A/N: Boy it took me a while to update. Stupid head cold giving me writer's block.

Thank you Cookie. You took my rambling and made it beautiful. Once again! Luv you!!

It was still two weeks before I was going to start the first depositions for this case, but that didn't stop me from immersing myself in the file. I stopped feeling when I was working. Putting Bella out of my mind made the pain disappear. I looked up from my desk. There was no natural light coming into my office. I turned my wrist to read my watch. 8pm. I had put in more than my fair share of billable hours now, making up for my distractions today. I didn't know why I had let a woman come between me and my goals. It felt really good to be back to my regular grind.

Emmett stuck his head in my office. "Cullen, it's time to let Edward come out and play. We are headed out. Come on."

Emmett Hale, the youngest son in the elite Hale family. The expectations on him were just as steep as the ones that had been required of me. The difference was, I worked to impress my family at every turn. Emmett on the other hand, was himself. You either accepted who we was, or you weren't around him. He was big and loud, but he was genuine. He melted the masses with his humor.

"You go ahead, I'm working on my case." I brushed my hand through my hair. The last thing I wanted to do was go back to the bar. It was a bad idea to have Bella come to our regular hang out. I would not let her ruin it for me, but everything that happened was still so fresh. I just wanted to go home. But fuck, there was evidence of her all over my apartment. I supposed it wasn't too smart to talk her into leaving me something to remember her by. At the time the thought of coming home tonight to see her clothes strung around my house would have seemed pleasurable. Now it just seemed wrong. Good thing I told her I was giving them back tomorrow.

"Life's too short to spend it all working." Before I could answer, he was at my desk, picking up files. His hair fell in his face as he bent to stuff files in every drawer he could find. He opened one drawer and found my secret stash of hand lotion. He picked one up and raised an eyebrow at me. "Really, Edward?"

"Give me that!" I pulled the tube out. "My hands get dry dealing with paperwork all day." I blushed.

"Okay, good to know the next time I want my hands to feel like a girl's I can ask Edward to hook me up." Emmett called to Jasper. "Hey, come get a load of this."

Jasper Whitlock, sole heir of the Whitlock fortune walked into my office. "Come on Edward, let's go." He sounded so serious. As if he could be a tough guy. He looked at the lotion I was stuffing back in my desk. I gave him a 'not you too' look and he nodded.

Jasper looked like he belonged at a frat party, not stating your case before a judge. His hair was almost shoulder length and fell in blond rings around his face. If he wore sneakers instead of business attire, you would be looking for his skate board and asking him where a jump was. But with his ability to read people, I was glad we were on the same team. He had a sense of what people were feeling, and he always used it to his best advantage.

"You two are ganging up on me. All I want to do is work." I sounded a bit whiney. But hell, I felt entitled to whine. I began to pull my files out of the drawer, but Emmett slapped my hand out of the way before I could get them all and closed the drawer. "I have to work on this case and I like it when the office is quiet."

"There is nothing you can do tonight that can't be done tomorrow." Emmett smiled as he stacked the files on my desk.

"That's easy for you to say, you have never gone to court." Feeling a bit annoyed, I pulled my papers back in front of me.

"Hey, I am good at getting guys to settle. It's a gift." He looked smug.

"Yeah, the client is afraid you'll meet them in a back alley if they go to court." I quipped.

"My career is built on the cases that can't be won. I take a case where you know a jury would give the poor victim 30 million. Then I get them to settle for 500 thousand. And I am getting rich on it. It's gotten to the point that my fee is to match the settlements that I garner up to 1 million. This year alone I made…."

"Eight million." Jasper and I spoke at the same time, rolling our eyes, as we had heard his defense of not going to court so many times we had it memorized. Fact was, he really was good at getting people to settle so those were the only cases he took anymore. He really was specialized.

"You are going to get laid tonight," Emmett ran his tongue across his teeth., nodding his head with a big grin. "That's an order."

"Who made you the fuck master?" I shook my head and chuckled. Emmett usually stayed away from that particular subject with me. Everyone had started to grow concerned when I didn't find anyone who I wanted to settle down with. Especially since my two best friends now had wives.

"Cranky! More proof that we need to get Bella out with us tonight." Emmett flipped out his phone and pressed a speed dial. "Alice, get Bella on the phone."

"Fuck no, not Bella!" I grabbed the phone. "Alice, never mind."

She giggled. "Boys," she scoffed. "I talked to her today, Edward."

"I do not want anything to do with Bella Swan, is that clear?" I was more stern with Alice than I should have been, but I was looking at Emmett.

"Okay, Edward, just get Jasper home by a decent time tonight." With that Alice hung up.

"What the fuck happened there? You were getting naked with her on Friday, in a bar no less. Honestly, you were making an ass out of yourself. Monday night, she's off limits." Emmett turned suddenly serious. "What changed?"

"Well, when I walked into Black's office to find him lapping away at her, I changed my mind." I could picture it all over again. Bella sitting on his desk, her skirt pulled up her thighs. Black's tongue gliding up her thigh. Her words told him to stop, but her hand pulled him in closer. As soon as his tongue hit pay dirt, I walked in. I had really felt up until that point that Bella would stop it. That she felt the connection between us, and that something so intimate with Black would not be an option. But I was wrong. I saw his tongue penetrate her. And now that image was burned in my memory.

"She was kissing Black?" Emmett sounded surprised. I only wished that it was so simple. A kiss would have hurt, but oral sex was gut wrenching.

"No, he was the one doing the lapping. She was sitting on his desk with her legs spread." Saying it made me want to punch someone.

Emmett laughed beside himself. "You walked in on Black going down on Bella! When?"

"A few hours ago. I'm sure by now, he's finished the deed. I seriously do not want to get mixed up in that shit." She had to of gone straight to him when she left my office. She just got done telling me how she can't stay away from him. He must be hung like a horse to have her so tied to him.

"Well then, new plan. Guys night out. Come on, Edward. How often do Jasper and I have a free pass to go out twice in a week?" Emmett was trying to get my mind off of it.

"Next time guys. I am really not up for it tonight."

Jasper was out the door before I finished talking and Emmett followed him out. "Won't be the same without you. Get over her fast, so we can have fun again." He ran back in to push some more files in my drawers. He winked at me and disappeared.

"Fucker," I called after him.