I'm not a big fan of cliff hangers, well I really am, but it's torture to wait for the next update, so I've decided not to do that to you.
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Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight. Anything I didn't borrow from her belongs to me.
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Chapter Twenty One
Confrontation
Bella POV
"Can you believe it's the last show already?" I asked as I turned to Alice.
"No, it's been six months, and it seems like it hasn't even been six weeks," Alice replied, sipping her water.
We were sitting and watching the band rehearse for the show tomorrow. Our backlog of work was complete, and we were ready to hit the ground running at showtime. Alice was smiling at Jasper, and I was watching Edward wistfully. "You know if I wake up tomorrow and find out this was all dream, I'm going to be pissed."
"You're not that imaginative." Alice laughed at me.
"I sighed again. Do you remember sitting on the bus all wide-eyed saying 'It doesn't get any better'?"
Alice laughed again. "Yeah, I do. How wrong we were."
We were both silent again for a while, lost in our thoughts and our ogling.
"Have you guys talked about what you're going to do when the tour is over?" I asked seriously.
"Not yet. What about you two?"
"No," I frowned.
"Have you thought about moving to Chicago?"
"Well, that's the only thing that really makes sense, right? I mean, they can't move to Virginia. What about Emmett?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought too." Alice played with her water bottle, absently.
"But what about work, I mean will we go back out with them? What about when they're not touring do we go out with other bands?"
"I don't know. It kinda feels like its all changing, doesn't it?" she said sadly.
"It does. Not that I don't think it's a fair trade or anything. It's just all so uncertain right now."
"I know, but let's not worry about all that just yet, we'll work it out after we're done this job." Alice smiled as Jasper walked up and leaned down to kiss her.
"What are you two so serious about over here?" Edward asked as he approached, extending a hand to pull me to my feet.
"Just work stuff, nothing important." I smiled and pecked him on the nose as he wrapped his arms around me.
"We were thinking about grabbing some dinner with Esme, Rosalie, Carlisle, and Emmett. Are you two in?" Jasper asked.
"Definitely, but I have to run back to the bus first, I need to drop off the camera stuff and grab my purse. You guys wait here." I snatched up the equipment and practically skipped outside. After dropping the camera in my bunk, I hunted for my purse. I checked to make sure I had my phone and stepped off the bus again. A familiar face was smiling at me, and I froze.
"Isabelle," James sighed at me.
Unlike other times I'd seen him, I wasn't apprehensive or fearful. This time, I was angry. That feeling gave me strength and confidence.
"You know James, it's not hard to remember my name, it's Bella, not Isabelle."
He frowned at that. "Bella is a bastardization of your name. Your name is Isabelle."
"Whatever. Look, I'm on my way to dinner, what do you want?" I said, and again I was pleased with how little effect he had on me.
"What I want every time I see you, Isabelle, to take you away with me."
I laughed. In retrospect, it might have been a mistake to taunt him like that, but I was giddy with how little control he seemed to have over me now. "I suppose since you can't even remember my name properly, I shouldn't expect you to grasp the concept that I want nothing to do with you."
He was angry now. "You are not one to be questioning my intellect Isabelle, you never could get past simple concepts."
"Really, like what? That I belong to you? That I should depend on you for everything up to and including the right to leave my home? Or perhaps that abuse is a form of love?" I grew angrier and louder as I said each of these things, and by the time I was done, my face was in his. That was when he slapped me. It was no love tap across the cheek either; this was a full-strength backhand that sent me to the ground.
I heard Alice gasp and saw her coming out of the doors with Edward and Jasper, who both looked livid. I held a hand up to them. "No. Stay there, I'm fine."
Edward wasn't looking at me, and I doubted that he heard me as he continued toward James. Jasper put a hand on Edward's shoulder and held him back as I scrambled up off the ground and approached him.
"Edward, look at me," I said and waited for him to make eye contact. "I'm fine, and I don't want you getting involved with this. I have it under control, and I do not want you to fight with him."
He was still furious and seemed torn at my request. He nodded quickly, and I turned back to James and crossed the distance between us. James had always been about fear and intimidation, and I was about to show that he didn't have that kind of power over me anymore. "Well, James. We're back to hitting me again. You wonder why I want nothing to do with you, why your words and promises mean nothing to me. You've lost your touch though, I've got witnesses this time. That's a whole new level of class for you."
He looked stricken and immediately started mumbling apologies.
"Don't even bother," I sighed. "You're pathetic, James, and I don't know how I didn't see all this sooner. You're a weak, manipulative, tiny little man. You're so desperate to control everyone in your life, you don't care that you're crushing them to death.
"I thought I could help you once. I believed you were worth it, and I would have given anything to make it happen, but Alice was right all along. You don't want to do any work; you just want someone to feed on. I loved you, I honestly think I did, but now I know that you never loved me. No matter how much you claimed to. You don't treat people you love like you treated me."
He grabbed my wrist as I tried to put more space between us.
"Let me go," I said through clenched teeth. I looked up at him and saw the rage in his eyes. As incomprehensible as James' thought processes were to me, I knew that this was not going at all like he'd planned. I cried out as his hand tightened on my wrist painfully.
Edward was at my side in an instant with Jasper close behind. "If you want to use that hand again, you will remove it as Bella asked," he said coldly as glowered at James.
James looked up at Edward. He seemed to have forgotten that we weren't alone and that for once, he didn't have the advantage. James removed his hand slowly and took a deep breath regaining his composure. Then he switched tactics.
"Everything I've done is because I love you, my beautiful, Isabelle. I was so scared someone would take you away from me. I got carried away, and I apologize. I would never do that again. You're just too good to be with a man like me." James put a palpable effort into his attempt to sway me.
"You've got that right," I said. I saw the shock cross his face; it wasn't the response he was expecting. Even though I could only see Alice from the corner of my eye, I saw her fist pump as James narrowed his eyes at her. "I hope you figure out your issues one day, James. I hope you find someone that makes you happy and that you can have an honest relationship with them, but that person will never be me.
"Because of you and your mind games," I said, shooting a glance over at Edward, "I was almost too scared to take a chance on something that may just be the best thing that will ever happen to me." Even though his anger, Edward couldn't help but smile as he put his arm around my waist.
"Leave me alone, James, I have nothing left to say to you. I'm going to have my injuries documented. The next time I see you, I'm calling the police to deal with you." I turned my back to his bewildered expression and started walking with Edward toward Jasper and Alice, who were a mixture of pride and worry.
"I'm the best thing that will ever happen to you?" Edward said, smiling playfully and trying to hide his stress.
"Well, I said that you might be. I know I've got a while to go yet, but so far, you're getting high marks."
He chuckled as he pulled me close and kissed the top of my head. We headed back into the venue together, and for the first time in years, I was truly and completely happy. I felt light, like a weight that I didn't even know I'd been carrying was lifted from my shoulders.
Alice disappeared to find me some ice for my face. "Well, sadly, it looks like I won't be joining you for dinner. I think I should go get this checked out. Even if he didn't do any damage, I want it on record so I can use it if I need to get another restraining order against him. You guys should all go. You don't need to spend the night in an emergency room."
Alice and Jasper shook their heads, and Edward huffed. I rolled my eyes. "Fine, but you are not all missing out. Jasper is going, and either Alice or Edward can come with me, I'm not towing you all around with me for an ugly black eye."
Edward kissed my face above the ice pack. "Nothing about you could ever be ugly, Bella."
"He wins!" I laughed.
"No fair with the kissing, Edward," Alice scowled and smacked him. Jasper laughed and pulled Alice toward the front of the building. "You better call me as soon as you know anything!"
"I promise, Alice." I sighed as they disappeared through the door.
"Maybe I shouldn't bother. I doubt he did any real damage."
Edward shrugged. "You can go in a taxi, or you can go in an ambulance. It makes no difference to me."
I scowled and groaned as the pain hit. "That's what I thought." He pulled out his phone and dialed a taxi.
We stood in the doorway and waited for our ride. Even though Edward was doing his best to hide it, he still looked stressed and angry.
"Hey, come here," I said and wrapped my free hand around his waist. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For backing off when I asked you to. I know that it wasn't easy." I reached up tried to kiss him without the icepack getting in the way. He grimaced and muttered something I couldn't hear.
"I'm serious, Edward, it means a lot to me that what I want matters, even when you're that upset. I really didn't want you to get involved. I know it took a lot of control to back off after what he did, but I know him, nothing good would have come of it. It would have just got him more worked up. Plus, you have a show tomorrow. All I need is to have to explain to everyone that you can't perform because you broke your hand while defending my honor." I made a face at him.
He sighed. "Bella, sometimes I don't know what I'm going to do with you. If he touches you again, I'm not stopping myself. I don't care if I have an audience with the Pope himself the next day."
"I don't think the Pope would really like your music, Edward. Somehow he doesn't strike me as the type."
He whacked me on the ass, and I giggled.
We ended up waiting for hours in admitting before I even got in to be examined. Then I had to wait for the doctor then for x-rays. Edward ran down to the gift shop at one point and bought us a deck of cards so we could play poker. I suggested strip poker, but he didn't think the nurses would appreciate it if I was naked. I would have scowled at him again, but it hurt too much to move my face. He was doing his best not to make me laugh.
A girl was brought in to the bed beside me, and she recognized Edward. Her name was Bree, and she was adorable. They talked for a while and found out that she had been in a car accident. She was pretty beat up and out of it, but she was still very excited to see him. Bree had been planning to go to the show tomorrow but was sure that she wouldn't be able to now. She looked heartbroken over it. At one point, she realized that Edward was in the emergency room and became concerned that he was hurt or she was bothering him. He assured her that he was fine and that he was waiting with his girlfriend to see a doctor, so she wasn't bothering him at all. My heart swelled at his use of the word girlfriend.
"I'm going to write down the name and number of someone in my management company. You give her a call the next time you want to go to one of our shows, and she'll set you up with tickets. She'll also make sure to let me know that you're there so I can introduce you to the rest of the band after the show. I'll leave it with the nurse to put in your things, okay?"
Bree was over the moon and was still thanking him as the nurse arrived to wheel the girl down to the x-ray department.
"That was really nice." I smiled and looked in wonder at this fantastic and thoughtful man I had managed to get involved with.
He shrugged. "Hopefully, it will give her something to focus on while she recovers."
The nurse finally came to retrieve me for x-rays with a wheelchair. Even knowing that it was pointless, I tried to refuse the chair and tell her that I could walk. Edward sighed at me. "If I offer you a backstage pass. Will you sit down and go quietly?"
"Pfft. No way, I know someone in the band!" I laughed and stopped again as my cheek screamed at me. I sat down quickly and remembered the sooner this was over, the sooner I could take something for the pain.
I sat on the table and took the ice pack off for the x-ray. Edward winced, and I saw his knuckles whiten on the back of the wheelchair.
"That bad?" I asked feebly.
"It looks pretty swollen, and the bruise is really starting to develop."
"Crap, I'm going to have to explain this to everyone now," I sighed.
He took my hand lightly. "Bella, no one is going to blame you for the fact that a sad excuse for a human being is a complete ass and hit you. You need to stop thinking things like that; this is not your fault. You were amazing tonight."
I made a face but hugged him. The nurse smiled at our exchange and gently chased him from the room so the technician could take the x-rays.
An hour later, we were back in the examination area, talking to a doctor. I had a very mild fracture in my cheekbone, but there wasn't a lot that he could do for it. Luckily my wrist was just bruised. He prescribed me some painkillers that we got filled on the way back to the hotel.
Alice and I had actually foregone getting a room in New York. We danced around the subject awkwardly while we each tried to tell the other that we wanted to stay with our guys, but not abandon the other. When we'd finally managed to stammer it out, we'd laughed for a good 5 minutes.
Edward led me back to the room and told me to get ready for bed while he called Alice. "They stayed at the bar for drinks; I think Jasper is trying to get her mind off it. She feels much better now that you're okay."
"I'll kick Jasper's ass if she has a hangover tomorrow, we have too much work to do."
"That would be interesting to watch."
"Oh my god!" I gasped.
"Bella! What's wrong."
"My eye, it looks horrible!"
He sighed and handed me some water and a pill as I came out of the bathroom. "As I said before, you're beautiful."
"You're biased."
"You're tired, go to bed; I'll be there in a minute."
He joined me a few minutes later, wearing an old pair of sweats with no shirt. "Ah, now you're trying to distract me," I said, running a hand over his chest as he pulled me toward him.
"It is working?"
"Definitely," I sighed, then yawned. I remember forming a thought about how pain medication always knocks me out, but before I could put it into words, I was sound asleep.
The show the next day was fairly typical considering all the new elements that were there because of the filming. All the extra rehearsals paid off, and the band felt confident. There was a heady mix of relaxed and excitement. I suspected that Jasper had filled everyone in on yesterday's incident with James because no one asked where I got the hideous shiner except some local crew and fans we ran into. I usually hid my discomfort with humor, and this time was no different. If someone asked about my eye, I told them I was a part of fight club. Then I'd get a panicked look and glance around me while muttering, "Oh crap, I wasn't supposed to talk about it." The ones that got it thought it was funny, the rest thought I was nuts, I was okay with either reaction.
The doors opened at eight, and the venue filled up quickly. Alice and I stood side stage and looked out at the growing crowd. We couldn't help but marvel at the fact that six months ago, we were in the same venue sitting up in one of the balconies freaking out over the possibility of getting the job.
The show was fantastic, and it was a good choice for a recording. The performance was flawless and energetic, but the crowd was over the top and got into every song. At one point, Emmett jumped out from behind his kit. He handed his sticks to Jasper and jumped into the crowd to surf for a bit. Jasper went behind the drums, and Edward started a solo that Jasper filled in with a beat. He wasn't bad. The camera guys were in a flurry to follow Emmett through the crowd. Rosalie was standing behind us, and she was less than impressed with Emmett's antics. "If he gets back to the stage alive, I swear I'm going to kill him," she growled.
He did get back to the stage more or less intact. Both of his shoes were missing, but he insisted that it was worth every minute. Midnight Sun finished their set, came back for an encore, but the crowd was still going wild, so they did another. Eventually, the show ended, and three delighted musicians went back to their dressing room to bask in the glory for a while.
Alice and I were hanging out in production when Carlisle caught up with us. "You guys know we'll be meeting in one of the larger rooms for an end of tour celebration? I'm assuming I don't have to threaten you to go anymore?"
"I don't know, Carlisle. When it comes to Bella and a party, a little threatening never hurts." Alice laughed, and I grumbled at them both from under the table.
"You two just go; I have to fight with the router again. I promise I will be there as soon as I email these pictures to the office, so they have them in the morning."
"Alright, but if you're not there soon you won't have to worry about us, Esme will see you're missing," Alice laughed and left with Carlisle.
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Jasper POV"So, the studio is ready for you guys whenever you want it," Carlisle said. "I know you're all wired now and probably full of hundreds of ideas, but promise me you'll take at least a week to recover before you get back to work?"
"We'll try. You know how it is, Carlisle. Strike while the iron is hot and all that... We're all inspired at the moment." I took a long drink from my water bottle and scanned the room for Alice. My distraction was not lost on our manager.
"Inspired, is that they're calling it these days?" He laughed as Edward joined us.
"Emmett sends his regrets that he is feeling ill and needed to retire to his hotel. He told me not to worry, though; Rosalie was going with him to nurse him back to health."
We all laughed, and Esme wandered up, wrapping an arm around Carlisle's waist. "Good evening, gentlemen. Excellent show, congratulations on taking New York by storm yet again."
"Thanks, Esme, you know we couldn't do it without you in the trenches." Edward hugged her and twirled her around as she laughed merrily.
"Where are my girls? I haven't seen them all night."
"Alice disappeared a little while ago; she said something about some photos she left on the bus that she wanted me to see. Carlisle said Bella was muttering in production last time he saw her. I don't think the internet connection here is to her liking." I laughed, remembering her dark mood as she crawled around under the tables, trying to fix the issue earlier in the day.
"Workaholics. If they're not here in 5 minutes and enjoying themselves, I'm going to find them and make them enjoy themselves." Esme said darkly.
Only Esme could turn an after party into a threat.
"Ah, it looks like you won't have to resort to any drastic measures, Esme, there's Bella now…" I trailed off. Bella was standing in the doorway, but she looked panic-stricken as she scanned the room furiously. I was just about to call her when she saw us and ran over. She was only halfway across the room when she shouted at me.
"Jasper! Where's Alice? When did you see her last?"
"Bella, what's wrong Hun, you're so pale." Esme went into mothering mode instantly.
"Jasper?" she pleaded with me.
"I don't know... About ten minutes ago? She said she was going to the bus for something. What's wrong, Bella?"
She was frozen in front of me, but something in her crumpled as I said this. "I was hoping it was some kind of sick joke," she said, barely audible. Bella handed me her phone.
On the screen was a photo of Alice, she looked to be unconscious with her hands and feet tied up. Her lip was bleeding, and her eye was definitely showing signs of swelling.
"It's James." Bella cried into Edward's chest as he held her close. "He's got her. What am I going to do?"
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