Edward's eyes darkened at the mention of Riley's name. So he was right. It had been Riley. It had been Riley the entire time. And after Edward had asked Bella, she had blatantly lied to him like that…

He took a deep breath, trying to rein in his temper as he cast the bedridden brunette an annoyed look. He would have words with her later, he decided. When she was feeling better. It would do no good to upset her again now when she was like this.

Instead, Edward turned to Alice and Rosalie who were now staring at him with blank, confused faces. He grimaced. What was he supposed to say? Bella had been horrified at the thought of her best friends even knowing what she worked as on the weekends. As upset as Edward was with her, he couldn't betray her secrets now, right?

But before he could open his mouth to speak, there came a loud rap on the door. They all turned as the large pane of frosted glass slid open and Emmett and Jasper stepped inside the room.

"Jazz!" Alice's eyes lit up as he came closer to wrap his arms around her, reaching down to kiss her quickly on the lips.

"Hey Alice. Hey Rose, Edward." Jasper nodded. His gaze turned towards the bed, "She hasn't woken up yet?"

"What? No, she's awake—" Surprised, Edward looked back to the bed to see that Bella had fallen back to sleep. Her long brown hair spilled around her delicate shoulders like a cape. "Oh. Well, no. She was awake a few minutes ago." He qualified.

"Rose." Emmett had come up behind Rosalie, his hand reaching out to brush her shoulders in what appeared to be a soothing gesture as he noticed her wet cheeks. His gaze softened and he looked like he was about to say something when Rosalie turned back to Edward.

"What happened with Riley?" she insisted.

"Who's Riley?" Jasper blinked, his arm still slung around Alice's waist.

"Bella's friend. He owns a bar and she helps him out on the weekends working there." She murmured.

"Was that why she was coming back from Tenderloin at 4 am?" Emmett's eyebrows rose. "She keeps late hours. He must be a good friend."

"Hardly." Edward said darkly.

All eyes turned to him in surprise. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "The thing is… Riley's not her friend. And he doesn't own a bar. He owns a club… a club that Bella works at." He hesitated. "… as a stripper."

Shocked faces stared back at Edward as they all processed this new bit of information. Rosalie's eyes flickered back to Bella who was out to the world, sleeping peacefully and unaware of anything going on around her.

"What? No!" Rosalie breathed. Emmett's grip on her shoulder had tightened a fraction. "You're wrong." Rosalie denied. "I would have known if Bella was… If she was… Stripping?" She shook her head in disbelief.

"I did always wonder about those costumes she had…" Alice murmured her eyes as wide as Rosalie's and quite unable to take in the news that one of her new friends moonlighted as an exotic dancer.

"I've known Bella for years, Edward. This isn't something she'd do. Not willingly anyway…" Her eyes widened. "Oh God. She isn't… She isn't being forced into this is she?" Her eyes darted between Edward and Bella as she tried to process what was going on. The past few weeks flashing through her mind. Bella had always been late on making payments for rent and bills… It had been a topic of tension in the house for quite some time; one that had begun to severely affect their friendship to the point that Rosalie had even wondered what would happen if she had to ask Bella to move out. Fortunately, Alice coming on board had helped ease things somewhat.

Rosalie's mind was scattered with thoughts as she tried to take everything in. Bella had lied to her. Bella, her best friend of four years, had lied to her.

"It's a shoe addiction. I'm getting help, I swear." Bella's words came back to her. Rosalie tried to remember even seeing any shoes in the apartment. When was the last time she'd even seen Bella go shopping? She couldn't remember… Was that a lie as well? Surely Bella wasn't stripping to feed an addiction to shoes.

Why hadn't Bella come to Rosalie? Rosalie could have helped her out… They could have all gone and rented a cheaper apartment. And yet, she hadn't…

"Tell me. Edward, you have to tell me everything you know… If Bella's in trouble…"

Everyone's eyes flickered to Bella's body lying on the bed as she shifted in her sleep.

"Uh… Maybe we should head out into the corridor," Jasper murmured.

Edward agreed and one by one, they slipped from the room to go to the little seating area not far down the corridor. There, he swiftly explained everything that had happened. How he had found Bella at Indulgences, what Riley's part in all this was, and why Bella owed such a staggering amount of money. He, of course, conveniently left out that the majority of the information he had gleaned from Bella had been from the dances she'd given him… He didn't think it was particularly necessary for the girls' to know that.

"I don't like this Riley guy." Jasper scowled, his arm around Alice tightening as Edward finished his explanation. "He didn't have anything to do with the accident did he?"

Rosalie's eyes widened, "What you mean… you mean like… sabotage it?"

"You said she fell asleep at the wheel though, Edward?" Alice asked.

"I thought she did," he corrected. "It's late… I usually drive her back from these things. She's usually so sleepy…" Edward frowned. It had never occurred to him that Bella's accident might have been anything but an accident. He looked up at Emmett who looked like he too was thinking it over.

"You shouldn't put it past this Riley guy." Emmett finally admitted, "If he's tried to hurt Bella like that once… and threatened to kill her as well, you said? And if she was asleep, she would have driven straight into the brick wall… But she'd turned the car; she tried to make the corner. Maybe she was sleepy and misjudged the corner. Or maybe he fucked with her car."

"We'll find out soon enough," Edward said grimly. "Police roped off the area earlier this morning. It's a strange accident, to be sure. They'll tell us if any foul play was involved."

The conversation finished, they returned to Bella's room to check if she had woken up again yet. The doctor had promised that after he ran a few more tests just to check on her head, she would be free to leave the next morning.

Checking his watch, Edward saw that it was getting late into the afternoon.

"Why don't we go get lunch?" Alice suggested. "We've been here all day and Bella's not going anywhere."

Well now they know!

Let's hope the police report can turn something up...!