieve he'll get this weekend.

As we pull into the sloped driveway, I see an electric blue Bronco parked in front. My heart's miles ahead of my brain, because she's pounding out of my chest while my head sits there in confusion. When it does catch up, my body reacts, bursting out of the car and running up to the house. All I can hear is his name over and over and over with every breath I take and pound of my feet against the ground. It's getting more erratic as I get closer to the door.

Then, like a blast of fresh air, he steps out onto the porch and everything goes quiet. The world stops spinning. Time is still, irrelevant.

I don't even see him as I jump into his arms and wrap my whole body around him. He holds me up with one arm around my back and a palm on my ass. I'm burying my nose into his neck and inhaling him in.

God, he smells so good and so much the same. It makes my heart ache.

He chuckles. "Hi, baby."

That sound is fucking music to me.

I grin from ear to ear and snuggle into his embrace. "Keep talking."

And he does, a low and seductive murmur, but I don't even hear most of what he says, just the words "lips" and "kiss."

"Yes," I whisper.

He leans back to find my mouth and puts his words into action. The kiss is tender, and his lips are warm, delicious. I've forgotten how plump and full they are. My need for him amplifies. I push myself up into his arms to get more leverage and deepen the kiss. Moving my hands up his shoulders, I slide up to intertwine my fingers into the wispy hairs on his neck underneath his dreads.

But I encounter soft curls.

What?

It doesn't make sense. So I go further into his hair, expecting to come in contact with tight, coarse braids, but there's still just more bouncy, soft, and velvet fucking hair.

"Jasper?" I ask nervously, unsure as all hell of who I'm kissing. I open my eyes and see his gorgeous, ocean blue eyes staring back at me. I pull back to get a full look at him, and it's stunning. "Your dreads? You... took them out?"

He sets me on the ground as his cheeks flame to a bright red. "Yeah. About that…"

It makes him look so different. There's more blond than before. The curls are a mess and keep getting into his eyes. He pushes them back with his hands.

I'm falling hard.

"I can't tell you how much…" I reach up and grab two fistfuls. It's silky between my fingers. "I fucking love this."

"Yeah?" He smiles, leaning forward as I yank him down. "I hoped you would."

We kiss briefly again, whispering how much we love and missed each other.

It only ends when Rose does her typical, semi-awkward whistle.

"Oh, shit!" I snap to attention and turn to face her. "Hey. So, yeah. This is Jasper, my other guy."

She smirks. "Yeah. I couldn't tell with all the face-sucking."

I could kill her right now for being such an asshole.

"Hello, Jaspy. I'm Rose or, if you're fancy, Rosalie. " She holds out her hand, and of course, Jasper shakes it.

"It's nice to meet you, Rosalie," he says.

"Touché, mister fancy pants. I am totally digging your tattoo, man. What is it?" Rose asks.

"Tattoo?" I glance over at her with disbelief. "Where?"

"On the right side of his neck," she says and points.

"Um…" Jasper hesitates and gives me a shy, bashful smile. "It's a flower."

I tilt my head to see the black ink just below the right ear. It's Hindu with Chinese scripture on each side on top of a weighing scale, which is shaped like an infinity sign with three loops. It sits perfectly leveled; everything is within a balance.

But below all that is a beautiful blooming flower.

But it's not just any flower.

I touch it tenderly with my fingers and whisper, "It's a lotus."