Chapter 36 - Walking Dead

EDWARD

I talked with Jasper about ways we could change our plans, so I could stay in Forks with Bella. Truth was there just wasn't any way to pull it off. School had me stuck here in New York for the next three years. Then we had a list and some plans of who to take down and how. They were all rough, but we planned on taking New York by storm. We would be like superheroes, just not in gay tights. The only problem with this plan was that I was alone. What had started out as an exciting plan had turned into the bane of my existence.

Now I just wanted to go home to Forks, back to my Bella. I looked over our list of bad guys. There were three crime lords and six higher-ups. Then of course there were a few bad businessmen who were slippery as greased eels.

"I'm not waiting, let's just get this done and get the hell out of here. We can set up shop in Seattle," I told Jasper.

"Dude..."

"Don't dude me. You have my sister, I have no one! Bella is stuck in Forks, and I'm stuck here with you!" I said with a little more disgust than I meant.

"Look, if you want out..."

"No, we don't have to wait. We have the information we need, let's just work as vigilantes and get it done now and go home."

"Like Batman?" he asked.

"Fine, yes, like Batman. You have the bugs ready and working?"

"Yeah, yeah."

We had two kinds of bugs. The dummies that were just regular ones that would be fried when they did the sweep for bugs, and a kind that actually activated after the sweep using the sweep waves as their charge to start up. I know, it was brilliant, and I would love to say it was my idea, but it wasn't. It was Jasper's, and he just happened to be friends with a guy in school who had helped him develop it. It wasn't just Jasper and I taking down these guys. No, there were a whole mess of people behind us in the shadows that no one else knew about; other guys who weren't always on the right side of the law, but who were good guys at heart.

"I'll be the bait. I'll set up shop. Can you get me a few bodies to make it look like we're doing something?"

"You know how dangerous that'll be?"

"We need them on our turf. Law says the tapes are shit unless someone knows about it. Can't you talk to your friend at the station and see if we can't set something up using some police props?"

"Look, Edward, I know you're anxious to get back home, but this is some major shit you're talking about pulling. I don't know that the cops will be cool with it."

"Just set it up and get me some bodies already. If we take down the big guys then the others will follow."

BELLA

Mastering the recipe D gave me for fried chicken wasn't too hard, once I realized I needed to be frying it in peanut oil. Turned out D's momma knew what she was doing when it came to fried chicken, and I found myself making mass quantities of the golden crispy goodness for D and myself.

"Girl, I love that you love fried chicken," D said, as he sat down to a chicken dinner for the third time this week.

"Sorry, I've just been craving it."

"No, I wasn't complaining. I really love that you love my momma's fried chicken, baby. God, that's so hot."

I rolled my eyes at him. He had been doing that a lot lately. Saying things to me that made me wonder about how he really felt about me.

"Some freak was following me home, so she might come up to the house. She's parked across the way right now."

"What?" I shrieked at him.

"Don't worry about it, baby, I fucked her like three months ago, now she's just stalking me. Nothing big, happens all the time. I just wish she'd get her ass up here and see that I'm married," he said grabbing my hand with the cubic zirconium wedding set he had bought me for show. Gotta love Avon! It also staved off some of the dirty looks I had been getting at school. So, pretending to be D's wife had been a win-win.

"I don't want her stalking you, D, it makes me worry. Should I go talk to her?" I asked. Last thing I needed was for some bitch to take out my meal ticket. Without D, I was pretty sure I would end up homeless.

"Nah, I don't want you getting too close to her. Maybe we could just put on a show for her after dinner, though," he said pointing to his chicken.

I nodded in agreement. After dinner, I sent him to get the mail, and just like we suspected, the girl was still there and got out of her car, as he started back toward the house. D hurried up and kissed my forehead as he slid past me. The girl was right on his tail. I put my arm up, blocking her from coming into the house. "Excuse me, can I help you with something?" I asked and rested my hand with the fake ring on my protruding stomach.

She looked past me and then back at my face. "I'm looking for Demetri," she snapped.

"My husband?" I asked.

Her eyes widened. "Your what?"

"My husband," I said holding up my hand and then rubbed my belly again. "Is he working on your car or something?" I asked.

Before she could say anything, I turned and called D. "D, honey, there's a woman here, I think she's having car trouble."

He came up behind me and kissed my neck. "Why don't you go lay down, baby, you know the doctor wanted you off your feet."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, but don't be long, honey, I've missed you today."

He pecked my lips lightly. "I'll be right in, I promise," he said, and I waddled back into the house, but stayed within earshot.

"YOU'RE MARRIED?" the girl shrieked.

"Will you chill? My wife is supposed to take it easy. She can't be getting upset; it isn't good for the baby."

I heard a slap, and then D came in rubbing his face. "Well, that worked, sort of."

I shook my head, laughing at him. "If you're going to play the game, you'd better be able to take the pain." It only sort of rhymed, but hey, it worked for me.

"Yeah, yeah, girl, I know," he grumped and dipped a biscuit in his leftover gravy.

I grabbed him an ice pack and set it on his welted cheek. He smiled up at me. "You know, you're too good to me. Why can't all girls be as cool as you, Bella?"

"Because you're screwing them, D. Believe me, if you were my boyfriend, I wouldn't be okay with you messing around, either."

"Hey, for the right girl I might settle down," he said pulling me to sit on his lap. "She just has to keep up with my sexual appetite," he said and nipped my neck.

I shoved him back. "D, I don't think there's a woman on the planet who can keep up with you. You're probably why they invented polygamy."

"That's right, baby," he bounced me in his lap with a couple of hip thrusts, "I'd keep all my wives satisfied."

I laughed and got up off of him. It was easy to be too comfortable with D. He might have been a player, but deep down, he really was sweet. Of course, all this talk of sex was getting to me. I didn't want D, but it didn't mean I didn't want something.

Once I was done cleaning up after dinner, I went to my room in hopes of finding some relief. I had given in and done some experimenting, and I found if I touched myself just so that it felt pretty good. I tucked myself into bed and got to work. Once I came, D's voice called my attention to the doorway where he had been watching me. "You know, I can help you with that, baby," he said running his hand over his crotch. I flinched and pulled my blanket up to my chin.

"No, thank you," I said blushing, and he chuckled.

"Oh, sweet girl," he said walking over to me and sitting on the edge of the bed. His hand was on my thigh, and it was starting to scare me. "I don't know who you're holding out for," his hand slid up my thigh to my center, and he pressed down through the blanket, but I moved back away from him, "But when you get tired of waiting, you know where to find me." He leaned over and kissed the top of my head and then walked out.

He didn't come on to me really, just "offered his services." He continued his game of married man to hide from his girls, and after a few days, I was able to relax again in his presence. He had a way of making sex not seem like such a big deal. It was like eating dinner to him, just one more thing to do to survive in the world of D.

I came home a week later and just collapsed on the couch. I was enormous, and it was wearing me out. A few minutes later, D came walking in, talking on his phone. "Yeah, yeah, but I don't think I can fly," he said and winked at me. "No, my girl is ready to pop, so I ain't leaving her behind. No way am I missing this baby coming."

I pushed myself up, and he sat down next to me, letting me lean on him. He twirled my hair in his fingers. "Nah, man, the train would be cool." He turned to me, "You want to take a train ride with me? I got some business in New York."

I shrugged.

"Yeah, she's cool. Just set her up with your girl or something while we work. Hey, you mind if we stop off and say hi to my mom, since we'll be crossing the state?" He smiled widely. "Yeah, I want to introduce my girl to my momma. Of course we're serious. I have a ring on her finger." I smacked his arm and rolled my eyes, shaking my head. "Nah, she doesn't mind that I chase more pussy than a cat. That's why she's perfect for me."

"How long will we be gone?" I asked.

"Dude, how long is this going to take?"

He turned to me and smiled. "Hopefully, just a week, and then we're going to get the hell out of dodge."

"Is what you're doing legal?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I think so, my guys have never steered me wrong, baby. I trust them," he said with a softness in his eyes.

I took a deep breath and nodded in agreement. "Fine, but if something happens and I end up having this baby in jail, I am so taking your balls off, D."

He laughed and rubbed my belly. He had been doing that a lot lately. "No way would I let our girl be born in the slammer."

He was so sure it was a girl. I kind of hoped it was a little boy who looked just like Edward, so I could have part of him with me, but I honestly would love either one. I guess in the end, my mother was right.

God, I missed her.