Together

Bella

Rumors are flying through Manhattan Prep that their resident bad ass got arrested. I'm so worried, I have to find out if it's true. I found Alice between second and third period. She was yelling at Jazz in whispered shouts.

"What the hell were you thinking?!"

Once she noticed me behind Jazz's large form, she stuck her tongue out at him and pulled me aside.

"What have you heard?" she asked quietly.

"He was arrested last night in a drug bust. He shot someone. He was caught with an illegal substance." Just naming a few of the rumors going around school.

"Wrong, wrong, and wrong," she sighed. "He was arrested last night along with Jazzy, but it was for fighting. Mr. Cullen posted their bail."

"Who was he fighting? Is he hurt?"

"He broke a finger and has a few stitches," she waved dismissively. She must have noticed my face because she was quick to reassure me again, "He's fine, Bella. He's seen worse than this."

That didn't make me feel any better.

I took a deep breath, "Where is he?"

Ally looked around us quickly to make sure no one was around that could hear us, "He's working. Jazz said he wanted to pay back Mr. Cullen for bailing them out. Do you know where the garage is?"

I silently nodded my head.

"Okay good, he still should be there. It'll only be him and Enrique, so you guys could talk."

Ally is pushing me towards the front doors, "Hurry."

I've never ditched school alone before. Of course a boy I kissed has never been arrested before, either.

This is about me being real. To myself. And now I'm going to be real to EJ, like he's always wanted. It's scary, and I'm not so convinced I'm doing the right thing. But I can't ignore the magnetic pull that EJ has over me.

Peter David once said "Opposites can attract, as in magnetism. Or explode, as in matter and antimatter."

EJ and I are polar opposites, but opposites attract all the time. Being so different makes the pull they feel towards each other feel like magnetism. Sometimes it works out, right? Or sometimes they explode like a car crashes and burns.

I arrived at Enrique's Auto Body Shop and a guy is standing in front. His mouth drops the minute he sees me step out my car.

"I'm looking for EJ Masen."

The guy doesn't answer.

"Is he here?" I feel awkward. He looks Hispanic, maybe he doesn't speak English.

"What do you want with Edward?" the guy finally asks me.

My heart is beating so hard I can see my shirt move with each beat. "I need to talk to him."

"He'll be better off if you leave him alone."

"It's fine, Enrique," a familiar voice yelled.

I turn and see EJ, leaning against the front door of the shop with a towel hanging out his pocket and a wrench in his hand. The hair peeking out his bandanna is mussed and stained with grease. He has a line of perfect little black stitches across his forehead, above his right eyebrow. I couldn't help but think that I was glad it wasn't staples this time. His middle finger on his left hand is wrapped and almost two times bigger than all his other fingers. He's broken but he looks more masculine than any guy I've ever seen.

I want to hold him. I need to tell him it's okay and that he's not going to jail ever again. But I don't know if I can promise him that.

"I guess I'll leave you two alone," I think I hear his boss say, but I'm to focused on EJ to hear him clearly.

My feet feel cemented to the exact spot I'm standing on so it's a good thing he sauntered over to me.

"Um," I begin. Please let me get through this. "I, uh, heard you got arrested. I had to see if you were okay."

"You ditched school to see if I was okay?"

I nod my head because my tongue feels like it's stuck to the roof of my mouth.

EJ steps back. "Well, then. Now that you've seen I'm okay, go back to school. I gotta, you know, get back to work. As you probably already know, Cullen posted bail, and I hate owing people money." He turns to go back to his work.

"Wait!" I yelled. I took another deep breath. This is it. I'm going to spill my guts. "I don't know why or when I started falling for you , EJ. But I did. Ever since I almost ran you over with my car that first day of school I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. And that kiss, God that kiss, I never felt anything like that in my entire life. It did mean something. And if the solar system didn't fall of line, then it never will. I know it's crazy because we're so different but it doesn't matter to me. None of it. I'm so done with caring about what other people think and say. I just want you. I know I'm babbling like an idiot, but if you don't say something soon or give me a hint of what you're thinking then I'll – "

"Say it again," he smirks.

"The whole thing?" I remember something about a solar system, but I'm too light-headed to recite the entire thing all over again.

He steps closer to me. "No. The part about you falling for me."

I swear my heart just melted. "I think about you all the time. And I really, really want to kiss you again."

His infamous lopsided grin appears on his face.

Unable to look at him, I look at the ground instead. "Don't make fun of me. I can take anything but that right now."

"Don't turn away from me, love. I'll never make fun of you."

"I don't want to like you," I admit to him and myself.

"I know."

"This probably won't work."

"Probably not. But I'm willing –"

I cut him off by grabbing the thick hair at the base of his neck and pulling his face down to mine. We can't exactly have privacy right now, but that's okay.

EJ keeps his hands at his side, but when I part my lips, he groans against my mouth and his wrench drops to the floor with a loud click.

His strong arms wrap around me, making me feel protected. His velvet tongue mingles with mine, creating an unfamiliar melting sensation deep within my body. His hands never stop moving . One circles my back while the other plays with my hair.

This is more than making out, it's... well I don't really know what it is but it sure feels like more.

Edward

Enrique's loud clearing of his throat tears us apart. Bella jumps back a few feet.

"I have to get back to work," I tell her, my breathing is ragged.

"Oh, sure." The color that invades her cheeks makes her look even more beautiful added with the mussed hair and swollen lips.

I want to see her later but I have a meeting with the Bloods. "My cousin Kate is having her sweet sixteen on Saturday. Come with me."

"What time?"

"The church is at four and the party starts at seven."

She looked confused, "Church? I thought it was a birthday party."

"It is. We're Catholic and she's half Puerto Rican, so it was either a sweet fifteen in her father's country or a sweet sixteen here. It'll be an experience you won't forget. Trust me, you'll have a great time. I'll pick you up at three."

"I didn't say 'yes' yet." She laughs.

I raise my left eyebrow at her, because my right one still hurts like a bitch. "Ah, but you were about to."

"I'll meet you here at three," she offers. I finally realize that maybe she doesn't want me showing up at her apartment again, covered in tattoos.

I lift her chin up to face me, she doesn't look ashamed or scared of me though. "Why aren't you afraid of being with me?"

"Are you kidding? I'm terrified." She wasn't focusing on me but rather the tattoos that ran up my arms.

"I can't pretend to be something I'm not," I explain to her and she frowns. "In some ways we're so different but in others we're the same."

That get a smile out of her, until Enrique clears his throat again.

"Damn it!" I shout back at him, "I'm coming!"

"I'll meet you here on Saturday at three," she promises as I walk her back to her car.

I securely close her door and lean into her window. I capture her lips with mine again for one fierce kiss. "This time it's a date," I wink at her before she drives away.

Two hours later, I was still getting sick of Enrique's jokes.

"Man, she was kissing you like it was the last kiss of her life. If she kisses like that, I wonder how she –"

"Shut up, Enrique!" I shout for the fifteenth time today.

"She's gonna ruin you, Edward," he continues, calling me by my given name. Only he and my mother still do that. He might only be a few years older than me but he has my respect. "Look at you, spending time in jail last night and you cut school today. She's a pretty girl, with a nice ass but is she worth it?"

"I gotta get back to work," I answer back, my mind whirling with Enrique's words.

As I work under the Chevy Blazer for the remainder of the evening, all I want to do is make out with Bella over and over again.

Yes, she's definitely worth it.

"EJ," Enrique yells out to me at six o'clock when I'm already done with the Blazer. "Rick, and the rest of the guys are in my office."

Ugh! I knew this was going to happen, I didn't want to deal with them today.

I walked into the office and was faced with six men all higher ranking than myself.

"EJ," Rick acknowledges me with a nod of his head. "Take a seat."

"Good evening, fellas." I smirk and take a seat in front of Rick.

The meeting starts. The room becomes silent as we all wait for Rick to speak. I look around quickly to see who's here. Rick is the head of the Blood's in this district, Hector is his enforcer.

Enrique is widely respected in Rick's eyes. He used to do the drug runs for Rick when he was still a rookie. Rick helped Enrique raise the money for this shop. He owes Rick everything.

Mario's OG from Marcy is here too. John is a large man, maybe twenty-three with long black hair. His main territory is the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. He's also Rick's younger brother.

The last two guys there are the twins, Derek and Gavin. Together they are responsible for the drug runs that go through Brooklyn. They also have control of the Bushwick neighborhood. They're barely twenty years old. Like me, they were born into this world and now have no way out.

"What happened yesterday EJ, between you and your brother?" Rick asked slowly, waiting for my reaction.

My fist tightened around the armrest at the mention of my brother. "He provoked me. I would have killed him if the police had never shown up."

"But you didn't?" Hector asked.

"No."

"You see, that's all cool and shit," Derek chuckled. "But you didn't finish the job, he got away. Now you have a problem."

"What? The cops?" I scoffed. "They took me in for a fight. Mario took the gun before they could see I was armed."

"No, the cops are the least of your worries," Gavin smirked. "We got word earlier today that the Crips put a price on your head. You pissed off the wrong person, EJ."

"He's my brother, he's always pissed."

"He might be lower ranking then others in his gang but he is Caius' favorite. James asked Caius to send word that James wants to retaliate."

"So now what?" I asked confused.

"Now, you have to take care of James before he takes care of you." Mario spoke for the first time, "I know you don't want to become like him but it's the only way."

That pissed me off. I know I said I would have killed him but I also said I don't have it in me to take a life, even a sadistic one like James. He doesn't deserve to live but that still doesn't give me the right to end his.

"I won't," I shouted, kicking back my chair causing Derek and Gavin to snicker. "I don't want to be a monster." I turned to the twins, "Can't one of your collectors do it? I'm sure they won't mind getting their hands dirty."

"No, they won't mind a bit," he laughed. "My men are loyal. But this is something you have to take care of yourself."

"I'm not a monster. I'm not James! I won't be a killer." A small spat erupted between me and the twins. Between the insults and the arguing, I could easily forget why I would lay my life down for this people.

It's not enough that I do their runs and collect when I have too. I fight when one of them in disrespected. I'm as loyal as they come.

"Enough!" Rick shouted over our bickering. He pointed straight at me, "You will finish this, Edward. You will finish this insane rivalry you have with James once and for all." With his last word, the meeting ended. They left quietly and didn't look back.

I sit back, staring at the closed door, and I wonder if I have it in me to try and kill James a second time. I know that if I don't he won't give up in his quest to kill me first. And he'll take down whoever gets in his way. Could I do this?

If I want to keep my mom safe, my friends – Bella – then my choice has already been made for me.

For those of you that read Not The One, I wanted to tell you that I am continuing the story just not until I finish this one.

My heart isn't in it and I don't wanna give you guys a half ass story.

Review! Review! Review!