So it's literally just Sunday here, and seeing as I can't sleep, I figured you could have the update early. I'm nervous-excited for your reactions *biting nails*
There are a couple of revelations in this one, so I'll let you get on with it.
Chapter Nine
Edward
"Thanks, man. Have a great evening."
The customer waves, leaving with his wife as I scoop the disinfectant and cloth from under the bar to tidy their table.
It's been...actually, a quiet afternoon. TJ's a good guy, quiet and unafraid to pitch in, and Lily has been here for years now so she knows what she's doing. It's an adjustment for them working together in the kitchen, but they're both hard workers. Thankfully, we got the two big groups coming in later to pre-order, so they can get started with some of the stuff ahead of time. It'll make it a ton easier—especially for me.
It means I won't have to waste time taking all their orders.
"Shall I take my break now, boss?" TJ leans through the hatch to get my attention.
"Sure, go chill for a few, TJ. It's gonna get rowdy in here in a bit," I tell him with a grin and a finger-gun to my temple.
This time of year is always a bit hit and miss. Over the next couple of weeks, the bay will fill up a fair bit with vacationers. We're lucky it's mostly residential here so we don't get too overrun, but we'll still have the day-trippers and the out-of-towners who own vacation homes in the bay. This summer is already shaping up to be a scorcher, so I don't doubt the beaches will be jam-packed and the restaurant will take the brunt of the extra footfall.
The Georges' pizzeria on the beach took the edge off last year, but it's pretty small, so I'm still expecting a busy summer.
As I finish clearing the table by the window, I glance up in time to see Bella climbing out of Charlie's car and can't resist pausing to watch her. She twists her long hair back into a bun like it's easy as pie, then checks herself in the side mirror before turning toward the restaurant. My lips kick up into a smirk when she spots me and offers a wave.
She took my suggestion of shorts and ran with it. Her toned, lightly tanned legs are on show all the way up to just above her knees, as is her midriff. A laugh rumbles from my chest when I make out the writing across the front of her cropped tank top.
Don't mess with me
#Momofboys
When she joins me inside, I almost find it difficult to hand over the promised Burger Co. tee. It would be tempting to let her wear her own all evening for my own perverse viewing pleasure if it weren't for the fact that one of the two bookings we have tonight is a bachelor party.
Oh, and it's completely wrong for me to be looking at her that way.
I have a feeling 'she's Charlie's daughter' is going to be running on a loop in my head all night long.
"Here ya go. It'll probably come up a bit big, but Lily and Kelly usually knot 'em."
"Thanks. I'll just go change." Soft and sweet, her voice alone makes me grin. My amusement melts when she turns to head to the restrooms, my gaze dropping south.
Damn, the girl grew up good.
I instantly feel like an ass for checking her out—again. She's my best friend's daughter, for Christ's sake. Hot or not, and she's definitely the first, Bella is Charlie's baby girl. According to him, I'm her honorary uncle, not to mention eleven years her senior.
Still, I get a sick sense of satisfaction when she walks out onto the floor with my name printed across her back and on the pocket over her chest.
You're a dick, Cullen.
"Will I do?" Bella asks with a bright smile, spinning in front of me. She's knotted the shirt over her hip like I suggested, so her ass-hugging shorts do their job and make mine infinitely harder.
No pun intended.
I'm very grateful for the bar between us, let's just say.
"Perfect," I croak, clearing my throat. "Looks great on you. We might make a Burger Co. girl out of you yet."
~ oOo ~
"Holy crap," Bella laughs breathlessly, her sneakers clacking on the cement floor as she steps down into the stock room.
I can't help but chuckle at her, but it quickly turns to a groan as I heft the beer barrel into place to replace the empty one.
"This is nuts!"
"It's definitely that," I agree.
Both our big groups are in, as well as a handful of walk-ins. We've had to turn away a bunch of people because we're at capacity. The smaller group of the two is a family visiting the bay. The bachelor party is thirty-two guys out to get hammered, by the looks of things. The groom is already wasted. He rocked up earlier in suspenders, a plastic clam bra, and a sparkly tutu.
Thankfully, they've all been well-behaved so far, but I've managed to keep Bella mainly dealing with the family just to be safe. I don't want to scare her off chucking her in at the deep end.
It's possible I've decided she'd be perfect for filling some of Tanya's hours. I'm not willing to drop the ball with the managerial side of things she was in charge of, but after seeing the way Bella interacts with the customers and handles herself even on a fast-paced, hectic night like tonight, I can't deny that she'd be a perfect fit here.
And certain other places, but I'm definitely not letting my mind go there. Charlie's daughter. She's Charlie's daughter.
I've just got to man up and broach it with her.
"I never realized it gets this busy here! I don't think I've ever seen it so packed."
The excitement and exhilaration on her face...it's unreal. Her enthusiasm is infectious.
"It'll get plenty busy throughout the summer," I promise. "This is the warm-up, but it'll be crazier by mid-July. We get a ton of vacationers passing through before all the kids go back to school."
Her lips curl up and her eyes crinkle with something like...awe?
"What?" After making sure the replacement beer barrel is all connected up, I rub the back of my neck and face Bella. The look in her intense gray eyes, admiration and what I can almost trick myself into believing is affection, has my stomach aching with a mixture of discomfort and pleasure.
"You really love this, don't you? The craziness, the food, the people…"
My brows furrow. "The first two, sure. People, not so much."
"You could've fooled me. You're great up there," she gushes, pointing at the ceiling. "It's like, a totally different side to you that I've never seen before."
Discomfort wins out. I've never been good at accepting praise, no matter who it's from. To my relief, Bella seems to sense that. She shakes her head with a soft laugh, turning to face the floor-to-ceiling wall of drink stock.
Spying the big box of postmix Cola syrup Bella is eyeing with obvious trepidation, I ask her to find the rosé I originally came down for. "It's probably right in front of my face, but I can't see it," I lie, stifling a smile at the relief in her sagging shoulders.
"Sure! How many bottles do you need?"
"Just a couple, please. I'll take this."
The postmix isn't particularly heavy for me, but Bella probably would have struggled getting it up the narrow staircase back into the restaurant. Then again, I've seen her hefting her boys around and none of them are small, so who knows.
She might even be stronger than me.
~ oOo ~
"Okay, so I have one Bay Classic, no tomatoes, extra cheese with chili cheese fries…"
The groom cheers for his food, which Bella sets in front of him with a flourish before listing the other two dishes on her tray and handing them to the hungry, slightly inebriated bachelors who ordered them. When she returns behind the bar, it's with rosy cheeks and a dramatic wipe of her brow.
"Well done," I praise, squeezing her shoulder. "You did good, and now you can chill for a little bit." While TJ handled refilling all the drinks, Bella took charge of handing out the food. For only having eaten here once in almost a decade, she did great at recognizing everything. I guess it helps that I haven't changed any of what I'd call 'the classics.'
Every six months or so, I tweak the specials and swap out some of the less popular dishes for ones that are either new or were popular in the past. It's working out so far.
"Can I get you anything to drink?"
"A Coke would be amazing, thank you."
Distracting myself with the dirty glasses in the basin, I can't completely ignore the almost indecent way Bella palms her sternum as she drinks the cold soda I hand her. With her head tipped back and the graceful line of her neck exposed, it's impossible to stop myself wondering if the skin there is as soft as I imagine, or if she smells better up close than she does every time she brushes past me.
I don't know what the hell has gotten into me. Well, that's not strictly true. It's Bella. She's under my skin. Somehow, someway, she's wormed her way under there in an insanely short space of time. All I've got to do now is make sure she doesn't get any deeper.
"What can I do for you, hon?"
Glancing over my shoulder, I see one of the bachelor party guys leaning over the bar to talk to Bella. She can handle herself, so I'm not worried. However, I do keep one ear on their exchange while I wipe down the counter. Fuckin' milkshakes exploding everywhere.
"You can write your number down for me right here."
Bella laughs, her chest brushing my side as she stretches around me to grab a fresh glass from the rack. She mouths "I've got this," so I refrain from telling the guy to do one and go back to his table.
"How about a beer instead?"
"Aw, c'mon, baby."
Baby?
Bella flashes the drunken goon a polite smile as she sets a bottle of Corona in front of him—a Corona he ignores in favor of staring at her. "Shall I add this to your tab, or ring you up?"
"Mm-mm, you can somethin' me up, baby, but ringin' ain't got a lot to do with it."
No fucking way. Too far. "All right—"
A split second before I can round the bar, Bella's small palm lands on my chest. The warning in her eyes and the heat of her touch is enough to make me pause, but I'm not happy about it. With a begrudging nod, I turn my attention to the asshole making moves on her. I don't mind some banter or camaraderie between my staff and the customers, but being a dick? Not on my watch, and not with her.
I'm not going to put too much thought into why it bugs me so much when it's her, specifically.
"If there's nothing else I can get you, why don't you rejoin your buddies?"
The douche cocks his head before laughing and doing as she says. Only once he's sitting back at his table do I realize how tense I'd become. How fast my heart was pounding. How hard my fists were clenched.
"Are you okay?" Bella whispers, her brows furrowed, hand still resting on my chest.
"I'm…" Shaking off the weird feeling in my chest, I scrub my hands over my face and mumble some bullshit about heading outside for some air. Before she can say anything, I'm around the bar, down the hall, and listening to the fire door slamming shut behind me.
"Fuck." I groan, kicking a random plastic bucket. It clatters down the alley before rolling to a stop right outside the back of Vaughn's. The fucking Vaughns.
If that prick weren't such an asshole, I wouldn't even be thinking of offering Bella a job at Burger Co. It never would have come up at Charlie's in the first place if Aro Vaughn could muster anything other than laziness and arrogance. But it did come up, and now I can't stop thinking about it. Asking Bella to come and help tonight was an error. It would have been easy to write her off before. But now, having seen her with the customers, even the rowdy ones, I can't deny she'd fit in well.
She knows the menu, she knows the staff—or most of them—and she's a treat to be around. So why am I struggling with this so much? Hell, I don't even know if she'd take the damn job if I offered it. I'm too chickenshit to bring it up.
The squeal of the door sliding open a few minutes later startles me from my thoughts. My lips kick up when a pinky-purple head of hair pops out.
"Hey, are you okay?" I can just about make out the blush rushing to infuse her cheeks with color. She steps out, hugging herself around the middle, and jumps when the door swings shut behind her with a bang. "Sorry, I just...you ran out of there pretty fast so I thought, well, I thought I'd check on you."
"I'm fine." My voice is a little too gruff and a lot too loud in the dark of the quiet night. I wince, shaking my head with a muttered curse. "Busy night, lots on my mind."
It's a shit excuse, and I know it. Bella looks ready to accept it, then she clears her throat and steps closer. The dim light on the wall illuminates her features better. The arch of her eyebrows. The narrowing of her gaze. The twist of her mouth.
She's...determined.
"That's bull."
So maybe I don't have the best response to her very correct assumption. I laugh—hard. The first chuckle is laced with surprise; the rest are pure shock.
Nobody calls me on my bullshit. With the exception of Kendra, maybe, but even she lets me get away with it for the most part.
Not Bella, apparently.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I finally manage to clear my throat and quiet the laughter threatening to make me look like I've completely lost my mind. "I'm not laughing at you."
The pursed-lipped scowl she shoots me is downright adorable. Kitten-like. "Don't lie to me, Edward."
Not for the first time, I'm struck by how much it affects me to hear my name from her lips. I'm 'Edward' to very few. Bella and her boys are the only ones who come to mind. It makes me ache. I feel like I lost that part of myself seven years ago along with the other part I never thought I'd say goodbye to.
The part named 'Daddy.'
"I'm not—"
"You're doing it again."
"Bella—"
"All you have to do is quit lying to me," Bella interjects with a shrug, clearly frustrated. As I step toward her, holding out my hands in supplication, she wrings hers in front of her stomach. "Did I...did I do something wrong? That guy—"
"Was being an asshole. You were perfect." My feet close the gap slightly. She's close enough that I can smell her perfume; it's sweet, light, and floral. Heady. Distracting. "Banter is one thing. Being a pushy fucker is another."
"I can handle pushy."
"But you shouldn't have to."
Blue. There's a pale tint of blue to those deep gray eyes of hers. For maybe the first time, I'm close enough to see how the flecks of darker gray are interspersed with a blue so pale it verges on white, but has just enough pigment to be visible.
"I don't, um…" Her voice trails off into a whisper, her head tipping back so she can look me in the eye.
I'm close. Too close.
My hand twitches, searching for hers. My fingers brush soft skin, electricity rippling across the connection. A shiver runs up my spine. She sucks in a deep breath, her chest ghosting over mine, and I find myself wanting.
It's dark and warm out here, but the heat of her touch is scorching.
Without my permission, my eyes dart down to her lips as she licks them.
"Edward, I—"
Before she can finish whatever she was going to say, the door swings open again. "EC, we've got a car crash in progress. The groom is waaaay done."
TJ's appearance is like a bucket of ice cold water over my head.
What am I doing?
Bella's face asks the same question, the haze of the moment we just shared dissipating even quicker than it descended.
"I need to…"
Bella's shoulders sag, but she nods and smiles—though it doesn't come close to her eyes.
Shaking my head, I march inside after TJ and tell her not to loiter in the alley alone.
TJ casts a quick look over his shoulder. "Sorry, boss. I didn't want to interrupt, but—"
"It's fine."
Nodding at my clipped tone, he sighs, swerving into the kitchen as I head out into the dining area to deal with an inebriated groom and his gang of equally-drunk buddies.
~ oOo ~
Once the two big groups are done ordering food, I close the kitchen.
TJ and Lily have enough on their hands without worrying about any last-minute walk-ins, so I send Bella in to help out with the pot washing. Two sets of hands work quicker than one. It means I'm stuck cleaning up the dining area alone, but the time alone lets me think.
Of course my mind goes to the moment I shared with Bella in the alley.
What was I thinking? Fuck.
So much for my mantra.
She's Charlie's daughter.
And that's the kicker right there, because if she were anyone else I could let myself fantasize about her for a bit and then forget about her, but I can't do that this time. I already feel like a pervert for noticing how much she's changed since she left.
As I rinse the cloth and sigh, dropping myself in a seat, I wonder what's for the best. Bella would fit in here, no doubt about it, but she's already slowly but surely taking over my mind. If I see her almost every day, that could get better or worse, and I won't know until it's too late.
It's not like I'd be able to fire her easily if it didn't work out.
"Hey, Edward?"
My head snaps up, finding Bella watching me with crossed arms and a cocked head.
"What's up?"
"TJ and Lily left…"
Frowning, I listen for noise from the kitchen and hear nothing.
Bella laughs. "They walked right by you and said 'bye.' I guess you were lost in thought."
Oh.
With a grunt, I stand to grab the bucket of water at my feet and the cloth I'd been absentmindedly mangling. "I'll get rid of these, then we can go."
"Okay," she murmurs, heading down the stairs to the break room.
Once I've tidied up after myself, I double-check my office is all locked up, make sure everything that needs to be switched off is switched off in the kitchen, then meet Bella back out by the bar. She's sitting up on a stool, twisting slightly side-to-side. Her hesitant grin when she looks up and spots me watching her makes me sigh—again. I feel like I've been sighing a lot, lately.
"Do you want a drink?"
It's out there before I've even made the conscious decision to speak.
Bella hums, finally nodding. "Sure, why not? I haven't got the boys until tomorrow."
Okay, then.
~ oOo ~
The first two bourbons go down easy.
The following…I don't even know how many…go down easier.
"You've gotta be kidding!" Bella laughs, her rosy-cheeked smile and bright eyes making me grin.
"I'm not," I promise, lightly banging the bar with my fist for good measure.
Bella shakes her head and throws back her glass, finishing the last of her fourth—or is it fifth?—daiquiri. "There is no way Dad did that."
Frowning, I none-too-gracefully leave my stool, grabbing the bar to keep me upright when my foot catches one of the legs. "Shit."
"Oh, my God, are you okay?"
My frown tightens, but a laugh rumbles out of my chest anyway. "You don't sound all that worried," I point out, gesturing at her holding her stomach and laughing her ass off at my almost-misfortune.
"I really am," Bella giggles.
"Hmm. Wait here a second." I return a couple of minutes later with my laptop and my glasses. The glasses are a necessary evil, however much I dislike wearing them in public. Reclaiming my stool, I notice… "You could have filled your glass up. You don't need to wait for me, if you want another."
"I didn't want to assume…"
I wave one hand at the shelves filled with booze and use the other to power up the laptop. "Help yourself."
Bella hops down, giggling "whoa" when she almost goes flying before saving herself by clutching the bar. "I haven't stood up in a while. I forgot I'd need a sec to adjust." Palming her cheek, she rolls her eyes at herself. "Lightweight express, coming through."
"I suppose…do you get a lot of chances to drink, though? With the boys, I mean…"
"It's not easy," she agrees, slipping her feet out of her sneakers to round the bar in just her socks. "Jude used to babysit for me sometimes, but mostly I had the boys 24-7 and I never drink when I have them with me."
For reasons besides who her parents are, I've come to realize that I admire the heck out of Bella. The last couple of hours have flown by. We've covered topics ranging from Burger Co. to England to being back home with her parents. She's spoken about raising her sons by herself without going into their father's whereabouts in any kind of detail, although I know enough to be sure I'm not going to like hearing about him.
"Didn't their dad ever watch them so you could go out with friends?" As soon as the question is out there, I second-guess asking it. Bella frowns, looking down at her hands on the smooth bar top.
"Not often. To be honest, I didn't have that many friends to go out with, anyway. I got pregnant right out of college when all the friends I'd made were starting out in their new careers. I kept in touch with a couple of them, but it all fizzled out." She manages a weak smile. "Besides, I had Jude, and then I had my boys. They're the best friends I'll ever need."
Uncharacteristic nosiness, coupled with secondhand annoyance that it doesn't sound like she had the support she should have, forces me to keep speaking. "But the boys' dad...he should have stepped up, Bella. I'm betting he wasn't sitting around at home helping you, was he?"
Her sarcastic smile says it all. "He definitely wasn't. I mean, he was pretty good for the first couple of years with Jax and Finn. He had his moments, but I just kept explaining it away as new father jitters, you know? Lord knows I had plenty of 'what the hell have we done' moments."
Smiling just slightly, I nod. "Don't we all."
Her eyes soften as she lifts them to me, then shakes her head as if getting rid of a bad memory. "Richard was a decent enough dad for as long as it suited him. By the time my little 'whoops' baby came along, he'd basically checked out. Having said that, I'll be forever grateful for that dumb night of too much drinking and not enough thinking for giving me Arlo. He's the result of a few-too-many glasses of wine and very little thought."
I bark a laugh even though I'm more than disgusted by how Bella-and the boys-have been treated by a man who should be cherishing everything he has. Sorry, had. If nothing else, Bella moving halfway around the world with their boys is clue enough that he doesn't deserve them.
I'm not sure if it's the few drinks I've already had or just a random burst of inspiration, but I abruptly remember something Renee has mentioned a few times that makes my eyebrows hike higher. "Wait...did you say his name is 'Richard?'"
Cocking her head to the side, Bella nods. "Well, technically it's 'Michael,' but he goes by 'Richard.' Why?"
Snorting into the dregs of my drink, I shake my head at myself. "Isn't his surname 'Holder?'"
I see the exact moment Bella catches on. Her eyes crinkle in the corners, her lips curling up in a slow smile that makes her whole face seem to glow.
Oh yeah, she's caught on.
"Richard Holder...Dick Holder. His parents didn't like him much, did they? Shit. And he chooses to go by 'Richard' rather than 'Michael?'"
"I have no idea why, honestly, but yeah. He'd always correct anybody who called him 'Michael.' Such an idiot."
Despite how much I'd love to punch...Dick...in the face for treating Bella and the boys like shit, I can't help but laugh at his unfortunate name. Dick Holder. Christ. Thankfully, Bella joins in, although I'm sure she's heard the same joke plenty of times.
"All right, chuckles," she finally sighs when our laughter tapers out. "What d'you want?"
Glancing up over the top of my glasses, I catch a glimpse of her biting her lip and staring at me before she spins to face the wall of alcohol. "Jameson, please. Neat is fine."
"Comin' up," I hear her mumble as I click on the shortcut for Facebook and bring up the Burger Co. page. Changing it over to my personal page feels…foreign. I can't actually remember the last time I looked at it.
43 new notifications.
5 unread messages.
3 friend requests.
No, thank you.
Ignoring all of those, I type Garrett's name in the search bar and click on his profile. I can't help but laugh—his wall is littered with pictures of his girls, all posted by Tanya. The latest one was posted just fifteen minutes ago.
"Oh, look at that." Bella joins me on my side of the bar and sighs at the picture of Garrett, Tanya, and baby Ivy snuggled together in their bed. "You'd never know she had a baby three days ago."
Bella's right. Tanya looks tired, sure, but no more so than any parent of three hyper girls, I'd bet. Now she has four, one of whom is just three days old, and she looks great.
Scrolling past the photo, I murmur my thanks to Bella for the drink she sets beside my laptop, searching for one particular post…
"Aha! Got it."
As soon as the first photo comes up bigger on the screen, Bella loses it. Her smile lights up the room as she turns the computer to face her and leans in closer, flicking through the album Garrett titled "Easter 2018."
"No freaking way! How did you get him to do this?"
Grinning, I explain the story of how Charlie lost a game of poker and wound up being the Easter bunny at the Jackson Bay Easter Hunt.
"How did I not see these pictures?"
I shrug, taking a mouthful of my drink. "Are you friends with Gare?"
"Oh, no, probably not. Do you mind…?"
"Go for it."
Bella logs out of my account before logging into hers. It doesn't come as a surprise to me when both her profile and cover pictures feature herself and the boys—the latter also includes an older lady.
"That's Jude," Bella says when I lean in a little closer. "She's the boys' nana, for all intents and purposes."
"Nanny Jude." The boys mentioned her a bunch of times when I was over there the other night. It's obvious they admire her. All three are hanging off her cardigan-clad torso—Finley on her lap, Jaxson to her left, and Arlo draped over her shoulder as he plants a kiss on her cheek.
"That's the one."
It always takes me a bit to navigate Facebook. Bella has Garrett's profile back on the screen and a friend request in his inbox within seconds.
"There we go. He better accept."
Bella is teasing, I know that. I have no idea what makes me say, "He'd be a fool not to."
My tone is too gruff, too serious, to pass it off as a friendly joke. Fuck. I'm out of practice with casual conversations that don't revolve around Burger Co.
Her eyes widen slightly, her lips sliding open as she flounders for a moment. "Well…I am a good person to be friends with."
"I don't doubt it."
We lapse into silence; it's the most content I've been all day. All week, maybe. For such a sunny person, she has a surprisingly calming air about her. She's relaxed, playing a game on her phone while I take the opportunity to respond to a few emails. Our arms brush every now and then, sending static zipping between us. My battle for concentration is only hindered by the whiskey flowing through my veins and the warmth emanating from Bella at my side.
After a few minutes, I realize she's not looking at her phone anymore. She's looking at me.
Her gaze is intense, her eyes a hundred different colors but not even a little confusing. They're fire and determination and strength. They're full of passion, knowledge, and a fierceness I can only admire. They're sure and true. Gray and blue and all the shades between.
She was once a funny little girl who questioned the world and lit up whole rooms with her cheerful personality.
Now she's a beautiful woman with curves that won't quit and a smile that makes me want to promise things I have no right promising.
Pursing her lips, Bella throws the last of her drink back. "Refill?"
Part of me wants another. I'm not even close to halfway through the bottle—which isn't like me. However, it's past midnight and we're both way past legal to drive. I'd usually crash on the bed in the studio upstairs on nights like tonight, when I can't drive or I don't feel like walking home.
When I bought the restaurant, I had no idea what to do with the space upstairs. In the end, I turned it into a compact studio and a small, one-bed apartment. Kelly rents the apartment and I use the studio as a bolt-hole. As tempting as it is to do the same thing tonight, I've got to make sure Bella gets home safely first, and by the time I've walked her home I'll be closer to my place than here, anyway.
"I'm good, thanks."
Bella frowns, looking disappointed when I add that it's probably time we get going.
There's no way she's as disappointed as I am that our night is coming to an end.
"I guess you're right."
"Finish your drink, I'm in no rush. I've got to make sure everythin's squared away before we go anywhere."
Nodding pensively, Bella swirls her straw around her glass. After powering down the laptop, I carry it with me to my office where I deposit it with my glasses—studiously ignoring the pink velvet-backed photo in the same drawer. The muffled sound of music from the restaurant makes me smile. Bella found the sound system, it would seem.
Once I've checked the safe and the kitchen, I double-check the fire door and then lean against it for a moment, heaving in a deep breath.
The temptation to just give in and get another drink is difficult to resist. I rarely stifle the urge to drink these days. I have no reason to. It's become my crutch; the comfort I reach for at the end of the day. It's unhealthy, but it's all I have.
But when I walk out into the dining area to find Bella swaying to a heavy beat in front of the bar, drink in hand and a serene, closed-eyed smile on her face, it's not whiskey I'm craving.
Come find me on Facebook - Ciara Shayee Hill - to see the graphics I make to go along with each chapfer and tell me how much you hate Bella's ex, the, *ahem,* delightful Dick Holder.
As always, the biggest thanks go to annaharding, LizziePaige, ThatSoAlex, Anakinsmom, and LadyLoonie for all their help. I love you ladies!
Next chapter: Thursday