Chapter Five

"How do you know Jake?" Edward asked, looking over some of Bella's artwork when they returned to her studio after breakfast. He turned to watch her carefully for any indicators on her feelings for his friend.

Jake had been reluctant to share Bella's information, probably because Edward wasn't completely honest on why he needed it. He outright lied to the man, telling him his cousin, Emmett, and his on again girlfriend, Rosalie, told him that she made excellent movie replicas. It was half-truth of sorts; they each had a few of her pieces. In the end, Jake shared Bella's phone number, and told him straight out, not to fuck with her. The threat was clear in his tone and Edward wanted to know why.

"Jake and I are complicated." She looked up from her sketching. From her almost wistful expression, he'd guessed they had, at one point, dated. He wasn't sure how he felt about it.

"Ross and Rachel complicated?"

She shook her head, meeting his eyes. "Try Ross and Carol complicated, even though we probably dated for like two minutes, but we've been friends since we were in diapers." She shrugged and returned her attention to her iPad.

"Wait a minute. What are you trying to say?"

"One of us is gay." She rolled her eyes and held up the iPad, probably in the hopes to change the subject. He dismissed the sketch with a wave of his hand and asked for some clarification.

"I've known him for two years, Bella. I would know if Jake was gay."

"He's careful about who knows, don't take it personally." Bella grabbed his hand as he paced in front of her, tugging him down to the couch. "He doesn't talk about those he protects to anyone, but he has mentioned trusting anyone in the industry was stupid."

"Why wouldn't he tell me, though?" Edward leaned back, staring up at her ceiling—even that was a piece of art with a huge, iron medallion in the center. It upset him to realize how much he didn't know about Jake, a man who knew just about everything about him. "Almost done?"

"In a hurry?" Bella looked at him for a moment. The color of her eyes was hard to describe; there was some blue, bursts of green, and flecks of brown. "Got a hot date or something?" She gave a small laugh, though it sounded a little off.

Edward grunted and chuckled. "Yeah, a hot date with my television and Netflix."

She was watching him closely now. "Throw in some popcorn and it sounds like my kind of night."

He could be real honest, tell her there hadn't been anyone in months, but instead, he had another idea. "What are your plans for the day?"

"Besides working on your costume." Her words reminded him about his condition and tentative arrangement. She seemed to remember, too. "What's your condition?"

He thought honesty would be best at the moment. "I don't want you to go with me to Comic Con if its only because I'm paying you."

Her shoulders relaxed; he hadn't realized she'd been so damn tense. She was hard to read sometimes. "You are paying me to make a movie quality costume."

"Exactly."

"We're going to Comic Con together to offer each other support and its always better to go with someone who enjoys the same things you do."

"Did you say yes because you were afraid I wouldn't hire you?"

"Of course not, Edward."

At least she wasn't biting his head off, because she understood where he was coming from. It was hard to determine the real motives with someone new in his line of work.

"So if I decided to take back our deal and have someone else make my costume, you'd still go with me?"

"I'm making your costume, Edward." She placed her iPad on her coffee table and shifted until she was facing him on the couch, one leg tucked beneath her. "I've been wanting to work on something like this for a long time, but never had the time. Don't take that away from me just because you want to get in my pants."

"It was a hypothetical question," he groaned, averting his eyes. "Okay, that might be not be true. A part of me wants to say fuck it, and take my business elsewhere so you'd go out with me." He drew an imaginary halo around his head. "I'm not a saint. You know I want you."

She nodded, though she didn't look pleased by his answer.

"But it's not just about wanting you, Bella. There's seriously something wrong with the idea of paying you to be my friend. You and I both know there's enough of that shit going on in Hollywood, and I don't want that with you. But I want to make sure you're coming with me for the right reasons."

"Okay." She didn't say anything for a while, picking her iPad back up and hopefully thinking over what he said. After a few minutes, she handed him the tablet and pointed out all her ideas and when she'd need him to come in for a fitting. "I don't know what to say," she said after concluding business. "But I'd be disappointed not to be able to work on your costume." His lips started to twitch, but he kept the smile from showing. "I would still go with you if you took your business elsewhere."

There was no stopping his grin. "I knew you liked me." She poked him his side with her demon claw and told him to go home. He grabbed her hand before she could stab him again, and pulled her closer. He loved the little catch in her breath. "I still want you to make the costume, but the original agreement still stands."

"Huh?" She looked dazed; he had that effect on people. "Original agreement?"

He repeated the words he said over the phone the day before. "I'll pay you thirty thousand dollars, half up front and the rest if my identity isn't compromised by the day of the event."

She blinked. "Meaning our business would conclude before Comic Con." Her words sounded breathless or was his imagination playing tricks on him?

"Why yes it would mean that, wouldn't it?" He pressed a kiss to her cheek and stood up from the couch. "I'll be here day after tomorrow for the casting." He had wanted to see if they could hang out all day, but leaving now was for the best. He didn't want Bella to try to change the rules on him.

Bella's front door closed behind him, seconds later he heard her scream, "You're diabolical!" Edward left her house with a little bounce to his step.

AN: I keep telling myself ten chapters, that's it, but this Edward keeps laughing at me. Another update in about two hours, need to start dinner.