Last chapter must have been good or something because I've been getting a few more alerts than I normally do.
I guess that means you liked it, naughty bits and all?
I luv you all... but I luv those who comment more. ...
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Chapter 12 - A completely different ball game
#112
What's mine is mine and I do not like to share.
Your lips will burn, but once the pain subsides,
you will experience a peroxide induced high.
Savor it because it will be the very last thing you ever taste.
Note # 112 was delivered with a particularly intrusive picture of Edward changing clothes backstage at Forever Dawn after one of his more recent gigs..
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-5 hours post show-
The kiss had not passed by unnoticed…
A quick gaze at the alarm clock showed her it was 4:45 in the morning. With a groan Bella rolled over in her new bed in her new one room, one bathroom, one kitchenette apartment and groped for the ringing cell phone on her nightstand. She flipped it open and croaked a 'Hello' into the receiver.
"Stay away from Edward."
Bella was wide-awake in a split second.
"Excuse me?"
"I saw the way you threw yourself at him. Stay away from him. He's mine."
Bella glanced quickly at the LCD on her phone and cursed silently. It read 'NO CALLER ID'. The voice on the other end was muffled but the aggrieved tone came through loud and clear. She thought quickly, trying to think of something to say to keep the caller on the phone a little while longer.
"He's yours? I had no idea he had someone special in his life. What's your name?"
"I'm not stupid. I mean what I say. Keep your distance or you'll regret it, slut."
The phone went dead and Bella put it back on the nightstand.
The glowing red numbers on the alarm had changed to 4:47. It was still dark outside her bedroom window but Bella could already tell that she had a long day of hard work ahead of her.
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-At the same time in another part of the building…-
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He came to with a sharp intake of breath and a groan of pain as his body let him know that it was injured. He was cold, colder then he had ever felt in his life and when he tried to open his eyes he found himself completely surrounded by darkness. He could hear voices on the edges of his hearing, but couldn't make out what they were saying. A moment later he felt something being lifted from his head, and he could see. Blinking, he looked up to find a figure leaning over him.
He tried to move, but his limbs were heavy and sluggish. He felt drained. As though someone had sucked the life right out of him. Fear ripped through his guts. What the hell was happening?
Even in his drugged state, he could tell that something was terribly wrong and as the fog in his brain cleared he noticed three things: he was naked, he was laying on a mattress on the floor and a video recorder was playing in the corner of the room.
Edward choked on the scream that jerked him out of his sleep. He always woke up at the same point in the dream. Always woke up to heart palpitations and shivering, the feeling of helplessness gripping his bones and breaking out over his skin in a cold sweat.
An instant later light invaded the bedroom as the door was pulled opened and a friendly familiar face appeared in the opening.
"Are you okay, Edward?" Alice asked in genuine concern. It was Edward's first week in the building, but not the first time Alice had woken to the sounds of his night terror. Her bedroom was nowhere near Edwards, in fact her bedroom wasn't even in the same apartment or the same side of the hallway, yet there was no way of not hearing him when the sleep-talking, or rather sleep-shouting, set in. That's how bad his nightmares had been lately.
Steeping inside the room, Alice repeated her question, gently touching her brother's shoulder. Edward didn't answer at first, instead he jerked away from her hand as if it had burned him.
"Sorry, musta been havin' another dream," he finally mumbled laying back down, while his breathing eased.
By that point both Jasper, Bentley and Angela (Elliot's babysitter for the night), had all appeared in the doorway. It seemed like the only one still sleeping was the baby.
"Everything okay?" Jasper, asked with a yawn. He had been around long enough to know that nightmares were a common occurrence for Edward.
"Yeah, it's fine," Edward replied. "I'm sorry I woke you up guys."
"Don't worry about it." Jasper waved him off in casual dismissal. "It almost time to get up anyway." He tried to sound awake and alert but was undermined by another yawn he couldn't quite stifle. "Someone should get some coffee going," he suggested, looking over at his girlfriend pointedly.
They had long since agreed not to make a big deal out of Edward's nightmares or insomnia. Sometimes he slept like a rock, other times he couldn't sleep at all. Fussing over it only made it worse.
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-Time 06:04-
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The minute Bella opened the door between the stairwell and the back entrance she became acutely aware of the presence of another person near the building. There were footsteps echoing in the stillness of the morning.
She immediately picked up her cell phone and re-dialed the last called number.
There shouldn't be anyone else out there in Emmett McCarty'sfenced and gated, private backyard parking space. Not at this hour, not when she had just received an update on everyone's whereabouts from her colleague. Her instincts told her that something was off.
While she waited for the phone to connect, themotion detector light above the door clicked on and light flooded the area. All the cars were parked in their respective places. She could not see the gate from where she was standing but it appeared to be closed; otherwise the street noise would have drowned out the sound of approaching footsteps.
Seth's voice boomed through the phone line about half a second before the source of the footsteps came into view. She had no problem recognizing the graceful, bronze haired figure walking quickly towards her.
This realization left her feeling more annoyed than relieved.
"What the hell, Seth," she growled into the phone. "You said Cullen was still in his room, but he's not. He's outside, walking towards me, right now."
"… …. .."
"I don't know,…. sleepwalking? It's you shift. You're the one that's supposed to keep an eye on him."
"…."
"He appears to be fine. I've got your ass covered this time, but we can't have this happen again… I'll bring him up in a few and we'll discuss this later."
She snapped her phone closed just as Edward caught up with her and halted his steps. She saw him do a double take before he pulled the ear buds of his iPod out of his ears and greeted her with a curt nod.
"Bella…uh…fancy meeting you here," he remarked seemingly unaware of the stir he'd just caused.
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Uh-uh, busted… Edward sighed inwardly. So much for stepping outside for a quick breather… If his privacy had been limited before, it was non-existent now. Special agent Swan was not glad to find him wandering around on his own, that much was clear.
Placing ahand on her hip, she gave him a stern look. "Firstly, that's not how you're suppose to address me and secondly what are you doing down here at six o'clock the morning?"
"Right, sorry Ms. Hawkins," he apologized secretly pleased to see her roused out of her usual calm demeanor. She looked positively stunning this morning in comfy, well worn clothes, tussled hair and a face free of sunglasses and heavy makeup. This was the Bella he remembered and Christ had he missed the sight of her.
"You didn't answer my question, what are you doing out and about at this hour? How am I suppose to keep you safe if you are not sticking to the rules?" Bella said, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear, giving him another stern look.
Edward wondered briefly if her hair still was as soft as he remembered it. Then he realized she was still staring at him waiting for an answer.
He shook his head in an attempt to regain his focus. "Don't be mad. I just wanted a few minutes of privacy to make a call and check in with my father before he leaves for work," he explained pointing to the cell phone in his hand. "And before you say anything, I know I shouldn't be down here alone. Jasper was right here with me, but I had him ran out to get me a pack of smokes. He should be back any minute."
"That's not good enough."
"I know. I'm sorry, but I'm glad we had this little run-in, because we need to talk… in private… Do you have a minute?"
Without waiting for her answer he grabbed a hold of her arm and began steering her towards the parked cars. "I don't want anyone to overhear this conversation," he clarified as he unlocked the doors of his red Ford Cougar.
"Okay, but what is this about?" she asked fumbling with the door handle. "Did you get another envelope?"
"No, not me, I have nothing new to report, but I heard you got a phone call this morning," Edward said as he followed her inside the car.
"How on earth do you know about that?" Bella asked in astonishment.
"It was that lovely colleague of yours, that Clearwater guy, who filled me in. I didn't even know he was one of your guys until he cornered me and gave me a hard time for not sticking to the plan. He IS one of your guys, right?"
"Sorry, about that. Agent Clearwater is supposed to stay in the background and only intervene when absolutely necessary."
"So is it true then?"
"That I got a phone call? Yes, that is in fact true."
"No, I meant is it true that I jeopardized the whole operation by being overly friendly with you last night, because if that's the case then I apologize. That was never my intention."
"You shouldn't have acted on your own initiative, but I'll let it slide this time. No harm done… well apart from one angry phone call at four in the morning..."
"Welcome to my world," he said with a sarcastic eye roll. "Now take that and multiply it by ten and you have an average day in the life of Edward Cullen."
"Dealing with phone threats is part of my job," Bella pointed out calmly. "The call came a little sooner than expected, that's all. Had I been prepared, I might have been able get more out of it."
"I acted on impulse. It won't happen again." Edward sighed suddenly feeling very, very tired. "Look, I just had this sudden urge to shake things up a little, to push a few buttons, to provoke some sort of reaction…."
He saw her face twist into a frown at his words and hurried to explain himself.
"Not your buttons obviously, the stalker… I meant the stalker… Provoke the stalker into making mistakes… or something like that… F*ck, I'm not sure exactly what I was trying to achieve…" he trailed off, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know how much more of this I can take. I really want this nightmare to be over. "
"That's understandable. Next time I'd appreciate if you let me pull the shots though."
"I guess I went a little overboard," he admitted, looking somewhat embarrassed. "I mean, it was disrespectful of me, with your husband not even cold in his grave yet…"
She didn't respond at first, and Edward was afraid he'd upset her by the mere mention of the word husband. "Shit! Look, forget I brought it up. Let's finish this conversation some other time, okay?"
His apology came out in a rush of breathless words and his hand was already grasping for the door handle. He was already halfway out of the car.
"Edward wait, it's okay…" Bella reached out and pulled him back in his seat. "Let's finish this here and now."
Edward squirmed in his seat. Her hand was on his thigh, dangerously close to his groin, holding him down, stopping him from leaving. Did she know the effect her touch had on him? Was she even aware she was (sorta) copping a feel? Apparently not or she would have removed her hand by now…. Wouldn't she?…
"My marriage was doomed from the beginning, it died long before my husband did, but that does not mean I'm free to pose as your girlfriend. I'm here to do a job in the most efficient means possible. Every facet of every move must be carefully planned and coordinated."
"So what do you expect me to do? Just sit back and roll my thumbs?"
"No, but I expect you to thrust my judgement and follow my rules. No more surprises, capish? "
"Okay fine", he muttered sourly. "I'll try to remember that."
"A friendly hug here and there is one thing but when you start kissing me without warning… that's a whole different… uhm… 'ball' game." As the word 'ball' left her tongue she gave his upper thigh one final squeeze and retracted her hand with a smirk.
"Come on Romeo, I have work to attend to. Let's get you back inside before your sister sends out a search party."
AN:
Some questions for you all:
-The back story... You want more? I wasn't originally planning on incorporating this much of their past in the story but once you start... There are a few loose ends to tie up before moving on.
- The romantic development... Is it too slow? Naturally there will be romance and lemons and stuff but I was originally planning on making it a slow burning process.
- The stalker plot line... I have been leaving little hints and clues in almost every chapter, but its difficult for me to know whether they are too subtle or too obvious or what. I want it to be at least somewhat realistic.