Disclaimer: Steph owns Twilight, but I own this.
Sorry for the wait! I wanted to make sure I knew exactly how I wanted to the first chapter to pan out before wasting my time writing something I didn't like. Giant thanks to Zesty_T for making me believe I can write this. Love you, bb! I hope you enjoy this!
BPOV
It was dim and smoky inside of the club. An endless sea of bodies mingled and danced to the thrumming music. The bass was so strong I could feel it penetrating the soles of my 5-inch heels. I peered around my fellow bartenders and noticed a lone male patron. He had wild blonde hair and a red face. I walked over to him and slapped the bar. His head snapped up and his mouth turned into a devious grin.
"What can I get you?" I asked, slightly amused and highly repulsed by his blatantly flirtatious smile.
"A double rum and Coke, sweetie," he purred.
I rolled my eyes and fixed his drink quickly. I could feel his eyes on me the entire time.
I slid his drink towards him and grabbed the money out of his hand. Before I could pull the money away, he cupped my hand in his and brought his lips to my knuckles.
"What time do you get off?" he asked, his eyebrow quirked and his mouth pulled up in a Cheshire grin.
I mentally cringed. I mean, I was used to this kind of attention from male customers (and, admittedly, sometimes female) but now matter how many times it happened, it still repulsed me. I tried to pull my hand away and storm off, but his grip was too strong. I was just about to swing my free hand at his face when I felt two soft hands on my hips and a set of lips near my ear.
"Watch it, buddy," Rosalie purred. She placed a chaste kiss on my exposed neck and tightened her grip on my hips. "She's mine."
I started working at Eclipse the day of my twenty-first birthday. I wouldn't exactly call it a shanty, but it definitely isn't one of the most fancy or expensive-looking bars in town. It's located on the outskirts of Chicago, in a place most people would refer to as the slums.
Even though it's a low-class establishment with a rather sketchy crowd, I feel safe there. It's where I've learned many of life's lessons. It's where I met my two best friends. It's the home I never had while I was growing up.
The dark red walls and the black and white checkerboard floors will forever remind me of a safe place; a place where I could just be myself without constantly being reminded of the wrecked life I was borne into. It's far away from Forks, Washington, away from the memories and the mind-numbing pain that goes along with them.
I smiled thankfully at Rosalie and realized that my shift had ended fifteen minutes prior to my interaction with the asshole. I quickly gathered up my belongings, waved a quick goodbye to Rose and tramped out of the bar, utterly exhausted and ready to crawl into my warm sheets. I walked out onto the damp street and was nearly blinded by a whoosh of freezing cold air. I wrapped my wool trench coat around me tighter and shivered against the cold wind.
I began walking down the street in earnest, rushing to get back to the warmth of my apartment. It was only a few blocks away from Eclipse, tucked into a relatively safe back alley in the slums - if such a thing even existed. My apartment may not be in a very nice part of town, but I kept it clean and it was pretty large for its location. I guess you could call it nice, although I fought hard to swallow back jealousy as I walked down the streets, bypassing beautiful townhouses and apartments.
The cold was making my eyes tired and I fought to keep them open as I padded down the very last block. My eyelids were heavy and my feet were aching and I couldn't stop thinking about my bed. I smiled and sighed in relief when I reached the alley. My smile was short-lived, though, because as soon as I stepped one foot into the blackness of the alley, I ran straight into a tall, muscular form. I screamed immediately and jumped back. I cursed as I realized I'd broken the heel on my brand new stilettos and tried to balance on one foot.
The form I ran into came near me just as I'd caught my breath. I didn't trust my voice to speak as fear gripped me. You never knew who might be lurking in the shadows in this part of town, so my first instinct was to run.
I could do that on one heel, right?
I crouched down slightly and pulled my purse tighter to me, preparing to run. But, before I could get even a foot away from the strange person standing in the darkness, a cool, pale hand grabbed my wrist. I screamed again, so loud it hurt my ears. I tried to pull my hand away from the man - I could tell it was a man by the strength in his large hands and from the calluses they were marred with - but his grip was too strong. It held me tightly in place with absolutely no chance of getting out.
"Help!" I screamed immediately, knowing it was probably fruitless. There were no other tenants in my building; just a few various shops and a dry cleaning store on the bottom level.
I heard the man who was holding me clear his throat behind me, but I didn't have the nerve to look.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said. His voice was not at all threatening. For some reason I believed him when he said it, too. I don't know why, but his voice sounded nice - calming, even, given the circumstances. I turned around to look at him and was instantly stunned by what I saw.
He was tall - much taller than me - and had an unruly mop of bronze coloured hair atop his head. He had piercing golden eyes that seemed to penetrate my very soul as he stared into my eyes. But it wasn't the golden hue that caught my eye first; it was the sadness his eyes held. They were red and bloodshot, making him look either sick or extremely fucked up. It made me sad to think that a man this gorgeous could taint himself with drugs, but it made me even more sad to think about what could cause his eyes to hold such a despairing look.
But, then I realized that this man could be a murderer or a rapist who was just trying to seduce me with his ungodly good looks. I pulled my wrist from him again a little more forcefully, but he still didn't let go.
"I promise," he said in that same melodic, calming voice. "I'm not going to hurt you. I didn't think anyone would be back here."
I relaxed my wrist and willed myself to trust this stranger. He seemed genuine enough, and I had to admit I was feeling some sort of strange pull to him, like he was willing me with those sad golden eyes to trust him.
I cleared my throat and blinked a few times, confused as to what I should do next.
"I'm Edward Cullen, by the way. Nice to meet you," he said, letting go of my wrist and extending his hand for me to shake.
I reached up hesitantly and placed my hand in his. He shook it gingerly before dropping it less than a second later. "Bella," I said. "My name's Bella."
"Fitting," he mumbled before stepping entirely out of the shroud of darkness. He took one step closer to me and I flinched backwards out of instinct. He was just so... tall. And intimidating. But goddamn, this man was fucking gorgeous.
I fidgeted with the sleeves of my coat, trying to pull it down over my hands because it was entirely too cold outside to just be standing here. I looked at this Edward man and noticed that he was wearing nothing but a simple pair of jeans and a ratty, plaid shirt - a short-sleeved shirt at that.
"You must be freezing," I said. "Where do you live?"
Edward simply shook his head. "I, umm... Well, I was just...," he stammered before shaking his head again and averting his gaze to the ground.
"Do you... Do you have a home?" I asked, being my perpetually curious self. It hurt me to think that he had nowhere else to go, especially when it was so cold outside. I had a fleeting urge to give him my coat, because as I saw him process my question, the sadness in his eyes increased tenfold.
He'd just confirmed my fears - he was homeless.
"Wanna come inside?" I asked immediately without thinking.
I suddenly had flashbacks to all of the lectures I'd gotten as a child about not speaking to strangers and never inviting people into the house who I didn't know. But that just reminded me of Forks, and that definitely wasn't something I wanted to think about right now. I ignored my thoughts and plastered a reassuring smile on my face to set Edward at ease.
He nodded solemnly and it nearly broke my heart. I nodded back to him and lead the way through the dark alley and up the stairs to my apartment. I opened the door and flicked the light on, illuminating the kitchen and the et of stairs leading up. I looked back and realized I was standing in my apartment alone. I walked back outside and realized that Edward was still standing at the bottom of the stairs, seemingly contemplating something.
"Come on up, I'll make you some soup," I offered, because even though he was essentially a stranger, I felt like I was doing something good by inviting him into my shabby little home when he didn't have one of his own. I rarely ever got to do anything for other people, so it felt nice to be able to do this for him.
He climbed up the stairs hesitantly and stopped before walking through the door. I walked over and grabbed his elbow, basically pulling him into my apartment. I closed the door behind him and as I brushed past him, I realized he was shaking. I assumed it was from cold, but he was homeless, I remembered, so God only knows what might be wrong with him.
"Are you okay?" I asked, tossing my purse onto the table and walking over to the fridge. "Are you sick?"
He cleared his throat loudly. "I'm alright," he replied, but his voice had lost its earlier melodic sound. It was harsh and grating and his affirmation was capped off with a loud cough that reverberated off my kitchen walls. A light sheen of sweat had appeared on every exposed part of his body - his forehead, arms, neck - and it looked as if he was holding back the tremors that ran through him.
"Where's your bathroom?" he asked suddenly.
"First door on the left," I said immediately, not wanting him to puke on my kitchen floor or something. He walked away hastily and I was left standing in my kitchen, utterly fucking confused.
He had been in there about five minutes before my perpetual curiosity once again got the best of me. I slipped my off stilettos - why I still had them on was a mystery to me - and tip-toed quietly towards the bathroom door. I pressed my ear against the door and listened intently.
I couldn't hear him throwing up, so that was a good sign. The only sounds coming from the other side of the door were a light tapping sound and a scraping noise. It went on like that for about a minute before I heard a loud sniff, like when you have a really bad cold and it's impossible to clear your sinuses. A few more scrapes and a few more taps, and then the sniffing noise reappeared.
And then it all clicked together and I couldn't believe what I was standing here listening to. Anger flared and my eyes widened in disbelief.
I was nice enough to invite a poor, homeless stranger into my house to get him out of the cold and he used it as an opportunity to do drugs!
I was having none of that. I flung the bathroom door open, causing it to crash against the wall. I was pretty sure I'd put a hole through it, but I'd worry about that later.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" I bellowed.
Edward started and the small mirror that was sitting on his lap crashed to the floor, sending shards of glass cascading across the floor. His eyes were frantic and panicky as they met mine and his mouth opened and closed about ten times before he finally snapped it shut, his eyes wild with... something. I couldn't place the emotion they held.
My hands balled into fists as fury surged through me.
"Get the fuck out of my house, you dirty fucking cokehead."
The chapters will alternate between POVs, so the next update will be Edward. Also, expect future chapters to be longer. I'm going to try to make them all between 4K and 6K, depending. Please review and let me know what you think! Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see you all soon!