A/N: Sorry that this is later than normal. I've been without Internet all day, and it's been driving me nuts. Huge thanks to my awesome beta, Heather, for her mad beta'ing skills, and thanks to everyone reading and reviewing.
All I had to say was thank God for Sue. She'd been able to calm my dad down after I'd told him about the car driving by, and she'd suggested that he install a security camera in order to capture the vehicle after he'd told us that he'd just sit in a lawn chair in the yard and wait for the person to drive by.
I had a feeling that he'd go with his option first, and if that didn't work, then he'd go the security camera route.
After I'd been sent to my room like a little kid being punished, I flopped down on my bed, face first, before giving Edward a call.
"Hey, sweet girl. We still on for the weekend?" he asked, and I had to tell him no.
"I've managed to get myself grounded. I'm not allowed to go out at all this weekend," I told him, sort of dreading having to tell him why.
"What happened?" he asked, his voice full of concern.
I took a deep breath as I rolled over onto my back and stared at my ceiling.
"All this week, I've seen a red car driving slowly by my house, and I didn't tell Dad about it. He freaked when I told him over dinner tonight, and he's absolutely livid that I didn't say anything."
"Bella!" Edward exclaimed. "You should have told him right away. I can see why he's upset with you."
I hung my head in shame even though he couldn't see me.
"I think it's Tanya," I found myself blurting out.
"What?" he asked, and I repeated what I said. I told him that it was a newer model red car and that I'd sworn she was behind the wheel.
"Are you sure?" he asked me, and I told him I thought so.
"I just don't understand why she'd do that," Edward said quietly.
"I don't know. Maybe she's trying to scare me or to check up on her competition," I suggested, and Edward replied with a maybe.
By the time we hung up ten minutes later, I felt almost worse than I had because Edward was upset with me, too, although he tried to act like he wasn't.
I fucked up, I texted Alice, and she responded immediately.
What happened?
I told her everything, including the fact that I didn't blame Edward for being upset with me. I'd been stupid.
It'll be okay, she texted back. Just give him a little bit of time to cool down. He's probably more upset about the situation than with you.
Do you think Tanya would do that? Drive by my house?
I do. I think she's so desperate to get Edward back that she's not thinking rational, she responded.
I really hoped that driving by was all that Tanya planned on doing, and I hoped like hell that she stopped once my Dad had a talk with her. Unfortunately, there was nothing illegal about driving by someone's house, but I sure hoped Dad would put the fear of God into her if she was the one behind it.
"I'm so freaking bored," I whined out loud as I lounged on the couch. Dad had gone to the reservation to watch some sports game with his friend, Billy, as well as Seth, and I was stuck at home.
My car keys had been taken away until Monday, and I could only watch so much stuff on Netflix. I wasn't in the mood to read, and I'd already cleaned the house, so I was slowly starting to go out of my mind.
Ten minutes after I'd begun complaining to myself, the doorbell rang, and I rushed to answer it.
Edward was standing on my porch with a grocery bag and a small bouquet of flowers in his hand.
"Edward!"
He gave me a sheepish smile as he held out the flowers and apologized to me.
"What in the world are you apologizing for? I'm the one that should be apologizing," I told him as I took the flowers and let him in.
"I'm sorry I got upset with you," he said, "and I come bearing gifts. Redbox movies and Chinese food."
"Well then, you're totally forgiven. I was dying of boredom," I told him as we walked into the house.
Dad hadn't said I couldn't have anyone over, just that I couldn't go out, but I decided to double check with him to be on the safe side.
After I was given the okay, I dug out a vase for the flowers while Edward pulled out some plates from the cupboard for our food.
After we finished eating, we put our dishes away before curling up together on the couch. Actually, Edward was lying on his side with me in front, his arm draped over my waist, and I loved being so close to him. The position was incredibly intimate, but I wasn't complaining.
At some point during the movie, Edward's lips found my neck, and a shiver wracked my frame as his lips trailed up and down.
Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore, and I rolled onto my back so I could feel those wonderful lips against mine.
"You're so damn gorgeous," Edward mumbled as he brought his lips to mine, and I felt myself blushing, but I didn't really care at that moment.
My fingers delved into his wonderfully messy hair as his tongue traced over my lips, and I opened my mouth slightly to give him entry. Our tongues gently slid against one another's, and I let out a moan. Edward's taste was amazing, it was a mix of cinnamon and Edward's unique taste, and I couldn't resist nipping at his bottom lip which caused him to let loose with a low growl.
Immediately, I was hit with a wave of arousal that I'd never felt before, and I wiggled closer to him, tossing a leg over one of his.
The hand that had been on my waist now gripped my thigh, lightly squeezing now and then, and I found my passion at an all time high.
Our kisses were hot and fierce, and I let out a moan when I felt his erection press against me.
He mumbled an apology against my lips, but I hushed him. I didn't mind the feel of him even though he knew I wasn't ready to have sex with him, and he knew that.
We got lost in each other and lost track of time, and it wasn't until I heard a car pull into the driveway that we sprung apart.
"Oh, shit! My dad's home," I said, rushing to straighten my clothes and my hair.
Edward dashed off to the bathroom to calm himself down and fix his own hair, and I quickly put a new movie on and settled down on the couch, hoping like hell that my face wasn't bright red.
Edward came back out of the bathroom right as Dad opened the door. I noticed that Edward's face had a slight flush to it, and I prayed that Dad didn't notice.
"Hey, kids," he said as he hung up his coat and tossed his car keys into a ceramic bowl on a side table.
"Hey, Dad," I replied, Edward saying hello as well.
"Did you want to stay for dinner, Edward?" Dad asked as he made his way into the kitchen.
"Sure," Edward replied, shooting me a slightly nervous look. I think he was afraid that Dad was going to interrogate him over dinner, but I wasn't too worried. I think if Dad was going to say anything, he would have done so already. Dad wasn't one to pull punches.
"I was thinking of making tacos," Dad said, and Edward and I offered to help.
We had a nice dinner, and Dad didn't interrogate Edward at all, just asked general questions about school and whatnot.
"Did Bella tell you about the car she's seen?" Dad asked as we washed dishes, and Edward told him I had.
Dad then asked Edward if Tanya drove a red car, and he told us that she had a blue car but that her dad owned a red Mercedes. It was quite possible that Tanya was borrowing her dad's car to drive here, but I was really beginning to think I might have been mistaken.
"Maybe it's not her," I told them. "You get out of school at the same time I do, so there's no way she could get out of school at two-thirty and drive an hour to get here right as I'm pulling into the driveway."
"Tanya gets out early," Edward said. "I don't know why really, but she always leaves an hour earlier than I do."
Well that certainly changed everything. It definitely made it more possible that she was the culprit.
"Well, I'll be waiting for whomever it is tomorrow afternoon," Dad said, and I asked him if he was still planning to sit out there, cleaning his gun, and he let out a laugh and told me no.
We'd had a long talk the day before, and Dad had apologized for blowing up at me. We'd talked through a lot of things, and I hadn't objected when he'd grounded me. From now on, if I thought something was wrong or suspicious, I'd let Dad know right away. Living with him was definitely a far cry from living with my mom, and while we were both adjusting pretty well, there was obviously a learning curve.
Monday afternoon, I rushed home and grinned when I found my Dad standing outside on the porch, a determined look on his face.
"Where's your lawn chair?" I asked him, and he let out a laugh.
"I'm not going to use one. I'm going to stand right there at the end of the driveway and take pictures of the car," he said, pointing to a fancy looking camera sitting on the wicker table on the porch.
"Do you even know how to use that?" I asked him, giving the camera a dubious look. It looked extremely high tech, and my dad had a hard enough time figuring out how to use his cell phone.
"Yeah, Doug down at the station showed me how to use it before letting me borrow it," he said as he picked it up and began to walk toward the end of the driveway.
Ten minutes later, the infamous red car came driving down our street, and Dad began clicking away on the camera. As soon as the driver saw him, the car roared off, but it was too late. Dad had captured the license plate as well as a picture of the driver.
"Is this her, Bells?" Dad asked as he showed me the camera's view screen, and I nodded. It was definitely Tanya, and there was a nasty look on her face.
"So what happens now?" I asked him as we walked inside the house.
"We'll see if she shows up tomorrow. If she does, then I'll be taking a drive to Port Angeles to have a chat with her and find out what what's going on."
It's her, I texted Edward a few minutes later, and he quickly wrote back.
What in the world? Why is she driving by your house?
IDK, but it's creepy.
It would make more sense for her to stalk Edward. Stalking me really didn't make much sense unless she was planning on robbing my house or something.
Maybe I should have a talk with her, he suggested, and I told him not to because that was probably what she wanted. I let him know that if she came around tomorrow, Dad was going to follow her home and have a talk with her.
Oh to be a fly on that wall. I wonder what she'll say.
No clue, but dad will fill me in if he does have to talk to her.
During lunch the next day at school, I filled Angela, Ben, and Eric in on how things were progressing, and Ben started cracking up.
"Maybe it's you she wants and not Edward," he suggested, and I made a face at the thought.
"Yeah, she's not really my type. I'll stick to Edward," I commented dryly.
"I don't blame you," Eric said with a wink. "If I had an Edward, I'd hold on to him, too."
The rest of the school day flew by with only a minor encounter with Jessica. Lauren hadn't messed with me since I'd gotten her suspended, but Jessica had taken it upon herself to avenge her friend or some crap like that. Mike did his best to keep her away from me, and I'd heard Lauren tell her to drop it once or twice also, but Jessica wasn't listening to either of them.
She would leave nasty notes in my locker, warning me to watch my back, and I'd informed Mr. Greene as well as my dad, so Jessica was on notice. She would also follow me around school, saying things as if she was trying to start a fight. She wasn't worth my time, so I tended to just ignore her.
Today's encounter involved her trying to steal my gym clothes and failing miserably. One of the other girls in our class saw her and let me know. I was really getting sick of her pathetic attempts to get back at me. It would be almost comical if it wasn't so sad.
As soon as the bell rang, I grabbed the books I needed from my locker and made my way out to my car where I discovered I had a flat tire. Looking closer at it, I saw that the tire had been slashed, and I saw red.
"Jessica, you fucking bitch," I muttered, whirling around to see if she was in the parking lot.
I didn't see her anywhere, and I was kind of grateful that I didn't. I was so freaking livid that I was a bit scared of what I might do if I saw her.
Opening up the back of the jeep, I grabbed the jack and the tire iron and placed them on the ground before struggling with the spare tire.
"Let me help," Eric said when he saw me, and I gladly accepted it. It wasn't that I couldn't change a tire on my own, but it was nice to have help.
While Eric began taking the lugnuts off, I sent Dad a text, telling him someone had slashed my tire. Seconds later, my phone rang.
"Are you sure?" were the first words Dad asked me.
"Yeah, there's a giant slash in it. I think it might be Jessica, but I don't have any proof."
"Do you need me to come help you?"
"Nope, stay at home and see if Tanya shows. I've got Eric helping me change the tire, so I'll be home soon."
A little while later, I got home and saw that the cruiser was still in the driveway. I pulled in beside it and hurried inside.
"She was a no show," he told me.
"Well, hopefully she got the hint and won't bother me anymore," I said, and I hoped it was true. I had enough drama, dealing with Jessica.
a/n: As always, I love hearing from you all.