AN: I'm back! I know it was a long time between updates again and I'm sorry. I had a really bad case of writer's block until about three days ago when I busted out 3000 words in one day. I was amazed by myself. My potty mouth took over a bit too, so be warned.
Also! I have a very important announcement. Starting with the next chapter, this story will be found under a new title: Unattainable Perfection. It fits this story much better than the current title, and is much more original. I will also try to redo the summary since I know it's a piece of crap.
Once again, thank you to my beta, SwallowedxInxThexSea. And I don't own Twilight. I know, amazing, right?
Chapter 6 – Pompeii and Plans
EPOV
Why the fuck had I allowed Emmett of all people to go to the grocery store with me? He was like a frickin' three year old, picking out every little thing that looked interesting.
"Ed, man, look at this stuff! They have fucking everything here!" he said, amazed.
"It's a supermarket, Emmett," I answered slowly. "They're supposed to have everything."
"I know, but just look at all this stuff! We never had this much in the grocery store growing up."
We were just passing the meat section when something caught his eye. He ran the next few feet forward to the cheese section and looked intently at the selection.
"Emmett, why are you staring at the cheese?" I questioned.
"Hold on a sec," he said, still searching. After a minute, he held something up to his face. "Huh, I guess Bella was right. I really did nickname her after cheese!" He laughed hysterically, which earned him strange looks from the other shoppers passing by. I shook my head, exasperated. "I'm going to get her some as a present," he decided as his laughter died down.
I shrugged and let him stuff five packages of Babybel cheese into the cart. Thanks to Emmett, the cart was already filled with double what it would be normally. I fully intended on shoving part of it into his hands when we got back to my apartment. Rose was sure to be out of work then and would get a kick out of it.
The clerk at the register raised an eyebrow when Emmett rushed to proudly pile the Babybel cheese on the conveyor belt. I just shook my head and continued with the legitimate purchases.
I took the time to bag everything myself, knowing what to keep together to give to Emmett later on. It also made me realize that I really had started to revert back to my old lifestyle without noticing it.
I was more active, doing things without getting prodded by Rose. There was more going on in my life than massive overtime at the shop. It was an actual life rather than a shadow of an existence.
Now there was only one thing missing. Bella.
Rose was waiting for us back at my apartment. She eyed me as I came in toting three heavy bags in my arms and Emmett followed with an even bigger load.
"Don't laugh," I warned her, stopping in the living room. "Half of this is going home with you two."
"You know I don't live with him," she pointed out.
"Yet," I clarified. "You're there like five nights a week. Esme calls there when she can't get you on your cell…. You may as well live there."
Rosalie opened her mouth to protest, but, realizing I was right, settled for glaring at me. Triumphant, I continued toward the kitchen only to feel a sharp smack to the back of my head.
"Ow! What the hell, Rose?"
"That was for putting ideas in his head," she said with a low snarl as she went back to the couch. "Let him do it on his own."
I sighed and continued into the kitchen. I watched as Emmett tried to figure out where to put things and had to keep myself from laughing. He really did need someone else around to help him. It wasn't that he was stupid; he just didn't understand certain things. They don't teach kitchen organization to auto design and repair students.
"Em, why don't we separate what's actually staying here before we put stuff away," I suggested. "You're taking half of that home."
He smiled. "Everything I threw in, right?" I nodded and started to put bags into two separate piles. "Need me to pay you back?"
I shook my head. No, it's fine." I shot him a smirk. "You just have to pay the next time we go out."
Putting away the groceries took a lot less time than normal since I had help, but it took a lot of patience. Emmett didn't understand my system, so he asked a lot of questions.
Rose came in partway through and perched herself on the counter, watching us. "You know, you haven't had this much in your fridge since I met you," she commented quietly.
"Five years changes a lot," I answered, skirting the assumption.
"So does love," she said.
An involuntary and unexpected smile spread across my face. I tried to hi de it in the fridge, but I doubt it made much of a difference. "It's possible," I said carefully.
"Well, if it helps anything, there's a certain beautiful brunette that just so happens to wish that she wasn't engaged right now," Rose mentioned.
"Really?" My head whipped around in her direction. "She talked to you about it? What did she say?"
Rosalie grinned smugly. "Maybe she did," she stalled. "Maybe she didn't."
"Rose, please don't do this to me," I said, desperate for the information she was withholding. "I need every piece of information I can get my hands on to make this work."
She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "You have a plan," she stated. I nodded, impatient. "Fine. Tell me the plan and I'll tell you what she said."
I sighed and raked my fingers through my hair. Did I want to get Rosalie involved? Would that be more of a help or a hindrance? We had said not to tell the girls, but Rose knew how to keep a secret…
"Come on, Edward," Emmett said from behind me. "Rose knows what she's doing. She'll help. Come on, man. What do you want most?"
Images came unbidden. Unfinished scenes from three years of fantasies. Some were as simple as holding her in my arms by a fire at night. Some were more intimate… her moans, breathy and stimulating, her skin smooth as silk under my fingers, her eyes pulling me further in….
"Bella," I managed. "Always Bella. Forever."
"Then you need help," Rose said matter-of-factly. "So fess up."
I took a deep breath and launched into my plan to take down James Whitlock. I needed to trust Rose since she was such a key point in my life. She would help, if not for my sake, then for Emmett's.
"And hopefully that will be enough to convince her parents," I finished. I waited, fairly impatiently, for Rose to come to conclusions and pass on her advice.
"Okay," she said slowly. "Now, let's point out a hitch or twelve." I groaned, but I knew what she said would help in the long run. "How are you going to tell her parents? They don't even know you! They won't trust you. Ho w long are you willing to commit to this? Bella said something about her mom getting closer to setting a date for the wedding. What if you don't get enough by then? What if they believe his lie over you? What if they still force Bella into this?"
"I need to try," I said. "I need to do something. I've been sitting on the sidelines for too goddamn long."
Rosalie smiled. "That's what I needed to hear," she said sweetly. "Now, my last piece of advice? You need to work double duty. You need to break Bella down at the same time. Get her to believe this will work."
"And how exactly am I supposed to do that?"
"Well, convince her that you'll be there for her. And don't just say it," Rose said. "Like, offer to go to one of her mother's crazy ass parties as an escape. But what you absolutely need to do is remind her that you love her. She doesn't believe that she's good for you, so you need to show her. Has she been here before?" She indicated the apartment as a whole.
"Once or twice, but not for very long," I said.
"Good. Then bring her back here. She'll have all the evidence she needs that you changed and then we'll all work on actually getting her to see that it was because of her."
"You really think that'll work?" I asked nervously.
"It better work," Emmett answered.
"If it doesn't, I'll convince her somehow," Rose assured me. "Oh, and Jasper said to call him. He wanted to talk to you about something."
"When did you talk to Jasper?" Emmett and I looked at her, confused.
She shrugged. "Easy. When you were busy making Bella forget her name," she said. She tossed me my phone from the counter. "Just call him. Please."
"Fine, I'll call him," I said, not really caring either way. Jasper seemed like a decent guy and I didn't mind talking to him.
It was Rose's tone that indicated an ulterior motive that had me worried.
I moved to my bedroom to have at least some semblance of privacy to make the call. The phone rang twice before a high-pitched, female voice answered.
"Hello?"
"Um, hi? Is Jasper available?" I asked, hesitantly. I couldn't quite recognize the voice that answered, so I didn't want to assume that it was Alice.
"Oh, hey, Edward. Hold on, Jazz is right here," she said cheerily. Must be Alice, I thought with a chuckle. "Jasper! Phone!" I heard her call.
"What? Ah can't you just…. Oh, never mind then. Hold on," came Jasper 's muffled voice in the background. There was some shuffling, followed by a clear, "Hello?"
"Hey, Jasper. It's Edward. Rose said you wanted me to call you?"
He chuckled. "Yeah, I was wondering if she was ever going to give you that message," he said. Then his tone turned serious. "I wanted to talk to you about Bella."
"What? Why? Is she hurt? God, if Rose didn't tell me and Bella's hurt, I swear I'll-"
"Hey, calm down," Jasper said calmly. "Bella is fine, trust me. This isn't so much about her as it is you and her."
I sighed. I knew this was coming. I'd never personally been on the receiving end of the Overprotective Male speech and I'd been hoping to keep it that way, but that apparently failed.
Figuring out that I wasn't going to say anything, Jasper continued. "Now, there is no contesting the fact that I don't know you. I only know what Bella has told me about you, and even that is just from her perspective."
Fuck, I thought. This must be what it feels like to be on Death Row…. He's going to kill me. I kept my mouth shut and let him keep going, only holding on to the tiniest glimmer of hope in the distance. Jasper had every right to beat me up six ways from Sunday and I wouldn't fight him if he did.
"Seeing the difference between the way she acts with you and the way she acts with James is like day and night," Jasper said. "And that alone is enough to make me wonder. She insists that there is nothing she would rather do than marry James-" I forced myself not to scoff, curse, or otherwise 'hate' on his brother "-to make her family happy, but Ali and I can both see that she despises him. It's not even that she just doesn't want to marry him; she would rather become a spinster with eighty cats and spend her time watching reruns of afterschool specials. And she's allergic to cats."
"Jasper, I-"
"Edward, please let me finish." I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from interrupting him again. "Bella has never been happier than when she's with you. I've always wanted her to have the same happiness that Alice and I have, and I think the only way she'll get that is with you. I want to help her in any way I can. If that means taking down that bastard I can barely stand to call a brother, just tell me what I can do."
My eyes widened as Jasper spoke. He wasn't going to hurt me.
He was going to help.
He had said as much the day before, but I figured he would back out. He really meant it. He wanted Bella to be with me.
"Jasper… I… really?" I stammered.
He chuckled into the receiver. "Of course," he said. "I would give almost anything to see Bella that happy for the rest of her life. That being said," his voice became serious, "if you hurt her, you can bet that you will be begging to die before I'm even half way done with you."
"If I hurt her, I will be miserable for the rest of my life, even without whatever you have planned," I said quietly. "I will do everything in my power to treat like a princess if I ever get the privilege to call her mine."
"You've got a better chance of keeping her happy if you treat her the way she wants to be treated," Jasper suggested. "She hates when anyone does something extravagant for her."
I groaned. "I tried to get her a birthday present last year," I said.
Laughter rang through the line and I knew Jasper had experienced something similar. "Did she try to give it back or interrogate you on how much you spent?" he asked.
"Interrogation came first. I, being the idiot that I am, answered honestly. It was back in my lap less than a second later."
"Did you get her to take it?"
"Not willingly," I said cryptically.
"Dare I ask?"
I chuckled, running my hand through my hair. "I stashed it in her purse while she was in the bathroom."
"It was the sketch from The Little Mermaid, wasn't it?" he asked. "I've been wondering where she got that…."
"She told me once that she felt trapped like Ariel," I said. "I thought it would be appropriate."
"She has it framed on her bedside table. It's the only picture that someone's given her that she's ever even considered getting framed," Jasper said. He paused long enough to let that thought sink in. "Edward, she loves you."
"She won't admit it," I retorted. "It's like she doesn't want to love me."
"No, she doesn't want to disappoint her family. She does want to love you," Jasper countered. "You just need to make it a valid option because she won't do anything."
"I have a plan to get rid of him… I just hope it works," I said. "Bella's a completely different story. Rose says I should just reinforce the fact that I love her, but I don't want to smother her."
"Maybe just being there for her will be enough."
"I hope so."
We finished the call quickly. Jasper and Alice had a dinner planned and she was forcing him to dress up. I left him to his wife's torture while he left me to perfect my plan.
I took a minute to myself before I went back to find Rose and Emmett watching something on TV.
"… the most frequent of which was curbside sex…" the narrator of the show said.
"So, it's like a Drive-Thru?" Emmett asked, speaking to no one in particular.
"What are you two watching?" I said, cocking an eyebrow.
"Some documentary about how Pompeii was like one giant brothel," Rose explained with a chuckle. "Emmett saw 'sex' in the title and decided we had to watch it."
"Most encounters were quick and dirty…" the narrator continued.
"Of course they were if it was a Drive-Thru!" Emmett said loudly.
Rose covered her mouth to hide her laughter. "He's getting really into it," she explained. "And it's not even turning him on…."
I shook my head as I looked at my cousin, his eyes never straying from the screen.
"Archaeologists have determined that there were over forty separate brothels throughout Pompeii as well as thirteen cribs and nine public baths that engaged in prostitution." I was amazed that the narrator didn't just burst into laughter after some of the things he said.
"I swear they're just drilling the McDonald's references into people's heads," Emmett said, amazed. "The Drive-Thru thing, the amount of them in town… I half expect someone to just spit out 'Do you want fries with that?'"
Rosalie and I looked at each other, shocked, before we dissolved into laughter. I had to hold the back of the couch to keep from falling over.
Emmett finally took his eyes off the show as his brain processed what he'd said. He quickly joined in our laughter.
I fell into a nearby chair, gasping and trying to catch my breath. "God, I'm never going to be able to look at McDonald's the same way again," I choked out. Rose nodded in agreement.
The three of us kept watching the show, making jokes whenever we could. One in particular came from the amount of phallic symbols they showed.
"Could they be any more obvious?" Rose said, astounded. "They just throw out pictures of dicks like every two cobblestones. And using the god of fertility as the inspiration for their streetlamps? Overkill."
"Yeah, that guy's cock is like two feet long!" Emmett pointed out. "No one has anything close to that."
Rose leaned over and kissed Emmett's neck slowly and not-so-subtly palmed his crotch. "Don't worry, babe," she purred. "Your cock is just perfect."
"Damn straight," he answered proudly before attacking her.
I rolled my eyes and chucked a pillow at their heads. "Get a fucking room!" I said. They separated, but only at the mouth.
"Aw, does little Edward feel left out?" Rose asked patronizingly. "Maybe I could call Bella… I'm sure she'd be happy to come over and help with your problem." She leaned forward to grab my phone off the coffee table where I'd dropped it. I lunged for it and managed to pull it from her fingers. She smirked at me. "I wasn't going to call her. But it's nice to see that reaction."
They went home around eight that night, leaving me to my own devices. For the first time in years, I actually felt lonely when they left. Not even two months before, I would have been begging them to leave, but now their presence was welcome.
I was finally starting to realize that I had succeeded in cleaning up my act. I had a steady job. Despite dropping out of college, my education was decent. The drugs were completely out of my system. I'd quit smoking. The scars on my thighs from the few times I'd tried cutting – which Emmett and Rose never knew about – were starting to fade.
But, most importantly, I had a plan. A plan to get what my parents always wanted for me.
I made the call that would set my plan in motion. With a job like mine, I had to know a lot about my clients. It definitely paid to listen to those endless sob stories. You never know when those connections could come in handy.
Tattooing is based around trust. If someone doesn't trust the artist, they shouldn't get inked there. It was common sense. But if they do, that sense of trust tended to last for a long time and friendship would sometimes form around that foundation.
I wanted to get in touch with this particular client before his appointment later in the week. He assured me that he would have the information I wanted by the time he came to the shop on Thursday. Hopefully it would be enough to work with.
The next few days passed uneventfully. I spent my days at Twilight, but not my usual out of control schedule. I had a normal work week now, switching off with Rose for time with the interns, knowing that we each had something different for them to learn from.
I was watching TV on Wednesday night when my phone rang. I picked it up without looking at the caller ID.
"Hello?" I said, still paying attention to the screen. The Red Sox were down 5-0 in the seventh to the Yankees.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll call back if I'm interrupting something." My attention was immediately diverted when my mind registered Bella's voice.
"No, you're not," I said quickly. "It's just a baseball game. I'll probably be depressed if I keep watching anyway."
"Sox versus Yankees?" she said.
"How'd you know?"
"My dad likes baseball, too. I can hear him swearing at the pitcher from up here," she explained.
"Yeah, well, if the bullpen didn't suck, it wouldn't be an issue," I grumbled.
"Are you going to keep talking about baseball? I thought we were done with Gloomy Edward," she chuckled.
"Do you have something to cheer me up?"
"Um, I'm not really sure if it's a good thing or not."
"I'm leaning towards bad with the tone in your voice, but I'll bite. What is it?"
"Alice is planning another group outing," she started.
"That's not bad," I said.
Bella sighed. "Clubbing."
"Oh."
We were both silent as we let that sink in. A dark, crowded room filled with drunk, horny, and probably indecent people looking for a good time and a good lay. How could that possibly be a good thing?
Then I thought about Bella. Alice would make sure she had something other than a cocktail dress to wear. It would hug her curves and she would look exquisite. No one would know her there. I could ask her to dance. I could hold her in my arms.
"Well, it could be worse," I said.
"Oh, how could it possibly be worse?" Bella complained. "You've never been out clubbing with Alice. She'll make us all drink ourselves into a stupor, find some way to make each and every one of us look stupid, and she always manages to convince us to do it again."
"I won't drink," I said forcefully.
"I know you won't," she sighed. "But it's not me that you have to explain that to. It's Alice. She'll need a reason."
"Whatever, as long as I don't have to drink," I said.
"She's inviting Emmett and Rose too, so maybe that will help your case," Bella said.
I smiled. "Yeah, it will also make the night a bit more entertaining. Emmett likes to argue when he gets drunk. I would love to see him and Alice duke it out about something," I said. "Of course, the night would never be complete without a dance. It's what's expected at a club, after all." I was teasing her, hoping she would take the bait and offer to dance with me.
"Well, good luck finding someone worth dancing with," she said nonchalantly. "Most of the girls there are starved to fit into a size two and have bigger boobs than Angelina Jolie."
She didn't take the bait. I'd have to try a more direct approach.
"Who needs those girls when I'll have a perfectly proportional, well-adjusted, beautiful girl sitting next to me all night?"
"Who, Rose? Yeah, I guess." Bella sounded disappointed. She didn't understand that I was talking about her. "I don't think Emmett will want to share her, though."
"No, he won't," I said. "But I wasn't talking about Rose. I was talking about you, Bella."
"Me? You want to dance with me?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
"Because I look like a complete idiot while I'm dancing and you don't need to be subjected to that," she explained. "You would be much better off finding one of the disproportionate, slutty girls."
"I would have much more fun dancing with you, Bella. I'm sure you'll still be just as beautiful while you're dancing as you are every other day," I countered.
"I highly doubt it," she argued. "James is convinced that I am a beached whale when I dance. He has since decided that we will dance to the slowest song he can find for our wedding and he will hire someone to teach me the easiest steps that are humanly possible."
"He underestimates you," I said, trying to keep my voice level. He called her a beached whale! I didn't care that he was engaged to her, he shouldn't have been making that kind of a comment. "First of all, you look nothing like a whale," I managed to keep my voice light, going back to teasing her. "Maybe a little like a dolphin, but at least they're cute."
"Edward!" she said. I could tell she was trying not to laugh. "Are you saying I have a bottle-nose?"
"Yeah. But it's cute. A mix between Flipper and Pinocchio." Somehow I was able to say that deadpanned.
She finally let herself laugh and I smiled in response. "That's the first time I've laughed all day," she said.
"That doesn't sound good," I said.
"That's why I called. I really needed someone to cheer me up," she continued sadly.
"How 'bout you tell me what's wrong and then I'll figure out the best way to cheer you up," I suggested.
Bella groaned. "My mother invited James over to spend the day 'bringing him up to speed on my life,' as she put it," she explained. "She went through a bunch of home videos and told him every story she could think of."
"You'd think she would have gotten that out of the way as soon as the two of you were official," I commented.
"Not helping," she grumbled.
"Sorry," I said with a small laugh. "Well, I have a story you should enjoy."
That piqued her interest. I retold the experience of watching the show about Pompeii. Before I could even get to the good part, she stopped me, shocked that I would watch that with them.
"It was interesting," I said, shrugging even though she couldn't see it. "Besides, why is it so hard to believe that I would watch something like that?"
"Well, you just… don't seem like the type to… be…" she stuttered. "I just didn't expect you to be the kind of guy who cares about other people's sex lives."
"At first it was just because of how Emmett was reacting," I confessed. "But it talked about the fact that it wasn't just Pompeii, it was all over the Roman Empire. If it hadn't been covered in lava when it was-"
"Okay, I get it," she laughed. "You're a history buff when something catches your attention."
I let out a chuckle. "Yeah, I guess. Now can I continue with my story?"
"Of course. I'm sorry I interrupted. Please continue."
I instantly fell back into the story, telling it as well as I could. Bella reacted exactly as I'd hoped. She was sucked into the story, not caring about anything else in the world. She had already forgotten about what had happened earlier in the day.
Bella was gasping in laughter by the end of it. "I don't think I'll ever look at French fries the same way again."
"Are you kidding? I can't even look at street signs," I said, laughing along with her.
"Thanks, Edward," she said quietly when we had both settled down.
"For what?"
"For distracting me and making me laugh."
"Bella, you know I'd do anything for you," I said seriously.
"Edward, don't-"
"Just know that I'm there for you, okay?" I continued. "I won't say it tonight. I promise."
Bella sighed into the phone and I could picture her biting her lip. She did it out of frustration, nervousness, and to avoid saying something that she would regret.
What if she's trying to stop herself from telling me that she loves me?
That thought was only given a split second's consideration before I threw it out. There was no way.
"Edward, I… Can I call you Friday night?" She sounded nervous.
Why was she nervous about calling me? She called me all the time.
"You know you can call me whenever," I said, confused. "You don't need to ask."
"Well, my mom's having another soiree and she's insisting that people stay as long as possible, so it probably won't be over until like one in the morning and I don't want to call too late, so I figured I'd ask in case you'd be asleep then. I didn't want to wake you up. I know you've been overworking yourself and you need the sleep so-" She stopped abruptly. "Shit, I'm rambling. I'm sorry…."
I tried to suppress my laughter, but a chuckle escaped. "It's fine, Bella. I'm working the late shift that night so I probably won't even get to sleep until around three. It won't be too late."
"But if you're working then I won't disturb you."
"If you call me, I'm going to answer," I said plainly. "If I'm at work, so be it. I'll shove one of the interns into my place. It's not an issue, Bella."
"Okay… if you're sure," she said hesitantly.
"Bella, if you don't want me to say it, you need to stop with that attitude," I goaded.
"Ugh, fine. But if I wake you up, it's your own damn fault," she hissed.
"If it means you won't be forced into being depressed all weekend, I'll pay that small price."
"Whatever, Edward. It's late, you should go to bed."
"Coming from the girl who plans to ruin my beginning-of-the-weekend beauty sleep," I teased.
"Shut up and go to bed," she grumbled.
"Goodnight, Bella," I laughed. "I'll talk to you later."
"Night Edward," she answered quietly.
I closed my phone with a smile on my face. It stayed in place even after my head hit the pillow and sleep claimed me.
The next morning brought a familiar case of morning wood when I woke up around ten. I was still too tired to do anything about it so I dragged myself into the kitchen to have something to eat. I noticed a pile of muffins on the counter.
"Rose," I said with a smile. I needed to remember to thank her. She hadn't brought over muffins in a while. Then I noticed the picture sitting next to the muffins.
It was a screenshot of the fertility god streetlamp from the Pompeii show.
I doubled over in laughter. The picture proved to distract my mind enough to get rid of my Dream Bella-induced erection and instantly brighten up my day all at once.
I walked into Twilight a little after noon. Rose was sitting behind the counter, nose in a book. I knew better than to ask about it. The last time I'd asked about a book she was reading, she'd snapped and demanded why it was weird for her to be reading. She informed me – forcefully – that she was teaching herself how to fix a problem with Emmett's Jeep.
So, instead, I questioned the addition to my muffins.
"The muffins are good, but did I really need the picture of the two foot cock?" I laughed.
Rosalie stuck a bookmark in and closed the book. She craned her neck to look at me. "Hey, that wasn't me. That was the crazy-ass I call my boyfriend," she said.
"If you would like me to, I could remind that crazy-ass that you're still waiting for a ring," I said. I knew she was frustrated that Emmett hadn't proposed yet. She'd always dreamed of having a husband and kids and she wanted those with Emmett.
"Don't stress yourself out over it, Ed," she said with a small smile. "We've kind of talked about it, in a roundabout way. But the message was clear. He wants to, but he's not ready. I don't know if it's because he doesn't have a ring or because he doesn't have a plan, but I know he wants to. He's been making subtle hints." She looked down at the book in her lap, not really seeing it. "I heard him grumbling about getting a minivan to cart the kids around the other day."
I smiled and kissed her forehead as I went by. "I told you he'd come around to the idea," I said. "I'm really happy for you, Rose."
"I'd be happier for you if you'd get your butt in gear where Bella's concerned," she countered. "You have a plan. When is that plan going to happen?"
"I called him the other day and he said he'd have information for me when he came in today," I said.
"Then you better hope it's good news," she said.
The afternoon was fairly slow. A few regulars came in for small additions. One girl came in looking to have a tattoo done. She reminded me a lot of Bella, coming in as a small rebellion to her parents. She looked scared to death as she looked around the shop.
Rose had been talking to her, getting a feel of what she wanted. When I saw how scared she was, I quickly intervened.
"Maybe a tattoo isn't such a good idea," I commented gently.
"She seems pretty invested in the decision," Rose said.
"A piercing would have the same effect, would be a lot cheaper, and be a lot less painful," I added. The girl looked up at me and smiled. She nodded to Rose.
"And suddenly he knows everything about rebelling teenage girls," Rose scoffed, rolling her eyes. She pulled the girl into the back room to negotiate what she wanted done.
At five minutes of six, the door opened and my face broke out into a smile when I saw who it was. He wasn't scheduled until six thirty.
"Garrett, you came early," I said happily.
"It seemed important from what you said on the phone," the man commented as we shook hands in greeting. "I figured you'd want to know as soon as possible."
"Yeah, thank you. That's great."
Garrett Johnson had been coming to Twilight since before I started working there. He had started an elaborate back piece to go along with the story of his life, starting with when he proposed to his girlfriend – now wife of three years – Kate.
But the reason I'd called him wasn't his ongoing tattoo additions. Garrett worked as a Private Investigator's assistant. He had access to resources that I'd never even dreamed of and it was perfect to get information about James.
They didn't have to worry about Garrett's boss. It was known to Garrett's friends that J. Jenks was a hard ass, but had a soft spot for guys with rough pasts trying to make right. He'd hired Garrett when he was released from an abusive foster home and granted legal emancipation at seventeen.
Garrett set a nondescript manila folder on the counter in front of me. "You want to do this here or in your office?" he asked.
I turned to Rose who sighed.
"Go find a way to get your princess out of marrying the warlock," she said as she came over to cover the front counter.
I led Garrett into my office, which was barely more than a spacious closet. It worked for paperwork and privacy though, so I didn't care. I set the folder on the desk but I couldn't bring myself to open it.
"Afraid of what's in there?" he asked quietly. I nodded, not trusting my voice. "Well, there wasn't anything that looked instantly suspicious."
My hopes shattered. If he hadn't found anything, there wasn't anything to find. Garrett was the best at what he did.
"So, what you're saying is there's nothing I can use?"
"No, that's not what I'm saying," he said with a sly smile. I cocked an eyebrow at him, staying silent. "Each individual thing looks like nothing. But as a whole, there's definitely something to work with."
I got curious and opened the folder, flipping through the files that Garrett had assembled. There were ten files of charges against James, but all had been dropped.
"How can we work with this if all the charges were dropped?" I questioned him.
"Every one of these charges had something to do with sexual harassment," Garrett explained. "Four from his work, three from ex-girlfriends, two from well-known establishments, and one that came about as a counter to an assault charge that James filed. But if you notice the dates that they were dropped, it's all the same time period.
"It only takes a few days for the news of charges filed against someone to get back to them. Every one of those charges was dropped eight days after they were filed. Figure three for him to get the news, at least two days of negotiating, another to get some money inconspicuously, one last day to lower the settlement, and then it's dropped the next day. This guy knows what he's doing.
"I talked to a few guys down at the station and they all know him by reputation. They say he's one of those guys that likes to use his women and dump them on their asses as quickly as possible. Always looks for experienced girls, but never prostitutes. Always takes them out to either really crowded clubs or restaurants during the lulls. He's definitely avoiding something."
I looked at Garrett who had a knowing smirk on his face and I hoped there was a way that I could use this information for Bella's own good.
"Okay, so we know he's a whoring bastard, but since the charges were dropped we can't really do anything, right?" I asked.
"Technically, no. but what you can do it check in with the people who filed the charges and find out what happened," he said. "That will give you more ammunition than you can imagine."
I flipped through the files again, noting phone numbers and addresses. Every single one was across town from where Bella lived. It was obvious that James was avoiding something.
One of these girls had to know something.
One of them could have the answer I needed. The answer that would help Bella.
I smiled, knowing that my plan had been set in motion.
AN: So, now Edward's on the right track. But you won't hear anything about his progress during the next chapter since it's BPOV. However, there might be something better than that. Also, I should note that the show about Pompeii is real. It was on the History channel last week and I watched it with my parents. And all the crap about McDonald's was brought up while watching it. I had to use it in this because I thought it was something Emmett would do.
Next chapter: More insight as to Bella's home life, probably the beginning of the club scene (depending on length), and maybe some action between Bella and Edward. Maybe...
Remember! New title, new look, SAME STORY! It will help to have it on alert so you know when the next chapter comes out. I'll be changing the title right before I update next. Please review to let me know what you think. Whether it's about the title (I really hope you all like it because I've become attached to it) or that I have a really odd taste in weekend TV shows (which is probably true), I would love to know what you think. Plus, more reviews will get a faster update. Less than two weeks if I get over ten reviews. And, if by some miracle, I get twenty reviews for this chapter, I will try my absolute hardest to get it in under a week (but I doubt it will happen since I'm doing college shopping this week). Please let me know what you think!
-Kaylee