DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc., are the intellectual property of the respective author. The original characters and plot are the property of Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended.
-Chapter Nine-
We stayed at the pool hall for a few more hours, and I got to know Edward's family. They were an exciting group of people. They had this tight-knit bond that stemmed from Edward and Emmett, who had been friends since they were kids. The other three were drifters in the wind, lost souls, of course, but together they've created a family.
Something about them—all of them—made me feel at home. As if, somehow, I always belonged with them because I was a drifter, a lost soul, a misfit. Well, in my G-rated version.
So, it was like winning the lottery when they welcomed me with open arms.
Emmett even took to calling me 'Little Sis,' which was fine by me. It was better than being called Kid or Baby Bella.
As the night wore on, I learned a few more things about them and their means of getting money. Edward, like I always suspected, was the main guy of the business that they were running. They were selling drugs—that much I knew, but it was more complicated than dealing. But, of course, it turned out to be much more than that.
They were like the mob without accents and on a smaller scale. They each had a role to play in the family, unique to them yet beneficial to the business.
Rosalie's thing was cars, and I found that surprising. She didn't seem like the type with her manicured nails, perfect hair, and expensive clothes, but she knew everything there was to know about cars and then some. She knew how to drive them, how to fix them, and, more importantly, how to steal them. She'd taken Edward's technique of thievery, tweaked it, and perfected it.
There was no car she couldn't boost, and when she heard about my old jimmying-the-hanger-in-the-window method, she almost fell off her chair laughing. She offered to teach me, but Edward informed her that he would be the only one teaching me, and then they argued about it, which Edward won in the end.
Alice was the computer whiz. She was a self-professed nerd, and she could hack into anything. No firewall could keep Alice out. She used these skills to break into a clothing store website. She would add money to online gift cards, turn them around, and spend them. That was how she got her clothes. She promised to take me online shopping soon.
I declined at first, slightly wary of taking her up on her offer, but I did need some new chucks.
Emmett was their muscle, plain and simple. His job was to intimidate. Even though he looked like a big teddy bear, everyone assured me Emmett could be pretty deadly.
A few years back, they went to a bar when he and Edward got to Arizona. Something happened. Words were said between Emmett and a few drunk idiots—five of them, to be exact. He had taken them all on by himself. He'd managed to kill two men by breaking their necks and the other three beaten to a bloody pulp. Edward eventually pulled Emmett off the one guy, and they fled the scene.
Of course, the cops never caught them, and Emmett was so damn proud of himself. He showed me the scars on his knuckles every five minutes.
Jasper, the quiet blond-haired Texan, was probably the most impressive of the group. He wasn't strong like Emmett, didn't care too much for cars, and left all the hacking to his girlfriend, but he was important. He was a diplomat and peacemaker and could influence a person into doing his bidding.
He could talk and con his way out of any situation.
For instance, a few years ago, he was down in Mexico with Edward, smuggling some drugs into the states. They were halfway home, two miles always from the border when they came across some trouble with the Mexican drug cartel. Several men forced Jasper and Edward out of their car and put a gun to their heads—and when they told me this, I gasped loudly, and everyone laughed at me.
The men had Edward and Jasper on their knees and told them to say their prayers because they were going to die, but then Jasper started to talk, and things shifted. It wasn't even five minutes later that he'd stricken a deal with the cartel. He smoothed things over with the head guy, and in the end, Edward and Jasper got an even better connection in Mexico.
They talked about high-quality products and unlimited access to planes, underground tunnels, and corrupt police that liked a good payoff.
It was quite the hookup.
Then there was Edward, the mastermind. He was the one who brought everyone together and led them into this life of crime. He was intelligent, charismatic, and a commanding presence. Everyone took notice of him. He knew how to market the drugs and plan everything to ensure it was a success.
Edward never moved until he'd analyzed every aspect of the plan. After that, Alice called him a perfectionist, and Rose called him an anal asshole.
Emmett was the least biased of the group and talked about how Edward was the smartest kid in their school, a fucking math genius. But of course, no one was allowed to know anything about Edward and his upbringing, and Emmett was immediately reprimanded.
It was frustrating because there was so much that I wanted to know, but it wasn't easily given to me. That's why I withheld it when the focus turned to me and Edward asked me about my life and family.
He wasn't pleased, but if he wasn't willing to give up the goods, I wasn't going to, either.
Besides, I couldn't tell him about Phil or my worthless mother. It was still too much for me to think about, let alone divulge to a group of people. So I stuck to the basics, telling them about my school, old friends and pets, and other meaningless, superficial stuff.
But as I described my insignificant little life to them, I wondered what my role in the family would be. In truth, I had nothing to offer anyone. Unless these people needed someone to spell-check a paper or critique it for them, I was pretty much worthless.
Shit, man, what was I even doing here?
"So, what do you think, kid? Have we got you scared yet? Running for the hills?" Edward smirked, shutting off the car.
I didn't answer him. Instead, I watched him lean back in his seat and close his eyes. He exhaled loudly and ran his hands through his hair—that messy, sex-God hair. I wanted to grab it, feel the strands between my fingers, and yank it.
I was practically drooling all over myself just thinking about it.
"It's been a fucking day," he said.
"Yeah," I said, gazing over his body, my eyes glossing over in lust.
His biceps were flexed as his hands rested on his head, which had become my primary focus of interest. I narrowed my eyes and tilted my head to the side, trying to figure out some of the meaning behind his tattooed art. Finally, on the underside of his right arm, I caught a name inked in black cursive: Tanya.
I stopped breathing. The name caused my stomach to churn and my chest to ache, but still, I couldn't tear my eyes away—no matter how hard I tried. It was all I could think about, and I was a glutton for pain.
Tanya.
Who was this girl? Was she a wife or a girlfriend? Were they still together, and was that why he wouldn't kiss me? And if they were still together, where was she? She had to mean something to him. Guys don't get a girl's name tattooed unless they love them.
I was lost in my miserable thoughts when Edward spoke.
"Are you okay?" he asked, brushing the hair away from my shoulder and rubbing my neck with the backside of his hand.
The touch brought me back to the present, but it only made me realize how jealous I was of this phantom girl.
"What?" I asked, pulling away from him.
"Are you okay?" He chewed on his lip ring. "You look...not happy."
"I'm happy," I said, my sentence drifting and falling off at the end.
The car got quiet, and I wanted to ask him about the tattoo. It was on the tip of my tongue, but when I turned to look at him, I saw that he was giving me that look—that smile that told me I meant something to him.
Of course, I probably would have overlooked such a thing if it hadn't been for Alice and Rose pointing it out to me. I tend to get wrapped in my perceptions of people and whatnot.
So for my sanity, I stopped thinking about some girl and started thinking about me—and what I wanted. After that, everything else slipped away. I decided to take a risk and roll the dice.
"Are you tired? Do you want to go inside and watch a movie?" he asked.
In a wordless response, I unbuckled my seat belt and leaned over the center console. I stared at Edward's lips, licking my own in anticipation.
He narrowed his eyes at me. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" I asked, inching closer to him. "I want you to kiss me."
He bent his head down a little, causing my breath to hitch. He smiled as he picked up my hand and kissed it.
I frowned, jutting out my bottom lip. "That's it?"
He shrugged. "I've already taken more than my fair share."
This guy was nothing but a constant tease. He was always bringing me to the brink of combustion, only to snatch it away at the last minute. Finally, I was fucking fed up.
"Ugh," I growled, throwing myself back into my seat. "Do you honestly torture me this way for the fun of it?"
"I'm torturing you?" He laughed, shaking his head. "Do have any idea…" he sighed. "Do you honestly think that I don't want to kiss you?"
"No, I know you do...at least, I think you do. I just don't understand why you won't."
"Bella," he said, unbuckling his seatbelt and angling his body towards me, "I know this sounds crazy, especially coming from a fucker like me, but I don't want to cross that line with you. Not while you're still underage."
Oh, right, his morals.
I wasn't buying it after all the shit I've heard tonight.
"Are you serious?" I shouted at him. "Edward, you're a drug dealer. A freaking drug dealer! You smuggle pounds of drugs into the States almost every week. Statutory rape is the least of your worries." I saw Edward wavering, and I went in for the kill, pressing myself against his body. I whispered. "Besides, who's going to turn you in, huh? Not me."
"I was hoping you would make this shit easy on me...but fucking look at you," he huffed, his hand waving over my body, "just fucking with my head and..."
"And what?" I asked, biting my lip, begging him to kiss me already.
"Fuck!" he cursed, hitting the steering wheel with his fists. "You really have no idea what you're doing to me, do you?"
Oh, no, I knew, and I used it to my advantage.
"I just want you to kiss me, Edward. Just one stupid kiss. It's not like I'm asking you to marry me."
He scoffed and glared at me, still suspicious of my motives."If I give you one kiss, will you shut the hell up about it?"
"Yes." I smiled smugly. "But you have to kiss me on the lips."
"Which lips?"
I clenched my jaw, trying to control the arousal that struck me down below. Damn this beautiful man, why did he have to say that?
"Well," he said, playfully nudging me.
"I'm thinking."
He smirked, leaning back in his seat and putting his hands behind his head. "You just tell me where, kid."
Knowing damn well that I would hate myself later for this, I decided that I wanted him to kiss me on my mouth.
"Here," I said finally, pointing to my lips. "I want you to kiss me here."
"Are you sure?" he asked, cocking his eyebrow. "Because one kiss is all you get."
I gasped. "One kiss?"
"It's just one kiss until you turn eighteen. That's the deal. Take it or leave it."
He raised a hard bargain, but one kiss was better than none. It would just hold me over for forty-four—no, forty-three days and counting. I knew that kissing Edward would only leave my lips wanting more, and in hindsight, it might have been wiser for me to wait and not tempt Pandora by opening her box, but he was offering it to me now. I didn't think about the consequences.
"I'll take it," I said, perhaps a little too eagerly, but I wanted it more than anything.
He leaned across the center console and closed the distance between us, his lips hovering over mine. He spoke faintly, his hot breath on my face. It smelled like peppermint. "Are you sure you want this, Kid?"
I gulped, closing my eyes and nodding.
"Alright," he conceded, his hands reaching up and cupping my face, holding it firmly in place.
Time ticked away agonizingly as I anxiously awaited the moment he finally kissed me. Then it happened. His lips gently pressed against mine. They were soft and warm, a stark contrast to the coldness and hardness of his ring, but they seemed to complement each other.
He moved his mouth, focusing mainly on my bottom as he sucked and pulled at it, coaxing me to join him. He made circular motions and rubbed my cheeks with his thumbs. I grasped his wrists, needing stability.
My world was spinning around me.
There was no tongue, and he didn't rush it. The kiss was tender and slow. It was perfect.
When he pulled away, I whimpered. "More."
He chuckled. "Don't be greedy, Kid. One kiss is all you get until September thirteenth. That's the deal."
I opened my eyes, surprised. "You know my birthday?"
"Of course, I do," he said, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. "I marked it down on my calendar."