Twilight isn't mine, but the idea is. I was inspired to write this after a marathon of Fast and Furious. All the songs on the soundtrack helped me create this, so you should check them if you don't know them.
Many thanks to my dear friends m0t0b33 and TeamAllTwilight for the pre-reader and beta work.
And to you, my reader and followers, thank you! I wish I had to the time to answer you, but we can discuss stuff in my facebook group. ;)
Saturdays were reserved for sleeping in, not waking at the crack of dawn.
Bella was hovering over Edward's sleeping form, shaking his shoulder. He kept on snoring, not even flinching from her abuse.
"Wake up, dude!" She pinched his side.
He rolled on his back, showing his toned stomach where the white wife-beater had ridden up. Bella's eyes trained on the showing skin and the dark trail of hair leading inside his blue and black plaid boxers.
"Edward," she hissed, tearing her eyes off his stomach.
"Jesus, what do you want?" he slurred, cracking an eye open.
"We need to go. Jimmy said he'd be back around ten. I want to be gone by the time he arrives, or we'll never leave."
"What time is it?" Edward muttered, sitting up and yawning loudly.
"Close to eight."
He palmed his face, moaning. "Are you joking? No way. I'm going back to sleep."
"No, you're not!" Bella grabbed his left arm and pulled him out of the bed with all her force. "We have a long day ahead."
"I'm not a morning person."
"You're about to start being one. I made sandwiches and coffee. Come on. Hurry."
He went through his morning routine in slow motion. If he'd known she was going to wake him this early, he wouldn't have stayed up late last night. Finally done with his shower and dressed in shorts along with a tee, paired with his Chucks, Edward went in search of Bella. She was already in the car outside, the engine on idle.
"Lock up, will ya?" She threw him the keys through her open window.
Scowling, Edward did as told before trudging to the passenger door. Bella passed him a cup of coffee.
"Try not to spill."
"I'll do my best. Is it far away?"
"About twenty minutes' drive."
They drove in silence for a while as Edward sipped on his coffee. He could feel the effects invigorating him slowly.
"Can I ask something? You don't have to answer," Bella said softly.
"Yeah." He turned his attention to her.
"What time did you fall asleep? I thought you went to bed after the movie ended…around ten."
"Yeah, but I couldn't sleep so I got on Facebook and found one of my friends online. We talked until…late." He wasn't ready to admit they chatted until three in the morning.
Jasper was probably his only true friend left after everything that happened back home. Edward had met Jasper a few years back, but they didn't hit it off since Jasper was older. They became friends when Edward got interested in car racing.
"Nice. I should have told you we were waking up early. Sorry."
"Don't worry. The coffee is waking me up. Thanks." He threw her a smile.
She smiled back, before focusing on the road.
Edward kept his eyes on Bella, musing over how easy she was to be around. He'd never befriended a girl for the sake of a friendship. The girls in his life had one purpose—to give him relief and just about that.
"Can you stop staring?" she inquired. "It's unnerving."
He laughed, looking away just in time to see the sign welcoming them to Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation. The houses were small and mostly made of logs.
They drove for another five minutes, then Bella pulled in front of a house. She grabbed her phone and sent a text message, letting Jake know they had arrived. Edward stepped out of the car, admiring the view. He'd always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, and never thought he'd live so close to it, or actually get to visit. Bella started pointing out in the distance where the Canyon was when Jake joined them, clapping Edward on the back.
"Our little Bella here wants to become a tour guide one day," he said, wrapping an arm around her, hugging her.
"Yeah, so?" She huffed, pushing him away. She avoided looking at Edward, embarrassed in her desired job. She should probably want to work somewhere away from her small town, but as she had mentioned, she didn't like big cities.
"Show me the culprit," Edward said with a big smile. He couldn't wait to see the car.
Jake had said it was in a bad shape, but what Edward saw was worse than bad shape. The poor car was rotting and even had weeds growing from inside. He could see why that man had sold it for only two hundred.
"How much are you willing to invest in it?" he asked Jake, walking around the once green car, now the paint peeling off it, its place taken by rust.
"As much as it's necessary. I have plans with it."
"Plans?" Edward frowned, feeling his heart stuttering.
Jake glanced at Bella and seeing she was over on the other side of the garage, dusting off a bike, he leaned into Edward. "I want to race. I hear you can earn quite a lot of money if you win."
NO! Go away. Leave. Turn around now and tell him you can't help.
"It's gonna cost a lot to repair it, but the outcome might cover all the money you invest in it," he said against his better judgment.
Edward started inspecting the car from every angle, inside out, rattling things off to Bella who scribbled them on a sheet of paper. Jake was impressed with all the knowledge his new friend had about cars. He even estimated a price, which scared Jake, but he was determined to have this car running by the end of the year.
"I know a guy who probably knows someone around here where we can get cheaper pieces," Edward said thoughtfully. "I'll ask him."
"Thank you so much, man! When we get the pieces, we'll start working."
"We can start now, Jake. We need to take everything off the car, clean it and see if we can salvage anything. It would be a shame not to use original parts if they're still good."
Bella offered to help them, but when she scratched her arm on a spring under the seat, the boys sent her away. She slumped on said seat which was now out of the car, watching as they worked. She could see how careful Edward was with every part he took off the car. It was as if the parts were fragile, precious gewgaws. It also didn't hurt that he got sweaty and kept wiping his brow with the hem of his shirt, exposing his toned stomach every so often. Bella barely noticed when Jake took his shirt off, her eyes were trained on her housemate.
Deciding to distance herself from them, from Edward, before she did something stupid she offered to go buy some food. Jake told her she could get something from inside his house. With that, she disappeared from the garage.
"So, do you like it here?"
Edward was inspecting what lay under the car's hood and Jake's question made his head shot up. "It's definitely not what I expected," he answered, shrugging.
"In a good way?"
"Yeah." Edward nodded. "It is a place in the middle of the desert, but at least the people living here are not what I thought. I can't say much about James—he's a cop, what else is there to say besides constant vigilance?" He chuckled at his own joke. "Besides, he hasn't been around."
"And Bella?" Jake watched his friend carefully.
"She's nice. Again, not what I expected. She's different than all the other girls I met in Chicago."
"Yeah, that's Bella for you. Definitely not a girly girl. She's cut from tough root, but if she wants something badly she's not afraid to use her womanly charms. I've seen it done." Jake wriggled his eyebrows.
Edward frowned, tearing his eyes off the engine and meeting Jake's black ones. "So you're dating?"
"Nah. It's just wishful thinking on my part." He got out of the car where he'd been looking through the glove compartment. "We tried last year, and she said it was awkward. Lucky, we could bounce back to being friends."
"Huh. Sometimes, friendship is more valuable than a relationship. I think things get complicated if you get involved with your best friend that way."
"Speaking from experience?"
"My best friend started dating a common friend we both considered our bestie. They're still going strong, but it got odd for me," Edward explained. To this day Jasper hadn't understood the awkwardness behind him banging Alice. Edward had known Alice most of his life since their families were friends, and suddenly he introduced his best friend to her and a few months later they announced him they were dating. Mind fuck.
"Huh." Jake was about to warn Edward on making a move on Bella because he was protective of her, and there was always James to shoot him, but the subject of their conversation returned to the garage with a tray filled with food.
Edward rushed to help her, beating Jake to it. The way she smiled in gratitude made Jake wonder if his friend was starting to feel something more than friendship toward the newest addition to their group. He liked Edward, he was a great guy, but they didn't know much about him. And Jake had been around enough to know there was more to the story Edward painted for them.
Sitting on the front seats of the car—now resting on the garage's floor—with Bella between them, they ate from the tray, chatting aimlessly. Even the seats needed restoration, the leather peeling off and even the yellowish cushion was coming out in some parts. There was a lot of work on the car.
Jake and Bella promised Edward to take him on a hike to show him around because there was too much beauty to miss out on. She was in the middle of explaining about a waterfall while gesticulating widely when her phone went off.
"Shit. That's Jimmy," she mumbled. Pressing Answer, she put the phone to her ear. "Hey, Jimmy."
"Hey, you. Are you coming home today? Where are you anyway?" he demanded.
"I'm showing Edward around. We'll be there in half an hour, cool?"
"Drop by the store on the way home. You have any money on you?"
She stood, gesturing for Edward to follow her. "Yeah. What do you want me to buy?"
As James started rattling off a list of groceries, Bella and Edward said good-bye to Jake. Since she was on the phone, Edward ended up behind the wheel again. It wasn't as scary this time, because he'd driven a few more times in the past week. The impulse to accelerate and let the car fly was still there, but he kept thinking of disappointing Emmett and his parents.
The shopping trip reminded Edward why he hated doing this very thing. He was designated as the cart pusher while Bella ran up and down aisles, throwing boxes in the cart. He tried not to stare at some things displayed, but it was hard to see shotguns right next to coats, or an array of knifes that didn't look like kitchen utensils. He was also shocked at the low prices. He found a nice tee with only one dollar, and he knew it would be at least ten bucks back in Chicago. Hanging the tee on the handle of the cart, he went in search of Bella.
She was in the frozen products area, examining two packets.
"Need help?" Edward offered, stopping next to her.
Jumping, startled, Bella turned toward him. "Do you like legs or breasts?" she asked distracted, still looking at the packets.
"Sorry?" Edward nearly shouted. His eyes zeroed on her nice rack then to her bare legs. What kind of question was that?
Bella shoved the packets under his nose. "Chicken legs or breasts?"
"Oh." His eyes widened, and he choked out a nervous laugh.
Bella's wide brown eyes narrowed at him, before she transferred one of the packets to her other hand so she could whack him in the shoulder with her little fist. "Boys," she grumbled.
He gave her a bashful smile. "Legs…if they're well roast… with that crust. You know?"
"Uh, I'm no cook." She gave him a look. "Jimmy will make them on the grill. So legs?"
"Yup."
Putting the chicken breasts back, she placed the legs in their cart and touched his elbow. "Let's go."
Hissing, Edward withdrew his arm. "You're cold!" he whined.
"You're such a cry baby."
"I'm not. Your hands are waaay too cold."
They kept bickering on the way to the cash registers. The magnetic band was empty and the casher was taking the money from the person ahead of them, so they made quick work of their products, placing them on the band.
"Can you grab one?" Bella pointed to the rack next to the magnetic band.
There were displayed different types of chewing gum, Skittles, batteries and condoms. Edward followed the path Bella's finger pointed at and his eyebrows shot up.
"Uh, I think…you should get whatever you want. I'm not going to get condoms for you."
Her face flamed and she looked arrowed worried someone might have overheard their conversation. "I wanted Skittles!" she hissed.
Oh. She shouldn't be upset, he was guy and of course he thought of the condoms.
Edward grabbed two different packets of Skittles, putting them on the band.
They stayed quiet until they left the store. When they stepped outside in the heat of the evening air, Edward turned to Bella.
"Sorry. I'm such a moron sometimes."
"Don't worry. I'm used to having a guy around. James is worse, believe me." She patted his arm. "It wasn't as awkward as when my brother said or did something equally embarrassing, or like the time I found a pair of lacy underwear in his pants' pocket while doing laundry. Man, that was awkward."
"If I wasn't so scared of him, I'd probably make a comment of his preference of women underwear."
Bella laughed. "Don't worry. We had that convo. I chose to casually ask why didn't he tell me about his kink about wearing lacy panties at a wrong time. He was in the middle of drinking coffee. Man, that was nasty. He sprayed it out of his nose."
Edward burst out laughing, imagining the whole scene.
"Not funny, dude," Bella groaned. "I was sixteen back then." She shuddered.
"Huh, so you're…like, keeping that house in order?" he asked, scratching the back of his head.
"Jimmy helps too. We share our tasks. He cooks and cleans his room, while I do most of everything else. But it's not set in stone. If he has time, he helps with cleaning the house, ironing clothes, you know? We're a team." She let out a heavy, sad sigh. "We have to work together."
Edward bit his tongue to keep from asking about their parents. "Let's put these in the trunk and get back, before he calls again."
"Smart idea." She gave him a small, grateful smile. Bella wasn't ready to speak of her parents, but she had a feeling she'd cave and open up to Edward sooner or later. He never put questions and he seemed to be a good listener.
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