A/N: Hello and welcome back to The Twilight Mafia.
I know it's been ages since I've gone about updating this story. I've been really caught up between things with life going on, and just overall writer's block that I got stuck on how to proceed with this story.
Rereading back through everything, I realize now that things were a bit too fanatical or weird - between the characters' age gaps of which might seem troublesome here and there, and then Edward's way of punishing Bella often times for really trivial things. Things don't exactly add up when reading over it.
Most importantly I have been trying to come up with a new chapter to continue the story - I have plans that we'll get to some of the bigger plot points possibly in a few more chapters but we'll see how soon we'll progress the story.
For now I at least came up with something that might work for a new chapter for the time being.
Lets see where it takes us.
-The Twilight Mafia-
Chapter Eleven
*Edward Masen*
The alarm clock beside me began sounding off to which it caused me to wake up. I groaned at the sunlight peaking through the windows behind my bed, rubbing my hands into my eyes to try and shake the sleep that still befell over me. I rolled over onto my side, and took in the sight of Bella still fast asleep next to me. She was curled into herself where the pillow we established to remain between us on the bed was still intact. She looked adorable just from her curled form, but I also took in the sight of her skimpy pajamas and just how much of her pale, creamy skin was exposed. I began to feel emotions that I didn't need to be having lest she were to wake up and find me in such a situation, so I took this chance to slip out of the bed and head to the closet to change into some workout clothes.
I was still sore from yesterday's workout that I put my body through but I needed to keep up diligently if I wanted to still keep myself in shape. I grabbed a pair of gym shorts and after slipping off my sleep pants, I pulled them on and took off my current shirt so I was bare on the top half of my body. I threw my dirty clothes into the hamper and returned to the bedroom. Bella was still asleep, having only turned to her other side. Her face was puckered while she slept, and I paused briefly to take in the sight of her. Her brown hair was in a messy disarrayed state while she had her legs curled up to her chest and her arms were splayed outwards on top of the bed. Her pouty lips were pursed together and her eyebrows knitted together. She mumbled incoherently in her sleep, grunting and sighing while shifting ever so slightly.
I shook myself from watching her and left the bedroom, closing the door behind me. I walked through my lavished mansion, taking in the quietness that greeted me. I had my phone in my pocket and I went to my office quickly as I realized my iPod was sitting in there. So I grabbed it and situated the earbuds into my ears while I continued through my house to head down to the basement where my home gym sat. Once I arrived, I found that Jasper and Emmett were there already; Emmett was lighting weights while Jasper was working on the leg press.
"Oh there's the boss himself!" Emmett had grunted out with a smirk on his sweaty face. I chuckled and nodded to them each, setting my phone down on the counter top next to the cabinets that had some towels. I took a towel and got it ready for me to use before I set about doing some warm up stretches.
"How are you doing this morning, Edward?" I heard Jasper ask me from the leg press, and I looked over to see him staring over at me with his eyes looking like he had a lot on his mind. Honestly he really looked like he was thinking hard for the past 24 hours after yesterday. When Bella and I were having our argument in the morning, when she had stormed out to the backyard, I saw that Jasper had hurried outside after her. I was puzzled by this and when I had looked out the windows, I saw he had followed her to the canopy space I had set up beside the pool, and the two of them were out there for a good ten minutes just talking to one another. They shared some small laughs with one another time to time. I was extremely confused watching the two of them interacting with one another so easily - dare I say it, I was jealous more than anything. I was feeling extremely green with envy at the fact that Jasper seemed to be able to talk to Bella so easily and that she was almost more opened up to him than she ever would be to me. I know I didn't exactly do much or say much to really lead her to believe that she and I could talk to one another so amicably like she was able to do so with Jasper. But I desperately wanted to have that with her. We were on shaky grounds still, and always had been ever since we first brought the girls here to live with us. Bella was a tough cookie to crack, and she was so headstrong as is. I get it too that I could be stubborn when I really wanted to be, but she was so stubborn to the point of it being infuriating.
But I also found it to be endearing, and something that led me to be drawn towards her.
I would've probably gone out there to break up the chat they were having but they took to ending it soon after ten minutes had passed basically, because Bella's sister Alice had ran outside looking for Jasper. I'd say out of all of them, Alice has been the quickest to finally accept the conditions she was in and was adjusting to this life that she was stuck in now. Rosalie I'd almost say was getting to a similar point even though she has a bit of bite left in her. Emmett didn't seem to really mind as much with her. Alice though was already becoming close to Jasper - or seemed as much. If I must admit, it seemed like both she and Jasper were finally hitting off and were becoming closer as more time goes on. I was again envious of my friend being able to get closer to his dream girl and that she wasn't pushing him away anymore; but I held back the green-eyed monster with just reminding myself that all in due time, I'd be having the same with my dream girl. It'd just definitely take longer for her to thaw out from her icy exterior.
The three of them had returned inside soon after Bella and Jasper had their talk - and while she had disappeared with her sister upstairs, Jasper found me to inform me that Bella suggested that we take an afternoon outside to go swimming since the weather was just right. So that had later found us heading outside after the girls went out to get into the pool first; Rosalie and Alice had been in the pool already and were shouting at Bella to jump in at this point. That's when I took notice of the fact that she was in the tiniest, flimsiest bikini get up that I've ever seen on a woman before. Trust me, from the few women that I've had been with my life, I've seen some tiny pieces before. Hers was tastefully small but still covered her private areas to a point. I wanted to strangle Emmett when he had whistled at her which roused her from her scared state in jumping into the pool - and she had glared at us angrily. I was feeling more turned on when she had whirled around to look at us and I caught sight of her chest. She was nearly spilling out from her top piece. If that didn't do things to me, I don't know what would... I had thought at that point. I noticed that she was also staring at us and taking in the fact we were shirtless with just swim trunks on. I will admit that I was a bit more confident within myself when I noticed she had stared at me a bit longer than the others with her brown eyes raking over my body slowly. I blew it by putting my foot in my mouth when I teased her about it and she glared at me. But she couldn't chastise me for staring for long because she had been goaded again by her sisters to jump. So Bella turned back to the pool and dove in gracefully.
She had spent some time underwater before she resurfaced and flipped her hair end over end much like they would've done so in movies; she pulled it off beautifully and I was transfixed on her form.
It was then that I noticed her top was now gone from her chest and I caught sight of her bare breasts in the water.
The three of us men let out hisses of shock, and I could feel my trunks had tightened considerably down south when I took in the sight of her full chest. She was confused as to why we were staring at her - but it didn't take long for her to look down before she saw the missing piece of clothing was floating by her sister and she had shrieked. She went about swimming after Alice before Rosalie stopped her, and once she had her piece back, she swam off to the shallow end angrily while Alice looked saddened as she had mumbled to herself that it was an accident that the top slipped off. The guys had punched me to wake me from my stupor and at that point I had went to join her in the shallow end, feeling like I desperately wanted to make her feel better. When I had approached her, she didn't notice me at first since she had her legs curled tightly into her chest. She was glaring at the water and her eyes looked puffy already as if she had begun crying.
So when I began speaking to her, she was her usual cold self and tried pushing me away so she could be left alone. I dug around in my mind trying to think of something that might cheer her up - so I resorted to getting slightly personal and told her a childhood memory of mine where I lost my trunks when I tried impressing a girl back then. She listened while I told her, and snorted at the end when she heard about how embarrassed I was when the swim class caught sight of me naked in the water and how I ran off thinking I'd never be able to show my face again. I was trying to have her see that when stuff like that happens - mortifying or not - that she should just roll with the punches and just laugh at herself. She wasn't exactly happy with that last bit and we bickered briefly since she was still thinking I could care less about her being half naked from a wardrobe malfunction. I had tried reminding her that I was truthfully a gentleman due to my upbringing and even if I was a male, I was still wanting her to be comfortable. I had also pointed out that we've been at each other's throats since she and her sisters had arrived, so we hadn't been acting decent to each other. She then shocked me when she apologized for her cold attitude. She apologized and told me that she was surprised that it was me who came over to check on her during her fit - and that she appreciated that I had come by to show her that I cared. I joked with her and she laughed at what I had said; she actually laughed. I felt like it was a personal win in my book.
"Yoo-hoo! Ed?" I jumped a bit when I heard Emmett's calling to me, startling me from my thinking. I had been hard focused on recalling yesterday's events, that I had still been doing my warmup stretches but didn't answer Jasper's question. The two of them had moved around from their previous workouts and were on their next planned workouts but were looking at me with smug smirks tugging at their lips.
"Sorry, was thinking." I muttered, shaking my head whereas I went to the counter to get my iPod and set the music up to play before I got onto the treadmill.
"Thinking about the sight of Bella's naked chest from yesterday, again?" Emmett teased and laughed when I scowled at him.
"Emmett don't push him."
"Yeah don't push me, or I'll punch you in the gonads." I growled while I stepped up onto the machine, setting up the workout that I wanted.
"Whatever my brother. I know I'm right, and I know you'd be thinking about her bare boobs - if not now, you did last night before going to sleep." He teased in a crass undertone, winking and snickering while I let out an angry growl.
"Fuck off." I huffed before punching the start button to the machine and turned up my music to max volume to drown out his laughter while Jasper merely chuckled at me but didn't push me any further.
Fuck him and his damn teasing... I hate that he brought it up again since he knows that gets under my skin. I thought to myself in, miffed that he would mention it again to me when I'm trying to organize my head. My thoughts have been jumbled since yesterday because of what happened, as I never thought I'd see her bare chest - again. Keep in mind I had stupidly walked in on her earlier on when she had finished showering and was getting dressed in her underwear. It had been a brief second of me opening the door, calling to her because I was going to ask her god knows what at this point, and just as I had crossed the doorway, my eyes took in the fact that she had on her panties but she was reaching for her bra. When she realized that I walked in on her, she screamed at him and her arms flew to her bare chest - even though it was a brief millisecond, I still caught the curves to her chest and the bumps that were her nipples; they were pert and pale pink but perfect. Having seen them again yesterday but for longer, I took in the fact they still looked perfect as ever as the first time I had caught a glimpse of them - and now I was dying to see them once again, maybe even more. It was becoming increasingly hard to keep the dirty fantasies I had of her with less clothing, when I'm trying to woo her.
Fuck! Stop going down that route - you can't be thinking of her like this right now. I thought angrily to myself while I ran on the treadmill. I especially didn't want to get a boner when my two friends are down here working out with me. I didn't need to have that stupid awkward conversation with them when I should be focused on working out. So I pushed all thoughts of Bella out of my head for the time being while I focused on the music and mindlessly ran on the treadmill. I pushed through the rest of my workout for the next hour. Near the end when I still had ten minutes left before I'd call it, Emmett and Jasper left me and went upstairs to go get some coffee and breakfast because the aroma of said food was wafting down the stairs to the gym. I worked through the rest of what I had to do before I turned my iPod off and ripped the earbuds from my ears. I went over to the countertop for my phone and looked down to notice that five minutes ago I had received a phone call from one of my guard members - it was Seth. I sighed and hit the redial button to which I was trying to get my breathing back under control after pushing myself.
Seth answered quickly. "Boss. Sorry to be bothering you today."
"Well what's so important then, Seth, that you had to call me?" I grunted into the phone, taking the towel around my neck to pat at my skin.
"The others wanted to discuss some details with you regarding the incident with James, as well as looking into the Wolf Pack since one of their underlings had found their way to here to warn you about Black knowing about your girl." Seth informed me and I sucked in a deep breath. After one of Black's lackeys had managed to make it to here in Chicago and confronted me about how he knew about Bella, I was on high alert worried for the safety of my girl, as well as her sisters. I don't know how he found out about us being here and how he was able to do so as quickly as he did. I still have a deep rooted fear within my gut wondering if I hadn't made it to Bella in time that day on the elevator she likely would've been separated from me and worse, kidnapped by that lackey and probably brought back to Black's territory.
"Alright. It's dire I'm guessing based off the tone in your voice. I'll talk with Emmett and Jasper about us meeting today. I want you all to meet me at my building in the next two hours." I ordered him to which he said he would. I hung up on my phone and went upstairs. Emmett and Jasper were in the kitchen having a cup of coffee. I could see and smell breakfast being made by Carmen, and Bella was in the kitchen as well, helping. Jasper and Emmett were talking with one another, leaving Bella and Carmen alone to be in their own element. But Carmen took note of me entering and smiled brightly at me. "Hello ladies, boys." I greeted them with a nod. Emmett and Jasper looked up over at me and smiled before tipping their cups to me in greeting. Bella briefly looked over at me from over her shoulder, her brown eyes raking over my body once again slowly taking in each detail. I felt that my stupid cocky confidence soar when she looked at me but I held back my tongue in wanting to tease her for ogling. I don't need to be an asshat to her all the damn time. I noticed that she was still in her skimpy pajamas but she had brushed her hair out and put it into a messy bun. Carmen continued to smile at me while she plated some pancakes onto a large plate.
"Good workout, Master Masen?" she asked in her accented voice, glancing up at me as I walked towards the coffee maker to pour myself some.
"I did, Carmen. And how many times do I need to tell you that you don't need to refer me as that title? Edward is more than fine." I reminded her with a smirk. The boys moved out of my way to lean against the breakfast bar while still having their cups of coffee, and I managed to get myself a piping hot cup easily.
"I know you silly man, but still. You are still technically my boss."
"You're right but you've practically raised the boys and I for years so there's no need for formalities." I countered and she rolled her dark eyes at me but laughed. Bella listened to our exchange in silence, only glancing up between Carmen and myself here and there but otherwise she was focused on her cooking. I stood around and watched the two of them silently work together on making the food, not really bothering to pay mind to the fact that Emmett and Jasper had left - something about going upstairs to wake up Bella's sisters for breakfast. I noted Bella had smirked when she heard them leave and I recalled briefly back to when I had found them that one morning tickling Alice in Jasper's bed; it seemed to be a ritual between the sisters to have some fun when getting up in the morning or it was a task in of itself for Bella just to get them out of bed.
I sipped my drink silently, looking through my phone as I went over some emails for my company. I had received texts from my guard members about them confirming they've heard about the news and me calling every one of them to a meeting today. So I worked on reserving a meeting room at my headquarters through Angela, as well as informed my driver that I'd be needing his services later for the boys and I to head over. Once I was done with that I heard Carmen had clapped her hands and I looked up at the noise. The ladies were done with their cooking where Carmen was working to get the food together on a dining cart to deliver some food to the rest of the staff. Bella was at the sink finishing up on cleaning some pots and pans that they had used. There was still mountains of food on the breakfast bar for the six of us in the mansion to eat for this morning.
"Thank you once again sweet Bella for all the help! You make mornings so much easier on my old brittle bones." Carmen graciously thanked my girl for the hard work she put into cooking, and began steering the cart that she used to transfer food around, to the back door. I got up to help Carmen with the door and heard Bella laugh a bit.
"Carmen it's no problem at all, I love helping and I told you I love to cook. And you're not old." Bella told her in her sweet voice, beaming at the woman. Carmen chuckled and nodded her head.
"Thank you as always for making the food, Carmen." I thanked the woman that was like a third or even fourth mother to me, and she smiled up at me.
"It's no problem, Edward. Though do realize Bella did the majority of the cooking today - she's a magnificent cook in the kitchen and does everything so wonderfully." she murmured to me, almost too quiet that I don't think Bella heard it. I nodded my head to her and after I held the door open, Carmen scooted past me with the trolley and I heard the clambering noises of utensils and plates being jostled around as she headed off to the staff quarters. I closed the door and padded my way back to the kitchen to see Bella had finished cleaning and was fixing herself a cup of coffee.
I cleared my throat while I took to getting a plate and piling up some food for myself. Bella looked over at me over her shoulder while I had murmured to her, "Thank you for making breakfast again, Bella. It smells divine in this kitchen." Bella slightly smiled over at me and nodded her head to show she appreciated my thanking her, and I returned a small smile to her. Before long, I heard the others rushing into the kitchen to get the hot food on the countertop and I side stepped with my food to avoid being knocked down. Before I left for the dining room, I said over my shoulder, "Emmett, Jasper - I need to talk to you about something important so eat quickly so we can chat."
I heard the two of them agree to my wishes, before I entered the dining room and sat down at my usual spot. I began to eat, and just as I was finishing up my eggs, Bella entered the dining room. I noticed that the others weren't in the room with us, so it's likely they went to go eat in the living room or theatre room. I looked up when Bella began pulling out the chair next to me and she sat down beside me. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow, a bit shocked that she was willingly sitting next to me this morning. Considering we were the only two in the dining room, I half expected - no, fully expected - that she would've gone for a different seat that was far from me. When she noticed I was staring at her, she frowned. "What?" she asked, cutting into her pancakes.
"I'm shocked that you're sitting next to me willingly this morning. Out of all the seats, I expected that you'd want to sit far away from me." I told her my thoughts bluntly. Bella shrugged her shoulders and ate the food off of her fork.
"Well I also expected you'd make a fuss if I wasn't sitting next to you - so I'm saving us both from having headaches this morning." she mumbled around her food. I smirked at the answer, knowing full well and good that I probably would've made a scene about having her sit next to me if she sat anywhere else. "I'm trying to make things civil at least between us, even if I still don't like you." she added with a rolling of her beautiful brown eyes, and I snickered.
"Well the civil attitude is appreciated." I told her earnestly, munching on my bacon. She snickered under her breath as well, but kept quiet. While I was eating my own small stack of pancakes, I decided that I should at least tell her that I'd be gone today. So I set my fork down briefly and looked up at her again. "I should inform you that some business came up that requires my attention so I'll be leaving the mansion today with Emmett and Jasper." I started and she glanced up while chewing her food.
"Okay... are you telling me this because you're wanting my sisters and I to go with you guys back to your office?" Bella asked with a slight grumble to her tone. I think she was still a bit sore from the messy day at the office a few days ago. I recalled to her ranting in that elevator, how she despised my receptionists - the bimbo twins as she had called them - as well as how much she really wanted to punch Mike Newton in the face for trying to flirt with her. Now that I remembered this, I was deeply angered that that employee of mine did that especially with my girl. I think at some point so long as I can keep that fresh in my head, I'll have to have a personal chat with Newton... I know we only kept him because he did do decent work and frankly the boys and I were entertained with her groveling ways because he desperately wanted our approval. He was more than anything entertainment for us than he was valuable but still.
I shook my head to her answer her question before speaking again. "No, you ladies won't be needing to be coming with us. It's more personal business than anything." I told her, and she furrowed her brows at me. I know that she desperately wanted to figure it out on her own as to what I do exactly. She didn't buy the front I put up in just having my current company as my only job; I knew she especially thought of something more is lying under the surface considering she and her sisters have been kidnapped by us, the fact that I'm refusing to let her go back home much less contact her parents, detailing the dangers that she's in an enemy's territory if she went back home and the fact she witnessed me murder someone at my office space. I knew that I had plans of telling her just who I really was but I didn't want to tell her so soon still. I wanted her to be willing to stay with me and have feelings for me so I wouldn't be afraid of losing her in leaving me. It might seem utterly selfish and the fact remains that because I have to put my walls up, it was shutting her out to where I knew she felt like she would never be able to trust me - and therefore never develop any feelings for me. I know that if I were to tell her, maybe then she would understand or at least feel like she could trust me because this is such a heavy, deep secret to be kept away from her. And she wanted to know badly, considering she did snoop around in my office looking for said answers.
"So personal business meaning more of your secret life crap that you won't bother telling me about." she surmised, bringing me back to reality. I glanced back up at her to see her scowling. I sighed but nodded to her. She huffed and went about angrily eating more of her food.
"Babydoll, please don't be upset. I told you before, that in due time you'll find out what I do - but you know my terms and conditions for that to happen." I reminded her, grimacing when I saw her aggressively roll her eyes once more and she grunted. I knew it really angered her, frustrated her that I kept her in the dark. But it was for her own good.
"Yeah yeah, I know. You don't need to remind me of the spiel." she muttered under her breath and I sighed, feeling a spike of annoyance from her tone. But I kept it to myself while I continued to eat.
"If you and your sisters need anything from us, we'll be leaving our phone numbers for you three so you can reach out to us." I told her and let the conversation drop there while we ate in silence next to one another. She still seemed pissed about being reminded of the fact that she won't ever find out about the truth of who I was until I knew that she loved me - and I think in her mind she was probably cursing me to hell and back while vowing that would never happen. I'll admit that every angry fit she threw when I spoke of that with her, it did stab at me time and time again. I was especially hurt when she said yesterday that she didn't think I actually loved her - that it was just some passing fancy that I had feelings for her - and that she vowed she'd never love someone like me. I knew in my head that I did love her; it was some infatuation that I was feeling for her. I wanted to really get to know this brown haired goddess next to me, and not just the surface details between her likes and dislikes, her favorite music or her least favorite movies. I wanted to know the inner workings that was Bella Swan and everything about her past.
When we finished eating, I stood and took my plate along with hers. "Go and relax Bella since you worked hard making breakfast. I'll clean the plates up." I told her when she looked ready to protest. I left the dining room quickly so she couldn't speak up, and walked into the kitchen. I cleaned up our plates and as soon as I was done, I heard footsteps. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Emmett and Jasper were heading into the kitchen themselves, plates in hand to clean. I side-stepped for them and let them clean up their plates.
"So what did you need to talk to us about?" Jasper asked quietly after he cleaned his plates. I waited until Emmett was finished with his and then I motioned for the two of them to follow me. I led them out of the kitchen and up the stairs to my office, where they entered and sat down on the couch I had in here. After closing the door I turned to them and they looked up at me expectantly.
"Seth called me this morning. He informed me that he's got some information in regards to James, as well as some information about Black and his sending a lackey after Bella and I." I told them bluntly. Jasper and Emmett nodded their heads gravely. "It sounded like it was important news that can't be put off so I scheduled for us to head down there in another hour since I wanted us to have some time eating breakfast with our girls. I told Bella that we would be gone and that if she or her sisters need us at all for today, they can call us." I added, and they again nodded their heads.
"Then I guess we should get up and get ready." Emmett said in a serious tone.
"We'll be meeting Seth and some of our other higher rank guards at my office in one of our meeting rooms. So we should have some privacy there to discuss the matters at hand." I murmured and we left my office then. The guys went towards their rooms while I went upstairs to my room to start getting ready. I entered my bedroom and saw two maids were making my bed, keeping their heads ducked down as they quickly fixed the sheets up and fluffed my pillows. I nodded to them as a means of greeting before I went into my closet and began pulling together an outfit. I decided against going dressed fully in a suit like I normally would've so I settled for a button down shirt, suspenders instead of a belt, dark dress pants and simple black shoes. I took them and set them out on my bed as once I left the closet I saw the maids were gone and the bed was pristine perfect in being made. After the clothes were laid out, I went to my bathroom, locked the door, stripped down and went into the shower.
I didn't waste anytime in here like I normally would've, quickly cleaning myself and my hair. Once done, I left the shower to dry off. It was then I realized a problem and I felt stupid. I left my boxers out in the pile of clothes out in my bedroom rather than bringing them into the bathroom with me. I was too wrapped up with my thoughts currently that I failed to grab them before showering. "Shit..." I cursed to myself, sighing angrily. I could only hope that no one would barge into my bedroom - I was praying that Bella was distracted enough downstairs and that she wouldn't need something up here. I quickly wrapped the towel around my hips, holding onto it tightly with one hand, and then with a deep breath I opened the door and kept my eyes to the ground while I tried to quickly scuttle to my bed to get my underwear.
But luck was not on my side this morning. As soon as I entered my bedroom in just nothing but my towel, I heard a high pitched screech, followed by someone thumping into something. "Jesus!" I had yelled out in surprise, feeling my heart skyrocket in a panic and with my free hand I held it to my chest while I looked around blindly for the source of the noise. It was then that I spotted the cause - it was Bella. She had entered the bedroom at some point and went towards my bookcases on the back wall for something. She must've turned the moment I entered the bedroom and caught sight of me, before she had jumped in surprise and thumped her foot into the bed post and fell to the ground. She was groaning in pain down there.
"God damnit Bella. You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I hissed at her while walking towards the bed and leaning ever so slightly to check on her. She was sitting up with her knees pulled to her chest, massaging her foot and wincing. "Are you alright?"
"I-I'm fine." she stuttered, looking up at me with red cheeks. "Why are you walking around your bedroom naked?"
I coughed a bit to try and clear my throat, and glared down at her. "I'm not naked, I have a towel on. I was stupid and left my boxers in here before I went to shower. I didn't expect anyone to be in here so be glad I had the decency to have a towel on rather walking around in my birthday suit - because let me tell you, that's something Emmett surely does." I grumbled at her, huffing as I shifted away and grabbed my boxers in my free hand. Bella snickered from behind me and I quickly went back to the bathroom and shut the door some so I could slip on my boxers quickly. Sighing, I tossed my towel into the hamper and walked back into the bathroom, noting that Bella was standing up now and had a hobble in her step while she began walking around the bed to head back to the door. She stopped when she saw me walk back into the bedroom and saw me in my boxers now. The redness in her cheeks darkened considerably while she appraised me.
"See something you like, babydoll?" I teased her like a jackass, and she scowled at me.
"No." she muttered defiantly. I snickered at her but otherwise went to pull my pants on. She sat herself down at the end of the bed and I looked up at her quizzically. I found it a bit odd that she was hovering around here rather than leaving. Why was she hanging around me? She noticed the weird looks I was giving her and an eyebrow of hers rose in question. "What?"
"I'm a bit put off by the fact you're hanging around in here. Normally you would've stormed off by this point." I pointed out to her and she rolled her eyes. I pulled my shirt on and began buttoning it, looking up to see Bella once again staring at me. But she frowned and looked away quickly.
"I'm just resting since I hurt my foot on the damn bed." she muttered under her breath and it was my turn to frown heavily now at hearing this. I didn't like hearing that she was hurt. Once I had finished buttoning up my shirt, I walked around to stand in front of her and saw she was pouting while looking down at the carpet. She looked a bit startled when she saw me crouch down in front of her and take up the foot that she was cradling earlier. She jumped at my touch while I gently checked out her foot. Her small toes looked red after having been stubbed. Her foot and toes were just too adorable and looked so tiny compared to my large calloused hands. I glanced up at her to see her biting her bottom lip. God damn that lip... I love and hate that it does things to me. I thought to myself.
I cleared my throat, probably for the third time that day, and then asked her quietly, "Does it hurt when I move your toes here?" before I gently bent her toes. She only winced ever so slightly.
"It hurts a bit but I feel like I can move them still."
"How about the rest of your foot?" I asked next, and then carefully twisted her foot around, rolling it to test her ankle and make sure she didn't sprain it. She shook her head and I smiled a bit at her answer.
"Probably just hurts from stubbing the toes is all, but it doesn't seem like you broke anything." I told her in an encouraging tone, standing back up in front of her. I offered her a hand which she took hesitantly, and let me help her stand up. "Foot any better than that you could walk?" I inquired and she put some weight to her foot. Bella stood there for a moment testing the waters but then she nodded her head.
"Uh... thanks for checking to see if I was alright." She mumbled under her breath but I chuckled briefly.
"No problem Babydoll." I told her honestly, squeezing her hand (and ignoring the sparks that were passing between us due to our hands touching) before I let her go and walked back to my bed. I sat down and pulled on my socks, looking up only to see Bella was shuffling out of the room soon after. Once I had my socks on, I got my suspenders strapped on and then put my shoes on. I went back to my closet and pulled out a wrist watch that I put on my left wrist, before checking myself out in my mirror. My hair was a mess like always but it was futile to try and tame it with gel or combing it down. So I just fixed a few pieces as best as I could, and then rolled my sleeves up to my elbows while adjusting my shirt a bit. I deemed my outfit as perfect as it could be before I turned and left my bedroom, closing the doors behind me. I headed back down to my office when I realized I had about half an hour left before we'd need to be down at my office building. So I figured for at least ten minutes or so while I waited on Jasper and Emmett to finish getting ready.
I went and sat down at my desk, pulling up my laptop to check my emails. I glossed over the simple emails from Angela - standard emails about my company, employee check-ins, numbers in sales etc. etc. I sent out a quick email to her saying I'd get back to her on all of them, and asked her if she could call in my piano tuner as I've been meaning to get it tuned after several months of not touching it. I was still going over some more emails when I heard a knocking on my door. I glanced up to see Jasper peeking his head in the doorway. "We're ready to head out if you are, Ed." he said to me, and I nodded my head to him, shutting my laptop down.
"Let's get this show on the road then." I stated while leaving my office. He led me downstairs to the foyer. Emmett was down there waiting with Rosalie and Alice, while the front door was wide open. I took note of the garb my boys were wearing and they followed my example; they wore button down shirts with colors that matched their personalities, while they had on belts instead of suspenders, with dark trousers and fancy shoes like my own. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard Emmett talking to the girls.
"We'll be back later gals so hopefully you won't be too bored while we're gone. Remember that you're to stay in here, but if you need us at all today don't hesitate to call us on our cells - I left our numbers for you on that slip of paper." Emmett reminded them and the two of them nodded.
"Where's Bella?" I asked out loud, frowning when I realized she was nowhere near the foyer to say goodbye to us. I heard Emmett snicker behind me, while the girls smiled a bit at my worry.
"Sorry Edward, but Bella's in the theatre room. She said she was starting to feel some pains in her abdomen that she felt like she couldn't get up." Rosalie told me and I frowned, now feeling more concern for my girl. Pains? How did that happen? I wanted to run over to check on her, come to her aid and see what was wrong.
"Edward please don't worry. Uh... usually if she's getting those pains around this time, it's uhm... oh how do I put this?" Alice fumbled over her words, her cheeks turning a light pink. I stared down at her confused as did Emmett and Jasper.
"You can tell me what it is, ladies. I'm concerned about her well-being and would like to know what's wrong with her. I'm starting to get worried about this." I muttered to them. Rosalie huffed and threw her hands up.
"There's no beating around the bush with this. She's a chick and we're adults. When she's getting those pains, it means... her cycle's about to hit. It's just a matter of time." Rosalie told me in an exasperated tone. Realization dawned on me then and I made a noise explaining as much that I understood what she meant. Jasper echoed me but Emmett made a noise of disgust.
"Ew."
"Emmett shut the fuck up." I growled at him, throwing a murderous glare over my shoulder at him. I knew exactly the type of pains that women go through during this time, as some have it worse than others. I knew from firsthand experience between the pains, the mood swings, the mess involved, the embarrassment they feel that comes with this natural occurrence. I had dealt with it for ages due to taking care of someone I loved dearly as she had horrible cycles when she started maturing; I had done what I could back then to offer her support and try to take some of the pain away that she endured. I quickly shook my head of the memories that I fought to repress for so long, and turned to look back at the girls. "How soon do you think it should be coming in for her? We can stop at the store to get whatever she needs." I offered to them and I could see their faces lightened up.
"Uhm well, the problem is that she's often had irregular cycles so they tend to spring up on her without anyway of preparing for it. But if you could stop today that'd be great. As a warning, normally just when she gets hers - we do too." Alice told us with a blush on her cheeks while she pointed to herself and Rosalie. I nodded my head to them, hoping that at least they could tell I wasn't judging them for this.
"Well if you ladies could come up with a list of what you need during this time, you can send it to us in a text and we'll be sure to get everything that we can do you all aren't uncomfortable during this time." I said to them with a smile. Both of them visibly relaxed when I said this and they nodded their heads in thanks.
"We do need to head out though if we're to make it to our meeting on time so apologies ladies. But we'll try to hurry back with everything you may need." Jasper inputted then and with some final goodbyes, the boys and I turned to leave my mansion. We climbed into the limo that I had arranged and we soon were on the roads heading downtown.
"Eugh, lady talk man..." Emmett muttered to himself; both Jasper and I glared at him. "What?" he stupidly asked when noticed the cold looks he was getting.
"Emmett stop acting like a child. Menstrual cycle talk is normal as this is something ladies naturally have to go through." Jasper told him curtly; I knew that he'd be more understanding about this considering he was the son of a doctor who no doubt informed him everything about this time of the month that women go through.
"It's still not something I'd like to hear about." he retorted and I punched him in the arm, scowling while he winced. "Ow! What the fuck man?!"
"Dude, seriously stop it with your whining. The ladies are embarrassed as is having to bring it up to us - you think they enjoy going through that every month? They feel disgusting about themselves already and hate having it, so it doesn't help if a guy that they're with further adds onto that by telling them it's gross to talk about." I seethed at him, and Emmett frowned.
"Okay okay, geeze. Sorry." he apologized, huffing and sitting back in his seat with his arms crossed. I rolled my eyes at him before I turned to look outside the window, going silent as Jasper and Emmett took to talking about mostly nothing. The car ride thankfully passed by quickly and we soon arrived in the downtown area of Chicago, making it to my building just a bit before noon. We exited the limo and passed by Mr. Hartman with a wave before taking an elevator up to my floor. When we entered, I saw that Lauren and Jessica were there at the desk. They heard the ding from the elevator and looked up, faces bright when they saw it was us.
"Hello Mr. Masen, Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Cullen. We didn't expect to see you three here today." I heard Lauren's grating voice speak before we even neared the desk. I saw that they two of them had quickly primped themselves by fussing over their hair and adjusting the tops they had on to show as much cleavage as they could before batting their eyes at us, specifically me. I held back the desire to roll my eyes while I heard behind me, Emmett and Jasper tried to hide their snickering behind their hands.
"Sudden meeting that needed our attention." I said bluntly, and saw that the two of them briefly pouted at the harsh tone my voice held. I made a motion to the guys over my shoulder and then said to the two of them, "Please don't disturb us while we're in our meeting, ladies." I led my friends away from the lobby, glaring at the floor when I heard the two of them laugh out loud behind me.
"As usual, they are desperate to get your attention, Ed." Jasper teased me and I huffed.
"Yeah yeah, muck it up boys." I growled and this only spurred the two of them to laugh more. We rounded the corner which led us to the section where the board rooms were in this building, and spotted Seth standing outside one of them. He looked up when he heard us approaching and bowed his head in greeting. "Sorry to keep you men waiting, but we're here now. Is everyone else ready to discuss the situation at hand?" I asked him when we stopped in front of him.
Seth nodded his head and said, "Yes boss, I made sure the officers of our group were called in and I informed them about the main objectives for the meeting; some of the officers have their own input on bits and pieces about the issue to which they hope it could provide some more insight to what we're dealing with."
I nodded to this and then let Seth guide us inside. When we entered I saw that the room was filled with several of my guard members as well some of the higher ranking officers that helped me in several areas of controlling my territory that was Chicago. They did what they could to also provide extra income to the gang, but that brought intel as well in areas that I needed it. The room was jam packed but I took time to greet them with handshakes and curt nods as did Emmett and Jasper. I then took to the front of the room and sat at the head chair, with Emmett and Jasper taking up the chairs to my left and right. Seth was close by and stood to where he called order to the meeting. "Thank you gentleman for coming by on short notice. Let us get this underway." he called out into the room, and then turned to look over at me. "So, boss you know I told you that we had some information regarding James as well as the Wolf Pack. Which one would you like to talk about first?"
"Let's get James out of the way; the shit is dead but I've been wanting to get answers as to what he knows about me." I chose what seemed like the easier issue to tackle; I had taken care of that fucker after what he tried to pull with my girl, but after that night in the abandoned warehouse where he threatened me with the fact he had knowledge about my past - it still unsettled me. I needed to know just who he was working for and if my gang managed to figure that out I'd be satisfied before I could begin pushing for something to be done about it.
Seth nodded his head before he began to speak again. "Alright sir. So I had some boys start looking into what he was talking about. I apologize if a lot of this is prying since this is your past and it's none of our business to be snooping into it but we went digging through what we could find in James' apartment after we had taken care of his body. There wasn't a whole lot beyond trash and leftovers. There were signs of his girlfriend having been there for awhile but many of her belongings were gone by the time we got there. We searched high and low through his belongings and we almost just about gave up on our searching until we found," He paused as he dug through his coat pocket and then produced a black leather bound journal. "This." Then he set it on the table and slid it over to me. I caught it and weighed it in my hands, eyeing it warily.
I opened the journal, noting the chicken scrawl on the front page which said it belonged to James. I turned the page and that's when I found a checklist hazardously written on the paper. "Meet with Demetrius at 11am." I read out loud; several of my men around the room grunted angrily at hearing the name or scoffed at this information being told. I could see Emmett and Jasper glaring darkly when they heard the name. Demetrius was apart of another rival gang, the Volturi. The Volturi gang has honestly been enemies of my gang, long before I even became the leader. My father was the one who ruled the Chicago territory before he died and even back then, the Volturi (an Italian based gang that resides more in New York but you'll get a few of its members anywhere and everywhere in the States) never was an ally to us. From what I could recall from the few childhood memories I had of him, he used to tell me about how much he hated the Volturi Family since it was led by three brothers - Aro, Marcus and Caius. They had children with their wives, which one of them was Demetrius.
Demetrius was a cold hearted man, and one that was well for tracking information down out of anyone for whatever purposes that Aro needed said information. Demetrius would aim to please his father so no matter the tactics he had to take, he'd get information one way or another. He was nicknamed as the Tracker for the gang since he'd hunt down anyone and anything for his end goal. He has three brothers - Alec who is just two years younger than him, Felix who was at least one year older than him, and Eleazar who was about four years older than him. The three brothers were quite old honestly so while they were the Godfathers to their family, it was Aro's sons who practically led the gang; at least that can be said for two of them. Alec was no better than Demetrius. He was coldhearted as well, but his means of getting information out of anyone involved torturing his victims. He liked to take away people's senses if he could help it in order to get people talking; more than anything I've heard horror stories about how he often would just torture victims for the hell of it even long after he'd get the information he needed. When it comes to Felix and Eleazar however, they were a special case. They defected from the Volturi family and miraculously managed to live after having left. Normally when it comes to the Mafia life, or any sort of gang life - if you left you'd leave in a body bag. So how they were able to escape I don't think I'd ever be able to understand it.
Felix is actually one of my higher ranking officers in the guard; he had told me when he joined my crew that he despised his brothers and his father since he couldn't stand by their ways of controlling territory and how they'd torture their victims. Felix was a kinder soul in that aspect and so he left, before he stumbled his way to my crew. I glanced up thinking about him and saw that he was sitting at the table, staring hard over at him when he heard of his brother's name in the book. He reminded me much of Emmett since he was of similar build with dark curly hair; the only differences really between the two of them lied in the facial structure and eye color. Emmett's face was a bit softer than Felix's, and Felix's eyes were a dark brown. He was a loyal guard to me so far; when he first joined my crew trust me I had reservations about him worried that he was a double agent putting up a front to try and get a hand into my crew so he could report back to his father about me. My friends were just as wary. But he worked hard to convince me that his intentions were of good nature and that I could trust him seeing as he provided me valuable information about his own family. So I took him in and he's continued to prove to me his loyalty.
As for Eleazar he is one of the oldest high ranking officers. He's Carmen's husband mind you and so I viewed him to be like a father to me and my friends just like how we viewed Carmen to be a mother to us. He was apart of the gang after having left the Volturi first years and years ago - when my father was still alive. My father had his own reservations about him as well since he came from a rival gang like the Volturi, but Eleazar managed to convince him just as much as Felix had done so with me that he was a good honest man. So he joined the crew years ago - and when my father had died, Eleazar acted in his stead to lead the crew before it was passed onto me. Eleazar had informed along with me all about the Volturi much like Felix had done so, and he was their to vouch for his brother on his true nature. Eleazar acted much like a mentor to me when it comes to leading the gang since he had many more years of experience than I did - I would've been more happy to let him have the lead in this crew but Eleazar passed me the title when I was ready since he had said it's what my father wanted. Currently, Eleazar was sitting at the table as well watching me carefully. He was an older gentleman with a simple build, olive complexion and dark cropped hair while his brown eyes were glancing between Felix and I here and there.
I sighed finally before I decided to move down the checklist. Two more names that I recognized stared back up at me and now I felt more anger than I had previously. "Meeting with Chelsea, and Tanya Denali at 1pm." I read aloud next, hearing more angry noises at the mentions.
Everyone knew these two as well, and I wished that I didn't know them but sadly I did. Chelsea was the whore of an ex-wife (at least now ex since from my recent run-in with her, she had told me as much) of Demetrius. And Tanya Denali was a granddaughter to Caius since Caius had children when he was fairly young. One of those children was a woman named Sasha; Sasha married a man before promptly divorcing him - but not before she had two daughters with the man. Tanya was a twin, her sister being named Irina. Tanya was an honest fluke on my part but our relationship lasted a week at best (a week that I've been missing ever since considering it was a massive waste of my time.) Tanya was... well she was pretty in her own right, but she did not hold a candle to my Babydoll. She was a tall shapely woman with strawberry blond hair, pale skin and blue eyes. Irina looked much like her but she had icy blond hair that was more like her mother's hair, with pale skin and blue eyes. Past their hair colors, the sister differed in face shapes too - Irina had more of an elven shaped face whereas Tanya had more round features.
Both women I couldn't stand back then; I was a stupid man that didn't know about Tanya's connection to the Volturi family until long after we had broken up. I was more concerned and angered at the fact that she was a whore since she decided that it was more than fine for her to suck face with another man - blatantly right in front of me mind you - and I put up with it longer than I honestly should have. I think I met her when I was absolutely wasted and blacked out of my mind on alcohol which led to a stupid night with her in my bed. She thought that after that night we were a couple but what kind of girlfriend would do what she did? Obviously not one to keep for long, that is for sure. Irina had tried as well to get in my pants, especially when I was dating her twin. When we split, she was still persistent. I was just glad that when I did find out their lineage, I swore them off and had all but threatened them bodily harm if they ever came near me again.
These women, specifically Chelsea and Tanya, had only some semblance of a connection to me about as much as Demetrius did. Chelsea would usually flirt with anything that walks and whatever has a dick between their legs, and well, Tanya was no better. But they've both been around me time to time - Tanya being more successful than Chelsea had been.
The rest of the checklist devolved in being centered around my Babydoll's drugging and near raping so I angrily tossed the journal back down on the table to look back at me crew.
"So, the connection to these three names - obviously all three are from the Volturi. James was working with them at the time." I stated the obvious to my crew. Seth nodded his head at my conclusion.
"Yes Boss. And well, I'm sure that just alone from the fact that James talked with Demetrius -"
"Demetrius went snooping into finding out about everything on me." I cut him off to surmise his line of thinking. Again, Seth nodded. I slammed my fist down onto the table, the anger welling up in my chest. The fucking bastard went through in finding out about everything on my personal life.
"I had some of our boys look into things too with the women." Seth began again and I glanced over at him to see him pursing his lips. "Some of our crew followed them but it led to not much about anything as to how they're connected other than the fact you have history with them."
"Tanya might've snooped around your office at some point without you knowing." Felix spoke up finally and when I looked over at him, his expression was grim. "She was a sneaky bitch last I recall. Anything that she wanted, if you were to deny her on it, she'd find her own means of getting the information - much like how Demetrius would do the same. She learned from him is my guess. So she might've gotten into your office, Boss, and found out some stuff about you in there - and you had no clue about it." he continued, to which the other members of my crew nodded their heads on it. I growled to myself, raking a hand over my face. The damn conniving bitch.
"No doubt then either way, Demetrius has found out about your past and told James about it." Eleazar spoke up then as well, and looked over at me with a solemn expression. Out of anyone else as well in this room, Eleazar knew of my dark past like Emmett and Jasper did. He knew what I suffered through before becoming the leader to this gang.
"Damnit!" I growled.
"What should we do then about this information, Boss? What would you like us to do?" I glanced up and saw one of my other guard members speaking - it was Ben Cheney. He was the husband to Angela. He was a loyal member to my crew for certain and did what he could to prove it everyday - even though he does more than enough along with his wife, Angela. He was a slightly smaller man but still one with great skill and strength to his own right, with dark cropped hair, pale skin and grey eyes.
"What can be done?" Jasper questioned, looking over at me dubiously. "If we go after Demetrius, we're sure to have a war on our hands if we go up against the Volturi. If we even harm the man, Aro would be livid and frankly speaking, the Volturi outnumber us despite us gaining more new guard members. We're second in size compared to them but they still beat us in quantity." Jasper explained when I looked over at him. Jasper was always the one looking out for strategies and plans when it came to this sort of thing - he was like a general in planning his army for battle and would always try to look for the most sure-fire plan that would lead to the least amount of casualties but would net a win.
"I know that already, but... I want Demetrius' head." I snarled, my anger overriding reason. "He went through my personal history with my family when he had no right to it! The dirty bastard deserves to die." I continued to rage, standing angrily from my seat to stalk towards the window.
"Ed we know how much you want him dead - believe me when everyone in this room wants him dead as well considering he's an evil twat." I heard Emmett behind me, trying to reason with me. "But you know for a fact that Jasper is right with this - if we kill him or go after him, we're starting a war with the Volturi. If we even want to go to war with them we need more time to plan before striking." Emmett continued, wanting me to see reason that I can't go after Demetrius, not yet at least.
"Your boys are right, Edward." I heard Eleazar speak up again, and I looked over at him to see him looking at me with a careful expression. "Felix and I know him more than anyone else in this room - he's a sneaky fucker that would run before you could even think to go after him because he'd be able to find out well before you enact. We need more time to plan accordingly with this matter before we think about hitting first. I know it's incredibly personal to you especially since he knows of your past - but please. See to reason first and foremost before you do anything irrational." he pleaded with me, and I sighed heavily.
"I know, and I won't do anything rash. But Demetrius will be dying by my hands whenever we plan to strike." I growled, stalking back to my seat and sitting down. I quickly looked through the rest of the journal, grimacing as most of it had delved into more detailed notes about my past than I wanted to be reminded of. James had taken down all of these notes no doubt when he had his meetings with the three people he had gotten together with, so he could try and use this against me for later. I was pleased that we at least caught him when we did before he did anything to hurt Bella further beyond the drugging and that at least put any possible blackmail plans to rest before they got anywhere. I closed the journal and put it to the side for now. "This journal is to stay with me, I do not want this getting out to anyone else - lest it falls into the hands of someone else." I announced to the group, nodding my head to Seth in thanks for at least bringing it forward. "Now, I want to hear about any leads regarding the Wolf Pack."
Seth again nodded his head before speaking. "Of course sir. So we looked into the lackey that you had killed that day. We cross referenced with any of the members that are known within the gang, since they have been apprehended by the police there in California on and off. This one that you killed was a fresh member, an underling so he had no ranking to his name - Black didn't even really catalogue his name." Seth explained and I sighed. That doesn't sound like it bodes well in explaining to me how he found out about me being here in Chicago. "But there's more, sir. You see after we had taken care of the lackey's body, we took to scouting out Chicago to see if any other members were here - and we found two." he continued, and I perked up on hearing this.
"Higher up officers I take it?' I questioned; Seth nodded again.
"Yes. Two of his higher ranking officers were here - Jared and Quil after we looked back to their files. We found them skulking around downtown, trying to look blended in but we were able to pinpoint them after recognizing their faces." I growled when I heard those two names.
I recall everything there is to the Wolf Pack as well - it was a slightly newer gang to the mafia crowds, however it was a gang that had rapidly grew to notoriety due to the wild tactics the gang would do and what stunts they'd pull. They were a standard mafia crew trying to wrangle in funds and control in their designated territory - theirs was lower California mostly, but they did what they could to often try and branch out to parts across the States much like how the Volturi does it. It's just the Wolf Pack is too unstable with its crew members that cohesively they would never be able to gain control of other areas within the USA. They just stuck to lower California or any parts of Cali where crime is high. They were brash with their robbery stunts, their drug deals but most importantly they tried to control the Prostitution ring of the state. Black had a particular fondness with wanting women often. With their brash tactics, they were vile men towards women - Black liked to act like a pimp on and off with women from prostitution clusters, and would rule it with an iron fist so he could have the women in his bed and the money in his pockets. And his lackeys were no better with women. I've heard the gruesome reports of some of their victims about how they'd be violently assaulted and raped before being murdered if they did anything to displease the Pack.
Jacob Black was the gang's head leader. I've had a few personal run-ins with him whenever I'd visit California and let's just say he chose not to start anything with me which is lucky on his part. He was a man that was all talk and even though he could be brutal when he was enraged, he was a wuss to his fighting tactics and would rather run with his tail between his legs and send his men out to do the dirty work than get his own hands dirty. He was a tall, russet skinned man with long black hair and dark eyes. However I've heard firsthand accounts detailing that if you got on his bad side at all, Black would take his fury out on you in the harshest of ways between slashing and whipping people until cuts would be formed deep within the skin, or branding people with a hot iron. How did I know about this?
Well much like with Felix and Eleazar, he had members of his defect from his gang and live to tell the tale - and they were in this room as well. Seth was one of them, having been one of the higher ranking members to his crew back then. He left however and brought his sister, Leah, considering Leah used to be a plaything for Black - but the final straw was when he nearly took out her eye during one of his tantrums which has left an angry old scar over her left eye. They left in the night and put as much distance from Black as they could before they felt safe enough. Leah was a spitfire of a woman, having made it as one of the many officers of mine in my crew due to her strong willed nature and the fact she took no crap from any man that wanted to belittle her. She was hardened due to her time of being abused by Black. She and her brother looked alike; both were russet skinned, with black hair and dark eyes. Seth's hair was just longer than hers while she kept it short to her shoulders. Beyond these two, there was also Embry and Sam. They were also higher ranking officers in Black's Wolf Pack but they left and got away safely. Sam's fiancée, Emily, suffered a similar fate like Leah had, and she was now permanently scarred thanks to Black. Sam did what he could to keep her safe from Black but Black wanted Emily for his own and had almost assaulted her but when she fought back, he hurt her that left her partially blind out of her left eye. That is what set Sam off and he severely beat Jacob that day. He was up on the kill list with his woman but before the rest of the Pack could tear Sam apart, he escaped in the night with Emily and put as much distance as he could from Black like Seth and Leah had. Embry was a brother to Sam and he didn't approve of what was going on in the crew either, so he defected with his brother the same night after Sam had told him what happened. I had looked up and find the two of them at the table near the end across from Leah; Sam was an intimidating tall man with deep russet skin, cropped black hair and dark brown eyes. The man was usually quiet but he surpassed many with his sheer strength and domineering voice when he wanted to get shit done. Embry was a bit of a smaller man with dark brown hair, matching russet skin like Sam's and of course brown eyes as well. I let them in after Leah and Seth had pledged their allegiance to me and provided information about Black - namely because Leah and Seth recognized them and Leah had informed me that Emily was her sister. So naturally, I took the four of them into my crew as I knew they'd be loyal and wouldn't be going back to the Wolf Pack anytime soon. It took guts to risk their own lives in leaving much less joining my crew with the sheer desire to put an end to Jacob Black.
Black had done what he could to replace his highest ranking officers in his crew when they had left, and that came in the form of Jared and Quil. Jared was always a high ranking officer to the Wolf Pack, as he was just as wild and untamed as Black was. He was known for even more violent tantrums than Black was; he about equal sheer strength to match his usual short tempered nature. He was a tall man with a strong build, cropped black hair and dark eyes, with a million different scars over his face and body. He would often get into violent brawls with his own gang leader just because he had such a short fuse - but Black kept him because of that. No one really could ever overtake Black's strength but Jared was a close one in doing so time to time if you got him angry enough. Quil was another high ranking officer, but one that relied on strategy more than anything when it came to handling the Pack. While Jared would hold control over the Pack's rings of their crew with anger, Quil took the route of fear tactics and blackmailing, but would handle the business side of the Pack between their drug deals and prostitution matters. He was methodical in his means when brining in the funds for the gang. He was still a strong tall man with russet skin and long black hair so he could hold his own in a fight. But he never went with brute force first, and would reign his emotions better than Jared.
"We did some surveillance around downtown, boss, to see if we could find monitor their movements." Leah cut in then, breaking me out of my thoughts when thinking back to this vile gang. I looked up to see her producing a folder and then she slid it across the table towards me. I caught it and pulled the file up, opening it to see pictures from a high definition camera were inside. The first one was a picture of Jared and Quil walking in the downtown area out in the open with only some of their lesser members following them. It was a close up shot of their faces. I flipped to the next one and felt my blood begin to boil - it was a shot of them just hanging near my building, looking around to see if anyone was paying attention to them. The next one was the worst one yet - it was a shot of one of the stores that we took the girls to a couple days ago. It makes me wonder if they went inside and asked the employees if they had seen us. No doubt they went to all the stores in the area to find out information. I glanced back up at the table with a grim expression on my face while I passed the folder to Jasper.
"So they've been here the whole time watching for us?" I questioned my gang, feeling anger boil within me again. I know my crew was doing what they could to keep an eye out for any enemies in my territory but no doubt we were being stretched thin as is; we're constantly on watch due to our close proximity with the Volturi as is, in making sure they don't snoop around where they shouldn't.
"We're sorry that we didn't catch any of this sooner, boss. But we've been doing our damnedest to make sure you stay safe." Seth begged with me and I sighed, waving a hand to him.
"I'm not upset that you weren't able to catch any of this sooner, men. Just upset that they've been here this whole time and we failed to catch it." I grumbled. "Am I led to believe that because Jared and Quil are here, they found about our girls being here as well?"
"Well I'm sorry, Boss, but suffice to say Black found about the girls when you, Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Cullen took the girls from Cali that night." Sam spoke up then in his deep voice and I looked over to him to see he was staring at me with a serious expression.
"That could be a possibility, seeing as they somehow found out about being in their town that night and proceeded to shoot up the club. I don't know honestly if Black was there that night and saw us running out with them." Jasper pointed out after he passed the folder over to Emmett. I nodded my head to this, realizing that's likely how Black knows about the fact we took the girls.
"The underling that confronted my girl and I said that Black knew about her and that he was coming to take her from me." I stated out loud to my crew and saw that they all scowled when hearing this.
"Again likely the fact that Black saw you with Bella, Edward. He probably thought of putting two and two together in that she meant something to you." Emmett commented to me after he looked at the photos and passed it to another officer next to him.
"You know how Black is, Boss - especially with women." Embry spoke up, with a heavy frown on his face.
"If he wanted something, he'd take it by force if he has to - and that of course includes women." Leah spoke gravely on the fact, since she knew from first hand experience. I nodded to her sympathetically but sighed angrily. My girl was in danger even after all that I did to try and protect her from Black, when we took the girls from the club. But no doubt when they were storming the place, he saw me with Bella much like Emmett had said. And that vile dog would do anything to get his women since he saw them as meat and as entertainment for himself - once he'd be done with them, he'd dispose of them in whatever means.
"What's the course of action then?" I heard Eleazar ask then.
"I want more hands on deck when it comes to looking out for anyone from the Wolf Pack." I ordered, standing up from my seat again. My crew that was here in the room with me looked up at me to listen to what I had to say. "The Volturi and how they came to find out about my past, that can be held off for the time being since we can't move forward in dealing punishment to the bastard that dug through my past. The Pack is a more immediate threat since Black is wanting to go after my girl. I will not have her be put in danger, nor her sisters, so I want full guard duty going on between the city and my home. We have our girls back home already being watched diligently but I want them to be in sight of a guard member at all times because any small window is enough for Black and his crew to try and come in to get at them. If any of you spot a Wolf Pack member within Chicago - take them out any means necessary. No filthy mongrel from that gang is to be left alive in my city." I demanded of my crew, slamming an angry fist down onto the table top.
"Yes Sir." the room chorused to the order and I nodded my head.
Suddenly I heard a shrill beeping go off - it was my phone in my pocket. I sighed, aggrivated by the interruption and saw that the name scrolled across the top read Home. Emmett and Jasper looked up at me quizzically but I said out loud to my gang, "Excuse me, I'm getting a phone call." before I excused myself and walked out of the meeting room to answer the call. "Hello?"
"Edward!" Alice's shriek burst into my ears and I winced at the noise.
"Alice? What's wrong?" I asked her, sighing. I knew that something had to be going on back home and it couldn't have been good if she was calling me.
"It's Bella, Edward. She started her cycle - and god it's a bad one." Alice spewed out and I sucked in a harsh breath. "She's always had bad monthlies so Rosalie and I are used to it and do what we can to help her through it - but she suffers often during this time. It came so suddenly for her since she had tried waiting out the pains she had earlier but she tried getting up to go do something like make a snack for us when she doubled over in on herself. She said she felt absolutely weak and that the pain was sharp in his lower abdomen. Rosalie and I moved her upstairs to your room and just as we did she pushed us away to run to the bathroom and she threw up for awhile. She's even weaker than before because of that and now Rosalie is trying to help her into a bath because she can't stand in the shower to clean herself off. We have nothing in the house for her since she started and Bella's a crying mess since she stained her underwear." Alice rambled to me over the phone and I rubbed at my temple at all that she detailed to me. Everything that she described only brought back memory after memory of the loved one who I took care of during this time that women faced; Bella was suffering the same symptoms as she did and god it gnawed at my heart just hearing everything described. I was in agony back then trying to do everything in my power to ease her pain but it only did so much.
"Alice, calm down. I don't want you panicking since you need to be able to stay calm and just focus on helping Bella. The guys and I can wrap up our meeting here and head out to get some supplies for you ladies. We need lists of what all you need during this time so don't be skimp out on items. We'll be home as soon as we can." I tried to reassure the frantic pixie over the phone, noting that Jasper and Emmett were exiting the board room to join me out here.
I heard Alice sigh heavily into the phone before she spoke again. "Thanks Edward, just know that the girls and I really appreciate this. Oh! Uh... before I forget I should honestly warn you about Bella."
"Warn? Warn me about what?" I asked, confused as to what I'm missing. I thought I knew most of what there was to expecting when a woman is PMSing; I knew about the pains, the bleeding, the sickness and weakness, and of course the mood swings that come with them.
"Trust me, you need to know about this and not be caught off guard. Uh... Bella during her time of the month tends to be a bit more delirious with her mood swings..."
"What? What is that supposed to mean?" I asked her, furrowing my brows.
"ALICE! I NEED YOUR HELP!" I heard a distant screaming in the background from the phone call.
"Shit that's Rose. I have to go. I'll tell you more about it when you guys get home. Rose and I will come up with lists for all three of us in what need for our Monthly Arsenal. See you guys when we get home!" Alice all but screeched back at me before she hastily ended the phone call. I stared down at my phone completely dumbfounded as to what she meant about Bella. What all could be different about her mood swings versus say the average woman that PMS's?
"Uh, Ed?" I heard Emmett asked me when he noticed my look. I sighed and looked over at my friends.
"We have to get going now - Bella's gotten her cycle and it's pretty bad. They need stuff for her since there's nothing at the house." I told them; Jasper nodded knowingly and Emmett's face scrunched up much like it had earlier. "Emmett don't even fucking start that shit again." I warned him with a scowl. He rolled his eyes but held up his hands defensively.
I brushed passed him and poked my head back into the board meeting room to inform the men that my friends and I are needed back home due to an emergency. I reminded them of the plans that we needed to go through with regarding the Wolf Pack, to which they said they'd get on it. Then I left the board room and motioning to the guys we all began walking back to the elevator. I didn't even bother looking back to Jessica and Lauren who said goodbye to us, before we headed down.
Even though I felt like I was a bit prepared on what to expect when we returned home, at the same time I felt as if we were stepping into unknown territory. I had no idea what to expect from Bella and how she was going through this; all I know is that it sounded similar to what I have experienced before - but something Alice's words put a small tinge of fear into me. No I know I wasn't facing some bloodthirsty monster in the form of a small woman that I was obsessed with. But at the same time I had a feeling this wasn't going to be easy.
I can only just hope for the best.
A/N: Hoo buddy, I had this chapter going on and on probably a lot longer than I had wanted. I actually broke up the chapter since it was dragging on for quite a while here - and you'll get to see more of a continuation of this chapter in the next one that will be posted at the same time as this one. Lucky you, readers!
Hopefully the plot wasn't too boring or... repetitive? I guess? Since I did a slight recap of the previous chapter's events only through Edward's eyes, I just wanted to at least clear up just what he was feeling considering Jasper was able to talk so easily to Bella but it's taking ages to break down her walls for Edward to get through to her.
Also I felt like this chapter helps in adding some more backstory to Edward's enemies and just how bad they are compared to him and his work. Might be a bit jarring though considering in juxtaposition to something serious, we have something silly as women's cycles coming in - but it's a real conflict I had thought would be an issue for the ladies while they're staying with the guys so :shrug:
Anyways, any feedback is appreciated. We'll be continuing this current plot line in the next chapter!
~Lady Eleanora~