Rating: M

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer of Twilight does not own this story but she does the players.

Thanks to my betasT and A and a special thanks to a my Grecian Goddess, you know who you are. Muwahhh.

CHAPTER 8

EPOV

When the sun goes down the narrow roads quickly turn to black ice and it doesn't help that the Truckee River runs along the road making it even icier. Either you know how to drive these roads or you don't. Of course, it's always smart to keep an eye out for the other guy because there are so many idiots out there that think their monster four wheel drive trucks make them invincible. It also doesn't help that I've left my mind behind with Bella. Everything that's happened over the past hour has left me a little twisted. Oh hell, not the past hour, but the last several days. She was right when she said it was a lot of drama, especially since we just met three days ago. This whole thing has spiraled out of control from the moment I first laid eyes on her but I cannot get her out of my mind. She has a hold on me like nothing I've experienced before.

I glance at my watch and see it's still early yet and take a quick look to the side, seeing that the slopes are all lit up for the night. I enjoy night skiing but my mind isn't in it tonight. I need a drink. I think I'll hit my favorite pub in the village. Now that's what I need, maybe it will get my head in focus a bit.

I walk into the loud and packed bar and see Sam leaning on his forearms, working on scoring with one of the snow bunnies that frequent the place. She looks like she stepped out of a salon rather than off the slopes. He glances up as the squeaky door opens and sees me walk through. He stands up straight and gets a shit eating grin on his face.

"Hey motherfucker, where the fuck have you been?" He says as he jumps over the bar, giving me a bear hug that rivals one of Emmett's.

"Been busy, man. How the hell are you? It's been a while. How's the wife and kids?" I say loud enough so the girl he was trying to score and take home for the night hears me.

"You bastard, Edward." He says through clenched teeth as he slugs my shoulder, nearly knocking me on the floor.

"He's bullshitting Victoria, I ain't married babe." She scowls at him and leaves anyway. Sam watches her leave and then smacks the counter, giving me his 'you are so dead motherfucker' look. "Awe hell, she'll be back tomorrow." He says, swiping his hand through the air.

"What can I get you Eddie, the usual?" He yells over his shoulder, pulling a glass and a bottle of Chivas off the shelf.

"Yeah, that would be great, thanks Sam." I said as I take off my jacket, looking around, checking out the crowd.

It doesn't take long before the ladies start looking in my direction and I give them a nod hello and regret it the moment I do it because I'm not in the mood for company tonight. I hate when I do shit like that without thinking about it first!

"Eddie, you sure know how to get the attention of the ladies; lucky bastard. I'm good for at least a couple of your leftovers after you're done making your selection, man." Sam chuckles as he places my drink in front of me. He was checking out a table of girls staring in my direction. He always did want a piece of my action.

"Not tonight Sam, you're on your own." I look in their direction and they start giggling like little girls and I cringe when I see one of them get up and walk toward me. Shit! I don't want this tonight. I look over in her direction and see her whisper something to Sam and the next thing I know I've got another drink sitting in front of me. I push it back toward Sam, telling him to keep it and she gets pissed and stomps off. Women don't take rejection well I have discovered.

"What's up with you man? You never turn a lady down. Talk to me bro."

"I just want a drink, Sam… why don't you give me another one while you're at it." I take my Chivas and pound it down my throat in one hit just as Sam puts the second one in front of me.

"How are those brothers of yours doing? Are they here with you?"

"No, they'll be here Friday. You'll see them I'm sure." I reply, looking down into my glass then swallowing the contents.

Emmett and Jasper never miss a chance to stop in at Sam's Place when they are here because they know this is where the girl action is. They never leave here with an empty arm.

"That's cool, it will be good to see them. This place hops when the Cullen men are in town. Speaking of which, I'm having a party in here on Saturday, why don't you guys stop by. I've got a local indie band coming in, I know you dig that shit man."

"Not Saturday, Sam. The boys and I have dates that night." I say, grinning at him.

"Shit you guys don't fuck around do you? It doesn't take you long at all pal." He shakes his head, laughing at me as he sets another Chivas down in front of me.

"I played car tag with this beauty on the way in the other day. We saw each other a couple times along the way and when we rode together on the lift headed up to the Chute I asked her name and we've been hanging out since." I gave him the mini version of the saga and hit my third drink hard.

"Dude, only you can get laid just by looking at a chick in a car. How in the hell do you do it?"

"Sam, you are one crude motherfucker, you know that?" I laugh at him and that's when I notice I had a visitor sitting next to me. She couldn't be more than 18 years of age.

"You better check the ID on this one Sam and keep your hands off, she has jailbait written all over her." The girl stands up, flips her hair and stalks off. I laugh, one because I know I'm fucking right and two… I don't know what two is, but I'm getting fucking hammered.

"Hit me, Sam". I say as push my empty glass toward Sam.

"Okay Eddie boy, what's going on with you man? This isn't like you."

He sets another drink in front of me and I look down into it and shake my head trying to figure out the answer to that question.

"I think what's going on is a woman about 5'7", long brown hair, large brown eyes, a kiss that would bring a man to his knees and the sweetest ass known to man." Whoa! Where'd that shit come from?

I'm getting buzzed and look over at the girls. Although I don't want to fuck any of them, I am up for a little fun. Sam and I exchange looks and raise our eyebrows simultaneously and we are thinking 'game on'. Sam takes a tray of shots over to their table and tells them they are on the house and gives them quarters to put in the juke box. They start giggling and make their music selection. Now we have a sea of ladies dancing with each other for our entertainment.

The squeaky door brings Sam and I out of our girl-on-girl dance coma when some dude walks in and the ladies go nuts. It's because he's "tall, dark and handsome" Sam says. The girls stop dancing to stare at him. He's either good looking to them or he's fresh meat; probably a little of both.

After he sits down a couple stools away from me, he orders a double Crown and Coke. Like me, he pounds the first one down and then orders another. The ladies start flirting with him now rather than me, which is a relief because I wasn't in the mood to deal with that shit anyway. This guy hits a couple more and before he knows it, he's buzzed and feeling brave enough to tackle the jungle. He stumbles over to the table of girls and selects one to dance with. He's all over her, kissing on her and trying to make arrangements for an all-nighter with her. I ask myself if I look like that when I hit on the ladies. Naw, ain't happening. Those two words remind me of the time I spent with Bella today and I chuckle at the thought of Bella talking to Sue. I check my phone hoping for a message from her. There aren't any.

After this guy asks her a couple of times if she wanted to "blow this joint" she turns him down, citing she's with her girlfriends and is their designated driver for the night. He gives it another try again by throwing out incentives like 'I'm a lawyer in the city' and 'I drive a BMW' and 'I have my own house'. She still doesn't take the bait so he walks back to his seat with his tail between his legs. His ego gets the better of him because it's comical to hear him cursing "fucking bitch" under his breath. Apparently guys don't like rejection either.

Sam gives him a 'maybe next time dude' pat on the shoulder and then turns to me, laughing.

"Hey, I'm just giving you a hard time man. My name's Sam." He says as he holds out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Jacob Black, nice to meet you." He shakes Sam's hand.

"The chicks in here are stuck up bitches aren't they? I used my best lines on that hoe and she still turned me down." Is it any wonder you piece of shit! I say to myself.

"You want to know about the art of seduction, ask this guy right here. He's the master. Watch this." Sam looked over at me and tells me to get one of the girls to come over.

I look up at Sam, frowning and not in the mood to play that particular game, but thought what the fuck and look back over my shoulder at the table until I get their attention. I find one and make eye contact with her. I do my eye fuck thing and the girl comes skipping over and I tell Sam to buy her and her friends a shot, on the house. I turn back around to face the bar and go back to my drink. The girl stands there waiting for me like she expects me to talk to her or take her home and fuck her. Sam gives her a tray of shots and I ignore her. She looks disappointed then goes back to her friends. They huddle, probably telling each other what a dick I am and at that moment, I feel like one. I shouldn't have done that to her and plus I feel like I have disrespected Bella too. I am a dick.

Jacob's mouth hangs open and says, "What the fuck dude, what was that?"

"I know huh? It works every time." Sam's face is lit up like a Christmas tree.

I'm thinking it's time to head home when I overhear Sam talking to this guy and I suddenly become very interested.

Jacob either feels his manhood has been trampled or he needs to redeem himself because he boasts, "It doesn't matter anyway, I'm up here to find my ex and get her back. I heard she's up here skiing but it's like finding a needle in a fucking haystack up there on the hill. Oh well, I have the weekend to find her." He sighs.

I look over at him "Why would you want to do that man? Does she even want to be found?" I think about Bella and if this was her ex, I know she wouldn't want to be found.

"No, she doesn't know I'm here. In fact, I haven't spoken to her in five years but I'm thinking once she sees me, she'll want me back." He says confidently.

"Where'd you drive in from?" I ask coming to attention now and getting a sick feeling in my gut as this story is about to change.

"The city." And my instincts go into high alert.

"I pissed her off a few years ago when she walked in on me fucking her best friend." He laughs at his own story. "She won't talk to me but I'm here to make sure she does this time. She didn't deserve to be hurt like that and if I can just get her in the sack one more time, she'll be mine again. I'm certain of it." He boasts.

"I just want to tell her I still love her and have never really stopped." He confesses slurring his empty words.

Mother Fucking Fucker! Sam and I are listening to his douche and I am seething at the audacity that he would be talking about Bella like that. Just the sight of him right now makes me physically ill. And seeing what he was doing just now with that girl, trying to get her to go home with him while he's here on a mission to get Bella in the 'sack'? Over my dead fucking body, pal.

I look up at Sam, "You know that car tag story I was telling you about?"

Sam is looking at me intently because he knows me well enough to know I am livid.

"Yeah, I remember."

I look over at Jacob out the corner of my eye and then back at Sam and slowly nod my head. Sam understands what I am saying and looks over at Jacob, "Hey Jacob, let me buy you a drink buddy."

Jacob finishes off his drink and starts on another. I throw Sam a hundred, "Take care of our friend and buy a few for the ladies over there, maybe it will loosen them up for Jake here. Jacob, enjoy your visit." I get up, grab my coat and give a silent message to Sam to take care of him and I head home.

As soon as I get outside I call Bella, "This is Bella, leave a message." Fuck! She even has a sexy phone voice, damn, is there nothing about her that doesn't make me instahard?

I hate leaving voicemail messages and decide I will see her in the morning anyway and will tell her about Jacob then. There's no reason to upset her making her lay awake all night fretting over this. I'm sure Sam will make sure the maggot is too hung over to get out of bed to take a piss let alone go skiing.

Then I remember I promised Emmett I would call him tonight and dial his number.

"Hi, Em."

"Hey bro, how's it hangin? How's the place? Everything okay?"

"It's all good. Sue popped up with her goodies again only I didn't see them this time, Bella did."

"You are shitting me! That's just gross. How'd she handle it?"

"Em you should have heard her. She pulled some legal shit about lewd and lascivious and how it's a felony and how Sue should look it up and then just left her steaming. It was priceless."

I doubt I will ever forget that. Sue can be a bitch, even to me, but seeing another woman in my house when she's been trying to fuck me since the day I moved in probably didn't go over very well.

"All fucking right, way to go Bella!" Emmett says, giving a silent fist bump.

"So we had a fight already, Em." I really need to talk this out with someone before it becomes a huge issue for me.

"What the hell happened, bro? I mean shit, you just met for godsakes."

"I know. She has this thing about honesty and felt I wasn't truthful about some information she thought I was withholding." I explain to him.

"Damn, you already lied to her?" Em asks cutting to the chase.

"No… Well, she asked me the first day I met her if there was a Mrs. Cullen or a soon-to-be Mrs. Cullen in my life because she didn't want to be in the car with me if there was."

"Sounds like a legit question to me, Edward." Emmett is getting serious now, it's the only time he calls me Edward.

"Today she asked me if I had a woman in my life besides our mother. I felt I had to tell her about Tanya and she wasn't happy. She thought I withheld that information and said I should have told her yesterday."

"But you don't have anything going with Tanya do you?"

"No, not really... But I did tell her that Tanya and I were basically fuck buddies and that's what did it."

In hindsight, I am starting to see the whole picture clearer now that I am saying it out loud. I really should have been more forthcoming with her when she asked me about there being any Mrs. Cullen's.

"What happened? Did she really snap?" He asks.

"Well, I think she's more angry at herself for putting her trust in me as soon as she did. She felt betrayed and she felt like a fool. Em, I don't want her to feel that way and more importantly, I don't want to be the cause of her feeling that way."

"Do you like her already, Edward?" He asks quietly.

"I will admit that there is definitely a strong sexual chemistry between us. It's undeniable Em." Of this I have no doubt. I just don't want to confuse lust with, what? Like? I don't love her but I do lust for her that's for damn sure.

"But do you like – like her?" He asks again.

"A lot." I finally confess.

"Did you work it out with her or is Saturday dinner out of the question now."

"No, I laid it all out on the table. I told her how it is with Tanya and I told her how I felt about her and what I thought was going on between us. There is definitely something going on here Emmett." I have now laid my heart out twice in one day and I never do that, ever.

"Well, if you kissed and made up then things will work out, brother." Emmett says, trying to console me.

"Kissing is the only thing we've done and holy shit Em, I just about jizzed in my jeans right then and there. Wait until you see her. One thing, Emmett… she's mine, got that brother?"

"That appetizing, eh?"

"That appetizing!"

"There's something else, Emmett. I stopped in at Sam's before coming home tonight. He says hello, by the way. While I was there some piece of shit came in hitting on the ladies in the bar. He sat down and started talking about how he came up here from The city to get his ex back and how he was planning on getting her in the sack and that he is going to make sure he does. He told us the story about how he got busted by his ex having sex with her best friend. Guess who his ex is Emmett?

"Oh no! Not your Bella?" The "your Bella" does not go unnoticed and I smile at the sound of it.

"Yes, Emmett!" I exclaim. "She doesn't know he's here. She's going to be hitting the hill tomorrow and I'm meeting up with her at 11:00 at the Chute. I don't know if this guy can ski the black diamonds, but Sam is keeping him busy tonight making sure he won't even feel like smelling fresh air let alone ski tomorrow." I say, feeling the urgency inside me, wanting to tell her as soon as possible.

"I just need to tell Bella first before she sees him. I'm feeling panic and dread for her, Emmett. She will be a mess if she sees him, of this I am certain. I need to keep her away from him tomorrow because she won't be skiing Friday, Saturday and Sunday and by then he will be gone."

"Edward, do you want Jazz and I to come up tomorrow instead of Friday?"

"I was hoping you would say that. I think that's a good idea. Who knows what could happen and although I know I can count on Sam, I don't want to put him in that position." I answer, grateful for his offer.

"We will head out first thing in the morning. You just keep her busy and we'll look for this guy as soon as we get there. Edward, don't worry alright?" He instructs, sounding equally concerned.

"I am just worried for her. She told me the short version of their story today and I saw what it did to her emotionally when she was telling it and that happened five years ago. Em, she hasn't been with anyone since then. It fucked her up that bad. I'm the first one she's wanted to be with since then and if she sees him, she will shut down and everything she's done in these five years to repair the damage he caused will have been for naught."

I am feeling anxious about what this prick did to her and by the sound of what he said at the bar, what he would do to her if he does find her. I am not sure where he thinks she is staying but someone told him she is here. The only person that I can think of would be her boss or the other attorneys in her office. Jesus anyone could have told him. There would only be a few that would know she is staying at Tahoe City and not Squaw Village. Lord help him if he touches her.

"She is here for two weeks and I was planning on heading home on Monday but I'm going to stay here through next week Emmett. I will work with Angie to see if there are any meetings I need to move. I will need you and Jazz to cover for me if necessary, can you do that? I don't want to leave her here alone now."

"Absolutely Edward. Don't worry. I just emailed Jazz and told him what was going on and he is ready to roll first thing in the morning. We are leaving at 6:00 so that should put us in Squaw at around 10:00."

"Emmett, the way he said that he was going to get her in the sack and the look on his face told me he was not going to be refused if you know what I am saying. I almost feel like I want to go over to her house but I don't want to panic her. If I tell her tonight, she won't sleep well and she really should sleep. Right now he is busy with Sam and he doesn't know where she is." I can feel my breathing quicken. "I can feel the anxiety building and I don't want to scare her. Em, with the drama of this afternoon and now this, shit dude…."

"Edward, you care for her. That's why you have anxiety. We've got your back bro. I will let you know once we arrive at the condo. Chill out and have a glass of wine and we will see you before you knock your first one out in the shower dude." Right now my dick is the last thing I am thinking of.

"Don't be talking shit like that, Emmett! That's just wrong! Tell Jazz I said thanks and I will see you both in the morning." I'm feeling better knowing my brothers will be here in case things get out of control.

I call Sam to see if he could text me a picture of this asshole to send to Emmett and Jazz so that they can recognize him on the hill tomorrow. I don't typically speak about my personal issues, but in this case, I need help. I think Bella could be in serious danger.

My stomach starts growling so I go to the kitchen to fix myself something to eat and pour a glass of Bella's Chardonnay. Did I just say Bella's Chardonnay? I hit my forehead with the heel of my hand trying to figure out when over the last two days I turned into such a pussy. Is that what happens to men when they meet a woman? They turn to fucking mush?

I take my plate along with my wine and, instead of finding my favorite chair, I end up at the piano. I haven't played since… Leah. I open the cover, running my fingers over the cold keys and play a few practice notes feeling the familiarity on the pads of my fingers. It feels good. It sounds good. God, how I love the sound. Leah used to sit and listen to me for hours. I remember how I enjoyed playing for her. It's been a long time.

After I finished playing a few lullabies and a few melodies, my thoughts turn to Bella… again. I lock up, turn out the lights and head for my room then look at my phone to see if she called or sent a text but there's nothing from her. Tanya, on the other hand, has called seven times and I am certainly not in the mood to talk to her that's for sure.

My thoughts recall Bella dancing in her living room this morning. Fuck she can move that body. I've never seen a woman dance as sensual as that. The way her body moved with her hands above her head, the gentle, sensuous swaying of her hips to the hypnotic rhythm of the music. I won't lie, I wanted to fuck her right there. I could take an entire day just lying with her, tasting that mouth of hers. I bet she could fuck me blind. I can't wait to be deep inside her and feel her tight pussy around me, moving beneath me.

"Fuck, Edward!" I say in disbelief to myself.

I decide to play with Bella a little bit and start sexting her. She is good at it and makes it fun. Plus it makes me smile and it's harmless, but it also gives me an idea where her head is at with us. Is there an us? Do I want an… us? In keep with tradition, I asked her if she missed me. She didn't want to answer the last time, but ultimately she did. She said yes. I knew she liked me. I catch myself with a goofy ass grin on my face.

She asked me if I had taken a cold shower. Fuck no! I don't need a cold shower today, I took care of things as soon as I got to my room with thoughts of her. The things this girl makes me feel. How I want her is beyond any kind of desire that I have ever experienced before. I truly don't know if I have the ability to hold back any longer. I know I want her and I know I will have her. I just need to take care of this shit with Tanya first. I also know I am not going to just fuck her. She isn't the type you just get your nut with and then hop off and get dressed, not caring if she has been satisfied or not. She is one you are gentle with and make love to. It's been too long since I've made love to a woman, not since Leah. I try to recall all the others I've fucked but can't recall their faces let alone their names.

My phone vibrates on the table and it's her.

B: I screamed your name this time

Oh, hell!

A/N… Okay ladies (and gents if you are here reading this). Here comes Jacob back into Bella's life. Let's see how Edward handles it.