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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. That being said, please be nice and don't copy or translate without permission. Thank you.

Chapter 3

I honestly couldn't recall the last time I had gone out with anyone other than my children. And I certainly couldn't remember an evening at a bar since my early college days. Yet here I was, sitting at a table for six in a crowded bar on a Friday evening as Rosalie and I waited for her husband and their friends to arrive.

"This is a nice place," I told Rose, taking a sip of the house white wine, which was surprisingly good. "I thought it was just a restaurant – I had no idea that it was a bar as well."

"Our friends Peter and Charlotte opened the restaurant about eight years ago, and expanded to add the bar just last year. We come here pretty often." She took a drink of her margarita and thanked the young blonde waitress, asking for menus. After the waitress left, Rosalie studied me shrewdly. "So, what was the wallowing plan tonight? Sad movies and tissue-fest? Copious amounts of chocolate?"

Sometimes it stunned me how well Rosalie had gotten to know me over the past year. "Actually, I had a date tonight with my two favorite men – Ben and Jerry. And I don't do sad movies. I was actually going to watch a couple of my favorites, Liar Liar and War of the Roses." I couldn't hold back the smile when she laughed loudly and slapped her hand down on the table.

"God, I love Liar Liar," she said. "Best attorney movie ever! 'The pen is blue. The pen is blue! The goddamn pen is blue!'" she quoted. We spent the next few minutes firing lines back and forth, laughing uproariously as we downed our drinks. Suddenly a petite woman with spiky black hair and beautiful gray eyes appeared at our table and sat down in one of the empty chairs. "How are you this evening, Counselor?" she asked, addressing Rosalie.

"Good, good," Rosalie answered, waiving a hand between the two of us. "Alice Whitlock, Bella Black. Alice was my roommate in college."

Alice leaned forward and stuck her hand out to me. "Bella, how are you?"

Still caught up in the quoting war, I couldn't help myself, blurting out, "I'm a little upset about a bad sexual episode I had last night." I felt my cheeks coloring before the line from the movie had completely left my lips. Idiot! my inner voice cried. I wanted to crawl under the table.

Alice paused for only a beat before firing the next line right back at me, "Well, you're young. It'll happen more and more." She winked at me and then turned to Rosalie. "You're right, Rose, she's gonna fit in just fine. Now where's that damn waitress? Babysitters are expensive, hard to come by, and I've only got so much time to get my drunk on!" She flagged down the lovely woman who had my second glass of wine in hand and ordered a cosmopolitan, then settled back in her chair to study me. "So how'd Rose convince you to leave the house tonight?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Oh, you know Rosalie," I answered vaguely.

"Ahhh, so she used the threaten, intimidate and bullying trifecta. Rose has such a soft touch when it comes to negotiations!!" she laughed as Rosalie smacked her shoulder, and I laughed with her.

Truthfully, the bullying had been exactly what I needed when Rosalie showed up on my doorstep uninvited, and announced that we were going out. Despite my protests, within ten minutes of her arrival, I was in the shower washing off the evidence of my mini-breakdown, and she had raided both my and Sarah's closet to pull together what she deemed an acceptable outfit. I glanced down at the silky blue top that I definitely did NOT remember letting Sarah buy, paired with a lacy camisole and a pair of dark wash jeans from the bottom drawer of my dresser. I thought I looked pretty good if I did say so myself.

"I prefer to think of it as suggest, encourage, and recommend," Rosalie responded in an airy tone, waving around her cocktail stirrer. "Besides, Bella needed to get out tonight, and she needed convincing. Years of legal experience have honed my powers of persuasion."

"Which has certainly worked in my favor on more than one occasion," I said, raising my glass in her direction. "I couldn't have made it through the last year without you."

"And now you've got the both of us to make it through the rest of it all," Alice declared, touching her glass to mine. Something over my shoulder caught her eye, and she smiled. "Ah, here they are now. Where did you park, Seattle?" she asked in a raised voice, and I turned my head automatically to see who she was talking to.

My eyes widened in appreciation at the sight of the two men walking toward our table. They were both tall, and ridiculously good looking in completely different ways. The blonde was muscular but lean, while the dark haired man was heavily muscled like a serious fitness buff. They were both dressed casually in jeans. The blonde wore a polo shirt and the brunette's Henley hugged his muscular chest and biceps. Both were sporting wide grins as they approached the women with whom I sat.

I was surprised when the heavily muscled one swooped down and pulled Rosalie into his arms. Planting a noisy kiss on her lips, he bent her over backwards as she squealed. At first I thought his rugged handsomeness did not seem to go with her coolly classic beauty, until I watched them together. I realized that their individual good looks had nothing on the picture they made together. After a moment, he released Rosalie, who was blushing furiously and fanning herself, a wide grin on her lips and a spark in her eye I hadn't seen before.

The blonde one was not quite as demonstrative, leaning down and pressing a light kiss to Alice's cheek. She smiled up at him adoringly and lightly touched his jaw. He took the seat beside her, his eyes never leaving hers as he tucked her under his arm. I felt a pang of jealousy in the pit of my stomach as I watched the two happy couples settle into their chairs, and took a rather large gulp of my wine, draining my second glass of the night.

"Emmett, Jasper, I'd like you to meet my friend, Bella Black," Rosalie announced to the two men. "Bella, this big idiot here is my husband Emmett, and that is Alice's husband Jasper."

"Bella!" Emmett boomed, leaning forward and shaking my hand enthusiastically. "It's great to finally meet you. Glad Rosie could convince you to come out with us this evening!" I couldn't help but smile at him as he greeted me so boisterously. He flagged down the waitress and ordered a beer, and a new round of drinks for our table, waving off my protest.

"Bella, it's a pleasure," Jasper said smoothly, winking at me. Something in his smile made me feel calm, peaceful. I returned his smile, settling back into my chair and studying my surroundings as the two couples looked over the menu. I wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought I should have been, being the single in the group, which surprised me. We placed our orders, and I listened to the conversation flowing around me.

Alice regaled us with a story about a design client who wanted her entire house to be themed around peacocks, describing the gaudy purple, blue and green decorations with such detail she had us alternately cringing and laughing. Emmett shared a story of a subcontractor who installed the wrong flooring in a home this past week, then tried to pass off the cost of the ridiculously expensive hardwood to the homeowner. Rosalie naturally was not able to speak about her cases, but did share a story of an attorney at a rival firm who was caught in a rather compromising situation with his secretary… his male secretary. I had to laugh at the horrified look on Emmett's face. Other stories were told and the conversation, food and drink flowed freely.

As the waitress cleared away our dinner dishes, the house lights started to dim, and I heard the warm sound of an acoustic guitar fill the air. I glanced up in surprise, realizing that we were actually sitting pretty close to a stage I hadn't noticed before. On the edge of the spotlight sat a man, head down as he concentrated on the instrument in his hands.

I could tell that he was tall, even hunched over as he was. He didn't appear overly muscular like Emmett, but his forearm was strong and corded as he stroked the strings, adjusting the tension minutely. He wore a black tee shirt that hugged his chest nicely, tucked into a pair of button fly jeans that were worn in all the right places. His hair was a riot of unruly waves, sticking out in various directions as though he ran his fingers through it frequently. It appeared to be a deep shade of brown although I thought detected a hint of red as well. His face was turned away slightly, his jaw and cheekbone angular in the shadows, slightly rough with a shadow of facial hair. He strummed the guitar again, slightly louder this time, and then looked up as though he was searching for someone in the crowd. I felt a jolt low in my stomach when he looked directly at me and smiled, revealing even teeth behind the sexiest crooked grin I had ever seen. His eyes were dark and intense, and I found it impossible to look away as he played the opening cords of the song.

"This song is called 'I Was Broken,' and it's by Marcus Foster," he said smoothly into the microphone, the sound of his voice causing another jolt to course through my body, this one lower than the first. I felt a blush rise in my cheeks at the elemental reaction I had, grateful that the lights had been dimmed somewhat. I watched his fingers fly over the strings, mesmerized by the speed and strength of those digits. When he opened his lips again and began to sing, I became lost in the sound of his voice and the lyrics of his chosen song.

His voice was velvety smooth, winding its way around me even as the lyrics played to my soul. I felt tears welling in my eyes as I listened and watched, helpless to stop the reaction.

I was broken
I was tied, but now unbound
My head is off the ground
For a long time I was so weary
Tired of the sound, I've heard before,
The gnawing of the night time at the door,
Haunted by the things I've made
Stuck between the burning light and the dust shade.

His voice grew in intensity, ringing with the truth of having lived through the pain, a little rough around the edges now, as his passion and intensity grew. I knew I was staring unabashedly, unable to tear my gaze away from the beautiful man and the song it felt as if he was singing directly to me.

I said now I used to think the past was dead and gone,
But I was wrong, so wrong, whatever makes you blind
Must make you strong, make you strong,
In my time I've melted into many forms
From the day that I was born, I know that there's no place to hide
Stuck between the burning shade and the fading light,
I was broken, For a long time, but it's over now.

Suddenly his eyes were on mine again, and I couldn't see or hear anything in the room except for him. The rhythm pounded through my veins and the rough velvet of his voice grabbed me, trapped me. I felt a tear escape my eye. He knew. Somehow, he knew how I was feeling, and he was reassuring me, comforting me, telling me that it was going to be all right.

Yes and you, and you,
well you walk these lonely streets that people send, People send.
There are some wounds that just can't mend, I do pretend, pretend,
I am free from all the things that take my friends
But I will stand here till the end, I know that I can take the moon,
In between the burning shade and the fading light
I was broken, for a long time, but It's over now
I was broken, for a long time, but It's over now

He repeated the final line over and over again, each time his voice growing softer, until he was all but whispering into the microphone, just for me. I was startled when applause suddenly erupted around us, and he appeared just as surprised. I cringed as Rosalie let loose with a wolf whistle, hastily wiping at the tears on my cheeks before anyone noticed them. He smiled and waved to the crowd, then left the stage as members of a band shuffled forward to take their places with various instruments. I turned to Rosalie and mouthed "bathroom." She pointed to the back corner of the bar.

Once away from prying eyes, I stood at the sink and took a deep, ragged breath to calm my racing heart. The woman who looked back at me from the mirror was a virtual stranger, her eyes alight with emotion, her cheeks flush not from embarrassment or anger, but from exhilaration. I thought back again to the way his fingers moved over the strings of his guitar and felt a tightening in my stomach, a fluttering I hadn't felt in a very long time. I pictured his sculpted lips, the tip of his tongue as he licked those lips before starting a new stanza of the song, and a shiver of sexual awareness ran down my spine.

Deciding to get back to the table before Rosalie either forgot or came looking for me, I squared my shoulders and pushed my way through the crowd, listening to the discordant sounds of the band now warming up. I wondered idly if the guitar player was with the band as well, suddenly looking forward to more music if that was the case. I quickened my step back to our group.

Alice saw me and grabbed my hand, leading me back towards the table. "I was worried you got lost," she shouted over the noise. "I was coming to look for you!"

"Crowded!" I shouted back as an explanation, glad that she had my hand as we wove through the throngs of people that had suddenly swarmed in with the appearance of the band. I plopped down in my seat and reached for my wine glass, only to have my hand collide with another that was reaching for a long-neck bottle of beer that was sitting next to my drink. "Oops, sorry!" I yelled over the noise, my breath catching in my throat as my eyes met the intense gaze of the guitar player.

Next chappie, up in a week - Bella gets to meet her velvet-voiced guitar player! If you haven't heard Rob sing this particular song yet, check him out on you tube - it's probably my favorite recording of his!!!

Hope you've enjoyed what you've read so far - please consider dropping me a note and letting me know your thoughts. I'm finding that I'm becoming a bit of a feedback junkie - reviews are addictive :)

Happy Valentine's Day!